11/28/2011

To those it may concern,

Lot to write about this week. Hope I have time to fit it all in.

Sounds like thanksgiving and the whole sha bang was relaxing and fun! your right dad, being in a country that doesnt celebrate it made it easier. Doesnt mean I didnt take the day to think about all the things Im greatful for. I have a good couple pages in my journal and a good brain full of thoughts about home and the fam. I gave thanks and worked all day too. It was a good way to spend the day, although it just was another day here in esmeraldas.

Elder Cuenca was waiting for his visa to venezuela. It got here last sunday, he left on monday and my new companion got here tuesday. His name is Elder cook, he´s from oregon and he is the man. He goes home at the end of this change which will be at the beginning of this next week. So then i get another new companion. I was really nervous at first because our area is pretty big and I dont know it that well, but we have been getting by and in fact this past week we have had a lot of success!

We found a single mom with three cute little boys. great little fam. They came to church and are progressing and its looking like her and her oldest son will be getting baptized soon, on the 10th if everything goes as planned. Great story about her. The day she came to church, it was the primary program. The primary teacher recognized that she was here, came down and brought her three little boys up to the stage to sing with the rest of the primary, even though they had no idea what was going on, by the end of the program, (which was great by the way) the little kids were trying to sing, had made friends and were having so much fun. Also, Elder Cook was playing the piano and i was blessing the sacrament so Alba, the mom, was sitting by herself. Hermana Caicedo, recent, strong convert, went over and sat by her, gave her a big hug and kiss, and helped her through the meeting, answering questions, and just being there. The whole situation made me cry. I dont know why, but i have been a cryer here. I cry a lot now. But just how the ward made her feel so at home, and so at peace, was so great. She onlly had great things to say about it when we went by that night. It was fantastic!

Another story. The missionaries have been teaching this lady named Margarita for about a year now. And, after the first three weeks, she could have been baptized. Except she isnt married. the reason she isnt married is because she was missing a paper, some birth certificate form or something. THe missionaries have looked up and down, in every city, government building, home of relative, EVERYWHERE. A years worth of searching. The teaching record for her is about 4 pages long. Yeah. Nuts. But anyway, the week before cuenca left, we were teaching her about prophets, just basically reviewing stuff with her. The lesson was going great. Elder Cuenca turned to me to share somthing, and I felt SO strong to talk about fasting. Im telling you, it was like the idea came to my head, my heart burned, and i asked her what she knew about fasting. She said nothing. So we taught her about the fast. Elder cuenca was looking at me so strangly. But, we talked about the fast. I asked her if she would be willing to fast for 24 hours, with the purpose of asking for help to be able to find this paper that she needs for her marriage, in order for her to be baptized. She accepted and then we fasted. It went great, she opened and closed it with a prayer and had all her kids fast too. She felt good abou it. So then, Elder cuenca left. Elder cook showed up and we followed up on it. She told us that she had caught wind that she had found the paper. Its in concession, a town about 2 hours north of here, its where her great grandma or somthing weird like that was born that she didnt know about. Im not quite sure about all the details. Anyway, long story but, turns out that the zone leaders, the day before had asked us to go there, to check on the only member that lives there. And its tomorrow. So when we are there, we are going to take out the paper, for her marriage, come back. Tell me, after a years worth of searching and trying to do everything, we show up at her door, have a feeling to have a fast, and then all of sudden the paper is found, and it turns out we are already going there!? How cool is that? I just hope that everything works out, and that we can find the paper, that she can get married, and ultimately baptized. And then start working towards the temple! SO cool and such a rich spiritual experience. Through her faith, preserverance, and her fast. Ill keep you updated on what turns out from the trip tomorrow. I hope all goes well!

Every day we are lead by the spirit. My spanish, its getting better. There are days that are hard, but working for the golden days, or one day, looking back and seeing the hand of the lord in something is so rewarding. All is well here im still loving it! looking forward to talking on christmas. Just around the corner!

Tell Grandpa and Grandma Millet thankyou So much for the newsletter! The church is amazing and reading those articles was very interesting. Thanks for the pictures too of when i got set apart! That was nice to see. Tell them I love them and Miss them!

Les Amo Mucho. Estoy pensando en ustedes muchisimo, cada dia. Cada vez que experimento algo, quiero decirles. Como lehi y el arbol de la vida. Les quiero bastante y espero que todo esta bien!

Elder Burrito (Thats what all the little kids call me)

11/21/2011

Mi Querida Familia,

So cool to hear about all the festivities that happened with mom´s bday! Ive already told you mom but I love you and I hope you had a great birthday! Glad you were able to see Millie and Marie. Im sure that was a blast having them there and also having the big 50 party with all the friends and family! Glad it went well!

Sounds like everything at home is going well with callings, family stuff, work and the usual. Hopè you are all enjoying american soil. Sorry if I dont seem interested in whats going on at home. I dont really know what to say because im not there, i dont know whats going on really. All i know is that I love reading what i get to read every week and I love you all. Think of you all often and pray for you all every prayer. If the letters seem insincere or like i dont really care, just know im busy and doing what missionaries do. sorry but dats just da way dat izz. LOVE YOU ALL!!

The splashes splashed and the waves rolled this weekend at the waters de la pila! (font in spanish) It was so rich and sweet to have baptisms, even though I wasnt the one baptizing. I dont really care as long as we are seeing the fruits of our labors, even if I have to watch someone else pick the fruit. Its still way awesome. The happiness on the two little boys, the little girl, and the joven (youth, Yumi) was very cool. Even more special was to see the Hermano Rojas baptize his two sons. Very tender, very sweet. The mom is a little hard and gets offended easy but she could not have been more happy. The confirmation was frustrating on Sunday. The bishop was traveling for the weekend and so when he came back, he was a little clueless, so the meeting was a little jumbled, with the confirmations and everything. Its all good though. They were confirmed and the deal was sealed. GREAT weekend.

The baptisms went great. Tony and Julio Rojas were baptized, along with Daña Barbosa. And then, we had a surprise baptism the following day! 15 year old Yumi told us she could do it the day of, so we threw it together really quick. Its really nice to have the Zone leaders living seriously a block away so they can help us do stuff like that with getting the interview done and everything. Ill try to send pictures..dont know if it works yet. Ive sent a couple over myldsmail but i havent heard anything about the pictures so im not sure if you got them. let me know if you get them please!

Other than the baptism, the week was alright. We went to Quito on monday. slept there that night and traveled back tuesday. About 20 hours on buses in total over two days. Heritage tours! haha But the reason we went was to get my censos, ecuadorian Id. I dont know if thats how you spell it but its basically to authorize someone in the country. Im an authroized ecuadorian for the time being. While we were in Quito, we had a council with president and it was awesome! He is the man. He helps a lot with small little pieces of advice. I think the best way to describe him is, a quiet powerful example. His leadership is different but its interesting to see how powerful it is, though quite subtle.

We were busy on splits all week with other missionaries in our district so i spent a lot of time working with other missionaries. I felt like we completely left our sector. We havent worked there since last sunday. our numbers showed it. Frustrating that we didnt get to work in our sector but great that we got to do exchanges. I went with elder cabrera, one of the Zone leaders. The dude is a stud. He´s from chile and I learned a bunch from him. We busted it and I learned a lot about what I need to do better and how I can teach from the heart. Thats something that I am going to focus on, bearing testimony and teaching from the heart. Asking inspired questions. All that good stuff. I loved it. And with elder cabrera, I learned how i can do it better. Now i just have to do it better. My spanish is getting better, especially in lessons. I have a lot yet to learn, especially just talking with someone about anything. Street talk is super hard. Lot to learn there. Keep praying for me!

Today was awesome. We went about an hour away to Atacames. Its the beach city in the sector and it was way cool! It reminded me of hawaii with the restaurants on the sand and all the beach jazz going on. It was fun to see. We had an awesome lunch there. Shrimp soup and then fried fish with rice. Super good. Got some good ice cream and then we left..Very cool to see and great to get some good pictures.

Lots to do this coming week! We are moving houses tonight to a very nice condo type thing. Im excited. hope all goes well.

Being a representative of the Savior is truly amazing. I hope to be able to bring Him and His name honor every moment, every word, every deed, every thought. I pray for all of you to do the same, since we all have taken his name upon us through baptism.

I love you all!

Elder Burr

oh, and Tell nick congratulations too! his call fits. He is going to love it. I love him and wish him the best!

Happy thanksgiving!

11/14/2011-Esmeraldas, Ecuador

FAM BAM,

Lot to write about this week. Crazy week, a little slow but very good.

Thanks for all the updates. Marie and Cason, I got your updates as well as lindsay and Laurens. Thanks!
Super sad to hear that they lost, but SO awesome to hear that Josh was a maniac! I hope the family all enjoyed watching him play. I enjoyed thinking about him playing. haha. I was able to get on Hudl and watch a few plays. that was good but there isnt much time.

To answer your questions first. THANKS! for the package. Im enjoying the candy and awesome treats. i dont know when you sent it but i got on thursday of last week, so do the math on how long it took. Seriously thankyou! Laffy taffy is in my belly as we speak.

We are eating at members houses every day, and yes i am eating enough. Perhaps too much. Full plate of rice, with chicken or beef, maybe a soup as an appetizer, and usually verde, which is just unripe fried banana, with salt. You can prepare it different ways but it basically tastes like french fries. Its tasty!

our apartment, is decent. The bedrooms and mattresses are awesome, clean and comfortable and our desk setup is nice. But the kitchen is basically a table, a little stove, a small sink and nothing more. Which is fine cuz we dont cook that much anyway. Usually just breakfat which is usually eggs, or pancakes, or nothing. The bathroom is clean, but the shower, or the dripper i should say, is pretty gross. We are cleaning it hard core today. I really like the cold showers though since its so hot here. After a long day, to come in and have a cold shower is fantastic. I look forward to it every night! haha

For laundry, we just take our clothes to the bishops house, and the bishops wife does it for us. We only pay her 75 cents for it, which is basically just for the soap. It takes about two days for it to dry. so we just pick it up another day, its way nice. Clearly the members are taking care of us. the people here are so open and helpful, and will do anything for us, like pay our bus fare, feed us, give us rides or give us references. The people are amazingly kind.

My companion is from guayaquil. he is great, a great teacher, a good cook, great at gainging people confidence, and a good missionary.

We live right next to the stake center. Its nice cuz we dont have to travel to our district and zone meetings. we are right there. We have all the keys so if we need to get something or if we want to play ball in the morning, we can. its way nice.
We do have a cell phone. my companion is district leader so thats why we have one. other companionships dont have onee. We didnt have one for a while and we had to pay to call, which for him, calling the zone leaders and assistents, started to get spendy for the both of us. we got a phone a week ago so its nice. makes it easier for appts and investigators too.
no bikes. not really that many bugs, just mosquitos. We do sleep with mosquito nets so thats nice..
I can send pics, but i forgot my camera. ill try to send some next week. we are in an internet cafe, right by our house. the guy that runs it is way tight and gives us discounts so thats a big help..

our zone leader if from st george. he goes home in a few weeks..he is a stud and we went on splits a ffew days ago. he taught me a few things and told me how I can be better as far as contacting goes and getting into peoples houses. It was great. he is good guy. He told me that to get his spanish to where mine is now, took him about three months. he said my spanish is awesome for someone that just got here. so thats good. I have trouble talking on the street, but in the lessons i can basically say whatever, it might be ugly, but my companion says its pretty close to being correct... Itll come...Pray for me! I have a long ways to go with the language still, but its sufficient for now.

So this last week, we went 4 hours away to santo domingo for a small conference of 4 or 5 zones. There were probably 50 or 60 missionaries there. Elder Uceda came, with his wife and of course president was there with is wife. It was about a 5 hour conference, super long, but very good at the same time. Elder Uceda is awesome. He speaks with power and taught about obedience, prayer and scripture study, revelation and applying it to our teachings. It was a great conference. After, he wanted to interview a few people. He interviewed two elders that are going home reallly soon, and then chose to interview me. I was super shocked. He pulled me in, asked about my family, asked me how i have enjoyed the mission so far as well as my mtc experience, and then asked me if i had any questions. Of course i couldnt think of anything at the moment, so i said no. then after, a million questions came to mind of course. anywho, after i told him no, he told me that he feels the spirit that i carry. And that he felt that he should speak with me and tell me that, " if i will rely on the lord in everything, stay humble, and work hard, the lord will work mighty miracles through you on the mission." The spirit was so powerful and has he said it he was burning right through my eyes into my soul. It was pretty powerful, and a great experience. the words have been running through my head this past week and its been a great reminder of what i need to do as a missionary, every moment, every prayer, every second. It was great. After, he said, can i give you a hug? it was awesome. Great experience, and something i hope i can fulfill.

This week was hard. We had about 4 baptisms fall through because people didnt come to church. It was hard but we are still working and trying hard. But, we were given a little reward. We have been going with bishop and other leaders from other organizations and visiting families every sunday night. its been great. We reactivated a family 2 weeks ago. they have two little boys who are getting baptized this week, one is 10 and one is 8. The ten year old will count as our baptism, but anyway they are studs. we visited them last night with the bishop. and after the message we shared, the bishop, being the awesome bishop that he is, told Julio the dad, that if he ready and willing, that he will be able to baptize his boys. Thats how it should be, in whatever situation, but i guess that since they were inactive for such a long time, they thought that we would be doing the baptizing. The joy on the dads face, although a little shocked, was so AWESOME! the mom couldnt help but cry and neither could i. It was awesome. The two little boys were so happy and the whole family was just so excited that he would be baptizing his two sons. It was such a tender, sweet experience. The first person that is going to baptize in the white pants i brought, will be Julio, baptizing his two sons, Julio and tony. I am so excited for this coming friday. It will really help them stay activated and hopefully stay stong.

Also, in sacrament meeting, bishop asked me to speak. I was feeling the spirit, shared a quick little message about missionary work and how we need the help of the ward, bore my testimony and finished. I cried, ya so what!? i guess the whole ward i was crying cuz i missed home, because a ton of people came up to me after and said stuff about my family and how the mission will go quickly. I mean yeah i miss my family, but i was just feeling the spirit. I wasnt crying cuz i miss home! OH WELL! funny.

Also, something funny. we were on splits with other missionaries in there sector for the evening. we were walking and i need to use the bathroom. so the elder i was with, brought me to the bishops house that was close by, of their ward, and i asked if i could use their bathroom. went in and there was no lights. couldnt see a thing! So, I faked like a i went, washed my hands, and walked out. somehow they knew i didnt use the bathroom and so they asked me. I told them that i couldnt see, and that i didnt need to go anymore anyway. it was funny, guess you had to be there.

All is well! I love you all. Think about you lots!

ELDER BURR

11/07/2011-Esmeraldas, Ecuador (first area)

Dad,

Your right. Its hard to believe that the week has already come and gone. And even more weird that winter is there! Crazy to think about.

Thanks for the update on joshies game. Such a fun time being in the playoff and all. Sounds like there is alot of support from friends and family for josh and that awesome to hear. Its great that we have that, people who care and want the best for us, even in a game of football.

Ok, now the update on Esmeraldas first, then the update on the work.

Esmeraldas is hot and humid as expected with it being near the coast. Part of esmeraldas is jungle and so its pretty cool to go contacting close to the river that runs through it, there are some members that live right by it and have a little farm. I feel ike im in a movie or something, its very cool.

I guess a slave ship crashed forever ago and the slaves settled esmeraldas. it makes sense because there are a ton of black people. Its great though because they are super humble, want to listen to the good word which then gives us the chance to teach about the gospel and let the spirit fester within them. We are working hard and our efforts are both contacting and teaching as well as working with the members, as it should be. we are busy and its a good thing.

I wrote Josh about some of the little funny things about here. Have him show you. Super funny..

Now about the work. This last week, our focus was on the ward. We made it a goal to visit a less active family every day, to have a member accompany us to a lesson and to get ward mission plan set up. We got our goals accomplished and I feel like the ward and us, are headed on the right track.

We reactivated two families. The bishop announced there presence in sacrament meeting and had a sustaining vote for them to welcome them back. It was great and you could see how happy the family was. It was awesome! Later sunday night, the elders quorum president, us, the bishop and the teacher quorum president went and visited the families. tHey said they felt great at church and are excted to start coming back. it was a great feeling.

we also had a focus on putting a fire under the visiting teaching and home teaching efforts. Hopefully for the month of november the percentage can go up. We also planned for a way for the ward as a whole to help us find people to contact and teach. This will help them see the miracle of conversion, and hopefully strengthen their testimonies as well. We hope that we can carry this plan out in the next coming weeks. We presented all of this in the ward council meeting and everyone thought it was a great idea. Sounds like every one is on board and ready to work. i hope it works and people go through with it.

THanks for the idea about mutual. Thats awesome and i didnt even think about that. I dont know if they even have mutual but ill find out if they do, and if they do, my companion and i will be sure to do an activity with them soon!

My companion. He is great. a great teacher, a great person and awesome at gaining the confidence of the members and investigators. which is critical. He lost his agenda, which is huge. Its been hard to work without it because he had a lot of good things in there that would have good to have, but its also been good but i have been forced to learn how to use my agenda, and instead of me relying on his agenda and the numbers we record in his, we are relying on mine. Its good, im developing good habits with it and im learning how to use it. I was always told how critical it is in the mtc and now i see why. its like a soldiers gun in war.

Im eating great. the mamitas are feeding us well every day and i havent had diarrhea yet..so thats good. Calm before the storm i guess. We ate with a great family yesterday. The mom and dad are fantastic, they have 3 boys and are awesome. Anyway, to make a long story short, they asked me about my family and asked what were some the things that I learned from you and mom. I was able to tell them about the ppi´s, family nights, morning prayer and scripture, meals together and fun family activities. They are trying to do the exact same things, even ppi´s which was awesome to hear. The spirit bore witness to me of what a great blessing all of those family things were, and personal time i had with you and mom and what those meant to me. I could see that those parents wanted the best for there kids and are doing those things which will teach there kids how to behave, how to be servants of the lord on their missions, and how to raise a family. They are awesome and they reminded me of how great you and mom are. I love you both. I tell you a lot but its never enough. Thanks.

Anywho, we are still busting it! Still gotta keep working within the ward and among the investigators, doing what missionaries do! I love it. i feel like a missionary and i love knowing that i have almost a full two years ahead of me of the experiences i have had in the past two weeks. Its only gonna get better. perhaps harder, but better. Bring it.

Im reading Jesus the Christ right now. Loving it. My love for the savior is immense and hes why im here doing what im doing. I love him.

JAGE

11/01/2011-Quito, Ecuador

Hola!

Familia! Yo siento que yo no he escrito ustedes en mucho tiempo!

I am just going to apologize right now, I dont have much time at all. I am really sorry, but my companion didnt want to plan last night for p-day because its p-day. and as a result, we havent studied today, our email time is being cut short and I have no idea how to write president. So I still have to do that and we have an appointment here in about an hour. FRUSTRATING! Ill talk about that in a sec!

First off, congrats danny on receiving 100percent on your test. Julianne, im super excited about your new car, wish i could see it.. Mom and Dad, hope you are excited for Hawaii! you deserve it. Owen, Happy BIRFDAY! Sarah happy birthday! Grandma millet happy birthday! Happy halloween! Josh, keep tearing it up and I hope you sack hyped-up homeboy 5 times on Friday. Wyatt, dont you fall down those stairs! Lauren and Brian I love you, email me. Y marie and cason, igualmente. Linds and trav, Im excited for your baby! Jeff, hope you're enjoying sports center :).

Alot has happened in the last couple weeks! cant believe im actually here. Its flown!

Let me just say that after the short time i had in Quito, Its awesome! Very cool city, perfect climate, and lots of cool stuff to see. President and his wife are great! They remind me of someone from back home but I cant quite put my finger on it. They had ton of food for us when we got there and was very nice. We had a great chat. He is a really easy going guy and very open. But, you can also tell, that he expects a lot, as he should. I felt like I was at home for the few hours we were there. It was mainly just to interview, get briefed a little bit and relax from the travel. It was great.

That night we went and slept with some elders in the area. It was cool to talk to them, get there opinions on how everything goes down and what is expected, what to do, things like that. I was great. The next morning, we woke up, got briefed on everything, received our cards, health info, mission rules, and learned about all the different areas in the mission. After that, we received our companions and areas! Im in esmeraldas, San Rafael, with Elder Cuenca. Our area is nuts! I feel like im in Africa and the other elders told me that this is the craziest area of the mission. I dont know if its true because i havent been anywhere else. Ask Michelle. But anyway, i really like it and we have been working hard. We have already found 4 new families to teach, but only one of them came to church. A bunch of baptismal commitments and people that came to church. We´ll see how this next weeks goes with them and if they come to church next week. Its seriously so fun. Its hard work, it hot and humid, but a good thing is that i can understand just about anything that anyone says. The hombre's spanish seriously helped with how much they cut words off and stuff like that becasue everyone here does that too. Its pretty rare to find people that speak really clearly but its good that i can understand those that dont! Now, speaking is a different story. I can get my idea across and basically say whatever I want, but its pretty bad. My accent is decent but my grammar is terrible. I'll leave it at that.

My comp is great! We work hard, we are obedient. He is a great trainer! Im learning a lot!

The mission got real really fast! I am really loving it and for the 5 days ive been here i've learned alot. Quick story. Last night we had a ward coucil meeting in which the focus was missionary work. The bishop was looking for ways for the ward to be better and ways that they can help us get more work. We came up with some great ideas and hopefully we can start using them tomorrow. But, the bishop, a stud by the way, was concerned with the ward. He said that nobody is doing hometeaching or visiting teaching, that the primary is really disorganized and that the young mens and young womens programs were struggling. He touched on this briefly and then moved on. I think just to make us aware. Anyway, the meeting ended and we left. About half way between our apartment and the chapel, my companion realized he forgot his bag so we turned back. The bishop was the only one there. We went in and found him just sobbing. It was very sad and you can tell that he carrying a great burden. Im crying just thinking about it. He tried to cover it up but it was obvious. We told him that we are here to work and that if he needs anything, that he can tell us and that we will get it done. We are really going to try and help the ward and get more members attending, and get people to magnify their callings. Its frustrating because coming from such a great ward, I know of the blessings that those people are missing. Luckiliy they have a great bishop who is doing his best. Obviously there are the strong in the ward who do most everything. But, still, this will likely be our focus in the coming weeks. If you have any suggestions, please let us know.

I love you all! This work is real! Im loving it and learning a lot. The spirit is strong and giudes us and touches the hearts of the prepared. I know that Christ lives.

Thanks family! I love you.

JAGE