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
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
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