02/12/2012

Hola!

Hearing about hawaii brings back a lot of fun memories! How much fun did we have on maui? goodness that was a blast. I remember it pretty well! I remember Josh and I bought a football the first day. It was one of those foam ones that when it gets wet, it has the perfect weight to size ratio and you can almost put it into orbit. We were on the beach about 75 yards apart, or so it seemed, hucking it back and forth. We played catch for hours, and got burned SO bad. We ignored the sunscreen warnings from mom, and paid the consiquence. HA! Also, jumping off the cliff that was there close, watching the whales, the food and almost all of it. Great trip. Glad you guys are having fun. 

This week was a good week. We found about 3 new families and we actually have a programa now. (programa: the people who we are working with.) One family is super hard to get a hold of. They have a little nursery they run out of there house. When I told them what dad does they were way excited and we had something to talk about at first. It was a great way to get to know them.. The dad of this family drives a moto taxi on the side. (its a three wheeled scooter with seats enough for 3 people or 4 missionaries. haha) ill try and send pictures of one. they are super fun. Also, another family we found is of 6. they are super kind and all the kids are great. The dad has a mechanic shop he runs out of his house too that he has had for 30 years. All of his kids help him with it, including the girls. The girls know more about cars and how to fix them than I do, I swear. Anyway, great families. The only problem is that we have been in Santo Domingo for the past 4 days. La Concordia, where we are, is about an hour outside of Santo Domingo. Just a little city of about 20,000. But it sits right on the border of the province of Santo Domingo and Esmeraldas. The city currently belongs to Esmeraldas, and I guess they arent doing anything to support the city. They are a lot of resources in La Concordia so I guess its pretty wanted. But, This weekend there was a vote to switch to Santo Domingo. So, we talked about it with President. The army came in on Wednesday to keep things under control but people were still saying that it was going to get crazy. So president sent us to Santo Domingo from Thursday to this morning. Church was cancelled and it was expected to be WW3 here, with people burning in the streets, cars getting flipped and buildings blowing up. But, just like everything else that gets hyped up, nothing happened. The only thing that happened is that we basically abandoned our investigators for the week. But, President told us to do it so we did. Santo Domingo won and people are happy here. Oh well, I know the Lord looked out for our investigators and I hope they have been reading the Book of Mormon and praying. 

We had an interesting experience this past week. We were contacting and contacted into a DEEP catholic family. They were very welcoming and kind. We talked for a bit and then talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We got to baptism and the dad started into some big theory of his, how when people get baptized, and then after, they sin, they are mocking God. Clearly there is a lack of understanding of the Atonement in almost every one we talk with. But, he started to get angry and started to tell us that the way that we baptize, and work, is wrong. He said, "I am not going to get baptized until Jesus Christ himself comes knocking and says, all is well, you can now get baptized.(basically)" We let him rant for a little bit and Elder Rogers and I were both grinning at eachother as he finished. we both knew what needed to be said. I then told him that we as missionaries bring the truth, and that we speak directly with every one so that they can know exactly what they need to do, but that we do it with love. I then told him that we are representatives of the Savior, and that we are guided and directed by Him, through the spirit to those who are ready. I testified that as Representatives of Him, we knocked his door for a reason, to invite him to do what Jesus Christ himself would invite him to do. I said, "He has knocked your door. If you are ready and willing, here we are to help you. If not, fine, there are people waiting and ready to do what he has commanded." I dont think I have ever spoke more directly with any one in my life, or testified stronger, not to mention that my spanish was on. I felt the spirit so strong and as Elder Rogers testified as well, we did all we could. They were left speechless and didnt say anything. We knew they were upset a little bit but I was not going to leave his home without him knowing that his door had been knocked. They didnt accept for a return appointment, but we left them with a pamphlet and our number. They might have taken offense, but we testified and invited, in a kind but very direct way. 

Not much else happened this week. Just visiting our investigators and trying to help them progress. Working in other missionarie's sectors for a long period of time is fun, but frustrating too. It was alright though. I learned a lot from the missionaries we stayed with. It was a good time but I'm glad to get back to work in our sector. 

I didnt get the package this week, or the letter dad. Likely this coming week. Thanks for sending them I cant wait. Thanks for the prayers, thoughts, emails, and love. Good to hear from you. Les Amo muchisimo!

Elder Burr