"When I think that I can't do this, you promise me that I'll get through this..."

Today Jimmy Eat World is playing here in Missoula. At the Wilma. And I won't be able to go. *cries*

Sandwiches of all kinds,

This week, all the new missionaries got moved to their new areas. In this district, we are now blessed to have the incredibly excited, diligent Sister Arnson serving with the ever-smiling Sister Lystrup, the laid-back Elder Smith now serving with the dignified Elder Stone, the sincere Sister Lewis serving with the optimistic, humble Sister Hymas, and Elder Clement of Mesa, Arizona, Westwood High School serving with the stylin' Elder Wright. In short, this district rocks. Amen, and amen.

One thing I've come to find out here is just how cheap talk really is. Take that as you will.

Saturday was a day of miracles. I will be brief about it, because I'm still trying to take it all in, but, in short, we have two new investigators. We have a lesson with one of them tonight at five, and a we will be calling the other before too long to set something up. We tracted a lot on Saturday, walked about twelve miles, and were blessed immensely. I am impressed stronger than ever before that God is really, truly mindful of His children, and is willing to bless them. I am so grateful that I get to be an instrument in His hands to bring about this great work. I just.. yeah. I feel humbled, and blessed, and overwhelmed, and I know that I need to do better to improve daily at this whole thing. That's that. Sorry for being so indirect. 

We helped a less active clean up her horse's poop. That was fun. We played twenty questions, and one of the best ones was "a hobbit." 
Me: "Is it an animal I would see in a given year?"
Elder Ray: "Oh, no. No, no, no."
"Is the animal currently living?"
"No."
"... Has the animal ever been currently living?"
"Nope!"
"Ah! Gotcha..."

We went to a car show Saturday morning to get out there and be seen by the community in a more normal, less threatening situation. That, and we wanted to look at cars. I won't lie about that. 

Nice people are nice. And by that, I mean that members who feed us make the world go round. Thank you, people!

Elder Holland (who I'm coming to see more and more as one of the greatest orators in the Quorum of the Twelve) gave a talk at the MTC, and it appears in the March 2001 Ensign. It is called "Missionary Work and the Atonement." He talks about missionary work specifically, but I think it also applies to daily discipleship and living what we know. I will add a few little commentaries in the following excerpts. 

"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?

You will have occasion to ask those questions. ... I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?

If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.

The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

Missionary work isn't easy. Neither is living the gospel as a devoted disciple of Christ. It's rough. People mock. We question. We are downtrodden sometimes. Sometimes, though, when it seems like nothing you do is making any progress, that nothing you do is changing anything, remember that sometimes that thing that is changing is you. 

Keep being awesome. Rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

"... Its my life, and my right to use it like I should. Like He would for the good of everything that I would ever know."



(Mom insert - This is more about his "Day of Miracles" on Saturday that I thought was too wonderful not to share. God is so good!)

Saturday... We had just been tracting for a good, long while. We were done hitting up every door, and we were instead heading down the road to contact a potential investigator or something. As we are walking down the street, the Spirit hits me hard, and I stop. "We need to knock this door." So, we do. There is no answer, the house sounds quiet, and we can hear a dog barking on the other side of the door. Ah, well. Good for following promptings anyway. We head out, and start walking down the street. A little down the road, we hear a voice, yelling at us. We turn around, and the man from that house was out front, waving us back in. He invited us right in, we sat down, and he said, "So, what're you doing? Spreading the word?" "Um, yeah. Yes, sir." He motioned with his arms to go on, and said, "Well, what have you got for me?" The conversation that followed was incredible. The man had grown up Catholic, and believes in God, and knows that God is the way, but he is afraid because he feels like he only goes to God when he is in trouble, and he knows that he will sin and turn away from God again. He has been in a depressed funk for the last month - complications with his last relationship and his desire to be there for his two young daughters has been eating at him, and he doesn't know a way out. He expressed that he just feels like he needs to get out into the world, and that will help. Elder Ray bore powerful testimony of the atonement of Christ, and we talked about God's Plan of Happiness. "I really feel like you guys showing up today was a kind of sign." We exchanged numbers, and said we'd call him and come back to teach him more. I don't know what will come of this contact, but even if nothing else, I now have a burning testimony that God is mindful of each of His children in their needs. As we left the lesson, walking down the doorstep, I lost it. Tears came down like fountains and I bawled as we walked down the road to our next destination. I looked to the sky and marveled at His goodness, at His grace, and at His love. I know He lives. I know He loves us. 

Kambale Family and Sis. Gee

The first (and currently the only) short
sleeve shirt day since September-ish

Big Dipper Ice Cream to celebrate another transfer
of awesome with Elder Ray in Zootown, Missoula!

Earth Day selfie

Elder Ray made elk burgers!
They were "quite good, quite good."

Cleaning up horse crap

Weird little ice cream trucks like this make Missoula what it is.
This place was crazy! The lemon-dairy dessert was excellent.

***Awesome side-note***

Elder Burch and Elder Ray were able to hook up with 
Uncle Rick and Tom Linton before their concert!

With Uncle Rick - A p-day to remember!

"Get up, get up! Sing it like you're screaming at me..."

Children of the Most High,

(That is all of y'alls, by the way.)

I am a little frustrated because I had a near-finished draft of this main email, and it somehow was just lost when I had to switch back to the app. Lame. I'll see what I can't remember and replicate/make better.

This week was a little hazy. Tracting can be hard, especially in the constant overcast gloom and interspersed intervals of rain. As we were tracting one of the days, nobody was home! So, as we went house to house, we did critique the exterior home decoration of each of the houses. It was fun.

We finally were able to set a lesson with a less active family that we've been trying to meet with for a while. It is a father and his son, who is sixteen. As we arrived, we were immediately greeted with a warm welcome from the son, Jaden, and some home-grilled hamburgers courtesy of Jaden's knack for culinary art. (Speaking of culinary art, there is a Cafe Rio in Missoula, and I'm pretty sure we've eaten there to the order of eight or nine times. If members feed us and we go out for dinner, it is always to Cafe Rio. Always. The best way to go, I think, is to get the special every time. If you don't like the special, just go with a sweet pork burrito, enchilada style. My mother taught me the virtue of the sweet pork. Thank you, Mom. Back to the story.) As we visited and ate, the dad started reminiscing on and on about how much he had enjoyed the times when the missionaries would come to their home all the time, and how he could definitely go for those days again. I think they have desire and just need a little push to come back to activity. We left on a good note, and they told us to come back next week. We will, indeed!

The Kambale family is progressing well. The ward is excellent at fellowshipping.

Our new investigator got busy this week, but we are excited to meet with her on Wednesday! She's awesome.

District meeting! I forgot to make any of the plans or any of the calls because the baptism was just so stressful to set up. I had to make do. To begin, we had Elder Wells come up. Elder Wells,er, Christian, is currently back in his home in American Fork (American Fark), Utah. To send him off, we gave him a sympathy card and flowers. It was funny. Elder Ray gave a great discussion on prayer, and then I led a discussion on the tender mercies of the Lord. I will talk about that more in the spiritual thought. At the end, I opened up the floor to testimonies. Definitely the best "definitely not a cop-out" ever. The Spirit was strong.

"The [Nissan] Juke is the new [Volkswagen] Beetle!" - Elder T. Ray

Okay, spiritual thought. We talked about the tender mercies of the Lord. Tender mercies are those little blessings and miracles that we see every day. Never flashy, but always miraculous. Tender mercies are God's way of reminding us that He is mindful of each and every one of us, and that becomes so apparent when we take the time to look for that and see His hand in our lives. As we talked, we had each person write a list of the tender mercies of the Lord that they had seen in the last transfer. We had limited time, but the lists are nonetheless inspiring. (The list will be included at the end.) "I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." (1 Nephi 1:20)

Thank you all for your continued love and prayers and stuff. It means a lot.

Rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

Tender Mercies:
When you walk into the store and One Direction is playing
Being able to see people from my past areas
Members saying that even though they didn't know me before my mission, they're so excited for who I have become
Thinking "I need a blessing" and then someone coming up to you and saying "I was prompted to ask you if you need a blessing"
People who gave me water
Seeing a member on a bike while tracting
Being able to talk cars with a dude in his garage
A member giving us a ride in the rain
The sun coming out
Being just in time to catch someone who accepted to see the Easter video
Walmart finding and returning my iPad
Getting letters in the mail
Street contacting a rad new investigator
Finding service
Unexpected Sunday dinnero
Spiritual prompting while walking
25% off sale at the store
The Missoula carousel!
Catching an investigator while he was awake
Members feeding us well
Connecting with a companion
Random grocery cart in Wal-mart
Talking with Jay
Teaching Melody
Elder Burch making us Lunch!!
Elder Wells made my bed once
Exchanges with both Elder Ray and Elder Stone
Member of YSA taking a box of stuff home for me
Getting fed well in a YSA
Being able to get members present lessons last minute
Sheila giving us cake and ice cream
My grandma sending me homemade jelly
Talking to Mike with Elder Stone while we were on bikes
My companion
Being able to interview with President
Swig cookies from President price
Frank Sinatra at the village
Tracting into Kellie (sweetest person) after talking w a big jerk
Finding Stephanie after a really long day of no success- most spiritual door approach on my entire mission
Tracting into members who had cookies right out of the oven- spirit led us to their house
Referral from Bozeman
Elder Wright
My zone leaders
My district leader
My district
My Zone
The members
All the referrals we've received
Someone paying for my food when I was running out of money
All the hot water I want
An uplifting quote sent from my mother during a rough time
Receiving packages and letters in the mail, especially after a rough day
The weather- sunshine, the smell of rain, blue skies, fresh air, etc... it brings me joy.
Migrating birds flying overhead- I enjoy the sound and wildlife/nature in general
After a few hours of tracting with little success, we found someone who was super cool, nice, and willing to let us share a message.
Megan, who was a less active's wife. She wanted to learn more and set up her own appointment!
Heidi inviting us right in where we had a good discussion about Christ, where the spirit was very strong.
Finding Jennifer after a long evening of finding and biking. She was the last door we tried and she let us teach her at the doorstep. Again, the spirit was strong.
Debby inviting us in after another long, hard night. She was super sweet and she said if we ever need milk and are in the area we could stop by.
Tracting into a member who gave us cookies and milk. We also shared the Easter video and it was cool because they had been looking for it but couldn't find it.
Cliff who is such a character and he makes my companion and I laugh so hard! Harder than I have in a long time.
Suzanne taking us hiking and getting to watch and play with her dog. Plus, the area was very picturesque with the new layer of snow among the trees.
Elder Burch feeding us lunch! (Elder Wright remind me!)
Tracting, lady wasn't interested but gave us jars of water
Less active we called said she wasn't interested but said she would feed us
Hearing favorite songs from back home, when I walk into a restaurant
Getting emails on a night when I'm struggling
Seeing sheep
Getting to be with missionaries that I love and have served around before.
Exchanges with good friends
Being complimented by random people
Having food payed for
Beautiful scenery that remind me of home, and of Heavenly Father's goodness and Love
A family gave an Easter ham
We saw a less active in Superior at the store she worked at
We found candy in our truck, after a rough time of tracting.
We were both sick, and so we cancelled our dinner appointment, and the family we cancelled on brought us homemade soup.
A caring companion
Prepared families
A serving ward
His love
The rain
The members from Shopko
No allergies yet
President's care and advice
My zone leaders
The comic relief in the district


"... I love the way you make it look so easy. East coast, west coast, show me what you got now, let's go, let's go!"

Elder Ray and I stumbled upon the church cultural hall
set up for a dance. Naturally, we took dance pictures.

We got Elder Wells a card and flowers

Lois Lane

What a nerd!

Missoula Zone!

Easter Dinner

"It just takes some time..."

Good morning, vast legions,

This will be a quicker email, because I am currently unaware of the location of my iPad, and I have limited time on this computer. Also, this means that the only pictures you'll be getting until I find my tablet will be this stupid selfie of me taken on my small, digital camera. If this thing has an SD port. Lovely.

This week! We did a few things, like go on exchanges with the YSA Elders. Elder Wells goes home on Friday! He was the assistant that welcomed me into the mission! How cool/weird/sad/happy is that? Also, I'm getting older. Gulp. 

We were tracting and got caught in the rain! We got soaked! Like, really soaked! It was lame, but also super worth it for the story!

We met some nice people. All of those nice people weren't interested. That is, until...

Tracting once again! We had picked a street that we were determined to hit in its entirety, so we did. While there, we met a six year old girl who challenged my faith.

Little girl: "What're you guys doing?"
Me: "Talking about Jesus!"
"He died, right?"
"Yes, but He lived!"
"... Liar. Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

The taunts were almost too much for my fragile little testimony, but I pressed onward in faith. We came across two women having a smoke on their front porch, and chatted with them for a little bit. They were quite nice, and were very receptive to the Easter video about Christ (https://www.mormon.org/). We asked if we could come back, and one of them said, "My aunt is LDS and will be here on Sunday - you can come back then!" Rad. More on that to come...

We just got a call from Walmart saying they found my iPad. Yesssssss. The Lord provides, guys. It's true. Also, nice people are nice. 

Joel and Wakati were baptized on Saturday! Getting the baptism to happen was a massive headache due to rescheduling and finding rides and way more than we should have had to deal with, but it worked out. It was out in Frenchtown, and it was marvelous. There were many of Joel's friends there, also from the DRC, and it was a neat thing to see the difference in culture. After the performance of the baptismal service, they gave some light claps and cheers of joy. It was awesome to see such excitement and joy over the gospel and the joy of Christ. The ward is so excited to have the Kambale family in the ward - so many people have told me that they just sparkle, and bring such a good spirit with them! Bishop Calkins is excited to welcome them in, and talked to us and said, "I think this is exactly what the ward needed. A little excitement over the Spirit of God and the gospel and missionary work." I'm stoked for teaching the wife through the language barrier, and I think many of his friends would also be interested. Pray for us...

That woman we mentioned who said we could come back? Well, we did come back! We had just missed her family, but she grabbed a smoke or three and joined us outside on the porch. We visited casually with her again, and then asked if we could share a message about the gospel. She accepted, and we were going to teach the Restoration, but she asked some questions, and we were ultimately impressed to share the Plan of Salvation instead. She said, and I quote, "I love this! You guys are awesome. This is what I believe, but better!" Yes, yes that is exactly what it is! She invited us back this evening to teach her again, and we left her with a Restoration pamphlet and an invitation to pray about the message. 

This whole week, I have been enthralled with the goodness of the Lord. He loves us, and He loves all of his children. When we are willing to do what we're supposed to do, He will provide. 

I've also been thinking about the relationship between virtue and power. The root word for virtue actually means strength. When we are virtuous, always abounding in good works and being filled with light, truth, knowledge, and goodwill, we are privy to the power of God. When Christ was on the earth, His miracles were performed through virtue. When we are virtuous, we are endowing ourselves with power from on high. I have more thoughts on this, but I don't know how to explain them, and I don't know if they're horribly important to eternal salvation. Ask me sometime, though! We'll have a conversation. 

Keep being awesome. Love you all. Rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

"...Everything, everything will be alright."

"Depart from iniquity and journey to higher ground."
Joseph B. Wirthlin

Hood ornament

With Elder Wells

Snacking Selfie

"I'm through accepting limits 'cause someone says they're so..."

Good day to those from any and all tribes of Israel,

        This week was jammed packed full of learning experiences and
introspection. Let us begin with exchanges.

        Last Monday through Wednesday morning, I had the privilege of
participating in exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I went into their
area with Elder Stone, and the learning began from the getgo. Elder
Stone knows what is up. He works hard, and I think I truly learned the
meaning of the phrase "talk with everyone" found in Preach My Gospel.
In finding, teaching, and lunch, Elder Stone sought to open his mouth
to proclaim the truth of the gospel to everyone. A little awkward
sometimes? Yes, absolutely. Heck, he talked to a woman in Jimmy John's
about the gospel and gave her a Book of Mormon. Notwithstanding any of
the awkward, such attempts to open his mouth led to finding several
new people who are interested in the gospel. The example of diligence
and obedience was awesome to see. It'll be a bit before I fully
internalize it for myself, but now I know what it looks like and I can
strive to be that way in the future.

        District meeting was on Wednesday, and it was awesome! We got to know
one another, and discussed ways that we can better teach by the Spirit
and follow promptings to do the Work. I have always enjoyed
interaction in district meetings, so that's the way we do them - with
lots of crowd interaction and camaraderie. This district, too, is
amazing. Seriously, I couldn't ask for anything better. The perfect
mix of consecrated and personal, excited and humble, diligence and
desire. These Elders and Sisters really tear it up. I think the
district put three people on date for baptism in the last week! (Shout
out to the YSA Elders for having two of those.) I'm so stoked about
this district and can't wait to work with them more. This transfer
doesn't have too much longer, though! So lame! I hope that it'll still
be as awesome after things get shuffled a bit. I know they will be -
I'll make sure I have a loving attitude and make it awesome.

        The Kambale family is doing splendidly! We were able to help them
watch three sessions of Conference (from last October) in their native
language of Swahili, and they very much enjoyed it! Joel,
specifically, retained quite a bit from what he saw, and we're just so
excited for them. Interviews on Tuesday. Their baptism is set for
Saturday at one o'clock. It has been so long since I've seen one of
those that it doesn't seem real. Gah, so amped for that!

        There is a cute place around town called Big Dipper Ice Cream. It is
super good. Expensive, sure, but super good. Which brings me to my
next point: An eating plan. Elder Ray and I have decided to institute
a plan for eating healthier. Sure, this includes things such as
limiting eating out to once a week and adding fruit to our diets and
having salads for lunch, but one of my most favorite parts of this
plan is our Tuesday night reward plan: Tuesday nights is designated as
Big Dipper night. Worth it for the ice cream.

        General Conference was superb, per usual. It's hit me a lot more
since being a missionary. I'll share one of my many insights, and that
was from President Joy Jones. She commented that being able to resist
temptation and use repentance - and teaching these important things to
our children - comes in four steps. First, we must recognize the
importance of resisting sin and repenting when we mess up. Second, we
must understand the doctrine. An understanding of the doctrine of
Christ and the reality of His atonement puts repentance in its proper
light as a joyous way to help us become clean and better ourselves.
Third, we must practice personal daily discipleship. Each day requires
new courage and new strength to face the trials of our day, and
remembering the basic things like scripture study, charity, Sabbath
observance, family home evening, and giving service helps us to keep
our focus on what is important, and keeps us anxiously engaged in a
good cause. Remember that it isn't enough to merely not do bad, we
must actively seek to do good. Finally, fourth, she stressed the
importance of integrity in daily life and in making and keeping sacred
covenants with the Lord. Such covenants are promises that we will
strive to be our best each day, and to follow our Savior, and when we
are loyal to those covenants, when we have the moral integrity to
follow what we know to be true and right, we are blessed with the
Lord's promise of showers of blessings upon us in return.

        I love conference, when we are able to hear the words of the Lord
through His duly ordained servants. This gospel is true, ladies and
gentlemen. God is at the helm. We have no need to fear.

        Thank you for your continued love and support. Rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

        "... Some things I cannot change, but 'til I try, I'll never know."

Lunch at Hoagieville with Elders
Ray, Stone and Ison

The Kambale Family!
Look at them mimicking my 'rock n roll' hands!

Praise Kambale. Her name is Praise.
How cool is that?

Stop. Hammer Time!

My General Conference Facebook Post