Elder Burch π: "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.