“A place they say glistens gold...”

Brigham Young must’ve been mistaken when he declared the Salt Lake Valley as the new Zion for the saints, because arriving here in Powell, Wyoming, I have never been more sure that “This is the right place.” 

Similarly, I’ve been blessed to not only be in a beautiful land humming with the potential of the gospel, but to be here with Elder Bly, who I am confident will swiftly become one of my best friends.

If that wasn’t enough, I also get the chance here to serve in the first Young Single Adult ward of my mission, along with two other blessed family wards, Powell 2nd and Powell 4th. True, it makes for a long Sunday worth of church services, along with way too many names for me to learn, but it will all be worth it. I love Powell, I love my companion, and I love the Work in which we are engaged. The Lord has suffered me to come at this time to a land of promise, and I can only hope that I will do Him proud while I am here.

To put a topper on it, this might be my last area of my mission. That isn’t doctrine, but it could very well be a reality. Time will tell...

Until that time, though, let’s talk about some things from this week!

Transfers were successful. I was blessed to see many people at the transfer site in Helena, including Elder Ash, who I haven’t seen in almost six months! I didn’t snap a picture, unfortunately, but I did get a picture of the magnificent quad of Elder Brown, Elder Lester, Elder Campbell, and myself, so look for that at the end. The ride was uneventful, primarily consisting of myself and Elder Carter reminiscing about the MTC, until we got a call that the mission Silverado lugging the trailer full of our luggage had ran out of gas merely three miles out of Columbus, Montana. So, we rushed back and rescued them from their predicament.

We arrived in Powell on Wednesday night, and have done good work in the days since arriving here. Elder Bly is a man of many duck noises, from the land of Henderson, Nevada, and he likes hunting. He’s super easy to get along with, we have already developed several inside jokes, and he is a hard working missionary. I really like him.

Some of the week’s highlights include:

- Attending institute and trying to memorize the names of the YSA
- Having dinner with some wonderful member families
- Receiving a myriad of referrals, include three for people who are likely to become solid new investigators.
- Weekly planning in which we set dates for exchanges with the district leaders, which includes me getting to go to my first area, Greybull / Basin, for a day! (I am psyched for that.)
- Having a convert baptism of one of the best people I’ve met on the mission

... What was that, Elder Burch? Did you say a baptism?

Why, yes, careful readers, I did.

Kaili has a crazy story that I won’t go too far into, but the short of it is that while living in Thermopolis, she connected with a woman named Kelly who had similar trials to her, and yet seemed joyful in all her doings. Kaili told Kelly that she wanted to be just like her, and Kelly responded, “Then you should look into the Book of Mormon.” Flash forward to Kaili attending the Northwest College here in Powell, Wyoming, and she does, indeed look into the Book of Mormon. She attended institute, and was quickly befriended by the wonderful members of the magnificent Powell YSA. That was back in January. Back to today, Kaili is now a baptized and confirmed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and she has already insistently inquired as to when she can receive a calling to serve in the church. She was baptized by her friend Logan, who has also decided to seal the whole thing by getting down on one knee and asking Kaili if she’d like to be with him for time and all eternity.

Family and friends, the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was described as a “marvelous work and a wonder,” and how true does that statement ring in my first five days serving our Father in Heaven in the blessed land of Powell, Wyoming.

It will only get better from here.

Rock and roll ~

-Elder Stephen Burch π

“... I want to go there and never come back home.”

The Quad Of Power

Saying goodbye to Anna

Kaili and Logan

I wasn’t ready for the picture,
but that is what Elder Bly looks like!

Wyoming has a unique beauty to it.
This is a picture out the window
on the road from Powell to Cody.

"Boy, you was battle born."

This week was a fairly eventful week. There was a huge art show in town. The Out West Art show, to be specific, and we gave a fair amount of service at that. It was really neat to see all the different styles of art (I really like art), including a guy who does hammer and chisel. He was working with a type of rock that is essentially lava which erupted underwater and made a foamy expanded obsidian. It was neat, but I agree with his feelings that you can't get as much detail as on other rocks. He says people like the obsidian because it looks contemporary. I looked in his book of older projects and I like his other stuff more. Even still, very cool!

We had exchanges with the River's Edge elders, and I was able to spend the day with Elder Hallett. We had a fantastic spiritual lesson with an investigator named Josh. We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (through Christ we can be cleansed from sin, faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, (sacrament), and enduring to the end). As we shared the experience from Matthew 3 of Christ being baptized, Josh really felt something. "That gives me tingles. I bet God was really proud. It makes me want to do that." Long story short, he is on date for baptism on April 20th. (420! We joked about that briefly.) They're awesome investigators. Too bad I won't be there for the baptism because...

I'm being transferred! This might be my last experience serving in Montana. They're shipping me back to my old stomping grounds. Not exactly, but close enough. I'm going back to the Wyoming West Zone (Wyoming Best Zone) to serve in Powell, Wyoming, which is roughly an hour drive from my very first area of Greybull/Basin. I am excited to be back there (not in the least bit because of the sales tax I will once again have to pay (otherwise they'll send me to Federal Dungeon for tax evasion... again (no, still))), and I am excited to do the work! Elder Bly, here I come! Elder Bly is really cool, dedicated, and hardworking, and I am excited to be his companion. 

I think that is all for now. Enjoy the pictures! Thank you for all you do! Rock and roll ~

- Elder Burch π

"When they break your heart, and when they cause your soul to mourn, remember what I said..."

Giving service at the food bank during the BSA food drive

Elder Shumway, Me, Elder Hallett, and Elder Brown

Elder Brown and I after we helped this guy
unload is statues with the crane on his truck

Dinosaurs are cool

The guy that does the hammer and chisel art

Some of his art

The Bergs

"The haze clears from your eyes on a Sunday..."

Everyone! 

This week was a little less jam packed. We had fewer lessons than we had wanted, but we also had President Ballard visit our mission, along with Elder Evanson and Elder Anderson of the Seventy. That was really cool. We weren't able to go, but we met at the Great Falls East stake center and watched from afar. Even cooler, when President Ballard opened up the floor for questions, I was able to text Sister Wadsworth and my question was asked by proxy. (Sort of like baptisms for the dead? Maybe not.) It was cool. My main takeaways from the experience were:

- I need to use Preach My Gospel more in every aspect of my work and study, including personal and companionship studies. 

- Members are the key in missionary work. (I know this one, and I keep getting reminded, but then I get impatient with how slow and unpredicatable it is to work with members, but then I get reminded again that I can't do anything of my own power and that the Lord is key and this is his way. So, yeah. OP. Members are awesome.)

- "Faith and hope bring the power in our lives and make future promises present realities." - Elder Anderson

- "Write Down A Date" (Elder Ballard Oct. 1984 General Conference)

- Inadequacies are solved when we have faith, love, and excitement. Increasing our knowledge through diligent studies will make us feel more adequate. We should remember to place our trust in the Lord, not ourselves, because He is always adequate, even if we are not, and he will qualify us for what we have been called to do if we go to Him and do our best. 

After the broadcast, we went to the Roadhouse Diner with Elder Shumway and Elder Hallett. The Roadhouse Diner is probably the best place I've eaten so far in Great Falls, and is one of the better eateries I've visited on the mission. They grind all their beef in house and get their buns from Great Harvest across the street. Anyway, Elder Shumway and I ordered the Widowmaker burger, which includes habanero, serano, and jalapeno peppers. The burger was hot, for sure, but oh, so good. Honestly, one of the better burgers I have ever purchased. It was awesome. Worth it. 

Another cool food story! We were given a gift card to Cafe Rio by a member, and it happened to be Taco Tuesday, so we gladly went to lunch to get multiple $2 tacos and a specialty drink. Upon arriving at the end of the line, a kind woman asked us if that was all for us. "Yep!" I replied. She looked up at us and confirmed, "No military discount or anything?" "No, no," I said, and then added in with a chuckle, "Well, God's army." She laughed, "I'm temped to give it to you for that." The guy behind her said, "Do it!" To which I laughed, and we laughed, and she continued the checkout process. When the total for the two of us came up as $8.97, I was like, "Wait, did you actually-" She nodded. 

And that is the story about how we got a military discount at Cafe Rio from serving the Lord and making a joke. Good times.

I think that is all for now. I hope you have a great week, all y'all!

Rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

________________________

Quotations of the week:

"Is this all for you?" -Cafe Rio person

"Yep!" - Elder Burch

"No military discount?" -CRP

"No, no. Well, God's army."

*she applies the discount*

"We are singing this in English, right?" - Elder Brown

"Let's go fly a kite"

Missionary game night!
Do I look like I could be on the cover of a cheesy
workout video from the eighties in the second picture?

Roadhouse Diner!
My hair looks worse than normal. Forget about it.

Here we go... 

“With the morning comes the rest of my life...”

Jedi and Sith,

I’ve been thinking about time periods, and how certain periods of time seem shorter than others, even if they’re the same length. I don’t really know how to describe it. Like, when I think back on history, the time period between 1947 and 1977 seems a lot longer than the time period between 1776 and 1806, even though they are both periods of thirty years. *shrug* Ah, well

This week was pretty awesome. Good news: We found a new investigator! Bad news: They are currently residing in the Cascade County Regional Prison. But, hey! Everyone needs, the gospel, right?

There have been some really cool experiences with following the Spirit this week. Like, there was this time we had twenty minutes before dinner. What do we do? Twenty minutes is pretty easy to just shrug off, but I had the impression that we needed to try a person, this “new investigator” that was in our area book, but I’d only met once of the numerous times we had tried to contact him. I even said in my heart, “Okay, Spirit, if they don’t answer, or if they DO answer and don’t set a specific return appointment, I am going to drop them.” We parked across the street, said a quick prayer, and knocked on the door. Lo and behold, he was there. And he was cordial. And we set a return appointment for Friday at 3pm (which went great, by the way). As we walked back to our car, I felt like the Spirit was giving me that kind of raised eyebrows I-told-you-so look. And, then we felt to try one other person before heading to dinner, this referral from a member in the other stake. We tried him, and got another specific return appointment. The Spirit is really working with us, and it is cool to see those moments where you realize truly how little you control, and how often God has His finger on your head pointing you to where you need to go.

Sunday morning, we are doing our studies before church, when we hear this rustling over by our washer and dryer. It sounds like a small animal is scratching around back there or something, but we don’t see anything. We’d heard something like this a few days before, but it had stopped relatively quickly, plus we live in a complex, so we figured it must just be the neighbors. This time, it happened again, and the exhaust hose of the drier even moved a little bit. Weird. I tried to pass it off as temperature and pressure changes in the exhaust vent, but continued scratching noises caused that theory to be destroyed. So, we scooted the drier out, and disconnected the vent at the bottom, and kept studying, seeing if anything would happen. It did, but nothing came out, so we finally took the hose out of the hole in the wall, and found a little bird inside of it. We put a torn piece of bread in there for the little guy. Eventually, he flew out, and we had to trap him in a box, but we were eventually able to release him into the outside again, and make it to church on time. Score!

I have been studying agency in the Book of Mormon and I have never had more powerful or insightful study sessions. I highly recommend reading through the entire Book of Mormon with one topic in mind. It’s crazy cool what you might find. Agency is a cool place to start. Helaman 6 is a wild chapter.

Thank you all for reading! I hope you do well. 

Rock and roll ~

Elder Stephen Burch π

“With this empty glass, I will break the past. ... I want this to be my awakening.”

"This [manufactured home] ain't big
enough for the two of us!"

The bird in question

Elder Brown, myself, Elder Lester,
Elder Madsen and Elder Campbell

Ice crystals are cool

Missionary Leadership Conference
Helena, MT

Zone Conference