"I packed my stuff, was on the bus, I can't believe it's true..."

“How long have you been out, Elder?”
“Two years.”

For the record, Elder Taylor and I are at a 3-5 winning history in Monopoly. For clarification, that is me winning with 5. #rekt

This week had many things happen, like exchanges with Lewistown, but I just want to focus on the few things that meant the most to me. This email might be long, but the hope is that it will have a lot of heart. 

The first thing I want to mention is the interviews we had with President Larson on Wednesday. It was cool to have a personal interaction with him, though he is only my mission president for three weeks. President Larson is a young guy, he has a lot of vision, and I think he is exactly what this mission needs at this time. I am grateful for him, and for the love and counsel he gave to me, despite our brevity of interaction. Among other things, we talked about my past mission assignments, my view on the differences between district and zone leadership, music, my plans, and how the mission is in general. He told me to enjoy every second that I have left, and every time something happens for the last time on the mission. I will be seeing him again soon for my departure interview, goodbye dinner, and testimony meeting at the mission home. I am so grateful that we have a Father in Heaven that speaks to us through the whispering of His Holy Spirit, and reveals what people need to do at what times. President Larson’s call as a mission president is inspired of the Lord, just like all service in the church is. I love him, and I sustain him, just as I sustain the Lord’s prophet on the Earth today. 

Ephraim is prepared for baptism! We were able to have his brother serving a mission in California video call in and help us teach the Ten Commandments. I think it really helped him. As the call concluded, the Brother began to weep for Ephraim. I am sure it is because he underwent serious and intense change for the better in his own life because of the gospel, and he is joyed to see his brother experience the same change and joy if he will let it. I am also excited for Ephraim. His baptism is tomorrow at six. Pray for us and for him. 

Perhaps one of the sweetest tender mercies of the Lord I have experienced occurred on Sunday. Last week, Bishop Williams asked me if I would speak the following Sunday (yesterday) about how missionary work brings us closer to Christ. Of course, I love speaking, and accepted and prepared. As I was up on the stand and Bishop conducted the meeting, he announced the youth speaker before me, announced my address, and then finished by saying that the intermediate hymn would be hymn #83, “Guide Us, O Thou Great Jehovah.” I was struck as he said that. Elder David A. Bednar, in his 2005 conference address, entitled “The Tender Mercies of The Lord,” described his experience six months before in General Conference. On that occasion, the intermediate hymn right before he was to speak for the first time as a general authority was hymn #9, “Redeemer of Israel,” his favorite hymn. He discussed how, on that day, he knew the Lord was looking out for him, and cares about him personally enough to give him little reminders of His love, even if just in the form of our favorite song at the right time. At this, my last sacrament meeting as a full time missionary, I felt exactly the same confirmation that the Lord knows me, knows my condition, and loves me so much that he would send me His tender mercies, even if just in the form of a song. My favorite hymn is hymn #83, “Guide Us, O Thou Great Jehovah.”

The words I said in that talk are immaterial, except to say that I know they were true. I know Jesus Christ’s grand commission on this earth is exactly as is stated in Luke 4:18, as he reads from the Book of Isaiah a prophecy about Him, written more than seven hundred years before:

 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”

Heading out to the church group on the Rocky Boy Reservation after that, I was also on the roster to speak. I was without my notes from my last talk, but that was alright because I feel like what I said there was probably better anyway. The Spirit truly will give you the words you need in the very hour that you need them. Among other things, I testified of the Savior Jesus Christ, and His love for all people in all nations and throughout all time. I shared what is to me one of the most powerful scenes in all of scripture, when the Resurrected Lord descends from the sky to the people of the Nephites in the ancient American continent, and identifies Himself by saying: 

“Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.” 

In other words, “That person that has been prophesied to you would come to save you, the one in whom you have so much faith though you have not seen Him, the one who’s name is written on the scriptures that you’ve studied? That is me. I am here, and I am real.” In the next verse, He continues: 

“And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.” 

In other words, “Not only am I the prophesied Messiah, but I did exactly what I promised that I would do. I have worked out your salvation and mine. All that is left now is to continue faithful and follow me.” I love those scriptures! And I love serving on the reservation because as the gospel is preached to them, prophesy is being fulfilled that the gospel would go to the seed of Lehi in the latter-days, after their turning away. 

To finish my account of this last week, I will just say that the Havre ward and the members here are fantastic. They are absolutely wonderful, and I love them. There are families that do so much, make me feel at home, and really love the Lord and their families, and I want to have that example in my life with a family that I will someday raise. So, thank you Havre. It’s been a ride.

The final itinerary is to have Ephraim’s baptism on Tuesday, get me to Great Falls on Thursday night, have me in Billings on Friday, go to the temple Saturday morning and put me in a metal tube back to Phoenix’s own Sky Harbor Airport. It’s a mixed bag of emotions, but I know all things will work out for my good. 

I love my Father in Heaven, and I love His Son, Jesus Christ. I know they live, and I know they love us. I testify of the power, mercy, and grace of The Holy One of Israel, the promised Messiah, of Him who is Mighty To Save. He calls:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

I know His ways are true. That is my testimony, and I bare it in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Arizona, I’ll see you soon.

Rock and roll ~

-Elder Stephen Burch π

“... I’m three days from New York City and I’m three days from you.”

Statue on the Rocky Boy Reservation made of car parts

With a family we teach on the reservation

"Don't wait too long to come home..."

Here we are, at the beginning of another week. It is, indeed, my last full week of missionary service. We'll see where this goes.

This week was good! For the Fourth of July we went to a local event and then spent time with some members in the evening. Nothing too grand of a spectacle, but it was a lot of fun! We have some really excellent members in Havre. I enjoy working with them. 

We had two more lessons with Ephraim, and he is progressing smoothly toward his baptismal date of Wednesday, July 18th. (Three days before I go home - that'll be an awesome thing to see!) He is as energetic is any ten year old would be expected to be, but he is really smart, and it is cool to see how he often is listening well even if it doesn't seem like he is listening at all. We are really trying to make lessons snappy and visual for him. Also! His brother on a mission in California is going to video call in for our lesson on Tuesday! We're pumped for that. 

We spent quite a bit of time in Rocky Boy this week, mostly off of last-minute spiritual promptings. We made a lot of good, solid contacts, and found a new investigator! When we returned on Saturday for our follow up lesson, he had read three chapters from the Book of Mormon and had some great questions that we were able to help answer! It is often really difficult to get commitment on the reservation - most of the time people will say they will do something a hundred times and never do it - so this was a huge step forward. We are hoping to get him to church on Sunday and teaching him the first discussion next time we visit. We are also looking to do some tracting and street contacting out there, perhaps in normal clothes. It seems like people go inside and give us weird looks when they see us walking down the street. Not sure if it is because of our white shirts or white skin. To be determined. I really love working on the reservation with the native people. There is a lot to be done there, and many lives to bless.

On Friday, we went to Helena for a zone conference where we met the Larsons! I will only be a missionary under them for a total of around three weeks, but it was cool to meet them. They are phenomenal, and will definitely be what the mission is in need of right now. They opened things up to a Q&A, and Elder Vargas went right for the throat by starting it all off with "Do you like Star Wars?" Classic Elder Vargas! (The answer was 'yes.')

I gave my departing testimony at that zone conference, too. Elder Brown gave his right before me, and I gave him a hug as he was coming off the stand and I was going up. That was a mistake, because I started crying and it wrecked the whole nice testimony that I was going to bear. Ah, well. I still was able to testify of what I know to be true about God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the truthfulness of the restored gospel. And, I think that would be a good way to end my email. So, here you go:

I know that we are children of a Heavenly Father who loves us. He loves us enough to send us His Son to serve as our Savior, to ransom us from the bonds of sin and death, and to pull us out of the holes we so often dig for ourselves. He is the Redeemer, the promised Messiah, and the Holy One of Israel. He will comfort us when we are hurting and when we are weak, and He will give us direction when we are lost.

He has established His church once again on Earth in these latter days through a prophet called of God to teach the truths of the gospel. These truths are the only way under heaven whereby we can find lasting happiness, real satisfaction, and true richness in our lives. Living the gospel and relying wholly on the merits, mercy, and grace of Jesus the Christ is the only way to grow to reach our potential and thereby obtain eternal life and exaltation with our families and our Heavenly Father.

I know we are led by God through His prophet today. God speaks to us. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom established upon the earth. I know that if we follow the council of prophets and seek to receive and follow our own personal revelation, we need not fear, for God is on our side and will not let us fail. We were never made to fail. We were made to succeed, and to succeed gloriously. Jesus Christ is the one that makes it possible.

I testify of Him who is Mighty to Save. I testify of our Father, of the Holy Ghost, and of the reality of the Plan of Salvation. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Rock and roll ~

Elder Burch π

Missionary - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Montana Billings Mission

"... My, how the years and our youth pass on."

4th of July

I like trains

Ephraim and us 

President and Sister Larson

“I’m just secondhand news...”

Not yet I’m not!

I’ll keep telling myself that.

This week saw the unfortunate and drawn out continuation of the Saga of Sickness of Elder Burch. Nevertheless, some exciting and noteworthy things did occur. Here is the rundown:

There is a family in the ward that has an unbaptized 10 year old son, and that boy has a brother on a mission. The brother’s story is one of zero to hero, an ultimate story of success and finding a direction in life and going for it. The hope is that the same can happen to the young boy we are now teaching. He is as focused as one might expect a ten year old to be, but he is smart and responds well to visual lessons. We’ve been able to knock out the first two discussions, and the tentative baptismal date is for July 18th. Fingers crossed. Please pray for Ephraim.

We went out to the Malta branch on Wednesday for a luau that included a full pig roast, a game of baseball, and some water slides we did not participate in. It was fun. Malta is far away. We listened to a lot of talks.

Saturday there was a big (lol, is anything big here?) event with vendors and food trucks on one street of the Havre downtown. Talked to a lot of people, gave out some pass along cards, bought some food truck food (11/18, on a scale of 3-18) and watched a local group cover Tom Petty. It was a good time.

Sunday, we went to church in Havre (Ephraim made it to the last two hours), and then we headed out to the Rocky Boy Reservation to be a part of the group church service. Those services are some of the most interesting. There usually are between seven and twelve people there, one of whom is an older man named Henry who is fairly recently ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood. Elder Taylor and I bless the sacrament, and Henry passes. After that, we had a brief testimony meeting, followed by a Sunday school lesson. We watched a general conference talk given by a general authority who is of Native American ancestry. Henry really likes those talks. He feels connected. Honestly, driving around the reservation, it is kind of a sad and dismal place. Nevertheless, my hope for the people there is high. The gospel has been promised to the people there, to the descendants of Lehi. And, from what I’ve seen, the prophecy is slowly coming to pass, though maybe not as slowly as it sometimes seems.

Thank you for your love. Rock and roll ~

-Elder Stephen Burch π

We made the Daily Herald final cut!

Goodbye Pres. and Sis. Wadsworth
Welcome Pres. and Sis. Larson