"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