"If love is a labor, I'll slave 'til the end..."

On the adventures of Elder Stephen Tanner Burch π... 

This week saw Elder Burch and Elder Brown venture to Billings, where they enjoyed exchanges with the Assistants to the President, Elder Luebke and Elder Tucker. This story is primarily to show that God answers prayers. (If my formating is funky, I apologize. It is funky as I type it now and I'm not sure why. Ah, well.) I prayed the night before exchanges that we would be able to find a new investigator and that my faith might be strengthened. Well, the next day, we shovelled the mission home (I used a snow blower for the first time!), and then I went with Elder Tucker and we did some finding. We were trying to contact off of a part member family sheet, and suddenly Elder Tucker says that he feels we should knock some doors in the Rose Garden Apartments. So, we head off, and the fifth door we knock on is a kind, young gentleman who says that we can come back! Prayers are answered, and God is eager to help us in our personal, practical challenges. 

I think that is all that is relevant today. I will include quotations of the week, as well as pictures. I hope you enjoy!

Rock and roll ~

Elder Burch π

"... I've been here so long, think that it's time to move. The winter's so cold, summer's over too soon..."


"There is a special place in the Telestial Kingdom for them, and it has no plumbing!" -Elder Campbell

"Cut Bank is like a clingy girlfriend. you want some space, but you're ultimately glad it's always there." -Elder Hayes

"It's like a Nephite mic drop!" -KH, referring to Alma 30:60

"We'll go visit Brother Porter, and then we can send this receipt to Elder Baird." -Elder Burch
*pause* "I hope he isn't in the shower." -Elder Brown
"Elder Baird?!" -Elder Burch

"What are they gonna use this fire hydrant for? Putting out the swing set?" -Elder Brown

"They're Canadian; whatcha gonna do?" -Elder Brown

SPPD! 

Sun Prairie is ghetto. Also, I'm on another horse!

The District

Overlooking Billings

The biggest game night ever!

"Now the lights go low in the avenue..."

"... And the cars pass by in the rain ..."


Good morning, acolytes!

This week saw even more rain. The last two days, specifically. Also, we woke up today to find that the rain on our car has turned to frost overnight. So, that means that this week had a day with a high of 86, and also a night where it froze. Great. Montana and her darned inconsistency. The warm day was nice, though. It felt downright hot after the weather we have been getting, but it was welcomed anyway.

Earlier this week, we had exchanges with the zone leaders. Of note from the exchange: Friendly less active family, puppies, and I GOT SUNBURNT. I thought that was a thing that didn't exist here! (Not really, but seriously.) I can't believe I got sunburnt.

We were called upon by a member of the ward to help them paint the home of one of their relatives who had just passed, in preparation for the selling of the home. We spent quite a bit of time on that on Thursday and Friday. It was good, though! There were some older gentlemen working with us, and I am not sure... well, I just don't know if the lights are on and nobody is home or what. It was fun. 

We decided that we needed a mix-up of the finding techniques. We bounced around a few ideas, and we have plans to use some of them in the upcoming days, but we settled on one for this week. So, Saturday, we did some service tracting, which yielded some solid results. We put on the regular clothes and went door to door, letting people know that we are part of a service-oriented church, and that we were looking for service opportunities. We were able to rake the leaves of a former investigator and was given a return appointment before even asking. It was awesome! 

Justine's baptism is set for the 27th of May. Bishop is looking to get Joel the Aaronic Priesthood so that he can baptize her. How rad is that? We're excited for them.

Spiritual thought: I was listening to a talk given by McConkie called "The Teacher's Divine Commission." He describes that, as teachers, "We are appointed 1) To teach the principles of the gospel 2) out of the standard works 3) by the power of the Holy Ghost, 4) always applying the teachings to our needs, and 5) to testify that what we have taught is true." As such, I've begun to evaluate my teaching methods and what I can improve. Instead of answering questions off of the top of my head, with vague references to scripture and having some moments of flipping my tie back to signify speculative doctrine, I should instead take questions, expound relevant verses from the scriptures, apply that doctrine to the life and needs of the investigator; and bear my personal testimony of the truthfulness of the principle just explained. As a crutch to help me with this, I have begun studying by topic on various common questions, and creating a quick reference guide to lead me to the scriptures, and explaining the relevance of the doctrine to us, and then writing a short testimony on the matter. Here is an example:

Faith, concerning works (see also: Grace)
James 2: 14-26 Faith without works expounded
Mat 7:21 "Doeth the will of my Father"
Mat 19: 16-17 Keep the commandments to inherit eternal life
Romans 3: 22-31 Salvation by grace through the Law Faith
Alma 34: 32-36 This life is for men to prepare to meet God
2 Nephi 25:23 By grace we are saved after all we can do
       The truth that salvation is achieved through the grace of God and by following His commandments is important to us because 1) our works are how we truly "accept Christ" and allow His sacrifice to save us, 2) following God's law prepares us to abide under heaven's law and in the presence of the Lord, and 3) our works confirm the reality of our faith in Christ.

       I have a testimony that Christ died for me, and that because He died for me, I have the ability to follow Him, better myself, and reach my potential. I am grateful for His sacrifice that will allow me to return to His presence if I prepare myself, follow His commandments, walk in His ways, and strive to be like Him.

I really think that this method, which is referenced in the handbook "Teaching In The Savior's Way," will help to make me a more effective teacher, and someday I'll know the scriptures well enough to not need a quick reference guide. Teaching is such a joy! 

Thank you all for your continued support and love! Keep being awesome. 

Rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

"... The university boys and the girls fill the bars while I'm just waitin' on the light to change." 

You can't really tell, but that  is a police car behind us.
I was going way too fast. There is only one speed limit sign,
and it's almost hid! I got off with a warning.
Elder Ray: "I leave you alone with the car for five minutes!..."

Arrow'd!

Candid Puppy Shot

Elder Smith blessed both district meetings with doughnuts

Missoula is hilarious

Kambale family selfie, per usual

A Lotus Elise!

Oh, the world 😝

Breakfast this morning at Paul's Pancake Parlor, feat. YSA Elders

Relaxing in our room like ballers

District greatness. Missoula District, best district.

"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

"An act of God..."

Happy Monday to those I haven't seen in at least seven months!

        Early this week, we went on exchanges. I was in Sheridan with Elder Emms, and we did a lot of bike riding. Riding bikes on ice is precarious. I fell and damaged a pair of pants. How lame.

        We were on a hike the other day, and Elder Campbell fell in the river. I guess that's what you get for rock-hopping when there's lots of snow.

        In the same vein, Elder Campbell and I get along very, very well! We make an obtuse amount of jokes, and we just have a really good time doing the work that doesn't feel like work at all because it is just too much fun. I'm thinking that I might get transferred this next transfer (March 8th is the transfer day, with calls being on the 5th), which would be sad because Elder Campbell is cool. Also, I want to see Meagan and Branden get baptized. They are doing well, and slowly making more and more progress.

        Saturday was simply a day of miracles. It began with our ward missionary coming with us to contact a potential, and we decide to stop at a less active member's home. Turns out, them and our ward missionary are friends, and we were able to sit down with them and even give them a blessing. It was rad. We also were able to have a surprise sit-down lesson / service opportunity with a less active part member family. Later that night, we had dinner with Meagan and Branden. It was a good time, we enjoyed ourselves (especially playing with their little boy, Kaden), but what came after was the real kicker. They are still taking the Word of Wisdom stuff slowly, but it seems like they are trying. That, and Meagan told us towards the end that us coming over has really helped them, and they feel more peace and have less conflict. That, my friends, is what I live for out here. It doesn't happen often, but when people tell you how much of a serious difference you've made to them, it makes it all so worth it.

        This email is short. I apologize, no pictures. Have a great day!

-Elder Burch π

        "... and nothing less will be accepted."

"Everything is going to be alright..."

My small band of heroes,

        This week, the zone had a conference in Gillette. Gillette is a place
about an hour south east of Buffalo, and it may be one of the
dreariest places that I have ever seen ever. That didn't matter much
to me, though, because I slept in the car on the way there as well as
on the way back. Missionaries need to get in that rest, you know.

        Elder Christensen and I went on exchanges after that. He came to
Buffalo while Elder Campbell went down to Gillette with Elder
Dougherty. Elder Christensen taught me how to exercise. Look out,
world!

        We taught a lesson on the Word of Wisdom to Meagan and Branden. I
feel like it was taught well, and Elder Christensen was an absolute
necessity for that lesson, but the reception was mixed. They both
understand it and the reasons, and they also both know it will be a
struggle. Meagan seems to have more desire to try than Branden, but
we'll keep tabs on them. Little setbacks are no reason to go dropping
them or anything rash. Also, they came to church yesterday! Any tips
for helping them to live this commandment? Send them my way.

        Sister Croft is one of our investigators. She's been taught for a
long, long time by missionaries with her husband, Brother Croft, but
the issue is that she has a language barrier. She is from China, and
she speaks English, but is quite broken. We've struggled with how to
get across to her. The last two lessons that we've taught with her,
though, have been excellent! The keys that we have found are teaching
slowly, teaching excruciatingly simply, and using visuals. She's still
not in to come to church, but we'll get her there. We've taught the
Gospel of Jesus Christ and Plan of Salvation. The Restoration is
next...

        Everything is melting. The sun is such a beautiful thing.

        I love the phrase used in Isaiah often: "... but His hand his
stretched out still." The phrase is usually preceded by something a
little more foreboding, and it speaks to me. No matter how stupid we
are sometimes, and how we often have to face the consequences of dumb
things we do, God will still reach out to us with His mercy. He wants
us to grow, and sometimes (often) that growth isn't comfortable.
Nevertheless, He will be there to help us with His hand stretched out
still, if we seek for it.

        Keep being cool.

        Rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

        "... Be strong, believe."

Up towards the Big Horns

Companionship Unity

Our investigators trapped a bobcat!

Onderdonk

"I'm on my feet, I'm on the floor, I'm good to go..."

Good morning (maybe), everyone!

Oh, man, this week. Oh, man, this week. Here we go.

On Tuesday, we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. Elder
Christensen came up to Buffalo with me while Elder Ferrara took the
van down to Gillette to spend some time with Elder Hendricks. They had
a blast, but Elder Christensen and I had some experiences that were a
little crazy. So crazy, in fact, that I think for the sake of
information sensitivity, I'm going to have to gloss over some of the
craziest parts. Ah, well.

Alright, first off, on Wednesday morning, Elder Christensen and I went
running. Yes, running. We put on some clothes, threw on a jacket, and
proceeded to run almost a mile in the freezing temperatures of the
early morning. Was it miserable? Yes. Did my lungs hurt from
breathing? Yes. Will I ever do it again? No, but it was worth it for
the story! I can now tell people that I went jogging in the morning in
the middle of winter in Wyoming when the temperature was somewhere
like -15 outside. (Sister Wadsworth heard about it and scolded us.
Still worth it for the story!)

Hey, remember how it was -16 outside two days ago? It's 46 and cloudy
today. Nuts. Okay, back to the story.

During lunch, we get a call from an unknown number. "Hello, it's the
missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
"Hey, it's Les!"
"Wh- wait, Les Babin?" Les is a very less active member who I hadn't
met yet, so this was exciting.
"Yeah, that's me! Hey, I need a Book of Mormon. A hard back one. With
the thick pages; none of the thin page stuff."
"Um, alright. Sounds good. We can do that for you. Where do you live?"
"You know where I live! Just down the street in those apartments; you
know the drill."
"Um, alright, rad. I guess we'll see you in an hour or so?"
"Good plan. See you then!" *click*

Turns out that Les has desires to return to church, and wanted a new
Book of Mormon because he just gave his last one to Keith, who will be
mentioned later in this email. How rad is that? Les was talking about
how he has just felt the Spirit recently in his life, and he says that
he knows it is time for him to come back. Rad, Les! More power to you.
He has to be out of town this coming Sunday, but he says to expect him
on the 22nd.

After that, as we're about to pull out onto the main road, I get a
prompting to take a short detour and give Alex* a visit. Alex is an
investigator that we had taught the first lesson, but had not been
able to set a return appointment yet. Alex answers the door and looks
disheartened and disheveled. After some initial hesitation, he opened
up to us and told us about some really rough stuff that had been
happening in his life, and how he felt alone, and had turned to
drinking. The drinking was putting stress on his family and he felt
like a failure. We testified that God had a plan for him and that he
can get through this with His help. He looked us straight in the face
and asked us to tell him honestly what brought us to his door. I told
him the truth: I believe God gave me a prompting to visit you. It was
a highly spiritual experience, and it confirmed my testimony that
promptings from the Spirit are things to always be followed.
*Name changed for reasons.

That same day, the bishop referred us to a family that had come to him
for a little financial help. He asked if they'd be down for visiting
with the missionaries, and they agreed! It is a young couple, early
thirties, and they have one sixteen-month-old boy. They expressed to
us in the first lesson that we had that they are looking to get to a
better place spiritually. Holy freaking perfect. We taught them the
restoration with bishop present, and they mentioned a couple times how
they felt the Spirit during certain parts of the message. A peace and
familiarity, they described it as. We left them with a commitment to
read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and come to church. They did
not show up to church, but only because their kid got really sick (ER
sick) Saturday night. We decided we'd make them cookies and give them
some space. After all, that sounds pretty gnarly for their kid. Around
3 Sunday, we get a call, and it is the mother asking if we were still
coming by that day! "Um, yea! Yes, of course!" So, we went over again,
with Brother Thomas this time. (He knows her from work. I swear,
Brother Thomas knows everybody in the town of Buffalo.) We learned
that they'd been reading a chapter of the Book of Mormon every night
since we taught them the first lesson, and that they were still
feeling that same spirit of peace when they do. AHHHHH, THE LORD
PREPARES PEOPLE AND IT'S THE BEST THING THAT HAS EVER BEEN EVER. We
taught them the Plan of Salvation, invited them to continue reading,
and set an appointment for Thursday. Honestly, the lessons are kind of
difficult because they just accept everything so readily and joyfully.
I just... it usually isn't that easy. Going back to how prepared they
are, the father had decided to stop drinking literally two days before
our first lesson because it had been hurting the family. (He's been
going strong since then.) How freaking rad is that?! I'm so excited
for this. Pray for them. (Emily and Branden.)

Keith passed his interview and is on his way to the waters of baptism
this Saturday! We are seeing miracles. We are seeing the Lord's hand
everywhere. Keith is awesome, excited, and I couldn't be prouder of
him. Pray for him, because Satan likes to screw things up at the last
minute. (Knock on wood.)

Real quick last funny thing: Yesterday's talks in sacrament meeting
were all by high priests, and there was one that went on a little
tangent. I can't exactly refer to it as "false," but it is definitely
speculative, and not super important to our everyday salvation. He was
talking about Kolob and its length of rotation around its star and how
that relates to the time periods involved in the creation and it was
kind of funny. Maybe it was good that the new investigators couldn't
make it that day...

That is all for now! I love you all, and I hope you're seeing God's
hand in your life, too. Keep on keeping on!

-Elder Burch π

"... So come on, Davy! Sing me something that I know!"

Wyoming East Zone

A humble supplication

 

Icicles

Karma & KJ

"Make me some ramen!"

Sunday selfie

What does that even mean?

"Didn't know what to say. Merry Christmas, baby."

Family, friends, and well-wishers around the world,

        This week has been nuts. Let me break it down for you:

        First, we went on emergency exchanges. (I'm a district leader, if I
didn't mention that before.) Two Elders in Sheridan were having some
serious trouble getting along, and president phoned me and told me
that an emergency exchange was in order. So, Elder Ferrara and I
packed up and went to Sheridan. I was to stay in Sheridan with the
"problem missionary," while the other would come down to Buffalo with
Elder Ferrara. I don't need to go into too much detail, but there were
a few lessons learned: One, there is good in every single person, you
just have to look for it. This missionary who was struggling is a
fantastic tracter, and has a good work-ethic for finding people. This
was especially impressive to me because I don't like tracting one bit.
With him, though, it was easy. So, look for the best in others, and
you will find much good. Lesson two: Judge people based on how they
act and what they say, not based on a reputation that people have.
This is, in a way, a continuation of the very same lesson above, but
it is important. People change, and often that change can be rapid. We
just have to be willing to accept that and give people a shot.

        I'm happy to report that those Elders have been doing much better,
and I'm excited to see what they do. I really believe in them both,
and I know they will do much good if they strive to do their very
best.

        Alright, second thing. People are really, really nice. Like, really
nice. We literally don't have enough cabinet space in our apartment
for the amount of food that members have given us. That, and there are
a few families that invited us over for holiday shenanigans and
dinner, and it was a good time. I love the members here, much like I
loved the members in my last area. People are rad. Even more than the
members, there seem to be an abundance of people willing to help us
out of the snow each and every time we get stuck in it. So, shout out
to them and their pickup trucks.

        Third thing: Long story short, we got invited to a Wesleyan Christmas
Eve service from a man we tracted into. The Wesleyan church actively
preaches against us, and so I was super pumped to attend their service
and show by example that the Mormons aren't demons, but rather can be
quite open and accepting of others. The service was actually pretty
good. Really contemporary, but good. There wasn't a lot that I
disagreed with, either. Their translation of the Bible was a little
weird at first, but overall I enjoyed myself. This guy then said,
without us even asking, that he'd come to our service the next day,
and then he actually did with his wife! How rad is that? We're going
to hopefully start teaching him. He gave us his number and everything.

        Christmas, oh Christmas. I didn't have to dream of a white Christmas,
because we actually got one. And not like a nice little Christmas with
gently falling snow. Oh, no. This was a blizzard, as far as I am
concerned. The wind was nuts (30-45mph, with gusts up to 60 and a
temperature without wind chill of 6), and there went out a universal
call to stay off of the roads. We did as best we could, but still got
stuck twice in the little driving that we did. It was good to talk
with the family, though! I have the best mother in the world, in case
you were wondering. No big deal, she's just the best that's ever been.
Just sayin'. Elder Ferrara and I sang a rendition of "Still, Still,
Still" in sacrament on Sunday, too. I was a little worried because I
was still stuffed up, but I think it was overall okay.

        Spiritual thought: It is important to remember that all blessings
from heaven are predicated on conditions of obedience to the law upon
which they are predicated. (D&C 130:21) This makes a lot of sense when
put into rational terms. If we fall, we'll get hurt. If we eat well,
we'll feel better. In physics, if there is a force on something, that
thing will change its velocity. God's miracles obey natural law, and
this is why "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say." (D&C 82:10)
The message? Follow the commandments, and you will have greater peace
in your life. Listen to the prophets, and you will be prepared against
the winds of the adversary.

        There may have been more going on, but that is all I can think of at
the moment. And this email is pretty long anyway. Keep the faith! I
love you all. Rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

        "Didn't mean to leave you hanging up. Didn't mean to leave you all alone."

Christmas Eve Dinner

OH MY GOODNESS IT IS CHRISTMAS EVE!

Elder Munroe and I at Taco Bell!

The Zone

Matches!

Service is a good thing. It also relieves stress when done with puppies.

"I'm not the only one!"

Last Night

This Morning

"It's a big world, that was a small town..."

Happy Halloween!

        First, if you have not read the other email - "Over the mountain and through the woods..." - please do so.

        On Saturday, after we had concluded bowling at the Wyoming Retirement Center, Howard came up to us. Howard is a resident there, and he talks fast. He likes to joke around with us. The week before, he refused to actually bowl because we didn't show up at exactly "1400 hours." So, Howard approaches us and tells us that he had taken a picture of me on his little flip phone and wanted to send it to us. We told him our number, which he quickly repeated back to us. We laughed, waved goodbye, and went to the other side of the center to do bowling in the south wing. While bowling there, I feel the phone vibrating with a call in my pocket, but I don't answer it because we're bowling. Minutes later, it buzzes again, and I notice that it is the same unknown number. Figuring that it must be important, I step aside and just barely miss the call. The caller had left a voice message, though, and so I listen to it... Yeah, it was Howard. He also texted us a few times:

        "THANK. JACK. 1400 hr on. 10 29. 30. CLIP"

        (Jack is Elder Andrews's first name. Howard insists on calling us by our first names. "CLIP" stands for Chronically Late Insane Person, which Howard began to call me after last week.)

        "KEEP. UP. THE FAITH. PLEASE. GOD. H. 116."

        "GIVE. JACK AND STEVE MY BEST. A. JOB WELL DONE! 10.29.16 14 hr"

        Oh, Howard. We love you and think you're awesome.

        Sunday was the dedication of the Star Valley temple, which we were privileged to view from the Worland stake center. Bertie, our recent convert and friend, was able to attend! She's excited to do family history work and go to the temple to perform ordinances that her ancestors are then free to accept or decline in the next life. I'm so grateful for her and her desire to serve Christ and to follow His ways. The gospel truly blesses individuals and families.

        Sunday morning was also the morning of the big call. We looked at our phone at 8:21 am and realized that we had missed a call from President Wadsworth at 8:03 am. Crap. I called back and got his voicemail, and left a hasty message that more or less consisted of, "Hey President! Sorry we missed your call; we won't miss your next one." Presently, he called back, wanted to speak with me, and let me know that I would be finishing the final six weeks of training of another missionary, and that I would be transferred into Buffalo, Wyoming. Transfers will happen on Wednesday. I hope I'm up to this. I'm positive that part of this assignment is to put me into better shape, too, so here's to me being better than ever with Christ's help!

        Thank you all so very much for your love and support and prayers. They are definitely felt. Keep being awesome, follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, read your scriptures daily, and look for God's hand in your life.

        With that, I close mine epistle. God speed.

-Elder Burch π

        "... There in my rear view mirror disappearing now."

Elder Berrett and I went on exchanges on Tuesday!
Good to be back with that dude for a day.

The deer face off.

Dot's baptism from a little back.

Dot's new family!

District Picture!

Elder Andrews and I decided to have a sleep over in our living
room. I can't remember the last time I built a fort...

Homemade tortillas by Elder Andrews

Boo!

The Shelley family. I'm gonna miss them.

Halloween Costumes - Creativity at its finest!

We're handing out candy with our friends at 
Bonnie Blue Jacket. This is Royce. I tied his tie for him.