"With a chance to make it good somehow, hey what else could we do now?"

Hello all,

 This second week has been a mix, as I'm sure all the weeks will be.
It ended, last night, pretty well, though, so I'm grateful for that.

 First, for some humor. Elder Carter, Elder Simmons, and I were
teaching one of our investigators, and it was going pretty well. Elder
Carter was explaining the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and what it meant
for all of us down here. Somewhere along that line, he said, "And
because Jesus was crucified, we all get to be crucified, too." He
meant resurrected, but the look on that woman's face was pure terror.

 Teaching has been going better. It is insane how much unity and
preparation are essential to a good lesson. Even when you don't teach
exactly (or maybe even close to) what you prepared, the preparation is
the show of faith and effort that is required for the Spirit to tell
you what you need to know in the moment.

 I got to toss around a softball the other day with Elder Yensen and
Elder Moser, and that was super awesome. I've never been too sporty,
but playing catch has always been a fantastic experience.

 Elder Wright took off to go to Nicaragua, so pray for him and his
journey. He'll do great things; I'm sure of it.

 We ended up losing Sister Jacobs early this week. Keep her in your
thoughts and prayers. She's a good spirit, she just struggled with the
massive change of coming out here.

 Today marks t-minus one week until I pack my bags and head out to
Montana, big sky country and home of the Great Pyramids. (If you don't
understand that last part, don't think too hard on it. It's a joke for
a select few.) I'm ready to be out of here. I love it here, but I'm
ready to be done.

 Thank you all for your letters and support - It means the world. Keep
rocking on.

-Elder Burch π

 P.S. Any physical mail to me should not be sent after Wednesday or
Thursday until I have left the MTC and sent you my new residence
address. Thanks!

 P.P.S.S. If you have any questions of any kind, please send them my
way! It would give me material to write about, and something to
ponder. Besides that, maybe I'm just not writing about what you want
to hear. If I hear the demand, I'll provide the supply.

"... Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair.
The night's busting open, these two lanes could take us anywhere!"

"When I finally finished school, it was the first thing that I did..."

Good afternoon (or whatever), everyone!

I don't like to start letters with a disclaimer, so I won't.

The plane ride was short an uneventful, which is honestly kind of a
disappointment since I think my last plane ride was a combined total
of fifty-something hours. Also, German airlines. Never mind, I'm
getting off topic.

Lest there was any confusion, the first thing Elder Derek Wright said
to me as he walked down the stairs with his overly long, curly hair
and his smiling red face was, "Hey, look; it's a nerd!"

There were eleven people in my district, divided into eight elders and
four sisters. My companion, Elder Carter, is from Delta, Utah (I
didn't (and probably still don't) know where it was, either). He likes
hard work. Or, he says he does. It seems to me that he likes goofing
around, too. We get along well, but he won't tell me that he loves me,
and he won't hug me. Fortunately, I have Elder Simmons for that.

See, there were four people in our dorm: Elder Carter (my comp), Elder
Simmons, Elder Johnson, and myself. Elder Johnson had been having some
problems, and on Friday, he went home. Please pray for him - I know
that he's got what it takes, and that he'll be out again soon with
God's help. This left Elder Simmons to be in a tripanionship (real
word?) with Elder Carter and I, and it's been pretty awesome. The
three of us and the four sisters in our district are all going to
Montana, and four of us are from Arizona (Mesa, Gilbert, Phoenix, and
Gila Valley).

And, I'll wrap up with a spiritual thought. There are so many truly
eye-opening spiritual moments here, and I wish I could go into more
depth, but I'll stick with this one. We've all heard that contention
is of the devil, but we don't really understand what that means until
we're in a situation where we need the spirit so strongly. My
companions and I were preparing a lesson for an investigator, and
there was dissension as far as how it will go. Neither of us were too
eager to let go of our position, and we kept going back and forth.
That is when Sister Kezele stepped in, and said, "Elders, I'm hearing
a lot of 'I think.' Try praying. Listen to the Spirit, and see what He
thinks." I know that the contentious spirit that was there before we
decided to pray would have totally hindered us in our goal of teaching
what needed to be taught to our "investigator," and that through
praying we were able to find unity and peace. I hope that you can do
the same.

One more thing: To all the wonderful people that gave me some kind of
gift before I took off, I sincerely apologize for not writing a thank
you card. I super appreciate you and whatever it is you gave to me, I
just didn't have much time in those last 48 hours. Anyway, thank you.

I call that a wrap (much like the ones at the salad bar in the MTC).
Keep on keepin' on, everyone.

Elder Burch π

"... What every townie kid dreams of, I packed and started west."