"And I want life in every word..."

People in all lands,

        This week saw some cool things happen! I will outline, and then
describe. Ready? Go.

- Cody
- Tyler
- Kieth
- Frozen (this applies to all the other ones, too)
- Haircuts
- Vespers

        Okay, Go. Cody is Sister Thomas's brother, who lives with them. He
has been coming to church for a long time, but he finally made the
commitment to be baptized. We asked about where he was and where he
wanted to go, and after a chat and a review of the Word of Wisdom, he
chucked his can of snuff and he's been clean. He passed his baptismal
interview, and will be baptized on Saturday! I'm excited for him! Some
members of the ward were a little against that, because Cody has been
(and kind of is) a bit of a trouble maker, but I think he is solid as
long as he understands the gravity of this commitment.

        Tyler is a new investigator! We were referred to him by a member, and
we got to teach him the Restoration at the church with Brother Thomas.
He accepted the invitation to be baptized when he comes to know of the
truth of these things, and so the next step is setting up a lesson
with him and his family (wife and two kids). Pray for Tyler!

        Kieth is our friend from the veteran's home. He is doing really well,
and was on track for baptism, but we taught the Word of Wisdom lesson,
and he isn't ready to commit to that yet. We don't think we taught
well enough that it is a commandment from the Lord, much like the
original ten, but we will keep working with him. Kieth is a really
good guy, and I see him really benefiting from this message. He had an
experience a while back that really caused him to do some searching.
Hopefully, this is what he is searching for.

        We went to a dinner at a member's home the other day, and they live a
solid twelve miles out of town, four of it on a dirt road. As we were
heading back from that (driving our puny little 2013 Chevy Cruze), we
got ourselves stuck in a snow drift. It wasn't actually too cold -
maybe 27ish? - but there was a wind blowing of somewhere like 40 miles
per hour. We tried to get our car unstuck for about twenty minutes,
but ultimately called the family we had just eaten with and said,
"Hey! We're about a mile out from your home and stuck in snow... Do
you think you could pull us out?" They did, and we were on our way.
I'm just grateful it was as warm as it was. The other day, it got
somewhere around -15. That was painful.

        Haircuts! In short, Elder Ferrara and I had a mutual moment of
bravery and decided to cut the hair of one another. I don't think it
went too badly, but I also am uncertain if it is something I desire to
do again.

        Vespers is a multi-faith community Christmas music program that has
been hosted at the LDS church for the last five years. It has been
hosted there because of the size of our chapel, and because the only
other chapel that is big enough to hold it is the Wesleyan church, and
they actively preach against Mormons for some reason. Anyway, there
were people from most of the congregations around town in attendance,
and there was a variety of musical performances. It was a lot of fun!

        That's what's been going on here. What's been going on there? Keep me posted!

        All the love in this frozen world,

-Elder Burch π

        "... to the extent that it's absurd."

Elder Burch: Jedi Knight

Elder Ferrara: Vampire Slayer

We got creative with ramen, and decided to try and make a desert
ramen. That is, ramen cooked in hot chocolate, creamers, and
marshmallows. It tasted alright, but felt so wrong.

False sense of security.

Jesus is the reason for the season.

 People that feed us are great.

Bad picture for bad weather.

"Faintest snow, keep falling..."

Thank you and good morning,

This week can be summed up into two main categories: Faith and Frozen. Let's start with the one that is a Disney movie title.

It snowed. It snowed a good amount. Thursday morning I woke up, looked out the window, and what did I see? Popcorn popping on the apricot tree? No, I saw a white, endless expanse. After doing the morning things and studying and all that, we ventured out into the wild. Elder Brown was on exchanges with me that day, and so he can attest to much of what I will say, including the fact that I thought the snow was beautiful and magical and I loved it... For about seven minutes. After that point, I realized that it sticks on everything and it gets the floors in your car all wet, and if it gets in your shoes you might as well give up right then and there. And I got the car stuck in it three times. One of the times was on a dirty road heading to some houses and agricultural plots out of town. A nice man drove by about ten minutes later and helped pull us out with his front loader. Thank you to that man. To be honest, the snow isn't that bad. Most of the time, I find myself pleasantly enjoying it, and then there are those times where the ice on the road causes the car to slide into the intersection and I remember why I like Arizona. I also remember that I am grateful that Elder Ferrara is currently the designated driver.

Ether 12:6 reminds us that "faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." I don't feel like I deserve it, but I know that the Lord is giving us the witness. Through His mercy and His grace, as well as His timing, Elder Ferrara and I have been seeing miracles in this area. We met a man named Matt, who has concerns about the Book of Mormon, and despite having read much of it before, is willing to give it another go. John, the man we mentioned from last email, committed to read the Book of Mormon after the longest lesson of my life. And Kieth, a friend of ours from the Veterans' Home who has been searching, committed to prepare for baptism in three weeks. I'm so grateful to the Lord for showing us His hand, even though I don't feel good enough to be receiving these things. I'm grateful to my companion for being awesome, and I'm grateful for the open, willing hearts of those who the Lord has prepared to hear the message of the restoration of the gospel. God really is good. I'm so grateful to Him. 

Short email, many pictures to come. Thank you so much for reading, and have a great Thanksgiving!

Rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

The Lord's work is rad!

Elder Burch π, Elder Ferrara, and the Zone Leader.

The first snowfall of the Buffalo season.

Elder Brown and I in said snow.

Very much stuck in snow.

Gratitude Tree