"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?

"So, this is the New Year..."

Welcome to 2017, everyone!

This week had a few key events that were pretty sweet. Here we go.

So, first with Kieth. We had a lesson with him in Sister Blackburn's home. In the lesson, we laid footsteps on the floor, leading to a picture of Jesus Christ. We detailed the footsteps as the parts of the gospel of Jesus Christ: faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Kieth took the floor as he stood up and placed his foot on the first step. "Kieth, do you have faith?" And so forth. We discussed repentance and the steps to that, and then we got to the third step. "Kieth, this is an important step, but you can't step there yet. That step is baptism. We know that you have great faith, and you've made great effort in your life to repent and come closer to God, and so we invite you to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God. Will you prepare yourself to be baptized by the 14th of January?" Kieth accepted, and we started talking more about baptism. Kieth was struggling with the Word of Wisdom (not bad, just a coffee and a beer here or there), and we told him, "Kieth, following the Word of Wisdom is a requirement for baptism. And, per the standards of the mission, you need to be Word of Wisdom clean for a week before your interview (January 7th). That means that this goal that we've set of baptism for the 14th is attainable, but you have to be willing to commit today, right now. Kieth, will you give up coffee and alcohol today to prepare yourself to be baptized by our goal date?" Kieth was down for that. We put our hands together and gave a little cheer, and we reassured him that we are there to help him every step of the way in whatever way we can, not to condemn him if he messes up. We let him know that we know he can be ready by the 14th, but if he slips and we need to push it back, that it isn't the end of the world. We will keep working until we're golden. I'm so proud of and excited for Kieth and his desire to follow Jesus Christ! With faith, trust, and some divine help, I know that Kieth will be able to enter into the fold of our Father in no time, and he will be blessed in his life from having the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Send some prayers this way for Kieth!

The other night, we had an experience that bewildered me as much as any time before. The results are positive, though, so stay tuned. A woman named Jill was dressing the hair of Brother Thomas (something I will never have because of my ethnicity: sweet hair). We showed up, and a conversation about religion ensued (I mean, how could it not?) She expressed some of her beliefs (non-denominational Christian, at this time). Along the line, she mentioned, "And, I'm sorry, but I do not believe in the Book of Mormon." 

That's fine; I wouldn't expect you to, considering that you're not a member of the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

"Why is that?" I inquired. 

She looked at me with a wry smile and said, "Because I believe that anyone can paraphrase the Bible." 

Oh no, not one of these people. "And that's what you believe the Book of Mormon to be? A paraphrase of the Bible?"

"Yes, and that's why I don't read it," she said confidently.

"Have you ever read it?" I asked, trying my best to not let my eye-roll enter into my voice.

"No, I've talked with missionaries before and told them that I respect their faith and what they do, but I will not read the Book of Mormon."

Here we go. "If you've never read the Book of Mormon, how do you know it is a paraphrase of the Bible?"

"That's-"

I usually do my best to not talk over others, but I continued at this point. "How can you claim to know what is in the book if you've never bothered to crack the pages? You have to try the Kit-Kat before you decide that you don't like the Kit-Kat."

Long story shorter, she accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and said she'd be down for Elder Ferrara and I to drop by and talk with her and her boyfriend. Score.

Cody is doing super well! He is on track to get the priesthood within the month, and he is doing so well at committing to follow the Word of Wisdom, even when his brother offers him a hit on a cigarette or something. I am super proud of Cody, and I am excited to see where he goes from here.

That's all I got for today, I think. Thank you all for your continued love, prayers, and support! Keep on rocking. 

Much love,

Elder Burch π

"And I don't feel any different..."

The Sheridan District

One of the best meals yet! Thank you, Divine family!

New Year's Eve

Snowing Selfie

Helping the Petersons move into their new house on the hill

"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

"Up ahead, there was a curve approaching..."

Merry winter wishes,

 This week, we encountered a true snow storm. It was bad enough that
the zone leaders called in and let us know that we were only to go to
set appointments, and not to do outside proselyting for the day. There
was much, much snow (we got stuck again), and the temperature was
around -20, plus 35mph wind chill. It was miserable and I will never
complain about the Arizona summer ever again please take me back
please take me back.

 Cody Broadway was baptized this week! He was able to get himself Word
of Wisdom clean, and that was all that was remaining for him. I'm
really excited for Cody. Yesterday, after church, he was asking about
next steps, and we were able to go by and talk to him about ordination
to the priesthood, as well as the eventuality of the temple. I'm
excited for Cody. He's making a pretty big change of lifestyle, and he
often gets distracted, but when he is focused and in an environment
with the Spirit, he is a wonderful soul to be around. I know the
gospel, and the Gift of the Holy Ghost, will be a blessing to Cody in
his life and in the life of his future family if he remains faithful
and follows the statutes of God. Congratulations and prayers for Cody!

 Last night, as we headed from that lesson, we had an incident. We
were driving down the highway, doing 70 or so, when we came across a
couple bison/buffalo (?) on the road. We've seen plenty of deer on the
road before, but not larger animals like this. Elder Ferrara did some
fancy driving, and we managed to get around the buffalo without
incident. As we looked at one another with a kind of "nicely done"
expression, another animal ran out on the road in front of us! We
almost got around it, but we clipped the buffalo's back leg, which
sent our car into a spin and tore off our front bumper. We hit a snow
drift, hit our heads a little bit, but were otherwise unhurt,
fortunately. We were able to drive home alright. Thank God for tender
mercies!

  Alright, that's all for now, except the spiritual thought: Prophets
speak the word of God. If we are to follow God, we must follow the
prophets. Thomas S Monson doesn't preface all of his talks with "thus
saith the Lord" like Moses of old, but we can be sure that just like
times of old, God reveals His word through a prophet today. Heed his
council!

   Until next time, rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

   "... she made no indications of slowing."

Snow Storm

Baptism

Dashing through the snow

Truth

The Car

Okay, I lied, we didn't hit a buffalo. I haven't even seen a buffalo.

We hit a snow drift. We're totally alright. Hope you laughed!

Album covers and "The Homesick Missionary"

Hey special people,

        We got snowed in for a while the other day, so we had some fun making
album covers and our newest comedy series. Enjoy.

"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.

"I wanted to walk through the empty streets..."

Happy December to you all!

        This week, there was a big (ha, anything in Buffalo being 'big')
event. On Saturday, there was a parade, a community chili event, along
with various other things. In the morning, we volunteered at the
animal shelter's table at one of the events. After that, we helped
with the community chili thing, where all the local restaurants
provided a large amount of chili and the community could come eat for
free. Elder Ferrara helped serve the chili, and I monitored the tables
where chili was being served and made sure there was enough bowls,
spoons, napkins, and crackers at each. It kept us moving! Funny story,
though. We were asked to head to the Cantina across the street and get
their pot of chili for the event. We walked in, and a woman - who had
obviously been there a little too long - comes up to us, gets real
close to me, and says, "You boys are goooooorgeous! In a very holy
way, of course." She then proceeded to cross herself before showing us
where the chili was. The Word of Wisdom is important, friends!

        Today, we have our first meeting with a new family of investigators!
I am stoked! We've only met the dad thus far, but he is married and
they have two kids. He seems like a sweet guy, and we are super
excited to visit him and share with him the message of the
restoration. Wish us luck! Pray for us!

        The mission is a refining process, and I'm seeing that more and more.
It's about what God knows that I need, and not one whit about what I
want. Giving up our will or His is a hard step, but I'm working on it.

        I don't have too much to say today, but I have many pictures, so
we'll wait on those. Keep on keeping on, keep the faith, and look for
God's hand in your lives.

-Elder Burch π

        "... and feel something constant under my feet, but all the news
reports recommended that I stay indoors."

 "I want to see the floating lights!"

Fun at John's house with his reading spectacles.

Helping serve chili!

Cold-weather selfie.

Oh, Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree.

Santa came early!