"Don't don't don't let's start..."

"... This is the worst part."

Monday, May 29th, 2017

To those sitting in darkness,

Prepare to be enlightened by my email! Just kidding, I'm sure my email couldn't come close to inspiring, but it may entertain. Here goes.

To begin, transfer news is in. I will be staying in Missoula for now, and Elder Ray will be taking his adventure to East Billings, where he will be serving on several reservations. I wish best of luck to Elder Ray! These last two transfers with Elder Ray have been quite marvelous. We've gotten along well, and enjoyed being with one another. Keep the faith, dude. 

I will be receiving Elder Ash, who has been out four and a half months. He will be a valuable asset in building this area! Heaven knows that we need it. After the baptism, we have no progressing investigators. Oh, hey! We had a baptism!

This week, we saw the baptism of Justine Kambale! The people in Frenchtown forgot to fill the font, so we had to start a little late. Fortunately, the font in Frenchtown filled with lightning speed, which is distinctly different from the font in Buffalo, which took somewhere around three hours to fill. Tender mercies. Joel was ordained to the priesthood, and was therefore able to baptize his wife, as well as pass the sacrament on Sunday. It was a wonderful experience, and I think it went smoother than Joel's baptism, even with the font problems. There was an excellent turnout of people, so much that the room was quite cramped and immobile. It was awesome. Elder Ray was able to confirm her in church the following day. 

The priesthood is real. That is all. 

Everyone has a story. Everyone has their struggles. As you seek to empathize with people, you will come to a greater knowledge of them. As you come to a greater knowledge of them, you will come to a greater knowledge of yourself. So, listen intently to what people have to say. You just might learn something.

Me: "Yep. Back home, I love music. I played in a rock and roll band."
87 year old lady: "What would Mr. Smith think if he knew?"

Me (confused) : "Are you asking me what Joseph Smith would say if he knew I was in a band? He'd probably ask when my next gig is."

Jodi: "What happened to the lid on the ice cream container?"

Chuck: "It was stuck on one day when I was trying to get ice cream."

Jodi: "So you beat it to death?"

Thank you all for everything! I love you. Keep close to Christ.

"And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!"

Keep the faith. Rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

"No one in the world ever gets what they want and that is beautiful..."

Filling the font

Justine and Joel Kambale

Baptism Day!

The Baptism

The Zone, feat. The bromance of Elder Burch and Elder Hendrix

How many emo things can you spot in this picture?
(No, I'm not the artist.) 

   

Missoula: land of stickers

"Lately the weather has been so bipolar..."

"... And consequently so have I."

Communists and otherwise,

This week, the email will be short. Primarily because I am feeling
anxious, and that leads to shorter emails. Why am I feeling anxious?
Satan, man. Gotta stay vigilant. I'm just spouting nonsense now. On to
the real email.

...After this one joke! Did you hear about the dyslexic devil
worshiper? He sold his soul to Santa.

Too soon? Not soon enough!

We were privileged to attend mission tour this week, which is like a
giant zone conference where half the mission gets together and we are
instructed by our mission president, his wife, and a general authority
and his wife. It was a wonderful time! I left feeling primarily
rebuked, but that is okay! Always improving, right? I also got to see
Elder Campbell! I love Elder Campbell! I've missed Elder Campbell!
Elder Campbell and I could conquer the world together with our wits
and sarcasms. Elder Campbell, will you be my valentine? Okay, so
another thing about mission tour. It was in Helena, which is about two
hours away through some gorgeous mountain passes. Great, right? Well,
except that Montana decided that we all needed a little snow to ring
in the middle of May, so that's exactly what we got. Blowing wind and
snow all the way there and all the way back. I was not amused. I was
also not awake for most of it, so there is that, too.

We tracted this housing development where the houses are so similar we
dubbed it the communist establishment. Those with white pillars are
the leaders. We met an old couple with LDS family that will let us
come back, we think. Good times.

Flaky investigators are flaky. Lame.

Transfers coming up. I think Elder Ray is leaving. He's been here long
enough. Elder Ray is awesome. Thank you for being awesome, Elder Ray.

I think that is all for now.

No spiritual thought now because I am too lazy. I will give you one next week!

Keep being awesome. Thank you for all that y'all do. Rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

"Now I'm sunny with a high of 75 since you took my heavy heart and
made it light..."

Says it all

 "Sheet music is like a sound recipe."

I told you there were commies.

This is what all the cool cats were doing before I left home.

 Elder Hendrix and I getting comfy.

Looking over Missoula.

The handy work of Elder Campbell. Best friends FOREVER

"Roll down the windows, let the cold air come in..."

Denizens of the court,

This week was a big week full of many good things. Even in the tough times, it is pretty easy to look over the week and observe plenty of miracles poured out on us by the Lord. So, here we go.

To begin the week, we went on exchanges with the elders in Clinton/East Missoula. It brought many memories of serving in small town, USA. Good times. I went to Clinton with Elder Hendrix, who has previously served as my zone leader. It is odd to serve now as his district leader. I appreciate Elder Hendrix because he is always striving to improve, despite already being a phenomenal and effective missionary. He is dedicated to being obedient, and loves to live in the moment. Serving with him for the day was a good time. 

We were blessed to have interviews with President Wadsworth on Thursday. President is awesome. I'm sure what I say here stands for mission presidents the world over: They love you. They really do, and they desire nothing more than your growth, success, and happiness. 

We mowed the lawn of a recently widowed sister in the ward. It was a huge job. Pictures to follow.

People need to be better about returning texts and calls. We have some exciting prospects, but we can't meet because they will NEVER ANSWER. Okay, rage over.

Despite our frustration over some things, the district is actually having a lot of success. Clinton has an investigator praying about a baptismal date, and so do the 3rd Ward sisters. 2nd Ward has recently found some new investigators, and 1st Ward has an investigator whom I will be interviewing for baptism (hopefully!) on Friday. And, of course, there is Justine Kambale. We are so excited for her, and think that she will be totally ready for baptism on the 27th. 

Mother's Day! We were, of course, allowed to call home, and it was a grand experience. Sounds like all is well on the home front.

Do any of you readers, missionaries past or present, have any finding tips? I could use them. Let me know!

I've been reading in Isaiah, and a phrase that is found repeated therein is, "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." (Isaiah 5:25; 9:12, 17, 21; 10:4. See also: 2 Nephi 15, 19, 20) In the footnotes of Isaiah 9:12, the phrase is clarified as "IE In spite of all, the lord is available if they will turn to Him." The Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance, and sometimes He does chasten us, but the blessed truth of the gospel is that He will always be there for us with a stretched out hand. When we lay aside our wickedness, carnality, and pride, and reach out to Him, He will support us in our afflictions and make us better than we could ever become on our own. I know that is true, because He's done it for me. Keep the faith. That is my testimony, and I give it in Christ's name. Amen.

Thank you all for the continued support and all. Keep being awesome. Rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

"Well, here's to living in the moment, 'cause it passed."

Smooth Criminal

No, I didn't throw up. The Clinton elders had a cucumber in their
apartment that was way old and gooey and gross. As I was taking said
cucumber, in a bag, to the trash, it slipped out of the bag and
splattered all over the floor and my shoes! Lame. So, here we are.

And then I broke their chair. (I fixed it! ("... I got better!))

The Adventures of Elder Hendrix and Elder Burch

Elder Ray's birthday pie

When you have service at 4pm and a lesson at 5pm

Look, it's me being swag!

"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.

"Sometimes I think this cycle never ends..."

Soldiers of all rank,

This week was a little hazier. I will relate some good stuff and some funny stuff and move on.

We put Justine, Joel's wife, on date for baptism! We're looking at May 20th, so hopefully that will go through. Teaching her goes alright, reading from the Swahili pamphlets and asking questions through Joel, who translates for us. On a totally unrelated note, she has the coolest dresses. I imagine that they are from Tanzania. Maybe. Anyway, they are different and look cool. 

We visited some other people. It was kind of worth. Oh! I know what I can talk about! (About what I can talk.) Elder Ray and I have started doing a thing where, for our journal, we have a quotation of the day and a proverb as well. (By the end of the transfer, we will have written Proverbs 32 and 33.) One of our proverbs involves one of the people that we work with. (With whom we work.) It reads, "If thou smoketh weed, yet read thine scriptures, it profiteth thee not." I'm slightly embarrassed that I shared that with you. Sorrynotsorry.

Oh! Funny story! So, Joel. Speaks English, but not too well, you know? Enough to have a conversation, but not enough to fill out a 1040. Anyway, we got a text from him which read: "can you come home now i received a letter from Missoula Federation credit union.come and translate for me.i am at home." Okay, sounds good. We headed over there, and he brings out this letter. We think it is going to be an account balance or something, but as we read the two pages it becomes quickly clear that it is a simple advertisement for car insurance through the bank. He was freaked out, because there was a section in the ad that says how you can save $552/yr compared to Allstate, or $398/yr compared to Geico! He thought it was a bill! It was funny, and we assured him that it was just an advertisement and he had no money due. He thanked us, and expressed how he was scared and how he called us because "It was from the bank. I had to show it to someone I trusted!" It was awesome.

My legs have rarely been more sore. So much walking. 

We have a mission tour on May 17th, which means an area seventy will be at our multi-zone conference in Helena. How cool is that?

My only spiritual thought today is that the Song of Solomon is garbage. Read the Book of Mormon. Let me know what your insights have been recently! 

Rock and roll! 

-Elder Burch π

"... We slide from top to bottom, then we turn and climb again."

Kambale Family!

I'm so heroic. This picture will likely be featured in an
upcoming Facebook post. Any puns based off scripture
or General Conference will be considered.

"When I think that I can't do this, you promise me that I'll get through this..."

Today Jimmy Eat World is playing here in Missoula. At the Wilma. And I won't be able to go. *cries*

Sandwiches of all kinds,

This week, all the new missionaries got moved to their new areas. In this district, we are now blessed to have the incredibly excited, diligent Sister Arnson serving with the ever-smiling Sister Lystrup, the laid-back Elder Smith now serving with the dignified Elder Stone, the sincere Sister Lewis serving with the optimistic, humble Sister Hymas, and Elder Clement of Mesa, Arizona, Westwood High School serving with the stylin' Elder Wright. In short, this district rocks. Amen, and amen.

One thing I've come to find out here is just how cheap talk really is. Take that as you will.

Saturday was a day of miracles. I will be brief about it, because I'm still trying to take it all in, but, in short, we have two new investigators. We have a lesson with one of them tonight at five, and a we will be calling the other before too long to set something up. We tracted a lot on Saturday, walked about twelve miles, and were blessed immensely. I am impressed stronger than ever before that God is really, truly mindful of His children, and is willing to bless them. I am so grateful that I get to be an instrument in His hands to bring about this great work. I just.. yeah. I feel humbled, and blessed, and overwhelmed, and I know that I need to do better to improve daily at this whole thing. That's that. Sorry for being so indirect. 

We helped a less active clean up her horse's poop. That was fun. We played twenty questions, and one of the best ones was "a hobbit." 
Me: "Is it an animal I would see in a given year?"
Elder Ray: "Oh, no. No, no, no."
"Is the animal currently living?"
"No."
"... Has the animal ever been currently living?"
"Nope!"
"Ah! Gotcha..."

We went to a car show Saturday morning to get out there and be seen by the community in a more normal, less threatening situation. That, and we wanted to look at cars. I won't lie about that. 

Nice people are nice. And by that, I mean that members who feed us make the world go round. Thank you, people!

Elder Holland (who I'm coming to see more and more as one of the greatest orators in the Quorum of the Twelve) gave a talk at the MTC, and it appears in the March 2001 Ensign. It is called "Missionary Work and the Atonement." He talks about missionary work specifically, but I think it also applies to daily discipleship and living what we know. I will add a few little commentaries in the following excerpts. 

"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?

You will have occasion to ask those questions. ... I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?

If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.

The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

Missionary work isn't easy. Neither is living the gospel as a devoted disciple of Christ. It's rough. People mock. We question. We are downtrodden sometimes. Sometimes, though, when it seems like nothing you do is making any progress, that nothing you do is changing anything, remember that sometimes that thing that is changing is you. 

Keep being awesome. Rock and roll ~

-Elder Burch π

"... Its my life, and my right to use it like I should. Like He would for the good of everything that I would ever know."



(Mom insert - This is more about his "Day of Miracles" on Saturday that I thought was too wonderful not to share. God is so good!)

Saturday... We had just been tracting for a good, long while. We were done hitting up every door, and we were instead heading down the road to contact a potential investigator or something. As we are walking down the street, the Spirit hits me hard, and I stop. "We need to knock this door." So, we do. There is no answer, the house sounds quiet, and we can hear a dog barking on the other side of the door. Ah, well. Good for following promptings anyway. We head out, and start walking down the street. A little down the road, we hear a voice, yelling at us. We turn around, and the man from that house was out front, waving us back in. He invited us right in, we sat down, and he said, "So, what're you doing? Spreading the word?" "Um, yeah. Yes, sir." He motioned with his arms to go on, and said, "Well, what have you got for me?" The conversation that followed was incredible. The man had grown up Catholic, and believes in God, and knows that God is the way, but he is afraid because he feels like he only goes to God when he is in trouble, and he knows that he will sin and turn away from God again. He has been in a depressed funk for the last month - complications with his last relationship and his desire to be there for his two young daughters has been eating at him, and he doesn't know a way out. He expressed that he just feels like he needs to get out into the world, and that will help. Elder Ray bore powerful testimony of the atonement of Christ, and we talked about God's Plan of Happiness. "I really feel like you guys showing up today was a kind of sign." We exchanged numbers, and said we'd call him and come back to teach him more. I don't know what will come of this contact, but even if nothing else, I now have a burning testimony that God is mindful of each of His children in their needs. As we left the lesson, walking down the doorstep, I lost it. Tears came down like fountains and I bawled as we walked down the road to our next destination. I looked to the sky and marveled at His goodness, at His grace, and at His love. I know He lives. I know He loves us. 

Kambale Family and Sis. Gee

The first (and currently the only) short
sleeve shirt day since September-ish

Big Dipper Ice Cream to celebrate another transfer
of awesome with Elder Ray in Zootown, Missoula!

Earth Day selfie

Elder Ray made elk burgers!
They were "quite good, quite good."

Cleaning up horse crap

Weird little ice cream trucks like this make Missoula what it is.
This place was crazy! The lemon-dairy dessert was excellent.

***Awesome side-note***

Elder Burch and Elder Ray were able to hook up with 
Uncle Rick and Tom Linton before their concert!

With Uncle Rick - A p-day to remember!