October 12, 2010
Hey family, on Saturday we got our transfer calls and I found out that my lucky streak in Forks was coming to an end. So here I am in Tacoma, well, actually we're in Lakewood right now because thats where the best library is. I am very sad to leave Forks and I will miss all of the wonderful people there. President Bowen has asked me to be a zone leader in the largest zone in the mission, with 28 missionaries, which is quite a big difference from the little Forks district of only 5 missionaries. So I am a little nervous to take on the responsibility, but I am excited for what the Lord has in store for me. I've heard that Tacoma zone is the heartbeat of the mission - if it's doing well, then the mission is doing well. The area that I'm in has seen a lot of success in the past, lately they've had a little dryspell but things are gonna pick up soon. We are in the Wapato Park/Allenmore wards. Wapato Park is a good area with a good Bishop, and Allenmore is actually the only Samoan Ward in the mission. So I will be getting a Samoan nametag, and I hear the Samoans will feed us... a lot. In fact they fed us a large stir-fry dinner yesterday. And the Samoans are crazy about getting people baptized, so i'm excited. Elder McDowell is the other zone leader and we are training a greeny, Elder Houston from New York City. Elder Houston went to MIT before coming out on a mission so he's got the brains, we just need to teach him a few things about missionary work. We also have Elder Bouchard, which I dont know if you remember him but I actually trained him in Forks with Elder Miles about 6 months ago. McDowell used to be my zone leader in PA, so we are gonna get along great, the greeny is humble and ready to learn, and Elder Bouchard is good too so we will have unity and see a lot of work get done together. We have a pretty cool house for the 4 of us, and one of the mission's Chevy Malibus so that will be good.
I loved Forks. I will have spent time there probably longer than any other area, 7 1/2 months, which is tied for the longest elder in Forks. Bishop Winters understood what we had to do to build up the Kingdom of God in Forks, and he had the faith to do it. Brother Romney, the ward mission leader, was a invaluable resource to mission work and a great example to me of how to be a more Christ-like person. The missionaries and the ward had the unity it needs to see a lot of work get done. The Bishops goal was to get enough baptize weekly for the year, thats 52 baptisms. And when I left there had been 44 converts so far, so we are 2 ahead of schedule! I will never forget the converts and the experiences I have had in Forks. So I wanted to write this little tribute to Forks to show how much I loved it there, but I'm sure that there are great things ahead in Tacoma. Elder Isham will be able to take over the area and he's got a new companion and a greeny, they will keep the fire going.
So far, things have been pretty weird here in Tacoma. Theres so many streets and cars and so many people, and I dont know any of them! I could drive around Forks and know most of the people walking around, and I knew exactly where I was all the time. The people here dont really wave and say hi as easily as the people in Forks do, and there is quite a variety of people here. It's totally different than Forks in pretty much every way. I'm sure soon enough and with the Lord's help, I will be able to grapple how missionary work is done here in Tacoma, and I will learn to love the people here.
My new address is:
5214 South Fife St.
Tacoma, WA 98409
Write soon and let me know how things are going. Well, I'm out of time, love you guys!
Elder Burgess
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
What Matters Most
October 4, 2010
So happy birthday Josh, congratulations on being ordained to the Priesthood. Yesterday, a recent convert here in Forks was very excited to recieve the aaronic priesthood and be ordained by another recent convert, in Spanish. Another recent convert will be ordained next Sunday and another convert will probably recieve the Melchezidek priesthood and be ordained an Elder soon, he has made remarkable improvements. In fact, the Stake President came down a last week for ward conference and talked to us missionaries about working on building up the Priesthood in the Forks ward, due to several key families that have moved. We are already starting to see that happen, as if the Lord was preparing for the loss of those priesthood holders. Of course we will still do everything we can to help the women and children be baptized as well. A 15 year old girl named Mariah from La Push was baptized yesterday, we were surprised to see about 15 non-member friends and family show up to support her. We will soon be networking into her family to help them recieve the gospel and it seems like she will be a goldmine of referrals. A long time ago the missionaries used to go down to La Push quite often and built a lot of solid relationships with the people there, but they werent doing a lot of actual work, so the President told the missionaries that replaced them to just focus on Forks. But about a month ago, me and Isham recieved a prompting to go down to La Push again and we found a lot of people to start working with, Mariah is the first of many that will be baptized. When we go down there all the kids just run up to us and start talking to us and all the adults see us as a positive influence on the community, which is quite the opposite down on the Chehalis Reservation by Rochester, those Lamanites did not like us at all. Dawn Greene from Neah Bay will be baptized this week, and we have another one of Eleanor's friends, Kelly, on date for Sunday. The Bishop asked me when was transfers and I told him next Monday, so he said, "well, you better baptize everyone before that then," so I will try to do that. There's a very small chance that I will stay in Forks this time, and I think everybody knows that. My companion got a ticket driving around the lake today and will be losing his blue card(needed to drive a mission vehicle) for a couple months, but I still think that I will be transferred.
Anyways, I loved conference last weekend. I feel like I can finally sit through all 10 hours of modern revelation without falling asleep. I am looking forward to reviewing my notes and the conference Ensign and then teaching with all this new scripture. What was your favorite talk? Pres. Monson's Sunday morning was really good, I also liked Uchtdorfs talk on slowing down and focusing on the things that matter. He said only a few things really matter, and the first is our relationship with God, then family, fellow men, and then ourself. I totally agree with that, I think many people try to fill their days with all sorts of nonsense and they care too much about what other people think about them when all that really matters is our relationship to God, and where we are at in our eternal progression. A Bishop from Centralia said something early on my mission, he was talking about some less-actives and why they were less-active, he said something like, "what do all these things matter, this is eternal life! tha'ts all that really matters." Brigham Young had a similar motto for his life, "the kingdom of God or nothing," which kept him strong throughout the most serious period of persecution in the history of the church. I believe that if people would focus on what really matters in this life then life would not be so hard for them, after all the gospel is quite simple: faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end, or as Elder Jenkins, a Samoan missionary in my district, says, "enjoy to the end." Every once in a while you may have speed bumbs or turbulence, like Elder Ishams $150 ticket, but as long as the most important things are in tact, life in general will be good. If they are not in tact, then the fix is fairly simple as well, turn back to the Lord and rely upon the infinite atonement to become clean again. I have had my share of mistakes, in fact Elder Kearon's Priesthood talk on exact obedience was good too, I realize I could be a little more obedient in a few things.
Well, thank you for that letter, as of next Monday I will probably have a new address so you might want to send the next letter either sooner or later.. I hope I go to a humble area like Tacoma or Aberdeen, but I'm sure I'll go where the Lord needs me most. Forks has been a wonderful experience that I wont forget, this would be the area that I might come back up to visit after my mission. Well, Love you guys!
Elder Burgess
So happy birthday Josh, congratulations on being ordained to the Priesthood. Yesterday, a recent convert here in Forks was very excited to recieve the aaronic priesthood and be ordained by another recent convert, in Spanish. Another recent convert will be ordained next Sunday and another convert will probably recieve the Melchezidek priesthood and be ordained an Elder soon, he has made remarkable improvements. In fact, the Stake President came down a last week for ward conference and talked to us missionaries about working on building up the Priesthood in the Forks ward, due to several key families that have moved. We are already starting to see that happen, as if the Lord was preparing for the loss of those priesthood holders. Of course we will still do everything we can to help the women and children be baptized as well. A 15 year old girl named Mariah from La Push was baptized yesterday, we were surprised to see about 15 non-member friends and family show up to support her. We will soon be networking into her family to help them recieve the gospel and it seems like she will be a goldmine of referrals. A long time ago the missionaries used to go down to La Push quite often and built a lot of solid relationships with the people there, but they werent doing a lot of actual work, so the President told the missionaries that replaced them to just focus on Forks. But about a month ago, me and Isham recieved a prompting to go down to La Push again and we found a lot of people to start working with, Mariah is the first of many that will be baptized. When we go down there all the kids just run up to us and start talking to us and all the adults see us as a positive influence on the community, which is quite the opposite down on the Chehalis Reservation by Rochester, those Lamanites did not like us at all. Dawn Greene from Neah Bay will be baptized this week, and we have another one of Eleanor's friends, Kelly, on date for Sunday. The Bishop asked me when was transfers and I told him next Monday, so he said, "well, you better baptize everyone before that then," so I will try to do that. There's a very small chance that I will stay in Forks this time, and I think everybody knows that. My companion got a ticket driving around the lake today and will be losing his blue card(needed to drive a mission vehicle) for a couple months, but I still think that I will be transferred.
Anyways, I loved conference last weekend. I feel like I can finally sit through all 10 hours of modern revelation without falling asleep. I am looking forward to reviewing my notes and the conference Ensign and then teaching with all this new scripture. What was your favorite talk? Pres. Monson's Sunday morning was really good, I also liked Uchtdorfs talk on slowing down and focusing on the things that matter. He said only a few things really matter, and the first is our relationship with God, then family, fellow men, and then ourself. I totally agree with that, I think many people try to fill their days with all sorts of nonsense and they care too much about what other people think about them when all that really matters is our relationship to God, and where we are at in our eternal progression. A Bishop from Centralia said something early on my mission, he was talking about some less-actives and why they were less-active, he said something like, "what do all these things matter, this is eternal life! tha'ts all that really matters." Brigham Young had a similar motto for his life, "the kingdom of God or nothing," which kept him strong throughout the most serious period of persecution in the history of the church. I believe that if people would focus on what really matters in this life then life would not be so hard for them, after all the gospel is quite simple: faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end, or as Elder Jenkins, a Samoan missionary in my district, says, "enjoy to the end." Every once in a while you may have speed bumbs or turbulence, like Elder Ishams $150 ticket, but as long as the most important things are in tact, life in general will be good. If they are not in tact, then the fix is fairly simple as well, turn back to the Lord and rely upon the infinite atonement to become clean again. I have had my share of mistakes, in fact Elder Kearon's Priesthood talk on exact obedience was good too, I realize I could be a little more obedient in a few things.
Well, thank you for that letter, as of next Monday I will probably have a new address so you might want to send the next letter either sooner or later.. I hope I go to a humble area like Tacoma or Aberdeen, but I'm sure I'll go where the Lord needs me most. Forks has been a wonderful experience that I wont forget, this would be the area that I might come back up to visit after my mission. Well, Love you guys!
Elder Burgess
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The Grand Motive
September 27, 2010
Well the rainy season has officially begun, its rained every day for the last couple weeks now, and its beginning to rain pretty hard. It's not too bad though, most of the time it's still pretty warm outside, and sometimes it's just misting. But, I doubt that I will actually be privelaged to see the sun for a while. I got your letter today, Mom, sounds like things are going pretty good. I will probably continue my friendships with companions afterwards, especially since Elder Isham is planning on transfering to BYU. I realized the other day that after you've been around someone for 4 1/2 months 24/7, you can pretty much figure out what they are thinking and what they might say next. We sometimes have long discussions about doctrine or theory or culture and we are pretty darn close to having the same perspective on life. I've been blessed to have some really good companions for the last 8 months. Well anyways, I hope you guys get better from all the sicknesses, one of the baptisms last weekend had to be postponed to next week because of sickness so I've had my share of frustration with sickess.
Anyways, regardless of the postponed baptism, we saw a lot of miracles last week. We spent the entire week doing everything we could to try and get everyone to church for ward conference. We focused on less-actives, recent converts, and especially investigators and left fliers, reminders, messages on phones, text messages via the Hixon phone, and a lot of solid commitments. Of course there was a little dissapointment as always but just as the Bishop says, "will we be disappointed? yes, but discouraged? never!" All in all, the overflow was opened, chairs were set up, and there were more people there than there has been in a very long time, even with all the twilighters that came in the summer. The Bishop gave a powerful talk that I wont forget and then the Stake President gave a good, but not as good, talk and everyone there was very inspired. Before church, we gave a church tour to 4 new investigators and we had about 11 investigators at Sacrament. After church we went over to a less-active family that I've been working with since I got here, and she told us how she finally has realized she needs to start coming back to church and how she talked to her non-member husband who finally agreed to come to church next week. Her 13 yr-old daughter still needs to be baptized and she said she is thinking about it yesterday. Talking to her about that has brought to me a great amount of joy because I'm seeying all the effort put into visiting that family begin to pay-off. In fact, there were a lot of returning less-actives there yesterday. It's not like we get any money or anything out of having a lot of people at church, but there is a certain satisfaction as a missionary in seeying people recieve peace and happiness because of an active testimony of the gospel, whether through baptism or reactivation. What I think some people don't understand, is that it's not for us missionaries, it's for them. The gospel has nothing to do with anyone except you and God. Whether you want to have an active testimony has nothing to do with what your friends might think of you, what your family might say, what the missionaries or the Bishop thinks, but has only to do with what you think of your Heavenly Father and what He wants you to do - and you can be sure the only reason He wants you to be in church is because He loves you, and your family. Although the Bishop and the missionaries should have the same motive, and hopefully your family and friends as well. Love is the grand motive of every great and noble action ever performed, most importantly the infinite and atoning sacrifice of the Savior. I've learned as a missionary that the only way to fulfill your calling is to love the people whom you teach, and the only way for them to understand the gospel is by first understanding the love Heavenly Father has for them.
So one of the members in Forks, Samuel, is preparing to go on his mission, and he truly loved his friend Steven so when Steven moved back to Forks a couple weeks ago he did everything he could to get Steven to come to church with him and learn from the missionaries. Steven has had a rough past but he saw the transformation that Samuel undertook when Samuel became active in the church and he decided he needed to follow that example. And yesterday, we hiked down to second beach, and Samuel baptized his friend in the ocean. Me and Elder Butler rolled up our pant legs to go out with them and witness, but we got wet up to our waists anyways. After the baptism, Steven sat on a log on the beach while we laid our hands on him and Brother Schostak confirmed him a member of the church and gave him the gift of the holy ghost. It was quite an inspiring experience, and 4 of our investigators made it to the baptism, one of them commited to be baptized next Sunday and another the week after that. So yeah, lots of miracles last weekend that "nothing save the power of God" in this work could explain. The church is true, love you guys!
Elder Burgess
Well the rainy season has officially begun, its rained every day for the last couple weeks now, and its beginning to rain pretty hard. It's not too bad though, most of the time it's still pretty warm outside, and sometimes it's just misting. But, I doubt that I will actually be privelaged to see the sun for a while. I got your letter today, Mom, sounds like things are going pretty good. I will probably continue my friendships with companions afterwards, especially since Elder Isham is planning on transfering to BYU. I realized the other day that after you've been around someone for 4 1/2 months 24/7, you can pretty much figure out what they are thinking and what they might say next. We sometimes have long discussions about doctrine or theory or culture and we are pretty darn close to having the same perspective on life. I've been blessed to have some really good companions for the last 8 months. Well anyways, I hope you guys get better from all the sicknesses, one of the baptisms last weekend had to be postponed to next week because of sickness so I've had my share of frustration with sickess.
Anyways, regardless of the postponed baptism, we saw a lot of miracles last week. We spent the entire week doing everything we could to try and get everyone to church for ward conference. We focused on less-actives, recent converts, and especially investigators and left fliers, reminders, messages on phones, text messages via the Hixon phone, and a lot of solid commitments. Of course there was a little dissapointment as always but just as the Bishop says, "will we be disappointed? yes, but discouraged? never!" All in all, the overflow was opened, chairs were set up, and there were more people there than there has been in a very long time, even with all the twilighters that came in the summer. The Bishop gave a powerful talk that I wont forget and then the Stake President gave a good, but not as good, talk and everyone there was very inspired. Before church, we gave a church tour to 4 new investigators and we had about 11 investigators at Sacrament. After church we went over to a less-active family that I've been working with since I got here, and she told us how she finally has realized she needs to start coming back to church and how she talked to her non-member husband who finally agreed to come to church next week. Her 13 yr-old daughter still needs to be baptized and she said she is thinking about it yesterday. Talking to her about that has brought to me a great amount of joy because I'm seeying all the effort put into visiting that family begin to pay-off. In fact, there were a lot of returning less-actives there yesterday. It's not like we get any money or anything out of having a lot of people at church, but there is a certain satisfaction as a missionary in seeying people recieve peace and happiness because of an active testimony of the gospel, whether through baptism or reactivation. What I think some people don't understand, is that it's not for us missionaries, it's for them. The gospel has nothing to do with anyone except you and God. Whether you want to have an active testimony has nothing to do with what your friends might think of you, what your family might say, what the missionaries or the Bishop thinks, but has only to do with what you think of your Heavenly Father and what He wants you to do - and you can be sure the only reason He wants you to be in church is because He loves you, and your family. Although the Bishop and the missionaries should have the same motive, and hopefully your family and friends as well. Love is the grand motive of every great and noble action ever performed, most importantly the infinite and atoning sacrifice of the Savior. I've learned as a missionary that the only way to fulfill your calling is to love the people whom you teach, and the only way for them to understand the gospel is by first understanding the love Heavenly Father has for them.
So one of the members in Forks, Samuel, is preparing to go on his mission, and he truly loved his friend Steven so when Steven moved back to Forks a couple weeks ago he did everything he could to get Steven to come to church with him and learn from the missionaries. Steven has had a rough past but he saw the transformation that Samuel undertook when Samuel became active in the church and he decided he needed to follow that example. And yesterday, we hiked down to second beach, and Samuel baptized his friend in the ocean. Me and Elder Butler rolled up our pant legs to go out with them and witness, but we got wet up to our waists anyways. After the baptism, Steven sat on a log on the beach while we laid our hands on him and Brother Schostak confirmed him a member of the church and gave him the gift of the holy ghost. It was quite an inspiring experience, and 4 of our investigators made it to the baptism, one of them commited to be baptized next Sunday and another the week after that. So yeah, lots of miracles last weekend that "nothing save the power of God" in this work could explain. The church is true, love you guys!
Elder Burgess
"Jesus is True"
September 20, 2010
Hey family! I got your letter, very nice letter. I especially like all the fancy fonts and graphics used by the 3 kids (or should I start saying pre-teens?).
Marybeth thank you for saying you respect me for being on a mission. I respect you for being such a great student in Mrs Cumbo's class, keep it up and maybe someday you'll find a cure for cancer. It's ok to have strict teachers because they help you learn how to work hard, and you'll need that when you get a little older.
Michael, its going great in Washington. It sounds like you're having fun in scouts and playing sports, thats great. I'm glad you're excited to go on a mission. So, did you mean to say "goodbye solider"? or "goodbye soldier"? Because soldier kinda makes sense if i'm a soldier in the army of God or something... but yeah. Keep working hard in school, it's very important at your age.
So Josh working on projects for school, thats sweet. I dont know much about Egyptian government, though. Except that there was a Pharoah who was like a king, and that Joseph was sold into Egypt and became Pharoah's right hand man until a new Pharoah was in charge, he put the children of Israel into bondage for a long time until the Lord called the prophet Moses to tell the Pharoah to let God's people go. When Pharoah said no, the Lord kicked the Egyptians in the behind until they let God's people go. So no matter how great and powerful someone thinks they are, they are no match for the Lord and His work will move forward. Anyways, I'm excited for your birthday too, you should listen to President Beck's talk from last conference called, "The Magnificent Aaronic Priesthood," it will help you be prepared to take that great step, President Beck's cousin lives in Forks by the way. Anyways keep on doing good in school, you dont have to play football to be cool, but if you do play football you might get injured and then its not really worth it.
Thanks for the great letter mom, and for the update on how everything is going. My companion for almost 4 months now is Elder Isham ("eye-shum") from Cedar City, UT. Isham is a great companion, he's got a good personality, he's a good teacher, and he's a pro at throwing the frisbee. Elder Butler from Fairview, UT is the greeny, he's doing really well, probably one of the best greeny's in his group. I've been in Forks for almost 7 months now, longer than any other missionary has been here, and the pattern of success that started about a year ago has continued, probably because the recent convert's are helping out so much with missionary work. That's too bad that you will miss the marathon, but maybe you would've got hit by a car if you had decided to run it, if that makes you feel any better... So I knew Allison would de great at BYUI, you should let me know what her email address is.. or something. So I'm on a blog, that's weird. But it doesnt bother me so go ahead. I'm just gonna have to start thinking about what I write in my emails. So I had to use the credit card s few times for this past week, but they said that my new MSF card is in the mail and it should get here on Wednesday.
Well, we got a great week ahead of us here in Forks, should be preparing at least 2 people for baptism this Sunday. It's Ward Conference and the Bishop wants everyone there, and the whole ward mobolized with fliers and special invites to make sure all the recent converts will be there. It's amazing to me how much faith that Bishop Winters has, and how much he understands how faith is an principle of action. The gospel is true and I know that, but unless you put that testimony into action and serve the Lord you will lose it. 2 weeks ago seven year old went up to bear his simple testimony and said, "I've figured it out, the church is true because Jesus made it, and Jesus is true." How perfect is this testimony? It's so simple, and yet so many people are confused. Eleanor, a recent convert now for a couple months gave a talk on Sunday after her sister was confirmed and she bore another similar testimony. The Book of Mormon fell into her lap and as she read the Spirit bore it's witness and from then on she knew that the church is true. Was the change she had to make after that easy? Not really, but it was simple - keep the commandments and you will recieve blessings, "in this there is safety and peace." Well I will write you guys next week, love you!
Hey family! I got your letter, very nice letter. I especially like all the fancy fonts and graphics used by the 3 kids (or should I start saying pre-teens?).
Marybeth thank you for saying you respect me for being on a mission. I respect you for being such a great student in Mrs Cumbo's class, keep it up and maybe someday you'll find a cure for cancer. It's ok to have strict teachers because they help you learn how to work hard, and you'll need that when you get a little older.
Michael, its going great in Washington. It sounds like you're having fun in scouts and playing sports, thats great. I'm glad you're excited to go on a mission. So, did you mean to say "goodbye solider"? or "goodbye soldier"? Because soldier kinda makes sense if i'm a soldier in the army of God or something... but yeah. Keep working hard in school, it's very important at your age.
So Josh working on projects for school, thats sweet. I dont know much about Egyptian government, though. Except that there was a Pharoah who was like a king, and that Joseph was sold into Egypt and became Pharoah's right hand man until a new Pharoah was in charge, he put the children of Israel into bondage for a long time until the Lord called the prophet Moses to tell the Pharoah to let God's people go. When Pharoah said no, the Lord kicked the Egyptians in the behind until they let God's people go. So no matter how great and powerful someone thinks they are, they are no match for the Lord and His work will move forward. Anyways, I'm excited for your birthday too, you should listen to President Beck's talk from last conference called, "The Magnificent Aaronic Priesthood," it will help you be prepared to take that great step, President Beck's cousin lives in Forks by the way. Anyways keep on doing good in school, you dont have to play football to be cool, but if you do play football you might get injured and then its not really worth it.
Thanks for the great letter mom, and for the update on how everything is going. My companion for almost 4 months now is Elder Isham ("eye-shum") from Cedar City, UT. Isham is a great companion, he's got a good personality, he's a good teacher, and he's a pro at throwing the frisbee. Elder Butler from Fairview, UT is the greeny, he's doing really well, probably one of the best greeny's in his group. I've been in Forks for almost 7 months now, longer than any other missionary has been here, and the pattern of success that started about a year ago has continued, probably because the recent convert's are helping out so much with missionary work. That's too bad that you will miss the marathon, but maybe you would've got hit by a car if you had decided to run it, if that makes you feel any better... So I knew Allison would de great at BYUI, you should let me know what her email address is.. or something. So I'm on a blog, that's weird. But it doesnt bother me so go ahead. I'm just gonna have to start thinking about what I write in my emails. So I had to use the credit card s few times for this past week, but they said that my new MSF card is in the mail and it should get here on Wednesday.
Well, we got a great week ahead of us here in Forks, should be preparing at least 2 people for baptism this Sunday. It's Ward Conference and the Bishop wants everyone there, and the whole ward mobolized with fliers and special invites to make sure all the recent converts will be there. It's amazing to me how much faith that Bishop Winters has, and how much he understands how faith is an principle of action. The gospel is true and I know that, but unless you put that testimony into action and serve the Lord you will lose it. 2 weeks ago seven year old went up to bear his simple testimony and said, "I've figured it out, the church is true because Jesus made it, and Jesus is true." How perfect is this testimony? It's so simple, and yet so many people are confused. Eleanor, a recent convert now for a couple months gave a talk on Sunday after her sister was confirmed and she bore another similar testimony. The Book of Mormon fell into her lap and as she read the Spirit bore it's witness and from then on she knew that the church is true. Was the change she had to make after that easy? Not really, but it was simple - keep the commandments and you will recieve blessings, "in this there is safety and peace." Well I will write you guys next week, love you!
Monday, September 13, 2010
"Burgess" Family Reunion
Hey family, another great week to report on in Forks. We got our greeny in the water yesterday, when he baptized Regina. Regina is Eleanor's sister, and Eleanor has been very helpful in teaching her and resolving her concerns. In fact, earlier this week Regina was having some doubts when an anti-mormon friend tried to convince her not to get baptized, and Regina said a prayer to ask for help on what she should do. At about the same time, Eleanor recieved a prompting to go to La Push and see her sister so she and another recent convert headed off to La Push. Because the Lord loves all of us and is willing and able to answer prayers Regina was given the help she needed and was able to do the right thing. Of course we all have our agency, the Lord will never take that away, but the Lord does know exactly what we need to do to fulfill our divine potential and we are given ample opportunity to take steps in the right direction. Many times we make the wrong step and faulter, but I'm sure that the principles of trial and error are neccessary for real progression to take place, and no matter what happens the Lord will never turn His back on us. I have seen many investigators begin to turn away from the Lord and yet the Lord still has a plan for them. Eleanor is a good example of this, she did not show any good signs of progression when she was first taught and so she was dropped by the Elders before me, but of course the Lord knew when the time was right and months later and she found her way back into our teaching pool. A few powerful spiritual experiences became a turning point in her life and this Sunday she will be giving a talk on the story of her conversion and the work that she has been able to accomplish in sharing the gospel with her family and friends, I will send you guys a copy.
Well anyways I have some good news and some bad news. For the good news we had a lot of fun in Sequim today playing capture the flag and having a multi-person birthday party at the sisters apartment. The bad news is I got call from the office elders letting me know that they accidentally canceled my MSF card because an Elder Berger lost his card and they mixed up our names. So.. I might have to use the credit card a few times over the next 7-10 days until they can send me a new one.
So there is also a Sister Burgess missionary that is in Sequim and I found out that we are related. We were at the library doing service on Saturday and sister Burgess's Aunt, from St. George, was at the library and she invited us to go to La Push to the family reunion they were having down there in the cabins. We were planning on going to La Push anyways and so we went to the reunion and painted these little piggy banks them. And we pretty much blew them away with the banks that we painted, so they got some pictures and they said they would email them to you. So now you should understand that if some random people email some pics to you. I think we are both related to William Burgess Sr., the first Deacons Quorum President or something like that.
Well, I hope everything is going good for you guys.. In fact, let me know how everything is going..Well, talk to ya later!
Elder BurgessHey family, another great week to report on in Forks. We got our greeny in the water yesterday, when he baptized Regina. Regina is Eleanor's sister, and Eleanor has been very helpful in teaching her and resolving her concerns. In fact, earlier this week Regina was having some doubts when an anti-mormon friend tried to convince her not to get baptized, and Regina said a prayer to ask for help on what she should do. At about the same time, Eleanor recieved a prompting to go to La Push and see her sister so she and another recent convert headed off to La Push. Because the Lord loves all of us and is willing and able to answer prayers Regina was given the help she needed and was able to do the right thing. Of course we all have our agency, the Lord will never take that away, but the Lord does know exactly what we need to do to fulfill our divine potential and we are given ample opportunity to take steps in the right direction. Many times we make the wrong step and faulter, but I'm sure that the principles of trial and error are neccessary for real progression to take place, and no matter what happens the Lord will never turn His back on us. I have seen many investigators begin to turn away from the Lord and yet the Lord still has a plan for them. Eleanor is a good example of this, she did not show any good signs of progression when she was first taught and so she was dropped by the Elders before me, but of course the Lord knew when the time was right and months later and she found her way back into our teaching pool. A few powerful spiritual experiences became a turning point in her life and this Sunday she will be giving a talk on the story of her conversion and the work that she has been able to accomplish in sharing the gospel with her family and friends, I will send you guys a copy.
Well anyways I have some good news and some bad news. For the good news we had a lot of fun in Sequim today playing capture the flag and having a multi-person birthday party at the sisters apartment. The bad news is I got call from the office elders letting me know that they accidentally canceled my MSF card because an Elder Berger lost his card and they mixed up our names. So.. I might have to use the credit card a few times over the next 7-10 days until they can send me a new one.
So there is also a Sister Burgess missionary that is in Sequim and I found out that we are related. We were at the library doing service on Saturday and sister Burgess's Aunt, from St. George, was at the library and she invited us to go to La Push to the family reunion they were having down there in the cabins. We were planning on going to La Push anyways and so we went to the reunion and painted these little piggy banks them. And we pretty much blew them away with the banks that we painted, so they got some pictures and they said they would email them to you. So now you should understand that if some random people email some pics to you. I think we are both related to William Burgess Sr., the first Deacons Quorum President or something like that.
Well, I hope everything is going good for you guys.. In fact, let me know how everything is going..Well, talk to ya later!
Elder Burgess
Well anyways I have some good news and some bad news. For the good news we had a lot of fun in Sequim today playing capture the flag and having a multi-person birthday party at the sisters apartment. The bad news is I got call from the office elders letting me know that they accidentally canceled my MSF card because an Elder Berger lost his card and they mixed up our names. So.. I might have to use the credit card a few times over the next 7-10 days until they can send me a new one.
So there is also a Sister Burgess missionary that is in Sequim and I found out that we are related. We were at the library doing service on Saturday and sister Burgess's Aunt, from St. George, was at the library and she invited us to go to La Push to the family reunion they were having down there in the cabins. We were planning on going to La Push anyways and so we went to the reunion and painted these little piggy banks them. And we pretty much blew them away with the banks that we painted, so they got some pictures and they said they would email them to you. So now you should understand that if some random people email some pics to you. I think we are both related to William Burgess Sr., the first Deacons Quorum President or something like that.
Well, I hope everything is going good for you guys.. In fact, let me know how everything is going..Well, talk to ya later!
Elder BurgessHey family, another great week to report on in Forks. We got our greeny in the water yesterday, when he baptized Regina. Regina is Eleanor's sister, and Eleanor has been very helpful in teaching her and resolving her concerns. In fact, earlier this week Regina was having some doubts when an anti-mormon friend tried to convince her not to get baptized, and Regina said a prayer to ask for help on what she should do. At about the same time, Eleanor recieved a prompting to go to La Push and see her sister so she and another recent convert headed off to La Push. Because the Lord loves all of us and is willing and able to answer prayers Regina was given the help she needed and was able to do the right thing. Of course we all have our agency, the Lord will never take that away, but the Lord does know exactly what we need to do to fulfill our divine potential and we are given ample opportunity to take steps in the right direction. Many times we make the wrong step and faulter, but I'm sure that the principles of trial and error are neccessary for real progression to take place, and no matter what happens the Lord will never turn His back on us. I have seen many investigators begin to turn away from the Lord and yet the Lord still has a plan for them. Eleanor is a good example of this, she did not show any good signs of progression when she was first taught and so she was dropped by the Elders before me, but of course the Lord knew when the time was right and months later and she found her way back into our teaching pool. A few powerful spiritual experiences became a turning point in her life and this Sunday she will be giving a talk on the story of her conversion and the work that she has been able to accomplish in sharing the gospel with her family and friends, I will send you guys a copy.
Well anyways I have some good news and some bad news. For the good news we had a lot of fun in Sequim today playing capture the flag and having a multi-person birthday party at the sisters apartment. The bad news is I got call from the office elders letting me know that they accidentally canceled my MSF card because an Elder Berger lost his card and they mixed up our names. So.. I might have to use the credit card a few times over the next 7-10 days until they can send me a new one.
So there is also a Sister Burgess missionary that is in Sequim and I found out that we are related. We were at the library doing service on Saturday and sister Burgess's Aunt, from St. George, was at the library and she invited us to go to La Push to the family reunion they were having down there in the cabins. We were planning on going to La Push anyways and so we went to the reunion and painted these little piggy banks them. And we pretty much blew them away with the banks that we painted, so they got some pictures and they said they would email them to you. So now you should understand that if some random people email some pics to you. I think we are both related to William Burgess Sr., the first Deacons Quorum President or something like that.
Well, I hope everything is going good for you guys.. In fact, let me know how everything is going..Well, talk to ya later!
Elder Burgess
New Blog
We are starting a blog to post David's letters so more of you can read how he is doing. He would love to hear from each of you so please take time to write him a letter
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