January 18,
2016
Hey Guys!
So, first
things first. I’ve become the killer of
all animals that wish to do me harm or are just really creepy. I have on record, for the entire mission,
killed:
 |
| scorpion kill |
50+ spider kills by bare hand
20+ cockroaches
3 mice
1 scorpion
You’d think
that I would have a medal by now- but I’m still working my way up to bigger
game (Yacare y Vivora). But this morning
was the scorpion kill so there you go! ja ja.
With the
mission being as hard as ever, you can’t help but to look on the bright side of
everything. It’s hot but that means that the drinks that are cool, taste so
much sweeter. There is a lot of
rejection, but that makes it the sweeter when you find just one person who wants
to get to know the gospel. There are
still a lot of dogs trying to bite you, but you manage to laugh at them when
you see them with the cone of shame a week later! Whatever problem there is in your life, you
can look on the bright side of it. Focusing
on the negative never brings positive results.
As for the
weekly update: Matias is gonna be
baptized here this coming Saturday!!!! Sweeeeeeeet!!! He is so awesome and so humble and willing to
follow the Lord’s commandments, and the best part is that he prays and asks for
guidance as well. He is the best and I
love how he is doing. We teach one thing
and then he asks more questions and has more desires to find out for himself. He’s even a stud as he told us that he’s
working on being more repentant and went to go ask for forgiveness from a girl
that he feels like he hurt her feelings. Saturday after teaching him, we had a couple
of minutes to bring him a white shirt and tie that were donated by Elder
Montero. He loved them so much that he
basically left walking to the appointment he had with a white shirt and tie. He wants to be a missionary (He’s in the photo
below, that is our investigator not my real companion). He is super excited for this next week and we
are really having awesome plans with the branch to help him and others stay
active-
 |
| Elder Burke and Matias- future missionary |
We managed to
have a leadership meeting where all of the quorums in the church get together
and we make goals for the year. Being
here for a good amount of time made me super proud of the type of quality and
devotion the branch has become to bring more people unto Christ. Pres. Zarur said that it is the responsibility
of the Church members to retain the new baptized members. I really loved that part because it helps us
do our job better. Being in the branch
for a long time sure does make it easy for picking and choosing who can go with
you on appointments and also use their special gifts and talents to teach. I’m loving it and… We are having success.
So Rio Parana
is one of the farthest areas on our map, 40 minutes walking fast. And we are having really good success down
there. It’s hard to get them to come to
church because they live poor and don’t have a lot, but they are accepting the
gospel! Also I’ll tell you a story from
yesterday. We went looking for an
investigator but she wasn’t there. I was
determined to find someone since you get the feelings as a missionary that
someone is calling for help. So we went
deeper into Rio Parana and talked with Agustina and her friend Ruben. It was super dark at night and we were far
away from home, but after teaching them for 20 minutes about Christ, Agustina
made the comment "Les puedo decir la verdad, ahora me siento muy bien.
Estaba sentiendo mal hoy dia pero me siento muy muy bien ahora." (I can
tell the truth, now I feel great. It was
a bad day today, but I feel fine now). When
you walk 500 miles as a missionary, and perhaps 500 more, you are ever so grateful
to God and his never ending mercy that you could be the part of helping someone
feel the Spirit of God. When I sacrifice
a lot it normally doesn’t give back until later, but I saw that sticking to the
confirmations of the spirit and pressing onward brought us to a small shack and
two teenagers who needed to feel their Heavenly Father’s love. I couldn’t ask for it in any other way.
We are
working more in Mendoza al Sur II more now and that means getting lost a bit or
avoiding a couple of streets. But that doesn’t
mean that there aren’t good people amongst the bad. Being a good missionary is working hard and
being obedient. A consecrated missionary
is doing that and confiding in the Lord that he will be your shield against
evil. I love trusting the Lord, never in
my life have I had to listen to the still small voice so attentively and I am
happy to see the results are always for our safety. As it says in the 3rd verse
of the Hymn How Firm a Foundation:
Fear
not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I will strengthen and guide thee, and help
thee to stand,
Upheld
by my righteous, omnipotent hand.
These words
truly bring me to have complete peace knowing that I may not have control of
all the things going on in the world, but I know for sure that my Heavenly
Father is at the Helm, guiding his ship with us in it, safely to harbor.
Thanks for
all that have been writing me up till now, if you haven’t been doing it, there
is still time! I only have 5 months left
until I am back in the US. Take the
advantage so that you can say you are writing someone awesome in a different
country ja ja!
Love,
Elder Burke
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