December 14,
2015
Que tal
queridos amigos! Como andan con la nieve y todo? Disfrutalo porque estoy
moriendo de calor!!! ja ja
So as we are
counting down the clock to Christmas. We are doing pretty well in teaching now
for the needs of our investigators. We
were so focused on teaching the lesson that we forgot the person! What is wrong with me? But its ok, we are doing much better in
teaching with the Spirit and acting on the moment and not totally on the
preparation. Teaching by the Spirit is
like Improv (Yes Toni Butler I can hear your little Mwah ha ha ha ha right
now), you react on what is in the moment and follow the impressions of the Spirit.
It may not be a well preformed script or
fancy way of explaining the doctrine of Christ, but when you teach by the Spirit,
it sticks and touches the heart AND mind of the person you are teaching. So don’t be so focused on what you will say
next, listen and then you will be able to say what the Spirit guides your mind
to say. That’s what I had to do
yesterday, Sunday.
I gave a talk
on Sunday last minute literally. What happened was that well, it rained... a
lot... as in we walked through a lake up to our mid-shins, to look for
investigators, in the morning type deep. Yes, we still leave out in the pouring
rain with no cars. We walk with boots
and umbrellas, well half of an umbrella. ja ja. So with that result of so much rain, there
were a lot of people who were blocked in their houses with small floodings or
sicknesses, (it was super-hot Saturday just after with sunny blue skies) and
the people who had talks couldn’t show up. We were twenty people in the church but as missionaries
you’re basically ready to give a talk. So
after receiving the heads up I was going to study just a little bit in the
scriptures to get an idea of what I could share but then I had to direct the
hymns and then be the usher for the sacrament. When I left to go to the pulpit I had nothing
planned, it was all the Spirit. I had to
talk about missionary work, so it was simple but I managed to give a good 15
minute talk with related scriptures and even personal experiences. It was super spiritual for me because I don’t
have a hard time talking but when it’s in another language and you couldn’t
even prepare a little bit that’s when you are as humble as you can be to be
guided by the Spirit. So yes it was
exactly like Improv (Thanks Toni!)
We got food
poisoning from a combination of foods and man was that the worst diarrhea I
ever had in my life. Elder Montero and I
were taking turns with the bathroom and we were absolutely miserable, what made
it better and bearable were the movies my sweet mother and family sent here to
the mission. We obviously had to push
pause more than once to go to the bathroom but it helped us to not be crying
out for our mothers to cook us soup. That’s
one thing I miss is that when you’re sick, you have to take care of yourself,
so I would like to say thank you to all those who ever took care of me or
visited me when I was sick! You’re all
the best!
The reason
the title is Bailando (Dancing) is because it’s the song that they have been
playing nonstop for a while (don’t know why, it’s fairly old) by Enrique Iglesias.
It’s super great and sadly it makes me
and my companion want to dance. You
should see Elder Montero’s face when he says "A me, me gustaría
bailar." (me, I like to dance) and I say "Che, no sabes." ja ja.
But it’s a good beat to hear when you
are walking in 38 C (100.4 F) weather with 95% humidity type days, keeps you
going ja ja. But also talking about
dances I did enjoy seeing Brianna and her cute dress for the winter ball! She’s
super pretty- it’s ridiculous. All of those boys better be ready when I get
back! ja ja.
I share the
experiences of teaching Gregorio who is an atheist. He is absolutely a well-respected
person. And he is super nice to us and
talks to us mainly to know more about the Mormon religion. He takes notes and reads here and there, it’s
very interesting teaching someone about God who doesn’t believe in God, but he
is coming to feel the spirit here and there. When we invited him to pray he did it and from
the first time I invited him back in the spring to now, he has progressed. I
call him my snail investigator, he progresses very slowly, but he progresses! He will be praying on his own in no time,
probably while I’m not here, but we hope to get him to the church this next Sunday.
I love you all;
I won’t be writing much until after Christmas because we only have 45 minutes
to write and 45 minutes to skype on the 25th. So keep on going hard with serving people and don’t
forget about what Christmas is all about!!!
Love you
guys!
Elder Burke
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