It’s Cooling Down!!!

March 14, 2016

Hey there family and friends! Guess what is happening here in Argentina?!?!

IT’S COOLING DOWN!!!! SIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!! 

Us with the Relief Society Presidents

Yes that is right we are not having super-hot summer weather right now!  It’s the greatest feeling when you wake up in the morning and you get ready for work and you are walking around at about 11 in the morning and you aren’t sweating a ton!  HALLELUJA!!!!!  Oh and speaking of Hallelujah: www.mormon.org/easter go watch the video that is found at the top of the website and feel free to explore all the other information that they have there.  It’s really great! 

On for the week… So we have been having a ton of fun with the branch members as they are being so generous to let us use their bikes to go to faraway places and to be more on time with the meetings.  It’s a lot of walking here in Las Palmas but you just have to deal with it.  Nothing that I am not used to.  Elder Teves, my son, is enjoying all the stresses of missionary life and the change from normal life to missionary life.  It makes me reflect on how hard it was for me and the stresses I had on the mission.  But he’s doing much better.  We are still going hard, looking for new people to teach.  Not gonna lie, it’s like 60% rejection and 40% acceptance and of that 40% about 10% actually want to progress.  But hey, that’s really a big change from the people in Corrientes and other parts of the mission.  I recently read a letter that my sister forwarded to me that had a poem from Elder Connor Showers that he wrote and it was really great.  I loved it and it reminded me that the mission is exactly that. 

Providing service for the Romero Family
(we chopped down a tree)

We have a ton of experiences here in the mission and there are countless times where you just want to throw in the towel and call it quits, or just keep walking without really being excited to do the work.  I’ve noticed that when you are a missionary and you are a consecrated missionary, the mission life becomes your life.  It becomes a part of you and in the mist of dealing with so much bad, you feel completely happy and willing to serve.  It’s something I’ve noticed, it takes time to develop those types of attitudes in the mission, and it’s not so easily won.  When you go out and work and work and work, then come the blessings of the Lord.  Through it all, I love the mission and encourage, no exhort all that are willing and able to serve a mission that they do it.  You find yourself and you will all be surprised at the person you really are and the potential that you have.

We are still talking with Lorena and Omar and its pretty back and forth but we taught about the Law of Chasity with them and they said they are going to be talking about getting married or separating until they are sure if they want to be together.  It’s hard to put people in those types of situations, but it’s like the ripping off of a Band-Aid, do it fast and strong and it won’t hurt as much.  But we will be seeing their progression much later on.  

Love all you guys and hope that you know I pray for you here in Argentina, you can say that you have a friend, cousin, brother, son, etc. who loves you in Argentina. Not a lot of people can say that. ;D

Elder Burke