August 3,
2015
 |
| Welcome to Pirane |
Hey guys from
stinky fish (Pirane literal translation from Guatani) ja ja and it’s been good
as ever! We are going hard, Elder Stock and I, and I have never been so busy in
my life as a missionary. I feel like I
forgot to give a couple details in my last letter so I will say what’s going
on. So I’m a District Leader, meaning I
am in charge of some areas and the Elders and Hermanas (sisters) that are in my
district. I call them every night to
make sure they are alright and also hear how their day went. I am in charge of making sure that they are
doing their best, but also as their mission nurse I also make sure that they
are feeling their best! ja ja!
Funny story
was that yesterday night we were super far away from an appointment (17 blocks
worth!) and we had to be their 5 minutes ago, so we ran all 17 blocks. It was Elder Stocks first time to go running
as a missionary to be on time (3rd world problems right?), and his first run in
with dogs trying to eat you on the way. He
told me he almost wet himself when a huge German shepherd tried eating my
backpack. I told him that was my 4th or
5th time now almost dying by dog. His
eyes were pretty wide when I said that. Welcome
to Argentina son! ha ha
Also the
thing is that I am finishing the training of Elder Stock, yup I have another
step son, like elder Swingle! So it’s
really crazy because he is trying to adjust to everything and of course his
Spanish is about a 30 percent of understandability. Also he is trying to show me the area but also
we get lost sometimes and even try to find his investigators. Man have I never been so busy trying to doing
a lot of things all at once. More calls
as people get sick, trying to help two elders and two hermanas with their
areas, training and translating for my companion, reporting to Zone Leaders
what’s going on. Yeah... it’s a bit
tiring, but as usual the Lord helps me complete all the tasks that I need to do
to bring about better success in everything I do.
This week has
been “the get to know everyone week” and meet all of those who Elder stock and
his older companion (his real father) have been teaching. A lot of them have sadly fallen through and
there are others that are progressing. We found someone new too! Her name is Virginia and I’m really excited to
see how she progresses. She learned a lot about of the restoration of
the gospel of Jesus Christ through the pamphlet we gave her and she read all of
it and had a huge understanding of how it works. She feels it’s true but wants to do everything
we invite her to do with her husband, whom we haven’t met yet. So we will be trying hard to teach her all she
needs to make a good decision. But we
will see how he reads the Book of Mormon.
As district
leader, I have to do some things to help benefit the team of missionaries we
have here. I have to basically teach
them how to do better or understand better a part of the gospel, so that they
can be better missionaries. I had to do
it Tuesday, and man it was different to teach it than to listen to it like
before. But it opened my understanding
to how learn in a new way. I’m putting
my studies more towards them, so I can help them, and in turn I am learning
more. Maybe it’s a new perspective that
helps us learn something new. I think
that’s why we have callings for short periods of time. We end up changing our perspectives from being
student to teacher or from follower to leader and it makes us better people. There is always a perspective and different view
to see one thing and for me it helps me have more patience and love for others.
We all get frustrated when we don’t understand right? When there is a misunderstanding, or perhaps
we dont understand completely what is going on, so we make assumptions. Heavenly Father wants us to learn everything,
so he gives us experiences so that we can further our understanding. Because if we know what it’s like to be in the
other persons’ situation, we won’t judge them or be impatient with their
“mistakes”, but we will understand.
That was
Christ’s perspective, He knew what was going on in the lives of these so called
sinners and evil-doers, but he forgave them. There are so many stories of great forgiveness
from Him and it’s because He knows their stories, our stories, the why we do
things. So it makes sense that if we
want to have a better understanding of people we have to be in their shoes or
have different points of views that we have to see. So don’t judge so quickly, try to see why they
did what they did first or why they are like the way they are.
I love this
gospel and it brings a huge understanding of how I can be a better person full
of love, patience and compassion, Love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Burke
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