Marc's email 9/10/2012

So it sounds like Kyle got home in not great shape. Poor kid.. I hope he is happy though and that everything is going well for him. He will see several things in his life and many blessings. Soon we will be kicking it together. Before I forget tell the whole family that has their birthday this month that I say happy birthday and I love them. Matt will hopefully find some other chicks and maybe one day get married. If not he has until the millenium to do it. And if you know what time I get home I want you to notify steve harding cause he has been asking and I have no clue. Well this last week was a great week. Lupita got confirmed last week. I dont know if you remember about Mauricio and his family that we baptized right when I got here but he got the Melquizedek priesthood and blessed his little girl. Lilia is progressing tons in the gospel and Lupita loves it. We got the montes family to go to church and they also loved it. Today we will be teaching them and we will continue helping them in their family issues. I know that if my life doesnt work out like I want it to I can become a marriage counselor. That would be awesome huh? Also this week another investigator that we have had for months now finally said that she likes the church and that she wants to get baptized. Her name is Josefina but she has a lot of problems. She will take a lot of work to finally get baptized but it was awesome that she finally made the decision to get baptized. We are hoping to baptize the Montes family the day before I leave which for me would be a great miracle and blessing. But we are just working hard out here and I love it. I know that God answers prayers and that He loves us. He is willing to help us when we are humble and look for His help. Shortly this will end and I know that I will be able to say that I gave it my all. I am getting super tired but I am excited to keep working! I love you all! Elder Burr

Marc's email 9/3/2012

Hello mother, So it sounds like you are leaving the crib every single week. Maybe you will be home the day I get home. Just kidding mom! I am pretty upset about the date of my homecoming. That is like a month after I get home but I guess that is just the way it is. The topic is a sweet topic and maybe by then I will be able to speak english again. That is also crazy that kyle will be home tomorrow! That just blows my mind that he is already finishing the battle. Who is going to get him at the airport? And about the house cleaning... You never had to ask us more than once to clean up the house!! We always just did it without being asked I dont know what you are talking about. But I am glad that you are happy and the family is just chillin. Heather cant save the disneyland trip for when I get home huh? I would tear that place up with my little nieces and nephews. Alright well a little bit about our week. We were able to baptize lupita this saturday. She showed up and was super nervous but everything went really well. Elder Martinez and I were able go give talks and Elder Webb baptized her. She was really happy but the only problem was that on sunday we had a stake conference so she couldnt get confirmed but next week will be her confirmation. We have also been going with the Montes family. On thursday we did an awesome activity which helped them alot. We talked about the families and had them each write a note expressing their love and thnanks for their family members. Then they read them and expressed their feelings. It was an awesome experience and that family is sweet. Today we are going to do three family nights so we will see how it all goes! At the stake conference Elder johnson was there from the area presidency. That was awesome to listen to a servant of the Lord talk about mission work. I really have grown to love my mission and what I have learned. There is nothing in the world that could have taught me more than my mission has and I am grateful to it. This week will be another great work full of hard work and trying not to think about the little time left. It is hard to not think about it but I definately wont let it stop me from working. I love you mom. Hope you have a great week! Elder Burr

Marc's email 8/26/2012

Well it sounds like the parties are all now over and the real life has started again. That is awesome that you and Matt had a good time in San Fran. I bet that was awesome and you had some bonding time. Now he is just posted up in provo just trying to get by living with 4 boys. I have come to discover that living with four elders struggles at times. Elder Webb and I are actually really clean and have everything organized. Then the two mexicans come and throw all of their dishes in the sink and never sweep or do anything really. Every monday elder webb and I clean the house and by about Wed. it is dirty again. And for as many times as I have told them to clean up their mess they never do it. I think I prefer to just live alone! It sounds like the family is calming down a little bit and everybody is going back to school. Just a question. What size shirt are camden cooper and cameron? To hook them up with some soccer jerseys. Well this last week was awesome! We were able to have our zone conference with the president which was incredible. He knows so much and he taught me a ton about the plan of salvation. I now understand it alot better and I am so much more grateful for it. I know that God gives us exactly what we want. If we dont want to do what He says, we wont want to live with Him. If we want to live with Him all we have to do is obey His commandments. We have been able to visit the family that I told you about and they are good. We are going to go with them today and teach them the plan of salvation and hopefully they keep progressing. Yesterday we had an awesome experience with another family of five!! So we were in the church and all of the sudden the secretary comes up to me and says that somebody is on the phone and wants to talk to us. So I talked to him and it was a member of a stake presidency in Mexico D.F. He said he had a family that wanted us to visit them. So we put the appt. for 6pm yesterday. We went and all five of them were present and it was an awesome lesson. One of the daughters, Karen, is going through a hard time in her life and had lost all hopes of living. The family was in desperate need of some kind of miracle. So we went with them and expressed our love for them and the dad told us he wanted to get baptized. With him we are hoping his 3 kids and his wife get baptized. We will be working hard these next few weeks to get them taught, prepared, and baptized. It is the familia montes so you can pray for them please. This weekend we will be baptizing Lupita. She told us about a dream that she had about leaving her catholic beliefs behind and getting baptized. God answered her! The only problem is that this weekend we have stake conference so she wont be able to get confirmed until next week, the 9th. The Montes family will get baptized the 15 then we will be looking for somebody to get baptized the 22. Then my stay here in Guadalajara will come to a very successful end. I love this gospel and everything that God has given me. I know Him. He knows me. He has answered every one of my prayers and has given me a personal witness that He lives. Jesus Christ is His Son. He is the Saviour of the World and has died for all of us. This is His church. He guides it through a living prophet and I have been called by the Prophet of God. I have felt the miracle of forgiveness and have seen the miracles of selfless service. I have seen His hand in this work. It is His commision, I am His servant. I love it here! Elder Burr

Marc's email 8/20/2012

well by the looks of things it sounds like Powell was an awesome family adventure. I bet it was fun and you will all be talking about it for years to come. Sounds like Matt is just trying to live the dream and the family is all just way busy. To answer your question mom I go home the 24 I think and the only thing I know is that I am flying into SLC. So pretty much we have about the same amount of information. Unless I extend my mission.. Just kidding I still havent asked the president if we are still allowed to. I cant believe that taylor mansfield is already home. That just blows my mind how fast the time is going. It seems like everyday I am trying to think of things to write to you guys! But we are working hard out here. This last week we worked hard. We have two people that hopefully get baptized this next weekend. Lupita and Jacqueline. They are both family members of some members of the church and they like the church. We will be working with them alot this week to try to get them baptized, Yesterday we found a family of five that seems pretty interested. We found them because the mom stopped her car to ask us why we always looked so happy and always had a smile. We just told her to listen to our message and she would find out for herself. so yesterday we found her in her house with her husband and her three kids. We are going with them today to teach them and see if they progress. The work here is amazing. I dont know if it is the area or what but we are having a lot of success. I love everyday out here and we work hard. I hope you and matt have fun in San Fran and that you are safe and protected. I love you mom and family Elder Burr

Marc's email 8/13/2012

hola familia I am sure you wont have much time to be reading emails and stuff considering the fact you are all just burnt sitting in a hot house boat catching some summer rays. But that is awesome that you all got to hit up lake powell and stuff! Mom HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Cam, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You are both just another year older that is awesome. Mom to answer your question I will just come home by myself then if everything works out and we arent too busy we can come down later to check out the stompin grounds. I just dont know what we would do for three days here and I know you would not be down to walk in some of the places I have been so I will just fly home solo. Well about this week. It was another sweet week. On sunday morning we were able to baptize again. We went on friday with a boy named Daniel. His whole family are members and he is 9. so he already knew everything we teach as missionaries so we challenged him to baptism and he accepted. His whole family went to his baptism, including many less active brothers and uncles of his. his mom was super happy and it was another awesome baptismal service. All of the members seem to love us because we are all up in their grill asking them to give talks and participate in our activities and we are just doing tons of work with them so they know me because i dont let them say no. I also dont obligate them but they are all working! Also this week we had changes. elder Webb and I are still here but they bumped me up again as District Leader and the President told me I have to train the whole district and leave behind the experience that I have gained. It will be a little stressfull seeing as how the elders in my district are all pretty lazy but shortly hopefully everything will change. If not its time to throw down. Well that is about all that happened last week. We are just keeping it real and stuff. I love you mom and family. Have fun in Powell and be safe Elder Burr

Marc's email 7/30/2012

Hey mom and family and stuff, So everybody is just home from the mission besides Kyle and I. We are just living the dream still trying to get by. It sounds like this last week was a good one for all of you. Nothing too exciting sounds like. Tell Olivia I say hi and that I have read all of her emails I just sometimes dont have time to write back. It sounds like the family is doing well and just working like usual. Matt just chose to go to go to Phantom with Adam and Ryan huh? Wow makes me think of the decisions I am going to make when I get home. It has been months since I have heard from Kyle, I just hope he is working all day everyday and he makes the best decision. I would hate to cut my mission short. AK is going out with Lyndsey? Matt better get on that, he is struggling and stuff. Yeah that is crazy that cam and coop and everybody else starts school soon. It seems like they just got out.. Cant believe July is already over. Well this last week was a pretty good week. On wednesday I had to do divisions with our DL so I was with elder Black from Mapelton. He is a great kid and a good missionary. Elder Webb is also progressing and learning and he is doing great. He and I get along really well. We work hard and just do what we are supposed to do. It is a miracle being with him cause it makes me just focus on the mission and training him and I have to time to think of the time or anything. This last sunday we had some people in the church. Bere went to church again and she loves it. She will get baptized this saturday. Her dad is not very happy that she is listening to us but she has told us that she is going to make her own decisions and she wants to be happy and see her mom again. We also had a girl named lupe that went. She is like 60 and Karen Tippetts status. I love teaching her, she is awesome. She also liked the church and should get baptized soon. Other than that we have just been working hard and teaching people. This week should be better than last week so I am excited for it I know that this church is true and the Gospel saves lives. I know that anybody who prays about the truthfulness of this message will discover the best treasure that one can find. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and will guide all men back to the presence of God. Families are eternal and the covenants we make with God are bound together by the Holy Priesthood. It is the power of God and through it we can see miracles. Joseph Smith was a prophet. He saw God. I love this church and the members of it. I love my area and the mission. Pretty much I love everything. Well Family I hope you are all happy. Love you all Elder Burr

Marc's email 7/9/2012

Hey family, So it really sounds like the whole world is burning up right now. That is incredible that there are so many fires and dad has so much work going for him. I swear he hasnt worked this much in the history of the business but it sounds like he is busy. So apparently our new mission president came in but I still havent met him. I am thinking that soon we will have some zone conferences and I will get to meet him. On tuesday they gave us our changes and I am training yet again. My companion is Elder Webb from American Fork and he is way good. He is willing to work and to learn. It is pretty funny cause he is barely learning the language so I am sure that he talks how I talked like 2 years ago. But I hook a brother up so its all good. His parents own the cold stone on 5th east in AF so you could go meet his parents if you want, maybe get hooked up with some free ice cream or something. This last week we have mainly just been teaching. We have an investigator named Vicky and her two kids. She says that she doesnt want to change religions because she believes in the saints and images and stuff and she doesnt want to accept the fact that God has given us to commandment for a reason. We are going with her tonight and hopefully she gets baptized soon. We also have several people progressing that we found this last week that we will be teaching this week to see if they progress or not. I only want to teach my comp how to be obedient and how to work hard. So it will be a great last 12 weeks. I love the mission and the work I am doing. I have never been so happy and content in my life. I try not to think about home because I would just rather be here serving the Lord. The end is coming quickly but there is still a lot to do. I love you all thanks for everything. Elder Burr