Matt's email 2/28/2011

So first and foremost, Saturday was one of the greatest birthdays I have
ever celebrated. First, I spent it with 3 people from 3 different countries,
second I spent it here in Mendoza, Agentina, third, I finally left those
dreaded teenage years, fourth my homies hooked me up with some cake and an
asado, fifth it was a great way to end a great week, sixth Elder Sierra
threw my face in the cake, seventh... I could keep going but I don´t want
you all to get jealous over there. It was awesome though and what made it
even better is that it was just another day here in the mission field. I
didn´t feel any different and I didn´t let it distract me. It was just an
awesome day of hard work down here in the ARG. It is weird to say that I am
20 years old, in fact I don´t like it at all, but it is what it is.
Other than the birthday, this week was super good. On Tuesday one of the
traveling assistants came down to do divisions with some of the elders in
the zone. I got to work with him on Thursday, and let´s just say it was
difficult. He doens´t really fit into the work ethic that Elder Benitez and
I have created down here. He came in thinking that he was a hot shot, but
showed nothing. Then to my surprise I got a phone call from President
informing me that he, Elder Barra, was going to be my new companion...
President basically told me good luck and I will see you in 6 weeks. It is
awesome to know that President trusts me enough to give me a companion that
has almost been sent home 3 times, but then again I don´t really know how I
feel about it all. It is going to be a great transfer even if I have to go
out and work alone. There is a lot of work to do here in Alvear, and I
promised the Lord that I was going to work my hardest and that is what I
will do. I´m sure these next few emails will be full of great surprises.
About the whole packages... I am sure they have all arrived. The only bummer
is that I am 6 hours away from Mendoza and packages don´t have feet to walk
down here. We have interviews the 13 so they should be bringing them down
then. I will let you know.
This week Nahuel blew my mind... Again. This kid is seriously a stud. He is
one of the greatest friends in my life and I will definitely be kicking it
with him again... If not in this life, in the life to come. This week he
pretty much told us that his whole family wants to get baptized. His mom is
super stoked, his 2 younger brothers are exited, his brother and sister in
law are reading the Book of Mormon and his other sister said she was going
to pray about it. The only bummer is the dad. He is a wine bibber. He gets
drunk all the time and makes up rumors about Nahuel´s mom and if she starts
coming to church she is afraid that he will make up more stories and get
mad, so we are fighting with that right now. She know that it is the true
church, but she just has a hard time putting her husband on the back seat...
Good thing God is a God of miracles right?
Anyways that´s about all I got. I hope you all enjoyed my birthday cake... I
love you all and wish you the best!!
Elder Burr

Marc's email 2/21/2011

Well family its just your boy again writing in with the updates about life out here in Mexico. This last week I got transfered to a pueblo called Villa Hidalgo. It is in the state of Nayarit and pretty much in the middle of no where. My companion is Elder Quiroz and he is a little odd, femi. Yeah you just keep laughing, I dont know what makes you laugh more, the fact that I have a girly comp or the fact that my daily showers consist of a 5 gal bucket and a water cup. Yep pretty met but I love it here too. This last week has just consisted of working everyday and teaching people. The people here are alot better than the people in the city and honestly I like it out here more. It is not cold here to say the least, matter of fact is is pretty hot. Actually really hot. The people are accepting and more willing to listen but are just lazy. The challenge here will be getting people to follow through on their commitments. It is sick though here, chickens and roosters everywhere and drunk people passed out on the sidewalk. Yesterday we walked by a passed out guy and took his whole bottle of alcohol from him. He probably woke up a little mad but he will get over it right? Thank you everybody for the birthday wishes, I cant believe this week I will finish my teenage years. I am so met. My birthday wont consist of buying a nice dinner, there is no where to get a nice dinner. Also mom about the packages, I have not received any packages from you but I am excited to receive them all in one huge heap of packages. Especially out here, I wont get them for even longer. So Ben and Olivia are just officially out huh? That is also hard to believe. That is good for them though so thats what matters. Really nothing too great has happened. I just live everyday out here and take it for the adventure that it is. I love every second out here, at times it is hard but I am in flipping Mexico. Not only that but I am in the service of the Lord. He is always with me and I am His right now. I feel so close to Him always and it is something that not everybody can experience. This mission is the best thing I have ever done. I love this church and my Lord, Jesus Christ. He has made our lives possible. We are eternally endebted to Him. I love you all and am so grateful for everything. Celebrate my birthday for me huh?
Elder Burr

Matt's email 2/21/2011

So I have to start out by thanking you all for the great birthday wishes. It was awesome to open up my email and see a million happy birthday emails. Just to let you all know I´m still the youngest in the family, despite the fact that I have passed through 19 years of this life. I would like to thank you all for the great examples that you have been to me and the awesome lessons that I have learned from each and every one of you. Thanks a lot for everything guys!
As for the week here in Alvear... It went really well. The weather was perfect. We woke up every day to clouds and even rain some of the days. It was definitely an answer to many prayers. Sometimes the sun just gets old, especially when nobody in this country has air conditioning. I´m sure you can imagine. Also on Saturday we had the opportunity to watch Nahuel, our recent convert, baptize a girl named Angela. It is amazing to see the progress that Nahuel has made in the church. Yesterday we had a good chat with him and he told us that he wants t be on the mission as soon as possible. He said that he wants to leave everything and serve the Lord. It was so awesome to hear that from a man who, 2 months ago, was a complete wreck. He should also be receiving the Melchezidek Priesthood this coming month so that will be really cool to see. The kid is super solid and I wish you could all meet him, but that won´t be possible. At least here on this earth. But he sends you all greetings, just to let you know.
Sorry this email is pretty lame, but that is about all that has happened. Alvear is pretty legit. Imagine being in Kanab for 4 months without leaving. Yeah after about the first week everything is the same. That´s how it is here, but the work is awesome. The ward is getting attacked by all the women passing along rumors... They are literally destroying the church, but it´s all good. We will just have to go drop some cane on the verdicts and hopefully things start getting better. You have no idea how frustrating it is to hear a 14 year old girl that doesn´t understand anything, start a rumor about a recent convert that just got baptized Saturday. She deserves a kick to the face, but lucky for her, nobody here will do it. Yep the rumors will do it, so the teaching of the week is DON¨T PASS RUMORS!! I don´t care if they are true or not, they come from the devil. They destroy the souls of the people. If I find out that anyone in my family does it... I can´t finish the sentence, but it won´t be good.
That´s all I got homies. I wish you all a great week. Thanks for everything. Keep doing what you do alright? I love you all!
Love elder Burr

Marc's email 2/14/2011

Dang it sounds like you guys got met with the BYU ward coming over. That is just a tragic story I think. So every week I just hear more news about how the family is up and bouncing. Looks like Ill be inheriting all of the sick stuff like the boat and basement and couch. They should have thought about that before they decided to just leave us all hanging. That is sweet that the Whimpeys are up there playing football. I heard Kevin came home early again is that true? Also about the Stephans that is sweet they went over there to spend some sit time. I am still disappointed that Ryan hasnt gone back out. He is just missing out on the blessings that could have come. The Valentines package? The Christmas package you mean? I have recieved one package from Lauren and it took 6 weeks to get here. But I will still be waiting. Some news about the ole mission. Changes are today so tonight I will know if I will be staying here or bouncing out of this place. I will go where ever I am sent and that is where I will work. Elder Pucheta and I have just been working everyday but it seems as if our area just doesnt care about their lives. We work our hardest everyday and pray constantly, knowing we will see blessings. Discouraging, no it really isnt I wouldn´t want to be doing anything else. There are times that are hard but that is just when the Lord steps in and gets me through. That is my advice for the week. Take every opportunity for what it is worth. When things seem hard, just keep going. I love all of you and the support you show me. Mom thank you for everything, I love you. Also have Jake Rothfels write me please or send me his email. As for this week, Im OUT. Love you all.
Elder Burr

Matt's email 2/14/2011

So I was pretty surprised to find out that transfers have come for everyone in the family. It is nuts to think that everyone is just packing up and bouncing out like that. I honestly don´t know what to say but I hope all goes well. I was also happy to find out that mom and dad did return to the land of their roots. I was beginning to think that they too had opted to leave the nest. I guess marc and I are just going to have to fight through solo, seeing that everyone has bailed on us, but it´s alright marc, only the strong survive right? As for me and my life here in Alvear... yeah it hasn´t really changed much. This past week was just ridiculously hot. At times it honestly feels like I have the sun on my shoulders, but it´s all part of the battle. It was really cool a few nights ago when a huge lightning storm came through in the middle of the night. It reminded me of the night before Heather got married when we were all at that pavilion/church deal right across the parking lot from the temple and a storm came in and blew everything away. It was pretty much the same story. A lot of wind and a lot of lightning. Perfect elements to start a raging forest fire... too bad there isn´t a forest around. Yesterday, however, was an incredible day. Not because the church was an incredibly spiritual experience because that will never happen here, but because victor, the guy from villa atuel, showed up for church. We hadn´t talked to him all week and then yesterday morning I decided I would give him a call. He answered and was really skeptical about the church. He said that he wasn´t going to be able to come and he had a ton of things to do. I told him that if he was truly concerned about leaving his past life behind him and following Christ, he would come to church. He said he was going to do what he could, but probably wouldn´t make it. Very much to our surprise, he came. He was unable to make it for any of the meetings, due to the complications in the bus schedule, but the dude made it. We showed him the church and the baptismal font and he said that he wanted to get baptized. It was truly a miracle, this guy. Other than that it was just another great week. Elder Benitez and I have become like brothers and it is awesome.
This whole mission thing has honestly been the best experience of my life. It has been the hardest thing I have ever done, but also the most rewarding. There is nothing better than arriving to the apartment with just enough energy to take my shoes off, knowing that I did everything I could in the day. I love preaching this Gospel. It is the greatest blessing that I have in my life right now. I know that by abiding by it´s precepts, all of us will be able to return to live in the presence of our Heavenly Father. I love you all and am so blessed to have you as family. Have a great week!!

Marc's email 2/7/2011

It sounds like life is just really hard right now. Do you have skin cancer yet? That is good though I hope you are enjoying it. Also I watched the movies about Tyler Haws and Mike and those were awesome. Mike sounds like he is just tearing it up so that is cool. I hope he makes a difference that would be awesome. And the movie about Tyler was also really good. Take some pics of Adam and stuff cause that is way cool. I cant believe the family is just bouncing. What is Cam going to do in St. George? He is going to sweat something off. How is Tae doing and all of my nieces and nephews? Well about me this week. My area is really hard to work in. The people are really shut off and really dont want much. There have been times where I asked them how important their salvation is to them and they just tell me not now. I also tell them that when they reject us, they reject Christ and they just tell me to leave. We had 2 baptismal dates for this weekend but they fell. One of the guys just wanted to do it for his girlfriend but he drinks and smokes and another one is like 60 and is addicted to this one lady. Yeah he told us all about it dont worry. But Elder Pucheta and I are working our hardest and hope to see our efforts pay off this week. As for me that is about it. I know this work is real, it is a battle. Satan is here, he is in the dogs, kids, parents, and the Catholics. He is everywhere and we are here fighting. I know that Christ lives and He is with me always. Times when I get discouraged, He lifts me up. He always reminds me of why I am here and with Him everything is possible. I love you all.
Elder Burr

Matt's email 2/7/2011

Oh man what a great week that we have just had. It was a week filled with miracles and awesome stories. I guess I will have to start with an entertaining story. So the other night, While I was in my 6th dream, I started hearing a bunch of kids yelling. I stayed in the bed for a few seconds just listening, and thought it was a bunch of punks returning from a night out on the street. As I sat there listening I started hearing all the swear words come out then I started hearing some dudes throwing some punches. That really called my attention, so I got out of bed and went outside to see what was happening. To my surprise there was a group of about 30 kids just going at it. Punches were going everywhere and to be quite honest, I was pretty entertained. About 15 seconds later 12 policemen showed up shooting there shotguns in the air. That scared the kids and they all took off, but there is always the one that has to throw the rock to end it all. That really made the police mad so they all got in their cars and chased the kids. That is the end of the story. I don´t know what happened to them, but it was a great way to spend some time alone at 5 30 in the morning ha ha. A story a little more spiritual than that followed the next day. We went again to villa atuel, a little place I like to call zion, but instead of going just us two, we invited two young men in the ward, one of them being Nahuel, our recent convert. We arrived there early and decided we were going to eat breakfast in the plaza. As we were eating, a man passed by us on his bike. After he passed, he immediately turned around and told us that he felt like he needed to talk to us. He told us that his life was just a wreck, he had no money, he had tried comitting suicide, he didn´t want to live anymore and he was just a wreck. To make a long story short, the man ended up with a knowledge of the Savior and the desires to repent and be baptized. We then went the whole morning on divisions and it was awesome. The only problem with villa atuel is that it is super far away from the chapel so nobody comes to church, but we are talking about starting a branch out there so we will see what happens.
Aside from those two stories I don´t really have much to say. Walter got baptized on saturday and we are now planning on baptizing his entire family. They are awesome, but I will write more about them next week. I am absolutely loving the miracles that I am seeing and it is such a blessing being here. I know that this is the work of the Lord and that if I am willing to work with all my heart, might, mind, and strength, He will be with me in the streets. I hope you all have a great week!! I love you
Love
Elder Burr