Marc's Farewell Party

Last Saturday night, we enjoyed a night of family, friends and delicious food provided by Cam.  It was a wonderful way to show Marc how much we love him!

Matt's email 9/20/2010

So here I am in yet another new area with a new companion. It is crazy to think that a new transfer is starting. My companion is a super cool guy. His name is Elder Vazquez and he actually went to Provo High and knows Meg and Madisson. Pretty small world huh? But yeah this is his last transfer which means that for sure I will be staying at least two up here. What a relief. The area of Albardon is absolutely massive. I don´t think it is possible to walk from one end to the other in a day. It has also been really successful in the past so we will see what the Lord has in store. It is super hot up here already. I think it is pushing 85 every day and we are still in the winter. Pretty stunning going from 50 to 85 in one day but it is what it is. I don´t think Argentina really has transfer seasons like spring and fall: It is just really hot or cold... No inbetween. I love it up here though. The house we live in is just a straight up crib. It is way too legit. Also the mosquitoes up here are a joke. I think I wake up scratching like 5 new bites a day.
It sounds like Marcus and Kyle just tore it up with their farewell talks. I´m not surprised. Marcus is just massive. His arms... ridiculous. That is so crazy that he is leaving on Wednesday. I hope all goes well around the house. Don´t miss us too much alright?? It´s a pretty sad story that I wont be able to see them for the next 2 years but I can fight through. Oh and another quick story. On Thursday I had to conduct the first baptismal interviews of my life. They were sweet. The Spirit was felt really strongly. I had to interview 3 kids and a mom. I was really nervous to be honest, but all went well. It was a really good learning experience. Other than that not much has happened. Just living the dream here. Loving every minute of it. I hope you all have a great week. Keep praying for the people here in Argentina. I love you all.
Love
Elder Burr

Matt's email 9/13/2010

Well it is good to be writing all you all again. This week was super good here in Rivadavia. Elder Williams and I have just been preppin up the baptism pool getting some people ready to make one of the biggest steps of their lives. It is way sweet seeing the way people change once they come in contact with the Gospel. We are teaching a kid named Ariel and he is just a stud. He is 16 and jacks people up on the soccer field. Anyways we have gone past his house like every day this past week and his mom and grandma are always thanking us for teaching him and bringing him into the church. They tell us that they can´t believe the change that he has made and they have no problems with him getting baptized. It was nice to have someone that is super solid and actually has a future ahead of them. He seems pretty content with it all and loves learning so it´s all good. Other than him we have a few more that are pretty legit but their stories aren´t very cool. Also this week we had a meeting with President Lindahl and he said he had a trip planned for me and that he was kicking me to the curb. BUT... the sad news is that I will not be staying in Rivadavia anymore. We seemed to get a call from President last night informing Elder Williams that he will be training a new missionary and that I will be leaving. I have no idea what is going on but this will be my fourth transfer, fourth area, and fifth companion... Pretty stunning. President told me I will be headed to Agardón, San Juan. I don´t really know how to spell the name but yeah. It is the most northern area in the entire mission and he also informed me that I was going to be district leader. I was pretty shocked to find out that I was going to be district leader at so short a time, but it is what it is. San Juan is going to be ridiculously hot. I have heard that 120 is about the average up there. All the people here say the summers there are brutal, so I guess we will see.  But yeah that is the news for the week. Some new guy is walking into a ton of baptisms, and I am leaving them all. It is pretty disappointing, but when presidend receives revelation, he doesn´t let anything get in his way. I will be with Elder Vazquez, who I don´t know anything about, and we will just tear it up. I love you all. Congrats to Cam and Ashley. That is awesome. I wish them the best of luck in the next few years to come. Have a great week!

Love

Elder Burr

Matt's email 9/7/2010

You people back there have no idea how happy I am to look outside and see the sun shining, hear the birds chirping, and see the trees finally blossoming. It has seriously been the longest 9 month summer of my entire life, but it looks like things are finally staring to turn around. It is about time. It sounds like things have been pretty busy around the house, which would be a good thing I supose. It´s crazy to think that pretty soon that basement will be empty and mom and dad will just be staring at each other for 12 hours a day figuring out what they are going to do. Don´t let them get too bored ok Heather? Cam and Ashley are having their baby this week?? It seems like just yesterday they announced that Ashley was pregnant. Man I wish them the best of luck and I hope and pray that everything goes without a problem. The family is growing like a weed without me. I somehow have a niece and a nephew that I don´t know and pretty soon Olivia is going to have another one. (Prophecy from Matt Burr). Man the way things change. This week was pretty good down here in the ARG. Rivadavia is just too legit. The young men in the branch are the biggest studs. Every Sunday they bring one of their friends and they always are willing to leave with us when we ask them. They are super cool kids and help us out a ton. We put a date with one of their buddies named Ariel for the 18 of September. We are pretty confident he will make it, we just have to talk to his parents about it. I´m sorry I don´t write a lot about the investigators that we have. A lot of them are just kind of the mediocre people that are interested in the Gospel and progressing, but have some obstacles to overcome. I try to keep you informed on the people that really stick out and have a cool story, but that hasn´t happened for quite a while.
About the whole culture thing of these people... They are just crazy. They have this mixed up theory that the United States is full of thieves that want all the fresh water from Argentina and that we are spies here trying to find out how they live. We have also heard that we sold them bombs that were all duds and that is why they lost the Falkland Islands to England. Also, perhaps the most ridiculous, thing that we have heard is that they developed the most sophisticated fighter jet in the 80´s... You never would have thunk it right? These people life in houses with bamboo roofs and invented the most sophisticated fighter jet?? Yeah right. It´s way funny hearing how sweet they think their country is. They think it is just the bee´s knees down here. That´s about all I got for the new news. The time is flying down here. It´s crazy to think about the day I entered the MTC. Feels like Yesterday. I love you all. Do work.
Love
Elder Burr

Matt's email 8/31/2010

Sorry I never got the opportunity to write home yesterday, we had quite the day and didn´t plan for time at the internet, but the good thing about Argentina is that from 2 to 5 everyone sleeps, which makes for good make up time. Last week was pretty frustrating though. We had 2 people ready for the water. We had already taught every lesson, cleared up any doubts, and scheduled their baptismal interviews until it all fell apart. The first kid, a 13 year old boy named Gustavo, was first up on the baptismal schedule. We had been walking out to his house 2 to 3 times a week and teaching the kid since the beginning of the transfer. We always knew that it was going to be hard to get him to the font, but we set a date and followed with it. Anyways to make a long story short the zone leader showed up to his house to do the interview and Gustavo refused to pray in front of him. We all know that prayer is essential to salvation and is perhaps one of the most simple acts of faith that we can perform, but he just wouldn´t do it. The zone leader, Elder Ashby, basically told him if he didn´t pray, he wasn´t going to have the interview. So yeah baptismal candidate #1 fell. The other investigator, a 17 year old girl named Euginia has quite a different story. She comes from a part active family and has been hearing the missionaries since her siblings got baptized a few months ago. She never really paid attention but little by little we got her committed. She passed the interview with ease and seemed way stoked about her baptism, but when we went out to pick her up sunday morning her parents told me that she was sick and they were headed to the hospital to do some tests. I asked if she couldn´t come for just 2 hours and they rejected that idea pretty quick. After church we went back to the house to see if she needed a blessing, only to find her outside with her boyfriend just doing whatever it is the people down here do. It was super disappointing, but she says she will get baptized the 18 of September. We will see how that turns out. Anyway that´s how it goes when Satan gets the best of the people. Aside from those 2 disappointments we had a sweet outcome at church. Three people that we have never met showed up and loved church so we are visiting them this week. That´s about all that happened investigator wise this week. We still have our solid pool of people close to baptism, we just have to help them get there. It´s all part of the fight, what can I say?
Anyways on a better note, yesterday was just one of the most legit days on the mission. Elder Williams and I headed up to Mendoza to have a talk with president. He called us this week and said he wanted us to come up. It was awesome. We just sat outside the offices and talked about how to make it big in this life, and how much of a competition this life should be. We should be competing for everything that we have. President is too cool. It is awesome the way he knows each of the missionaries in his mission and schedules time out of his schedule to talk to them about the future. It was way awesome. After finding out how to become legit Elder Williams and I went to a bodega in the city of Maipu. This bodega was too sick. I know I wrote this in the last email, but we stick out so bad in this place. The two tallest people within a 50 mile radius, dressed in a shirt and tie, with a plaque, and me carrying a huge package that I just got from the offices. Just the most touristy looking tourists to ever step foot in the place going on a tour of the wine factory. It was really cool to learn how the wine was made though and learning more about the Mendoza wine industry. That is about the only thing this place is famous for. The most ridiculous part happened at the end when everyone started their free wine tasting experience. Elder Williams and I were just posted up taking pictures of the winery and everyone on the tour came up and started asking to take pictures with us. I felt like Mikey the Mouse at Disneyland. It was just ridiculous, but don´t worry we didn´t sample any of the free wine but we did feel pretty cool swirling it in the glass and smelling it like the fine wine coneisseurs that we are. However that word is spelled. But yeah it was really fun and people started asking us why we don´t drink wine and all that so it turned into a good experience. We got some good pictures with the people and everyone was happy and that´s what it is all about. I am finally starting to love the people here which is a blessing. It has been a process adjusting, but I feel like I am getting it. Sorry my letters aren´t very cool but it is what it is. I love the mission. It is the best experience I have ever had. The most reassuring thing is knowing that the Lord is always on my side when I do what he asks. I love you all. Have a great week. Thanks for the garments. That made my day. Keep the faith. Pray always. Do work.
Love
Elder Burr

Matt's email 8/23/2010

It is hard to believe that yet another week has gone by in the mission world. It is starting to get ridiculous, but it is what it is. This week here in the ARG was pretty nice. We have just been teaching up a storm and winning big in the eyes of the Catholics. Last night we were in the plaza talking with the people going to mass and opened the mouth with an old grandpa dressed like a million bucks. He invited us to come to mass with him and we were reminded of all the other invitations and deals we had madewith all the other catholics. Anyways we are men of our word and decided to go see what everyone sees in the Catholic church. So this is how it all goes down... Two gringo mormon missionaries walk into a huge catholic church. Everyone is kneeling and praying, inbetween us is a 90 year old grandpa that everyone know. We walk up to the fifth row and take a seat right in the dead center. The priest comes out of his hiding place and before saying anything else welcomes the 2 representatives from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and encourages everyone to applaude. Thirty five seconds pass and Elder Williams and I are just too stunned. The meeting continues. Forty five minutes later they have a little God bless you deal and again the priest comes down to welcome us and give us the side kiss cheek deal. Then the meeting ends, everyone is outside the church, the Mormon Missionaries walk out, the priest stops his convo with whoever he was talking to, thanks us for coming and then we invite him to our church. He declined the offer but it was still legit. Then like 6 people come up to us and tell us that they want to come to our church and were asking us all sorts of questions about the church. It was a really cool experience and by the way... The Catholic Church... Not True, super weird, and full of hipocrites. Yeah that is how it went down. Also this week we had zone conference in Mendoza. President Lindahl is just one mark above the legit bar. He is one of the most awesome guys I have ever met. He opens my eyes every time. That´s about all I got. The church is true. I love you guys. Keep keepin it real.

Love

Elder Burr

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