So what is up with the family just packing up and heading out? I never thought this day would come. It is awesome that it is happening but just something I never saw coming. It looks like I am the same size? That is good I suppose, must be the 100 pushups I have done since I got here. Or maybe all the tacos and beans that I eat. One of those I am sure. So about this week. I dont remember if I told you but we split the area I am in. At first Elder Baeza and I were in the area that had all of my investigators in it and it was awesome but this week we had emergency transfers and we got a new elder straight out of the Provo Prison and Elder Baeza is training him in my old area. I am now in Residencial 2 with Elder Pucheta and we are opening this area. We have some investigators but it is a challenge to say the least. We will do it though and shortly enough we will be having more baptisms. This week Elder Johnson talked to us at the zone conference and that was good. We talked about obedience and how important it is cause without it it is not possible to have the Spirit. Without the Spirit you have nothing. So that was pretty good. We also took Adela and Pablo and their family to see the temple and that was awesome. Today I went to the Consolate to do more Visa work. Other than that it just doing the work of Angels all day. I love it and I know this is where I need to be. I know my Savior lives and He gave His life for us. We need to always remember that and always be grateful for it. I also know that through His Atonement we can all be saved but that is not free. We have to work for Salvation, it is not given without a price. I love it here. I love all of you and the support you are to me. I hope and wish the best for you. Mom and Dad thank you for everything you are the best. Keep on Keepin on.
Elder Burr
Monday, January 31, 2011
Matt's email 1/31/2011
I am very happy to say that this week went by pretty well. It wasn´t a week full of legit stories, but it was a good week. On Tuesday it hailed like I have never seen hail before. We were about 10 blocks away from the church when it started so we tied up the nikes and headed for the chapel. Let´s just say we got in right on time because the second the door closed, all heck broke loose. Cars were getting trashed, dogs were getting punked, trees were falling... It was just a disaster. The next day we found out that a lot of the grapes and peaches were destroyed, putting everybody here in a bad mood. It was definitely one of those storms that I will never forget.
This week we were also working a lot with a little boy named Walter. He is a friend of a member and is too stoked to get baptized. He doesn´t really understand the lessons all that well, but he is super excited to get baptized and be like his friend. His parents have invited us over to his house to eat with them and are showing interest in the Gospel, so we are going to try to take advantage of this great opportunity to baptize the entire family. Our recent convert, Nahuel, was called to be the second counselor in the young mens organization and also received the priesthood yesterday. This kid was so prepared for the Gospel it´s unbelievable. He is super excited for his new calling and is looking forward to the day when he is called to serve as a missionary.
On Friday we had zone conference in San Rafael. It was great to be able to hear from the Lindahl´s and to meet together with some of the missionaries. It is always a good little break from the regular faces that you see daily. Hermana Lindahl gave a great talk on marriage.. Why she was talking about marriage, I don´t know. She expressed to us the importance of humility in a relationship and how sometimes you just have to humble yourself and let the Lord work out your problems. It was hard for me to comprehend, based on the fact that I have never been married before, but it definitely opened my eyes.
Other than those great little stories, nothing really cool has happened here. I can say that I love being out here. I love being able to serve the people of Alvear, and more importantly, serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It was interesting, the other day I talked with a man and asked him what he had done in the day for Jesus Christ. He told me that he had done nothing, but then he returned the question on me. I was proud to be able to say that I serve him all day every day, but I also realized just how important it is to do something for Him every day. I felt sad for the poor old man so if there is anything of worth in this email it is this: Do something every day for Jesus Christ. Serve someone. Read the scriptures. Pray. Do something. Just do it. I love you and hope you have a great time in Hawaii!
Love
Elder Burr
This week we were also working a lot with a little boy named Walter. He is a friend of a member and is too stoked to get baptized. He doesn´t really understand the lessons all that well, but he is super excited to get baptized and be like his friend. His parents have invited us over to his house to eat with them and are showing interest in the Gospel, so we are going to try to take advantage of this great opportunity to baptize the entire family. Our recent convert, Nahuel, was called to be the second counselor in the young mens organization and also received the priesthood yesterday. This kid was so prepared for the Gospel it´s unbelievable. He is super excited for his new calling and is looking forward to the day when he is called to serve as a missionary.
On Friday we had zone conference in San Rafael. It was great to be able to hear from the Lindahl´s and to meet together with some of the missionaries. It is always a good little break from the regular faces that you see daily. Hermana Lindahl gave a great talk on marriage.. Why she was talking about marriage, I don´t know. She expressed to us the importance of humility in a relationship and how sometimes you just have to humble yourself and let the Lord work out your problems. It was hard for me to comprehend, based on the fact that I have never been married before, but it definitely opened my eyes.
Other than those great little stories, nothing really cool has happened here. I can say that I love being out here. I love being able to serve the people of Alvear, and more importantly, serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It was interesting, the other day I talked with a man and asked him what he had done in the day for Jesus Christ. He told me that he had done nothing, but then he returned the question on me. I was proud to be able to say that I serve him all day every day, but I also realized just how important it is to do something for Him every day. I felt sad for the poor old man so if there is anything of worth in this email it is this: Do something every day for Jesus Christ. Serve someone. Read the scriptures. Pray. Do something. Just do it. I love you and hope you have a great time in Hawaii!
Love
Elder Burr
Monday, January 24, 2011
Marc's email 1/24/2011
Well it sounds like life is just getting harder there in Hawaii. That is bull that you just up and leave for months right when matt and I leave. Its alright I am just living the dream out here in the Tusahood. Dont get too much skin cancer or sleep. That is awesome that you saw the Atoas. Yeah I bet he sees family members everyday but he had no clue they were related. It is also cool that you saw Allies mom, that family is awesome. My interview with the President was good, it lasted about 5 minutes and he really didnt say much. He isnt a man of a lot of words or emotion. He kind of just sits and does the ordinary. We will see how I fall with him over time. Last week we had another baptism and stake conference. It was broadcast from SLC and Elder Holland talked again. It was all translated into spanish and it was pretty good. He talked about tithing and its importance. Also yesterday something pretty cool happened. We were walking down the street and we heard somebody yelling for us so we turned around and saw this couple. They said they wanted to get married and basically the guy said he wants to join our church so we will see how that goes and baptize him. Now you try to tell me that the Lord doesnt put us in peoples paths or viceversa. Pretty sure nothing else cool has happened. I am still just out here doing the work. I have attached two pictures of my two most recent baptisms. The family picture is with the family of dulce maria. multiply Mia by 6 and that is what that family is. Anyway I love you all and I love this work. I love my Savior and know He is always there for us when we need him. I love you all keep on keepin on. Con Cariño.
Elder Burr
Elder Burr
Matt's email 1/24/2011
I can´t believe I heard mom say that Hawaii might get boring... That
is definitely one fit for the record books. Maybe it might be a good
idea to reduce your number of visits to 4 instead of 5 times a year...
just a thought. Ha ha no but seriously this week was a pretty good
week. It was a week of transfers so everyone that has served a mission
knows exactly how that is. On Wednesday we had to do some deep
cleaning of the apartment and then had to wait for the other
companionships to get here. In the zone we now have 4 really new
missionaries and 2 really old missionaries, so we will see what
happens. On saturday a little girl named Yuliana was baptized. It was
a miracle because just 4 weeks ago her dad said that he didn´t want
anything to do with the church and now he is active and had the
opportunity to baptize his daughter. It was a great experience for him
and it was something that will change his life. The wife just packed
up and bailed on him about 3 years ago and he has just been fighting
through. He´s super legit though and was way happy to be able to
baptize his daughter. We also had the opportunity to go out and work
with Nahuel, the 21 year old kid that was baptized the 8 of January.
Two weeks after being baptized he left with the missionaries... Too
legit. This kid can testify better that some of the missionaries here.
It was a blessing to see someone that was a complete wreck when we
first met him leave with us one day and preach the restored gospel of
Jesus Christ. He also informed us that he has his mind set on leaving
on the mission. He will be an awesome Elder. Apart from that this week
was pretty regular. It is getting harder and harder to get along with
my companion, but it´s the life. He is too pridefull to admit that he
is wrong, and he thrives off of making other elders look bad... It´s
definitely a trial that I have been fighting through, but for the most
part we are doing really well. I love you all and hope you have a
great week, wherever you may be. Keep on keepin on.
Elder Burr
is definitely one fit for the record books. Maybe it might be a good
idea to reduce your number of visits to 4 instead of 5 times a year...
just a thought. Ha ha no but seriously this week was a pretty good
week. It was a week of transfers so everyone that has served a mission
knows exactly how that is. On Wednesday we had to do some deep
cleaning of the apartment and then had to wait for the other
companionships to get here. In the zone we now have 4 really new
missionaries and 2 really old missionaries, so we will see what
happens. On saturday a little girl named Yuliana was baptized. It was
a miracle because just 4 weeks ago her dad said that he didn´t want
anything to do with the church and now he is active and had the
opportunity to baptize his daughter. It was a great experience for him
and it was something that will change his life. The wife just packed
up and bailed on him about 3 years ago and he has just been fighting
through. He´s super legit though and was way happy to be able to
baptize his daughter. We also had the opportunity to go out and work
with Nahuel, the 21 year old kid that was baptized the 8 of January.
Two weeks after being baptized he left with the missionaries... Too
legit. This kid can testify better that some of the missionaries here.
It was a blessing to see someone that was a complete wreck when we
first met him leave with us one day and preach the restored gospel of
Jesus Christ. He also informed us that he has his mind set on leaving
on the mission. He will be an awesome Elder. Apart from that this week
was pretty regular. It is getting harder and harder to get along with
my companion, but it´s the life. He is too pridefull to admit that he
is wrong, and he thrives off of making other elders look bad... It´s
definitely a trial that I have been fighting through, but for the most
part we are doing really well. I love you all and hope you have a
great week, wherever you may be. Keep on keepin on.
Elder Burr
Monday, January 17, 2011
Marc's email 1/17/2011
This week was a lot better than last week. Although still have the same comp and I am still facing the same problems, I have just accepted it and realized that this is the mission. I make my mission what I want it to to, not what my comp or other missionaries want it to be. That being said, I am making my mission what I want it to be, I am obeying the rules as I know I should and if my companion doesnt want to or if somebody has a problem, good they can do their own thing but "I am about my Fathers business" This week we had two baptisms. One of the baptisms was a 9 year old boy and the other was a 15 year old boy. They were both really good experiences. Also we had a person walk into the services and when we asked her if she was a member she answered saying not yet. So with that we will hopefully baptize her and three others in her family. That was a miracle on the Lords part because we are running out of investigators. As for the spanish, it is still coming. I can understand what people are saying and for the most part I can have a conversation with someone about whatever I want. It will continue to get better the whole two years. My body is still holding up just fine. My stomach doesnt hate the food as bad as I thought it would so that is good. My figure has stayed that same but instead of the muscle its just fat. Pretty tight. It sounds like your week was good. Gotta love having the kids over and sleeping with them. Sounds like you get about as much sleep as I do. On average I get about 5 hours. EVerynight there are either kids screaming, drunks laughing, car alarms, la banda, or roosters, sometimes all of them. Its alright I can sleep when I die right? Well this week I have interviews with the President so that will be good. We had to clean the house today so it is presentable. I got stuck with the mopping duties. I also started reading Jesus the Christ this week. My testimony has grown so much in the last four months it isnt even funny. I know the Christ died for us and everybody can be saved through Him. I know that prayers are answered and we can pray about anything. Heavenly Father knows each one of us and our needs always. As long as we always try our hardest, He will fill in where we lack. Also about Quade, just let him do his thing, he will figure it out. I dont know what his plans are. I love you Mom thanks for everything.
Elder Burr
Elder Burr
Matt's email 1/17/2011
Well it suffices me to say that we had a great week here in Alvear. Elder Benitez and I are just loving it and chances are we will be staying together for 6 more weeks. I seriously don´t think I have ever laughed harder in my life than when I am in the streets with Elder Benitez. I don´t know what it is about him, but the kid just cracks me up. Needless to say I am looking forward to another transfer here in General Alvear.
The events of this week aren´t all that great. To be honest, it was just one of those weeks filled with a lot of hard work, but not very many cool stories. On Friday we decided we were going to venture off the trodden path and go to a place called Villa Tuel. It is about 35 kilometers from the city and the missionaries have never stepped foot there. When we got off the bus, the very first person we met was an old member. He was about 23 and was with his girlfriend on a bicycle. He was completely inactive, with zero desires of having anything to do with the church. He asked us if we had mistakenly gotten off the bus and were lost. We told him that we were exactly where we wanted to be and he started laughing. He told us that we were going to waste the whole afternoon by working there. He said that nobody would want to listen to us and that everyone would be sleeping. Let´s just make a long story short and say that we got in to all the houses that we knocked. It is seriously like zion out there. We met an elderly couple that are seriously angels. Their names are Maria and Hercules. Hercules is paralyzed, yeah I know it is pretty contradictory to the name, but he is still a stud. Maria is just legit. It would be hard for me to say that I have ever felt the spirit stonger in a charla. It was just awesome. After the lesson they both asked us for blessing of health. They both ended up in tears and Hercules, yes the paralyzed guy, gave us each a good old man hug. It was a miracle. Then as we were leaving, Maria showed up with a bag just full of stuff. She gave us 2 mate cups, a straw, crackers, peanuts, and 11 pesos to buy the bus ticket back. She now considers us here grandchildren. They are absolutely incredible. All the other people that we got the chance to meet have hearts of gold. It is seriously a piece of paradise here in Argentina. That´s about the only cool thing that happened though. I wish I could write and tell you that we saw someone get healed from the dead, or that we healed the blind, but that is what this week is for. We´ll see what happens.
As for the family... First of all Heather and Shea in Hawaii... I swear they just barely went? Then Ben and Olivia going to DC? That is about the tightest news I have ever heard. Now I will have a niece/nephew from both coasts... That´s cool. Then Adam and Ashley going to Ohio or Texas?? Didn´t see that one coming. Eli will be a great tractor driver though, that´s for sure. And to top it all off, Mom and Dad going to Hawaii...... AGAIN? It seems to me like they are running out of things to do. At times a create the scene in my head of how the house is Friday night... It goes like this, ¨Bry will you come with me to get a Diet Coke? Sure honey, Just let me finishing vacuuming the office. Twenty minutes later... NAT Let´s go!!! Long silence... Mom realizes that she wasted an entire trip walking into the laundry room downstairs, only to find it empty. Then a 5 minute trip to the junction turns into a 3 hour night after eating at The Melting Pot and going to see a movie. I think I might send you guys the stuff so you can drink some Mate to pass the time. I´m sure you will love it!
Anyways that´s all I got for now. I love you all. I hope you have a great week. Keep smiling!
Elder Burr
The events of this week aren´t all that great. To be honest, it was just one of those weeks filled with a lot of hard work, but not very many cool stories. On Friday we decided we were going to venture off the trodden path and go to a place called Villa Tuel. It is about 35 kilometers from the city and the missionaries have never stepped foot there. When we got off the bus, the very first person we met was an old member. He was about 23 and was with his girlfriend on a bicycle. He was completely inactive, with zero desires of having anything to do with the church. He asked us if we had mistakenly gotten off the bus and were lost. We told him that we were exactly where we wanted to be and he started laughing. He told us that we were going to waste the whole afternoon by working there. He said that nobody would want to listen to us and that everyone would be sleeping. Let´s just make a long story short and say that we got in to all the houses that we knocked. It is seriously like zion out there. We met an elderly couple that are seriously angels. Their names are Maria and Hercules. Hercules is paralyzed, yeah I know it is pretty contradictory to the name, but he is still a stud. Maria is just legit. It would be hard for me to say that I have ever felt the spirit stonger in a charla. It was just awesome. After the lesson they both asked us for blessing of health. They both ended up in tears and Hercules, yes the paralyzed guy, gave us each a good old man hug. It was a miracle. Then as we were leaving, Maria showed up with a bag just full of stuff. She gave us 2 mate cups, a straw, crackers, peanuts, and 11 pesos to buy the bus ticket back. She now considers us here grandchildren. They are absolutely incredible. All the other people that we got the chance to meet have hearts of gold. It is seriously a piece of paradise here in Argentina. That´s about the only cool thing that happened though. I wish I could write and tell you that we saw someone get healed from the dead, or that we healed the blind, but that is what this week is for. We´ll see what happens.
As for the family... First of all Heather and Shea in Hawaii... I swear they just barely went? Then Ben and Olivia going to DC? That is about the tightest news I have ever heard. Now I will have a niece/nephew from both coasts... That´s cool. Then Adam and Ashley going to Ohio or Texas?? Didn´t see that one coming. Eli will be a great tractor driver though, that´s for sure. And to top it all off, Mom and Dad going to Hawaii...... AGAIN? It seems to me like they are running out of things to do. At times a create the scene in my head of how the house is Friday night... It goes like this, ¨Bry will you come with me to get a Diet Coke? Sure honey, Just let me finishing vacuuming the office. Twenty minutes later... NAT Let´s go!!! Long silence... Mom realizes that she wasted an entire trip walking into the laundry room downstairs, only to find it empty. Then a 5 minute trip to the junction turns into a 3 hour night after eating at The Melting Pot and going to see a movie. I think I might send you guys the stuff so you can drink some Mate to pass the time. I´m sure you will love it!
Anyways that´s all I got for now. I love you all. I hope you have a great week. Keep smiling!
Elder Burr
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