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| We have been stuck in our apartment all week. I've gotten LOTS of studying done. |
Question/Answer
1. When do you feel the closest to the spirit?
A.
Probably during my personal study. That’s when I feel really close. It gives me a lot of personal motivation for
the day. Also, I really like the evening lessons with members and
investigators. That is when the spirit
feels really strong and powerful. From
2-5:00, the day is hot, we walk a lot, people are not home from work, so that
part of the day can be pretty rough. But
later from 6-9:00, is the best. People
get home from work, people are interested in listening to us, and we have a lot
of spiritual experiences. Bro Sessa, who
has been less active in the church since he was 15 yrs old, is now working on
coming back. We’ve been teaching
repentance, and each time we teach the spirit is really strong, and he shows us
that he really wants to change. The other spiritual lesson from this week was
with Sis Pacheta. We met her from a
member referral—the last temple president from the Bogota Temple. He lives in a really big, nice, rich
building. We were there this week and
had a great lesson with her.
2. What
inspiring things have you learned from your personal study:
a.
This week was Carnivale—we had to stay inside
all day, everyday, so we had LOTS of time for personal study. And we’re going
to be in all day today, and all day tomorrow.
What really touched me this week was my study of the Sermon on the
Mount. I have a couple of videos that
another missionary gave me. I watched
like 40 videos, of Jesus Christ and his life.
Then I read the sermon 2-3 times.
And I read it out loud in Spanish, so I could memorize some of the
scriptures there. There are a couple of
scriptures there that really touched me. About humility, Jesus taught so much
about humility. “Whosoever shall smite
thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also, and if any man will sue
thee of the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy coat also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile,
go with him twain. Give to him that
asketh of thee. And to him that would
borrow from thee, turn thou not away. Love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them
that despitefully use you and persecute you.
That ye may be children of your Father in Heaven.”
I really like that part, because if we do these things, we will be the
children of God, because children of God do not do the opposite of this. Those that do the things the of the Lord are
of God, and those that don’t are of the devil.
That really touched me.
Watching it in a video—the turn the other cheek, there is a scene where
they are punched in the face. Whoa. It really happens.
Also, in Matthew 6, “Where your treasure is, there will be your heart
also.” Talking about laying up treasures
in heaven and not on earth.
“Consider the Lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither
do they spin. Wherefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field…will he not
clothe you, oh ye of little faith.” So don’t worry what you are going to do
tomorrow, just focus on today. But “seek
ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be
added unto you.”
These things really touched me. I
thought about what I am doing, how I’m progressing spiritually.
3. What
did you learn about training a new missionary, that you didn’t expect?
a.
Looking at my trainee, I saw a lot of the funny
things that I did as a new missionary. It was entertaining to watch him try
everything new, starting humble, then later getting a bit rebellious. The biggest surprise, was probably the
trouble he had with his knee, that that he ended up going home. That was a very sad day for both of us.
b.
I found that I worked a lot harder when I was
training, and I really liked that. I really stepped it up. It was like starting over, and they were my
rules, so we did everything how I wanted to, so that was awesome! : )
4. Who do you feel closest to in your ward,
and why?
a.
There is a member named John, he lives here in
la Playa. He served a mission in
Bogota. He is really funny. He helps contract the bus, and we joke every time
I see him. When he smiles, it’s a really
an addictive smile, so you have to smile too.
b.
Also, we feel close to the recent converts,
because they always talk to the missionaries.
The active people seem scared to talk to us. When we ask them if they will meet with us,
they get suspicious, and say, “What do you need to meet with us for? I’m
active.”
5. How do you fill your time everyday?
a.
In this area I have been planning things 3 days
ahead of time. When we make
appointments, it is for 3 days out, because we are full for three days. We have every single hour planned. But sometimes the visits fall through, or
people aren’t there. So we just going
looking for someone else. We always have
something to do. If an appointment falls
through, we will walk to the to the next house, and rely on the spirit to tell
us where to go.
b.
Sometimes, if we have to look for new people, we
will go knock on doors, or talk to people on the street, but that’s not very
common. And it’s not very
effective. Usually, we talk to the
members and ask for references. But for
last resort, we talk to people in the street.
The doors are all open, so we don’t really knock, we just stand outside
their house and say, “Hey, come here,” and then we talk to them. We ask them if they want to learn about the
gospel, about Jesus, and they say yes.
c.
The best people come from member
references. We also have indicators for
every person we talk to in the street, so we do it, and record it. We have a goal of finding 10 new people to
teach every week. They could be
references or contacts, if they have a 1st lesson, and then they
accept a 2nd lesson, then that is considered a new person.
This week we have been in the house the whole time, so we’ve
had LOTS of time to think, lots of time to study. I almost went crazy on
Saturday. Sunday was better, but now we
have all day today, and all day tomorrow.
All of these Colombians are nuts—everyone is partying for Carnivale, and
everyone is in the streets.
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| Elder Saona, from Peru |
Elder Saona is doing a lot better this week. He is getting more excited about staying in
the mission. I made him do the starfish
and eat Nutella, so now he wants to stay in the mission. Hahaha
I tried writing songs, and coloring, and lots of other stuff, but I
can’t do it. God told me that, that
stuff is for after my mission. He took
those talents away so I can focus.
I like when you send me questions. I can record during the week, then we have
more time, and I will get you the answers you want by next week.
Love you guys, hope you are all doing good.
Bye,
Elder Burk
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| Mason tells other Latino Elders in his mission, that if there is anything they need, Mama Burk will get it for them--but they have to practice their English, and write me an email. How can I say no, right?! It's fun granting wishes. #iloveit #cute Elders |
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