11th week in Spokane

This week was way sweet! We taught Christine about the Priesthood cuz she asked why she needs to be baptized again because she was baptized in her old church, so I went with my ward mission leader and we explained everything and it went really good! The biggest obstacle for her is coming to church because she is pretty old and has a lot of health problems, she’s on oxygen and her tank only lasts two hours so we are trying to get her to come to church and just stay for an hour. We also met with Doug and Cheryl and their son Tristian and it was a way good visit, Cheryl told us, talking about the book of Mormon, "I really like reading this, whenever I read the bible, it seems like everything isn’t really all that clear and it leaves it open for different interpretations, but in the book of Mormon it spells it out exactly and its all clear and there’s no room for question" it was so cool! And Tristian, there ten year old son, absolutely loves it when we come over and we're like his best friends and he's always disappointed whenever we leave! Then we had a way good lesson with Mary, she says that she feels the tug at her heart that this is what she should be doing but she’s scared because of all the weird things she’s heard about Mormons her whole life. So we gave her a lesson on how to recognize the spirit, we read with her out of Galatians and Moroni and Helaman about the spirit, then we told her that if we pray generally we get a general answer, but if we pray specifically then we will get a specific answer and so we invited her to read Mosiah chapter 18 and then when she gets done pray and ask the specific question if she should be baptized and join the church and told her to pay attention to the feelings that come and to keep in mind the scriptures we shared with her about the spirit and promised her that the Lord would reveal His will to her. So by the end of Friday we were feeling pretty good about the week, but then on Saturday we get a call from a guy named Jim and he says that his girlfriend, Audrey, would like to learn about the church. Jim hasn’t been to church in a really long time but he served a mission and has been teaching Audrey a little bit about the church and convinced her to let us come and continue to teach her, but she was pretty apprehensive about it so they invited us to go with them to a big nativity thing that the church hosts. It is a big community event where lots of people come put their little nativities on display and then there’s concerts in the evening from different churches in the area and there’s probably a couple thousand nativities you go around and look at, its really neat.. anyways so they invited us to go with them to this to kinda get to know Audrey and for her to see if she wants us to teach her. So we went and had a really good time and we all got along really well and then after the nativity she wanted to take us out to eat so we did and we just kept getting to know each other better and of course eventually the conversation turned into talking about the gospel and she opened up to us and started asking questions and we answered them and the whole night went really well and at the end of the night we invited her to come to church with us on Sunday and she said that she would, so she came to church and it was a way good testimony meeting and the spirit was there and she really enjoyed it. Then last night we went back to the nativity with Sarah and Nina, the two students from Germany and that went really good, they both came to church too. So that was the highlights of our week and we are excited to see what happens this week as we continue to teach these wonderful people! Well I hope that everyone is having an awesome Christmas season, I love you all!

10th Week in Spokane

I hope that everyone had a good thanksgiving! We had 4 different meals! talk about bein stuffed!! Well we had a way good week! We got a call from a guy in our ward to come over and give him a blessing because he's old and going into surgery soon. So we did and his wife isn’t a member but while we were over there she said that she has gotten a strong feeling that she needs to join the church! So we started teaching her and have started to prepare her for baptism! We set a date for her and she said that they would pray about it and let us know this week when we go back! We also started teaching this kid named Roma from Russia, he actually lives about 30 miles from the Mongolian border and said that he’s been to Mongolia quite a bit to go fishing! So that was neat, and he said that he's got lots of questions for us next time we come over, and we're supposed to go over there tonight so that will be good! But he goes back to Russia for good at the end of the month so we're just focusing on getting that seed planted! We area also teaching a part member family, the Cavines family, the dad and one of the daughters are members and he has a son that is turning 8 this month. But he hasn’t really come to church for a long time so this week we are going to tell him that its time for him to come back and to prepare himself to baptize his son, and hopefully one day soon the rest of his family! Another lady that we are teaching, her name is Mary, said that she feels the spirit every time we come over and when we taught her about Joseph Smith and the restoration she said that she has zero objections to it, she said that "if God wanted to call a prophet today, who are we to say that He can’t" we both were like EXACTLY!! Why can’t everyone understand that?? So that was a good experience and she told us that she feels that its right but that she needs some time to really get the answer for herself that this is the direction that the Lord wants her to take. We are also teaching a couple named Doug and Cheryl and they have a ten year old son. They just moved into the area and have started going to church so that’s how we met them and in visiting with them we learned that they aren’t members but just like coming, so we've started teaching them and it has been going way good!! And we are teaching about twenty other people that are slowly progressing, so the work here has been way good and we have been way excited about it! Well today I just figured I'd give you an update on some of the people we are teaching. I love you all and hope everything is well!

9th Week in Spokane

Well, this coming week will be an eventful one, my birthday on Wednesday and thanksgiving on Thursday! Wednesday should be pretty fun, we are having dinner at a members house, then we are teaching a family about prayer and having daily prayer with each other as a family. Then right after that we are teaching at a missionary fireside for all the 16-19 years old in our ward. Then after that we are going to another members house for cake and ice cream! Then to be honest, I’m not looking forward too much for thanksgiving cuz we've got five different dinners to go to throughout the day!! I will more then likely end up puking before the day is over haha!! So this past week went pretty good, we found four new people to teach, and a couple of them have been really interested so we are really excited about that! well unfortunately I really don’t have much time today, but we have been focusing our lessons this week, whenever we talk to anybody, on thanksgiving and getting into the spirit of it. Elder Bednar in the October 2008 conference challenged each of us to offer a prayer, individually and as a family, asking for nothing, but giving only thanks. Because absolutely everything we have came from God and I know that I am definitely grateful for all that He has given me. I'm extremely grateful for this opportunity to be on a mission to be able to serve Him and to teach His gospel full time for the next two years! I'm also grateful for all that I have learned, I have come to a new understanding of why I’ve come to the earth when I have and what my purpose here is, its a wonderful feeling. I'm grateful to have a wonderful loving family who supports me back home, and to have the friends that I do. Each one of you have had an impact on my life in a way that has led me here and I will be forever in your debt. I love you all and wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. So to reiterate Elder Bednar’s challenge, I challenge each of you this thanksgiving season to offer a prayer to our God and ask for nothing but to give only thanks to the many things that He has given you. I promise that as you do you will feel the true spirit of thanksgiving and upcoming Christmas and you will feel God's love for you.

8th Week in Spokane

We had a way good week, we were finally able to get a hold of some people that we've been trying to for a while! And they are way sweet! There’s about six people that we feel like are ready this week to be committed to baptism, so we are way excited for that! Other then that there’s not a whole lot new to report on, hopefully it will be a bit more exciting next week! And don’t forget, my birthday is comin up next week!! love ya

7th Week in Spokane Washington mission

Well I hit my four month mark on Sunday.. kinda weird cuz it feels like its been way longer then that but oh well.. Natasha got baptized on Saturday! it was a way good service and I had the opportunity to be the one to baptize her so that was way awesome! Her brother and uncle came and they will hopefully be joining her soon!
we had a way sweet experience tracting this week, it was in a different area so we won’t get to teach her but we were out tracting and knocked on this lady's door named Joyce, and we taught her on the doorstep about prophets and about how Christ has restored His church and we said a prayer with her and she said that she would be interested in learning more so we made a return appointment. Well a couple days later the missionaries called us up to tell us about the lesson they had with Joyce and so this is what happened.. she and her husband were fasting together about which church they should join and right as soon as they ended their fast, we knocked on their door. So the missionaries taught her more about prophets and taught her about Joseph Smith and how Christ restored His church. By the end of the lesson she said she knows its true but still wants to keep studying just to make sure and read from the book of Mormon! So that’s way cool to me that the Lord led us to her right when she ended her fast! There is no doubt that the Lord has a hand in this work and that it is His work and He guides it in every way.

6th Week in Spokane Washington Mission

Well, not a whole lot happened this week so this ones going to be short. So at the beginning of the week we had two people on date to be baptized on Nov 7th, Natasha and Nick, one from each ward. Well a few days ago, Nick said that he’s not interested anymore, so that bummed us out, but Natasha is staying strong and is still going to get baptized on Saturday so we are excited about that! So this coming week will be getting the baptism organized and all the logistics figured out. Also, this past week we were able to get five new investigators, and three of them have families and they seem really interested! Also we had the trunk or treat this past week, we went to three different ones, the three wards that meet in our building, and it was really good! In the 22nd ward we had two investigating families come so that was exciting! Well that’s all for this week, sorry it’s boring but it will be better next week! I love you all!

5th week in the Spokane Washington Mission

Hello! alright so when I got put here at the end of September we didn’t really have very many people to teach, in fact it took about 4 days before we even taught a lesson. so we really focused our efforts in the month of October in finding new people to teach. Well, the Lord has blessed us this month with 17 new investigators and as of right now we have two people on date to be baptized on Nov 7th!! This passed week we started teaching this girl named Natasha and she is loving everything and so we extended to her the commitment to be baptized and she accepted! so now we are meeting with her 3 times a week to make sure she is taught everything and has a testimony on those things. Well I mentioned last week that we got another companion, Elder Smith, well he had some health problems these past couple weeks and so they decided to send him home, so now its back down to Elder Wilson and I. Elder Smith is a great missionary, he really taught well and with the spirit, we wish him luck as he recovers! Well I’ve been here for five weeks now and I’m lovin it! we've been blessed with a way good month that has great potentials for this upcoming month so we are definitely excited!! Well I know that in missionary work there are no coincidences and so i know that there is a reason why I’m in Spokane right now other than Mongolia, so I made it a goal and I’ve been praying to find the reason why I’ve been sent here. Well I’m happy to say the answer has come! There’s an 18 year old guy who hasn’t come to church in a long time. the Lord wants him to go on a mission and on Wednesday while we were meeting with him the Spirit told me that he is the reason why I’ve been sent here, to prepare him to go on a mission. I think that that was the most spiritual lessons I’ve been involved with so far on my mission. its amazing how well the Lord knows each one of us and loves each on of us so much, and Cody, that He would stop me from going to Mongolia so that I can talk to him and help prepare him and let him know of the great blessings that come from serving the Lord. I know that He knows and loves each of us so much and so well, beyond what we can comprehend, my testimony of that grows more and more each day as I watch what people He places in our path. I'm grateful to have this opportunity to serve him in His work! I love you
-Elder Burns