41st week in Spokane

We had a way good week, Elder Mudrow is awesome, this is going to be a great transfer! He is way hard working and obedient so I'm excited to be able to work with him! Also this week I held my first district meeting so that was fun! It was Elder Mudrow's 21st birthday on Thursday so we celebrated and went out to McDonalds for lunch! So here's a funny story. On Saturday we were tracting at about 8 o'clock at night and we come to a house with a lot of cars parked outside so we figure that there's probably a party going on so we walk up and there's big windows we have to walk past to get to the door and when we did people inside started yelling "Mormons" and yelling "no" and telling us to leave, but we didn't and we went up to the front door then we here someone say alright alright I got this and he answers the door and is drunk but eventually invites us in for a few shots and some pizza, my companion said no we can't and they kept trying to convince us and then he went back inside and these two girls came out and told us that everyone in there would never again at any time ever listen to anything that we have to say, but tonight they might actually listen so I said alright we'll give you ten minutes but then we gotta get going after that. so we went in and there was about 20 people all in their 20's and everyone shouted for joy when we came in, the deal was that we would play ladder golf, or redneck golf, for ten minutes while we talk to a couple of the guys there. So we did and then the score got to 19 to 20 and you win at 21 so by then everyone at the party had gathered around to watch the Mormons play and we wagered a bet that if we win then the two guys we were playing would have to come to church the next day and if they win then we would have to stay and play another round of redneck golf. So the bet was on and we lost so we stuck around and played again with some of the other people there and it was cool because the whole time we were there we were just answering questions and teaching about the church. We ended up staying at this place for about an hour and about twenty people learned about the church that otherwise wouldn't have and now hopefully one day they will let the missionaries in again. So on the fourth of July we didn't really do anything special since we have curfew before it even gets dark so we were already home when the fireworks started going off but we do have an awesome view of the whole valley so that was kinda cool. Well we were able to find a few more people to teach. This one couple, the Cramers, seem to be somewhat promising, When they answered the door they invited us right in and we were there for almost an hour getting to know them and teaching about the church so we are excited about them and we'll see what happens, our next appointment with them is tomorrow. Well that ought to do for now but I love you all hope you all had a good fourth!!

40th week in Spokane

Unfortunately I was sick all this last week and so not a whole lot of work got done like we were hoping. I had something like strep throat with mono type symptoms where I just had zero energy and I completely lost my voice. But its all good now, I'm on the down hill of whatever I've got. Well, we got our transfer calls last night and.... I am staying here and Elder Andersen is getting transferred to Post Falls Idaho. My new companion is Elder Mudrow and I know absolutely nothing about him so I guess I'll find out tomorrow! Our district leader here has finished his mission and went home today so I've been asked to be the new district leader so I'm excited for that, it will be a way good experience. Something funny that happened this week is we were riding down the hill on our bikes and Elder Andersen was ahead of me when all of a sudden a car pulled out in front of him and so he had to slam on his brakes, his back tire came up over the top and he went over the handle bars, his helmet hit straight into the guys tire and he banged up his knee and hand pretty good. Well the guy got out of his truck and came to see if everything is alright and Elder Andersen was like ya I'm fine I'm fine, would you like to hear a message about Jesus Christ? And so he got his information and we went over there yesterday and taught him and he seems pretty promising haha he's Spanish though so we are giving him to them to teach but pretty funny situation I think!! Sometimes the Lord leads you to people and sometimes the Lord leads people to you, and apparently sometimes he lets you run your bike into their car to get their attention! Well I hope and pray that I will be able to be the kind of leader that the Lord wishes me to be. I love you - Elder Burns

39th week in Spokane

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!! We had a really good week this week, we had the opportunity to receive training from Elder Pearson of the first quorum of the seventy and he really based the whole thing on the power and authority of our calling. It was really good, he explained too how its important to first explain to people their true relationship with God.. That we lived with Him before this life and that He is our literal Father and we are His literal children and as soon as we comprehend that relationship then our prayers become more meaningful as we pray to our Father. The area is doing really good, we got a couple people that are still progressing and working towards baptism. This is the last week in the transfer though, kinda crazy. Doesn't seem like it has been that long, but time just keeps on flying by faster and faster! Well I love you and never forget that we are all sons and daughters of God; identity determines our destiny.. so live up to your identity as a child of God.

38th week in Spokane

Things this week were kinda slow, only found a couple of new people to teach, we mainly focused on getting in touch again with all of the people we have taught within the past month or so. Its hard trying to catch people home! Well Kyle is doing good, we were able to meet with him again this week, that went well. Corson is doing well too, we met with him and watched a movie on Joseph Smith and that went way good.. He just needs to start coming to church now! There's one lady named Eva, she is super nice, her son got baptized in November so we see them a couple times a week. I gave a talk in church this Sunday so she came and listened to that which made me pretty happy! Hopefully it had some sort of impact on her. Sorry it was so short today, like I said it was a pretty slow week, lots of people dropped us, but that's alright, it just means that the next missionaries will be here when they are ready, and means that we need to continue our search for those people that the Lord has prepared to receive His Gospel!

37th week in Spokane

We were very blessed this week in our finding and in our teaching. We've been working with this one guy named Corson for some time now and we were able to break through some ground this week. We explained that our goal as missionaries is to help others come closer to Christ by helping them receive their own personal testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and how everything falls into place after that. So we asked if this is something that he would like to have and he said yes. So we went over with him the process of revelation and gave him an outline to follow and he set a goal to read half the book of Mormon by this week! So we are excited to see where he will go with this, we introduced him to some of the young single adults in the area because he's 23 and they hit it off pretty good so we are trying to get him involved with them which will be way helpful! Also we tracted into this lady named Brenda a couple weeks ago, shes old and not too healthy, she's on oxygen and just had heart surgery but she's super nice and she said that we could come back so we did this week and we taught her the restoration and invited her to be baptized, she said that she would have to think about it more and invited us to come back! Now the miracle story of the week is we went over to the Couch's house for dinner Friday night. Well one of her son's friends randomly showed up and so he ate dinner with us. His name is Kyle, he's 21. After dinner we all were just talking and then Sister Couch asked me for a plan of salvation pamphlet. Sister Couch got baptized about a year ago. We gave her the pamphlet and she taught the entire lesson and we were just there for moral support I guess! It was really good, Kyle really enjoyed it and he said he wants to learn more, we invited him to be baptized and he said he would! So he came to church on Sunday and he thought it was a bit long but he liked it! So that was a really good experience, kinda shows to me that the most effective missionary work is from the members of the church, not so much the missionaries from the church, every member a missionary right?? Well anyways, I hope everyone is doing good, I love you all!

36th week in Spokane

This week turned out to be pretty good, we still haven't been able to make much contact with our new investigators but we have been able to continue to find new people to teach so that's good. We spend at the least about four hours a day tracting that usually results in one or two people willing to listen and wanting to learn more. Elder Andersen is a way good missionary, he's got that desire to never stop working, so we never do! Its been really good.. This week and from now on we plan on just asking everybody that will give us just five minutes to listen, to ask them if they will follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized! After all that is our purpose as missionaries! We had a way good lesson with one of our investigators named Corson, he said that he wants to have that confirmation from the Spirit that this is true and so he set up some goals and we are excited about where that will lead, if he holds up his end of the deal! Last night we held a three ward youth fireside that us missionaries put on, it was pretty fun, we just talked about missionary work and why its important and then we shared the message of the restoration and that went way good and then then we had each of them write down a list of names of friends that they know and pick one or two that they will invite to next months youth fireside that we will put on again! So that was a lot of fun talking to all the youth!! Well that's about it for this week, nothing too out of the ordinary happened but I love you all and thank you for your support!

35th Week in Spokane

We had a good week, we found a lot of new people to teach! We did a whole lotta tracting. A lot of tracting! And we will continue to do so to find those people that the Lord has prepared to hear His messege and come into His flock! My new companion's name is Elder Andersen, he is from Carlsbad, New Mexico, and he is fresh out of the MTC! Its been a really cool experience so far being able to train a new missionary! He is WAY more prepared than I was and he is so ready to get out and to find and teach! And we're pretty much the same height and same build, so that's pretty nice! So we talked to this one kid named Anthony on the street, taught him about Joseph Smith and the Book Of Mormon and said that as missionaries we simply teach and invite and when you come to know that these things are true by prayer then we invite people to be baptized, so then we invited him to be baptized and he said yes that he'd prepare for it! It turns out he's 16, he looks older... but kinda cool! There was this other lady, she was older, like in her 70s and she was out taking a walk so we gave her a card and she started walking away, well I decided to follow her, so we walked along side her and taught her the restoration and all about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and all she could do was just walk and listen cuz she couldn't get away from us! It was pretty cool, we kinda chuckled a bit afterwards, but we fulfilled our purpose to teach, testify, and invite, it was fun! Well I'm afraid that's about it for this week, we had a lot of really good teaching experiences, our teaching pool is constantly growing and we are loving every minute of it!