56th week in Spokane

Well, this week is going to be a pretty short one. I was in Spokane all week having meetings and we got pretty much zero proselyting time in our area. The training was excellent though and we are excited to be able to apply it in our own area with our own investigators. I heard some way good news though! In my first area in Spokane, we found, taught, and baptized a mother and son named Cheryl and Tristian Millmaker, well, I found out this week that the husband is getting baptized next week!! So now they will be able to be united as a family and will have the blessing of having the Priesthood in their home!! Also this week, Elder Westwood and I both gave a talk in sacrament meeting and that went pretty good except for the fact that I tend to be long winded and didn't leave Elder Westwood very much time! But really that's pretty much it for this week, we just had meetings!

55th week in Spokane

We had somewhat of a rough week with all our investigators who are working towards a baptismal date. Satan has been working double time to keep them from entering the waters. We were only able to meet with the Stephens family once this week because they kept calling and canceling and they are still having problems with the word of wisdom and so they can't be baptized this week. Its all been very frustrating. But on the upside we did find some sweet new people to teach this week. One of whom is Ricky, she's way interested, has tons of questions, and has a whole lot of potential. We also found a new family, the mom has been taught before but she is re-interested and has two kids that she wants to learn more about God and the scriptures. So we are looking forward to seeing what comes from that. We have been getting a lot of requests to split wood for people and so of course I love doing that. As for the zone, there was a baptism this Saturday, a guy named Calvin. So that was good especially since there hasn't been a baptism in the zone since August. Next week there's another baptism on Sunday. so things are looking up, we just need to have people quit holding cigarettes higher than they hold God, which is exactly what they are doing. So there's been a lot of questions about the responsibilities of a zone leader. So basically it works like this.. two missionaries make up a companionship where there is a senior companion who is accountable for that companionship, a few companionships make up a district where there is a District leader who works closely with all the missionaries in their district, especially the senior companion, and is accountable for the companionships in his district, a few districts make up a zone where there are two zone leaders in a companionship who work very closely with the district leaders and are accountable for the all the missionaries in that zone, and then there are two assistants to the president in a companionship who work very closely to the zone leaders. So that's how leadership in this mission is broken down. So as far as responsibilities go, there's not a whole lot different then any one else, other than we work very closely with the stake, or stakes, in which our zone covers, meeting with high councilmen and the stake president and helping to ensure that the missionaries and the church leaders are on the same page with everything. So as zone leaders we have meeting with the stake, we also go to the district meeting within the zone, we meet once a transfer with all the other zone leaders in the mission and the president in whats called a zone leader council, which just so happens to be tomorrow. We also have a conference call every Thursday night where all the zone leaders and the president are all on the same line where we give some sort of accountability and receive direction from the assistants and the president. there's also whats called a zone conference that happens every other transfer where all the missionaries in a few zones meet together where we receive direction and training from the president, then we split up and receive training from the assistants and then the zone leaders give trainings after that. Then there's also one more thing that's fairly new, called leadership training, I went to it as a district leader in July. basically its where we receive training from the president for four days, eight hours a day and all zone leaders, district leaders, and trainers are invited to that..Its pretty intense but its so awesome at the same time and that just so happens to start tomorrow too. So for this upcoming week I will be in Spokane from Tuesday morning to Friday night. so I'm looking forward to that, it will be fun. So I don't know, that may sound like a lot, but its not. Well I'm looking forward to reporting on this week next time. I love you all thanks for all you do!

54th week in Spokane

Things went well this week, what could be better then to end it by listening to the Lord's Prophet and Apostles?? We were able to teach a lady named Mary this week and invite her to be baptized Oct. 23rd and she accepted! The zone has also been really blessed this week with two more people who have accepted a baptismal date. That makes six for the zone! That's more than the zone has had in the past six months, so things are looking up here. We were able to meet with the Stake President this week and talk about each ward individually and set up some goals with him. There's definitely a feeling of anticipation here as the fire is being lit in the stake and in the zone. I am grateful for the talk given by Elder Nelson in the Priesthood session talking about how the members of the church need to be missionaries as well. Especially since that is the gap that's missing here, as in the majority of the church as well I'm sure. If that gap can be bridged between the members and the missionaries, the world will see miracles. We need to be the tools used in the Lord's hands as He ushers in His second coming. We need to do our part. As the Prophet began to speak in the welcoming to conference Saturday morning, my testimony was again confirmed and strengthened as the Spirit bore witness to me that Thomas S. Monson is God's Prophet on the Earth today. I know this is true. that's why I am serving the Lord, to spread the good news.

53rd week in Spokane plus 52nd week (late)

This is the post that was missing last week, following this is the post from Monday Sept 27, 2010, consequently this is a doubly long post but well worth the read.

52nd week in Spokane
Well first off, we got our transfer calls last night and Elder Mudrow is staying here but I am being transferred. I'm going from one of the most western parts of the mission to one of the most eastern parts. Bonners Ferry, Idaho! My new companion will be Elder Westwood. I will be junior companion. I'm excited, I know elder Westwood from past leadership trainings and zone conferences hes and awesome missionary. In fact, he's a zone leader. Which actually makes me a zone leader too! It's going to be a great new chapter in my life. I'm excited! We had a great week! On Tuesday we taught Jessica about the law of tithing. She didn't really like it, shes already cut way back on her work hours because she took off Sundays and she has to pay for school and help her parents pay for rent and other things and has to get a car since she's going to school. So she wasn't very happy learning that she's gotta give ten percent to the Lord. But by the end she committed to paying a full tithe. We promised her that if she puts tithing as a priority right when her pay check comes, before paying bills or anything else, that the Lord would provide the rest. She said she would. On Thursday she was interviewed and on Friday she was baptized! The baptism service was so good. That's one of the things I'm gonna miss most about being on a mission is going to convert baptisms. There's nothing quite like it. The power of God is always manifested. Jared was able to exercise his Priesthood and baptize Jessica. The first attempt you could tell that he was pretty nervous and he didn't push her down, just let her lay back so she barely even got wet! But the second attempt was golden. Jessicas parents were able to show their love and support and they came to the baptism. In time I believe their hearts will be open to the gospel as they see how it helps out Jessica. On Saturday Jared went to the temple and performed baptisms for the dead. We didn't really get a chance yet to follow up on that but from what I hear, he was glowing at the temple. Jared also gave his first talk in sacrament meeting, it was on his conversion. It was cool being able to hear more from him on how the gospel has blessed his life and has been able to bring light to his shadowed soul. Jared is solid, it has been a great privilege to be able to be part of his conversion. Jessica was also confirmed during sacrament meeting and that's always a special thing to witness and be a part of as well. Going back to tithing.. Before Jessica's interview I gave our zone leader a heads up that she was struggling with tithing and asked him to pay attention to that part and bear testimony on it. Well he did and again she committed to be a full tithe payer! Because she exercised her faith and accepted that commitment, the very next day she received a letter in the mail that said she had been given two grants for school and the money is enough so that she can pick up two more classes and also will have enough left over to help pay for a car! She recognized it as being from the Lord as a blessing to her making the decisions she has. Because of this miracle my testimony was strengthened a few different ways. If we keep the commandments of the Lord then He will pour out His blessings. As the Lord fulfills promises made by His servants, of this He said "whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants it is the same”. Its always neat to see the promises fulfilled that we His servants make. Its a wonderful responsibility that we have been entrusted with. I will miss it hear in East Wenatchee but the Lord has called me elsewhere and I'm excited to see what the future holds with this new assignment.


53rd Week in Spokane
Week one in Bonners Ferry went really well. First off, the transfer day was forever LONG! Distance wise I got transferred further than any one else in the mission. From East Wenatchee Washington to Bonners Ferry Idaho. I left East Wenatchee at 9:30 and got to Bonners at 7:30.. it was a long day! But it was fun too because I got to see a lot of people that I hadn't seen for a really long time and it was fun catching up with everyone. Well, Elder Westwood is my new companion. He's from Houston Texas. I'm grateful that I'll be trained as a zone leader by him, he's an excellent missionary, I've learned a lot from him. Bonners Ferry is a little town with trees and hills all around. It reminds me a whole lot of Beuna Vista Virginia, except a little bit smaller. The people are surprisingly nice so I like that. Nearly everyone here has a wood stove for heat for the winter so I'm gonna be doing a whole lot of wood chopping! We also cover the surrounding areas, basically the Canadian border and the Montana border and a little further west of Bonners. Another cool thing about the area is we get a truck! a Chevy Colorado! I'm not exactly sure yet where all the zone covers, I know it at least covers from Sandpoint Idaho to Libby Montana. so pretty big geographically but small in missionaries, there's only five companionships including us. As far as the work in this area and zone is concerned, its been pretty dead recently. There hasn't been a baptism in our area since may. But Elder Westwood and I plan on changing that around pretty quickly. About a year and a half ago this zone was on fire and baptizing like crazy, but it has dwindled. and we're pretty sure we know why. So we are in the process of repairing and lifting and rekindling that fire. We plan on working very closely with the stake leaders to ensure unity throughout the stake where currently it feels like there's not so much. It may take a little bit of time to get all the wards and branches in the stake on the same page. But luckily President Palmer likes to keep companionships together longer, especially zone leaders. So we plan on turning this zone around and making it once again the hotspot of the mission. We are meeting with the stake president tonight to get things kicked off! This last week we had the blessing of putting a family of three on date to be baptized on October 17 so we are very excited for that! We are also working with a few others that are very very close and will more than likely be getting baptized in October! My first Sunday here was alright, I don't really like first Sundays on missions because you don't know anyone and everyone is bummed because the last missionary left and they miss him because he's just so great.. and during all the meetings that we missionaries have to go to they talk about a hundred different names that you've never heard and you just really don't know whats going on. But oh well, that's life. We cover two wards, and so does each companionship in the zone. So we go to church from seven to three. that's eight hours! It makes it difficult to stay awake! So this week I was reading in the last conference Ensign and in the talk that I was reading it said that we all should study the atonement. So for my personal studies this past week I've been doing just that. Also, Elder Westwood is working on memorizing The Living Christ. So I told him that I would help him out with that by memorizing it too. I've been working on that this week too. From studying about our Savior and His Atonement, there has been such an added Spirit throughout the day that I cant ignore. The Savior suffered so much, such immense pain, all for us. All so that we wouldn't have to suffer, if we repent and follow Him. I'm so grateful for that. I'm grateful for this opportunity to be able to serve Him. He is our Savior and He does live and direct this Church.

52nd week in Spokane

We had an interesting week, nothing too successful, mostly just all our appointments fell through. So last week our bishop runs an idea by us about having Jessica confirmed the same day as her baptism because the next day the ward is having a youth temple trip and so we all thought it would be cool to have her get baptized and confirmed on Friday and then on Saturday have her go to the temple. And that way
she and Jared could go together for both of their first time. So we both said we would work on getting permission for that. Well a couple days later the Bishop calls us back and says he got the permission. So we told Jared and Jessica about it and she said she's fine with it. So we taught her this last week about the temple and baptisms for the dead. She really liked it because she has a brother that died a long
time ago. Well, we got everything lined up for her to get her baptismal interview and also to get her temple recommend. So just as a side note, it is a rule that an investigator has to come to church 3 times in order to be eligible for baptism. Before this week Jessica came twice. Once to Sacrament meeting and the other time to all three hours and she just loved it. In fact, her first time going to relief society they challenged everyone to read the Book of Mormon in 100 days and gave out a chart of what to read every day to make it by 100 days. And Jessica committed herself to do it! So she has been working on that! Well, Jared always picks her up and brings her to church every week. Well this Sunday Jared came but with no Jessica, so we were pretty bummed because technically she cant get baptized without being at church 3 times. So we called her and she was just super sick, she could barely say two words without coughing like crazy and not only that but she sprained her ankle really bad on Saturday, so she didn't come so we didn't announce her baptism or anything at church but we did call our mission president to see if we could get permission to go ahead and baptize her as planned since she was just sick and not flaky. So finally we were able to get hold of him and he said that if the bishop approves then he approves. But as I explained the situation to him he said that she shouldn't get confirmed on Friday but needs to be confirmed on Sunday, which means that she can't go to the temple. So we let everyone know and made a bunch of phone calls to invite to the baptism. Jessica was kinda disappointed that she wouldn't get to go to the temple especially since we already taught her about it, but she was excited that she could still get baptized as planned. And so are we.

51st week in Spokane

We had an interesting week, nothing too successful, mostly just all
our appointments fell through. So last week our bishop runs an idea by
us about having Jessica confirmed the same day as her baptism because
the next day the ward is having a youth temple trip and so we all
thought it would be cool to have her get baptized and confirmed on
Friday and then on Saturday have her go to the temple. And that way
she and Jared could go together for both of their first time. So we
both said we would work on getting permission for that. Well a couple
days later the Bishop calls us back and says he got the permission. So
we told Jared and Jessica about it and she said she's fine with it. So
we taught her this last week about the temple and baptisms for the
dead. She really liked it because she has a brother that died a long
time ago. Well, we got everything lined up for her to get her
baptismal interview and also to get her temple recommend. So just as a
side note, it is a rule that an investigator has to come to church 3
times in order to be eligible for baptism. Before this week Jessica
came twice. Once to Sacrament meeting and the other time to all three
hours and she just loved it. In fact, her first time going to relief
society they challenged everyone to read the Book of Mormon in 100
days and gave out a chart of what to read every day to make it by 100
days. And Jessica committed herself to do it! So she has been working on
that! Well, Jared always picks her up and brings her to church every
week. Well this Sunday Jared came but with no Jessica, so we were
pretty bummed because technically she cant get baptized without being
at church 3 times. So we called her and she was just super sick, she
could barely say two words without coughing like crazy and not only
that but she sprained her ankle really bad on Saturday, so she didn't
come so we didn't announce her baptism or anything at church but we did
call our mission president to see if we could get permission to go
ahead and baptize her as planned since she was just sick and not
flaky. So finally we were able to get hold of him and he said that
if the bishop approves then he approves. But as I explained the
situation to him he said that she shouldn't get confirmed on Friday but
needs to be confirmed on Sunday, which means that she can't go to the
temple. So we let everyone know and made a bunch of phone calls to
invite to the baptism. Jessica was kinda disappointed that she wouldn't
get to go to the temple especially since we already taught her about
it, but she was excited that she could still get baptized as planned.
And so are we.

50th week in Spokane

"Serve with all your heart might mind and strength" We certainly
magnified this portion of our calling this week! We did so much
service its ridiculous! We laid a hard wood floor, we painted, we
helped some one move, and we cut down and cut up a tree! I have
definitely been able to use my own gifts to help out others so its
been good, I love doing service, we're always looking for some to do.
Not only does it give us a chance to wear something other than a shirt and tie but it of course makes us feel good to know we helped someone out. When you're in the service of your fellow beings you're only in the service of your God, right? Right. So cutting down the tree was pretty fun, we did it for Jessica because they depend on firewood for heat since they live clear in the boonies and have no electricity or
running water. However, both her parents have gotten injured and can't do anything to help with the firewood so we decided to go up there and help em out a bit. We were exhausted by the end of the day because that morning we helped someone move. Another fun thing about that day is see, Wenatchee is just this big valley in the middle of no where so we gotta drive up the mountain to get out. so coming back its all downhill and this road is especially steep! So.. We rode our bikes back down it! It was cool because it was dark so Jared, our recent convert, drove right behind us and had his lights on haha he said that our top speed was right around 50!! Speaking of Jessica, she is doing really good, we were able to teach a way good lesson with her and we also taught her about the Sabbath Day, we invited her to ask work off for every Sunday and she was really scared to because she barely has any hours as it is and she needs money for school but she said she would because she said if shes gonna jump into this shes gonna do it one hundred percent. She's solid. She asked work off and got it off and is getting baptized September 17! We are excited about that! Well, thanks for everything you do I love and miss you all!
-Elder Burns