First things is first, I want to
express how grateful I am to all you guys. You email me every week and pray for
me and it really really does support me through a lot of trial! I could not
serve if it were not for you guys.
AHHHH!!!!! I am being transferred to
UCLA. I am so torn. The work was going very well in USC. We had 18 Chinese
people at church last Sunday and 13 of those were non members. IT is exploding
here! I am so grateful that I was able to do my part in the Lords vineyard and
I 100% trust in the mission president, that he is guided, by God, to guide this
work.
So during the football game this Sat
we went contacting on campus, bad decision. It was pretty much like coechella (
or Woodstock for you older folk), but my companion and I thought that since we
stuck out so bad, it would be super easy to find the elect people!! but oh man,
who we found was Tawnya. So she stopped us and I just thought that she was your
average sorority girl, but all of a sudden she started whipping out all this
bible stuff and all of a sudden this Alpha Delta Alpha girl wanted to bash!
Like all bashes, it didn't go anywhere, and in the end she left is with these
words. " There is no such thing as revelation, no such thing as prophets,
its done, its finished, we don't need anymore, God will not give us
anymore." ......it was a super intense moment. and you know, as I
left that conversation, I just couldn't stop thinking about what she said. And
I was just thinking, how I don't think I could live in a world where God does
not want to talk with me. I just really believe that God's Gospel is constantly
unfolding, it for sure is unchanging, but it is always unfolding. I wish that
people would just listen sometimes, just sit down and talk with us. Mostly
Americans really, who think they have it all. Because I have seen it in the
eyes of my investigators, when I tell them that God is our loving Heavenly
Father and he want to hear them and he wants to guide them through a
living prophet, their eyes just light up. right now I am teaching 2 girls, Li
Bing and Li Jia Ying, and they just get it. They both are just so
sweet and so willing to learn. They have a soft, willing open heart. And
so many Christians right now just need to do that. To open their hearts, and be
willing to get to know Heavenly Father again.
These Chinese people really
have been an example to me. the recent converts to the investigators. They have
all taught me so much.
I am really bummed to leave the USC
ward, but I know it has a very solid foundation, and these guys that have been
baptized may be leaving in a year or two, but their legacy will remain!
hahah so we got all our
investigators to an activity this past Friday, bonfire on the beach!!! we
couldn't go of course, but when we followed up on them after, they all just
loved the s’mores!! They were like 'it was so sweet, but oh, it was so good!!.'
haha I don't know why, but we have mainly been teaching girls lately.
OH MAN!! Heart Breaker experience,
we had our first lesson with this girl, Qing Qing. It was such a good one, so
powerful and she just had so many good questions. We even watched 'Hope of Gods
Light' and after the lesson, she just looked so torn up, so confused inside.
Then, she sat there for like 15 seconds, just thinking, with the most knotted
up look on her face and she said, 'listen, guys, I am part of the Party (communist
party) and no matter what I learn or what I feel, I just can’t accept it, so let’s
not meet again." ahhh it was so hard, because her mind was pulling her
away from what her heart was telling her. And now she has been off the radar,
and I am getting transferred and I can’t look for her, but it just made me
think about what it means to give our hearts to the Lord. That even if we think
it is good, and correct, it can still be not of God, and giving our Heart to
Him who is Eternal involves humbling ourselves and realizing that we are still
children, and that our loving Savior and Heavenly Father want nothing more than
to guide us and show us the way of true happiness.
I love the mission! I love my family
and I miss you guys! Hope all is well and I hope you have a good Mid-Autumn
Festival!!
-Elder Burr