party in the USA

Life is crazy! It is awesome to be back in Santa Monica, I had forgotten how pretty it is up here.

So many Chinese people go to UCLA haha!! It is so nice for the campus to be so close to the temple too. It is so easy accessible.

Thanks so much for the prayers for Danny, he really needed them!

But yeah, it was crazy, because Danny the Brazilian, he had a fight, a pretty big one, on Friday....and he lost..:( freaking Manny vs Mayweather all over again. And after he was just so unsure about everything. Unsure if he wanted to keep fighting, keep chasin the dream, and he was pretty confused why after all he had done to follow Jesus, he still lost. BUT his testimony was so strong and he was like "I am ready for my new life! I am so excited for my baptism!" Now, his sights are on finding a Mormon wife!! man, but with Danny, it was so crazy to see the spirit teach. Our lessons would be sooo crazy, but the spirit just converted and taught him. Missionary work is sick!!!

Really though family, thanks so much for caring about the work out here!! 

I am just striving to "doubt not, fear not" and looking unto Christ in all things. We have some challenges to get over in this area. and its hard knowing that I have this time restraint to do it, but I just always need to remind myself that this Gods work. Not just in missionary work, but in everything. With the world going crazy, I just focus on my testimony of the Living Christ, and strengthen my Faith in Him. 

I love you fam! 

Elder Burr

Danny did it!

Elder Hou

The 4th quarter, the red zone, Game 7, bottom of the 9th, the last melon!!!!!

aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh it came, I tried to stop it, I told myself it wasn't coming, but it came all the same! I am starting my last transfer today! ahhh and President is taking me out of English and putting me back into the Chinese district as the district leader again. To be honest, I was kinda bummed to leave because we have sooo many people sooo close to baptism here. aahhh!! I love them so much, my time in English and my time as a zone leader have made my mission so much richer. I am grateful for the chance I had to serve here and in this position. I was pretty confused why President made me DL again, I was kind of looking forward to not have a leadership position so I could just relax a little and just worry about the area I was in and getting along with my comp, but whenever we want to slack off, the Lord nips that in the bud real quick. He has a real sick sense of humor sometimes, but don't worry, I still love Him!!

I will be going back to the Westdale 1st Ward in Santa Monica, but instead of serving in the SMC side, I will serve on the UCLA side. Go Bruins!!!

My new companion will be Elder Hou, another newbie from Beijing that doesn't speak a lick of English. Which is really good because my Chinese has digressed a lot!

But my last companion, Elder Larkin, finished the mission last transfer, and in his departing testimony he talked about how we as missionaries share so many testimonies about so many different things, and he said that the most important thing we could testify of was what Joseph Smith, The Prophet, said himself, " And this is the testimony, last of all, that we give of Him, That He Lives!!" And if He lives, why wouldn't we try our hardest to be like him and follow the council that he is actively giving us?

It was such a powerful testimony! It made me reflect on Christ is so aware of all that I am doing. That he is there every time I choose to do what is right, and every time I am a witness of Him to others. This feeling that I get, when I think of my Savior actively a part of my life, makes me want to be like Ammon when he glories in on the power of God!! ahh! its an awesome feeling.

It was also Fathers Day yesterday. I am grateful for my dad who showed me the way and gave me such a great example, because "The son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do, for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the son likewise." thanks Dad! Thanks for everything. And a Father can not be without a wife, thanks too Mom!! love you guys!! talk to you later!! let me know what you want from LA

Elder Burr

April 15 Torrance North Zone

hey!!!

6-15-2015

Hey Family!! WOW a baby was a born, a real life baby!!! Somebody needs to send me an audio of how to correctly pronounce the name!! haha I have never heard of that name before. But it has been a great experience to add someone to my prayers at night. It doesnt matter I havent met her, I love her so much! that baby is going to get spoiled rotten haha.

So I spent a ton of time writing an RC in chinese, that took forever. I was just so worried I was using the wrong charcters at some points I had to check almost all of them!! but hey, its all good.

A little up date on Leo Huang, my recent convert in China. he just barely emailed me 2 weeks ago that he finished the whole BOM! all on his own...in the middle of communist china!!! ahhh!! that made me so moved man! I am so happy for him. Just the knoweldge of a Heavenly Father and a Savior is such a wonderful spiritual gift.

ahh! not alot of time again or a lot written, I am sorry!! but hey, you guys got babies to go play with anyways!!

love you! thanks so much for the vitamins mom! love you!

The future is now

Hey Team!! So this week was cray cray. We had ZTM which was nuts and then we had interviews with President, so that means we had to stay at the church for 12 hours shuffling Elders and Sister.

It was also our first week of using the ipad. Its pretty weird using technology, I am not good at using it. It feels very awkward in lessons, but it is pretty good at entertaining little kids. 

I cant believe that June has already begun, where did May go?!?! 

Thank you so much for the letters about PoPo. I will devote my language study to learning it. I was so sad to hear of her passing because I really did want to see her in person one last time. I am so grateful that I was able to Skype with her on Christmas.  That Christmas eve will be so dear to my heart now. She was so short and so cute. I love you guys, I pray for you every night. The world is really crazy out here. Our investigator Rico had a sister who was murdered last week. It was really tough to hear. But, I know that God loves all his children, and I know God is watching over you guys while I am gone. 

I cant believe how much stuff is going on! I cant even believe that Rebecca graduated! I don't even remember her starting high school!! Now all the little girls are all grown up, I think Melissa is like 14 now. That is crazy!!!

Well, this week, we found a FAMILY!!! A real family with 3 kids and 2 parents, male and female. the mom is from Taiwan and the dad is white, so I am basically time traveling and teaching myself when I meet with the kids. They are super awesome though, I will keep you updated.

love you guys!!

Elder Burr

its social....twisted and sad, but social

I hope I got that quote right. sooo where do I start. So my companion really is super famous in Japan. He is from a group called bless4, look them up and tell me about it!! He is super cool.

So, we met with this guy that is 7th day Adventist, and he seemed really smart, but he also believed that the world is flat and still the center of the universe. They got some pretty wild Christians out here, I mean like, don't believe in dinosaurs Christians. ( I wonder what the church's stance on that is?? I hope we believe in dinosaurs, I am not sure it would be heaven if I couldn't ride a velociraptor).....as you may have guessed, I have seen the new Jurassic Park adds a lot. 

BUT an awesome thing happened this week. So Amanda, you remember Danny, the guy with the tattoo? So a little background on Danny, he is the Brazilian MMA fighter who is super spiritual! So this past Sunday, Frank got confirmed a member (Frank was the sisters investigator), and during the confirmation, Danny said he felt that the words being said to Frank were being said to Him, and that God was telling him that he was next. hahah it was so sweet. As I teach Danny, I can tell that it is the spirit converting him, not me or my teaching skills, but the spirit, and I am so humbled by that. I love feeling like I am nothing, because I am!! I am a waay prideful person, and moments like this help me realize that I am nothing....with out God, and with God on my side, I can do anything. the paradox of man right here!! 

I am so excited for everyone back home! congrats Becki on graduating!! see you fall 2015!!

love you guys!!

Elder Burr