Picture Week

Anthony

Hollywood Hike

Spring Breakers

It’s a great day to be a missionary!! Every day is a great day to be a missionary!! I can’t believe how fast this transfer has flown by. Having to do 9 exchanges a transfer makes it fly by. I just learned that we have the biggest District in the mission. YEAH China for over-population! But I love these guys. ahhh it is hard, I am for sure not the perfect District Leader, but you learn every day, and just follow the Character of Christ and serve and it works out.

I talked with President about Mojo the other day, and after my mind drifted to Austin Powers for a sec, I whipped it back and got some good advice. I have been stressing about finishing the mission strong, I feel like because I have set that as a goal, Satan is working on me to not achieve that. BUT my Prez just gave me the simple solution and that is think of others, not yourself. Obviously, this is a simple thing we learn in Primary, but really, it is one of the hardest things to do. Especially as you get tired, or hungry, or frustrated, we as people can become inward little selfish turtles. Just like Laman and Lemual. BUT now, it’s my goal, not to do that, no matter the circumstances. Hold me accountable!!!!

This week, the Ward went to Huntington Beach for a dodgeball tournament. It was awesome, we got 5 investigators to go!! And thankfully they all made it back in one piece. An awesome couple that went was Jing and Ted, they are a newlywed couple and they just love learning. It is all new to them. Jing, the wife said "I feel like Christianity has something great inside it that makes so many people believe, I want to find out what that great things is." My companion and I testified that the great thing was the life and atonement of Jesus Christ and how it transforms us! I am so excited to teach them. We had a lot of really good lessons this week, we are truly blessed here.

I hear people are losing weight back home, I am also on the path of slim fit BYU body 2015. My plan is basically run a lot in the morning, and eat under 1600 calories a day....it kinda stinks. BUT I have come to really love running, I think I want to get into Triatholans when I get back. But that is talk for a loooong ways away.

I love you guys!! Thanks for emailing me and remembering I am still in LA!

love,

Elder Burr

Life in Technicolor

Soooo, I am emailing on Tuesday because we went hiking on P-day to the Hollywood sign, and it took a lot longer than we thought. We all realized that this mission has made us physically unfit for these types of fun activities...but mostly it took so long because we had to wait so long for another companionship.

For sure the highlight of the week was Lorrie!! She is so elect and cool. Her major is game design, video game design. So she can talk to all the ward members about Assassin’s Creed, League of Legends, Deng Deng. She talked about how nice Church was and how she wants to make it a weekly thing because of the peace it brings. She is so awesome, #hastening

It is so crazy the stark contrast between her and some other investigators. With most people, it is SOOO hard to get them to do stuff. So much convincing and discussing and analyzing and sometimes even bribing goes on with people, just to get them to do the smallest commitments. But until they humble themselves and submit to the Lord, nothing really sticks!!

I was reading in the Old Testament, and in the story, the Joseph Smith Translation says, " and Pharaoh hardened his heart."  I realized that in my life and in my investigators lives, it’s always a choice to resist God. So what we have to do is soften our hearts, become humble and submit. And the best thing to soften a heart is the Spirit, and one of the greatest ways to bring that in is to have sincere care for a person. I know this principle applies to normal life to. No one should be forced or convinced or bribed to do anything, because it will just never stick. That's right up there with Satan’s plan. But when you do something out of a sincere love for that person, and they feel that, that's when hearts are softened and a lasting conversion or a change of heart takes place. You see process happen to some degree in a lot of people, but seldom does it fully take place....BUT when it does, it’s like Heaven. 

The name of the game right now is finish strong, and it is so much harder than I thought it would be. I could just feel myself just flying though those first 18 months, just getting out and working and learning, but for some reason I feel like I have hit a brick wall. BUT no worries, as things get better, they will get harder, it has been this way since the beginning. 

Finish Strong and Grow to the End!!

love you guys,

Elder Burr

WOW Hits and what-not

So my companion has introduced me to WOW Hits, which are like Christian rock songs that sing about grace and stuff. I lost my mood ring so I am not sure how I feel about them quite yet....

It has been cold, which I thought would never happen in LA, but for the first week here I was wearing like sweaters and double underwear and double socks (jk on the U-wear) to bed. But no worries, we got a pan heater and it is warmer than a Gold Gym Sauna up here in Jefferson Park.

So a cool thing that happened this week was the other set of Elders here had a baptism, his name was Ding Cong. The baptism was awesome! But what was also cool was we brought a guy named Shu Yang to the baptism. So Shu Yang wanted to apply to BYU Law School and so he walked into the church looking for an ecclesiastical endorsement. He had no idea what the church was, but for some reason he just wanted to go to BYU Law. So we brought him to the baptism that Sunday and it was pretty much his first contact with the church, and at the end of it he was like. “wonderful, so wonderful, I hope that I can do that one day!!" The Lord is hastening his work!!

Also, if you remember the guy I gave a baptismal interview last year, the one who didn't pass. His name was Anthony Chen. He got up in the branch down in Palos Verdes and said that he wanted to be baptized!!! That was a huuugge miracle this week. His wife got baptized back in December and I am sure that played a huge part. Ladies always taking the first steps, Eve, Mary, Neil Armstrong....

Testimony of the BOM was strengthened hardcore this week. When I was talking to this well versed Christian, he really was saying a lot of things that made sense to me and caused me to doubt myself. But in the end, he asked me for a BOM and as I testified of it, I just knew it was true and could never deny it and that is why everything he said didn't matter, no matter how logical it was, because I knew the BOM was true. That was an awesome experience!

whhhaaa Lindsi got home!! I remember seeing her in the MTC!!!!

I love you guys, thanks so much for your prayers for the investigators here and thanks so much for being active back home. Read the scriptures every day, especially the BOM. I am so grateful for the Spirit, and I am so grateful that we can so quickly feel while we read the words of God!!

love you guys,

Elder Burr

International Zone Conference January 30 at Torrance North Stake Center

Meet the first Chinese sister in the mission. Sister Yang

All Welcome the Year of the Lamb!!

Family!! Your prayers worked, Wu Si Yuan got baptized!! It was so awesome! At his baptism I could feel he was so ready. Ahh!! The Lord knows these people way better than I ever could!

I am back at USC, this Ward is so much fun!! It feels a little weird though. You know when you leave a really good image of yourself and then you leave really dramatically, and then you come back and you can't quite live up to that image, that's what it is like right now. BUT its all good!! Because so many Chinese people live here. I am with another native so a great opportunity to improve on Chinese. 

We had a Chinese New Year party!! It was super fun, full of ribbon dancing and hung bao!! I will send you pictures of the good stuff!!

love you guys!!

A little Idyll…a little wild

Saw that on a license plate, I feel like it describes my mission very well. 

TRANSFERS!!! I am leaving Santa Monica and heading back to USC and am back with my trainee Elder Yang. Put my life on repeat!! 

The 6 months in Santa Monica was probably the busiest time in my mission. It was super fun just doing work! Just preaching and finding and teaching. Even a little baptizing thrown in there. It was a happy time. This last Sunday was just super joy filled. Investigators at Church, everyone just having a good time. I will miss it for sure. 

Thank you for your prayers for Wu Si Yuan. I am sure he feels them. 

OH MAN!!!!! How did I not talk about this first! On Saturday, I had the huge honor of going through the Temple with Darren and Wenqi and to attend their sealing. It was just one of those 'I could die right now and my life would be complete' moments. Just seeing them both there and all the old members from the Palos Verdes Branch in the Temple together was just glorious! The only thing that could describe it was happiness! Darren and Wenqi looked super tired, but very very happy. They are just some of the most prepared most kind souls I have met on my entire mission. Also, just sitting in the sealing room with the Branch Members and President Lam ( he did the sealing) I just realized how much I love these people and how excited I am to see them and everyone else that I have met and seen join the Church, in Heaven one day! I know it seems a little cheesy, but it is a day that I truly believe will happen. It is a day we can all look forward to. This hope can get us through anything! Oh man, just seeing Darren and Wenqi progress this past year and half has changed me so much. It has truly made me realize that people are ready to receive the Gospel, and God will guide us to them. Darren and Wenqi also said they will have a baby soon! A baby that is born into the covenant is the best kind of baby!!

Mom, could you send me 2 temple recommend holders? That would be awesome!!

haha Tracy said the closing prayer in Sacrament on Sunday. She did it with her eyes open and thanked Heavenly Father for the year of Lamb and good stuff like that. She is awesome

I am excited to go back to USC, I never got to buy a souvenir last time, this is probably the main reason God guided me back here.

Love you guys!! 

Elder Burr

Chinese District

Stay Focused!!

Oh no!! Just went on an exchange with an Elder that is going home at the end of the week and Andrew (Shermer) and Matt (Goudy) get back this Wed. YOU SHOULD ALL GO TO THEIR HOMECOMINGS!!!! And now I am just getting distracted out the whizzoo. BUT we made a goal in comp study to not talk or think about any home stuff from 6:30am-10:30pm, and then as I lay in bed I can wind down and daydream about that stuff.  But really though, if you think about home while you work it just makes you so sad in the end!!! It is exactly like sin, that instant gratification. Satan really wants us to lose that eternal perspective.

We have just been seeing amazing changes and miracles in this area. It has been so busy!!! It’s really on fire.  Pray for Wu Si Yuan please, he has a baptismal date for the 22nd, but he didn't come to Church yesterday. He is such a good guy. He is young and super handsome and super humble. He has the style of Ryan Gosling!! The Church needs him!! He also does not like using smart phones! He is awesome and he tears apart the Book of Mormon, very rarely have I had investigators that try to dissect and read the Book of Mormon like they should, I know it took me almost 20 years to do it. And he does it so well!!! Pray for him!!

Other than that, still trying to become better.  To better understand Preach My Gospel, the scriptures, Chinese, my own testimony!!!  Every day is a chance to become better. I am so grateful for Christ and how he helps everyday with this.  I love the song "How great though art".  Originally it was a Baptist hymnal, and I think it is one of the few hymns were we directly praise Christ. I don't want to sound like a wild non-denominational Christian pounding my chest and yelling at heaven, but Christ really is so great!! Not great in the sense we use it now (these Frosted Flakes are Greeeeat) but in the sense that He is Great. He transcends all, His infinite saving power is available to every man, woman, and child that ever came to this earth, "Thus saith the Lord your God, even Jesus Christ the Great I Am, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the same which looked upon the wide expanse of eternity, and all the seraphic hosts of heaven, before the world was made"

Thanks family!! Love you all!! Thanks so much for the package mom! I really appreciate it!

Elder Burr