Elder Burton:
So there are two Elder Josh Burtons! It doesn’t get much better than that. I’m sure you’re worthy to be my son, and I’d be proud to be your dad. My son Josh is headed for Guatemala tomorrow. I have another son headed for Belgium, who is in the MTC right now. You Josh Burton elders should get to know each other. I’m sure we’re related at some point. We’re from Alberta, Canada, via Saskatchewan via Ohio via England and Whales.
Best to you, Elder!
Allan Burton
Hey Family,
For the past couple of weeks I've been getting letters from this family. They have a Josh Burton on a mission. I keep getting way excited. This week I had like twice as many emails as normal. But they were for this weird Elder Burton. Actually, I'm sure he's a cool guy.
This week was pretty intense. After district meeting on Tuesday Elder Schmoekal, our mighty gwapo district leader, came to our area with Elder Reeves to do the interviews. What happened was he and Elder Chandler actually went out to do the interviews and Elder Reeves and Vennard went house hunting because we got a call from President saying we desperately needed one.
Anyway, I had a great day and went and worked with Elder Cauilan. He's actually my batch mate :D. Anyway, he;s way sweet and we had a really good day. I learned a lot from that guy. So the next day, Elder Reeves came and picked me up from Buena Vista at around 9 and we road back about an hour to Jordan. So when we arrived in the house, guess who was standing inside? President and Sister Pagaduan and the two APs. The first thing they said was, "Elder Reeves, you know you're not supposed to have pets right?" And then Elder Reeves said, "They're not pets, they're our dinner." And President Pagaduan just said, "No. You need to repent!" And we had to get rid of the turtles. But that's all he said. I bet he was just laughing on the inside. We just gave them to our branch president and he made turtle soup for us yesterday. Anyway, after that we walked inside and got the rundown for our apartment check. Afterwards Elder Misbach, our AP, told me that he thought our house looked way good and had improved a lot. Seriously, we have been doing surgery on this apartment. It's been a missionary apartment for a really long time. I had spent like 2 hours on one p-day mopping the ceiling. We did way good. But Sister Pagaduan and President said we have to do a lot better. President said I won't be allowed to transfer until the apartment is super clean. (Maybe I'll just leave it dirty, I love Guimaras!) Anyway, after telling us things to improve, President said, "I have one more complaint. I went into your bathroom, and someone left me a little surprise in there." Well, I knew it wasn't me, I had just got home.
Anyway, the real reason President and the APs came is because we needed an apartment now. So we split up and searched. Guess who I went with? ELDER PETTIT! Elder Misbach is leaving the office and it hasn't been officially announced (this friday is our transfer day), but I think Elder Pettit is going to replace him. That's my MTC companion baby! So we went out and searched for houses, but all of ours were no good. I guess we finally found a house good enough though. Afterwards around noon President Pagaduan took us to a resort and we went swimming and participated in other fun events. I'm just kidding, but we did go to a resort and ate a baller nice lunch. It was way delicious.
During lunch President asked if there were any less actives that he could go to with us, so we took him to a couple of appointments. I learned a ton from him, and I was glad I knew Tagalog cause that's all he spoke. It was amazing working with him though. I just learned a ton of simple principles and in the way he taught you could really see how important the gospel was to him.
Thanksgiving morning Elder Pettit found the old hot water heater in our apartment (it used to be the senior couple's apartment) and he was able to fix it. I'm grateful for hot water. I didn't think I'd take one till after my mission. It's been weird actually being excited to shower in the morning.
I guess the best thing this week was the baptisms of Sister Maymay, Sister Joan, and Brother Nelson. They all went through a lot of trials to prepare and it was a great service. Our Ward Mission Leader, Edward, really works hard to make them special. Elder Reeves did the honors of baptizing them. They each bore powerful testimony afterward and it was just impossible there not to feel the spirit of the Lord. I'm glad I was a part in seeing the change these good Brothers and Sisters made in their lives. Sister Joan's kids should also be baptized in the next couple of weeks. They just had to prepare a little bit more first. I'm really happy. The work is really moving forward.
After the baptism we had decided to go on exchanges with Elder Chandler and Elder Vennard. So I took Elder Vennard with me to our side of Jordan and we had a really great lesson. We went to this family we've been working with who I wasn't so sure about. Last time Elder Reeves and I went there we thought they were hiding because we heard voices inside but no one would answer our calling. Anyway, we went there and had a great lesson with them. We found out last time they were using the CR and couldn't come out an answer and they were worried we'd be mad and wouldn't come back. It was way cool. And then the tatay, Jimmy, had read 60 pages of the Book of Mormon! He said every time before and after he prays if it's true and he's trying to apply the teachings in his life! It was sweet. And then the mom and daughter were complaining because Bro. Jimmy keeps hogging the Book of Mormon and they never get a chance to read. But we gave them another Book of Mormon. During that lesson we just focused on what it means if these things are true and the whole family committed to be baptized. It was really good and you can tell they are really sincere about it. They have a lot of trials and obstacles they need to work through but I believe they can be prepared in the next coming month.
I guess that's mostly it. You should send me a picture of the kitchen. I love you all.
Elder Burton
No comments:
Post a Comment