Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! WOOOOOOO we get to go back to our apartment at 7 and go to bed early yahooo! I'll be honest with ya...Christmas week stunk. Christmas Eve I was throwing up buckets and buckets and became dehydrated, so that was great. My companion is also extremely compassionate (cough cough sarcasm cough cough) and dragged me to all the Christmas Eve parties despite me having a 101 fever and feeling like a sack of garbage stepped on by a tyrannosaurus. It was great! Christmas day was a lot better since I got to Skype both sides of my family and, President said it was authorized for the day, watch Frozen at a member's home theater! I cannot explain how good it felt to recline on a chair, relax, and watch a non-church movie with absolutely no stress. Boy that was nice. 

Thank you so much for the Christmas presents, cards, and wishes! It warmed my frosty ol' heart whenever I see an email, letter, or package from someone form the outside world. The homesickness was pretty dang real this past week. I'm happy to be well and back on my feet so I can get back to work out here. 

We weren't allowed to proselyte for most of the past week due to families not wanting to hear from us, so there aren't that many wild stories to tell. Ryan Anderson, the investigator who is Bradley Cooper's twin, dropped u because of his pastor, so that stinks. I don't really get mad out here, unless it's at Elder Van De Graaff ;), but I get sad. People hear things about missionaries, rumors, and stereotypes and discriminate based entirely on the little black tag I wear. I have had no experiences of being outcasted based on appearances, so I'd say that is the hardest part of being a missionary.

I've learned more than any other time in my life what unconditional love is. Judgments and appearances distract from the reality that we are all down here as humans. We all have challenges, despairs, trials, obstacles, and obstructions in our lives, no matter what our income, ethnicity, or social standing is. It doesn't matter how or when we live; we will all face adversity in life. Negativity will seep into our lives without us ever sensing it as we live attempting to meet others' expectations of us. Be patient with yourself. Change for the better comes over time, not in an instant. Happiness comes from loving each other as well as loving ourselves. That is the message of Jesus Christ. Through love to our merciful Savior and Redeemer, our lives will be filled with absolute, never-ending love. Love for God, love for each other, and love for ourselves. 

As 2015 buds anew this week, focus on what we can do to improve ourselves, but also focus on what we are doing well. Build upon that which is already solid and our lives will become the happiness we all hope for!

TO leave on a funny note, Elder Van De Graaff and I knocked on a mansion house yesterday and a giant party of Sorority girls opened the door, all of which were drunk. Poor Elder VDG immediately started telling our beliefs and what our purpose as missionaries is and brought up that "Our purpose is to get you to church". Not the best thing to say to a party of drunk sorority girls. They started ranting on him in hilarious drunken nonsense and then one asked me what I thought. I said that church makes me happy so we talk to others about church so that they can share that happiness. pretty much the same message as Elder VDG, although worded differently. Every single girl praised me and said that I need to do all the talking and that I'll have a great girl someday. LOL

I guess I still got it :)

xoxo

Elder Burgess

Merry Christmas everyone!

WOOOOWEEEE this has been a crazy week! Miracles left and right, strange scenarios up and down, Christmas joy all arouunnnddd! Except in the hospice we went to. That was really sad.     :)

As Christmas creeps closer and closer, it seems the work starts stretching. This week we were extra adventurous in our quest for happiness! We taught the word of wisdom to a large group of drunk moms with a drunk member helping us at her Christmas drinking party that we were invited to, made an appearance at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and crashed the sermon on accident (I didn't know we were supposed to be quiet in the Amens and Songs my b my b), and also crashed a Spanish Christmas party by being the only gringos around. We had a pretty hoppin party week when I think about it hahahehe

Remember back to my second week out in the field when i committed Bruce and Nicole (our investigators) to get married before baptism? Well this week we went to the D.C. temple lights with them and showed them around the beautiful and tranquil Temple grounds. When we got up the best view, Bruce got down on one knee and proposed to Nicole! In front of the Temple! they're not even baptized yet! He said, "What better place to propose than the place we'll be sealed for eternity." AHHHHH I was crying and Elder Van De Graaff hit me and said to suck it up. He's more like Elder Vandemort if you catch my drift

Living in tune with the Spirit is a process not easily describable. It's something you have to experience for yourself, in your shoes. Faith is the underlying factor in guidance through the Spirit and Obedience is the first step. If you know me, you know that I tend to question authority..a lot. But as I've been giving myself up to the Lord as an instrument in His hands, absolute miracles blossom before my eyes.Wednesday started out rough, both in homesickness and rigorous studies in the gloomy grey Maryland winter. Off we went to proselyte in one of the neighborhoods where we had a referral. I was driving and drove right past where we needed to go in my "laziness" and parked way up the street for some reason. We hopped out and began walking when a seemingly ordinary woman crossed the crosswalk perpendicular to us up ahead. I yelled to her that we're missionaries and she stopped, looked at us, and said, "I'm an alcoholic and need help. I guess I'll listen to ya." We sat on the curb of that busy street and ministered to 50 year-old Debby, homeless and afraid, among all of the judgmental people that passed by. God led us to cross paths with Debby that day, despite me not having a clue what was going on. Even if we are our complete selves while being open to the Lord's will, all else is taken care of. We don't need to pretend to be someone of something we're not to come unto Christ. Come unto Him with your full heart, your full sense of humor, your full personality, and he will open all we could ask for.

Christmas is coming up and I get to watch a rated G movie with a family. YEAH. WOOHOO CINDERELLA WOOO! It's gonna be hype sick money yo (someone on the street said that to me and I'm saying it now live with it)

Merry Christmas everyone! <3

xoxo

Elder Burgess

15 Elder Burgess Letter

Never have I locked myself out of my house before. Before. This week changed that. Six a.m. Elder Van De G
raaff and I go outside grudgingly to run and neither of us took our keys with us...We went to all the windows to see if they were locked and even tore an entire screen off to see if we could rip the window off. Yup. that didn't work. We didn't have our phone either, so we had no choice but to run all the way to the Severna Park Elders and barge in. Of course Elder Van De Graaff was a hardcore cross country runner back home, so I was huffing and puffing all the waayyyyyy running at least ten mph for i dont even KNOW how far. We made it back and Elder Plumb rode bikes back to our apartment with me and he PICKED THE LOCK. That was awesome.

One of the less-active families I've grown to like has a member who's a Harry Potter FANATIC. Like quotes lines from the book every other sentence. She went ahead and substituted herself for the Sorting Hat for us and pretty much prophesied that Elder VDG is Slitheren (lolololololololololol), and I'm Hufflepuff. Both make total sense xD. Our tiny little Broadneck ward here is solid, although we only have about 45% attendance rate of the members on Sunday. Over half of our efforts in missionary work revolves around visiting less-active and part-member families. It's a different kind of missionary work, but I personally love it. I've found over this past week especially that the key to having love in a conversation is by being yourself. Too often do we feel like we need to be better, or meet a certain expectation to help others. If we are not being true to ourselves in all of our imperfections and goofy characteristics, how do we expect to be true to others? Love is the essential ingredient to happiness, both in conveying it to others and loving who we are. Embrace your faults, embrace your imperfections, and embrace the moment. Lion King here we go, "Remember who you are" 

No matter who we are, we can all improve upon the happiness of our lives. There is no plateau of happiness, nor immovable walls that impede progress. Through the Gospel of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, no man, object, or experience can stand in our individual pursuits of happiness. Everyday I live it and everyday I feel myself become more of a human-being than I ever thought I could be. Boy do I face challenges, both mentally and physically, but nothing, absolutely nothing, can compare to the cleansing light of the Atonement. What I've found to be the most miraculous aspect of building our beliefs is how far they progress when we are open and share them with others. Truly the only way we can diagnose our inner-most beliefs, our testimonies, is by sharing them to help one another. That in itself testifies to me of how Christ-like we can become when living how he lived. 

This Holiday season I challenge all of you to be open!! If someone asks you a question about yourself, think thoroughly about who you are and what you believe! Instead of forcing your thoughts onto another, focus on conveying your thoughts out of pure, unconditional love. That's the gift we can all give, no matter what situation we may reside. 

I love you all and look forward to hearing from y'all!

xoxo

Elder Burgess
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I am alive...part 3

Before beginning, I would like to apologize before hand for no picture of myself this week. I have had a giant, colossal pimple in between my eyes for the past four days and it makes me as self-conscious as middle-school days. And we all know how that goes...... :DD

ANYWAYS! This week honestly didn't stand out for me. This is now my second transfer in Arnold, (one transfer is 6 weeks) and Elder Van De Graaff and I are still together. At the end of this transfer he'll have been out for six months in Arnold, so he'll be gone for sure. I can drive now! We have this driving-always watching you device in each missionary car called TiWi that takes six weeks to get an activation card for. TiWi is Satan. Elder VDG doesn't appreciate my slothful driving style, but he'll learn to cope with it soon enough. :)

On Thursday we were street contacting/inspired knocking in a fairly rich neighborhood on an extra dreary winter day, when we both got the immediate urge to walk across the street and knock on a specific door down the block. We went, knocked, waited for a moment, knocked again, waited for a moment, then knocked a final third time in which we heard a muffled, "Go away." An ordinary middle aged woman was around the corner peeking at us, absolutely terrified. In her defense, we were both drenched, dressed in complete black, and both over six feet tall. We proceeded in being smiley, well I was smiley, Elder VDG isn't very smiley, and explaining who we are as missionaries. To our surprise, she politely told us to come back in twenty minutes. So we went out and tried meeting people in those twenty minutes, but to no avail. Exactly twenty minutes later, no more no less, we went back up to her porch and knocked. This time no one answered. A bit discouraged, we turned around to walk down the steps when a car pulled up into the drive way of the house. Out came Bradley Cooper. No, not really, but this guy. I kid you not, looks EXACTLY like Bradley Cooper. Same face, same eyes, same scruff, same build, same teeth, same smile, even the same voice. HOLY COW. I was flabbergasted. He said, "What's up, guys?" and turned out to be one of the nicest people I've met this far on the mission. His name is Ryan, and he told us that his wife has paranoia, so that's why she came back in twenty minutes. We have appointments with Ryan, we've shared our message, and he soaks all of it up. In his words, "I've been looking for the truth and I love hearing the good word from y'all" MMMMMMMHHHMMMMM If we hadn't followed up with the lady at the doorstep at the exact time we did, we would have missed Ryan Bradley Cooper, completely prepared by God to receive the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ into his life and live on in glorious happiness! So now I am teaching Bradley Cooper. 

Other highlights of the week have been blessing a baby in Sacrament Revelatory Experience (we don't call it meeting anymore), baby-sitting a meth-addict possible pedo in a Christmas party and ending up bearing testimony to him, and being a temple guide for parking at the Christmas lights in D.C. Alder Abraham and I got to day a one-day exchange again, which was lovely. We went visited a giant Evangelical Protestant church down the street who's pastor we met while street contacting. After walking into the door in our instantly-recognizable missionary attire, the receptionist old granny almost had a heart attack. She was TERRIFIED of us. Pastor Peck came down and welcomed us warmly and gave us the grand tour of his church. Whenever we ran into a member of their church, the looks on their faces made me feel like Darth Vader dressed in black contrasted with Princess Leia's white cruiser. I had my giant black coat on and everything too.

Life as a missionary is getting to be normal to me. As of today, I have been ordained as a missionary for exactly two months. That's bizarre. Being out on this journey has built me more than I ever could have imagined. My outlook on life will never be the same. My love of God and my love of all his children exceeds anything I've experienced. Boiled down to my core, I know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ. Nothing, absolutely nothing can compare to that which testifies of his truth. Christ is our Savior. Christ is our Redeemer. Through him we live in solidified, complete joy.

I love you all and wish you the very best. Until we meet again! <3

xoxo

Elder Burgess
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SNOW!!!

WOOOHOOOO IT SNOWED WOOOHOO!!!!!!! It was a slushy, gross snow, but Wednesday it SNOWWWEEDDDDDDD!!!! ManWednesday was awesome. I went on exchanges with Elder Hannemann again, only this time I went into his area, Downtown Annapolis. So far I've served in upper-middle, middle-class areas, so it was sweet serving in somewhat of the hood. That was on Tuesday

 and Wednesday, in which we street contacted a group of brothers who were definitely in the middle of a big drug deal, had some conversations at a ghetto retirement apartment with a drunk 80 year old dwarf, getting doors slammed in our face in the snow storm, and meeting a super less-active member in a nice retirement home who had horrible memory loss and would prank other members there by playing the trumpet when they fell asleep. We also got asked if we were hit men!  He was serious.

Wednesday was topped off with one of the most spiritual experiences I've had in my mission so far. For the past month, our mission president has drilled us with being able to teach the Restoration of the Gospel fully and completely in ten minutes or less. Believe me when I say it is excruciatingly difficult. So when on Wednesday night one of the area's brand new investigators showed up for the appointment with ten minutes before our strict curfew, we knew what we had to do. To my surprise, nothing felt rushed or pushed in teaching De'Quan; he was pretty much teaching himself. He told us straight up that he has prayed about Joseph Smith and knows that he was a true prophet of God. The Spirit was so strong that I was having trouble speaking, and I, for the first time on my mission, invited De'Quan to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by the authority of God. He committed to be baptized on December 20th. Whenever I share from the bottom of my heart what I know is true, whenever I humbly give a blessing, and when I extended that invitation, I could not believe the words that come out of my mouth. I don't even have to think  about what to say. People talk about the Holy Ghost/Spirit and it's easy to dismiss those experiences as delusions or imaginations; that's what I used to believe. Now I know that when we are in the complete service of our fellow man, opening our hearts honestly and humbly to one another, the Spirit of God testifies of the truth. Comfort and peace flood into our hearts and fill us with happiness I can't begin to explain....... HALLELUJAH PRAISE THE LORD

Thursday wasn't Thanksgiving for me. You know in those Christmas movies where Christmas gets canceled or Santa takes a sick day? Yeah that's pretty much what happened with Thanksgiving. Sure, we had Thanksgiving dinner with a family, but there were only four of us, including Elder Van de Graaff and I, and the meal was all pre-made form Costco. It was still delicious, but it felt like any other meal we get with members. Later that day our zone got together and played dodgeball and basketball from 6:30 p.m. to 9. Really it felt as if Thanksgiving never happened. I hope that that won't be the case with Christmas :/

Anyways, that's about it over here in crazy Maryland. I've been missing y'all lately and I promise form here on out that if you send me a written letter, I WILL WRITE BACK! Starting.....NOW!

Peace be with you and may the angel of death pass over you......lol wut

xoxo
Elder Burgess
happy thanksgiving from Annapolis A zone <33333

My mission so far is startlingly comparable to a new hit T.V. show. The first season started off in the MTC; new Elder Burgess thrown into Mormon Hogwarts with a class of seven other fresh noobs learning the ways of the spirit. Two weeks, 14 episodes, The Elder Burgess Show (hint hint Truman Show hint hint) built the friendships between me and my MTC district in our condensed adventures, like Elder Abraham taking laxatives and accidentally pooping his pants while making his bed at 6:00 in the morning. LOL. 

Season two is my first transfer here out in the field, which began with all of us going our separate ways in the mission, introducing a cast of new characters. This past week was the mid-way season, hour long special episode of the second season, where we all came back together as a district one last time to do a trainer-trainee conference. It was astonishing how much we had all changed and grown since the MTC. We're all spread out across the mission, from West Virginia all the way to the Chesapeake, and we've picked up what it means to be a missionary pretty dang quickly. 

This past week has been tough. Elder Van de Graaff and I are tight now, which is good because literally every person we meet on the street completely ignores us. You know in those movies when the main character wishes he had never been born and afterwards tries talking to his friends but no one acknowledges his existence? Yeah, that's us. Although 99% of people ignore us, we've met a few people this past week that made it all worth it.

Thursday we were street contacting while walking from appointment to appointment in 40 degrees 70% humidity, and no one was out. Our motivations were near rock bottom when Elder Van de Graaff knelt down to tie his shoe. I stood leaning on a stop sign looking around when I focused on a log cabin house down the street. I couldn't take my eyes off of the one single candle light in the upper left window, a hint of a spark in the frigid dark day. Without a second of doubt, I told Elder VDG we needed to knock on the door. He followed me, just as confused I as I was up to the porch and up the steps. I knocked on the door and a smile immediately formed across my face despite not being able to feel my ears. A giant Santa old man hesitantly opened the door and peered out at us. I thought he was gonna yell at us or point us off like most people, but I kept the smile up and said I don't even know what. Whatever it was, he grinned a heart-warming grin and said, "Y'all have a gorgeous church in San Diego. How can I get up in there?"

BAM we shared our genuine testimonies on how the restored gospel has brought happiness into our lives and the hope it brings, which leads us to the Temple. We're meeting with him day tomorrow.

Long story short, the Lord prepares those that are in need of the gospel in their lives to cross paths with us every day. All we have to do is have faith in the spirit and strive to align ourselves with the character of Christ by forgetting about our problems and devoting ourselves to the aid of our fellow man. Listen to the promptings of the spirit not in a physical sense, but with honest, humble, complete love for one another. If our minds are set to bring pure joy to others through loving acts of kindness, the Lord will guide us in all things.

Ya boy Elda burgess be doin reaallllllll goooooood

Don't worry about me! I love you all and hope you're ceasing every opportunity to live life to its fullest!

Until next week!

xoxo

Elder Burgess

ATTENTION!

ATTENTION*****! 

As we were driving home last Monday, I was reviewing my letter to y'all in my head and I realized I wrote "cease" instead of "seize" and I was soooooooooooooooooooo mad at myself. I am embarrassed still :/

ANYWAYS The weeks are starting to blend together. They zip by, although the days themselves last forever. I am constantly exhausted and don't get enough sleep because Elder VDG is a fitness nut and we wake up at 5:30every morning to go running outside in 30 degree weather before lifting. There isn't enough time in the days to do anything other than work. My mind is constantly on overdrive, but I'm hoping I'll get used to it. The missionary work itself has been really slow this week in terms of finding new people to talk to, and our only on-date investigator couple have planned their marriage for April, meaning the soonest they can be baptized is the week after the marriage. That made Elder VDG frustrated, which frustrated me. Too many missionaries, actually every missionary I've come across besides my MTC friends, measure their success based on baptisms. It drives me insssannnne!! Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ through His restored gospel. THAT'S IT. Sure, baptism is an essential part of truly following Christ and His gospel, but that's not up to us, nor is it our purpose. It's through absolute, unconditional love to others that brings others to find for themselves that God lives and that Christ is our Savior.

Our car got backed into by a Priest 18 year old in our ward after we ate dinner at his house. He was about to cry and I felt bad for him. It was, however, a miracle that stemmed from the crash. We were about to go teach our investigator couple about Temple marriages and Temple work after that dinner, and our members that had planned on accompanying us had all bailed. We have no idea what it's like to be married in the temple, so we were freaking out. If Zion (the kid's name) hadn't crashed into our car, his Dad would have left top go to Young Men's. Sinc ehe had to stay behind for insurance, his Dad was able to come with us to our appointment. He saved our buttttssss with his experiences and knowledge from being a convert to the church and getting sealed together after he was already civilly married. It was crazy.

The people we've worked with this week ranged from giving a blessing to a 20-year convict drug dealer, unintentionally entering a pagan prayer ritual, and witnessing an overly-drunk old hag puking 5 feet in front of us. It's been great. Keep in mind that I'm in one of the wealthiest areas in Maryland, not the hood of Baltimore.

Before these past two weeks, I couldn't have said with complete conviction that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I knew that the Book of Mormon was the word of God, but the connection between it and Joseph Smith never clicked. It wasn't until I prayed with all sincerity out-loud in my kitchen at 11:00 p.m. (way past bed-time I know) that the revelation of the truth of the restored priesthood on the Earth hit me. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God, no different from Moses. I know that the Lord works through all of us normal, generally fatally-flawed people to bring to pass His work for all of us to find true happiness and joy. I know this because I sought out for myself. I know this from the bottom of my heart through experience. 

I hope you all know that I pray about literally all of you every night in my 20-minute prayers <3333333 I am completely unworthy to have all of you in my life. Thank you for showing me the love that has built me to who I am today. 

It might snow on Thanksgiving this week, so I'll keep you posted! well, next week. Ah the joys of being a missionary.

xoxo 

Elder Burgess

P.S. ........SEIZE the day ;D

Marriage Planner

Hey everyone! Honestly it's a little hard to recount what happened this past week. Time really is flying by faster than I could have imagined! Probably what stood out the most this week was when are where we had our lessons.

For about half of the week I was on exchanges with one of our zone leaders, Elder Hanneman, a hilarious yet diligent missionary who's knowledge and experience is even higher than Elder VDG's! I think of all the missionaries I meet by ranks, like jedi padawans, knights, and masters form Star Wars, or different ranked ninjas in naruto (Shout out to Jackson: Elder Hanneman is a like a Sannin LOL). Yeah I'm still a nerd

We had some pretty crazy  experiences together, Elder Hanneman and I. Our first night together we taught a less active lady in the middle of Chipotle at the busiest day and time, in the middle of the restaurant. We were teaching a full out lesson with scriptures and pamphlets and prayers in the midst of at least 100 bystanders staring at us. Initially I thought it would be weird, but we made an atmosphere of the spirit despite all the chaos around us, including some refreshing red hot chili peppers background music LOL

While I have taught a bunch of first lessons, and even more pamphlet lessons to less active and active members, I hadn't begun teaching initial lessons to investigators to be baptized yet. We finally got in touch with a couple who are on date for baptism, and I taught the law of chastity to a 30 year old unmarried couple who have lived together for four years. I taught the law of chastity before the Restoration to an investigator. I doubt that's happened to many missionaries before. It went great, and, I know this is going to sound crazy, I committed them to get married. Me. A fairly newly turned 18 year old. I extended the commitment to be married and they accepted it and have plans to be married within the month. WOW. I never would have thought I'd be a marriage planner. 

I'm back with Elder VDG and he's sick :'( He's getting better though. Thank all of you for even caring to read these emails, and even replying too! It warms my hear to know that everyone one of you that have sculpted my life to where I am now haven't fallen off the edge of the earth. :')

Everyday out here I learn what it means to continue to be converted to Christ. It's a life-long challenge; to forget about ourselves and turn out to others. To serve with all my heart those in need of love. It fills me up with a joy beyond description, a joy that solidifies the knowledge that I know that my Redeemer lives. When we fall, and we all will, it is on the rock of jesus Christ as our foundation that we are able to pick ourselves up and learn to push forward in life, having perfect unconditional love for all people.

Life is tough, but life continues. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.

I love all of you with every fiber of my heart <3

Until next week!

xoxo

Elder Burgess

I am Alive..part 3

Hey hey! I'm doing a lot better here, even though the temperature is dropping almost as fast as Elder Van de Graaffs' receding hairline! hahaha that's mean that's mean xD We're getting a long really well now, which honestly surprises me! I think the relationship started getting better after i schooled him in basketball, then especially after we went on exchanges with the other missionaries in our district.

I was exchange companions with Elder Plumb for two days, who is from Casa Gande, Arizona. He fits the stereotype of a hardcore conservative Arizona desert rat PERFECTLY. He made me laugh a lot, but we also got in little arguments fairly frequently about whether being a Democrat is sin or not. Yeah. I know -_- While with elder Plumb we rode bikes. I hadn't done that yet, but I actually enjoy riding more than driving! It makes me feel like I'm a real missionary and makes every successful appointment feel that much more rewarding. However, biking in the freezing rain in dress clothes is a paiiiiinnnnnnnn.

Once Elder Van de Graaff and I were reunited I think we both realized how much better we get along with each other compared to our exchange companions. From then on we've been warming up to each other bit by bit and this morning he opened up to me about his inactive father and it was really sweet.

Our street contacts and tracting contacts generally go one of two ways. Here in Arnold there are super rich reitred old people, or lower-middle class black families. Most of the time with the rich old people we are given a colllllldddd shoulder or, more commonly, given stone-faced silence with a strongly thrusted fist and a point to leave. They don't even talk to us most of the time.
on the other side of the spectrum, I absolutely LOVE meeting with black families because of how warm and kind they are to us. Everyone here goes to a church; I don't think we've met a single person who doesn't go to a specific church around here. So saying prayers with the families is an almost guaranteed event. As we meet with these strongly religious black families, my vocabulary and language is slowly changing. It wasn't until yesterday when we were eating dinner with one of our investigator families, the father of which is the head minister of a black Methodist Church in downtown Baltimore, that I realized how far I've changed. I always say, "mhhhmmmmmm" as we discuss Christ and I say "Praise the Lord" and "Lord bless us" allll the time now!!!! It's hilarious!!! 

I've made the goal of sharing my testimony at every fast and testimony sacrament meeting on my mission, and I started it off yesterday. It's when I sincerely open up in testimony and with faith of the spirit to guide me to help others that I can see what I truly believe. I don't even think about what to say or how to say it. My feelings and emotions are what testify of what I know to be true, not the words. This is only the fourth week of my mission and yet I can feel and know with an absolute surety that my faith has grown beyond my comprehension. Seeing the light in others' eyes spark when they receive the hope of happiness through the gospel of Jesus Christ brings enough faith in itself to keep me going for days on end.

I'm so eternally grateful to have all of you in my life, backing me up and supporting me. I wouldn't be here without Christ, I know that, but I also know that I wouldn't be here in the fulness of my life without all of you and your influences on me. I love you all more than I could ever hope to explain

Here's my inspirational teacher from the MTC, brother Whiting, who served in Spokane! <3​

First official week at the MTC!

Hey all! I am alive and well!!!! It's officially been one week in the MTC, and honestly it's been the best week of my life! From the get-go I was pumped to finally be moving on in life, but I was worried initially after being dropped off at the curb with my two 50-pound suit cases xD

I was happy when I found out my district and companion were all fresh and new like myself, and they are all incredibly awesome. We are a try-hard group, but there's only four elders including me, and four sisters. We have a tiny district and it's really nice. Each of us have a specific reason for being here, so, unlike school, no one is afraid or bored to jump into discussions and to share experiences. 

Elder Crowell is my companion, and he's from Moses Lake, Washington. I'd never heard of that place before, but apparently it's in the desert in Eastern Washington. He's really laid back, 18, and easy-going, but he has a strong testimony. Crowell is the only one in our District not going to Baltimore, and instead leaves to Vanautu. Yeah. I didn't know where that was either lol it's in Fiji. The other two elders are Elder Abraham form St. Louis, Utah, and Elder Willicome from British Columbia, Canada. They're both 20, but are chill and not hard-core letter of the law, which is also chill. We've formed a tight bond together and I feel like I've known them for years!

Aside from the MTC meals of destroying constipation, my experience here has been life-changing. I'm happy I'll only be here for two weeks since the schedule can be ridiculously repetitive, but even so I'll be sad to leave. It's not even the amount of knowledge I've learned so far that astonishes me. 

To be plain, my experience here has been literally magical. For the first time in my life I've felt complete revelation through the spirit that God lives and Christ truly atoned for my sins. God loves each and every one of his children and has given us the gospel of Jesus Christ so that we can live with him again. Before I left I only strongly suspected this to be true. Now I know without a doubt that this is the true restored gospel of Jesus Christ. This week I've broken down in tears from the unmistakable emotions of love, crisp and clear revealed to me that by turning myself outward completely to others and to Christ I will be made whole. It's the clearest thing I have ever felt and known in my entire life.

Next time you hear from me I'll be in Maryland! I love you all!!

xoxo

Elder Burgess

P.S. Unfortunately the mission computers here are restricted, so I cant send any pictures D': But next P-Day I'll do my best!

And he is off....

 Stuart, Truman, Jenna, Dan

 Thanks to the Rowley family (our friends from Washington State, now living in Utah) for picking up Truman from the airport and driving him to the MTC with their daughter Jessa--who reported the same day to the same mission!