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