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