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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