Yo

Apparently last week's email may have not gone out...hmm :/

I've gone from a noob missionary to a hood missionary to a teenage councilor pretty much. We've had to drop most of our investigators because they weren't willing  to keep commitments. However! A hand full of 17 year old seniors have been picked up as investigators...all of which may or may not be girls.

lol

Maybe I'm looking too hard at his teaching with them, but it seems to me Elder Hinkle is uncomfortable talking to girls. Even about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh I love Elder Hinkle. Honestly I was not expecting to teach the people I have been teaching so far on my mission. High School girls, rich old men, Navy ship rats (don't tell them I said that). Amid all of the craziness of unexpected occurrences out here, one thing's for certain. Every person I come across is exactly who I, Truman Elder whacky Burgess, has been sent to share the Lord's light with. Yesterday this lady invited us in (don't worry there was a man upstairs in the house ;) ), and every wall was covered with line upon line of anime figurines. The walls were an army of Pokemon, Naruto characters, Japanese super heroes, you name it. I can say with 100% confidence that any other missionary, including my beloved Elder Hinkle, would have looked at all of that and turned off completely. Luckily, your boy Elder Burgess has spent his fair share of time among the geeky world of anime, and connected immediately with this eccentric, truly Christ-like lady. 

That might have been an extremely nerdy example, but it puts the point across. The Lord places us in situations where he knows we can spread his love to our brothers and sisters, even if they reek of year old mayonnaise and haven't brushed their teeth in a millennium. Don't overlook the good you can do and the days you can make due to aesthetic, outside appearances. Unconditional love does not come easy, trust me, but when it is achieved nothing can stand in your way on your pursuit of happiness.

hoohoohooo I love all of you! Maryland is a crazy place full of crazy people, not to mention crazy dogs, and it makes me think of how much of an effect all of you have had on my life. I wouldn't share all that if I didn't trust you all of you for your prayers and thoughts! Hit me up!

Happy Valentines Day hehe

xoxo

Elder Burgess

pics

​Behold, this is my work and my glory; to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of illegally-parked trailers that refuse to move from blocking our driveway :-)

ATTENTION! I'm getting transferred this Wednesday to Urbana Ward near Frederick, Maryland as District Leader. It's on the other side of Maryland, out in the hilly Western part, fairly close to West Virginia I think. It'll be a big change for me since Broadneck Ward here in Arnold has been all I've known on my mission. Poor Elder Hinkle will be lost in the poorly mapped roads here hehehehe

Elder Van De Graaff (remember him?) will be my Zone Leader that I'll be reporting to.   .....there is no escape

:)

The snow came and the snow destrooyyyed us here! All week the ground was covered in inches on inches of either slush or pure ice, there really wasn't any normal snow. Friday was nine degrees. That was great.

Because of the snow, our transportation was very limited. We ended up trekking to the close neighborhoods around us, shoveling all the drive ways we came across, which was no easy task. A few people thanked us, but, for the most part, our service went unnoticed. For me, unnoticed acts of service stand out far brighter than those that are praised and recognized. There's something about pure, selfless acts of kindness that warms the soul even in nine degree weather. I think that's how the Savior was able to wade through the unimaginable muck of adversity he faced. He literally helped ever person who will, has, or does live on the Earth. If he could do that much, the least I can do is get my giant ears a little frosty :)

I went on my last exchange in the Annapolis Zone over in good ol' Severna Park one last time with Elder Saunders. Every appointment fell through and every house we went to yielded no response. We traveled by way of bus all over the place, which was full of a wide variety of Maryland hoodlums and street dwellers (I fit into that category too hehe). The ground breaking and eye-opening conversations I have with those far less privileged with things of the world than me shocks me, despite having those experiences everyday. One guy we met had traveled down from the Canadian border through hitch hiking and buses. He had no home, no family, no money, and no idea where to go in life. We attempted to point him in a good direction, but he replied, "God's leading me in his direction."

I'll let the irony simmer there for a bit.

A Book of Mormon and prayer later, Frank was back on his way. He really was a pleasant man. Also the closest look alike to a Viking I think I'll ever see.

Broadneck Ward has been my home away from home. I'll truly miss this place and the friendships I've made. The Lord has placed a new Season of the Elder Burgess Show on the Horizon, just waiting for me to grab it.

xoxo

Elder Burgess

P.S. I'll let you know my new address next week. PLEASE DON'T SEND ANYTHING TO MY ARNOLD ADDRESS. <3

On Mon, Feb 16, 2015 at 11:27 AM, Truman Burgess <truman.burgess@myldsmail.net> wrote:

My fingers are icicles. 15 degrees, 90% humidity, constant 50 mph winds are KILLING me, although I think Elder Hinkle is cold blooded like a reptile, so he's taking this worse than I am hehehe. I'm trying to think back to this previous weeks' events and sort out my experiences but the weeks and days are blended together. People always say that their missions zoomed by and now I see why. We live in six week transfer periods, we plan for a week ahead, and at the least we have already planned the next day. Planning is the key to success in emerging from boredom and skimming through time.

 If someone asks me, "What's the best thing I can do to prepare for a mission?" I say,

Read scriptures every morning

Pray every morning when you wake up and before you go to sleep

And, this one is number one,

USE A PLANNER!! Planning has been the hardest thing for me to get the hang of and, surprisingly enough, the most stressful as well. If you get that down, planning every night for every hour of the next day, you will be more prepared mentally than pretty much any new missionary out there.

Man I hate planning lol

Elder Rasmussen came out on exchanges with me again, only this time we, more like I, decided to bike for the exchange. BIG. MISTAKE. 20 degree winds at 70+ mph whipping our faces while jerk teenagers that probably would have liked me if we had talked drove past and threw trash and, get this, BANANA PEELS at us!! What is this, frozen mario cart racing? Geez Louiz, My respect to the winter bike areas has grown.

Wednesday we had the opportunity to head on over to the Washington DC Temple to do endowments. Now, I've been out here in the busiest and craziest holidays of the year and, contrary to a lot of beliefs, we do indeed celebrate holidays out here in our own ways. But the amount of excitement that built up for attending the Temple was more than Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Years combined...well maybe throw out the skype excitement form Christmas :)) 

Located on the highest hill for miles, the colossal cathedral that is the DC Temple emerges above all the forests and freeways surrounding it. It truly fulfills the statement that a house on a hill cannot be hid (cheesy missionary analogies lol).

Despite the gorgeous outside aesthetics and architecture, the spirit present within the walls easily blow all visuals out of the water. No outside concern was carried with me as I strolled through that Temple. I sat in the Celestial Room just staring at the ceiling, soaking up the indescribable spirit of love of our Father in Heaven and thanking him for this opportunity to live in a world of such beauty as this. I prayed and I prayed, I listened and listened, and the jaw-dropping revelation downright confounded me on questions I sought help from. I walked out of that Temple with a smile shining brighter than the sun-glaring snow and the ever-remembered buff of bald of the historical Elder Van De Graaff scalp. Yeah, i'm still cracking jokes about him.

The Lord's love is manifest in his answers to our prayers. The most important part of prayer that we so often over look is how to listen. To quote a Obi-Wan Kenobi, "Search your feelings." Answers to prayers come in a variety of ways, but the constant, ever-present accompaniment of the warm, peaceful feelings of love and warmth will always be there if we honestly, sincerely, and diligently seek direction from the Lord. People ask us all the time, "How am I supposed to know these things are true?" The Holy Spirit will literally fill your heart with comfort in testifying of all truths and goodness out there in the world. All we have to do is listen. :)

This upcoming Sunday I'll find out if I'm going to get transferred or stay in Broadneck Ward for another six weeks. So if you were planning on sending me a letter or something, I'd say do that sooner rather than later this week! Next Monday i'll keep you all posted <3

Keep it real

xoxo

Elder Burgess

On Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 1:19 PM, Truman Burgess <truman.burgess@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Apparently last week's email may have not gone out...hmm :/

I've gone from a noob missionary to a hood missionary to a teenage councilor pretty much. We've had to drop most of our investigators because they weren't willing  to keep commitments. However! A hand full of 17 year old seniors have been picked up as investigators...all of which may or may not be girls.

lol

Maybe I'm looking too hard at his teaching with them, but it seems to me Elder Hinkle is uncomfortable talking to girls. Even about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh I love Elder Hinkle. Honestly I was not expecting to teach the people I have been teaching so far on my mission. High School girls, rich old men, Navy ship rats (don't tell them I said that). Amid all of the craziness of unexpected occurrences out here, one thing's for certain. Every person I come across is exactly who I, Truman Elder whacky Burgess, has been sent to share the Lord's light with. Yesterday this lady invited us in (don't worry there was a man upstairs in the house ;) ), and every wall was covered with line upon line of anime figurines. The walls were an army of Pokemon, Naruto characters, Japanese super heroes, you name it. I can say with 100% confidence that any other missionary, including my beloved Elder Hinkle, would have looked at all of that and turned off completely. Luckily, your boy Elder Burgess has spent his fair share of time among the geeky world of anime, and connected immediately with this eccentric, truly Christ-like lady. 

That might have been an extremely nerdy example, but it puts the point across. The Lord places us in situations where he knows we can spread his love to our brothers and sisters, even if they reek of year old mayonnaise and haven't brushed their teeth in a millennium. Don't overlook the good you can do and the days you can make due to aesthetic, outside appearances. Unconditional love does not come easy, trust me, but when it is achieved nothing can stand in your way on your pursuit of happiness.

Normally I don't ask all y'all for help, I know. This time I'm in a rough situation that I don't know what to do. A wonderful recent convert in our ward, I won't say her name because of how touchy the situation is, is feeling as if her life is falling apart. She's from Ireland and is taking medical school at john Hopkins while newly married, having a new born child, and new to the church. Her best friend in the ward, also an Irish sister, who's about ten years older than...fine her name's Aoife (it's Gaelic)... Aoife stopped me in Sacrament meeting and made me sit by her so she could tell me what's going on. Aoife is at wit's end with her stress of her job, her marriage, the church, even her baby. Everything is piled on top of her and she feels like she can't get out. Sister Giroux, the sister telling me all this, told me that it's to the point that anyone who butts into her life will tip her off the edge. A.K.A. don;t tell anybody. So here I am with this dilemma on what to do with this sister that I've helped all this way and has been one of my best friends and I have no idea what to do.

I know the Lord has put me in this situation so I can help her climb out of that deep hole I've grown so accustomed to in my life. Please help me out with advice/prayers on this situation, because I am in uncharted territory here :/

hoohoohooo I love all of you! Maryland is a crazy place full of crazy people, not to mention crazy dogs, and it makes me think of how much of an effect all of you have had on my life. I wouldn't share all that if I didn't trust you all of you for your prayers and thoughts! Hit me up!

Happy Valentines Day hehe

xoxo

Elder Burgess

The Lost Letter-SuperBowl Lesson

Word of advice: eating Sunday dinner at a southern-baptist brother's home on Super Bowl Sunday is extremely dangerous. And hilarious. And all of my clothes down to my very skin wreak of fried grease. I have taken three showers. THE SMELL IS EVERYWHERE.

Now, I lived in Washington State for some ten years of my life. I can now honestly tell you that Arnold, Maryland is currently the gloomiest place I have ever been. Fog has a constant presence throughout the day, the temperature never rises above 40 degrees (most of the time doesn;t exceed 30), and the winds, THE WINDS HOLY COW the winds are insane!! Personally, they keep life interesting out here, but Elder Hinkle will literally shrivel up into a mobile feeble position and waddle in retreat to the closest house. Meanwhile I'm lifting both arms up and embracing gust after gust like a wind god. We are a hilarious companionship. Elder Hinkle keeps me focused without ever telling me to. He does a great job of leading by an example and I'm doing a lot better these days than October!

Ok throwing back to last night's Super Bowl. President Richards told us sternly that we are to not watch the Super Bowl under any circumstance. We were invited over for Super Bowl Dinner a few days prior and had already told Brother Ron (the sassiest old black 6'5 Baltimore man you'll ever meet) that we couldn't watch the game. Striding on up to his humble home, we realize there are at least ten cars parked outside. Ron answers the door and ushers us in to his jam-packed, booze-filled party with a crazy rough crowd. When I say rough, I mean roughhh. And I know rough. Ron is an active member and wasn't drinking but let us know all of his friends and family that were over were enjoying themselves. He then told us we was going to get all of their attentions and have us teach the Restoration to them all. 

Elder Hinkle may or may not have wet his pants, idk

Sitting on two half-broken lawn chairs, T.V. to our backs, we sat facing this 20+ ghetto crowd. Ron told them, "Now before we watch the bowl, y'all are gonna sit down, shut up, and listen to my Eldas teach the Word."

Without planning before  hand any sort of message, we likened football to the Restoration of the Priesthood and Gospel of Jesus Christ so well, so perfectly, that at the end of our bizarre sermon proclaiming our living day Prophet is the one and only Quarterback of the headcoach Christ, every hoodlum and street rat homeboy in there yelled, "PRAISE THE LORD" with a few hallelujahs sprinkled throughout. Sure, they were mostly all drunk, but it was awesome.

That is a rather radical example of what faith can do. I went into that lesson completely blank on what to teach or even how to talk to most of those people. But because of my faith in being led to help these people the Lord's way, the way he would have me do it, I didn't even have to think about what to say. It's an incredible, indescribable experience when the Spirit leads you. At one point of the lesson I took a second to realize what I was saying and how crazy I sounded, then looked out and saw the smiles, the nods, the pursed black lips of approval and there was nothing stopping me. 

I promise you that if we do our part in being obedient to the Lord and put our trust in his judgment, the very words will fill your mouth of what to say. Likewise, faith in Jesus Christ leads us to act on our beliefs. If we believe that Christ truly is our Savior and Redeemer we will desire to change our lives according to the Commandments given to us. As someone who has made and continues to changes to his life, I can tell you of the happiness that has replaced the cold stump of coal previously loitering in my heart. It is never easy. It is never fun. But change is necessary and absolutely essential to obtaining true joy and love in life.

Trust in the Lord and he will direct all your paths. Hallelujah.

xoxo

Elder Burgess