September 14, 2015 Yeah Orioles Birthday

When summer humidity seeps into your air conditioner with its evil sorcery and breaks it completely, you take every chance you can get to finish weekly planning and do service out in a thunderstorm. Elder Dustin and I were called over to a member's house on the other side of Centreville to "get rid of some weeds". Well, turns out those weeds were gigantic, ancient tree stumps spread out throughout the back yard. The only tools the members left us while on their vacation were a sledge hammer and two shovels. 

Dumping rain and flashes of lightning lit our extremely manly excavation. The way we saw it, the rain was softening the ground into mud which is a lot easier to shovel. We were totally wrong, but that didn't stop us. After about an hour we had dug deep enough to see a major root connecting the three main stumps, which we dug around to reveal the mass network of veined roots. All with only two shovels. Finally we focused our efforts combined to the central stump, isolating it from the walls of mud on every side. I got the sledge hammer and went to TOWN on the roots keeping it in. Although I almost pulled my shoulder, I bludgeoned that thing to oblivion, getting it just detached enough for our combined effort to lift it out.

High-fiving and roaring victory soaked and muddy to the bone, we turned around to walk back and realized we had decimated their once grass covered lawn. Luckily the members love us and at least pretended to be grateful and feed us, which is always a good sign. Some things are better left dormant that awakened I suppose. :)

Rainstorms seemed to follow us throughout the week. On one occasion Elder Dustin and I were strolling the streets of centreville after all plans fell through around 8:30 when lightning cracked and rain descended on us, totally unprepared. We ran into the Dunkin Donuts across the road just before they closed. A girl was working there, probably early 20's, who looked like she had been through a lot of hard stuff growing up. She asked why we were dressed up like this in a town like Centreville at 8:30 in a thunderstorm. A fine question. That led perfectly into discussing what we do as missionaries, why we're out here; the whole shabang. Upon telling her that we help people overcome addictions, she quickly interrupted and asked, "What kind of addictions?" I told her that through Christ we help people get off drugs like heroin--BOOM she interrupted again, "I'm addicted to heroin". We had only known this lady for 3 minutes and here she was opening up to us. turns out she lived and grew up in western Baltimore, the sketchiest part of Baltimore, had been sent off in the middle of the night to an addiction recovery center comparable to "One Flew Over the Coo Coo's Nest", and now had no family left. We let her know there's hope for her, scheduled an appointment with the Sister missionaries and her, and left her with a prayer surrounded by thunderous rain in a closing Dunkin Donuts at 8:50 p.m. 

If that's not a miracle sent from God, I don't know what is.

 The Apostle Quentin L. Cook visited our mission and stake this weekend accompanied by his musical wife (forgot her name :/) and Elder Jack Gerard of the Seventy. Now, I'm notorious for doubting other people, but while shaking hands and looking eye to eye with an Apostle called for and of the Lord Jesus Christ there is a divine authority you can feel. He taught our mission specifically how important member missionary work is and how we must be our first convert before helping others' conversions (Alma 60:23). Witnesses from God through the Holy Ghost are of the nature that  they are honestly impossible to describe. It is their purpose to manifest truth to us individually on our own paths in our own lives. Thank God for living in the circumstances you are now and ask for strength to receive the future and I promise the weight on your shoulders will be lifted anytime, anywhere. 

xoxo

Elder Burgess