May 31, 2016

There are certain times in your life that you wonder what someone would think if they could swap eyes with you for a moment, like wheeling a wheel barrel heavy from a decaying dead goat through shin-high mud. A farmer family was out of town for the weekend and one of their goats caught a disease and died. So they thought they would call us to "take care of the situation." 

Good thing we had our overalls. 

Picking up the bloated goat was hard enough, but add digging a deep grave and hefting it down there and you get an experience that will stay with you for a while. Strangely, the beautiful part about it was how surreal the world was around us. A herd of sheep lay off to the left under the tranquil shadows of the trees. Under the bright blue sky a massive white horse  stood close to us staring off to the horizon while a freshly born white lamb lay on an adjacent tree stump. Despite the potential to have such a grotesque experience, the true meaning of how the scriptures describe "going the way of all the earth" hit me. It really is an honor to be a part of this massive world we live in.

Our days seem to carry the stark contrast of bitter and sweet lately. On the bottom floor of an apartment complex we picked up a young couple as investigators that are eager to discover how the Book of Mormon and baptism could strengthen their relationship together. On the top floor we met a lady who just happens to be one of the return missionary's cousins in our ward. The lady was 19, just had a baby a month ago, no job, her husband is in jail for abusing her, and she was fine wallowing in her own despair. We met up with her cousin and dropped by again on Sunday and managed to spur her on to seek out if God actually is there and if he actually does love her. The love of God can be a difficult thing to convey, especially to someone as deep in difficult circumstances as she was, but the Holy Spirit struck her heart. Looking for the good in the midst of mud is only possible to maintain when built on the reality of a living Savior, a Lord who actively works to become our closest friend, hope, and salvation from the sorrows of the world. He is the only light that will endure any streaks of darkness that tend to force their way into our lives. He is the life that will keep on giving. 

Happy Memorial Day :)

xoxo

Elder Burgess

May 23, 2016

I

 1.) Ministering to the baby goats one second before being horribly shocked by that electric fence wire. 

2.) We've adopted the Valley sense of mind for service. Don't knock overalls till you try em at an animal shelter.

It is very rare to meet an old man with a foot+ long beard that isn't one of the most interesting people you've met. As soon as you lay eyes on the beard you know there's about to be an experience shared that deals with alien abductions, hunting grizzly bears, or memorizing the Torah in Hebrew. We are lucky enough to live in an area with no shortage of these beard men. Interestingly enough, last night we were a little on the unknown side as to where we should proselyte. Anyone who has served a mission will tell you that there are days when the whole day's plans get shot in an hour and you're left to blow with your wits and the Spirit. 

Being led and directed by the Holy Spirit is a fascinating phenomenon. Certain names of people will appear in your mind out of nowhere, like sand brushed off of a forgotten fossil. Suddenly you have a hunch that feels a little bit more than a hunch to visit that place/person. The incredible part that people don't share very often is how unsuccessful the initial visits seem to be. Occasionally you are exactly at the right person that needed your help or exactly at the right place to cross paths with someone needing help, but most often there isn't an apparent need or want to where you are led. Yet that point is connected to another hunch, which is led to another, until you are eventually led to a miraculous meeting that never would have been on your mind had you not been led to the previous destinations. Elder Abraham and I were led point by point like a line graph to people who were rather rude to us. But because of the path outlined by the direction of the Spirit we ran into a man named Kevin McWilliams who just happened to be brothers with a convert of our Church.

Kevin's beard was Duck Dynasty level, his accent and banjo skills were on level with the Southern most blue grass bands, and his interest level in coming close to God was out of this world. He recently began a quest to seek out the truths of God, having an honest desire to believe in something he hasn't seen yet. We had a powerful lesson of miracles and the Book of Mormon with him and connected with him to be guides for his spiritual journey. I don't think I will ever grow tired of being led by the Holy Spirit on timeless adventures.

xoxo

Elder Burgess