Reunion at the Phoenix Airport

October 10, 2016

Subject: The End of the Journey

As you may recall, a year ago I received surgery and spent six weeks in West Valley, Utah recovering. This resulted in a six week extension to my mission, leading me to return home in November, rather than the scheduled October. After much prayer and thought, my Mission President has concluded to cancel the extension and have me return home on the original date. This means I will depart from Maryland this Thursday and arrive to my native Arizona home with my family, completing my two year mission for the Lord Jesus Christ.

On October 8, 2014, I boarded an airplane to the Missionary Training Center with a suitcase stuffed with way too many white shirts and a side bag full of books I hadn't read, at 4:30 a.m. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, nor did I have a clue to what adventures lay ahead. 

Over the course of the past two years I have journeyed from multi-million dollar mansions to metal sheet trailers. I've met fellow travelers from dozens of countries, spent countless hours engulfed only in records written thousands of years ago, endless doors slammed and opened, and spent an unfathomable amount of effort all for this purpose:

"That perhaps they might bring them to the knowledge of the Lord their God...that they might also be brought to rejoice in the Lord their God, that they might become friendly to one another, and that there should be no more contentions in all the land which the Lord their God had given them." (Mosiah 28:2)

I have poured my heart, sweat, and soul into the work of God for the past two years, resulting in a life molded by faith, hope, and charity. There have been days of sorrow and weeks of rejoicing. From temper tantrums and warm-wrapped hugs, to the taste of a man's breath as he cusses you and your family out, to experiencing the heart-melting smile of a humble heart healed by the grace of God, I have lived what seems like a life-time length of adventures. I join the ancient missionary Ammon in the Book of Mormon by saying, 

" I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

  Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

 Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?

  Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell.

  Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting darkness and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love; yea, and we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work.

  Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." (Alma 26:11-16)

The friends I've made on this journey alone are a priceless fruit of these two years. I began emailing just a hand full of people in the beginning. Now I hope to stay in touch with the 80+ of you that mean the world to me. Each of you has played a part of my Maryland Baltimore Mission adventure in one way, shape, or form, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

Seek out God. He is there. I am a witness of His love. Experiment on my life's pursuit of the past two years and honestly seek His counsel. Pray with a sincere desire to be in His embrace. Read His word in the Bible and the Book of Mormon and ask Him if they are true. I give you my promise that more happiness than anything you could ask for begins with these simple steps. Trust me on that.

xoxo

Elder Truman Burgess

3636 East Parkview Drive

Gilbert, Arizona

85295

September 26, 2016

Subject: Cooling Cement Adventures

While traveling through labyrinths of apartment complexes and knocking hundreds of doors, we ran across experiences I feel like I should tell. One old man invited us into his cluttered home, sat us down on a couch, then spent twenty minutes ranting to us in mad claims trying to convince us that Christina Agulara is his fiance. One woman yelled through her door asking who was there. It was apparent there were screaming children inside, but we still answered, "The missionaries!" After a long pause of silence the door opened to a crack, her face peaked with an alarmed look on her face, she held out an extended arm through the way and said, "My kid's are sick." I kid you not, there in her clutch dripped a hand full of vomit all over the hallway floor. She retreated before either of us could return from our shock trips and she slammed the door.

Perhaps the craziest experience occurred while returning from an appointment in a complex. The early Autumn dusk rolled its way over the sky, cloaking the already dark courtyard with a clouded haze. Another source of the haze presented itself when we turned the corner and a gang of eight guys in their mid 20's lay/sat around a green electrical box passing around some smokes. In the dim light all we could see clearly were their over abundance of bling and their golden grills grinning to each other. As soon as they spotted us they chucked the blunts into the bushes and stared at us walk by. Just about everyone knows we're "the Jesus Boys", so we don't have to worry too much about getting hassled. Still, this was an incredibly sketchy situation with no street lights or cameras around, so I said a quick prayer and walked on pretending to pay them no heed.

Sure enough, the guy in the middle of the possy called out to us, "Hey! What are you guys doing around here?" We told them we were missionaries for Jesus Christ and he said, "Hm...teach me something about him." A couple homies listened in, but most stared off into their own galaxies of haze with half-shut eyes. We told him that Jesus is the Savior of the world, that His teachings are the only sure way of finding lasting happiness in life, and that we have devoted all of our time and money to serving the Lord for two years.

He asked, "What color was his skin?"

.....you know the conversation is going to get interesting when someone asks that off the bat.

I replied, "Well, he was born and raised in Israel in the Middle-East, so most likely he had olive skin and dark hair. I don't think the color of his skin matters so much, but rather who is is and what he does for us."

"Oh, it matters," he quickly retorted. He cracked a smile then said, "You know Tupac was black Jesus, right?"

Both Elder Ashby and I thought he was joking, since of course no one would rightly believe that the rapper Tupac in the 1990's was the Messiah of the world, and we immediately broke out laughing. He sat up straight flustered and said, "No, no! I'm not trippin! I'm telling you the truth." 

The conversation digressed even further as he told us of his hustling and how Africa was the original continent, and how America stole Africa's name. "The two sound the same...coincidence? Nah. We were the first. You just stole our name," as if Elder Ashby and I represented all of the colonists and even the investors of the English language.

Yet, we ended up making friends with the crew and they said they'd look out for us in the neighborhood. All we had to do was ask about the black beanie baby key chain attached to his belt buckle. He was the father of three little girls. "Hustling" is how he provides for them. We also made a deal that we'd talk to the management to get the basketball hoops fixed. 

Among all of the mosh pot of people we meet on a daily basis, we crossed paths with a man named Troy. At age 24 he was playing street basketball in Philadelphia when he was eye-gouged, detaching both of his retinas. For the past twenty years he has lived 100% blind. 14 of those years he has raised his daughter, Adaja, by himself as a single father. The mother ran away when Adaja was one year old. Even with the most trying and difficult of life situations, Troy is one of the most optimistic people I've ever met. He told us that for the first couple years blinds he was rock bottom alcoholic and depressed. But over years of experiences and humbling he has noticed small and siple things in life that he never paid attention to before. A cooling breeze on a hot day; the sweet song of spring bird ushering away the winter; the embrace of his daughter when he feels no one else is around. In his humility he has opened himself to God and has found meaning and guidance through prayer and having the Bible read to him. The day before we knocked on his door he had prayed with Adaja for "messengers of God to give them more of His word." He has began reading the Book of Mormon with the help of his daughter and welcomes us every time we meet him with a bright smile and open arms.

Surely in the thousands of doors in this area we were led by God directly to this man's plea. It is the reality of whom we represent and the people that we encounter that inspire me to take this place on one day at a time.

xoxo

Elder Burgess

September 19, 2016

Preparation days are always a big deal for missionaries. For us every Monday is set aside from 6:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. to grocery shop, clean, do laundry, and whatever time is left is used to hike, play sports, go to the zoo, etc. So you know that as Monday gets closer missionaries already have plans set in store to make the most of it.

Elder Ashby and I geared up and tightened our laces ready to sand-volleyball it up at the Baltimore Inner Harbor sand courts, and drove down the road to carpool with some other missionaries. The normal meet up spot is exactly half-way in between our areas, making it the most efficient way to save our precious car's monthly miles. Unfortunately this half way point happens to be in the thick woods on a sharp turn, side-winding around a river. We parked our car, set foot out the door and noticed a mini van screech around the corner, followed by a loud crash.

Immediately the four of us ran around the corner to see what had happened. A woman named Tasha was driving her nine year old daughter and three year old toddler to a private school when her front left tire popped as she turned the tight corner. Luckily her brakes were working well, so everyone was alright, but they had the dilemma of a popped tire in a mud drenched side of the road. 

She had a spare tire, but no jack or tools to change it. Just so happened that our Ford Fusion had the exact jack needed for the size of her tires, and two of us had job experience specifically changing dozens of tires a day. Oh, and did I mention we weren't wearing our "beloved" white shirts and ties? Mud was a welcomed friend for the moment.

While the other three Elders slipped and slid to take the tire off, I noticed that Tasha was arguing with someone on the phone, leaving her two daughters standing anxiously and scared in the mud. I wiped off my hands, walked up to them, and began asking them what their favorite things to do were.

"Watch t.v." 

"Play on my mom's phone."

....

I knew there had to be something else, so I prodded a little further, "what about.....dancing??"

Immediately both of their faces lit up and the nine year busted into free style dance moves, her little sister looking up to her and trying to mimic her moves. I added in a couple moves, then laughed it off with them and challenged them to a patty-cake contest. Yep.

There on the side of the washed up forest road I had the most intense and enjoyable patty cake clapping game of my life. The three of us ended up laughing our heads off and getting more and more into the game until the other Elders interrupted and gave me a hard time for literally playing patty cake while they changed a tire in the mud.

I looked to the left and saw Tasha folding her arms with the brightest smile on her face, wiping tears away. She told us how grateful she was that we were there at the exact time to help her, both with her kids and with the tire. Also turned out she is looking to join a church with her family. Hm. What a coincidence. ;)

xoxo

Elder Burgess