On March 16 I was giving Dallon a hard time about St. Patricks day the following day and he replied with the following. I also told him about a lesson we had from priesthood meeting where we discussed that whether or not we rejoice in Christ doesn't depend on what we are doing or what is happening to us, but instead on what our perspective is.
Is today Saint Patricks day? I didn't even know, luckily I just
happened to wear the one green tie I have (Since the Jets ones aren't
allowed :( lol). Glad to hear everyone is doing well. Glad to hear
Aaron did well with the scuba diving, the mask activity is always the
hardest one. I really liked that point that you talked about from
Priesthood, that it isn't the activity that interferes with rejoicing
in Christ but our perspective or attitude. That is really an
interesting point it is true though, as they say everything relates to
the gospel, which would then me you could rejoice in Christ through
almost any activity. Our week was pretty good this week, it was full
of a lot of service!
We spent a lot of time working with Ron this week. We went over there
on Friday to talk about how his reading of the Book of Mormon and his
prayers have been going, and to answer any other questions he has. He
told us about a great experience he had with prayer this week. He said
that one day his tooth had been bothering him, and he was pretty sure
that it was going to require a root canal, because he has had a couple
before. But he can't afford a root canal, so he prayed for it to go
away, and after a couple days, the pain disappeared and his tooth was
fine! He said that that was huge for him, and clearly an answered
prayer from God! He was also able to come to church on Sunday, so he
is progressing very well! On Friday we we went over and did some
service for him. We cleared all the furniture out of his house, and
then we vacuumed and shampooed his carpet. It was a lot more work than
we thought when he asked us to help him vacuum and shampoo his carpet.
But he was very grateful and kept calling us his guardian angels, it
was kind of funny. So everything is going very well with him.
Wednesday we got to drive around the mission a little bit. We helped
the senior missionary in charge of housing go around to the missionary
apartments that closed down and clear out everything. It was fun, but
too hot to be carrying couches around. We are already in the 90s over
here and it is still March! We retaught Lubia about keeping the
Sabbath day holy. She is doing great. She talked about how she gets
all her sons together to read the Book of Mormon together, and all the
other things they do on Sunday to try to keep the Sabbath day holy. SO
everything is going very well there.
Sunday was a good day. We had forgotten about the L.A. marathon, for
which they blocked off Santa Monica blvd. So that made it very
difficult to get to church. Ended up being like 10 minutes late to
church, luckily that is when all the members show up every Sunday
haha. But anyway, when we saw that
Santa Monica was blocked off, we tried to call Ron to give him new
directions to church, but he had already left his house, and he
doesn't have a cell phone. We figured he probably wasn't' going to be
able to find his way to church. But he was able to find his way, just
ion time to catch all the talks for sacrament meeting, so that was
really cool. We printed off a longer list of referrals dating back 5
years. So we called a bunch, most of which didn't answer. Although we
need to change how we do that, because one of them called us back this
morning, and since we weren't saving all the phone numbers we didn't
know who it was. When we then asked them what their name was they just
hung up on us. So we will figure out a better way to do that this
week. That was pretty much our week in a nutshell. I hope you all have
a great week. I love and miss you!!
Elder Burnside
On March 23rd I told him about his brother Stevan winning the pinewood derby race and he replied with
Glad to hear everyone is doing well. So is Aaron certified now? Anddoes that mean you are all going on a scuba trip to use his new
skills? I don't understand why you are so excited to be done with
Pinewood Derby? haha. You know by saying that you are going to curse
yourself and end up doing it for many more years to come haha. We had
a decent week that can be summed up in three words: service, service,
and service haha.
We went over and painted Lubia's apartment on two separate occasions
this week. And I think I am getting pretty dang good at it haha. We
now only have one room left in the apartment to paint. She is doing
really well, and is finally getting on her feet financially. She is
working consistently and has saved up almost enough money to get a
car, which means that her son Zainn is going to be coming to church a
lot more. So that is great news. He is really warming up to the
church. When we go over to paint and stuff, instead of hiding out in
his room like he use to, he comes out and chats with us. So there is
progress there.
Thursday we had our temple day. That was super nice, the temple is so
peaceful and calming. I look forward to our temple days. It is the
best place for revelation too. We had a lesson with Ron later that
day, so we went in to the temple with questions on how to best teach
him. it definitely helped because he was tough to teach. He likes to
get off topic a lot, and he somehow related several things we talked
about to some conspiracy theories. But for the most part we were able
to keep him on track and get through the Restoration pretty well.
Friday we got another mini-missionary named Tommie. He was really cool
and a great help. He submitted his papers to his bishop right before
we picked him up, so he is waiting on his mission call! That was when
we went over to Lubia's to paint again.
Saturdays was a bit hectic. In the morning we went to help a
less-active lady Carol move. That actually went really well, as she
was completely packed up and ready to go. So it took a little over an
hour and a half to pack all her stuff into a truck, and unload it at
her new place. We then went and tried to visit some potentials. And
while we were doing so we met a guy named Tesh, who was trying to
unload a moving truck all by himself after his friend bailed on him.
So we helped him out, left him with a card and he told us that he
would definitely come to church, and that he wasn't just saying that
but he actually meant it. He didn't actually come on Sunday, but I
guess we will see next week. Then we went to see how Ron was doing,
because he had to put down his favorite cat the day before. We cleaned
up a bunch more of his house because he said he wasn't going to be
able to come to church unless it was clean. He then asked us if we
could fix his computer, it wouldn't give him the option to put it in
sleep mode, luckily Tommie was good with computers. Although he just
made it worse... now it won't even turn on. So after that happened
Ron said he wouldn't be able to come to church because he would have
to take his computer in to get fixed. So that was a bummer. The way he
acted just showed us he was using us more for service than for
learning about the gospel. Which we are perfectly fine with as long as
he is coming to church, reading the Book of Mormon, and praying. So we
will see what we are going to do with him.
Sunday we only had Zainn at church, but that was really cool that he
was able to make it. Hopefully we can continue to make progress with
him. I love you all and hope you have a great week!!
Elder Burnside
On March 30 he sent
Cool, looks like Stevie is enjoying himself haha. He still doesn't
have the PS4? Dad you are so cruel lol. It is a good thing you never
did that too me haha. I remember Pinewood derby, I remember winning
awards for design, but always coming near last in speed. Of course it
was right after I finished cub scouts that you started making the
super fast cars haha. My week was pretty good this week.
Last Monday we were finally able to play basketball with Zainn, that
was nice, he is actually really good. He then came to mutual the
following night, so we are definitely making progress with him. He
would have come to church yesterday, but then Lubia had an emergency
plumbing problem at their apartment they had to get fixed.
We did a lot of work with Ron this week. We did some service for him
on Wednesday, we think he might just be using us for service, but
thats ok because he is keeping the commitments we give him. He read
the chapter we gave him in Jacob 7, because he talked about how he
would believe if God would just appear to him,and he liked that
chapter. We then gave him 2 Nephi 31 to read about baptism. We took
him to the visitors center on Friday, to see a musical they were doing
called "The Garden" all about Christ's atonement at the Garden of
Gethsemane. We then went over the next day, because he said he read 2
Nephi 31 and had some questions. Again he got back about how he needed
some proof that God was there. So we asked him if he had been praying,
to which he responded that he has been keeping a prayer in his heart.
We told him that it is good to keep a prayer in his heart, and should
continue to do that, but that he also needs to physically get on his
knees and pray, to show that extra effort and reverence to God. So he
agreed to do so, and when we talked to him the next day, he said he
tried it and felt really good about it. Although he said that he
wouldn't be able to go to church because he needed to find a job and a
roommate :/
We were able to see Lucas a couple times this week, that was really
nice we hadn't seen him in a couple of weeks because he gets so busy
with work. He was working everyday form 9 am until midnight! Crazy
there is no way I could ever do that haha. We shared the Because He
Lives video with him, which he enjoyed.
On Sunday we helped our Ward Mission Leader Rod move out. It is sad to
see him go, he is really cool and an amazing Ward Mission Leader. He
was so helpful, he would come to a ton of our lessons, So we will miss
him. And it will be interesting to see who the new one will be that we
get to work with. That is pretty much my week in a nutshell. I hope
you have a great week. I lvoe and miss you!!
Elder Burnside
Oh and I forgot too mention yesterday was transfer calls! I will be
staying in Westwood for another transfer, Elder Ching is going to
Downey. And my new companion will be Elder Sheppard. I have heard that
he works hard and is a great missionary, so I am excited!
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