Email December 28, 2015

Email December 28, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

Christmas in Argentina!!

I have no idea how Papa Noel (Santa Claus) makes it through Argentina without getting blown out of the sky. I have never seen so many fireworks in my life, pretty dang cool. Christmas here totally puts 4th of July to shame in the states. On christmas eve, right at midnight, basically the whole country explodes with fireworks and it lasts for about an hour. It sounds like a war zone and the sky on all sides is just lit up with fireworks. Pretty cool, big differnce from the quite, peaceful Christmas in Utah. Supposedly New years eve is even crazier, I´m pretty excited to see it.

We spent Christmas eve with a family in out ward here which was super fun. The rest of Christmas was basically a normal day really. It wasn´t though at the same time, I don´t think I´ve ever been so happy in my life, I know Christ was pouring down his love on us and I definitly felt it. He is with us in this work, even on his birthday :)

Quote for the week: "Work like it all depends on you. Pray like it all depends on the Lord." 

Photos from Buenos Aires

Maria's Baptism

Email December 21, 2015

Email December 21,2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

Bautismo!

Well it finally happened, Maria got baptized!! It´s been kind of a long process, we went though 5 different dates for the service but saturday it happened. And it was amazing! We only had 9 people come to the service which was a little sad after we spent all week commiting the whole ward to come, but thats alright. The spirit was super strong, and Maria was so happy. I know that she was prepared for this step in her life and that it will bless her immensly. She asked me to perform the baptism which was an honor. Great day for everyone, one that I will never forget.

On thursday I had a training meeting with the other district leaders in Banfield so we did divisions and spent the night there while my comp, Elder Barrantes, took on the area with another new elder from utah. They both only have about a month and a half in the mission so we were interested to see how they did. And they did great! We came back from the training and my comp informed me that they had found two new investigators and set baptisimal dates for both. Pretty cool, he did a great job, I´m pround of him. We passed by those investigators the other day and now they told us that they don´t really want anything to do with us after all which is too bad. But hey, it was still good. 

Photos from Argentina

Church Tour

Email December 14, 2015

Email December 14, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

Traslados!

First off...FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS  MADRE!!!!!!!! I hope you have a great day!!

Great week here in the humid country of Argentina. Maria passed her baptisimal interview!! The service will be this next saturday at 5:00, we´re super excited for her and she´s way excited too. She is definitely ready for this in her life and I know that her life will be blessed so much by this decision.

Lucas came to church on sunday, his family didn´t though because his wife was feeling sick. I think Lucas was kinda worried about her because he seemed super distant which is unlike him. Today he gets a date for his wedding thouh which is great! A baptisimal date is right behind it. We´re hoping that his whole family will be able to attend church next week.

Saturday we had a capilla abierta here in Rafael Castillo Central! It went great, we had a decent number of people show up and we ended up getting 76 referals which is super good for this little ward. It should help a lot, we have a ton of work to do now for the start of this new transfer which is great.

Photos from Buenos Aires

My bud Mat phillips from camp loll. We´re in the same zone, pretty dang cool. Small world. Camp Loll continues to make a difference all over the world :)

Elder Burton with his Zone at the Buenos Aires, Argentina Temple

Email December 9, 2015

Email December 9, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

3 minutes in the eyes of God

Wow, where did this week go. I know this week was actually a week and a half but it feels more like a day and a half. Reminds me of a quote that one of our zone leaders used yesterday in our zone meeting. Something like "In the eyes of God and in the eternal scheme of things, a mission of two years is only about three minutes long." Three minutes. I have three mintues, less now, to give everything I can to my god and sharing his gospel. That is seriosly nothing. When you look at it that way it realy makes every second so important. There is no time to waste.

This week I ponderized Alma 57:27. I don´t know how it goes exactly in english, but something like this:

"And this was the faith of those that I have spoken; They are youth, and their minds are firm, and they fut their trust in God continualy."

Kinda a rough translation but it´s close I think. I like that in spanish the word trust is the same as confidence. Put you faith and confidence in God continualy. This is something I´m trying to work on. If I continualy and always put my trust in him I have nothing to fear and will always do those things that he would have me do. In the scriptures "confiar" is defined as to depend absolutly in something. As we depend absolutly in God, he will guide us to be and do what he needs us to be and do

Happy 19th Birthday Elder Burton!

Happy 19th Birthday Elder Burton!! November 28th 2015!

Email November 30, 2015

Email November 30, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

Dia de Gracias!

Antoher great week here in argentina! A little disapointing too though, we were suppused to have a baptism for Maria on saturday but on tuesday she had an accident at work and got a hernia. So she was in the hospital for most of the week and now she´s with her daughter in Capital. So obviosly we weren´t able to do the baptism wich was sad. We still don´t really know too much about when she´s going to be back in the area. Hopefully this week and then be able to do the baptism soon too. We´ll see what happens.

This last wednesday we had a great lesson with Lucas, his two daughter who are 10 and 13 years old are now taking the lessons too which is great. We commited them to be baptised and they all accepted. Lucas needs to get married to his wife first though, and he told us that he wants to get married on his brthday which isn´t until the end of march. So he would have to wait until april to get baptised. We´re going to have a lesson with him this week and try to help him want to get married and baptised sooner. It´s best not to put things like that off, you never know what can happen in 4 months. They also all committed to come to church as an entire family which we were super excited about, but then sunday rolled around and to our disapointment they didn´t show up.  

Email November 23, 2015

Email November 23. 2015 – Isaac Kenneth Burton

Capilla abierta

I don´t know if any of you remember, but when I first got to this area me and my comp began teaching a man named Lucas. He has cancer super bad, and he was loving the lessons we were teaching him. We had a baptisimal date for him and everything. Then suddenly we couldn´t get ahold of him or find him for the longest time so we had to drop him as an investigator which was super sad. Last sunday during Elders quarumn, we did divisions to visit some less active families. The family we went to visit wasn´t home so I suggested that we stop by the house of Lucas to see if he was home. He had been on my mind lately. So that´s what we did and he was home! He came out and talked to us and said he would like to start taking the lessons again! So this week we had a lesson with him where we gave him a blessing of health and taught about the atonement. We found out that he had still been reading in the book of mormon for those three months that we didn´t teach him. When he coul´nt sleep because of his cancer he would read the Book of Mormon and it would help with the pain. Pretty cool. He has such a strong testimony now. He came to church with us this sunday and after the meeting he asked the bishop if he could share his testimony one day in sacrament meeting. The bishop of couse said yes and explained to him fast and testimony meeting. Pretty cool though that he is already wanting to share his testimony in sacrament meeting after only his first time at church. He really has been prepared to recieve this gospel. He told us the story of how he first came into contact with a missionary. He was in a plaza in a city near hear and a missionary startied talking to him. Lucas told him that he had cancer and in response the missionary gave him a "brazo sincero" sincere hug, and whispered in his ear that God loves him and will help him through his trails. A year later, a week before I got to the mission, my old companion knocked on his door. Lucas remembered the missionry from the plaza and recognized my companion as a missionary from the same chruch. And for that reason he let him in and started taking the lessons. Pretty cool story I think. Lucas has definitely helped stregthen my testimony that the Lord prepares people for us to teach and will lead us to them if we listen. We don´t have a baptisimal date for him yet because he has to get married first which he´s trying to do soon. His wife isn´t to interested in the church yet but his two daughters are. They´re going to start taking the lessons with him this week. 

Email November 23, 2015

Email November 23, 2015 – Elder Kenneth Wm. Burton

Bunch of Burtons

...................................I'm at a loss for words. Right now I'm just trying not to go into shock that I'm on to the last week. Seven days.

"I am like a man on a sea voyage nearing his destination. When I embarked I worried about having a cabin with a porthole, whether I should be asked to sit at the captain's table, who were the more attractive and important passengers. All such considerations become pointless when I shall soon be disembarking." -Ian Hunter

Time is so interesting. I found a quote from Neal A. Maxwell that I really like, he said, "let us make allowance for the rapidity with which time seems to pass, especially when we are happy. Jacob found it so: 'And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days. for the love he had for her.'(Gen. 29:20)"

These last two years have flown by. Until now I never really tied that to the love I have for the Lord. In my time here I've come to learn what Jacob did. That that which you give your heart to, you come to love. And that which you come to love you give your heart to.

To throw in another quote, "Love is the most costly of commodities. The more your willing to pay, the more valuable the price. The question is, are you willing to pay the price?" -Johnny Lingo

When I left on my mission two years seemed like quite a gift. Now my only desire is to give more. I wish to dedicate my life to the Lord. It is him who has given it to me. It is him who has been teaching me and guiding me. It is him who has blessed me and surrounded me with so many incredible people that have helped me to change and become a bit more like Christ. And it is him that strengthens me that I may be able to learn the lessons I'm being taught.

I do not know where the Lord will take me in the future. But I look forward with hope. With an excitement to see what will come. My mission is incredible, and I would not trade it for anything. I would also not trade anything for the blessings that will come with the future. 

Email November 16, 2015

Email November 16, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

Here comes the heat

First off...HAPPY ANIVARSARY MOM AND DAD!! Hope you guys have an awesome day, thanks for everything you do for me and the family. I am so very blessed. Also happy birthday to Clay Bingham, I´m pretty sure his birthday is today too...if not, oh well haha.

This week has been great, it really strengthened my testimony that God is preparing people for us to find and he guides us to those that he has prepared. We found 4 new investigatores this week which is great. That´s the most I´ve had in one week my whole mission so far. We´re pretty happy about that. Two weeks ago we had a gira misional where a member of the 70 spoke and taught us. He spoke a lot on the inportance of always trying to find new investigatores because with out them we can´t have and progressing investigators or bauptisms. So this week my comp and I focused a lot on trying to find new people to teach and it payed off. I remember in the MTC my whole district always had this question of how to know if a thought or feeling was from the spirit or just from ourselves. To answer our question our teacher showed us a segment form a talk of Elder Bednar. In the talk he expained that we don´t need to worry about where it comes from. The scriptures teach us that all good things come from God. So if it´s a a thought or feeling to be better or work harder it comes from the spirit and you should act on it. He also explained that if we are being obediant and living the way we should then the spirit will guide us in the right way without us even realizing it or thinking that we´re acting on a prompting. I definitly think this is true. Many times this week we just happened to be right where we needed to be right when we needed to be there. And now we have 4 new investigatores to teach because of it. The spirit guides us to where we need to be. We just have to live right and be worthy of his guidance. I know this is true.

It´s really starting to heat up here in argentina. And rain, we have awesome rain storms here. Makes for lots of humidity though wich just makes the heat better. Maria was sick this week so she couln´t meet with us at all. We had a appoinment to give her a blessing but when we showed up she wasnt home. We have another with her tonight, we´ll see how it goes.

I hope everyone is doing well. Have a great week! Love you all.

Les quiero, Elder Burton

Email November 16, 2015

Email November 16, 2015 – Elder Kenneth William Burton

Bunch of Burtons

Well time flies. Feels like just yesterday I was sitting here sending an email home. Where did the week go?

I want to say, I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to extend. The Lord has been blessing me with so many opportunities to do good, and at the same time I've been learning so much.

The Lord qualifies the called. He lifts us up to more than we could be on our own, to the blessing of those around us.

We found a new investigator through our friend Martin this week. We showed up to our appointment with him and he immediately cut us off saying he wanted to introduce us to his friend. He then lead us a few blocks away to a laundromat where we met Kyle. Turns out a while back he had been given a Book of Mormon by some missionaries who had used the laundromat, and he kept it on a shelf with all the magazines and things that customers could read. He told us about a woman who would come in every week and read 15 to 20 pages from the Book of Mormon and leave a book mark for the next time she was there. Then one day she came again and found it had been taken out by another customer. Talk about flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon. Who would have expected a bunch of laundromat customers to be spending so much time reading it. We gave him another book which he put on the same shelf and promised that he would  begin reading it himself. He also knows one of the members fairly well and would like to come visit the church some time. We have an appointment with him and Martin on Tuesday.  

New Companion

Elder Burton with his new trainee Elder Barrantes

Email November 9, 2015

Email November 9, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

First week as trainer!

This week has been awesome! It´s been hard and way different than past weeks but it has been awesome. My new companion who I will be training for the next 3 months is Elder Barrantes from Lima, Peru. He´s 25 years old which is kinda cool and he´s only been a member of the church for 3 years. He is the only living member of the church in his family too.  Pretty cool that he´s out on a mission with only three years of membership. He´s an awesome missionary, tons of energy and love for the work. He has absolutley no fear of talking to people which is awesome and we´ve made more street contacts this week then I ever have before cause my old comp didn´t like contacting much. So yeah, Elder Barrantes is great, his excitment and energy will be fun to work with and I know I´ll learn a ton from him. He speaks a little bit of english but not much which is good. It´s helped my spanish a ton. I have definitly felt the lords help with my spanish this week. There are still a ton of things that I don´t understand, but I understand what I need to and I can say pretty much what I want. 

Email November 9, 2015

Email November 9, 2015 – Elder Kenneth William Burton

Bunch of Burtons

I love it when you get to the beginning of a new week and just feel ready. No idea what it will bring, but you feel happy with the way things are going and look to the future with hope. Isn't the gospel great!

The scripture I'm ponderizing this week is Moroni 10:32 "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

My purpose has been on my mind recently. "To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end." To invite others to come unto Christ.

I believe its the same purpose everywhere. As a missionary. As a district leader. Sister training leader. Zone leader. Assistant. President. Bishop. Primary teacher. Deacons quorum councilor. Parent. Child. There are many things outside of our control, all we can do is come unto Christ and invite those around us to do the same.

Photos from Buenos Aires

Elder Bahena & Elder Burton 

Email November 2, 2015

Email November 2, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

Transfers!

Great week here in Rafael Castillo Central! On tuesday I had intercambios in another area and when I came back my comp told me that the lesson he had had with our investigator Maria went super well. She decided that she didn´t care anymore about what her daughter thought of her being baptised and she decided that she wanted to be baptized on the 7th of November which is this upcoming saturday! We had the baptizmal interview last wednesday and the zone leaders decided that she needs to strengthen her testimony of the book of mormon before she gets baptized though. SO thats what we´ve been working on with her. We are going to have another interview this wednesday and if all goes well then she can still be baptized this satuday. We´re hoping and praying that all goes well, she wants this so bad. We´ll see how things go. 

Photo from Horsens

Email November 2, 2015

Email November 2, 2015 – Elder Kenneth William Burton

Happy Halloween!

Bunch of Burtons

Halloween isn't huge in Denmark, there are a few that celebrate it though. Rafael invited us over and we carved pumpkins with a friend of his who was visiting from Copenhagen.

This last weekend was... interesting. I don't know quite what it was, maybe just the overall Halloween feel. Not necessarily that I had forgotten, but it hit me more this last week that there is an adversary out there who indeed does want us to be miserable like unto himself. And it is essential that we rely upon and trust in the Savior Jesus Christ that we might be able to overcome the temptations and resist the fiery darts being thrown at us. I received a new perspective of what it means to use the atonement in ones life. It is a gift to help us overcome weakness, as well as a protection from outside forces.

There is opposition in all things..... I'm grateful for that knowledge, and the knowledge of good and evil that I can choose the good.

I find the Holy Ghost prompts everything that leadeth to good. This change of perspective has helped me find a stronger desire to do specific things that help me act in faith when tempted.

There was a day recently when I had irrational fears come over me of talking with people on the street. I couldn't do it. All of a sudden excuses were filling my mind for why I shouldn't stop the person coming my way. But I've found certain things that help bring the spirit in times of temptation, that help me move forward with faith. Such as prayer, reciting a scripture or singing a hymn, expressing gratitude or love for the Lord and those around me, turning to others rather than looking inward on myself, writing down my thoughts and feelings, and acting immediately on the things I know to be promptings from the Spirit. Each of these is something that has brought my mind back to Christ in a time of fear or temptation. And now I'm back to talking with everyone I can.

Homecoming!

Email October 26, 2015

Email October 26, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

I love to see the temple

It´s been another great week! We were able to go to the temple two days in a row this week which was awesome! The first time was on friday with our investigator Maria. She seemed to love it, especially all the plants and flowers. She was just amazed with how beautiful they all were which I thought was cool. We taught her a lesson in the waiting room of the temple and I think it went pretty well. We have had two baptisimal dates with Maria that havent worked out, the last one because her daughter doesnt want her to get baptised. She said if she does then she will never see her grandchildred. So thats been hard. We have been praying a lot for her and in the temple Maria decided that she thinks she can talk to her daughter and that she´ll be ok to be baptised on the 14 of november. So thats our new fecha for her, I´m praying daily that everything works out and that her daughters heart will be softened. On saturday we went again to the temple with an inactive member and her daughter. It was another great experience and I could tell they loved it. They commited to begin coming to church agian wich we are super happy about. The spirit at the temple is so amazing, I´m so grateful to have one so close to my area that I can use as such a great teaching tool. On the way back from the temple though I think some bad empanadas that I ate hit me, so I spent the rest of the night throwing up which was not the greatest thing ever. That´s the life of a missionary though. I was blessed to be able to feel better the next morning and give a talk in sacrament meeting on the atonenment. 

Photos from Horsens

Email October 26, 2015

Email October 26, 2015 – Elder Kenneth William Burton

Bunch of Burtons

Some weeks I sit down at the keyboard excited to report on the great week that we had and my mind goes blank. Ahh well, I'll just start typing and see what comes.

The scripture I'm ponderizing this week is Moroni 7:45&47, "And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever;and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him".

Its my hope that I might be able to recognize opportunities this week that I can act to be blessed with the gift of charity. That I might be kind, long suffering, be pure in heart and mind. That I may develop through the gift of Christ the attributes that he himself so perfectly applies.

There was a verse in Ether 12:36 that reads, "And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity."

Only through Gods gift and grace do we receive charity. 

Photos from Buenos Aries

Email October 19, 2015

Email October 19, 2015 - Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

Week of intercambios and tacos

Another great week here in Argentina! This week I was able to do two divisions in a row with some elders in my district in my area which was super fun. Since it was in my area I got to lead out and plan everything and I think it went super well. The intercambio on tuesday was with an elder named Elder Romero and he is from Buenos Aires. He is in our mission right to to wait for his visa to mexico. He´s only been out on his mission for 4 weeks so that was kinda fun for us to kinda figure things out together. He taught me a lot about Argentina and ways to interact beter with the people here which was very nice. We were able to set a baptisimal date with an investigator named Agustin who is an 8 year old boy and none of his family are members of the church. His aunt is a member though so thats who we met him and started giving the lessons. He seems super interested though in the gospel and is picking things up really quickly. We set a date for the 14 of november and he should make it as long as he starts coming to church with his aunt. So we´ll see how things go. My Intercamio on wednesday was with Elder Sayez from Barcelona, Spain. He´s been out for 9 months. Wednesday night we got hit with this huge rainstorm and we were soaked within seconds. All the streets were basically just rivers which was super cool. It was probably the hardest rainstorm I´ve ever been in, it was awesome. 

Email October 19, 2015

Email October 19, 2015 – Elder Kenneth William Burton

Bunch of Burtons

I get to stay here in Horsens with Elder Curnow! I was getting worried that I might transfer because we were told there would need to be a lot of changes made with a large group of new missionaries coming in. This means I'll have been in Horsens almost 8 months. Even longer than I was in Randers, its not too common that a missionary is in an area here for 5 transfers. I'm excited though, I love it here, and I love the members! Last night we were passing by the Bishops house and thought we would stop by to say hi. He was right in the middle of an "experiment". Making a new pancake recipe with protein powder. So he invited us in to test it out. I thought it tasted good, he seemed a bit disappointed in how it turned out though.

So my scripture this week that I'm ponderizing is in Galatians 5:22 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith."  My hope is that this week I'll be able to better recognize the Holy Ghost and his influence by pondering his fruits. That should come as I better understand them. One fruit that has been standing out to me the last day is "faith". I remember a zone training we had a few months ago where the Sister Training Leaders asked everyone to take a minute and write down the ways the Holy Ghost speaks to us. I wrote down, and had the Spirit confirm that his promptings almost always require an act of faith to follow. They require stepping outside of my comfort zone. Rebelling against the natural man. And acting in faith leads to an increase of faith. An increased trust in the Holy Ghost.  

Email October 12, 2015

Email October 12, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

First interviews

Argentina is so weird, they randomly have these little tiny holidays on mondays and fridays that causes like every store and shop to be closed. They are´nt even for anything specific, theyre just days created so that people can get days off of work. Today is one of those days so we spent most of the morning trying to find a ciber that was open so we could email. We finally found one though that is way nicer than the one we usually use, it´s also like 30 minutes away from our areas but thats alright. Gotta love these argentines though :)

Maria didn´t end up making her baptismal date this week which was sad. She ended up having to work and so we couldn´t do the interview with her. We´re trying to set a new date with her for the 24 of this month. As long as we can find some time for the interview before then then she should make it. We´ll see how things go. 

Photos from Denmark

P Day!

Email October 12, 2015

Bunch of Burtons

Great week.... as always. "The miracles and angels are still here". Its amazing to see the Lord preparing His children to accept His gospel. We've found a few new people this last week who are wanting to learn more! We have a few first lessons set up for later today that we're excited for. 

I'm so grateful for the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Without his help none of this would be possible. We were able to have a great district meeting this last week that I feel was needed. Focusing on those talents and abilities that the Lord has given us. To often we focus on just what we need to do, what we need to change, where we need to be. All of which is important. But we forget about the gifts we do have, and what we have become. We are in specific areas at specific times for a reason. The talents we have are to be used to bless those around us. We have so many amazing missionaries in our district right now, and we're all so different! Rather than striving all after applying the same thing we need to be applying the gifts we have been given by God. "Beginning where we're at", I believe is how it was said in Conference. Starting with the testimony we have now and building upon it. Starting with the things we already know how to do, or that we already to well. 

Email October 5, 2015

Email October 5, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

General Conference!

This was a great week with no better way to end it then with General Conference! What a great one too. Most of the week we spent our time passing by the houses of investigators, inactive members, and active members to invite them to come to conference this weekend. We made some invitations that we passed out to them and also to everyone we could on the street too, I think it was pretty succesfull. We had two investigators come with us to conference and a few inactives which was awesome. They all said they really enjoyed it too.

Conference is like a holiday as a missionary, I loved it. It was pretty amazing to see the three new apostles get called, I´m sure they´ll all do an amazing job. I´m excited to see what wisdom and knowledge they bring to this wonderful church.It will be very fun to get to know them over the next many years. I really enjoyed all of their testimonies, they were super powerful. I especially liked Elder Renlunds story of Chad, the boy he lost durnign heart surgery. That was super powerful and had such a great message. I think its so true, if we try to see all people in the way that their parents see them and the way God and Christ see them then we will always be filled with the love of God for all people and we will have more of a desire to serve others and be better people. Another talk that stood out to me was by James B. Martino. He talked about how Laman, Lemuel, and Nefi all went through the same experiences but those experiences had completly different affects on them. For Nefi, they built him into a prohpet of God but for Laman and lemuel they just became angry and more sinicle. Elder Martino said this about it, "Work without faith is dead." I really liked that cause in the book of James it says that faith without works is dead. It´s just as true the opposite way. I found this little story that explains this principle really well I think. It´s called Faith and Works. "A man hired a young boy whose father owned a small boat, to row him across a lake. About halfway across the man noticed a "W" painted on one oar and an "F" on the other. WHen he asked what the letters meant, he was told that the F stood for FAITH and the W stodd for WORKS. "If you row only with faith, you go in circles to the left," said the boy. "If you row only with works, you go in circles to the right. In order to go straight ahead you have to use both faith and works." 

Photo from Denmark

Email October 5, 2015

Email October 5, 2015 – Elder Kenneth William Burton

Bunch of Burtons

There was such a great feeling about this week. I know God is looking after us here. It was so nice to have conference this last weekend. Those are inspired men, and I am so grateful for the lives they have lived that they can be in such a position as to receive revelation from God for His church. I feel like I was more prepared for this conference than I have been before. Thoughts and feelings had been coming together for a while, piecing together the desires of my heart. Bringing to mind questions I have and inspiration I desired to seek after. You know your on the right track when the prophet quotes a scripture that has been on your mind for a week, and then helps you come to understand it a bit better. I do not know the details to Gods plans, but I do feel the direction he is wanting me to go.

Isn't faith incredible? A power of action. So many good things were taught this weekend, I haven't yet been able to piece them all together. 

Email September 28, 2015

Email September 28, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

Intercambios, meetings in Banfeild

This has been a pretty good week, kinda slow though cause it was the first week in the new transfer so we had lots of meetings. On thursday my companion had a district leader meeting in Banfeild so I went on a intercambio (exchange) with two other elders for the day which was super fun. I think it helped me improve my spanish a lot because one of the elders is from Peru and didn´t speak any english. Plus he really liked to talk so  was able to talk a lot in spanish that day which was good. It was fun to see how other elders do things in their areas. The area we were in was super pretty, tons of big open fields and tall trees. Way different than my area which is mainly just suburbs. Every apointment that we had for the day fell through though wich was too bad. It was still a pretty productive day though. 

September 28, 2015

Email September 28, 2015 – Elder Kenneth William Burton

Bunch of Burtons

This weeks been crazy for some reason. We've just been all over the place. Having a solid weekly planning certainly makes a difference.

We traveled down to Copenhagen Thursday evening for Elder Curnow's One Month Meeting. And we had the opportunity of going through the temple. Something I haven't been able to do in almost a year. It was a great experience, its amazing the spirit that is in that holy place.

On the long train ride back we started a conversation with a woman sitting across from us who is an actor in Odense. I've had a lot of rejections, but it had been a while sense someone had really tried to challenge my faith. It caught me off guard at first, I would try and answer a question only to realize she had no knowledge or belief in God. Zero. And because of it I could not explain to her in a way she would understand why I felt the way I did. All I could do in the end was testify what I believed. She was friendly enough, and the conversation stayed on a good course, I was just taken aback by how bold she was. I believe in the end we did cause her to think, to ponder, I love inspired questions that bring about a searching heart. She promised us she would look up General Conference this next weekend. I hope she does, it may open her heart a little more. 

Photos from Buenos Aires

Email September 21, 2015

Email September 21, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

New transfer, Temple visit, neighbors at the temple

So we had transfers this week and found out that my companion is staying in this area after all. We are calling him the eternal missionary now because after this transfer he´ll have been here for 8 and a half months. We also found out that he is our new district leader so that should be cool. That was kinda a shock to both of us and it made me laugh cause he´s been telling me the last few weeks that he hates responsiblilty and was hoping that next transfer he could just be a junior companion again. I thought that was pretty funny that now he´s a district leader. He´ll do a good job though.

On saturday we got to go to the temple with an investigator named Gregorio and his friend Cristian! It was super cool, the temple here is amazing. We took lots of pictures, bought some stuff at the districution center, and then taught them a lesson in the waiting room of the temple. The lesson was awesome, we tuaght about our purpose on earth and the purpose of the temple. I love how strong the spirit is at the temple, it definitly had a big effect on how the lesson went and I know that they could feel it. At the beginning of the day Cristian told us that he didnt beleive in God but by the time we left he said he did. That was pretty amazing, just shows what kind of impact the temple can have on people. It´s such a huge blessing to have a temple in our mission that we can use to help our investigators progress. 

Photos from Horsens

Email September 21, 2015

Email September 21, 2015 – Elder Kenneth William Burton

Bunch of Burtons

I love the feeling that is present when one is on the right path. A feeling of excitement and peace, a feeling of urgency and assurance. A feeling of nervousness and hope. God is great and God is good. He is guiding this work. The smallest of hints are all around us, and when their seen a pure love is felt. It requires patience though. I love one description Elder Bednar gave of walking on a foggy day. Its bright, but the fog limits how far you can see. You need to move carefully as to not run into anything, but you have somewhere to be, so you cant go to slowly. One step at a time. Lesson upon lesson. Event upon event. I don't understand all the promptings received and I cant see past the next step, but I feel an assurance that the direction is correct.

I've been asked a question that I haven't been able to answer yet... "If you could change the world, what would you change?" Its been on my mind off and on recently. The following question adds to it... "How can you apply this to your current circumstances?" The world obviously wont be changed over night. That change will only come through changing our smaller, more specific circumstances. My purpose is to help others come unto Christ. I may not change the world, but the world can be changed by my purpose.

Email September 14, 2015

Email September 14, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

New investigator y service project

It´s been a good week, it rained for a few days and was pretty cold but it´s warming up now which is nice. Yesterday we found a new investigator named Eduardo. His wife in an inactive member who was a referal to us from a member of our ward. We taught them a little bit of the plan of salvation yesterday and we set up an appointment to teach the rest on thursday. They have 4 kids that I think are all under the age of 8. Two of them are twins. Hopefully things go well for them as we teach and they really come to know that this gospel is true. It would bless their family so much.

On saturday we spent most of the day doing a service project for one of our investigators named Gregorio. He´s probably our best investigator right now. He comes to church most of the time and keeps most of the reading asignments that we give him which is awesome. We´re gonna try to set up a baptisimal date with him this week. He runs his own little auto repair shop so for our service project we helped him clean it up a bit and then we helped him with one of his cars which I really liked. We chipped all the paint off of this big old truck, sanded it down, and took the windows out to prep it for painting. I hope I get to see it when it´s all finished, it´ll probably look way cool. It was a fun project.

This upcoming week is the last week of this transfer which is crazy. It´s gone super fast, it still feels like I just barely got here. My companion has been in this area for 7 months now though so theres a pretty good chance that he´ll be transfered next week. We´ll find out for sure on saturday. If that does happen though then I´ll pretty much have to lead out in this area and teach my new companion everything about it. That would be kinda cool I think, we´ll see what happens.

I hope everyone is doing well at home, thanks for everything. I love you all.

Love, Elder Burton