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.