Email September 26, 2016

Email September 26, 2016 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

Finishing up zone conferences.

Another awesome week in the work!! This week we finished up the zone conferences and they went super well! It's cool to be able to the same conference 6 times because every time it just gets better. I have learned so much in the last month about how to teach in big groups. And it's amazing how well you can see the levels of unity and consecration in a zone as you work with them. After zone conferences you just know what needs to happen in the mission. You  know the strong points as well as the weak. And more than anything you just feel a love for the missionaries emanating from our heavenly father. You can feel the potential that everyone has and see how God puts his hands in to mold them. It's been a neat experience to be able to see the mission from that angle.

One of the things that we focused on a lot in the conference was making plans in order to accomplish your goals. I think we all have great desires for what we want in life. Sometimes we even make goals based on those desires. But those goals are nothing more than desires unless we back it up with a plan. Our heavenly father in the beginning had the desire to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life. But he didn't leave it at that, he then made a perfect plan to help him accomplish it. And that's why we are here. We all now must follow the example of our heavenly father and set goals backed up with plans. I like the book of mormon story about Teancum, one of the Nephite captains. He had a goal to kill the king of the lamanites. He made a plan and followed it through, accomplishing his goal perfectly. Unfortunately, the kind was replaced by his brother, Ammaron. Once again, Teancum had the goal to to kill the king, but this time he failed to make a plan. And for that error he was killed in the attempt. Set goals, but then make plans to help you reach your goals. It´s the only way that we can really reach our potential.

Last night we had a cool opportunity to have a meeting of President Calquin, my comp and I, and Elder Spitale, who is an area seventy. Super cool to be able to meet with him and hear his ideas for the mission. It was cool to see that he didn't have many new ideas, we were already doing most of the things that he suggested. It showed to me that president receives the same revelation as those above him. He guides the mission under the direction of the spirit.

We found a great new investigator this week! We first met him last week in the train, he sells gum there. As we talked to him in the train, he started to cry and told us about his desires to have a better life and a happier family. On Thursday my comp was able to teach him with another missionary ( I was on divisions in another area) and they set a bautismal date for the 16th of october! He came to church yesterday and he loved it! He has been very prepared, we feel blessed to be teaching him. We'll see how things go.

Well, that's been my week. It was great! I love this work, I feel very very blessed to be here, learning so much. I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Les quiero, Elder Burton