Email October 10, 2016

Email October 10, 2016 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

New Missionaries

First off..... FELIZ SUPER CUMPLEAÑOS A SAM, BOSTON. Y BOONE!!!!!!!! Three in one!! I hope you guys have an awesome birthday!!!

This week was awesome but kinda rough haha, I don´t think I've been so tired in all my mission. On Tuesday my comp and I had to wake up at three in the morning to pick up a new missionary from the airport, and wow, it killed us later in the week, we were pretty worn out.  As a missionary your body gets so used to the set sleep schedule, so any deviance from it just kills you haha. But it´s alright, it was super fun to be on the Argentine roads so early in the morning and to see the airport again. It was the first time I´d gone back there since the day I arrived. It brought back many great memories from my first moments in this wonderful country :) 

So on Tuesday we got to meet all of the new missionaries and it was awesome! I think getting to be with them on their first day in the field is one of my favorite parts about being an assistant. They are so excited but so nervous and lost. Being with them and talking to them always gives me such a boost of energy and motivation. It´s the best :) I´m excited to see what kind of great things these new missionaries will do here, they are a great group.

This morning I was reading in the second chapter of Nephi about when Lehi receives the commandment from the lord to take his family into the desert. The story catches my attention in a lot of ways, firstly for the faith that Lehi had to take his family with nothing, to live it the desert and eat raw meat and crazy stuff like that. Putting myself in his place, I can´t imagine how hard that would have been. What amazing faith that he had in the Lord to literally trust everything to him. I doubt that´s something I could do. But what catches my attention even more is that after three days in the wilderness, they stopped, built an altar, and gave thanks to the Lord. Gave thanks. I imagine that after three days of hiking with your murmuring kids in the desert, never to return to your beloved home and city, giving thanks to the person who supposedly put me in the mess would not be the first thing on my mind. But Lehi didn´t look at it that way.. In spite of the "hard" things that the lord asked him to do and the afflictions that they were going through, Lehi stopped and gave thanks for his blessings. Thanks for being safe, away from the destruction in Jerusalem. Thanks for many things I´m sure. He gave thanks. I feel like that is something that we all must do more. When things are hard, we must stop and look around. We must see the blessing that the lord has given us, and thank him for them. We have so so much more than we think. I´m grateful to Lehi for is example and faith.

Well, I hope you all have a great week!! I love you all, thanks for everything.

Les quiero, Elder Burton