Email October 25, 2017

Email October 25, 2017 – Elder Jackson Kunzler Burton

Hey everyone!

Hey everyone!

       It's been an awesome week! I have less than two weeks left at the MTC! We should be getting our flight plans this Friday. I'm so excited! There's a new missionary in our zone who has already served a year of his mission, but he got sick and had to go home for a year. But now he's back in the MTC and it's really cool to get to talk to someone who's already experienced being out in the field but isn't exactly a returned missionary. And he's going to Sapporo, so I get to hear cool stories about my mission! I'm so excited! It sounds like the food is amazing.

        Elder Stevenson came and spoke at the devotional yesterday! He gave such a great talk! He served a mission in Fukuoka, Japan and was a mission president in Nagoya, Japan so he made a few references to Japan in his talk which was really cool. I could tell from the way he talked about it that he still loves Japan. In his talk he discussed chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel, Developing Christlike Attributes. There are a bunch of Christlike attributes in the chapter, but he discussed four specifically, humility, obedience, virtue,  and diligence. He talked about how important each one is for missionaries and the blessings that come from living each one. The theme for the MTC right now is Become As He Is, so it related really well. I think it's really important for everyone to strive to become like Christ. The whole purpose of being here on earth is to become the kind of people who can return to live with God again, and we can do that through developing Christlike attributes.

            The president of UVU came and spoke on Sunday and he told the story of the Provo tabernacle. It was a beloved building in Provo that had been put to great use for decades, and one day it completely  burned down except for the outside brick walls. A lot of people were really confused about why God would let such a sacred building burn down, but not long after, President Monson announced that it would be rebuilt into a temple. Now that building is doing much more good than it ever did as a tabernacle. God has a plan for everything. This applies really well to our lives too. Sometimes we feel as if we've been doing everything right, but then something happens and we feel like we've been burned to the ground. What we don't realize is that God has a different plan in mind for us; he wants to build us into something greater than we could've ever imagined. But to do that we have to go through the fires of life sometimes. Just remember that it is through these trials that we become what God really wants us to be. I thought that was a cool thought. Have a great week everyone! Never give up! Have faith that Christ will pull you through any trial. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Burton