Photos From Elder Burton

Dinner at the Kuwanas!

Email August 26, 2018

Email August 26, 2018 – Elder Jackson Kunzler Burton

Hey Everyone!

                  This week has been great! Since my companion is finishing his mission this week a lot of members have been inviting us over to eat, which has been fun. The food is always so good! We've also been visiting a lot of people on a less active list the bishop gave us which has been interesting. Sometimes we go to their house and it's gone, there's just no house where it should be, or there's a new apartment building where the house was. There was also one where we knocked on the door and asked if the member was there, and the person there said they that person actually passed away three years ago, which was kind of sad. But, we were also able to meet a sister who said she wants to come back to church, so there's some good coming out of it too! Also, on Saturday we had an awesome video chat lesson with Yuu kun, who is in Muroran right now. He actually tried to go to the church in Muroran, but it was stake conference that day so no one was there, which was too bad, Muroran is in a different stake so we had no idea. But he tried to go, which shows his desires are in the right place, which is good. Also, we've been unable to get in contact with the lady from the Philippines we're teaching, but yesterday at church we found out from a member that she's going to karaoke with some members today, so that was good to hear. I'm not sure why we can't get in touch with her but if she's got a good relationship with the members she should be fine, we'll be able to contact her through them. So things are going well, I'm excited to see people progress and continue finding new people to teach.

                  This week is transfers and my companion is going home so I'm for sure getting a new companion, but I'm probably staying in Ebetsu. We'll see how it goes. It's been an awesome two transfers with Elder Ramsey, we've both learned and grown a lot together. I'm gonna miss him but I'm excited to work with someone new. I know God will put me where I need to be with the person I need to be with. I'm so grateful for the all the things I've learned on my mission so far, I know that through the grace of Christ, we truly can overcome our weaknesses and become more than we could be on our own. I love you all, I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Burton

Photos From Elder Burton

We made garlic bread with some bread a member gave us. It was so good!    

A way cool clock tower near the church

Email August 22, 2018

Email August 22, 2018 – Elder Jackson Kunzler Burton

Hey Everyone!

            Sorry my email is a bit late this week, we went to the temple today! I love the temple so much, it's such a blessing to be in a mission where we can go so often. This week most of the people we're teaching have been out of town for summer break, so it's been a little slower teaching wise but it was still great! I went on exchanges with Elder Moulton yesterday, he was in my district at the MTC so that was fun. We talked with a less active member in Iwamizawa and did some finding, it was good. We also had a table tennis party this week, and we got a lot of members to come, but no nonmembers came which was kind of disappointing. But the members are slowly getting more motivated to do missionary work so I really hope we'll start seeing a lot of success soon. I've been trying to find ways to use my talents more in missionary work, so while knocking doors this week I tried singing "I Am a Child of God" in Japanese after people told us they weren't interested. I've only done it a few times for some old ladies so far, but it went really well. The Spirit came in really strong and although they didn't accept our message they all said thank you and opened up and talked a little more after which was cool. One lady told us her husband had passed away recently so she was really grateful for the song. So we testified of eternal families and hopefully gave her some hope. I'm going to continue trying this and work on finding other ways to bring the Spirit and soften people's hearts. I love how music does that so well. If you're ever down, or just need to get motivated or feel the Spirit, good music always does the trick. Besides that, nothing else too exciting happened this week. I've  been trying to increase my understanding of the atonement, which has been really good. There's a talk by Elder Bruce R. McConkie called the Purifying Power of Gethsemane where he talks about how the atonement is the most fundamental and basic doctrine in the gospel but the least understood. In order to have the faith of Enoch and Elijah, we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived. I thought that was cool, we can all have that kind of faith if we pray always and strive to do what's right. Then we can see great miracles because of our faith. I hope you're all doing great, I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Burton