Email November 25, 2018

Email November 25, 2018 – Elder Jackson Kunzler Burton

Hey Everyone!

                  This week was great! We got transfer calls and my companion and I are both staying in Shiroishi, we're way excited! We're ready to see a lot of miracles this transfer and there's already been a lot this week! Transfer day was also Thanksgiving, so we went and ate Indo-curry all you can eat naan which was great. And then snowed that evening! We were out walking, talking to people, and it was snowing just a little but none was sticking. But I said jokingly to my companion, "On our way back to the apartment we're probably going to be walking through a foot of snow." And then within the hour it started dumping snow and all of a sudden everything was covered in white. But, we were wearing our boots and warm clothes so we just continued streeting. I'm sure a few of the people we talked to only stopped because they felt bad for us dendoing in a small blizzard, but it was fun. And it was my companion's first time seeing snow pile up on the ground, since he's from Okinawa, and he loved it! It was fun watching him play in the snow for the first time. And we did end up walking home through pretty deep snow, after shoveling a member's driveway and building a tiny snowman in front of their house. The head fell off before they saw it in the morning but they still liked it.

                  On Friday we found a new person to teach, we were able to set up an appointment to meet over video chat on Saturday and taught him the first lesson which went great. Hopefully he'll continue progressing. Something else cool on Saturday is my companion suggested we visit a member family, and it ended up being the perfect day to visit. One of the members said he had been feeling kind of down and had been thinking about skipping church the next day until we showed up. It was also really good for my companion, he's had a cold for the past few days so he's been pretty tired and that visit cheered him up too.

                  Yesterday was also great, President and Sister McClure showed up to our ward right before it started which was surprising but fun. I got the chance to translate for Sister McClure during gospel principles class and it went pretty well, I haven't had many opportunities to translate so I wasn't sure how it would go. President McClure also shared some cool insights about repentance and the gospel of Jesus Christ, how if we have faith in Jesus Christ, repentance is instinctive, we do it naturally because we believe in Him and His atonement, we have hope that through Him we can change, and we love Him because of what He did for us and we desire to follow Him. And then if we've truly repented the next step that comes naturally is baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, or partaking of the sacrament worthily if we've already been baptized. And then we just keep repeating those steps throughout our lives as we endure to the end and become more Christlike a little at a time. I'm so grateful for Christ and His gospel and what it means in my life.

                  The last miracle, yesterday afternoon we got a call from a bishop in Osaka, Japan, with a referral from a member there. That member's sister lives in our area and has recently been asking about the temple and the church and I guess wants to meet with missionaries! Such a miracle! I'm so grateful for God's tender mercies, I know He's aware of and loves all His children and wants them all to return to Him. I love you all, have a great week!

Love,

Elder Burton