Email January 30, 2021

 Email January 30, 2021 - Elder Brigham Craig Burton

The Reassignment....Dun Dun DUNNNNNN

こんいちは　！！

Whelp. This week has been a whirl! If you haven't heard already, due to Covid freaking 19 hahaha (sorry I just hate that phrase), I have been temporarily reassigned tooooooo....

LUBBOCK, TEXAS!!!!!

And I am so excited!! Is it Japan, no. But the fact that I will get to experience two completely different missions is blowing my mind. I will give my all in whatever place the Lord sends me. I consider myself very blessed. And! Another cool thing is that my companion, Elder Jones and Elder Iwaasa from my district will be joining me! What an incredible experience it will be. They're both amazing at Japanese so it'll be awesome if we are able to study together as well. They say that everything is bigger in Texas, so my one goal while I'm there is that I can make that true about the Gospel, but not about me lol.

Collin got engaged! And yes, I know, it's probably fake but I can't help but feel excited for the guy. He's awesome! We taught him about families and the Restoration of the Gospel this week and he seemed super interested! I think the most of any lesson we've taught I think, so I'm excited for next week. Next week we also teach our first lesson in Japanese! (to someone who's not our teachers pretending to be people haha) It's definitely gonna be an experience haha. We'll see how it goes and I'll tell you all about it next week. 

A quick thought: Remember. As we prepare to take the sacrament on the Sabbath tomorrow, remember the Atonement. Remember Jesus Christ and His love for you. Remember to always take His name upon you. Think about the sacrament prayers and ponder them in your heart. They are powerful. His sacrifice for us is infinite. May we all try to remember him and thank him infinitely.

Love you all! :) Have a すばらし week!

Love,

Burton ちょうろう

Temporary Reassignment

 Phone Call 1/27/21 - Elder Brigham Craig Burton

New temporary mission reassignment

Elder Burton receives a phone call from Stake President Diamond informing him of his temporary mission assignment. He will continue his MTC training for Japan.

Lubbock, Texas!! 

He will be headed there about March 8th

Email January 23, 2021

 Email January 23, 2021 - Elder Brigham Craig Burton

さんしゅうかん　！！ (Week 3)

こんにちは　！

This week has gone by soso quick but also been really fun! My district has been able to meet together more outside of class and it's always a party. We're definitely connecting a lot more now and it's been super awesome to get to know them all. This week I had a little too much fun and had the joyous opportunity of pranking my teachers. Zoom lets you add in backgrounds and filters as most of you probably know and over the weekend I "grew" a gnarly goatee. Which is very much against the dress and grooming standards. Both teachers in both classes totally thought it was real. After they had kindly told me to go shave, I made it disappear and watched as they confusingly asked, "Wait, that was fake??" The whole district was laughing and it was a great time all around hahaha.

This week we also had the opportunity to teach Collin again! It went much better than the last one and I was able to communicate my thoughts and feelings in a much more elegant way. I know the Spirit was helping me teach! Faith and the power of prayer are real and the Lord will help you if it's a righteous desire. My testimony of that was definitely strengthened this week.

A thought I want to share: This week on Tuesday we got to listen to a devotional by Elder Ronald A. Rasband. It was amazing! One thing he said really stuck out to me. Which basically said this. 'They'll inquire about the treasures in heaven, but can't let go of what they prize on earth.' In order to truly be committed to the Gospel and to Jesus Christ, we must be willing to let go and sacrifice some of the things of the earth. Whether that be sin, worldly possessions, grudges, or so many other things, we must learn to let go. Not gonna lie, as a missionary, it's been very hard for me to let go of a lot of the music used to listen to. Songs will pop into my head and I have to replace them with a hymn or other church music. Not that they're bad songs, they just don't invite the Spirit that I would like to have as a missionary. But as I have tried to focus my thoughts and music on my Savior, I have felt an increase in my ability to feel the Spirit and connect with my brother, Jesus Christ. It's nothing big and it doesn't have to be. By small things, the Lord will bring great things to come to pass. I know that as you try and forsake all of the little things that might be holding you back, you will see blessings in your life and the treasures that are in heaven will be within reach!

I am very thankful for all of you!! :)

Love,

Burton ちょうろう

 My district!! Love these guys! 

Email January 16, 2021

 Email January 16, 2021 - Elder Brigham Craig Burton

にしゅうかん！！(Week 2)

I can't believe it's been two weeks in the MTC! Seems like the weeks go by crazy fast but the days go by slow, which is great because I'm loving every second of it!

A lot has changed in a week! I can now, very simply, meet someone, offer a prayer, testify, and share a scripture, in Japanese. It still feels like I know almost nothing but we're working on it for sure. This week on Wednesday we taught our first lesson in Japanese! It honestly didn't go as bad as I thought it would but there's still lots of room for improvement. We also taught a few lessons in English this week to some "non-members" haha. Collin and Katie. Both lessons overall went pretty well, but my nerves tend to get to me and I trip on my words a lot. Definitely something I'm working on. Good thing I have legit the best companions who can smooth all of my rough patches over. Elder Jones and Elder Helms are awesome.

One invitation I would like to extend to all of you is to USE A STUDY JOURNAL for your scripture reading!! And any gospel study in general. It's grown my love for the Book of Mormon so much. A spark of the spirit can explode into a whole bombardment of spiritual wonderness when you write down and think about what you're reading and feeling. And who doesn't want more spiritual wonderness in their life?? I sure do. When we cherish the thoughts and promptings of the Spirit by pondering and writing them down, it shows God that we are thankful for that revelation and he will trust us with more of that in the future. In 1st Nephi, Nephi desired to know the things which his father had seen. It says "I sat pondering in mine heart..." thinking about those things. He may not have written it down but I promise it will help you think on those things of your heart. And because Nephi had such great faith, the Spirit of the Lord showed him not only what his father had seen but also so many other things. The Lord will bless you if you take note of the things he says to you. I know that to be true.

Hope everyone had a great week! :)

Love,

Burton ちょうろう

Email January 9, 2021

Email January 9, 2021 - Elder Brigham Craig Burton

The Empty Sea!

 こんにちは　！！

Holy moly. The online MTC has already been such an amazing experience.
And I'm only three days in. Wow. I don't know if I've ever felt so
purposeful in my life! Dedicating all of your time to the Lord is a
wonderful feeling and it's crazy how your life before can just melt
away when you fully focus on what's important. Nothing is more
important than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I want each of you to know
that.

While I am in the MTC, I get to be in a trio! Elder Jones and Elder
Helms are both so awesome! Elder Jones already knows lots of Japanese
and is super helpful and kind. Elder Helms and I are basically
starting from the beginning and are both working on getting it
together. He knows how to study hard and I'm learning a lot from him.
I think my head is about to explode with にほんご。 The language is very
difficult but it's coming along and I am excited to see where I can go
with it!  I have also very much enjoyed having dedicated time to study
the scriptures. Not having to fight off sleep as I read before bed is
definitely something I didn't know I needed haha and should've changed
way sooner. I would invite everyone, if you don't do it already, to
set a specific amount of time aside, no matter how long, and follow
it. It will bless your life. In these three days I feel like I've
already grown so much. Don't take the scriptures or your prayers for
granted. They are POWERFUL. I have felt that multiple times already in
the MTC.

A quick thought I wanted to share that was told in a workshop on my first day.
When President Hinckley went on his mission he was feeling awful and
wanted to go home. He emailed his dad and said something to the effect
of, I feel like I'm wasting my time and your money. I think I should
just come home. And I love what his dad simply replied, "Forget
yourself, and go to work." Not only do I hope that I can apply this
principle to my mission and my life, but I hope you can apply it to
yours. It's not about you. It never is. Whatever you are doing. Forget
yourself and go to work. For your family, maybe your future family,
for the Lord, go to WORK. I promise you, you will feel more purposeful
than you ever have. You may be freaking tired at the end of the day
like I am but I know you will feel a greater sense of happiness and
joy because you are giving your life to a greater cause than yourself.

I hope all of you are staying healthy and safe! You all mean so much to me!　：）

Love,
Burton ちようるう