Email August 8, 2016

Email August 8, 2016 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

A gospel of happiness

Wow what a crazy, incredible week! I had one of the best moments of my life this week that I will never forget. There is a lady in Lanús named Ines. Her daughter was baptised 3 years ago and Ines also wanted to be baptised but wasn´t able to for a few reasons.So for the last three years Ines has atended church with her daughter even though she´s not a member. She is now basically a member, just not officially because she's not baptised. About two weeks ago Elder Ginatto and I decided to talk to president about her situation and he gave permission for her to be baptised. On tuesday we had the amazing opportunity to tell Ines that she could finally be baptised after 3 years of waiting. I have never seen someone so happy in my life as Ines was in that moment. She literaly was crying, laughing, yelling, and shaking all at the same time. The spirit was so so strong, the pure joy was just spilling out all over the place. In that moment the spirit put into my mind the words of my patriarchal blessing that say that during my mission I will see the joy that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings to people. I felt that promise fulfilled. It was one of the best moments of my life, I can´t even explain it. As we left, the member who was with us reminded us of the scripture in Alma 26:16  when Ammon talks about the joy he received from his mission service. That scipture holds true for me. 

Email August 1, 2016

Email August 1, 2015 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

Interviews with Pres. Calquin

Wow what a week! We started it off on tuesday having our first interviews with President Calquin. And wow haha. I don´t think I´ve ever left an interview feeling so humbled and excited to change the way I do things. The interview was competly opposite of how our old president did them but it was awesome. We did a little practice of a street contact and I learned a ton. When I contacted him I started off by explaining that I´m a missionary from the church of jesus christ and what we do, things like that. The basic, simple contact that has been ground into every missionary. I had only been into the contact for about 15 seconds when he just stopped me and said "ok thats enough". Then he went on and told me to throw contacts like that out the window cause thats not how we would be doing them anymore. He then contacted me to give an example of how he wants it to be done. He started off by stating that he was a representative of Jesus Christ, and then began imediatly to testify of the savior and the blessings recieved from his gospel. He explained that we should never do a contact saying that we are just missionaries because we are so much more than that. We are representatives of Jesus Crist and thats how we must present ourselves if we want other people to know it. And imediately after you must testify of him so that the person can feel the spirit that we carry.

So this week my comp and I have really been trying to put that in practice. And it´s made a huge difference. People really do receive us diferently. 

Email July 25, 2016

Email July 25, 2016 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

Back with my MTC comp

Another awesome week here in Lanús! One of those weeks where there just isn´t enough time in the day and you´re literally running from place to place. Those are the weeks make life as a missionary, I love it. This transfer we set a goals as a district for how many lessons we want to teach in the transfer. We have a pretty crazy goal, but it has been awesome to help us increase the number of lessons that we have. We´re still not where we want to be but we are improving and really learning how to use our time efectively.  It´s been fun.

Tuesday was awesome. We had an awesome lesson with the Martinez Family. The wife is a less active who is just reactviating and her husband is now taking the lessons. We taught the restoration and the spirit was so strong! It was our first lesson with him and we set a baptisimal date for the 13th of august. That night his wife sent us a text message that he was studing in the book of mormon and asking tons of questions. It´lll be cool to see his progress. 

Email July 18, 2016

Email July 18, 2016 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

First week in Lanús

Wow, what an awesome week that it has been. I already love this area and my new comp Elder Ginatto. I don´t think I´ve ever had a comp who just wants to work so much and give it everything he´s got. I´m learning a ton from him already, it´s gonna be an awesome transfer.

We found eight new investigatores this week, all of which are awesome. But one guy that we found named Carlos is particularly prepared. We came across his name in the old investigator records and decided to pass by his house to met him. He let us in and was super nice. Explained to us that his his three kids and wife passed away due to various causes and that now he just wonders all the time about the purpose of our lives here on the earth and what is God´s purpose for us. We shared with him Moses 1:39 and expained what God´s purpose is and why we are here. It was a very spirtual lesson and I know he felt the spirit. He ended with a prayer that was one of the most powerful and sincere prayers that I have heard on the mission. He really wants to know God´s will for him. We´re super excited to work with him.

New Companion

Elder Burton with his new companion Elder Ginatto

Email July 11, 2016

Email July 11, 2016 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

Transfers!

It was a good last week in Banfield 2! I am now here in Lanús with my new companion Elder Ginatto, from Brazil! I´ll still be zone leader of the Banfield zone which should continue to be interesting. I¨m super excited for shis area, I´ve heard nothing but good things about it. As soon as I arrived we went straight to have lunch with a part member family where we shared a little lesson about the book of mormon. The dad, who isn´t a member, promised he would read some. Pretty good first expeirence in the area, and it´s still only P-day. It´s gonna be a great transfer :)

My comp is super cool. He´s basically a brazilian cowboy jaja :) He has 16 months in the mission and just likes to work. I´m excited to learn from him and work with him.

Email July 4, 2016

Email July 4, 2016 – Elder Isaac Kenneth Burton

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!! If there is one thing that I´ve learned from living in a different country for one year, it´s that I am so blessed to be an american. There are a lot of things that you just kinda take for granted until it´s not there haha. So I hope everyone enjoys this day to celebrate our amazing country and see the many blessings that are around you.

So it was kind of a crazy week. On wednesday we met our new mission president and his wife. It went super well! I think the best words I could use to descibe them would be excited, and business. President Calquin is definitly a business man and he´s ready to put what he knows into practice here in the mission. It should be pretty interesting to see all the changes that happen, I think it will be really good. This wednesday we have a leadership council with him, so I´m sure that will be cool. I´ll let you know how that goes next week. But I´m excited, he´s  gonna be great  to work with.