Email May 16, 2018

Email May 16, 2018 – Elder Jackson Kunzler Burton

Hey Everyone!

                  This week was awesome! On Wednesday we had a service project where we went to a bike trail near the temple and picked up litter, but because we're in Japan there was hardly any litter so it didn't seem super helpful but it was still fun. People saw a lot of missionaries out in yellow Helping Hands shirts cleaning up trash so that's good. After that we had interviews with President McClure which is always awesome, but he also had some interesting news. There was an emergency transfer so one of the elders in our apartment, Elder Gonzalez, got transferred to Kitami, and the other three of us became a 三人、or three missionary companionship, so I got another companion! His name is Elder Morwood, he's from Veo Utah, a little tiny town in southern Utah with 400 people. He's really funny and way good at fixing things so he's helped a lot with the bike I'm borrowing from a member which has some issues. Having two companions is definitely different but it's been a lot of fun. On Friday we had a ping pong night with some investigators and members, it was way fun! We also played with a couple other investigators on Saturday and taught a little about the Book of Mormon. On Monday I got to talk to my family for Mother's Day! That was so much fun, everyone seemed to be doing really well. Thank you Mom for being the best mom ever! Today we got to go to the temple, that's why I'm emailing today. The temple is so amazing! I missed it while I was in Hakodate, that's definitely an advantage of being close to Sapporo. So yeah this week was packed, and next week we're having a mission conference with Elder Renlund! I'm so excited! This will be my first time in a smaller scale meeting with an apostle, I can't wait! I'll write about it next week! I've been trying to prepare myself spiritually as much possible, and this week I've really felt the power of prayer. It's really such a miracle that we have the opportunity to ask our Father in Heaven for help and express our gratitude whenever we need to. I've felt so much strength from praying more often this week than I probably ever have before. It also helps me to see all the tender mercies every day as I try to thank God for every blessing. I'd like to encourage everyone to strive to pray more frequently and more meaningfully, I promise it will bless your life. God wants to help you, all you have to do is ask. I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Burton