Help! / Wednesday Night Madness / Broke

Hey folks!

This is some classic Brazilian food. Goiabada (which is 

like jelly) and cheese. Weird, but good.

Another good week has come and gone, with everyone dying to hear all about another week in the exciting life of Elder Burt. Well, I'll give you a heads up right now and say that this might be a little shorter than normal. A member of the First Quorum of the Seventy is going to visit my house next week and let's just say I'm not super prepared right now. We have Mission Tour this week with Elder Gavarret. He's going to visit our house, and I'm going to sing a solo for him and nearly the whole mission during the conference. So that's fun.

But you'll hear about that in detail next week!

1) Help! (I Need Somebody)- So these last few weeks we've been occasionally visiting a less active named Maria--an older woman who lives alone with her very obnoxious dog. It really makes her day when we stop by, so we've made it a habit to make quick visits when we're in the neighborhood. This last week we stopped by and made a miraculous discovery--Maria's daughter had hired a girl to take care of her mother! Why is that so great, you ask, aside from the fact that Maria will no longer suffer from complete solitude? What was the first thought that ran through my head when we rang the intercom and someone else answered? Baptism!

Ok, so it's not as easy as that. Just almost. The maid's name is Fernanda, she's interested in the church and wants to find out more. She's excited to go on Sunday and is very open. It was all looking good. It still will work out, but we ran into a bump in the road.

6:20 in the morning--the phone rings. For those of you that don't know, missionaries wake up at 6:30. So this phone call was...less than welcome. But then Elder Juergens answered and Maria's voice was heard on the other end of the line. My first thought: Miracle of miracles. Fernanda has received an answer about the Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized on Sunday! (I'm a positive thinker.) What it actually was: Maria won't let Fernanda go to church because she has to make lunch for her. And she had to call us at 6:20 in the morning to tell us that. Sigh.

2) Wednesday Night Madness- A night full of miracle lessons happened on Wednesday. The church has ward activities every Wednesday now from 7:30 to 8:30, which we occasionally attend if we're in the area and there are investigators there. This week we got in and were immediately approached by a member of the stake presidency, who introduced us to a man wanting to learn about genealogy. He had walked into the church alone asking where he could find the "3rd room." I guess that's where the Family History Center is. It wasn't open yet and we took advantage of the wait to teach him the first lesson. We were hoping to use his interest in family history to spark an interest in the church. When asked why he was researching his family, he explained. "I have an uncle who is really full of himself and thinks my grandfather is from some kind of pure line in Europe. I'm tired of it and want to prove him wrong by learning more about my grandpa." So I guess that's a reasonable motive for family history.

We showed him in and then went to help the members set up for the activity. Then we went out front to do contacts, since there wasn't much else to do. While talking to an awesome guy who spoke English, we were approached by a group of young adults. They asked us if they could enter the church and speak with the bishop. We said of course and showed them in. They turned out to be students researching the church, and bishop quickly turned them over to us to field their questions. We taught a very clear version of the lesson of the Restoration, and then had the chance to answer each of their many questions about the church's doctrinal and historical background. Our responses clearly left them impressed and a few were clearly interested in learning more. All are planning on coming to church services in a week.

3) Broke- So yesterday saw yet another Friday adventure that seem to have become typical of my last few weeks in the office. This time President threw me and Elder Juergens into a taxi at 2:00pm, with R$3600, to rent two new houses in different parts of the city. So off we went on this wild adventure. The first apartment I had already finished up the contract--we passed by the rental agency, got the keys, booked it to the apartment to let in the furniture, closed up, and kept in the same taxi going to another city. The taxi driver was really cool, but after a while turned on an anti-Mormon preaching by his Baptist pastor. So that was less cool. Also, the taxi cost me R$130, which was also not super cool.

We arrived at the second house where we met up with the landlady in order to discuss the contract. I was expecting (as usually happens) a quick signing and turning over of the keys. Unfortunately, this lady was nuts. She had me explain every single clause of the wordy, law-lingo Portuguese contract and then complained about a part that seemed to be missing. I wanted to say that if she wanted to complain about the contract, she should have come to my office to talk to me like I'd told her to. But I'm more polite than that. She continued to complain, had me write in a new clause on the back of the contract and sign it (I definitely don't have the right to do that) and then threw us in her car to take us to her mother-in-law's house to finish everything. There I needed to pay her R$3550. Do the math with the taxi. Yeah, I was nearly 100% sure I didn't have it. But someone must have paid my tithing for me this month, because somehow I pulled out every last bill I needed (by combining every last bit of money we had), with R$7 left over for the bus ride home. Mission accomplished.

The funny part was when we were on the bus coming back and President called. "Elder Juergens, where are you?" "On the bus coming back." "Why aren't you taking a taxi?" "We don't have any money." And that is why I am now broke. And have another two houses rented.

So that ended up being a bit longer than I expected. But hey, nothing wrong with that. I love you all. The mission is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I'm learning so much--and more than anything else I'm learning to rely on the Lord. How I love Him.

Stay strong, keep to the faith, be cool.

Much Love,

Elder Burt

Contention / Clarity / Faith

Well, my second Carnaval in Brazil has come and passed. As I have spent it in the center of Belo Horizonte, it has been slightly more exciting than the last one. While returning from our area on Sunday, we were walking down the normal route home and began to see legions of drunk Brazilians in front of us, preparing for all sorts of iniquity. We took a quick detour down another of the main avenues, and realized from the sounds of merry-making that the parade was making its way on the street nearly parallel to ours. We reached an intersection where the two streets met and saw a parade of hundreds of drunken, costumed revelers storming towards us. We waited anxiously for the light to change, and crossed the street just as where we had been standing was filled with people.

The next day we tried to leave the office to work. As we waited at the bus stop, an inebriated 45-year-old woman tried to seduce us. Rather indiscreetly. After opening my Bible to Genesis 39:9 (metaphorically speaking), we made our way back to the safety of the office.

1) Contention- On Saturday we visited a family who had warmly invited us to return to leave the message of the restoration. When we got there, one of the sons (who had excitedly insisted on visiting the church on Sunday), rather timidly invited us to come in. We were met in the doorway by another young man about our age. He seemed surprised to see us, but insisted we enter, and said to the other younger boy "Let's preach the good word!"

Side note: something I've learned on the mission is that, as a Mormon missionary, I am the target of any young religious fanatic who wants to prove his Biblical and religious knowledge superior. They seem to think that "if I can beat the Mormons, I must be the best."

So that was about the attitude of this encounter. He was literally trembling as he attempted to Bible bash us and prove us wrong. We calmly taught the first lesson, trying our hardest to avoid contention. I admit we could have been better and simply avoided the lesson as he wasn't particularly open. Eventually, by the end of the message, Elder Dunford asked a question that left him completely confounded, unable to speak for fear of digging himself deeper in the hole he'd created. We left the lesson less than completely satisfied. Contention never brings the Spirit, and though we tried our hardest to be kind, his desire to "burn" us and our more-than-prepared responses ended up with very little accomplished.

2) Clarity- We taught a lesson yesterday that was considerably different. We were knocking doors in a very rich neighborhood and an old couple let us in. It was clear in the beginning that they were a little uncomfortable-the hour was late, they weren't entirely sure why we were there, and were suspicious of our religious beliefs. I was praying a lot more in this lesson than the last one, that the Spirit would touch the hearts of the couple and that my words would be guided. We taught simply but with clarity, asking questions to help them open up. Still, I knew that our personal force wouldn't be enough. Yet somehow, after leaving the invitiation to read and pray with them, they asked us, before we could even bring it up, if we could return to see how the reading went. They asked for our phone number so they could call and mark a visit in the church. They saw us out warmly, having clearly been touched.

3) Faith- This week I spent a lot of time studying and thinking about faith. I don't have a whole lot of time to go into what I've been learning, but I will share a couple scriptures that everyone can study when they are able. And the underlying thing that I came to realize was that the immediate precursor to faith is humility. It is through humbly realizing our own nothingness that we put our trust in Christ and truly perform miracles. That is not an easy thing for anyone, least of all for me, to say "I am nothing." To completely forget myself. Yet that is what must be done if we want to have the quality of faith that is able to "move mountains." The sciptures I read and pondered this morning were 1 Nephi 7:12, 2 Nephi 26:13, Enos 1:8,11, Jarom 1:4, Mosiah 4:9-12, 5:7, Alma 26:12, and Mosiah 3:19.

It is only through faith in Christ that we can come to perform great miracles. And only through humility that we can begin to understand our need for a Savior, a Redeemer, an Atonement.

I love the Lord. I love this gospel. I am trying so hard to be better. The work is wonderful, there's nothing better. Thank you all for your prayers. I feel them strengthening me. Keep being amazing, and remember your worth in the eyes of God.

Much Love,

Elder Burt

Odyssey / Divisions / Houses

This has been an amazing week. Full of miracles, hard work, hilarity, and success. What a blessing to be a missionary in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. It literally doesn't get better than this.

1) Odyssey- Yesterday I went on one of the most ridiculous trips of my life. What was supposed to take an hour and half to take a contract to a rental agency turned into an eight-hour long odyssey, with all sorts of mishaps and adventures. We definitely bonded as a companionship throughout the event.

It started soon after lunch, as we walked down to the center of the city in order to catch a bus to Santa Luzia, a nearby city. We were sitting at the stop for a bit, wondering why nearly nobody else was there. When we asked, after having waited for twenty minutes, they informed us that the bus stop had been moved recently. We walked for a while to find the new spot, and stayed there, standing, with the sun beating down on us, waiting on our bus. After a while, we saw our bus waiting at the next stop, about 200 yards away. We booked it over there, but arrived too late to catch it. We then waited at that stop for another half hour, during which Elder Dunford and I bought belts from a random guy on the street. Then we saw our bus pass us and stop at the next bus stop, where we'd been before. We ran back, again too late. Tensions were running high in the companionship, and then the Jehovah's Witnesses set up camp about fifty feet away from us and started preaching. Due to the patience and wisdom of Elder Dunford, we did not engage in combat.

After nearly another hour, we saw our bus return to the other bus stop. Exasperated, we ran at full speed just in time to catch it. What good luck. Or so we thought.

Traffic was horrible, and there was standing room only on the bus. We made our way to the other city, when the bus missed the turn off I was expecting. Let it be known I'd never been to this area before and was going off of the guidance of the elders who worked there. Well, we all started getting a little antsy as the bus kept going and going...and finally stopped at the end of the world. We figured out that we had caught the wrong number that went to the same neighborhood...but this one didn't pass the right street. We asked around and discovered which bus we needed to catch to arrive at our destination. It was a humorous moment: three missionaries, sitting on a rickety bench overlooking what looked an awful lot like the Amazon jungle, with a dirt pasture and soccer field in front of us. The journey had gone from frustrating to ridiculous at about that point.  We waited for a while and finally got the right bus back, getting off as we passed in front of the rental agency a few neighborhoods over.

Side note: this rental agency happens to be the same one that fought with me over the telephone last week. I salvaged it. The formerly livid rental agent (clearly somewhat ashamed of his former behavior) welcomed us in like family, gave us the keys to the house, his wife insisted that we enter and share a snack/juice, and then they sent us on our way, insisting that we return to have lunch with them in the future.

We met up with the missionaries who would be moving just as the sun was setting. We sat for a bit on a high point, looking over the city and into the surrounding forest as the sun set on one side and an enormous storm approached on the other. The bus ride back was far quicker and more relaxing, and we arrived in the office just before the rain hit. It was 8:00 at night.

2) Divisions- But despite that one day of mishaps, the rest of the week was amazing. After a couple weeks of small success, this week exploded. Through working in the neighborhood of our recent converts (which apparently has never seen missionaries before) we managed to find nine new investigators in three days and get the entire neighborhood excited about our presence and the church. We found several families, each with legally married parents and three children. It feels awfully nice to be running from lesson to lesson. We divided [our companionship] with a member, and even with two companionships we didn't manage to visit everyone we could have. The four of us were running up and down the small streets of the neighborhood teaching lesson after lesson after lesson. The work is accelerating rapidly. Everyone is accepting, and I am happy.

3) Houses- That success has been matched in the office, house-hunting front. I have rented another five houses this week, including the one that took up all of Friday. The work goes on, and miracles never stop.

I was studying a chapter this morning in the Book of Mormon about miracles (Mormon 9). It explains in very clear terms that miracles still happen. Verse 20 lists three things that impede miracles from occurring: Doubt, disobedience, and ignorance, especially of the nature of God. These are the key factors that lead to a world that seems, at many times, to be so empty of the mighty miracles wrought in times of old. As we work to improve our faith, obedience, and understanding, we will begin to see miraculous things happen in our lives. I am absolutely sure of that. The miracles that have happened this week are just the beginning. I have so much further to go. But I'm awfully excited to get going.

Thank you all for your prayers. Thank you Calvert family for the Christmas package (it got here this week)--my absolute favorite song on the mission is "I Love the Lord" from that album, and I've loved listening to all the other tracks as well.

I love you all. Stay strong, remember who you are.

Much Love,

Elder Burt

Exploring Cave / Spirited Discussions

Well, wonderful people, it's been quite a week. And an awesome P-day. It's not every day that one gets to go on a road trip with the mission president to explore a giant cave. Taking advantage of my last weeks here in the office? I think so.

In any case, due to this awesomeness I don't have a whole lot of time to write, but I'll jot down some quick fun stuff.

1) Fight, Fight, Fight!- OK, so this first story isn't super "fun", per se. I found myself having some extremely heated arguments this week. Now, for those of you that know me, I'm not someone who loses his cool or is inclined to spark contention. But somehow I found myself in a couple debates in which one side was absolutely furious with me. It was actually pretty entertaining.

The first was in a lesson I taught while on a division with my good friend and AP, Elder Sonnefeld. We entered the house of a Seventh-Day Adventist and taught him the message of the Restoration. We taught pretty well, and he was respectful but also clearly firm in his religion. He only got a little flustered towards the end, and started talking about Saturday being the day of the Lord, etc. I really didn't want to Bible bash, so I decided to just ask questions. I asked him why he loved the Bible so much, or why he knew it was true. Something along those lines, because he had a clear obsession with it, and I was hoping to use those feelings to explain how he might feel about the Book of Mormon through prayer. I don't think he understood where I was going, because he started getting very flustered and saying that anyone could make there own church by picking one scripture and misinterpreting it, that he wasn't well read, but that his pastor could totally convert us. I tried to salvage the situation, but he was upset and didn't want to listen.

I found myself on the other end of an even worse fight the day after. One of the houses I was renting fell through because the rental agent didn't want to change his contract to fit our needs. I assume he didn't like being told what to do by a twenty-year-old American. But I told the missionaries to go to the landowner and try to negotiate something directly with him. The landowner talked to the rental agent, who agreed to let us rent under our conditions. I called, got the information I needed, and sent him a form the church needed filled out. Several minutes later, he called. He started by telling me I needed to stop with all the bureaucracy, that he absolutely refused to sign this form (that's really all he had to do), that we were being ridiculous, and that I had to tell the church that we weren't going to use the form for him. I responded, calmly, that the church has over 1,000 houses rented in Brazil and all of them followed this pattern. He responded, nearly yelling, that we could have five million houses rented in Brazil, but he wasn't part of any "Association" and wouldn't fill out the form. He then said I'd gone behind his back to talk to the landowner. I said that I hadn't done anything, I'm just the middle man, and if he doesn't want to fill out the form we wouldn't rent the house. He told me to talk to the church headquarters to change their requirements. I said I already knew the answer, thank you, we will not need your house anymore. He began to talk again, and I hung up on him. I can honestly say I never expected to have such an animated discussion about house rentals when I turned in my mission papers. And Elder Juergens was very grateful he wasn't in the office at the time to take the call.

2) Going Where?- I also had an interesting visit with a less active early in the week. We've visited him a few times before, and he's always been pretty clear about his lack of interest, his lack of faith in the church and in God, all in a very sassy, intelligent old person way. He's awesome. This time he was a little more explicit about how he thought Christ and God were just legends, the church was full of hypocrites, etc. I was praying the whole time that he talked that the Spirit would guide me when I spoke, as I was preparing to do. But not preparing by thinking about what I would say, but by paying close attention to what he said.

So when he stopped, I started talking. He had mentioned that he wanted to get better, that life was about getting better every day. My first question was "why?" Why try to get better if the only end is death? How can there possibly be a "better" if there isn't a "best" that we are all striving for? And where is that destination, that "best"? I explained that it had to be a higher Being, a God. A "best". He had no retort, but said that there were a lot of ways to get to the same end. He said that instead of a highway where you can see the end, life is like a country road with lots of twists and turns, where you take it step by step. I seized the opportunity and said absolutely. That's why we have the church. We have a lot of little steps to get us to our final destination, because no one can wing it alone and expect to end up in the right place. We need baptism, the sacrament, and the temple in order to get back to our Heavenly Father. And then I invited him to leave the highway and come back to the country road. Come back to the church, because I have no doubt that deep inside, he still knows it's the right thing to do. He's just mad at the members.

But it's an excellent question: where exactly are we going? The gospel has all the answers. If you want to know, all you have to do is look. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Or maybe you just have to open your own door when the truth knocks on it.  And trust me, we're knocking all the time.

It's all true. I know it. I know that we have a loving Father in Heaven. I love him. I love that I have this knowledge, this hope, and have the opportunity to share it with the world. Ours is a message of hope. Of love. Of truth. What a marvelous work.

I love you all, thank you for being amazing.

Much Love,

Elder Burt

It's a Boy / Odd / Nephi

Well, another transfer week has come and gone. Houses rented, missionaries in place, and lessons taught. And some other fun surprises.

Elder Burt, Elder Juergens, and Elder Dunford

1) It's A Boy- Yes, ladies and gents, the day has finally arrived. I am training a new financial secretary to take my place! By far the most exciting part about transfers was this change-up. I will train him for the next transfer and then finally hit the field again.

Elder Juergens is a great missionary and an amazing trainee--and I'm trying my best not to over-stress him as I show him the ropes. There's a lot to learn, but we've got a bit of time to learn it all. Something I'm realizing in all of this is just how much I've changed and grown, and how much stuff I really do as secretary. I was much like Elder Juergens just a few short months ago--wondering how on earth I was going to manage all of the temporal affairs of the mission practically alone. Feeling excited, but also pretty lost. I do a lot of problem-solving in my job, since every single day presents a new challenge that needs to be handled differently than any before. I don't know if I'll use the specific tools of house renting and ticket buying that I've learned here. But I'm sure the confidence under stress, the ability to find solutions alone in seemingly impossible situations, and management skills will all come in handy later in life. But now it's someone else's turn. At last.

2) Odd- So this last Sunday, after church, we had what I would consider an "odd" day. We spent the entire afternoon in a neighborhood doing contacts

, talking to upwards of seventy people in a couple hours and teaching lessons as well. But throughout the afternoon everything just seemed a little...odd. I don't know how to explain it, but let me share a few of the slightly abnormal happenings:

--Escorting a young woman away from a harassing homeless man.

--Knocking doors, teaching an 85-year-old communist and his wife, who also happened to be a good friend of an ancient member of the ward. His dream is to go to Cuba and, yes, he called us "companion."

--Leaving the building, and ringing the intercom of the next apartment in the complex. Getting buzzed back into the building without having to say anything, but the person didn't answer their door.

--Leaving, ringing the next intercom, and getting buzzed in again, and again no one showed up.

--Getting sworn at by a 30-year-old man for ringing his doorbell at 5:00pm on a Sunday, telling me I was ridiculous for bothering people at such an hour. All the while ringing other intercoms while he yelled at me. When he started to leave, I asked if we could visit him at a different time and he started yelling at me again.

--Having an evangelical pastor try to convince us to join his church, where they need "good youth who are head-over-heels for Christ." And basically saying we would make good money if we did it.

All in all, a bunch of experiences that happen all the time in the life of a missionary, but compressed into a relatively short afternoon.

3) Nephi- I had another good experience while reading in the Book of Mormon, relating my life to that of a scriptural hero. The story of Nephi is pretty easy to relate to missionary work. I mean, as missionaries we're pretty much just like Lehi's family: we left our home and possessions behind us to wander in the wilderness for years. This morning I was reading 1 Nephi 17, in which Nephi is commanded by the Lord to build a ship. This seemed to his brothers like an impossible task, and (verse 18) complained and refused to work because of the task's difficult nature. Nephi goes on to rebuke them and remind them of the scriptures, and the things the Lord did for those in the past. He finishes his lecture by saying: "If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them...And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?" (1 Nephi 17: 50-51)

I would relate this story to missionary work. There seem to be an awful lot of people, members and missionaries, who complain that it's difficult. That the world has changed, people aren't open anymore, that the kind of miracles that happened in the past aren't possible now, etc etc. I would say the same thing as Nephi: the Lord has done such marvelous things in the past, why can't we have missionary success with his help in today's world?

Elders in the Mission Office.

Every single one of you knows people outside of the church, that are extremely righteous, amazing people. I know a bunch as well. They

are my friends, my family members, my spiritual siblings. So why would I think that they couldn't join the church? They're ready, but perhaps our lack of faith, the sheer difficulty of single-handedly "building a boat," leads us to excuse their continued absence.

Believe in miracles. Believe that God touches hearts, that He will help you. Go out and serve, give everything that you have, and your loved ones will come to the truth.  They need what we have. We need them. Let's get our act together.

I love you all. You are amazing, and have so much potential. This is God's work. I can see it in my life every day. Miracles happen. Keep to the faith.

Much Love,

Elder Burt

Kind of Stressed, But Loving Life

Hello, everyone! It's another sunny day here in Brazil. My air conditioner is going at full blast, the sun is shining through my office window, and it seems like a wonderful day to take a nice cool dip in a baptismal font.

Sorry to hear it's still winter over in the states. Ha.

1) Stressed Out- I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but the week before transfers is easily the most stressful thing in the world. Especially when we have nearly twenty missionaries arriving, only six going home, and like a million houses to rent. I literally get a call every day from a new missionary who wants a new house. To give you an idea, the mission currently has 70 houses. I am trying to rent 21 new ones.

But that was true last week too. This week just turned it up a notch, since the missionaries need the houses by next Wednesday. The week was a roller coaster of emotion. One day I had all the houses  I needed, the contracts were approved, and we were ready to move. Then I would get a few calls and find out that some small problem had led to the whole contract being dropped. I was living in fear of my phone ringing. One moment I'd walk into President's office saying "well, President, I've landed five contracts. You can pick where you want to put the new missionaries." Then moments later I'd return and say we had nothing. And so on and so forth.

The funny part about all of this? I love it. I don't know that I could go home and have a profession that wasn't stressful. That being said, I'm a little tired. Like butter spread over too much bread.

2) The Economist- We started this week with an entertaining lesson with a new investigator. His name is Mario. And no, he is not an Italian plumber. He is an 88-year-old Brazilian economist. In fact, as we found out near the end of the lesson, he was one of the three founding economists here in Belo Horizonte. He's old, a little senile, but extremely intelligent. He went on a tangent (encouraged by a visiting member) about the history of Europe and how the English are stubborn and don't want to do anything like everyone else. He didn't seem to like them very much. I was a little offended, but didn't let that affect my teaching.

His daughter is a firm member of the church. She bore her testimony in church about how her mother had died last Friday and she prayed that she could go with her still-living father to be sealed together in the temple. Obviously we went to visit her that afternoon.

The lesson went well with him, and I have a lot of hope that this family will be able to fulfill that dream.

3) Meetings- This week was also crazy full of meetings. Ward council, leadership council, zone meeting, etc. There was a lot of good training from our leaders, especially President. It was pretty hard on the Zone Leaders, focusing on the theme "You need to change. You can do more." As leaders, far more is expected of them. But at the same time, in leadership positions, we have the right to so much more in terms of blessings. So we need to take advantage of that. When we receive callings in the church, the Lord qualifies us to that calling. I've certainly seen that in my time as financial secretary, doing my best at all times.

There were a number of messages that were powerfully delivered in the meeting. Defy all expectations. We have far more gifts then we are aware of. And that's so true. To any of you who feel like you are being asked to do difficult things: step up and do it. The Lord will help, and you will do more than you ever thought possible.

I want to leave the mission stronger than when I arrived. And for that to happen, I'm going to have to pass through the refiner's fire. What are we willing to do and experience in order to become better?

More then anything else, we need to remember the Atonement. Apply it to our lives. Christ's path was anything but easy, anything but smooth. And from Him we can learn patience, diligence, and love. As we study and apply these things, we become better. It isn't easy. But it is simple.

I love you all. You have so much potential. I wish I could communicate that to you, but it's only through a lot of prayer that you can really come to realize it. Pray. Study. Work. Love. It's all good stuff.

Much Love,

Elder Burt

Back and Forth / Dreaming / The Phone Call

Today started well with a joint effort by my companion and I to write a new song called "Baptismal Day" while I ironed my shirt. We're still working out the finer details, but I think that our enthusiasm more than makes up for the lack of musical precision. And the enthusiasm was immense, due to the miracles that happened this week and the two baptisms that will occur tonight.

1) Back and Forth- That enthusiasm (coupled with stress) was only fueled by the work within the office this week. Aside from the other twenty houses that I now am on track to rent, which involved many visits to rental agencies, I was ridiculously worried about finding an apartment in downtown Belo Horizonte for the recently arrived senior couple.

I'd been working on the rent for a while, but the date of arrival was fast arriving last week and the rental agency was taking forever. I was the middle man as the contract was sent back and forth between the church's lawyer who takes care of all of Brazil, and the rental agency. That happened over the course of a week, and the day they arrived looked like it still hadn't been resolved. So, with President's permission, I dropped that apartment right as we were finishing to use an apartment offered by another rental agency that I've already used and are friends of mine. We made the contract within a day, got it signed and notarized, and I was ready to get the keys on Friday...but then it turned out the landowner was having doubts. I waited anxiously for a response over the weekend and got one on Sunday during lunch, when I was informed the apartment was no longer available. So then, on Monday, I had to return to the first rental agency asking for the apartment again. That was embarrassing. We began to finish that up when the second rental agency called me back in, offering a new apartment that was far cheaper and already ready to go. This time, though torn, President didn't let me switch back because he didn't think it would be good for the church's image. I agreed, and I finally got the keys to the apartment yesterday. Moral of the story: bureaucracy is frustrating. And I have a stressful job.

2) Dreaming- This week I did a lot of dreaming. Some very vivid dreams while sleeping and some even more vivid dreams while awake. We had a meeting on Friday with all of the district leaders in the mission, and President talked about that. "Don't be afraid to dream", he said. Dream big. Things that don't seem possible. I like a particular quote I recently heard: "The impossible is only a matter of opinion."

This was particularly evident to me after an amazing lesson that we had on Wednesday with recent converts Neia and Vitória, and Neia's sister/our investigator Adna. We had a very spiritual lesson and talked a lot, without any formal lesson guideline, about the Holy Ghost and baptism. All of our explanations were on-the-spot answers to questions she brought up. She was worried about falling away after baptism, and not keeping the commandments. I asked if she had ever seen a child learn to walk. I compared the difference between a person learning with the help of a parent, versus a child learning alone. Both would stumble, but clearly the child alone would fall more. Similarly, a new member who is given the Holy Ghost will have the help of a loving Father in Heaven, and will fall considerably less than someone trying alone without baptism. At the end of the lesson we had everyone kneel in prayer and each, in turn, prayed to know if Saturday was the right day for the baptism. Adna said that she would have a serious discussion with Daniel (Neia's husband) about baptism. Before leaving, I left a pamphlet with her stating the date of baptism as Saturday, and our number to call when she had talked to Daniel.

As we left the lesson, I was feeling very excited and doing a lot of dreaming. I began to imagine (and explain to my companion) how people and missionaries need to stop assuming that their personal efforts can't individually change things. Many people assume that they can only play a small role in the progress of the church. And someday, down the line, when there's a temple in Belo Horizonte, they can say "I laid a couple of bricks in that temple."  Well that's true. But I think it's putting an awfully small amount of trust in the Lord.

Sure, as an individual I can't do much of anything. But as an individual surrendered completely to the Lord, letting Him work through me, I can do miraculous things. Imagine if Ammon had showed up in the land of Nephi and said "well, I'll baptize a couple of these servants and fifty years down the line, if they work hard, we might have a whole ward here." No. Like Ammon, I'm not entirely satisfied with that. The Lord can do a lot more. Stop waiting for other people to step up and do things. Stop waiting for your situation to change. Just do it.

And so I sat there after the lesson, at a bus stop in the evening, dreaming of how the work offered by me, by my companion, by the mission president...how the work of us as individuals, if sanctified by the Lord, will directly result in a temple here in Belo Horizonte. In the salvation of thousands of our spiritual brothers and sisters.

That's what I dreamed of.

3) The Phone Call- And then, after arriving home a little while later, we did our daily planning. We finished, said the closing prayer, and stood up. I realized that my phone, which I had left on the bed on silent, was ringing. I didn't recognize the number. I picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hello. What time can we mark the baptism on Saturday?"

Miracles happen. The Lord has so much to offer us. I can't even begin to explain the miracles I saw this week. They are many.

I love you all. This is the Lord's work, and we need to realize that. We are capable of so much more. Dream big.

Much Love,

Elder Burt