Are you from Utah?

Hello all once again! And Happy Halloween! I can't believe that it's already Halloween! Man time flies when you're working hard! This Saturday we find out about our transfers and it's come up so fast! Craziness!

Yet another wonderful week filled with miracles and great times!

One amazing thing that happened was that we got a call from a member who said that she had a friend who wanted to be baptized and is already going to church! That's pretty much unheard of! We had to explain that we need to teach the lessons first! Her name is Oniqua and we got the chance to start teaching her and it's been wonderful! She's so receptive to our message and really wants to be better. That was like the coolest thing ever!

For the title of the email, we were visiting an inactive family and then we see a white guy going for a run. It was the weirdest thing ever because you don't see many white people here! As he passed us, all he said was, "Utah?" And me and Elder Cook got offended and proudly announced California and Colorado! The stereotype is true that all Mormons are from Utah. Oh well! It was pretty funny though.

One cool thing that happened this week were blessings! Me and Elder Cook gave 6 blessings this week so we've really gotten a chance to use our priesthood! It's amazing to see the faith of the people as we give them and it's truly God who's doing the work through their faith. What a blessing the Priesthood is!

On Sunday two of our investigators came to church!! Shabana and Ashley! We had to put in a LOT of effort to get them there but they came and it made us so happy! We were having a hard time getting investigators to church so this was an answer to our prayers for sure. They said that they enjoyed church and will think about coming next week. But we'll make sure they come. Once they start coming to church, they progress so fast and it's amazing to see the change it has on people's lives.

Fun fact that I found out yesterday. Shabana (a 12 year old girl that's one of our investigators) has the same birthday as me! December 1st! That's the best day ever in my opinion but I may be a little biased ;)

Also, it was Elder Cook's birthday on Sunday and I made him a cake. It turned out great although the frosting was super runny (pictures later). He had a great day though and he's 20 now! Not a teenager anymore!

One fun thing that happened was that we were going to visit a less active family and the husband was SOOO drunk it was insane. Flopping all over the ground and everything. We were teaching his wife and he stumbled over and said, "You wanna fight??" and Elder Cook just said, 'sure" and didn't do anything. Well the drunk guy then said, "babe, get me my cutlass" and he promptly walked straight into a pole and fell to the ground. Then in the closing prayer we hear, "Whose bikes are these?!" and after the prayer he has on my helmet and is walking into a bush. Funniest thing ever that was also really sad because it's a sign of what alcohol does to you. We're going to try to get him off of it so hopefully that happens. Alcohol is bad news and I've really seen what it does to people here. Bad stuff.

It's been a great week though and we find out about transfers on Saturday! Exciting stuff! I'm super anxious and I don't know if I want to go to Suriname or stay in Guyana for another transfer! It's up to the Lord though because he knows best.

Thanks everyone for your support and prayers and I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

--

~Elder Burr

 Sweaty Elder Burr

 A beautiful sunset.

 Some pictures of Guyana.

 The first time he has worn gel in his hair.

The best cake you've ever seen!

The Nederlands is Real!

Hello all! It's been another great week here in the wonderful country of Guyana! Yes it's still hot and humid every day but I'm used to it (I think).

We had a bunch of good experiences again and I'll share them as best as I can!

Tuesday we had tradeoffs and I was with the zone leader Elder Horsely and I led out our area which was a little scary! We biked all over the place and had some great success in it. One great thing that happened was that I got to teach Brother Seonarine (A recent convert) in Dutch! He grew up in Suriname and knows like 5 languages which is pretty awesome! Teaching was... a struggle and I realized how much I still have to learn. The pronunciation in Suriname is different than the MTC so that's a little weird to get used to. But I shared my favorite scripture and really felt the Spirit helping me out in the words I was sharing. That was wonderful! I also biked Elder Horsley to the ground. He was dying when we were done with the day and when I said that I wanted to go running in the morning, he thought that I was completely insane! Maybe I am! That was great though and I learned a lot from him.

For other experiences, we had a lot of great lessons with our investigators and really did a good job of teaching in unity and with the Spirit I think. Me and Elder Cook have figured out how to teach in unity and all the lessons are going so great now!

On Sunday the youth had the Primary Presentation and that was the cutest thing ever! They did a great job and bore such sweet testimonies! One thing that was unexpected was that they asked me to play the piano for every one of the songs they sang! I had no warning at all but did a pretty good job overall. I'm also the piano player for church each week! Thanks mom for the lessons! They really came in handy!

One thing that was sad was that we had out last lesson with Delon, one of our recent converts. He's moving to Suriname and he will be missed. He has a wonderful testimony and his sincerity in what he says is amazing! Once I go to Suriname, I'll have to find hiim again because he's the man!

Our investigators are progressing well but they aren't going to church! We doing our best but I guess we just have to work harder! Work work work all day every day! It's wonderful! We had another great week and are excited to get to the next one! I hope you all had a great week!

--

~Elder Burr

 Elder Cook and a goat.

 The sunset.

 A lizard.

 Us and the lizard!

 Some Guyana scenery!

 Elder Cook and a rabbit.

(I'm not sure why he doesn't have pictures of himself with the animals ...)

 The Primary!

 Elder Burr, Elder Cook, Clint and Delon!

 Delon and Elder Burr 

Parker's first Guyanese haircut.  He said they only cut the sides, but he likes it!

Hey White Boy!

Hello again everyone! I can't believe it's P Day already again! Man time flies when you're serving the Lord! It was another amazing week full of some great and interesting experiences!

One interesting one was that we were giving a lesson to a recent convert family and then this vocal fight between two adult women broke out (which happens a lot). They were going on forever and then one of the ladies turns towards us and proceeds to yell at the top of her lungs about how terrible the other lady is. Then the other lady picked up a board and I thought that things were going to get ugly but they didn't so it's all good! Then of course, my companion and I decided to go try to contact the crazy lady the next day. She wasn't home but we'll keep trying! She needs some Jesus in her life for sure.

One miracle that happened this week was with an investigator named Ashley. We asked her to read a Restoration pamphlet but she didn't read it so we were disappointed and asked her why she didn't read it. She responded that she's from Suriname and can only read and write in Dutch. Guess what I can do? Speak a little Dutch! SO i proceeded to teach her with as much Dutch as I could and then gave her my pamphlet that I had in Dutch which she promised to read. It really was an answer to my prayers because I was worrying that I was going to lose my Dutch while here in Guyana. The Lord provides a way and don't ever forget that!

On Saturday, our investigator Patricia got baptized!! My first baptism here! The change in her life was so apparent and the baptism was wonderful and pretty memorable. The Spirit was super strong the whole time and she said that she felt wonderful afterwards! The baptism was a little funny though because the person that was baptizing her, basically looked like he slammed her into the water. It was intense! But she went all the way under and is clean now! Amazing stuff!

On Friday night, we were walking around in Angoy's avenue (the ghetto) contacting people and this lady came up and asked us to pray for her because she was super sick, so we explained what a blessing was and told her that we could give her one and she accepted and we gave one which was cool. The next night we came back and visited and just said how the blessing was a miracle because she felt great now and wasn't sick anymore! She had so much faith and is now a new investigator and I'm excited for her!

As for the title of the email, most of our teaching is done in the Ghetto here where they accept the teaching more and multiple times every day, I get called "white boy". So I've determined that that is my new name now. Also everyone guesses that I'm almost 30 and from New York. That's what everyone thinks which is funny!

Anyways, that's all for this week and I'm loving Guyana! The people are so wonderful and although they're simple, they care a lot and love to learn. Things are great here and I hope you all have wonderful weeks! Thanks for the prayers!

--

~Elder Burr

 A cool, but very mean bird.

 Baptism pictures

Elder Cook, Elder Burr, Brother Thakoor, Patricia and her family.

Ducks and Bunnies and Cats Oh My!

First full week in my mission and man oh man is this awesome! What better thing to be doing than serving the Lord each and every day!? It's wonderful. There are miracles every day and I'm so grateful for them all. I'll just write a few since I don't have much time!

One of our investigators is getting baptized on Saturday! My first one! It's been amazing to see the change in her life and she's super excited to go to the temple. What a blessing it is to know that we can be with our families forever and I'm so grateful to have that knowledge. 

One of our other investigators is Diana and she was a little skeptical over our message but we had a lesson on the Book of Mormon and testified of the truthfulness of it and just laid it all out and she committed to praying and reading it. And guess what?? SHE GOT AN ANSWER! It was awesome and now she's progressing a lot. ALso with the same girl I taught my first full lesson on the Plan of Salvation and it went super well! We had a member there with us and she bore a strong testimony at the end of the truthfulness of it and it was perfect. So wonderful.

One thing that is not wonderful is the mosquitoes. I kid you not, I probably have over 100 on me right now. It's ridiculous. But they only itch at night which is a blessing from God! I teach just fine in the day and I'm grateful for that blessing in my life! 

One fun thing that happens here is the animals! I held baby ducks, bunnies, cats and dogs this week and it's super awesome! Not something that you get to do every day and I love it! The dogs are a little crazy and not super friendly but the rest are great! Oh yeah and there are cows literally everywhere. Roaming the streets constantly. Insane!

Finally, General Conference was AMAZING!! I appreciate it so much more now on my mission and I wished I had paid more attention in the past years because it is so wonderful! Elder Lawrence's was awesome and I learned so much from it. I learned so much from all of them! They truly are called by God and are such amazing people! 

I hope you all are doing well and I love you all! Guyana is awesome!

--

~Elder Burr

 It's hot here!  After a run.

 Random Scenery

 Canje Church

 Me and My Companion

 A few of my million mosquito bites!

10 kilograms of butter (22 pounds)