Wan Switi Chris Niti!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and that Christ was at the center of it because he is the real meaning of Christmas. Oh yeah and the title means Merry Christmas in Taki taki. I'm learning a bit ;)

So the highlight of the week for sure was Skypeing my family! Man it was awesome to be able to talk to them and just to see them again. I sure do love my family a lot and it was just so fun talking with them and catching up a bit! Great stuff. 

On Wednesday, I went on an exchange with Elder Cooper (who lives with us) and we went to his area in Commewjne (I think that is how it's spelled). And to get there, you need to bike over to bridge which is the tallest structure in Suriname! From the bike ride across California a few years ago, I was greatly prepared to do it. No span. (No problem) That was a fun day though and we contacted lots of sweet people there!

We some great spiritual lessons this week and we did a really good job of teaching people, not lessons and teaching based on their needs. Talking about the delivering power of the Atonement really makes a difference for people and it's been amazing to see the change in people when they understand Christ a little bit better. 

Elder Hood and I have been working super hard this week and have just experienced a lot of success lately which has just been awesome. Not only is he helping me a ton in the language, but he's helping me understand more on how to be a better missionary and the importance of exact obedience combined with hard work. We've worked super hard lately and it's really been paying off. The Lord is great!

We had an AMAZING Sunday yesterday. We had 99 people at church and 5 investigators there. Also in the teaching that day, we committed 4 people to baptismal dates! Super awesome day just filled with the Spirit and we had tons of success. I'm excited to see what happens with all of them!! It's been amazing to find those elect people that are ready for the gospel and we've been able to find a lot of people. Man having 99 people at church was just super fun! They usually get around 75 so it was a big boost. The members here are wonderful and fellowship each other so well and just are so unified and it's been awesome to see! The branch President and his family were sick otherwise we would've hit 100 for sure. Next week though!

I hope you all had wonderful Christmas's and that Christ was at the center of them. Through Christ, we can be free from all guilt and sins and He is the true thing that helps us to change ourselves to become better people. I know that Christ lives and that when we turn to Him, he has his arms outstretched to us. All we need to do is turn to Him.

I hope you all have a great New Years! Love you all! Tot Ziens!

--

~Elder Burr

White Elephant Gift Exchange with all of the Suriname South missionaries.

 Sweet temple thing

 Crooked window

 Commewijne Bridge

 Christmas!

 Plan of Salvation chalk drawing outside of the church on Christmas.

 Christmas Party

Elder Hood and Elder Burr

Skyping with Parker on Christmas Day

The Rains Came Down and the Floods Came UP!

Hello all! I hope you all are having a great Christmas season and are remembering the true meaning of Christmas! 

It's been a crazy week but all is well now. We almost missed our flight to Suriname which was crazy but it's all good. Tiny plane! Made it to Suriname fine but had to pay some baggage fees which is no big deal but was a bit stressful. Landed safely and now I'm here in Suriname and man do I love it here! It's so different from Guyana but I love it all! It's been so great to just visit everywhere here and to start speaking Dutch!

Elder Hood is awesome! We've gotten along great so far and he helps so much with the language and I've already learned a ton from him. He's shown me the importance of preparing with the Spirit and using the Spirit in the lessons. I've truly been blessed by the Lord since I've been here with the gift of tongues. There is no way that I would've been able to communicate this well without the help from the Lord and it's been wonderful. It's hard to understand right now but it's getting better each and every day and I'm working hard always to improve. So that is all wonderful.

I love the branch here and Sunday was great. Great to see all the member participation and just how unified the branch is. I bore my testimony on Sunday and I already feel super welcome here and it's just great.

We had a great week here and worked hard all the time and with the Spirit. Many spiritual lessons the week. I may not be able to understand all of the Dutch but I can understand the Spirit and it's been really strong in lessons this week. With the elder's quorum president and one of investigators especially. Pretty great and I'm so thankful to the Lord for all of this.

It rains a lot here... Like a LOT. Like I have never gotten as wet as I got biking to church on Sunday. Like I went through what I thought was a puddle and it was about 3 feet deep. Yeah I got wet. And in church I have to bear my testimony in Dutch so I went up drenched... Good stuff! I love it here though. Oh yeah and our street was underwater. We pretty much biked though 2 feet of water down our street. It was intense. It rains just randomly all the time and it's been crazy but I love it all!

I was saved by grace yesterday too! We were in a lesson with Diane, one of our investigators and man did I have to go to the bathroom... It was getting bad and I turned to Elder Hood and asked in English what to do and right at that moment a car pulled up and asked us to move our bikes a bit to let it pass so I went behind a house to put my bike there for a minute... It was great and I was truly saved there!

Man I love Suriname though! It's hard for sure but just remembering what Christ has done for me has really been a huge help for me. I'm really excited to serve here though and am ready for the next adventure!

Remember to remember the true meaning of Christmas in this Christmas season and to always turn your thoughts to Christ and what he's done for us. It will help you to have to Spirit in your life and just really help overall. I hope you all have a wonderful and Spiritual Christmas! Lobi!

--

~Elder Burr

 The Abbensetts in Guyana

 Tamir in Guyana

 Their tiny airplane!

 Christmas party in the Paramaribo branch.

A Burger King

 His new companion, Elder Hood

 Their study room in their apartment

 Two random Santa Claus's

Elder Burr and Elder Hood

Their street underwater

Shoes drying

What a Week!

Hey everyone! These past 2 weeks have been INSANE! Ok so this week has also been extremely crazy. There was some miscommunication about the whole Suriname thing and all that which wasn't cool because they scared us a lot about that! What happened is that Elder Hunt, Elder Buehler and I flew up to Trinidad on Tuesday, hung out with the AP's the whole day (and they bought us ice cream which was super awesome) and got our MKV paperwork done and then we flew back that night. So we came back to Guyana and we had to wait for transfer calls to see where I am going. Andddddd...... I'm going to Suriname South! My companion is Elder Hood and apparently he is a zone leader and a super cool guy so I'm excited to meet him and to be with him! We are flying early Wednesday morning and leaving tomorrow to drive up to Georgetown so I'm packing and getting ready for all of that. And apparently I only get 33 pounds total which is NOT good because I will not be really able to bring anything... So that stinks but we'll see what happens I guess. I'll keep you posted about that.

The past two weeks have been pretty great but pretty hectic at the same time. We weren't in our area a lot so our area struggled a bit which stunk a lot but what can you do? Last P Day we had a pig roast which was super awesome and something that I've never done before. We had some AWESOME lessons with two of our investigators named Kelly and Priya. The lessons with them have been amazing. They have read and pondered and prayed about everything that we've asked them to and they keep getting answers to their prayers and always feel the Spirit when we come and when they pray. Truly praying, reading and pondering helps you receive answers about the Book of Mormon and about anything about the church! It really works and when we put in the effort and have a sincere heart, truly the answers come. We had Kelly pray for us for the first time for us and she was in tears the Spirit was so strong and she just said how happy she was. They're the best and I'm sad that I don't get to see them again... Dang it!

Other than that, we've been doing a lot of service lately for members which has been pretty fun and some good work. Breaking up rocks, cleaning the church, cleaning up yards, painting and setting up Christmas decorations. It's all been some great stuff filled with lots of work.

We had a great PEC on Saturday where home teaching is getting planned and a lot of fellowshipping which is very exciting! Also we finally got a branch mission plan that is actually super good and I'm very excited about it even though I won't be in the area anymore...

We also had a powerful lesson with the Abbensett family where sister Abbensett bore a super powerful testimony on Jesus Christ and his love for us. It was an awesome lesson and it is so awesome to see people's testimonies grow of the Savior especially at this Christmas season! Great moments and we truly need to remember the real reason that we have Christmas. It's all about the Savior and what he has done for us. I hope we all can remember the true meaning of Christmas and keep Christ in our hearts.

It was really hard to say goodbye to all my friends here but I know that I'm supposed to be in Suriname. It's where the Lord wants me. Lots of goodbyes and lots of fun memories with many people here. Guyana is amazing and I've loved my time here.

Thanks also everyone for the birthday wishes because I really appreciate it! You all are the best and thanks for thinking about me! You're all in my prayers and I'll be in Suriname the next time I email! Love you all!

-- 

~Elder Burr

New Amsterdam, Guyana

Parker's bed?

Service

Parker and the bird

Making a mess

Elder Hunt and Elder Burr

Beautiful sunsets

 Elder Cook, Adrian and Elder Burr

 Pig roast.  (They are using an ironing board to roast it!?)

 Pig Roast from last Monday.

 Heading to Trinidad for the day.

 Elder Hunt and Elder Burr

 Service opportunities

 Hilton and Elder Burr

 Kelly and Priya

 Elder Burr, Priya, Kelly, and Elder Hunt

 Sonia and her family

 Clint and Marceline

 GQ pose