Flat Tires!!

The area is doing well, but a big struggle this past week was in lots of things that took time out from proselyting. On Tuesday, I had to help Elder geigenmiller with the drivers license which took a ton of time away from our area and we also had 3 flat tires this week that were frustrating and took time away from getting out as well. Other than that, the area is doing pretty well, but almost no investigators came to church again which was another disappointment. It's been really hard getting them to church, especially the ones in Groningen. We're still working hard though and in faith and the investigators that we do have are reading and keeping commitments, but just not exercising the faith to come to church. Miguel is doing really well and is continuing to read so we're excited for him. Our active members are doing well though and recovered from their sicknesses so that was great and the talks given on Sunday were awesome! This area is so cool though! I love it here and we're seeing so much progress in our investigators in reading and praying and receiving answers, but they just have to take the leap of faith and to come to church. We're excited for this upcoming Sunday and are expecting a lot to come so we'll see what happens! A spiritual experience that I had this past week was with our investigator Meredise. We taught about the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon and committed her to be baptized and she said the typical, "I've already been baptized." But we talked about Priesthood Authority and testified of Joseph Smith and she was able to understand and accepted the baptismal date! She also had read which prepared her for the lesson, but it was just cool to see the Spirit work in her and teach her. Missions are just awesome and you have so many cool experiences every day! One other cool thing that happened is that we were guided by God to find a less active that we didn't know existed and he promised us in our lesson yesterday that he would read from the Book of Mormon and come to church next week. He really wants to change his life and is just great!

Life is going great and I'm just loving my mission here! Crazy that Tyler is home now! Time is just going too fast and I'm going to do my best to make these last months of my mission count! No regrets! You all are awesome! Love you all! Lobi!

-- 

~Elder Burr

 Here are a few pictures finally!

 Parker and Elder Lunceford

The Book of Mormon is True!

Hey everyone! I hope that you had a wonderful week and are enjoying the rain if you live in California! You're getting more than Suriname!

We had a good week this past week and we really just worked hard and saw some cool miracles! We found this person named Jerrel and he was actually a referral from one of our investigators so we contacted him and he said we could come by sometime. So we went on a search for his house and finally found it in the jungle and I'm just going to say that he has the coolest house I've ever seen! He is completely self-sufficient! He has a solar panel for his electricity and gets his water from the rain and heats his water with wood fires. His place just looks so cool and he lives a simple life, but is so happy! We're pumped for him and his son and they've already started reading in the Book of Mormon so we're pretty pumped. One struggle this week was that all of our members got super sick! I don't know what happened! All of the sudden they just all got sick at the same time and two of them had talks in church but had to cancel them. It was pretty crazy! Probably the coolest thing that happened this week was with our investigator named Miguel. First of all he's awesome and has so many fruit trees and vegetable plants everywhere so we always have a ton of food to bring home from his house. He's a stud. But we committed him to read and pray and ask if the Book of Mormon is true. Well he did it and guess what? He got an answer!!!! He just brought it up before us asking about it and was so pumped! We are super excited and he is just progressing so well now! Ahhh! It's the best!

Also today we had some serious sporting with our zone and man I'm exhausted and out of shape! It's not so easy to run as it once was! I'm excited to get back into running when I get back home though but the time in the mission is going way too fast! That was our week though and we're excited for another great one!

Loving the mission and it's going by too fast as I've already said. Make sure you're reading every day out of the Book of Mormon! It'll help you always stay strong! love you all! Lobi!

-- 

~Elder Burr

*Can't access pictures on this computer so I will send them next week! Sorry!*

Area Conference!

Hey everyone! Hope everyone had a wonderful week!

We had a good week this past week and had some cool things happen. We finally were able to visit all of our members this week and we had great spiritual experiences with them. For example we saw Brother Schipper and he just bore his powerful testimony on how this is the only true church. So cool to see that so many members are so strong and know that the Book of Mormon is true! We found a new person this week named Miguel and we had a few lessons with him and he accepted a baptismal invitation which is sweet! He's super humble and seems prepared to accept the gospel in his life. Very cool stuff and we're pumped for him. Romero is also doing great, but was out of town for most of the week so we couldn't see him. He's great though and is getting his bike this week to go to church! Super awesome stuff! I also got to go on an exchange with Elder White this week and he's doing awesome! Great missionary and he's grown so much in the few months that he's been on a mission. I'm surrounded by great missionaries and it's so cool to see and to be a part of them. Fenolia is also back! We finally got to see her again after a long time and she's doing well. We invited her to act in faith and to do what it takes to get to church and she accepted, so we're excited to see the miracles from it. One of the coolest experiences that we had though was with our investigator named Eddie. He was not sure what he needed to do since he just turned Christian and chose a church to go to, but then we came and have had powerful spiritual experiences with him. We very boldly told his and testifies that the only way to find out the truth for himself was to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. Super spiritual experience and we testified on how we came to know that this is the true church. Super awesome! Also yesterday we had a Carribean Area conference where Neil L Anderson, Elder Cornish, Elder Christensen and Linda Burton spoke to us over a broadcast and talked a lot about discipleship. Super awesome and it was great to see all the members again since we were all gathered together for it. Loved it and we are excited for a good week this upcoming week!

I hope that we are all doing our best to be true disciples of Christ! People are always watching and even if there aren't people around, God is always watching us as well! Love you all and I love this work! Nothing else I'd rather be doing! Lobi!

-- 

~Elder Burr

*No pictures this week.  He was at a sketchy cyber cafe*

Zone Conferentie!

Hey everyone! How's life? I hope that everything is going well and that you're enjoying your 2017 up to this point!

We had a really good week this past week! We had zone conference this week and interviews with President Egbert and like every time, it was awesome!! Just so good and we made some changes in the mission that will just help me out as a zone leader a lot to have more time in my area and it was just all so good! The zone conference was a lot on planning and a little bit of the gathering of Israel and diligence and it was just a great boost to go out and work even harder and to find all the miracles that are out there waiting for us! We also have a really cool investigator that we are teaching named Romero and he's been progressing great! He's going back to the city today just for a couple days and he's going to bring his bike back so that he can bike to church on Sunday! What a stud! I love people that exercise faith and just do the right things! I did a lot of driving this past week in driving to zone conference and interviews and I think I've got the whole stick shift thing down finally. No problem anymore and driving home from zone conference was pretty crazy! We had the assistants to the President as well which added to the amount of people so here are the statistics of what I was driving:

13 missionaries

1 table

1 chair

125 Book of Mormon's

About 10 packages

It was a packed car! But no problems at all and we were all safe so that was a good time for sure! One cool experience that we had this week was that we were biking up to Groningen (about an hour bike ride) and I didn't even really pay attention to where I wanted to go for an appointment, but it was just like my bike was lead to go somewhere so I was just guided by the Spirit and we ended up at a less actives house and they just really needed us to come by. We were able to testify to her that God loves her no matter what and that she can receive strength in her trials through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Very cool to be guided by the Spirit and to know that we were meant to be there at that time! One other awesome thing was church on Sunday. The testimony meeting was just full of the Spirit and the lesson in the second hour was just incredible. You could feel everyone in the room getting so pumped to read the scriptures and to just feel that this is the true church. Don't really know how to describe it, but everyone just got so excited about the gospel!

That was our week this past week and we're pumped to be in our area the entire week this upcoming week!

I hope that you all know that God loves you and that Jesus Christ lives. I love you all and I know that this gospel is true! You all are the best! Have a wonderful week!

-- 

~Elder Burr

 Little bit of Christmas

 My Surinamese drivers license!

 Elder Burr

My wall of quotes!

2017???

Hey everyone and happy 2017!! That's so weird to say! Time is flying by as always and it needs to slow down at some point! The mission is just zipping by and it feels like I have no time left!

We had a good week, but it was pretty crazy with the end of the year and the craziness going on. Not many people were home and less wanted to meet so that was a bit of a struggle. Still had some cool miracles and were able to experience some success. Our investigator Christine is progressing great and is getting closer and closer to baptism. She's just got to come to church now which will take a lot of faith, but she can do it I'm sure of it. The Lord will always provide a way! I also got to go to Koewarasan and do two baptismal interviews for people in their area named Dejong and Raphaella. They both were very prepared and passed no problem! So we got to go to their baptism on Saturday as well which was pretty exciting! Church was a bit of a struggle since everyone was in the city, so we only had 7 people but they'll all be back next week so it should be no problem.

Two super cool spiritual experiences that I had this past week were with one of our members, Steve Kabenda, and with one of the baptismal interviews. About a week ago we had a lesson with Steve and he told us that the branch president asked him to be the branch mission leader, but he was doubting if he could do it and was lacking a little faith. As we had the lesson with him, I felt inspired to share 3 Nephi 13:33 with him that says that we need to put God first in our lives and then everything else will work out for our good. Well we saw him again on Sunday and he shared with us that he was thinking about that scripture that entire week and was pondering it and praying about what he should do with him business and with the potential calling. Well he ultimately came to the conclusion that he needed to worry more about the things that God wanted him to do and to accept the calling. As he said that, the Spirit came so strong just testifying that that was the right decision and it was so cool! We're pumped to have him as the branch mission leader since we need one so bad!

The other experience was in the baptismal interview with Raphaella. She was explaining how she's had some hard times in her life and that things haven't been easy as of late. As I was talking with her, I can't even remember what I said but I know that the words were guided by the Spirit. When she was bearing her testimony at the baptism, she mentioned how the words that I said were exactly what she needed to hear at that time. It was just so cool because I know that the words didn't come from me, but they came from God through the Holy Ghost. I was honored to be an instrument in the hands of God at that time. So cool!

The Gospel is true and I know that it is how we can receive the eternal blessings that God has in store for us. If you're not doing this already, I would just encourage you to read the Book of Mormon every day and to have a spiritual experience in there each and every day. It's true! I know that this is God's church and I'm so grateful to be a missionary. No other place that I'd rather be! Ik hou van jullie allemaal en ik hoop dat jullie een geweldig 2017 hebben! Lobi!

-- 

~Elder Burr

(Fotos? - They will come next week! I'm at a sketchy place to email and I don't want to risk pictures being corrupted! Next week! Lobi!)

Vrolijk Kerst!!!

Hey everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas because mine sure was great! Getting to talk to my family again was definitely the highlight and feeling of their love! This Christmas I've been able to focus more on the Savior and it was truly able to be one of the best Christmases that I have ever had, being closer to the Savior and truly thinking about why we celebrate Christmas!

Church was awesome and we had a Christmas feast afterwards with the members that was super fun and they are all doing great! Some long time less actives came and just loved it and the branch is continuing to grow! Great things are happening here! We also got a super cool new investigator named Romero that is super prepared and accepted a baptismal date so we're super pumped for that! Love it here in Uitkijk and I loved hearing from many of you! Thank you for the emails, they really are a boost to me each week that inspires me to continue working harder and giving my all to the Lord! There's no other place I'd want to be than here! I love Suriname and I love Christmas! Sorry the email is a little shorter! I'll do better next week :)

Ik hou van jullie allemaal en ik hoop dat jullie een geweldige kerst hebben gehad! Vergeet niet dat Christus altijd daar voor ons is! Lobi!

--

~Elder Burr

 Christmas with the Suriname missionaries

 The Three Wise Men

 Practicing "We Three Kings"

 The Suriname Missionaries on Christmas Eve!

Sister Vernes, Sister Parker, Elder Lunceford, Elder Burr

Go!!!!!

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas! I guess it's still a little early, but by the time that I email next week, Christmas will have already passed! Pretty crazy! Looking forward to this special time to remember the Savior and to recommit myself to follow Him even more. What a wonderful time of the year!

We had a pretty good week this past week even though their was a lot of busy work! Biggest struggle this week was just not having time to do much. We were transitioning to having me have the car and I had to run some errands with it and the Crawfords also asked me to do some stuff, so the time just went away. Also on Wednesday Elder Jennings had to help teach me drive and we had to do stuff in the city, so there went more time. Just not much time to actually work in our area. A big success this week was in finding Errol (the husband of Tiffany). Tiffany is a member and we felt inspired to ask her if we could share a lesson with her and her husband joined in who isn't a member and he seemed very interested in the message. We had a solid lesson with him and are seeing him again tonight! Pretty awesome and we're super excited! Some highlights of the week were definitely driving and learning how to use stick shift for the first time haha. The streets are crazy packed here in Suriname as well so that added to the excitement! Getting it down pretty well now though (I think) thanks to help from on high! The best though was we got stuck once (Elder Jennings was actually driving so it was his fault) in crazy mud and we had no traction and it was pouring down rain. It was a disaster but some very nice Surinamers helped us out and we eventually got free. The best past of me driving though was I was backing up into the middle of a super busy street and keep in mind what is happening here. I am driving stick shift for the first time, while driving on the other side of the car, on the other side of the road in Suriname. So I successfully back up into the street and Elder Jennings jumps back into the car and loudly says, "Go!" So I attempt to go but nothing happened so he sad "Go!" again and nothing happened again so I'm freaking out and we're both just dying of laughter because this is the most pathetic situation ever that I'm just stuck right there with so much traffic not being able to move 😂 So funny and luckily on like the fourth try I was finally able to go. Good times! Another pretty fun experience is that my companion (who is very good with drums) got into a drum battle with a Hindu boy and it was pretty dang sweet. I felt a little silly just standing there but you know, I'd like to say that I did a pretty good job of cheering them on! Afterwards we taught them a lesson and they weren't too interested, but it was still pretty cool. We had a sweet lesson with Fenolia and her two kids about the Plan of Salvation and she's progressing great! Also had a really good lesson with Christine who is also progressing great! She has been exercising a ton of faith because she has found a way to get to church next Sunday by having her brother pick her up for church even though it will overall take him more than 2 hours to do it. They're great! Things are going well here in Uitkijk and we have a fun branch activity planned for Christmas! Life is good!

Don't forget to light the world this Christmas and to help those around you to enjoy this time! I'm grateful for all of you and I hope that we can all remember the true meaning of Christmas this year! Love you all! Lobi!

-- 

~Elder Burr

 Random pictures of me and some cool pots that we helped a member make!