November 18, 2015

A wonderful person in Guatemala sent this link to Caitlyn.  It's our Elder Buhrley in Palin.  It's great to see his smile and hear his voice.  We're so grateful he has the opportunity to serve the Lord.

November 24, 2015

HEY EVERYONE!

I am still in Palin! I am still with Elder Duran! I am soo happy to be with Elder Duran and to also be able to be here for NAVIDAD! CHRISTMAS!!

This week has been a really hard one. We got rejected by everyone! The only cool thing that happened was that we were in a little commercial thing. My mom has the video if you guys want to see it.   (This is Mom.  You can see the video here.)

I really dont have much to write. I sat in the sacrament meeting this Sunday absolutely defeated... I sat there in absolute despair just praying about what the heck more I could do. Nothing hurts more when you work you heart out and there are no fruits. We had 14 people who told us FOR SURE they were going to be at church.. and then passing them and they all had the stupidest excuses! AHHH it's so rough. I was completely defeated. I was praying, I wanted to receive my answers. 

"Where do you want me to go?! I'll go there! just tell me where! What am I doing wrong?! I'll fix it just please tell me! Why cant we see success?! What do I need to do Father?!" 

And then the Spirit just spoke peace to my soul. I felt terrible but it was all swallowed up in the Spirit. I felt peace. I know that what I had done this last week was acceptable in God's eyes. I know and testify that the Holy Ghost is the Great Comforter. He comes when we invite him. He is there when you need him. Christ really suffered everything: pains, sins, adversities, problems, absolutely everything. He suffered what you are suffering. He overcame what you are suffering. He knows how to comfort you. He will send the Holy Ghost and he will comfort you when you feel absolutely terrible. He will help you overcome your adversities.I know this is true. When you can't stand, kneel. Pray with all the power of your soul and you will receive what you are looking.

Ever since then I have finding a lot of ways to better myself as a missionary. My companion and I are already seeing miracles this week. We go through the hard because God is preparing us for the good. I don't know what will happen this week. I hope we will be able to see the good, but if we are rejected again... it's all good. There are some things that only God can control. 

Pics- My companion got a Christmas package and it had Christmas lights and a big Rudolf poster! We have our Christmas hats and our ties and are so pumped for Christmas!

This is my new district! I have the most time in the mission in my district which is soo weird! I feel like I entered yesterday! 

I love you guys so much! Thanks for all the support! 

Elder Buhrley

November 17, 2015

Hey Everyone,

Dang I cannot believe I am writing again!

This change is coming to an end and we will receive a call tomorrow to see if I am leaving Palin or if I will be here to complete 6 months here in Palin! I am feeling like I am leaving but I guess we will see!

This change flew by soooo fast. I didn't feel it at all. I learned so many things in these past 6 weeks. This only thing I regret is that we didn't baptize anyone this change... Man that hurts. It gets so discouraging when you work your hardest and it's not working out. Frustrating. I am so ready for this next change. Start over again new. 

Something that's going on is that my companion and I are doing a commercial about the church and about the missionaries here in Palin. The ward mission leader works for a local TV station and he called us  and said that he wants everyone to know the missionaries and the church. So Elder Duran and I are going to have an interview with him and be able to share testimony; it will be kind of cool. We will be famous. haha

Spiritual thought... I have been really studying the doctrine of conversion lately. It's really an incredible thing. It doesn't happen over night. It doesn't happen in a grand spiritual experience either. Like Alma, he saw an angel, but wasn't converted until he prayed much and fasted much to know through the Holy Ghost. Paul from the Bible saw the resurrected Christ but when he explains to the Corinthianss he says that only through the Holy Ghost you may know. It's so true. Conversion takes place though and only through the Holy Ghost. I have felt the power of the conversion power, in myself and also in my investigators and converts. We are working with a guy and he has smoked for over 55 years and is now almost there to stopping completely. When I found him he was smoking multiple packs a day and yesterday he smoked a half but then he threw it out his window. I see the conversion process in him. He is soo close to being baptized! Also his wife! I am excited for them. I invite you all to strengthen the conversion of yourself. As with the people of King Benjamin, you will not have a desire to sin. The desire of sin is swallowed up in the desire to follow Christ and being closer to him. Alma 22:15-"I will give up all of my sins to know the(God)." To be more converted we must give up all of our sins. Through repentance we can come to know our Savior and have a personal relationship with God and Jesus Christ. 

Wel.. I love you guys so much!!! Thanks for all the support!

Elder Buhrley

PS  We played ping pong. The last place I played was in the Criddle house :.....(

November 10, 2015

HEYY!

I always sit down at the computer and forget what happened this past week. Ha

We had a really good week. We saw some really cool miracles and we sacrificed to see miracles. We worked out heart out and got rejected again but it's all good because we found the people that the Lord has been preparing.

We have some people who are progressing but THEY DIDN'T GO TO CHURCH! We had 11 people who told us to pass by their house so we could go to church together but ALL of them had an excuse... I was so torn in church. If you don't go to church you can't get baptized! It was a really rough Sunday because only 2 of our investigators went.. It really hurts to be working your tail off and not being able to see the fruits of your labor. Sunday was a rough one..

We had a few people set to get baptized this week but can't do it now because they didn't go to church. It's been really hard to baptize in these last few weeks.

One thing that happened was that we went to Walmart for a zone p-day. You read that right. We got pumped up as a zone to go visit a Walmart. It was my first time stepping foot in a Walmart in over 9 months. It was cool to see some of the food that I ate so often before the mission. ha

We had a lesson with a pastor of a Evangelical church. He was crazy! He wanted to Bible bash at first and I have learned that you don't want to do that. Bible bashing really is just your opinion of what the scripture means against how he interpreted the scripture. I just told him, "If you want to Bible bash, we will leave right now. It will waste our time and yours. We have a message to share, if you want to listen, we will stay." He told us he would listen so we shared a little with him. He then went on to tell us that he had fasted for 37 days and saw God and Christ one day and that he is a prophet. So that was a cool lesson. I'm finding a lot of people like that now a days. ha

Spiritual thought. If we aren't enjoying the gospel its because we aren't living it, or living it but not living it correctly. God made a plan and His plan is perfect. The goal of this plan is happiness. That's Gods desire for us. The plan is His Gospel. We need to follow the plan in order to find the happiness! Follow the plan that our Father in Heaven has for us and you will find happiness! You need to follow it with you heart. There are many people who go to church but don't go to bring themselves closer to Christ. Many people read the scriptures but don't meditate in the scriptures. I invite you all to find the joy in the gospel!

I love you guys so much! Here is a photo of one of the 4 volcanoes that we can see from our house that was spitting lava the other night!

Love you all,

Elder Buhrley


 

November 3, 2015

Dang this week was one heck of one!

Happy Halloween! The Guatemalans don't celebrate Halloween so that was a bummer.. Man I love Halloween! They celebrate the Day of the Dead, which is just a big excuse to get drunk, just like any other celebration here. But we got to take the young men to the cemetery this Saturday to look for their ancestors for baptisms for the dead so that wasn't too bad.

Man this last week was soo hard! My companion and I (Elder Duran) have been working our butts off. We are waking up extra early to get out of the house extra early to find people. We have been killing ourselves, but we are getting rejected! As President Markham tells me, "Elder Buhrley, get used to rejection because you will be getting rejected by all the girls after the mission too!" haha but really it was a really rough week. It gets frustrating when you are working so hard and then you can't see any fruit from your labors. But we suffered with patience and we saw some awesome miracles! We didn't find hardly anyone until Saturday but on Saturday found a ton of new investigators! My companion and I were dancing our way home that night.  Haha, it felt soooo good! But the Day of the Dead was Sunday, so everyone thought it was a good excuse to not go to church. Only half of the attendees went that normally go.... 

God puts us though suffering and hard times to learn. I've learned this on my mission. We go through suffering to be worthy of the blessings. You can read in the Bible or the Book of Mormon and the joy always comes AFTER the pain or suffering. Like with Alma the son and how he received forgiveness of his sins. He never feels so much pain and anguish, then after he never felt so much joy. God puts us through the hard as he is preparing the good. 

Also some stuff has been going on in the district. I love my district! They are all soo awesome! I have a pair of Elders and Hermanas (Sisters). One of the sister's grandma, whom she lived with before the mission, passed away. Man that was so hard! She is soo awesome, though, so she has been using it to push herself even harder. Sometimes is hard to get along because of pride. It really sucks. We are doing divisions today and I am going to really show em how to love their companions. That's one thing that I am learning here. GOTTA LOVE YOUR COMPANION:) 

I love my companion. Elder Duran. He is soo awesome. We laugh so much and are working really hard. I am loving this change! 

I found Egg Nog. Wow I was so pumped. That stuff sent me way back to the days at home!

I love you guys so much! Thanks for all the support!

Elder Buhrley

October 27, 2015

Hi Everyone,

This week went by so fast and I really don't have much to say.

This was a solid week and we worked really hard. It was a lot of fun and I am learning a lot everyday. Really, we are seeing miracles everyday. They are simple but so sweet. I love the mission field so much.

Man I really don't know what to say, we are just working hard but the people of Guatemala didn't go to church this last Sunday because they all voted for president.. stupid Jimmy Morales. So we didn't get all of our investigators to church.. That always kills.

On to the more spiritual stuff I guess..

I absolutely love the mission. I can't explain the changes I have made here in Guatemala. I love challenging people for baptism. We do it in every first visit and it's such an awesome experience. I came here on the mission to convert others but really I have found that I am converting myself. With every baptismal challenge, I put myself in my investigators shoes, and I am challenging myself. I look in their eyes and it reminds me a lot of myself. I was baptized when I was 8 but I wasn't converted until many years after. Once in my life I was just like them, and it doesn't matter who it is, a drunk, single mother of 5, a kid whose both parents have died, I feel an absolute connection to them all. With every baptism, I feel like I'm rebaptizing myself. I absolutely love the mission. I remember the beginning of my mission, lying down at night and thinking, "I don't know the language, no one wants to hear us, going home doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world." Something has really changed. I feel so changed through the Atonement. I love my Savior. If anyone is thinking about serving, just do it. But for all of you, remember that the gospel is something we can use to grow. Christ gave and suffered the Atonement so that we can change and become better. 

The Gospel is Joy. Alma 5:26-"And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" This scripture hit me hard the other day. Are we feeling the song of redeeming love? Are we changed by it?

Sorry this email was lame! I love you all!!

Elder Buhrley!

From letter to family: 

I'm healthy, I don't need anything. I feel soo good. haha Don't worry about me. I am all good!

Gosh I love you guys so much! Halloween! I will miss it soo much. I will be knocking doors in the rain. It's raining so much here and it just destroys. haha We are suffering but we are doing it with patience because God will bless. I am so stoked for the month. 

District leader. I was up til 11:30 the other night doing dats. haha I get to call my district every night and give them all advice and see how they are working. I get to direct the district meeting. I am always talking with the zone leaders. Really it's not that big of a deal. It's something fun. I enjoy being able to grow closer with my district. 

I love you guys. I don't have much to say. Enjoy halloween. I miss you guys a lot. I hope all is well. Only 2 months til christmas and we will talk! haha

October 20, 2015

Hey everyone!

This week has been crazy! I recieved my new companion, Elder Duran, who is from Honduras and just left his training. It's been so much fun to be with him. He is CRAZY but awesome! haha We are working on a few things! I love my companion!

This week was really weird. I got called as a district leader. It's been a big jump from being the junior companion to being a district leader. I am learning so much! It's such a great opportunity to be able to serve my district. DISTRITO PALIN!! haha today I got to direct my first district meeting! It was a lot of fun! 

I also did my first baptismal interviews! They were with the sisters of Cathy (I baptized her last month). There are 3 of them so I got to interview them and that was fun. They worship me! haha I think it's because I'm white, but I'll take it! They wanted my companion and me to baptize them so that was fun to dunk them all! 

We had a kid who was set to be baptized this Sunday but after a lesson with his dad, where we asked for permission, he won't be getting baptized until he is is 18.. Gosh it was so hard. The dad is like half pastor at an Evangelist church, and my companion started to bring up doctrine and started talking about the priesthood with him.. I wanted to slap my companion at that moment.. Never bring up doctrine with Evangelists, they are really hard hearted about their beliefs. It doesn't matter if the Bible says the opposite, they won't except it and it just makes them mad. It was such a hard experience because Anthony, the kid, who is 15, was crying after the lesson. I felt like I had failed him. Man it was a rough one...

Spiritual thought. Our mission President has often said, "Get down on your knees and pray, if you can't feel the Holy Ghost then you stay on your knees and pray until you can feel the Holy Ghost fill you." I love thinking about praying like that. Prayer is not a checklist. Prayer is something spiritual. You are literally talking to your Father in Heaven. You need to feel it, and if you don't feel it, stay there on your knees and pour out your soul unto you can feel it. 

I love you guys so much! Thanks for all the help and support! Enjoy your lives but always remember to put God first in all things! LOTS OF LOVE!

Elder Buhrley