April 26, 2016

Hey everyone! This week was normal. 

We have worked hard this week and it was fun. Elder Sorto and I are changing our way of working in our area 100% so it's been fun! We are looking at 3 baptisms this Sunday. We have Ismael, Cristian (his son) and Egma (Wife of Cristian). They all know they want to get baptized but not this Sunday. Elder Sorto and I have planned a killer week with lessons with them in different houses of members and with the best members in our ward. We are going to be having a great spiritual experience with them every day and the Spirit will lead them to the waters of baptism. We are going to close this deal! They will be getting baptized this Sunday!

Other than that I don't have much to say. Working hard and have been receiving a lot of revelation lately on how I can better myself as a missionary! It's exciting! 

The other day I was read Joshua 1:9 with some recent converts,

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. 

Sometimes we over think things. God has not commanded us to be perfect the first try. He has commanded us to be strong and of good courage, or in other words, He commands us to try our best. He tells us not to be afraid, just to have faith in Him. And the promise is true, when we do these things He will be with us, guiding us, helping us, picking us up when we fall. This promise is the same promise that we receive as we partake of the sacrament every Sunday. Just try your best. Trust in God. We will fall, but He will be with us and make things be all right. 

I love you guys! Thanks for all the support! 

Elder Buhrley

April 19, 2016

Hey! We are seeing so many miracles! I will share the biggest from this last week! 

This last week Elder Sorto and I were set on baptizing but didn't have anyone to baptize! We then starting to work like crazy in our area book and wrote down all the people who had attendances to see if we could find a miracle with one of them. We were visiting them but then Saturday came around and we still didn't have anyone to baptize. 

Elder Cox and Elder Rosas are two elders in my zone and they had a baptism and needed me to go and do the interview. The baptismal candidate could only do it at 8pm and there wasn't a bus to get back to my area so we all thought that it would be a good idea to do divisions. So we planned on me going to the area of these Elders from Saturday to Sunday. 

Saturday morning I was just talking to Elder Cox, who is a stud, and he told me, ¨Elder Sorto and I are going to find someone in your area to baptize tomorrow!¨ and I kind of told him the same thing back and then he told me ¨Bro, I had a dream last night that your companion and I found someone today who had already gone to church and I did the interview with him and he got baptized tomorrow.¨ 

I didn't think much of it but left my area and went to work with Elder Rosas. Elder Rosas and I killed ourselves but every single one of the appointments that he planned fell through. We were getting rejected left and right, and to make things worse, during our first lesson we visited a family in an alley. There was a cat lying down in front of us and a car came driving by and ran over the cat. The cat was rolling in circles shooting blood with its eyes bulging out of its head and I just grabbed the little girl of this family and kept her from watching her cat die like that. haha it was soo bad! Then Elder Rosas and I went on for a little while longer in rejection and a druggy wanted to fight Elder Rosas! It was really funny but at the same time it sucks when you can't find a lesson!

A goat I found on P-day :)

 I then received a call from my companion, he said ¨I'm shaking! Elder Cox is doing a baptismal interview for a guy that we just found who had gone to church before!¨ Apparently Elder Sorto and Elder Cox went around in our area looking through the old investigators and went to a house looking for Octavio (old investigator) when they came across Cruz, his brother. When they entered into the house Elder Cox leaned over the my companion and told him that this was his dream. When they sat down with Cruz, a 19 year old stud, they started talking a little bit. Elder Cox in all boldness told Cruz that he had seen him in his dream last night, and that he was ready and prepared to be baptized. They challenged him to get baptized the next day and Cruz accepted. It was sooo crazy! What a miracle! God really is preparing people for his gospel in many different ways. It was awesome seeing Cruz get baptized. God really does work miracles in the lives of the faithful. Do you have enough faith to see a miracle today?

I love you guys! Look for the miracles in your life! 

Elder Buhrley

My Zone

April 13, 2016

Hey everyone! This week was awesome!

I want to start off with the big miracle that my companion and I saw. After the priesthood session of General Conference with the talk by Elder Nelson about the power of the priesthood, I had been praying a lot to really understand the power of the priesthood I hold and I have been asking God what I need to have more priesthood power. I received an answer this last Wednesday. Elder Sorto had contacted Carlos in the street Tuesday and put a lesson with him for Wednesday. We got to the house of Carlos and Carlos showed us his wife who was on her death bed. She had been in bed and hadn't eaten anything for over a week. She couldn't talk or hear. She looked horrible, but this humble family in the tin house couldn't afford any medical treatment. I just felt deep in my chest that we needed to give her a blessing and Elder Sorto felt the same. We gave her a blessing declaring that she would receive full health. The family was very thankful and we scheduled a lesson with them for another day. While on divisions with Elder Cox we were working close to the house of Carlos and Maria so I decided to see how they were doing. I knocked the door and Maria answered it. She was walking. She had been healed. She then gave us thanks with tears in her eyes. Carlos and Maria both went to church this last Sunday and are preparing for the 24th for their baptism. God is a God of miracles. His power is here in the earth and its held by the worthy priesthood holders of His church. 

This last week was full of miracles. We found 5 families who are progressing. It feels so good to teach and testify to families that they can be together forever and that God has prepared a way for them to have a complete joy in the life through the gospel that he gave us through His son.

So.. My fam went to Hawaii. I felt that I needed to throw down some money also so I invited some Elders to Dominoes on divisions. haha It was Elder Rosas' birthday.

Love you all! Thanks for all the support!

Elder Buhrley

April 5, 2016

Hey everyone! This week was crazy! It was a lot of fun though!

So my companion and I were really stoked for this week and our plans changed rapidly. I hadn't had a personal study in 2 weeks so on Friday I got Elder Sorto up nice and early to be able to have a personal study. We got 15 minutes of study when we got a call from President saying that we needed to find the sisters in our zone a new house that same day.. So we didn't get to study but instead we went to find the hermanas a house. Something happened with the Hermanas that... well.. if it were to happen with Elders no action would have taken place, but with hermanas it's a little different. Gotta protect the Hermanas! :) So my companion and I spent the whole day working our hardest to find them a house in the hardest housing market in all of Guatemala. It was rough! But at the closing of the day we found them a house and we, with members help, moved the hermanas' stuff from their old house to the new house. We finished really late and had to get up early again the next day to clean their old house and then talk with the landlord and do paperwork. With conference and that experience we didn't work in our area for 2 days. haha but it was a fun little adventure.

Conference was incredible! I loved every second of it! I took 3 questions into Conference and received answers to all of them! It's incredible to have set apart men and women like them! 

Sunday night Elder Sorto and I called some converts but they didn't answer the phone. We called them 4 times, because Guatemalans never answer the first or second time, and they still didn't answer. We then felt that we needed to pass by their house, so we followed our feelings. We found the young couple crying together with their kids in a different room. My companion and I followed the feelings and thoughts that were given to us by the Holy Ghost and we were able to find out exactly what was going on. They had been fighting and were having troubles in their marriage. With everything that my companion and I were able to learn from Conference about marriage we were able to help them and give them the advice that helped them in that moment. There are so many experiences like that in the mission and it feels so good to know that God is guiding you. Look for ways to be an instrument in the Lords hands! 

I don't have time! Love you guys! 

Elder Buhrley

March 30, 2016

Hey! Easter passed and I literally forgot that it was Easter! I just knew that all the Catholics were burning everything but it never crossed my mind that you all were looking for eggs and eating chocolate. haha

This week was awesome! We had changes! I am going to miss Elder Guzman! That guy is a stud. I learned so much with him. I am now with Elder Sorto! We entered the mission together and always said that we were going to be companions and now we are! We are so excited! Get ready for some baptism photos! ;)

My birthday was fun! Ate cake with some recent converts families that I absolutely love! 

I really don't have much to say. I love the mission. I love life! Sorry I am so lame that I can't think of anything right now. I need to write down what I am going to say in my weekly emails.. haha

I love you guys! Thanks for everything! 

Elder Buhrley

P.S.  Family:  Did you guys get the pic of my leg? hahah I fell down a rain gutter. How funny, right? We were just walking down a street and I was looking at a house to see if we should knock it or not and I took a big step into an open rain gutter. The next thing I knew I was standing in a big hole and the steet was at eye level. My companiona and I were laughing so hard and pulled myself out and we went and knocked a few doors and then we saw that I had a big gash in my leg and we laughed even harder. We walked to the nearest member's house and another member came over and gave me stitches in a tin house. haha I love Guatemala

March 22, 2016

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I cant believe im soo old! 

This week was really good! I am going to keep the letter short! We have been working really hard and its been a lot of fun. I love mission work.

The change is ending this next week but ill be staying here. I'm so excited about what this next change has in store!  

My spiritual thought is from what I was reading in D & C 88:65-80ish. I can't really remember the verses perfectly. What it talks about is being full of light. To be full of light we have to put our minds in the glory of God. Change our minds to be in line with Gods will. God gives a pretty stern statement, ´Sanctify yourselves´. and then it goes on the says that the commandment from God is to rid yourselves of bad thoughts. I really don't know how it all goes because I read it in Spanish and now I'm trying to translate the general message. ha but I loved these scriptures. We all need to fix our minds, master of our minds. What we think really means everything. Where our thoughts are are where are actions are. God wants us to sanctify our thoughts and he will will fill us full of light. I love that promise. It's an incredible promise that I have felt in my life as I have been serving, where you just know exactly what to say to help someone. Where you just feel led by the Holy Ghost to a place where someone needed to hear from you. Sanctify yourselves by sanctifying your thoughts. I'm not perfectly sanctified but the difference that I have experimented is incredible.

Love you all! Thanks for everything! 

Elder Buhrley

March 15, 2016

Hey! 

This last week was great! We had the wedding and it was awesome! We also had 2 baptisms! Karla and Ana made convenants! I hardly got to work in my area this week because iv been on the constant division trail to take care of the Elders in our zone. Elder Guzman and I killed ourselves this last week but it was a lot of fun! 

Elder Guzman and I just felt the impression to visit the house of some Elders last Wednesday and we found them in their beds watching a movie at 12:30 in the afternoon. That was the most disappointing thing. I chewed them out real good.. Then looking at them sitting in their guilt and remorse it hit me- How great is the patience of God? How patient is He with each and every one of us? I can't remember the quote perfectly but Elder Holand said once, ¨Imperfect people are the only type of people that God has had to work with."  I have a long ways to go to develop more patience and more love. I bet it would get pretty frustrating to work with me , but thank goodness that God is perfect, and He is patient with me and loves me even though I am completely imperfect. What God really wants from us is change, and thank goodness I am changing a lot! 

Something else that hit me hard this week was a lesson that we had in our area with all our recent converts (our area are only recent converts). We talked about faith and trials. We shared the scriptures in Mosiah 24:14-15. God sees fit to chasten his people to try their patience and faith. It's so true. Without trials we wouldn't be able to grow. I talked a little bit about exercise and how God is the perfect personal trainer. We get baptized and think that we are all good and God will pour out blessings over us. But we sometimes forget that the blessings only come after the trial (D and C 58:4). We will put the example that our faith is like a muscle. To grow a muscle we must work it hard and push it to the limits. When we lift weights we are actually destroying this muscle so that it grows even stronger. God puts these weights in our lives. He puts us under pressure so that we can grow strong after. He is the perfect personal trainer and only puts on our shoulders what He knows we can handle. He wants us to grow. I don't have time but that's my thought.. I can't finish it. haha 

Love you guys!

Elder Buhrley

March 8, 2016

Wow! Time flies!

This past week was really good. We did divisions almost every day. Divisions are so draining! The only day we didn't do divisions my companion, Elder Guzman, got really sick and we had to go to the hospital. I wanted to die sitting in a hospital for 24 hours without being able to do anything. I got to write letters to my converts which was something nice. 

Our wedding didn't happen.. Guatemalan law is so dumb. We had to do some more stuff with the paperwork but Martin and Ana are getting married tomorrow and Ana is getting baptized this Sunday. We are also baptizing Karla this Sunday so that should be good. 

Today was my first zone training. My companion and I got to talk to the whole zone and it was cool. We talked about excuses. Really, excuses are from Satan. God is not a God of excuses. We just said, "We are not going to listen to any more excuses. From this day forward, no excuses. We know that things happen and that we don't always meet goals but we don't want to hear why you didn't meet them. We want to hear what you are going to do differently in the future to meet them. "

Our minds are so powerful. Sometimes, well not sometimes, about all the time we are the ones who limit ourselves. "The members don't work with us, our Bishop isn't very supportive, our ward mission leader doesn't do anything, no one wants to listen to us, etc..." We put these barriers in our mind. Barriers that are between us and success. Moroni 7:33 We are able to do all Christ is able to do. Do you think that God limits us? Absolutely not; we are the ones that limit ourselves. We put these imaginary barriers in our minds. We build our own excuses and doubts (with a huge help from Satan). 2nd nephi 27:23.. I invite you guys to read chapter 17 of 1st Nephi. It teaches how we need to work in order to have success. Look deeply into the example of Nephi and how he built that ship. 

I love my mission. I'm so proud to be a representative of the Lord. I love this time I am having in Guatemala. I love my Savior and am so grateful for all that he has done for me. I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost in my life, teaching me and guiding me through it all. I love my Father who is in Heaven. I love life. Thanks for everything and all the support! Love you all! 

Elder Buhrley

March 1, 2016

Hi All,

I'm in an Internet shop right now with Packer Wilkes and we are just chatting about the good ole Lone Peak days. haha. He is one of the assistants in our mission and we are doing divisions.

This last week we had an area 70 come to our mission, President Duncan. He is an incredible man and it was a true privilege to hear from him. He taught us about how God is hastening his work and how we need to always be changing and receiving revelation on how to do it. It was awesome and he just blew our minds away with some of his ideas.

The day after the meeting we had a leadership counsel in President's house.  President Duncan was there and he just blew us away again. It was so powerful and we are putting into practice a lot of new things. I'm so excited for the work!

We have a wedding tomorrow! We have 2 baptisms this Sunday! Other than that.. not much to say! I love you all so much!

Elder Buhrley

Photo- Every one of my houses has had weird animals, This house we have a cow. haha