July 26, 2016

Hey friends! 

This week has been a lot of fun! We were able to find and teach a ton of great people and it was a blast! 

First off, we didn't baptize.. Sergio is 17 and his parents aren't too great of people and won't give him permission to be baptized! Hugo, who we are working with right now, will get baptized tomorrow! He is the most prepared person in the whole world and it's so much fun teaching him! He is the most repented person I've ever met. He is from El Salvador and is living here in Chimaltenango right now to work. He left his wife and little girl in El Salvador and wants to change for them. He is a true example to me of someone with a sincere and broken heart. We teach him something and he follows it without a doubt in his mind. His desire to follow Christ is incredible. HE'S A STUD! 

We also had a family of 6 go to church this last Sunday! They loved the church and we are really excited to be teaching them. The Lord really is blessing my companion and me with some great people to teach. 

This week I really learned a lot about virtue. Virtue is a Christlike attribute that takes place in our minds. We are what we think. Every action that we do all starts with a thought. If we are thinking about great things we will do great things. We are as strong as our minds are. The other day in church someone was sharing about something I really liked. He was quoting from the book The Miracle of Forgiveness and asked, "What do we need to do to be condemned?" The answer was "absolutely nothing." 

There are a ton of things that we need to do in our life to be able to enter into the Kingdom of God and if we are not doing anything in our life, that is what is going to condemn us. When we aren't doing anything is when Satan has an opportunity to tempt us. An unoccupied mind is Satan's playground. We need to occupy our mind with good and uplifting thoughts and then follow them. All sin starts from an unoccupied mind. The battle that we all fight in our lives between good and sin really is a battle that is fought in our mind. We can only think one thing at a time, so let's make that one thing a good thing. 

Thanks for all the support! The mission is great! If anyone is thinking about serving just do it! Put your trust in God and serve Him and He will make you someone so much great than you are right now! I love you guys!

Elder Buhrley

July 19, 2016

This week was a lot of fun! We have been working really well and it feels good!

Rafael Solis!

We baptized Rafael Solis! That guy has to be one of the most prepared guys I've ever seen in my life. He truly is someone that God wants in His kingdom. It was a real privilege to baptize him! 

We are working with some more great people that are soooo prepared and it feels so good! These people love to hear the gospel and are keeping all their commitments. It's a true blessing to be in the mission right now. We should baptize 2 more people this Sunday!

I have a few thoughts that I have had on my mind. 

As a Zone Leader I have had a great opportunity to get to know a ton of missionaries. I get to correct them a lot too. What a blessing right? Ha My companion and I were just talking the other day and we noticed that sometimes as leaders, and as people in general, we are just so quick to see the faults in someone. Elder Garcia and I decided that instead of looking for the faults in the missionaries in our zone that we would look for their strengths and what makes them so great. We made a list for every missionary of things that make them so unique and special, a list of their strengths. We have decided to change our way of thinking. We have come to know that every single person that we have in our zone is absolutely unique and special in their own way. It's the same thing in life. Every single person has so many strengths and greatnesses. There is only one of you in the whole world. God doesn't want you to be someone else. He made you to be different from everyone else. He has given to you millions and millions of talents and abilities that others do not have. As Elder Garcia and I have made these lists and handed them out to our missionaries we have seen a big difference in them and their results. They are using more of their God given talents and seeing a lot more success. Each one of us is absolutely special, we should be using the things that God has given us instead of just focusing on our imperfections. 

Another thought

Sergio who should be getting baptized here soon!

The prodigal son. This parable is a story that we should live every day of our lives. Every single day we need to be the son. At night on our knees we need to reconcile ourselves to God. Which the word reconcile literally means - to sit with again. We need to repent and come unto God with all purpose of heart and sit with Him once again. Every day we also must be the father. We all know someone who is a little lost or who is trying to do their best but still messes up and falls. We need to be the one who is there with our arms wide open to receive them and rejoice with them when they are taking steps back to their Father in Heaven. I have felt this parable so personally in my mission. As the son as I get down on my knees and as I partake of the Sacrament. As the father as I get to see the repentance of a dear loved one whom I am teaching and I get to rejoice with him. 

I love you all! Thanks for all the help and support that you have all given me! 

Elder Buhrley

-

July 12, 2016

This week was a lot of fun and Elder Garcia and I are seeing a lot of success in our area! We are way excited for the future and the investigators that we have right now!

We baptized Gladis! It was the best baptism because she was just so happy to be baptized. She had listened to the Elders for a long time and Elder Garcia and I were the fortunate ones to be able to witness her baptize. The last lesson we had with her was one of the most spiritual lessons I've ever had and a few days later she called us telling us that she was going to be baptized Wednesday. WE WERE PUMPED!

We are teaching the craziest but best family right now. Angel and Debora Andino. Angel is from the Bronx New York and Debora is mute, can't talk or hear. Angel can speak more or less Spanish so I'[ve had a lot of opportunity to teach him in English. IT'S SO HARD TO TEACH THE GOSPEL IN ENGLISH! I've gotten so used to teaching in Spanish that teaching in English is just so new and almost uncomfortable. When I am speaking in English I feel like I am in my training again. haha Angel also has never been taught about Christ. In Guatemala every single person has grown up with a religion and knows quite a bit about Christ so it's been something so different teaching Angel in English and teaching someone who doesn't have a good knowledge of Christ. I'm also learning a lot of sign language from Debora. We have a member who can speak a little bit of sign language so we are utilizing her like crazy! They both went to church this last Sunday and felt good there so we are excited for them!

Jesus Christ lives. He came to the world to pay for our sins. He stood in the place of justice for us. He is my Savior. It's something personal. I love Him with all that I have and that's why I am here on the mission. I came thinking I would change others to come to Christ and I have, but what I have found in the process is that I am the one who has changed the most. 

I love you all so much! 

Elder Buhrley 

July 5, 2016

Hey everyone! This last week was awesome! I will just write down some good stuff that happened!

Elder Garcia and I are working really hard. He is such a stud and I am so happy to be with him. This last Thursday we had divisions and I went to work in the area of the other elders and I worked with a new missionary who is in his training. We were working really well and having a ton of fun and that night we went to the house of a member to have a lesson with a recent convert in the house of this member. We entered the house and I started chatting it up with the mom of this family and we got along really well. She told me that her son had died in March from a freak church activity hike that he went on. They went to a volcano and there was a lake and he drowned in the lake. 

My heart sunk so deep for her. When she was telling me this story the recent convert showed up to the house and we said a prayer and I just started to share the plan of salvation with her. I asked a lot of inspired questions and taught her some things that she didn't know about the Plan of Salvation. I taught her that the Spirit World is here on this earth but we just can't see them but her son is here close to her always. It was the most spiritual lesson I've ever been in. 

She then started to tell me her dreams that she had been having and she said that the other night she had a dream that her son, who was 19 and preparing to receive his mission call, was in a wheelchair. She was pushing him in a wheelchair to a place where he wanted to go. The son told her that he needed to go to the bathroom so they stopped in front of the bathroom and she told him that she couldn't go in the boys bathroom and he told her that she couldn't go in the girls bathroom and they stood there and she woke up. 

It was the craziest thing ever but I just felt the answer to her dream. I asked, "Hermana Carina, your son has never gone through the temple to receive his endowments right?" And she said no and I was able to explain to her the dream that she had had. The son was handicapped because he never received his endowments. The bathroom represented the temple work. The mom couldn't do it for him but a man can. 

The recent convert who was with us was friends with her son and we challenged him to do the temple work for his friend which he will do this coming March. We were all in tears. After the lesson Carina invited me to talk with her brother who is troubling with the loss and I'll be going over this next week to hopefully help the brother out all well. It was a way spiritual experience. It feels good to give people the word of God that can heal them from their pains and losses. 

This week we also had a huge activity in the park of Chimaltenango where our zone put up stands with all the young adults in our stake and a stake nearby. We put up stands that said, "Will your family be eternal?" "Why do Mormons not drink coffee?" and a bunch of different questions like that. We had a great turn out and it was a ton of fun. We contacted so many people and received a ton of referrals. It was awesome. 

This last Sunday we also saw a ton of miracles. Elder Garcia and I have been working so hard but hadn't been able to see the results that we have wished. We went out Sunday morning to help our investigators and recent converts go to church and none of them came! We felt so sad! We got to church and found 2 investigators that had been going to church for a long time in the capital. We shared with them and 1 of them will be getting baptized this Sunday. We received a call from another investigator who went to church in another ward and she told us she received her answer and will get baptized tomorrow, and then we talked to another investigator who told us that he wants to get baptized this Sunday! It was so awesome! After the trial of your faith comes the blessings. We are way excited about the investigators that we have right now!

Well, iv said a ton. Love you guys!

Elder Buhrley