August 30, 2016

Hey Everyone!

Well I just got a call a few hours ago from President Markham that I have emergency changes! I have to leave tonight. I am now heading to Boca del Monte (The mouth of the mountain) haha

I am really going to miss Chimaltenango! It's so crazy that I am leaving already! My time here has passed by soo fast! I am really going to miss all of my dear friends that I have made here! 

We baptized Ariel! He is a stud! It was a very special baptism (well, I guess every baptism is special) haha. Ariel is 16 and we are going to prepare him to leave on the mission when he turns 18! What a stud! The other day we got a call from our convert Gladis that she is starting her papers and preparing to serve a mission! How great is that! Angel didn't get baptized. We are still preparing Him, well, I guess I won't be but Elder Garcia and his new comp with have the great privilege to baptize him on the 11th of September. Gosh I love that guy so much. 

Well thanks for everything! As for my spiritual thought... Service is the only way to have a true conversion. The Gospel is perfect and also selfless. I was talking to a man the other day and about his conversion story. He was baptized 5 years ago with his family, and now they are the strongest family here is Chimaltenango. He said something along the lines of, "When you really get lost is serving others is the only way you can find yourself closer to God." Now the scripture that says, ¨lose yourself in my work in order to find yourself¨ starts to makes sense. I invite all of you to look for ways to serve someone else. To take the mirror out in front of your face and replace it with a window. There is no greater joy than helping others. 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Buhrley

August 23, 2016

Hi All!

The mission is going great! It's been so much fun lately!

We are working with Angel Andino still and he is progressing so well! I love that guy to death! He is the investigator that we found from New York. When we found him he didn't have a real belief in Christ or anything and we have worked with him from ground zero. It's been incredible to see his testimony grow! I have seen that man step by step grow, from growing to accept that Christ is his Savior, to that he can be clean from his sins, to that he needed to give up every bad habit that a man can have (and he has!), and now to see him as he is reading the Book of Mormon every day makes me so happy. We asked him about baptism the other day and he told us that he had already been talking to his family and friends about being baptized in the Mormon church. haha He is preparing to get baptized this Sunday even though there is no family member or friends who is supporting him. Pray for him please:) 

I just would like to thanks you for all the support, and especially for your prayers. I have felt your prayers every step of my mission. On days of hardship and rejection it brings great peace to know that all of you guys are praying for me. I have felt help from each of you. I have also felt help from my great line of ancestry. I testify that angels really do administer to us daily. But most importantly I have felt help from my savior Jesus Christ. His atonement really can support us every day of our lives. On days where I don't think I can take another step, He has supported me. On days where I have felt defeated and beaten to the ground physically and spirituality, He has lifted me up. On days where I have felt the happiest I have ever felt in my life, He has also been there with me:) I know that He is there for every singe one of you also. Put your trust in Him and He will always deliver:)

I love you all so much! I am loving the mission! It truly is something special to be able to do Gods will and not mine

Elder Buhrley

August 16, 2016

Well, this past week was a good one!

We baptized the Familia Petzey! It was so special and I;m very grateful. Their baptism was different from any other baptism I have ever had. We had a great turnout in the baptismal service with a lot of members who were there to support the family. During the baptismal service the father, Mario, asked me if he could say a few words. He stood up and gave thanks to everyone there and then started to share his testimony.

When we found him he was struggling with an addiction to alcohol and he shared the great change that he has seen in himself. He bore a very sweet and sincere testimony. At the end of his testimony his sister got up, who is not a member, and she bore a testimony of the big change she has seen in her brother and the love that she had felt in the church. Then the mom of Mario got up, who also isn't a member and shared some of the same feelings. It was such a sweet spirit that was there. Then after the baptism a family of members gave Mario's family dinner and it was so nice to see the ward supporting new members and their families! Now Mario's family, sisters, parents and all are going to go to church this Sunday, even though they had been going to other churches.

Well, my spiritual thought will be about something I saw in the street the other day. My companion and I were walking in the street just like always and we passed by a busy part where there are a lot of people selling things in the street. As we were walking by, something caught my eye. There was an elderly man without a leg sitting on the ground begging for money. Another elderly man who was blind also had his tin can out begging for money and passed the first beggar. The first beggar propped himself up off the ground with his cane and took out of his tin can half of his coins, being 2 coins, and gave it to the blind beggar walking by.

That image is burned in my brain and its something I don't think I'll be able to forget. There is a lot of symbolism there. The first beggar gave the second beggar half of what he had, and when we passed it was about mid day, so practically the first beggar gave away half of the tortillas that he was about to eat. Or in other words, the first beggar was going to have to suffer hunger. And the second part, he gave it away without looking to receive anything in return. He gave it away to the blind man who had no idea where it came from. How sweet was that sight of charity. Charity truly is the greatest of all.

I love you all so much! Thanks for the prayers and support!

Elder Buhrley

August 9, 2016

Well! Hey! 

I had a lot of fun this last week! We worked really hard and were able to see a ton of miracles! We are really excited about the investigators that we have!

La Familia Petsey"  hey are a family of 6 who are just awesome. They are the cutest young family ever! ha!  We had the coolest lesson with them the other day. They have gone to church 3 times and we have put their baptism date for the 14th but they hadn't accepted it yet. Sunday night we visited them with a member and we started off with the normal, "How's your reading? How did you feel in church?" All that jazz. Then I just told them about the 14th and reminded them that that is the day that we are preparing them to get baptized. 

Then Elder Garcia just told them, by the end of this lesson, "I promise you that you will have to desire to be baptized this day." We started and it was so spiritual! The member gave the perfect heartfelt testimony. The father of the family, Mario, opened up and shared all of his feelings and his true desire to change and follow Christ. The family at the end of the lesson told us that they want to invite their family to their baptism this 14th! haha. It was awesome! We are baptizing this Sunday! 

On the sadder side, one of our investigators who was progressing, soooooo... well died... That guy was a stud. RIP Juan Hernandez. I'm sure he accepted the gospel in the Spirit World!

I really love the mission. It's so much fun to help people come to Christ. It's not easy and it's not meant to be easy, but at the same time it's worth it. Christ really does love us all perfectly and personally. He paid the consequence of the justice for us and now puts His hand out to give us mercy. The Atonement is sufficient. The Atonement is personal. The Atonement is applicable. Apply it in your lives. Mosiah 5:13. To know Christ you need to serve Him. He needs to be engraven in your thoughts like you are engraven in His palms. 

I love you guys! Thanks for all the help and prayers! 

Elder Buhrley

August, 3, 2016

Hey! I am staying in Chimaltengo for another change! I am still with Elder Garcia and we are soo excited! This change will be awesome! We have a ton of investigators that are just incredible!

We baptized Hugo Lopez! I love that guy like a brother! He is such a stud and will be a leader in the church in the future! He was a crazy story! He is from El Salvador and moved here to Guatemala to work. He moved here, we found him, he progressed faster than any other investigator I've ever had, and we baptized this last Tuesday. He was all set on receiving the Holy Ghost this Sunday but on Thursday he got a call from home that his family needed him and he called us, we shared with him for one last time, and he left back to El Salvador. He was sent by God so that we could baptize him. Haha, it was incredible! I now have plans to go to El Salvador to visit him in the future!

Elder Garcia and I gave our little "Starting out the change pep talk". We talked about a few things that I really know we all can apply in our lives. We first talked about being people who act and not people who are acted upon. I was studying in 2 Nephi chapter two the other day and it says that statement 3 times. Verse 14, 16 and 23.

"I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon."
"the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself."
"they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon." 
God created us to act, and not be acted upon. He is the great creator and he created us so that we might also create. We are to create our own circumstances and not live being acted upon by other circumstances. We are to live above our problems, to solve and direct them instead of living within our problems and let them direct us. When our problems direct us, that's when we get depressed and downhearted. It's a huge principle that I have been learning in the mission. God wants us to have success, but he doesn't want to just give it to us. He wants us to create our own success. He will guide us and help us along the way. The only thing that he requires from us is faith. We need to trust in Him, ask Him how we can have the success that we are looking for, listen to Him, and then go forth and do all we can in our power and God will make up the rest. He will manifest Himself and you will see a miracle.

I love you all so much! I hope you are all enjoying your summer! Keep being the great people that you are!

Elder Buhrley