December 21, 2106

Hey!

San Vicente Pacaya is so awesome! Elder Griffen is a stud! We are loving it here!

We had the funnest activity for Christmas in our little one room church house! It was awesome and we had a lot of investigators there and they loved it! Christmas is such a special time of year. 

Elder Griffen and I had a companionship study the other days just thinking about the questions, "What is the price to pay to baptize here in San Vicente?" We were just looking for revelation. We received a lot of answers and we are changing a lot of things and seeing great results but the biggest thing that we said was that we are not going to say a single negative thing. Not one negative word is going to come out of our mouth. We are not going to let negativity enter. We have seen a huge difference by doing this! We are not negative people, I would consider us really positive thinkers but just by getting rid of negative thoughts and comments we are seeing miracles! We are pushing ourselves harder than ever and we are enjoying every second of the mission! 

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! 25 years! Happy Anniversary Grandpa and Grandma Allred! 50 years! That's incredible! The family is such a huge part in the Plan of Salvation! God sent us here in families for a reason and I truly believe that we all chose what family we are to be a part of before this life. Without the family God's great plan would be frustrated. What a great blessing to be here testifying and teaching these people about how their perfectly imperfect families can be together forever. Elder Griffen and I are basically only focusing on families right now so I have put a lot of thought into the importance of the family. The family is the divine Godly organization where God has placed us so that everything else in His gospel can be put into practice. The best place to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in the home. Elder Griffen and I are seeing big changes that these families have been making by putting the Gospel into play in their home. There is no greater feeling! All we need to do now is baptize them! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! In all of your gift opening this Christmas make sure to open the greatest gift in your life which is the Atonement of Jesus Christ! Remember the greatest gift that this world has even been given! Its a personally wrapped gift that is always waiting to be opened! 

I love you guys! Thanks for all the support! Cant wait to see you fam this Sunday!

Elder Buhrley 

December 13, 2016

Hi All,

This week has been so crazy! San Vicente Pacaya is easily the craziest area I have ever been! We have 1 member and she is borderline crazy!  Here in San Vicente just about all are Catholics. They are Catholics by tradition. They do everything because that's the way that their parents and grandparents did it. Trying to invite them to change is just a concept that makes no sense to them. They are so closed off, blind, and hard hearted. It's been a ton of fun though because we have been seeing a lot of miracles!! We are really getting good at using the gift of discernment and parting the sheep from the goats!

The biggest miracle that we had this last week was with an investigator named Enrique. Elder Griffen and I fasted to find a family to baptize and during this fast we went to go and knock some doors (not much more to do when you are opening an area and there is only 1 member in your area). We wern't having much success until we saw a lady in front of her house so we started talking and she went inside of her house to get her husband. Her husband came outside and let us in with a warm welcome. He said that he had been waiting for us. Apparently he talked to missionaries last week and gave them his dats and everything and he was excited to see us in his house. He went on to tell us that he is "Catholic" but doesn't want to be. He said that he didn't feel good there. We shared the first lesson and he was all ears. The second visit we passed by and he read the whole pamphlet after we left his house that night and then after that he couldn't sleep for many hours that night. He said he couldn't get all of the thoughts out of his mind. He felt something that he had never felt and he said that it was leaving him uneasy to sleep. In this lesson Elder Griffin and I were able to testify about the Holy Ghost and then teach him about the Book of Mormon. He is pumped to read that book! He and his wife are both really excited to come to church this Sunday! We have got to get them married and baptized which will be a blast! I love weddings! haha that will be no problem!

One thing that President Markham has taught me is that Satan doesn't need to make us kill someone in order to "win". He doesn't need a missionary to go and break the law of chastity in order to "win". All he needs to do is distract us. If he can distract us from our overall purpose, he has won. If he can get a missionary to think about his house all the time, he has won. Or if he can get a missionary to think about being friends with everyone instead of inviting them to come to Christ, he has won. Now with seeing all of these churches in Guatemala, and there are hundreds in every city, I feel that saying to be completely true. Satan doesn't need to make us kill, he just needs to distract us and that is sufficient. 

I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true and living church on the earth today. I testify that it is the Kingdom of God here on earth. I testify that through and only through this Church we can meet the measure of our creation. I share the testimony of Nephi when he stated that there are only two churches:  the Church of the Lamb and the church of the devil. Satan is having success here in Guatemala distracting and luring many of the people in false traditions and worldly attractions. Elder Griffen and I will be at work trying to save every last one of them that we can! It's a great work to be done!

I love my savior Jesus Christ. I love representing Him and helping people come unto to him.

It's not a sacrifice, but the biggest privilege that I have ever been given. :)

Love you guys! 

Elder Buhrley

December 7, 2016

Hey everybody!

I am so excited to be in our new area!!! It's so awesome! We are going to be able to talk to people who have never heard of Mormons! haha. There are two people who have gone to the temple here in our area... Elder Griffen and myself! haha We are going to see so many miracles and I am so excited for it! I just hope that Elder Griffen has the same experience in his training that I had in mine. I love my trainer, Elder Hintze, because he really helped me know Christ, and I will never be the same. I am forever grateful for him for that and I hope to have the impact on my new hijo Elder Griffen! :)

I had a ton of fun with Elder Donoso in just the one week that I was in Eterna Primavera! We worked our butts off and it was a blast! We used faith to see miracles! President told me that he was sending me there to just find a ton of people for Elder Donoso and his future companion. We did it! We had 13 in church and I felt good leaving that area better than I found it!

I love Christmas and Thanksgiving! What a great blessing it is to be in the mission at this time of the year. They don't really celebrate these holidays here very well but it's all good! ha It just feels good to be here and show by word and by act that I am thankful for my Savior and His life by serving Him. There is no better time of the year to be a missionary:)

One thing that I have been seeing a lot in my studies and with my investigators is the relationship between fear and faith. Faith and fear and completely opposites and cannot exist together. You either have faith or fear.

2 Tim 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit offear; but of power, and of love, and of a soundmind."

Reading the story of Peter walking on water is also a great example of this truth.

Matt 14: 

 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he wasafraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord,save me.

 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand,and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of littlefaith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

Also looking at the parable of the sewers in Matthew 25 and how Jesus responds to the worker who doubled his talents and the worker who hid his talent. 

 23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good andfaithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a fewthings, I will make thee ruler over many things: enterthou into the joy of thy lord.

 24 Then he which had received the one talent cameand said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hardman, reaping where thou hast not sown, andgathering where thou hast not strawed:

 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent inthe earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

 26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thouwicked and slothful servant.

As followers of Jesus Christ we cannot have fear, for perfect love casteth out all fear. Don't be afraid. When we live with fear, we are debilitated and weakened. Satan's greatest tool is fear. When we live according to our faith we are empowered from on high. Don't live your life with your fears, live with your faith and God will do wonders for you. 

I love you guys! Thanks for everything! 

Elder Buhrley

November 29, 2016

November 29, 2016

Hey everyone!

This last week was a blast! We had a wedding and 6 baptisms! 

Rene and Iris got married! It was the best! They both started crying and they were sooo happy! After their wedding Iris got baptized! Rene was baptized when he was young but has been inactive for years. They are soo happy! They asked if I could come down in one year to their temple sealing.. I guess we will just have to see right? ha 

We baptized Anita and the kids of the Familia Barahona! They are all so awesome! I felt really bad for Mario and Ivón (the parents) because they cant get baptized because Ivón is married to someone else and they are still waiting on the long divorce process. I love those guys so much. Mario and Ivón asked us if they were to be separated they could get baptized. We told them no because Christ doesn't want a family to be broken up but it was so humbling to see what they were willing to do to be baptized. I love those guys so much! Anita is a friend of some members and she is soo great! She lost her job because her boss said if she got baptized she couldn't work over there anymore but she had enough faith to tell her boss she didn't care and got baptized anyway! It was a special weekend. 

I got changed! I am now in La Eterna Primavera (Forever Spring). I am with Elder Donoso and I am finishing his last week of his training. I got here yesterday but I am only going to be here for a week because this next week I will be opening an area! I will be working in a place where missionaries have never step foot!! I will be training a brand new missionary and we are going to have a blast!

I testify that Jesus Christ lives. His atonement is infinite. I know that God loves every singe one of us. I read something the other day by Bruce R McConkie and he said "Revelation is the building block of faith." As we receive revelation in our lives we are growing our faith. We are coming to know our Father in heaven. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. The most powerful book on this planet. If it wasn't for that book I wouldn't be here on my mission. It has taught me as no other book has been able to teach me that Christ lives and what I need to do in order to know Him. The Book of Mormon teaches us the mysteries of God. Its a book of revelations and every time you read it I promise you that you will grow your faith in Christ. 

I love you guys! Thanks for all the support! 

Elder Buhrley  

November 26, 2016

November 23, 2016

Well! Happy Thanksgiving! Im doing some late night preparation for a conference that we are having tomorrow so I just thought I would shoot out a quick email! 

We have 6 baptisms for this weekend! That's going to be a blast! We are going to have a wedding this Saturday! WOOHOO! We don't have that much time to work in our area so when we are baptizing the way we are its just the mercy of our Heavenly Father. He has seen us working hard:) 

I love the mission. I would easily stay here for another two years. I don't want to leave. I feel as though I have finally understood how to baptize, how to lead, how to be a real disciple of Jesus Christ, and now its coming close to an end for me! I am going to enjoy these last few weeks as much as I can! 

 I will leave the office this Monday to go and train!That's going to be so much fun! I will get to be a normal missionary again! I have learned so much as an assistant. I will use all of these things in my new area, with my kid, and also for the rest of my life! Its a blessing to serve. 

Well! I love you guys! Your emails are always fun to receive! Don't worry about Christmas! I will be fine! The only thing I ask for Christmas is that you guys talk to me on Christmas day! haha

I think I am going to buy some scripture casings here though. There is a guy who does them all out of hand and they are all leather and they are really cool. That will be my Christmas:)

Love you family! Take care! Tell everyone at thanksgiving that I love them! Enjoy it!

Elder Buhrley

pics- President Markham

Elder Gonzalez and I after a late night office run and we were both just destroyed

November 10, 2016

Hey! 

We have been working really hard and it's been so fun! I have never been more tired in my life but its all worth it! I am loving every second of it! 

We have some great investigators that we are working with! We having been working to find families and we found them! The gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families! We have an incredible family of 6 that I love with all my heart! La familia Barahona. We have been having some of the most spiritually heart felt lessons with them. We found them in the street a couple weeks ago talking with people on our way to an appointment. The dad told us today in a lesson that that day that he left the house he asked God for help. He said that he wanted to know the truth but didn't know where to find it. He wanted to know what he was missing in his life. We found him that same day and as we have been visiting him he said that he feels like his life is becoming more full. He says that he feels joy that he has never been able to experiment. Today he just broke down into tears telling us how grateful he is. After that the wife starting talking about the way that the family has made a 180 degree turn for the better. She then bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon and how she received her answer from God that it was true. She said, "Its not how I expected to receive it, I thought maybe an angel would come or something great, but I just feel it and that's all that I need to know that the book is true." We were all emotional. At the end of the lesson the 15 year old son said a prayer and thanked God for saving his family. 

That's why I serve a mission. :) It was a lesson that I will remember the rest of my life.

Right now we are working on getting them married because the mom got married young and now its difficult to get a divorce. We have a member who is a lawyer who is working on all the paper work right now. Its just a bit sad because when they are finally going to get married and baptized I wont be here! But whats really important is that they will be getting baptized! 

I also got to go back to Chimaltenango the other day and saw my converts! There is nothing better than that! It was a good week! 

Well. I would just like to bear my testimony that I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that he payed for our sins and Atoned for all of us. I testify that He wishes to heal and clean every last one of us. The biggest miracle there is in this life is the miracle of being clean through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love it when it finally clicks in an investigators head that they really can be clean for what they had done in the past and when they finally take that step to be clean it changes them forever. When was the last time the spirit told to your mind and conferred to your soul "Your sins are forgiven thee"? I love preaching repentance. I love living repentance. I love my Savior who makes it all possible. Its a true privilege to have His name on my lips all day everyday. 

Thanks for everything! I love you guys! 

Elder Buhrley

November 5, 2016

Fam!

Well I have a few minutes so ill shoot ya a letter! 

We have been hitting it so hard this week! We have been running a ton of meetings and we have been living the law of sacrifice in order to make everything run smoothly. I honestly haven't slept this week, but God always keeping me moving! ha 

We are working with all diligence in our area and right now we are teaching some lovely families. A family of 7, who aren't progressing the way that we have been hoping, but slowly and surely are progressing. We had a family of 6 at church this last Sunday and they loved it. I have felt the spirit so hard during the lessons with them. My companion and I found them in the perfect time of their lives and they are progressing incredible fast. The only thing is that the mom was married before and so we are working out on a divorce with a member who knows a lawyer. It breaks my heart to see these dumb laws destroy spiritual progress. This situation is bringing up the same feelings that I had when I was in Villa Nueva and a family we were teaching couldn't be baptized because the wife got married when she was 16. This wife of the family we are teaching right now was married, by force, at the age of 13. The lawyer is already involved and he is going to take care of everything so this family can we baptized in 3 to 5 months... I won't be there but sometimes you just won't be able to see all the results of your labor. I will keep you updated with them. 

We have another couple that we found as being guided by the spirit, it was a cool story that ill probably tell you when I get home because I am lazy, but they are just progressing wonderfully. The husband is an inactive member and the wife is just eating up the gospel. The husband loves the church but when he was in his teens he got a little lost in the world but now they are a good looking young family with two cute little girls and they are pumped about the gospel. ha 

Get these young kids reading Preach My Gospel! Who wrote preach my gospel? Prophets and Apostles. Who wrote the Bible and the Book of Mormon? Prophets and Apostles! Preach my Gospel is scripture! Its written to make you a successful missionary. That book is the biggest blessing as a missionary. Have them be focused on reading and studying Preach My Gospel. Have them understand the doctrines found in in chapter 3 and help them live and internalize them. "You cant convert someone past your own conversion." The first convert that you will have on our mission is you! Have dad get them pumped out of their minds with all of his stories! Get Caitlyn there also to give a great testimony! Gosh I would love to share with kids about mission work! There is nothing that can beat it! 

I was listening to a talk the other day by Neal A Maxwell that was incredible. Its called, "Swallowed Up in the Will of The Father". Neal A Maxwell talks about discipleship and about consecration. What type of disciples are we? He broke it down into three types,

1- Those who understand that they are short from the glory of God and they do all in their power to know His grace. 

2- Those who are honorable but are not valiant. Keep the commandments and ordinances but are most often times falling short with the sins of omission (what we don't do) instead of commission (the obvious sins that we shouldn't commit, don't steal, commit adultery etc..). 

3- Those who are grossly entangled with the ungodliness of the world. 

He speaks a lot about how we need to make the differences to move from the type 2 person to become a type 1 person. We need to become valiant disciples of Christ and become consecrated to His will.  "These omissions signify a lack of qualifying fully for the celestial kingdom. Only greater consecration can correct these omissions,which have consequences just as real as do the sins of commission. Many of us thus have sufficient faith to avoid the major sins of commission, but not enough faith to sacrifice our distracting obsessions or to focus on our omissions." The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a list of "do nots", but a process of a changing heart, changing your heart and will to become the will of Gods. Its not a passive act but an act of valiance. "Consecration, likewise, is not shoulder-shrugging acceptance, but, instead, shoulder-squaring to better bear the yoke." Lets be better! Lets look to build up the kingdom of God and do all our best to live the law of consecration! Let visit our neighbors who aren't going to church! Lets be better disciples! I invite you guys to listen to this talk! Its a good one! 

Well its always good to hear from you guys! Thanks for all the help! I love you family!! 

October 25, 2016

Hey fam! I am doing great!

So today was change day and it went really well! Elder Gonzalez and I planned out change day so that it went by really fast and all the missionaries found their companions quickly and were able to have more time in their areas. President told us that we have always had the same problem of having a change day that drags on instead of getting people with their companions fast and get them in their areas quickly. Elder Gonzalez and I really thought about it all and put some sweet stuff into plan and we saved a lot of time today! haha It was a small victory but a victory none the less!

I am still with Elder Gonzalez! We are loving it! I could stay with this guy until the end of my mission and be happy, but also I hope I get to train a new missionary before I come home! I guess we will see how it all goes down! 

We have two baptisms for this Sunday! One is really set and the other is still more or less but we have the faith we can baptize him! Baptizing has become my favorite thing to do. Scoring a touchdown, hanging out with the boys, going boating, all are great stuff that I plan on doing, but all fail in comparison to baptizing someone and helping them participate in the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ. 

Elder Gonzalez and I were planning this afternoon our meeting with the new missionaries. We were thinking about it. We started asking a few questions, (If you want to invite the Spirit, ask a question). We asked questions like, "what would I have liked to know when I started my mission?" "What are the needs of these new missionaries" "How do we want them to feel as they leave this meeting". We both were writting every idea that came to our minds and we ended up really thinking about the Doctrine of Christ. 1-Faith 2-Repentance 3-Baptism 4-Reception of the Holy Ghost and 5-Persevere to the end. We both want them to understand the importance of the Doctrine of Christ. We want them to feel excited and uplifted to leave this meeting with all the desire to baptize. Its something that I really wish I would have understood better as I had started my mission. We started to write it down and the spirit was there giving us a lot of great thoughts, (We did this in a wendy´s, so you really can recieve revelation where ever you are). The Doctrine of Christ really does apply to just about everything. To be able to baptize someone we must live and be converted by the Doctrine of Christ. 1-Faith, do you really have the faith that you can baptize someone? What is the price required to pay in order to help someone be baptized? We are also going to share the talk, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ with them. 2-Repentence. To be a baptizing missionary you need to be constantly repenting and constantly changing. Look for ways to be better and to be cleaner. 3-Baptism. What does the Sacrament mean to you? In spanish Sacrament is, "Holy Dinner", and thats exactly what it is. You are having a Holy Dinner with Christ. You have an interview with Him. Tell Him how you did this last week and make promises on how you will better the next. 4-Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is everything in the work of the Lord. Without the Holy Ghost you cannot and must not intent to preach the gospel. Thats the difference between explaining the Gospel and teaching the Gospel. The teaching is to be done all by the Holy Ghost through you. 5- Persevere to the end. In this mission we knock on doors, we walk fast, we talk with everyone, and we dont tire of good works. It doesnt matter how the weather is or how we feel, we give it our all untill 9pm. We keep knocking doors until 9pm, because many times, in a very symbolic way, the family of 5 that is waiting for you at the last door of the street are only going to be possible to reach at 8:59pm on a rainy day, after being soaked and being rejected the whole day long. After the trial of our faith God grants miracles. 

I guess I will let you guys know how the meeting went when I write you later! 

Love you family! Thanks for everything! I am loving the mission!

Elder Buhrley