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

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