KONNICHIWHATWHAAAA

Hello friends and fam!!

This week was a party! There's been a lot of fun stuff going on down here and I'm loving every second of it! This week me and Elder Killian got bored of the same old same old breakfast every morning so we decided to mix things up a bit. I made some American pancakes and waffles with fruity pebbles, peanut butter, and maple syrup. Elder Killian made Japanese pancakes with seaweed, salt, and fry sauce. I think we'll go back to eating regular stuff for breakfast. 

(Breakfast)

Staying on the subject of food... ELDER KILLIAN HASNT HAD PUPUSAS YET!! I had to change that! So this week we found a pupusa place and let's just say Elder Killian has a new favorite food.

(Pupusa place)

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this already but Elder Burns is my district leader now. So this week we got to go on exchanges. It was fun to be with my trainer again. Throwback to my first transfer for sure! I went to his apartment that has four elders living there so that was a real party!

(4 Elders)

This week we had a really cool experience with a referral we got named R__. He requested a Bible from Mormon.org so we went over to his house to deliver that to him and shared a message with him while we were there. We talked with him for a little while and he shared his really incredible story of how he has totally changed his life. He said in the past he did a lot of drugs and drank a lot of alcohol to try and help him get through hard times. He said he realized that it wasn't working and that he needed to try something different. His dad is a christian and encouraged him to turn to Christ and follow his example and that would help him get through the hard times. He did what his dad suggested and gave up drugs and alcohol and really tried to follow Christ's example. It made all the difference for him and he was a completely different person. When he talked to us he was so happy and had a new outlook on life. It's amazing how when we follow our Savior's example we can find peace and happiness! We are excited to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him and help him see the amazing blessings that come from having Christ's church restored on the earth. 

Have a great week! 
-Elder Burgon 

More Pix...

BIRD DOG SYNDROME!!!

Hey friends and fam!! 

Hope you all had a great week!

My week started off with a fun exchange! Me and Elder Prellwitz were together and it was a blast! This is his first transfer in the mission so he's still very green! So green that he still has the MTC plague! I remember what that was like. No Bueno. That day we went up to president Galbraith's home to watch the broadcasts as a zone which was a party. He lives in Palos Verdes right on the ocean! 

Later in the week me and Elder Killian woke up to see tons of construction workers running around outside of our apartment. We didn't think too much of it until we were getting ready and all the lights went out. We looked outside and the construction workers were cutting all the power lines that run to our apartment. So we had to go without power for a while  

Yesterday was lots of fun! We had all of our church meetings this week so it was cool to get to know everyone in the ward. Then after church we went to a big Samoan family party for dinner. It was crazy! There were probably 30 people there all squished into this little house. We had soooo much food! And the best part was that some of them weren't members so we got to share a message about modern day prophets with them. While we were there one of them gave me the nickname Elder Bird Dog because apparently if you have a Samoan accent and you say Burgon over and over again it starts to sound like like bird dog  So that's what they called me. And earlier in the day the first counselor in the bishopric said his kids call me Elder Syndrome because they think I look like the villain from Incredibles. So from now on I'm going to go by Elder Bird Dog Syndrome 

So this week I've been listening to Truman G Madsen's lectures on Joseph Smith and they are so good! It's been cool to learn more about Joseph Smith and all the amazing things that happened in his life. Something that Joseph Smith said that's really interesting is that "If you will thank the Lord with all your heart every night for all the blessings of that day, you will eventually find yourself exalted in the kingdom of God." That's a really powerful statement and I think it just goes to show how important it is to be grateful and to recognize God's hand in our lives. 

Have a great week!
-Elder Burgon

PS....Beware of Attack Iguana's!!!! You've been warned!!!!

Just in case you were wondering....Syndrome....

See any resemblance....Yes? No?

Mom says NO!!!!!

But maybe as his younger version...Buddy...???

TALOFA!!!!

Talofa tagata uma! 

Hello everyone! 

This week has been da best!! 

I'm loving it down here in Lomita! Being in a Samoan ward has been tons of fun! They aren't lying when they say Samoans feed you a lot! I think I need to practice my Samoan tho. It's tricky! Pronouncing the names is an adventure! I'm still trying to figure out how to say Brother Ho'onuikaiminaokapono's name  

One of the first things we did this week was we went to an assisted living center and played BINGO! I never knew bingo could be so intense! The patients get pretty into it and like to make fun of each other when they can't hear what number was called. It was lots of fun!

One of the investigators we are working with is a Japanese investigator named C__. It's been a lot of fun to teach her so far! She doesnt know too much English so Elder Killian does most of the teaching but it gives me a chance to use a little bit of the Japanese Elder Killian has been teaching me! That's been way cool! Everyday we have a mini language study where he teaches me a bit.

This week we've got to help a couple of really interesting people move. On Thursday we helped this couple that was living Anaheim move into our ward boundaries. They were meeting with missionaries in Anaheim so we inherited some new investigators! They are from Iran and have been living in America for only a year or two now. They're English is really good but they're first language is farsi so we might have the farsi elders help us teach them too. The other person we helped move is a Japanese lady but she has lived in Peru most of her life so she knows mostly Spanish and some English. We were talking about where she was moving and everything and found out she is moving to Utah! She is a flavor developer and said that Utah just had its first "flavor house" open up so that's why she's moving there. I had no idea that flavor houses were even a thing.

Sunday was great too! Because I'm covering two wards I get to go to church twice. We start off going to the Samoan ward sacrament meeting which is all in Samoan so I can't understand what they are saying most of the time  But then after that we normally go to the English ward but this week during sacrament meeting the stake president got up and made an announcement that the sewer backed up and the church was flooding! So they canceled church and we all went home!

Today for p-day we went bowling and then Elder Killian taught us how to make gyōza! 

It was a crazy fun and eventful week! 

Have a great week!

-Elder Burgon

Getting ready to EAT!!!!

Hello everyone I hope you all had a great week! 

I have some transfer news!!

I'm outta the crusty crab (the mission nickname for my current apartment) and headed down to Lomita! My area is Harbor 4th/ Lomita so I cover two wards and Harbor 4th is a Samoan ward! I hear they feed missionaries tonnnns of food! I think Im going to need a second stomach . I'm super excited! My new companion is Elder Killian from Tokyo! He's in the Japanese program and has been out for one transfer more than me. I can see what people are saying when they say LA is a melting pot! I'm an English missionary trying to learn Spanish, I've been serving in an area where there is English, spanish, Korea town, and little Ethiopia, I'm going to have a Japanese companion, and I'm going to be in a Samoan ward! Holy cow this is fun!

This past week was pretty great! Other than being sick. Almost every missionary in my district was sick at some point last week! It was crazy! Being sick made me pretty tired so I kept falling asleep on the bus or whenever we got in a car 

But before we all got sick me and a group of missionaries all had an awesome p-day! We went to Santa Monica and went to some malls out there. Then we ate at the Cheesecake factory and we were super close to the coast so we had to go take a peak at the ocean.

A little while ago I went on exchanges with one of my zone leaders and had a pretty cool experience. Before the exchange me and Elder Patrick had been walking a lot! We walked 10 miles one day and 12 the day before. So my legs were pretty sore from that plus I wasn't drinking as much water as I should have been. Not the best combo. Then when I was on exchanges I woke in the middle of the night with the worst charley horse I've ever had! It was so painful! It felt like my calf was going to rip itself off the bone! All I could think to do was pray. So I said a little prayer asking Heavenly Father to help my leg and as soon as I said amen, my calf relaxed and the charley horse just went away. It just stopped, immediately! It was amazing! It was a testimony builder for me that God hears our prayers and will answer them. It won't always be as immediate as this but he will answer our prays.

Have a great week!
-Elder Burgon

did you think to pray...for Pupusas?

Hello!! Happy Tuesday!! 

Hope you all had a great week! 

This week was super fun.

We started off the week by going to the Getty Center which is a really cool museum in Santa Monica. The skirball fire burned right around it so it was cool to go up and see everything that happened. There were tons of missionaries there because it's closed on Mondays but because this past week's p day was on Tuesday we were all able to go. Plus it's free so it's a prime p day activity. 

The Group 

The View from The Getty

Burned Mountain

Burned Truck

On Wednesday Elder Patrick and I were out working in the afternoon and we realized that we left our phone at the apartment. So we went back to get it and it was about 4:00 so we decided to just do an early dinner. After dinner we went out and stopped by members and potential investigators houses until like 8:30 but because we did an early dinner me and Elder Patrick were pretty hungry. Elder Patrick was like man I'm hungry we better pray a member buys us food! While we were walking around we saw a little Pupusa stand and thought that'd be good but were about to walk by and head to the bus stop when we hear, "Elders!" we turned around and there the B__ Family were! They asked if we wanted some Pupusas and we said Sure! So they bought us some and off they went. It was a tasty reminder that Heavenly Father cares about every aspect of our lives big or little. 

Iglesia Belen de Juda pupusas

On Friday and Saturday I was on exchanges with my zone leader, Elder Galli. He is an amazing missionary! He is very focused on the work and makes sure he is exactly obedient in every way. Every time I go on exchanges with him we see lots of little miracles. It's cool to see that when we are obedient our Heavenly Father blesses us! And that's actually my missions most recent Book of Mormon challenge. We are supposed to read and every time we see Heavenly Father blessing the people for being obedient mark it. It's been amazing to see that God really does bless people for their obedience it just sometimes isn't in the ways we expect.

On Sunday morning it finally felt like winter. It was a bit cooler and it was really misty. It looked kinda like fog but not exactly. It was probably as close to a blizzard as I'll get while I'm here 

Misty Foggy Street

Our Misty Foggy Church

Have a great week! 
-Elder Burgon