Hello hello! This week was a solid week!
Nothing too exciting just solid missionary work. 
On Friday I almost died tho! We went to a members house for dinner and while we were eating I noticed some sort of pepper in a bowl. So I picked one up and ate it. The wife looked at me like I was a little crazy so I assumed it was hot and just swallowed it almost whole. Worst decision of my life. The back of my mouth and my entire throat down to my stomach immediately lit on fire! I looked for a drink and all I had was some soda so I gulped it down but that was just like pouring gasoline on a fire. It only made it worse! So with sweat dripping down my face and smoke exiting thru my ears I excused myself to the bathroom and promptly died. Later that night after the literal burning of the bosom was extinguished I opened the mail that I had gotten at district meeting and found this awesome gem. Coincidence?
There is something I've noticed about almost all missionaries. We are almost ALWAYS TIRED! Missionaries are always falling asleep if they get to just ride in a car. Staying awake during studies can be a struggle. And it's especially hard to stay awake if you go on exchanges in an area where they speak a language you can't understand. Because of that some legendary pictures have been taken. I decided to compile a few.
I've thought about this a little bit and I've wondered why we are so tired. If we follow the schedule we should be getting at least 8 hours of sleep. In this mission we don't normally have to bike up and down hills all day long. Most of us have cars or take the bus if we don't. So I don't think it's a sleep or exercise thing. But, the mission can definitely be a roller coaster emotionally. I think this is where our general tiredness comes from. We talk to so many people every day. And we work so hard to help people progress in the gospel by trying to understand their concerns and think of how we can help them. Because of this it's almost like we are living the lives of all the different people we are working with all at the same time. Throughout one day we can experience great happiness as we share the gospel with someone new and they are interested. We can have a lesson with an investigator and start to see them understand their purpose in life and who they really are and what their potential is. We can see people start to repent and make changes in their lives to work towards reaching that potential. We can see seeds of faith growing into strong testimonies and we can see the gospel truly working in people's lives. At the same time we can feel super disappointed as we see people that have had these same experiences take a sharp turn on their path as they run into snags and trials and stop progressing and start heading back in the opposite direction. Sometimes solid investigators just stop answering texts and calls and seem to disappear. No matter what we do sometimes this just happens to people. And then again we can be super happy as we see people push through the snags and the trials and continue progressing and enter the gate of Baptism. It's this constant roller coaster of emotions that I think makes us all so tired. But although there is general tiredness among missionaries there is also widespread happiness! Happiness that can only come from living the gospel and sharing it. It's that feeling of tiredness that we have that let's us know we are giving it our all to do the work of the Lord! There is no greater work in the world than sharing this wonderful gospel with everyone all while walking the path of the gospel ourselves!
Have a great week!
-Elder Burgon
