ELDER ERIC BURGON: 🤡🎃💀

We had a crazy fun p day Morning! We woke up extra early to go on a hike with a member. Then went to go do laundry. We started doing our laundry and then people in the laundromat started fighting. Then 5 cop cars pulled up and arrested some other dude completely unrelated to the fight. Then while our laundry was still going a Korean member texted us and told us to come quick! So we left our laundry in the dryer and rushed over to help move some boxes. Then before we could go pick up our laundry we had to rush off to another appointment we had with a member. Then we were able to go back and pick up our laundry. Wowza that was a fun morning!

We've had a great week. We've been working with less actives a lot and it's so much fun to see them remember how much the Gospel means to them. I love it when they read from the Book of Mormon and they just can't help but smile because of how they feel.

Yesterday we had transfer calls so I have news!

Transfer news:

I'm getting my 11th companion! I'm staying here in pv but Elder Kim is leaving me. He is heading up to the valley. My new companion is Elder Cheon who is also from Korea. Should be fun!

Yesterday Elder Kim and I got to speak in our Korean branch on the blessings that come from living the Gospel. While I was preparing for the talk I thought of a story that was shared in the April 2016 general conference by Bonnie L. Oscarson. I really like it because I feel like it highlights a lot of blessings that come from the Gospel. Here's the story.

On March 30, just one year ago, little two-year-old Ethan Carnesecca, from American Fork, Utah, was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia and fluid around his lungs. Two days later, his condition had become so serious that he needed to be flown by helicopter to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. His worried mother, Michele, was allowed to ride in the front seat and accompany her son. She was given a headset so she could communicate with the others in the helicopter. She could hear the medics working on her sick little boy, and being a pediatric nurse herself, Michele knew enough to understand that Ethan was in serious trouble.

In this critical moment, Michele noticed they were flying directly over the Draper Utah Temple. From the air, she looked out across the valley and could also see the Jordan River Temple, the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, and even the Salt Lake Temple in the distance. The thought came into her mind: “Do you believe it or not?”

She says of this experience:

“I had learned about the blessings of the temple and [that] ‘families are forever’ in Primary and in Young Women. I shared the message on families to the good people of Mexico on my mission. I was sealed to my eternal companion for time and all eternity in the temple. I taught lessons about families as a Young Women leader, and I shared stories about forever families with my children in family home evening. I KNEW it, but DID I BELIEVE it? My answer came as quickly as the question popped into my head: the Spirit confirmed to my heart and mind the answer I already knew—I DID believe it!

“At that moment I poured out my heart in prayer to my Heavenly Father, thanking Him for the knowledge and belief I had that families truly are forever. I thanked Him for His Son, Jesus Christ, who made it all possible. I thanked Him for my son, and I let my Heavenly Father know if He needed to bring my little Ethan to His heavenly home, it was OK. I trusted in my Heavenly Father completely, and I knew I would see Ethan again. I was so grateful that in a crisis moment, I had the knowledge AND the belief that the gospel was true. I had peace.”

Ethan spent many weeks in the hospital, receiving expert medical care. The prayers, fasting, and faith of loved ones, combined with that care, allowed him to leave the hospital and return home to be with his family. He is healthy and well today.

I can see so many ways this mom was blessed because she was living the Gospel. She was blessed with the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation, temples, eternal families, and a loving Heavenly Father and she was able to have peace and comfort because she believed what she knew.

I'm so grateful for the Gospel in my life and for all of the countless blessings that come from living it.

Have a great week!

-Elder Burgon

Pics:

-Happy Halloween!