I THINK I DIED...

... AND WENT TO HEAVEN

PV is kinda cool. 

Man I miss Inglewood a lot tho. I just had such a good time there. The wards were super awesome, the people I got to work with were super awesome, and my companions were super awesome. Just about everything was super awesome. Good times and lots of good memories. It was a party. But as much as I loved being in Inglewood, I think PV is going to be pretty awesome too.

Down here in the Korean Branch we teach lots of English classes. But this first week two were canceled and nobody showed up to the third one. So hopefully next week we will have better luck. But so far trying to to Elder Kim with his English and explain why we say things the way we do is pretty hard! English doesn't follow any of its own rules. 

My first full day here we had dinner with an awesome member. He likes to try and predict your future based off when you were born. And he has this interesting system that is supposed to keep you healthy and relaxed. These were his predictions and health suggestions for me:

Future:

Because I was born on 3/19/1999 at 12:50pm I was born in the year of the rabbit, in the month of the rabbit, and in the hour of the rabbit. Because of this I will be physically fit throughout my life, I will prioritize organization and cleanliness, and I will die early.  Cuz Rabbits. 

Health tips:

Also because I was born on 3/19/1999 at 12:50 pm my health composition is 3 wood, 2 earth, 2 fire, 1 metal, and 0 water. I'm not sure how this makes sense exactly but to him it did. The goal with your composition is to make everything equal and balanced. He suggested that I move somewhere hot to burn off the extra wood. To increase my metal he said I should lift metal chairs. Specifically chairs. And to increase my water he wants me to drink lots of hot water. Because cold water is bad for you. 

The pic of the food is from this this dinner appointment. He was talking about the future and health so much that he forgot eat. He literally ate two tiny pieces of chicken and then said, "ok elders I expect you to finish the rest." hehehe ok will do. We were slightly full. 

We had another fun dinner appointment too. It was with the 2nd counselor in the stake presidency and his fam. The really fun part was the view. It is literally the best view I have ever seen. I'll have to get a picture next time we go over. The photo that was taken at night is at their house but it's looking the opposite direction of the cool view. 

We also had a really great Zone Conference. It was with Elder Neilson from the church's mission department. It was one of my favorite zone conferences yet. President Oaks coming to talk to us was cool too but because Elder Neilson is around missionary work 24/7 he knew exactly how to instruct us. And he had lots of crazy stories about missionaries. He told us that once a week, somewhere in the world, a missionary is thrown in jail for no reason and the church has to try to get them out. He also told us that every day there is at least one missionary that gets punched by a random person on the street. Which actually happened to a missionary in Inglewood before I got there. 

But one thing I really liked from zone conference actually came from a talk by Elder Bednar. In it he talked about the redeeming power and the enabling power of the atonement and how the atonement is there to make bad men good and good men better. As we repent of our sins and learn from them we turn from bad to good. And as we go through trials and turn to the Savior for strength to endure them, we go from good to better on our path to perfection. 

Matthew 11:28-30

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light

annyeonghee kahseyo! 

- Je ileum-eun Burgon chahng Lu ibnida

Pics:

-The future predicting dinner

-Elder Kim found his long lost siblings.

-View from 2nd counselors house

- there are a bunch of peacocks that just chill around here. Pretty sweet. 

- the comp

- a few pics from the old district

안녕하세요! annyeonghaseyo! Hello!

Hola mi amigos! 

I have some pretty crazy transfer news!! 

Would you believe it if I told you I'm changing companions again?

I just keep scaring them away.  

But this time I'm the one leaving. 

I'm going South!!! Super sad to be leaving Elder Durham. This was a suuuuuper fun transfer and we had some awesome stuff lined up for next transfer. We were honestly enjoying it so much and we were totally planning on being together for another transfer. Crazy. But this is the really cool part. Elder Durhams new companion is Elder Dehlin!! My trainee is finishing the training of my other trainee! Plus they are basically twins. They both have brown hair, they are about the same height, both are super cool, and their last names are going to be mixed up way too much. It's going to be pretty crazy. I can already tell ya they are going to be the most dynamic duo in da mish and they will probably convert everyone in Inglewood. I can't wait. But yeah I'm going down to the south and Elder Dehlin and I are actually just switching spots. I'm going to his area with his comp and he's coming to my area with my comp. And get this. I'll be serving in a Korean branch! I guess I'll need to brush up on my Korean. Should be super sweet! I'm covering the an English ward and the Korean branch. Crazy stuff! My new companion is Elder Kim. He's been on da mish for about 3 transfers I think. I'm looking forward to it!

Have a great week! 

-Elder Burgon 

Pics:

- Elder Durham was dying to eat at this
restaurant named raising Cane's.
So we went on p day with our zone leaders.
It was pretty far away and we only left the
mission boundaries on accident twice so we're all good.

- the district

- four out of the six Silvas. We were missing two. But this family is so awesome and I'm going to miss them so much!!! It's been amazing working with them for the last 6 months.

- Gustavo! Another amazing person in this area.
He is the biggest jokester in the world and
 always has a smile on his face.
It's pretty funny that he isn't smiling
in this pic because he is literally always smiling!

 

2,100 calories later!!!
-we grubbed at five guys.
The title of the picture says it all.

Pics of da Week

PICS:

-we found some sweet BYU graffiti. 

-How I felt after doing buffalo wild wings blazin' challenge. Basically my face was on fire and I swear I was sweating actual hot sauce for the next 24 hours. 10/10 would recommend. Will do again.

-Temple day!!! 

-Another temple day pic and a game of find the elder.

-We found bigfoot's size 22 shoes. I didn't take my actually shoes off and I was still able to put these bad boys on over the top of them. 

-One more for fun...to help everyone remember that missionary work is work! Exhaustingly wonderful work!!!!

This week was 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Wowzawhataweek 

and malo lei lei fefe hake amigos! 

This week was on fire for lots of reasons. 

We had J__ and M__'s baptism, our AC went out so it felt like our apartment was on fire, and our cockroaches got so bad that we wanted to actually set our apartment on fire. Oh and today we are going to Buffalo wild wings to do the blazin hot wing challenge so that will be a whole other level of fire 

Noteworthy things from the week :

-G__'s miracle! G__ is one of the people I have been working with for about 5 months now, just about the whole time I've been in this area. He is super awesome and I've probably talked about him a little in the past. But last week he got some pretty scary news. He hadn't been feeling good for a while so he went to the doctor and the doctor said he was showing all the signs of cancer. He said he was 99% sure he had cancer so they ran some tests. We met with G__ after he got this news and he was pretty nervous. He said he prayed and prayed this entire week and we kept him in our prayers as well. On Saturday he got the results back from the tests and it was the best news ever! He is cancer free!! He has also had other obstacles keeping him from coming to church but yesterday everything worked out and he was able to come! We have been super happy for him to say the least. 

-J__ and M__ were baptized on Saturday! Wahoooo! It was super awesome. Pretty crazy but super awesome. There is always opposition before baptisms and before we do good things in general and this baptism was no exception. We got to the church two hours before the baptism to fill up the font and get everything all set and ready to go. We got all the chairs and everything set up and started filling up the font no problem. We went to print out the programs and then the printer broke and we couldn't print anything. Welp oh well. Not a huge deal. Then a half hour before the baptism was supposed to start we found out the ward lost some jumpsuits and we were short one. So we had to scramble around and find another jumpsuit and drive to pick it up. We got back to the church about ten minutes before it was supposed to start and found out that J__ and M__ still hadn't arrived. We talked to them earlier and they said they were good to go so all we could do was wait. We waited. And waited. And waited. We just kept on twiddlin our thumbs and stressfully sweated buckets. We were really getting nervous when it was a half hour past the start time and there was still no sign of them. And then all at once they came cruising in and ran into the church. Pfew! It was un poco stressful. But the baptism went great! And the best part was hearing how happy J__, M__, and their mom all were. I love baptisms so much!! The spirit is always so strong even if things are crazy. 

Have a great week! 

-Elder Burgon

Photos and Stories:

 - We had our apartment sprayed for cockroaches this week and had to take everything out of the cupboards and off the shelves before they would spray. My wrists are currently crippled so Elder Durham had loads of fun digging around in the cupboards and found lots of suprise cockroach homes. This was what our apartment looked like after everything was taken out. 

- On p day we went to this tiny little state park and had lots of fun. We walked around for a while and then found a little waterfall. We climbed up on the waterfall and took some pics. After I got down I went to grab my car keys and realized that they had fallen off my caribeener and I had no idea where they were. I thought they had fallen into the waterfall and we all had a mini heart attack. We traced our steps through the park and made it all the way back to the car with no luck. We carpooled up and the other companionship drove so they unlocked the car and you can probably imagine our excitement when we found my keys in the car. We were very happy as you can see. 

- Another exciting event from P day. My compañero and our district leader decided to lose their man cards and wanted to get their eyebrows done. So we walked into this tiny little eyebrow place and they got their eyebrows 'threaded.' lololololol. Don't worry. Your boi E Burg kept his man card and didn't get his eyebrows threaded 

Long Time No See!

Man I've been slack a lackin on my weeklies. Feels like it's been a while fam. 

A lot has happened so it's 

been bueno bueno! 

Noteworthy things from the week :

-J__ and M__ are still on track for their baptism!! They just have their baptismal interviews this week and then they'll be baptized on Saturday! It's been so cool to see them learn, live, and love the gospel. We were talking with their mom during a lesson and she said J__ and M__ have been the ones encouraging the whole family to live the gospel. They are reminding everyone to do spiritual CPR. Go to Church, Pray, and Read the scriptures. It's awesome to see how they are becoming great examples to those that are around them. They are so much fun to teach and I can't wait for Saturday! 

-pic with President Oaks!! 

-President Oaks came to our mission! A little over a year ago, right before I got to LA, President Oaks was planning on coming to speak to all the missionaries here. But the night before he was supposed to come, he called President Haynie and said he had to cancel. But he promised he would come back before President Haynie finished his mission. Well about a month ago he called President Haynie again and said he wanted to come talk to the missionaries! So last Saturday we had an all mission conference and got to talk with President Oaks! It was so incredible!! We got to meet with a member of the first presidency and shake his hand!  One thing he said that I really liked was, "The lord reserves his choicest blessings for those who make commitments and then keep them. That is why the Gospel is a gospel of covenants!" Keeping covenants brings so many blessings. That's why it's so great to be on a mission helping others make and keep covenants! 

Have a great week! 

-Elder Burgon

Photos and Stories:

-last p day we went to Palos Verdes and planned to go to a shipwreck on the coast and take some pics. But we got there and found out the trail was a straight up cliff.  We definitely weren't prepared for the hike and came in our proselyting clothes... We decided to just yolo it. My MTC companion Elder Walker said, "I'm still gonna send it" and jumped down the cliff faster than we could believe. We all followed him down but it turned out to be a pretty insane hike so we got down to the coast and looked at how wrecked our clothes were getting and decided to turn back. Fun times. From this adventure we got the pic by the ocean, the comp pic, and the pic of our wrecked shoes.

-went to Handel's aka the best ice cream place in the world. We got a guy to take our picture for us and it turned out epic. "ok on three... 1... *click *!... 2,3."

 hahaha solid stuff

LA LIFE

While waiting for this weeks email to arrive enjoy these few pics with Elder Durham...

Nevadan #2

Hello Again! 

I think I've said this before but it's so true. The first week with a brand new missionary in the area is always amazing! The first week of last transfer when Elder Windous got here we were super busy and we found O__ who was baptized less than a week later. This week we we were super busy again and we started teaching J__ and M__!

At the beginning of the week we had to drop Elder Windous off at the airport. He took off on Tuesday EARLY in the morning. We woke up at 3:30 and had to be at the airport at 5:00. We dropped Elder Windous off and he got to spend the whole day flying to Jamaica. After that I got to crash at the Zone leaders apartment until we drove up to the mission office to pick up my new companion! His name is Elder Durham and he is from Nevada too! Just like Elder Windous. He is super cool. He's a musician so you'll have to check him out on YouTube and Spotify and tell me if he's any good His name for both is Easton Durham. 

Wednesday was our first full day to work and it was crazy. We had lots of lessons and we had an extra companion with us since his companion had to go to a leadership only training meeting. One lesson that was cool was with this guy named A__. He is really interested and loves a lot of things about our church he has heard a lot about the welfare program and really likes that. But he has a pretty cool background story. He was in the military for a while and then after he did that he had a hard time returning to civilian life. He tried everything and nothing worked for him until he tried hypnotism. He was hypnotized a bunch eventually he was able to ease back into regular life. Pretty crazy. But now he is doing the same thing for other veterans so he goes around hypnotizing people all day. Hopefully he doesn't hypnotize us during a lesson 

Some other cool people we started working with this week are J__ and M__! They are awesome kids whose mom is a less active member in the Tongan Ward. They are super crazy and energetic and they are wanting to be baptized on September 1st. We have gone over just about every day since we met them. There are always about ten kids running around the house as we teach so it can be pretty crazy. It's been lots of fun! 

Have a great week! 

-Elder Burgon 

Pics:

Before Elder Windous headed out for Jamaica we wanted to hike up to the Hollywood sign. So that was our plan for last p day. We got up there and hiked for a bit and found out that if you go the wrong way you can find some pretty sweet caves and other crazy stuff. After exploring those we started hiking in the right direction towards the Hollywood sign but it was extremely hot! We started hiking around 2:00 which wasnt the greatest idea. So 15 minutes in we decided it wasn't worth it and turned around.

I found a cool sculpture that works perfect as a comfy seat 

Elder Durham and I didn't take any pics this week so we took a selfie at the library