This week!

So first of all I will explain why I was able to email you on Wednesday.  On Tuesday, Elder Bezerra tried to Skype with his family and basically it was terrible. He told me that basically the entire time was spent "Hey, can you hear me?" So he got permission to try again on Wednesday. We went to an internet cafe and he tried from there (and it worked fantastic which he was so happy about and was actually the Christmas Miracle for this year)! But our Zone Leaders were there too and they saw that I was just sitting there and they said that if I needed to do something on the computer I could. So I asked if I  could let you know if I got the package, and they said that was fine! And then I watched conference talks, so it was pretty awesome!

Okay, so about my week after I talked to you guys...

We went to dinner with an awesome family! The first picture is with a family who lives really close to us and this sister is like our mom. Whenever we don't have a lunch or anything she'll cook for us and she invites us over all the time! She's fantastic! After that we stayed out until 11 with the family in the second 2 pictures and ate dinner with them and had a lot of fun!

Christmas was great! For Missionary work, it's terrible because no one wants to talk to you and no one wants to listen to you. BUT it was pretty fantastic! As you know, I got the package first thing in the morning and it was great! And then the Christmas Miracle for us was really special when Elder Bezerra got to talk to his family without problems! He had problems on the Mother's Day earlier this year, and then problems on Tuesday, so for it to work on Wednesday was great!

On Thursday, Elder Bezerra and I got to go to the Temple! That was really cool! He got to see the new video for the first time, which he thought was awesome! But after that, we taught a few lessons and it was great!

Yesterday, President Cook had to come and speak to our ward during 3rd hour and try to explain the rules a little bit more. It's really hard because nobody understands why we have the rules that we have (especially the one about us not being able to go into a house with just a woman) and they all think that it is just that we don't trust them, and we've actually had one or two people that have stopped coming to church... So President tried to come and explain them, but we'll see if it helped. He did a really good job, so we are all hopeful that it will help! After that, we went to a meeting with the bishop's council for the planning of 2014!! We hope this will inspire the ward to help us more!

Skyping with you guys was the highlight of my week! I love you all and I hope everyone is doing great!

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Elder Burt

Package!!!

Hey long story why but i was able to send a quick email. I got the package!!!!! Thank you guys so much!! I just got the chance to send you one email to let you know i got it! I’ll tell you more on monday!

Okay!!!

Taken on Christmas Eve via Skype! 

Soooooooo, week what..? 3?! Yeah it's going by pretty fast!

It continues to be a struggle to find people to teach. We are working super hard and it is getting better a little bit at a time, but it is really hard. We still have plenty of days when we just walk and try and find someone to teach. But it is getting better and easier!

This week we had an amazing oportunity to go as a whole mission to the Mission office and have a mission wide Christmas celebration! That was a really awesome opportunity because of how small our mission is! We played sports, ate really good food, watched Remember the Titans (in Spanish of course) and had an amazing devotional!

Saturday we had a really cool experience. Our lunch fell through and we went to buy a lunch to make. On our way back we stopped by a sister's home to ask if we could borrow pot to cook. She decided that wasn't good enough and cooked for us instead. After that we shared a scripture with her, and started to talk with her about miracles. Especially little miracles, and it may not be big, her making us lunch was one of those little miracles!

My favorite scripture of this week is D and C 122!

¡Chau! ¡Nos Vemos!

Week 2 in the field

Week 2 in the field has been very interesting and just as hard, but at the same time just as worth it!

This White Wash is very hard because we have been having a very hard time making appointments with investigators and non active members. Trying to remember everyone's name is also a real struggle for me, but it is getting better! We don't know the member's that well, but we are trying to and it is becoming easier!

It is starting to get a lot easier. Every day we get to know more people and get better lessons so it is improving! We still have days of just walking around without a lesson and trying to find someone to talk with, but we are doing better! Poco a poco as they say here.

The spanish continues to get better! By now I can pretty much say everything I need to, not in the way I necessarily want to, but somehow yeah! I can communicate and understand everything with my comp and other gringos, but native Chilean speakers are much more dificult because they talk really fast and tend to slur their words together, but every day is better!

This week we had the chance to take an investigator to the Santiago Temple to see the annual Christmas Celebration there which was very cool! I think there should be a youtube video of it, but not sure 100% on that one... But David Archuletta, or I should say Elder Archuletta, sang at it and it was really cool to watch it!

This is really hard work, and it takes a lot to try and be the best I can be. But I know that it is possible, and one of my favorite stories in the BoM is Alma 8, which I highly recommend!

But, here I go! Week 3 starts................ NOW!

Letter from the President

December 13, 2013  


Dear Family of Elder Burt, 


We are happy to send the exciting news that after weeks of preparation in the Santiago MTC, your missionary has arrived safely with his group of fellow missionaries to the Chile Santiago South Mission.  They were transported from the MTC to the Mission Office where and participated in a New Missionary Orientation with President Cook, the Assistants to the President and the Office Staff.  After enjoying lunch with us, they were transported to the Mission Office where they met their trainers. 

Your son has been assigned as a junior companion to Elder Bezerra. 

Elder Bezerra is an exceptional missionary, hand-picked by President Cook to guide your missionary through the critical training period of his mission.  They are assigned to labor together in the Esperanza 2 zone.  

You can expect to hear from your missionary by email every preparation day which is each Monday.  We trust that you will also write to Elder Burt on a weekly basis.  Your positive messages of support and love will be a great source of strength and encouragement while he serves.  To send a letter or a package, please use the following address: 

Elder Braden Christopher Burt 
Chile Santiago South Mission 
Apartado Postal No. 544
San Bernardo, Chile 

We thank you for all that you have done to help prepare Elder Burt to faithfully serve a full time mission. We know that your family will be blessed for his sacrifice and commitment to serve the Lord.  

Thank you for trusting your missionary to the Lord and to us.  We look forward to getting to know him well over the next two years as we labor together.  We want you to know that we will love and watch over him while he is in our care. Please feel free to communicate with us at any time throughout your missionary’s service, with any concerns that you may have.                                                                                   

Most sincerely, 
  
President David L. Cook                 Sister Kathleen Cook 

Well, my first week in the field is over, and I have to say that this has been the hardest week of my life. For sure and without a doubt! But it has also been very worth it and very exciting!

To start, the first day was really exciting! But also difficult! I got out into the field with my companion, Elder Bezerra and it was really hard to communicate at first because my spanish is rusty. I'm not used to speaking all spanish all the time but it's coming slowly but surely! Every day I understand more and more and am able to say a little bit more.

Wednesday was a little bit easier because i got a little bit more used to it. I had an interview with President Cook and we talked about home and what I liked to do and stuff. President Cook is going to be amazing for me! He is the nicest guy I've met since I left home, and it's going to be a great help to have him. However, in the first two days, we never made it into a home to teach a lesson. Only to each lunch (which is different because here members feed the missionaries lunch instead of dinner).

Thursday was the best day by far! I have exciting news! I AM EATING FRUIT AND VEGETABLES! Who can believe it..? Me. We went to a member's home and she fed us a lot of raw tomatoes. And knowing me, I knew that there was no way I would be able to eat raw tomatoes... So I did the only thing that I could think of. I prayed. I asked Heavenly Father to help me eat fruits and vegetables so I could be a better missionary. And ever since then I have been eating all of them.  What an answer to my prayer!

And then, at the last house that we stopped at, we finally got in to teach a lesson. We got in and taught and had a very spiritual experience and it was great! I wasn't able to say much other than my testimony, but I read them Ether 12:27, which says that God will make our weaknesses strong, and since being out here, I've seen that to be true.

Not much happened until Friday night, when we traveled to Elder Bezerra's old ward he was able to baptize one of his old investigators! It was really cool!

This has been really hard, and for the most part we just walk around contacting because we don't have appointments because me and my companion are new to the area. But for the few moments of success, it is totally worth it's weight in gold!

To Mom & Dad

Well, this is tough, and it's been a huge adjustment. This one is your guy's email for the week. It's tough, but worth it.

So I found out why Santiago South is the second smallest mission in the world, it's because it has the most people out of the the Santiago area. Which, as you can guess, makes it the most packed and the poorest section of Santiago.

But Mom, I live in a very safe spot and there has never been trouble for the missionaries in this area before! So no worrying! I have a great ward, and a great companion, and I am in a very safe spot! Everything in Santiago is a gated community, which means ever house is fenced in and has multiple locks to get inside. Which makes contacting hard, but means that we are all safe!

But the people here are fantastic! Even if we get turned down while contacting, the people will still talk to us for at least a few minutes! And if the members in the ward see us passing by they'll invite us in for a minute and give us water and stuff! They are great!

But it took me a few days to really get my head out of the clouds and realize this is where I'm supposed to be. For the first few days, I kept thinking why am  I here in this place? It's kinda sketchy in places, and for the first few days I was scared. I think scared to actually be out here more than scared of the place.

But the second day when I was having a pretty tough time, I asked my comp for a blessing of comfort, and I haven't had a doubt since. I just needed to get past myself and to the work, and now I am having the time of my life, even though it is still hard work, I love the place and I love the people!

Mom for your questions, We cook breakfast and dinner usually. The members cook us lunch, which is really different, but I don't mind.

We are doing our own laundry, and we have a washing machine but we have to air dry everything. But opening a new area is really hard because neither of us know the members or the investigators, so it's hard to make appointments.

I am in the field!

Here I am! I am in the field! I do not have much time to write, but i got time to write you to let you know that I am in the field, I have my trainer and he is great! He is Brazillian, his name is Elder Bezerra and he speaks a little bit of english which helps and his spanish is great! We are bout to go get to work, but i just wanted to send this short email and let you all know that I am in the field and ready to work!

Wish me luck!

Elder Burt