Michael Christian Burris honorably completed his mission on May 27, 2017. We are SO PROUD OF HIM.
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Well everyone, the mission has been a wonderful experience. I have served honorably. I have found, taught, and baptized. I have given an honest effort these past two years to serve others and help them. I have no regrets about what I have done with this time. I am coming home. My mission is over. But life is full of chapters, so I am just starting a new chapter of my life. I have had so many special experiences these past two years.
I remember that when I first started my mission during my training, I was with my trainer riding around on a bus to go to an appointment and I remember telling my trainer that I wouldn't give up a day in my mission for anything. I have kept that attitude and that drive throughout my entire mission. Now its time to come home but I am not going to forget the things that I have learned here. I wont forget the people that I have helped and served. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. He really did see God the Father and Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ is mu Savior, He is the Savior of the world. He suffered and died for my sins. He knows me and helps me. I know that with faith I can do all things. 1 Nephi 17 50-51 50 And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done. 51 And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship? my version of verse 51: And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should serve an honorable mission? I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ that we live and that it was restored through the modern day prophet Joseph Smith. Jesus Christ lives, the book of Mormon is true, God loves us and has a plan for us, when we live that plan and keep the commandments and make and keep all the ordinances that go along with it we qualify for eventual exaltation and eternal happiness in the presence of God and His Son Jesus Christ. That's my testimony, CYA SOON... Hey everyone, I hoped you all had a wonderful week! I am here doing the same great stuff. I really enjoyed conference this weekend, the questions I had were answered, all of them, and I feel at peace with what I have done up to this point in my mission and am happy with the person I have become. My favorite talk this conference was by Robert D Hales on becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. I LOVED that talk.
Being a disciple of Christ is something all of us should strive to do. It is a lifetime process that if we work at brings happiness satisfaction and peace. If we do not work at it, we don't have a spiritual base and direction in our lives. Our thoughts and actions should always be centered on our Savior Jesus Christ. As we strive to focus our thoughts and actions on Him, we will become more like him. If we are not focusing our thought and actions on Him, we are focusing our thought and actions on something else. Of course no one is perfect at it, but striving towards that standard brings peace and direction. I love my Savior and want to be like Him. My companion and I are still looking for new people to teach. We talk to lots of people each day and are looking for families to teach the gospel to. I have definately planted lots of seeds here in my mission. Also a lot of people that I have taught and then left the area have been baptized by the next misssionaries. A family got baptized in Benque that I had a big hand in in teaching. Another big announcement, I am coming home next month. Sometimes thinking about it makes me excited, but most of the time thinking about coming home brings me to the brink of tears. I have given it my imperfect but honest effort. I love these people, and my heart is here. I cant even imagine my life and who I would be if I chose not to come here and serve a mission. I love my mission. I love these people, of El Salvador and Belize. But it isnt over yet, I am going to continue to the end. Every young man should serve a mission. In my mind their are not any valid excuses not to. It is the best thing you can do. I know that God lives. That Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. Follow them. Choose to follow the Savior. I love you all, and hope you have a wonderful week! Elder Burris The two missionaries to my left are from Arizona and they finish with me Hello everyone, this week was great! There were a lot of learning experiences for me this week. One of them was pretty sad, we have this investigator named Eduardo who literally has next to nothing. He has a job but get payed minimum and has barely enough money to support himself. He is struggling really bad financially and sometimes doesn't even have enough food to eat. It is really sad. he is really sad and down about his life right now, and we found him last week and are now teaching him the gospel.
He is receptive and we are helping him. But it was a really humbling experience for me to hear him open up to us and tell us about all of the trials he is going through. I have realized on my mission that everyone has problems. Everyone. There is no one on the face of this whole earth who is problem free. The difference is the attitude everyone has about their problems. If we face trials and difficulties with a positive faithful attitude we will be just fine, everything will work out for our good. God sent us here to have joy. Be joyful! I love you all, have a wonderful week! me with a dead iguanna and the other one is a suvenir that I bought its a CTR ring an investigator made it for me Hey everyone, this week was wonderful! I dont have a ton of time today, but I want to mention that I had the chance to go to the temple this Friday. I love the temple with all of my heart. I am convinced that there is no other place on earth where someone can feel closer to heaven. I have learned to love the temple and have realized at a young age the importance the temple has. Before I make any major decision in life I will definitely be going to the temple to help me make the decision. If you want to feel peace, go to the temple. If you need to make a major decision, go to the temple. if you want to strengthen your testimony, go to the temple. If you want yo feel Gods love for you, go to the temple. I love the temple.
This week we also had a baptism, we helped to reactivate a family who had a 13 year old daughter who was not baptized yet because they were inactive. The Hernandez family. So we activated them and then we baptized their daughter. Now the family of 10 are all members and active in the church! I love my mission. There are so many experiences that I have had, so many more I will have, and so many things that I have learned that have really just changed me forever. I am so greatful to my heavenly Father and also to my family for helping me to make it to this point and helping me to become the man that I am today. I love this gospel. I love my Savior. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and that it was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I will have more to say next week because I am going to a new area with a new companion this Wednesday. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! an investigator here in my area, her name is Nuria she is so sweet. Also me at the temple, I got to go through this Friday because my companion is finishing his mission Hey everyone, I hoped you all had a fantastic week this week! I am doing well here in El Salvador and still just learning and growing. Even though i have been out here on my mission for over a year and a half, there are still a lot of things that I know my Heavenly Father has for me to learn.
This week I did the things that a missionary should always do. I talked to people, handed out pamphlets, (because here we dont use ipads we carry around a packpack with our scriptures and lesson pamphlets), I studied and saught for the spirit, I prayed a lot, I helped people learn about the gospel and come to church this Sunday, and I know that because of my service this week people were and will be blessed. I did my best. One person in particular that I would like to talk about is a man named Jorge Cristales. He is the brother of the first counselor of the ward where I am serving and 3 weeks ago we started to teach him. He is a wonderful guy who is excited about the gospel. Yesterday I sat next to him at church and taught him how to read a hymn book and how to sing hymns. He will always remember that. The mission is really just filled with little acts of service. Little things that we do here as missionaries that make a big difference in the lives of others. I am so greatful to my Heavely Father for the oppurrtunity that he has given me to be here and to be a missionary serving his children here in El Salvador. Love, Elder Burris Hello everyone!
This was a wonderful week! A lot of good cool things happened this week, because that it how it always is as a missionary. You have a lot of time to go and do good things and just help people. But the main thing I want to talk about it the baptisms me and my companion had this weekend! So we baptized 2 people, their names are Maria and Dariana. They are sisters and they are amazing people who really are a miracle. MY companion found them contacting the change before I got here. They found them knocking on their door but they werent too interested so they taught them like 2 times then never went back. Then me and my companion went back my second week here in this area on a Saturday and invited them to church, and they came! So we started to teach them, and they recieved and accepted the gospel and came to church every week for the past 2 months and now they are baptized and confirmed members of the church. Maria last month even payed her tithing. They are very excited about the gospel and they are just miracles. I know that God prepared them to hear and accept the gospel. I will send some pictures too! The mission is really hard. Their isnt a day that goes by that I dont feel like I am being stretched in some way. But the mission is also full of joy and learning and unforgettable experiences. I would not give up the mission experience for anything. I am so greatful to my Heavenly Father for the oppurtunity I have to be here and to serve these people. I know that when we serve others, we are only serving God. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! service to a recent convert family Hey Family and friends, this week was a wonderful week. The time goes by so fast. This week really was a blur. We worked hard this week and saw some really good success, more new progressing investigators and some good success with activating more inactive members. It was really just a great week. The mission is just a wonderful experience. We just serve people. Like we are here and we have all of our time to just improve ourselves and serve others, help them come closer to Christ. I love serving these people. They are such wonderful humble people.
Also just a funny side note, i haven't taken a normal shower in over 2 months. I shower with a bucket. And I love it. When I get home I am definitely going to take my bucket shower every now and then. I feel like I am just lost in what I am doing right now. Thanks for all your love and support that all of you give me. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week, I promise to write more next week! Enjoy the pictures! my baptism that i left behind in my last area, i count him as one of my converts too casue we set the date with him. He was baptized on Christmas eve and confirmed on Christmas day Hey Family and Friends! This week was an awesome week! We got a lot of really cool things done!
Couple cool things to mention.. 1 My investogator Maria, the one who is going to be baptized soon, is really good at drawing. So I had her draw me the picture of Joseph Smith and the first vision and it came out REALLY GOOD. She is like super good at drawing. I am doing to maybe get it laminated but i am for sure going to keep it. Its awesome. And she is doing super well and so is her sister Darianna. This Sunday I really saw them just feel welcomed. Darianna has a really good friend at church now that always goes with her to her classes and everything, and Maria has someone that always takes her to relief society. They are doing super well. We are just helping them right now to recieve more of a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. But they are golden, super awesome investigators. 2 A few weeks ago, one of our investigators named Julio came to church. And just happened to see one of his friends walking outside right in front of the church. So he went and was like, hey come to church its gonna start right now! And his friend came! And so we recieved this reference from one of our investigators, his name is Juan Antonio. And so he came to church and stayed for the sacrament meeting. And ever since then we have been trying to find and teach him. We found out where he lived, but we could never find him home. Then finally yesterday we went by at 7 and he was home! So now we know his work schedule really well and are going to be able to regularly teach him hopefully. We taught him last night about the restoration, and he really got it. Which is cool to see cause a lot of people here just dont get it. But he got it and is interested in learning more, so we are going to be teaching him now which is super cool. I am really excited to teach him. Really everything is going well right now. We have a decent amount of people to teach, we should be baptizing soon, and everything is just going well. I am happy to be here serving the people of El Salvador. Time is going by VERY fast for me. Especially the night time, I feel like its just a couple minutes then its day time again. Time is going by extremely fast. Thanks for all your love and support! Elder Burris we made papussas with these inactive members Hello Family and friends, this week was a good week!
To start off, this week is officially the end of 1 transfer and the start of another transfer! I am staying here in Izalco with my same companion Elder Riding. So this is new for me cause this has only happened to me 2 times before this is my entire mission that I stay in the same area with the same companion. And this is Elder Ridings last change so he will finish his mission here with me. I want to talk about a couple investigators we have been working with this change. Their names are Maria and Darianna. They are sisters, Maria is 20 and Darianna is 13. They have been seriously investigating the church this change and will probably be baptized very soon, within the next couple weeks. Last week we taught them about tithing, about how its a commandment with many blessings that we WILL recieve from God if we follow it. Then yesterday Maria and Darianna came to church, and Maria asked me where and how she could pay tithing. So I showed her where the envelopes are and how she can fill out the slip to pay tithing, and how she just gives it to the bishop when she is done. She then explained she wasnt payng fast offerings cause it wasnt fast sunday. So she is paying her tithing already and she isnt even a member yet. MIRACLES! The mission is such a wonderful learning and growing experience. The longer that I am here in my mission, I realize and learn more and more that it isnt at all about me. As we do things to bless and serve others, we ourselves are expodentially blessed. I love you all and thanks so much for all that you do and all your support. Have a wonderful week! we made pizza with her, she is named sister calvo and she is one of the nicest people you will ever meet Hello Family and Friends, this week was a great week. I am learning a lot of things here.
I am so greatful for Jesus Christ our Savior and all that is possible for us through Him. I dont have much time this week. But I want to invite you all to be the best you can be and remember always how much God loves each and every one of us because we are His children. I will write more and sent pictures next week I promise. Love, Elder Burris Hello Family and friends!
First off I just want to wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a happy new year! I had a wonderful time seeing and talking to my family yesterday! And that I am really enjoying my mission right now. Yesterday we had 3 investigators in church, and one of them is named Maria and during the sacrament meeting i got her the gospel library downloaded onto her tablet and showed her the scriptures and the gospel principles and hymns and everything and is was super cool. Now she has a lot more tools to use to learn about the gospel. Super cool experience. One thing that I am really learning is that even though life has its constant ups and downs our Heavenly Father always helps things to at some point just work out for our personal benefit. God takes care of us. As we patiently work through our imperfections God gives us the help we need. God is VERY used to working with and helping imperfect people. My invitation to all of you at this time of the new year coming up would be to remember how much God loves you and improve with His help. I am so greatful for all of you and the support all of you give to me. Thank you for your prayers and emails. I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and that you all have a happy new year! Pamella, one of my recent converts, is there. Her family is still doing well active in the church! Hey everyone! This week was a great week! We had an EXCELENT multi zone with President Dunkin and i learned A TON. He talked about us seeing our "island" or seeing where we want to be goal wise and working towards it. I really enjoyed it a ton and its changed my perspecitive a bit on things. It was so special for me to learn from him, its always a special experience for me to learn from those who know more than me. I love to learn, its a way we can truly progress towards becoming like our Heavenly Father.
Other big news, TRANSFERS are happening this Wednsday and I am going to be heading to be a zone leader! So that is pretty cool. This change honestly went by so fast. I feel like this change was like 3 days long. We worked very hard and saw some really good progression in the area. I am satisfied with how I am serving my mission. I am putting everything into it right now and that is what I plan to do for the remainder of my mission. Especially this week we turned the heat up even more and just worked super hard and I feel great about how I am finishing up this change. There is joy and peace in giving it all. Well, not too much else to report on this week. I will definately have more next week, thanks for all the love and support! Elder Burris Hey Family and Friends, well another week has gone by, i am not really sure where the time goes but it goes. I am here just working hard doing my best to learn and improve and bring others close to our Savior Jesus Christ.
This week was really cool because we saw 4 investigators in church this past sunday, and even better we have been working with the members, so each one of the investigators came to church with a member. It was great, huge pay off. It is always nice Sundays when you see the work you did paying off. The mission is going by really fast. I am just here working hard and doing my best to help people. I dont have a ton of time this week, but I want you all to know that i love you and hope you have a wonderful week! |
AuthorMichael's father Christian Burris Archives
May 2017
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