Hey Family,
Thank you soo much for your emails! And for your prayers on our behalf and on the behalf of our investigators! They must be working! Don't Stop:-)
Wednesday night we took the VACA and the MESA families on a temple tour! This night there was an unusual number of spanish people there so they had a professional translator come and translate! The tour started and instantly the spirit came with such power and love! As the guide (bro. herzog) talked about the restoration of the gospel and the knowledge and blessings of the temple, the huge group was completely silent, the only thing you could hear was the light voice of the translator with the group of spanish people! The vaca children speak very good english and sister vaca was a foreign exchange student from mexico years and years ago, so she knows and understands pretty well, but brother vaca doesn't understand english at all! but during the tour for the sake of there children understanding completely they stuck with the english group, instantly Bro herzog felt something as he looked into the eyes of this family of 6, and he directed a lot of his comments directly to them and when he bore testimony he looked them right in the eyes! The spirit was soo strong! Afterward, sis Vaca wanted to feel what it was like in the temple, so we went into the waiting room, and as soon as we crossed the spirit came with even more power and everything was completely silent, you couldn't here the fountains or the passing cars, or anything, we sat down on the couches and we started flipping through temple magazines, then bro Vaca leaned over and asked me when his family could go through the temple and be an eternal family, my heart burst inside of me, i told him that he could 1 year after his baptism, and testified to him and we invited the whole family to pray about baptism and the truthfulness of the gospel! They came to church on Sunday, and there are soo many loud children in our sacrament meeting, this one was probably the loudest i have heard on my mission, but this whole family just stared with full intent at the speakers! They are sooo awesome! The lord definitely knows who he wants in his church and when! Last night we went over there with brother chuqi, and we had a great lesson, and afterward we challenged the whole family, and they accepted! This is one of those once in a lifetime families! They are definitely one of the reasons why i was called to be in this part of the Lords vineyard! They are getting baptized on the 9th of may! And they are already looking forward to going through the temple together! The Mesas are probably going to be baptized on the same day, and we have some other dates to set! It is going to be a beautiful day in white! My cup is overflowing! The Lord is soo Good! I love him with all my heart! He is working Miracles, and i am soo thankful that he lets Elder Law and i be just a small part of it!
On top of everything else, Elder Holland was AMAZING! That was the most moving and inspirational talk i have ever heard in my life! Our whole mission gathered together at 9 am and we took a mission photo with Elder Holland, and afterward we shook his hand personally, told him our name and where we are from! Shaking his hand and looking him eye to eye, was amazing, sooo much peace and love, with soo much pure fire and energy! He was amazing! He walked around in front of the benches and testified and taught! He had soo much power and authority coming from him! I believe that some have it recorded to get it typed out, the things he said, and the overpowering feelings cut to the very depths of the soul! As he started to bear testimony with tears in his eyes of the Savior in Gethsemane, you could hear a pin drop, i don't think anyone even breathed! When he was pointing his finger at each one of us and with the greatest power and authority, almost shaking with soo power, telling each and everyone of us, "Do not go home! Do not return and never become a missionary! This is your chance! This is real life! If you think you are going to find real life once you go home, you are sorely mistaken, You have missed the whole purpose of life!" i cant even describe the fire that burned in my chest!
one of my favorite quotes that he gave was "if you think the mafia is tough, you haven't seen Holland in action! :-) It sufficeth me to say, i was ultimately edified and spiritually uplifted!
I am soo happy, life is soo good! Don't let Satan get to you, this life is to enjoy, to be happy, to have joy,but not to be easy, it will never be easy, if it was easy it wouldn't be worth it, it wasn't easy for the Savior, why should it be easy for us! But we can control our attitudes and our decisions! You can choose to be Happy and you can choose to live the Gospel! They go hand in hand! Don't give up! This is life eternal- to Know God and Jesus Christ (John 17:1-3) How do you do that? You be obedient and you live the Gospel! By doing so you will undoubtedly know who our Savior is and who Our father in heaven is, so that in the next life that will not be a new thing, you will recognize him and his embrace will have a familiar feel to it! I love my Savior and Redeemer, I know he is real, there is not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that he is real! When i see him again and feel the marks in his hands, feet, and side i will not know any better then, than i do know that he is real and that he LIVES!
I love all of you soo much! Thank you for your love and prayers, i am soo blessed to have all of you! You are always in my prayers!
love,
Elder Samuel Paul Burdick
ps this saturday is transfer calls, I really really hope i stay with Elder LAW this third and final transfer of his mission!
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