"Wait, I know you!"

Hello all! 

Just wanted to share a few highlights from the week!

So, this week Gentri came to Manchester! For those of you who have never heard of Gentri, they are an amazing tenor trio from Utah. Look them up. You won't regret it. Honestly, they are so good! Unfortunately, missionaries weren't allowed to attend... weren't being the keyword. On Tuesday evening, we got a message from our zone leaders telling us that we could come if we brought a friend. This gave us Wednesday and Thursday morning to invite someone and arrange a lift. Now, this leads into my next story.

Honestly, we don't have too many people to teach at the moment and are working on building our teaching pool. We didn't really know who we could invite, as the friends we do have would probably be busy. Well, on Monday we got a random text that simply said, "Hi, this is Kelly". We were able to get contact with her and establish a time to meet. Well, we realised a great opportunity to invite Kelly to the concert and she wanted to come! Now we needed to arrange a ride.

Believe it or not, arranging a ride grew my testimony of seeking for referrals. We only knew a few people who had cars, so we called them. Unfortunately, none were attending. After each call we asked, "who do you know that might be going and could give us a lift?" We contacted nearly 11 families and none of them were available to go. We had one family left, who we were sure would not be available. We gave her a call, and she was available! She told us later that she wasn't sure if she wanted to come, but that she was so grateful we asked.

On Thursday evening we got to Kelly's home and knocked on the door. When she opened she pointed at me and said, "Wait, I know you!". I replied, with much enthusiasm, "wait, I know you too!" Turns out it was Kelly who I taught in Southport nearly 16 months ago! So we got to catch up with each other. We went to the concert and it was amazing! Gentri is a very talented group and they were able to teach through music and word the importance of love, families, the gospel, and their personal testimonies. It was a great opportunity.

Gentri even created a rendition of the song "Jerusalem" which is like the unofficial national anthem of England, and also our mission song. I really hope they make an official recording of it!

On Sunday evening we had another "Why I Believe" fireside. Our recent convert, Scott, was able to speak and he did an amazing job! When we asked him if he wanted to speak, he enthusiastically replied, "YES". Scott travels around in a wheelchair, so the only available way to get to the fireside was with the buses, over 3 hours of travel total, and a 6-7 hour commitment. Despite this time commitment he never wavered in his eagerness to speak. One of his driving forces was that he wanted to help others choose to be baptised. He did an absolutely amazing job!

So, yeah, it was a good week! We had some good experiences (as described above), and some not so good experiences with very persistent bashers (perks of Manchester). But such is missionary life. If there is one thing I've learned, whenever bashers try to tear down my faith, it really strengthens it, because I'm able to find answers to questions I never really considered on my own. The beauty of the restored gospel is that there is always answers and clarity. Never give up if you have questions. If we study in faith, we'll receive greater light and knowledge until the perfect day.

I'm so grateful to serve here in England. I'm grateful that the work isn't easy, as it has given me an opportunity to strengthen my faith and testimony in large leaps and bounds. I continually pray to be lead to those who are ready to receive the gospel. Being able to look back on the changes of people I've met is amazing. As one convert said yesterday, "the only thing that will come from learning about the church is goodness".

I love you all!

See miracles. Be miracles.

Elder Burns