May 30, 2012

Nao acredito que eu estou terminando minha missao esta semana!! nossa senhora.

I can't believe I am ending my mission this week!! Oh goodness.

Well Hello everyone for the last week

So this last week went really well.. I just said goodbye to eveyone and got everything sent off and packed up. We had to come off island on Sunday night because on Monday we went down to Pawtucket to rock climb and say goodbye to the members there with Elder Wright. It was an amazing day. The Austins came down to say goodbye as well (which is quite a hike for them) and I was beyond happy. I LOVE THE MEMBERS IN MY MISSION
but it is hard thinking that I would be able to see these wonderful people as often as I do now and some I wont ever see again because they're going to Brazil. :( but that's okay because our relationship has been sealed with the holy spirit and I will see them again... sooner or later. Thank you for your expressed love and support for me during my mission. It hasn't been the easiest but it has been what I needed.. the Lord is very much in the details of our lives. I love you all and I'll be see you

May 21,2012

Ola todo mundo,

Well wow this is my last monday email on my mission.... Can you believe it? I'm getting pretty stoked to come home now. Every night I seem to have dreams about it ha ha weird. And this is my last week on Marta's Vineyard.... it's crazy. Anyways just thought you all should know ha ha. This week was pretty freaking good. We haven't been able to meet with Eliezar and Simone due to the fact they are working about 60 hours a week and its not even their "busy" time so ha ha looks like we wont be meeting with them anymore :( So there is your update on them. We haven't been able to teach anyone for awhile but we decided that instead of knocking on empty doors all day long we might as well do some service. So Elder Horrocks and I went around and got ourselves a service for every day of them week that we are on island.. except for mondays. It's pretty awesome. I love doing service because you can see the fruits of your labors ha ha ha. We do service in the Hospital on Tuesday and Wednesdays, help replace books in the library on Thursdays, we're off island for Friday, then on Saturdays we go help Habitat for Humanity build houses. It is awesome and we are meeting tons new people this way while were out working. We went and did our service for Habitat this last Saturday and it was seriously the best day. I loved building the house. I get to help and I'm learning new "skills" :) Other then that a lot of our members are off island so its most just the men here. So because their wives are gone, we have gone out to eat a lot this last week and this week we'll be going a lot as well because it's my last week. And the restaurants here are good so I'm not complaining :) Changing subjects we had about 50 people in church this last week because of the visitors (members visiting the island, Not non-members). I guess one of them yesterday said they live in A.F and that if I go to the single adult ward, I'll meet in their building.... small world huh. And Elder Horrocks and I got to teach Gospel Doctrine again and it was so much fun. I love teaching and studying for the lesson. It was a great week :) excited to hook up a different missionary with things to do here when I leave and excited to see you all in 11 days.

I love you all
eu amo todos voces

com amor,

Elder Jonny Burton

Pictures

May 7, 2011

Hello Family,

So this week was pretty good. We finally got to meet with our Investigators Eliezer and Simone. It was good because it had been over a week easily. We taught them some English and more about prayer. He said he would come to church with us and even give us a ride so we wouldn't have to use the bus but she couldn't because of work. Well.... ha ha he didn't come to church and we had to use the bus :( but it happens. I'm not sure at home interested they are in learning and progressing in the Gospel as much as they are with English. We also had Zone Meeting this week was is always great because we get to see tons of missionaries in our zone and I got to see Elder Dos Santos and Elder Wright. It was really good to talk with both of them. And this week we have Zone Conference along with District Meeting which kind of stinks in the fact we will be off island from Tuesday night until Friday afternoon. But it's always sweet to get together with all the missionaries. I am actually on a "tour" or "split" at the moment so I wont be on island a day longer than that. We had the whole District come over for P day and we went to the Gay Head Cliffs. Ya they're sweet even in the name is kind of weird ha ha ha. The cliffs are made all of clay and they start to melt when it gets hot... it's super weird but sweet. As some of you have commented yesterday was my last fast and testimony meeting in the mission and it was amazing. I got up and bore my testimony and I just felt so happy and sad at the same time. Happy that I have served a mission but kind of sad to leave the members I love so much out here. It ended up being a very spiritual meeting with the emphasis being on me which was kind of the members here. I will be skyping this weekend with you all and I'm super stoked :) :) :) first time i've seen you in quite a while right? he he I don't want any comments and my fatness ;) jk jk but i will most likely be calling around 5 here so about 3 there if that is alright. I love you all so much and I can't wait to see your beautiful faces!!

Amo todos voces te cuida,

Elder Jonathan Burton

May 1, 2012

Hey yall,

How is everyone doing? I can't believe it is pday again already... wait that was yesterday ha ha but we were off island until today so that is the reason I'm writing you today. This last week with Elder Horrocks has been good. We tracted a lot more then I have been lately and yes we talked to 3 people ( as in actually answered the door ;) ) in 2 hours ha ha so there are still quite a few empty doors here on the vineyard. But we have been having a lot of fun doing it. Elder Horrocks is an interesting guy. He has a different personality then I'm use to but I still really enjoy being with him. We actually didn't get to meet with our investigators this week... they seem to be dropping of the radar fast but.. we keep trying. We went over to Alice's house the other night and she is kind of struggling with stuff that has to deal with the death of her baby. She has some ideas and such related to a "conspiracy" and its hard because she is trying to find a reason for why it happened. We shared a message with her about faith and she wouldn't read any of the scriptures or pray.. so not looking good for her. It's hard because she is trying to find comfort in all the wrong places. And she wont find it either. But we are hoping to get over there and teach her friends English and the gospel as well.
Yesterday we went to Boston for probably my last time. It was a great experience. We decided that we wanted to go to Boston for the sunrise ha ha ha so we woke up at about 3:25 drove and got to the train at 4:15 to find out that the first train doesn't run until 5. We waited in the cars until it opened then watched the sunrise from the T. It was cool just really badly planned ha ha. After that we spend ALL day in Boston and I just love the city. It is the coolest place ever. We went to China town for my first time. We walked the freedom trail again and went up into Bunker Memorial. 294 steps ha ha my legs were kind of tired when I got to the top. We then went to Fenway but couldn't go inside because it was to expensive for some of us ha ha but the outside is sweet. I'll come back to watch a game later. It was a great Pday and I took over 100 photos. We ended up sleep off island last night because we got back to the apt at about 9:30 after dinner. And I was exhausted from waking up early and walking ALL day ha ha. So now were back on island sending emails. It's raining here and it stinks. I hate the rain on my mission ha ha but we learn to deal with it. I love you all and I can't wait to see you in t minus 31 days :) Talk to you next pday and mothers day.

Love,
Elder Jonny Burton

April 23,2012

Oii,

Hello everyone. I hope everything is going well where you are. These last few days have been good. Elder Horrocks and I have been getting to know each other and he is a great guy. He has been out about 19 months and he is from cottonwood Utah. He speaks Portuguese really well and has a great accent in the language. He sounds like a Brazilian. He has served in all of my areas so it's amazing how well he speaks. We taught our investigators yesterday and it was a great lesson. I had to teach the English part which was kind of hard but it was fun. We taught them the first of the plan of salvation and it went really well.. They hopefully will come to church next week because this week she had to work and their car was broken so... couldn't come late. But this week their car should be fixed and they'll just come late. Also I had to translate again from portuguese to english in front of the branch yesterday. Ha ha it was interesting but fun. I didn't want to do it but I sucked it up and did it. We also visited with this L.A lady named Alice. She lost her baby that was born while I was here. He died the day after Easter. He was only 2 months old. It was super hard for her as I can imagine. I had to talk at the funeral in portuguese last sunday, and it was super challenging because I don't even know what to say in english. But I did it and she seemed happy with what I said. Anyways we went over last night to talk to her and she how she was doing. She is doing a lot better except she buzzed her hair all off. She seemed to be happier so that was good. She called me today and she wants to talk to President Brown tomorrow and She wasn't me to translate... which kind of scares me because it's confidential and i have to translate.. and I don't know if I have to skill nessisary to do it but.. we'll see. Other then that these last few days have flown by. I'm excited for this last transfer. I love being on the Vineyard and I'm excited to end here. I love you all and i'll talk to you next week.


Love,
Elder Jonny Burton

April 19, 2011

Hey everyone,

Well this last week and a half has been pretty dang good. We had some good appointments with our investigators but they will not be getting baptized on the 29th because they haven't been to church yet. They said they will be coming this week with our Branch President so we're pretty stoked for that. This week was T-texts and I found out that Elder Wright will be getting transferred to a place (still in my zone) called New Bedford. I have a missionary named Elder Horrocks from Cottonwood, Utah. He has been out about 18 months so he knows whats going on. He is a really good guy and has served in all of my areas so he knows all the people I do so... we have stuff to talk about. This last Monday was presidents day and the temple was open to all missionaries who had the miles to go. Unfortunately the vineyard doesn't have a car and the other Elders miles were gone so we couldn't go. Instead pres told those who couldn't go to take from 11-6 as kind of a 2nd pday. So we went to the west side of the island because normally it's super hard and time consuming to get there. The beach over there and light house is amazing. They have cliff views that over look the ocean and it's beautiful. My camera can't do it justice. I loved it. And there were tons of people on the island because it's getting warmer. I love it!!! We had transfer meeting today and it's super weird because I am now the OLDEST missionary in the mission. If these next 6 weeks go as fast as the last, I don't know what i'll do. I've been having a lot of fun these last few weeks and I feel so happy. I love the mission and being able to serve people. I love you all and i'll talk to you either Monday!

Love,
Elder Jonathan Burton