Trials and Turkeys

Looks like things are really starting to pick up now that summer is coming to an end. I am super excited for Sara to start 8th grade and even more excited for her to be taking Spanish. I hope she dives into it and then when she hits high school she can be on top of things and ace the classes there. Don't take German or French!!! That is way neat that Brianne is already having such good success out in Provo. When does the actual semester start for her? Also what is she planning on studying? I'm excited to hear about the BYU life for her now being an RM and all. I hope the guys are treating Ryan well at the shop. It is definitely good stuff to know, working there with the cars. Are there any updates with college stuff yet?

Well I'm glad you were able to see the pics. It is a whole lot easier to take pics of other things that are really neat rather than trying to take of yourself or asking others to take pics of you and other things. I'm trying though. I have a good one for you that you'll enjoy soon. It has me in it and it is a picture of the service we did this week. Tuesday night at about 8, we were asked if we would help at a members turkey farm because she was shipping her turkeys out the next morning and she needed to do one last run through to make sure all the dead ones had been taken out. Well we got our nasty work clothes on and plastic boots and went on trudging through a mix of nasty smelling turkeys, mud filled with stuff that comes out of turkeys :), and wood chips to try and find any turkeys that had passed on to the next life. It was pretty fun except for the turkeys that felt they were tough guys and would literally gang up on you and jump on your back. I found out quick that if you hit a turkey or yell at it for pecking at you then it comes back with like three more friends. It was crazy to see them try to surround me and back me into a corner. I'll tell you what though, they are ugly! It was good though, being able to help her out so late notice and make her night shorter and easier. She has over 1500 turkeys in the three houses and they smell horrible.

Other than that though we didn't really do any crazy service projects this week. We did teach quite a few wonderful lessons. This Monday we had that lesson in the members home with Brenda and that went sooooooooo well. Then on Thursday we taught her again and things have been crazy for her. Satan is not making her life or conversion easy at all. She is doing well at reading and praying and keeping her commitments, but when we got there she was crying and come to find out someone had broken into her house a second time and stole a TV and a jewelry box. Before, they took off with her AC unit. She has had it so rough and she keeps asking us why her? She can't understand why if she is doing everything she is supposed to that God would allow such things to happen. It was a tough lesson for her, but perfect for us. We were able to show her the purpose of life and that even though bad things happen to good people, it's not because God has forgotten you or doesn't love you. We helped her realize that there is so much we can learn from these hard experiences and that God knows how tough of a woman Brenda is and that he is refining her into something greater by allowing things to happen to her. Sure God could stop it, but he loves us too much to do it. Kind of weird to think about it that way, but it's true. Just like you wouldn't want to keep your kids from all temptation or pain or trials because you know it will help them in the long run. Well after the lesson I had the impression to ask her if she would like a priesthood blessing and she accepted so we finished that night off with that. She really is coming along great and we are so grateful she didn't blame the church or the new things she has been learning for those experiences she has been having. 

Other than that we are teaching a young Hispanic couple that are really interested, at least the wife is, but they are reading and they enjoy having us over. They are a little slower going, but we are doing our best to teach to their needs. 

This is the last week of this transfer and its probable that Elder Munoz will be leaving, but we never know. The Lord may think otherwise, but it's probable. Other than that though life is good, we are working hard and I'm very blessed. 

To answer your questions,  yes I keep a journal everyday. I try to write what went on that day and any odd things that I feel would be good for any future people to read. I haven't kept too many quotes in there, but I also have a separate study journal that I write down any personal revelation or quotes from talks that I like and stuff like that. Also yes, I do pay fast offerings every month. It is actually in the White Handbook that we pay fast offerings. And also I will try to do better at taking pictures of those things.

Les amo muchisimo, y estoy muy agradecido por todo que hacen para mi. Quiero que sepan que ustedes siempre estan en mis oraciones. Si hay algo que puedo hacer o contestar por ustedes, por favor digame! 

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham