Mission Split

Alright well business first. If it would be easier to just email the letters that would be fine, but you can do whatever. If I can't read it one Monday I will probably get to it the next so it's not too big of a deal. Also I am now feeling much better and it looked like I was attacked by a stomach virus that took me out almost all week. All the mission doctor told me was to try to drink water and rest. Not too helpful, but I am healthy now and that is all that matters. The other thing is that the mission is for sure getting split up in July and there will be the Chesapeake, Virginia mission which will take half of our mission and part of Virginia. MY zone and the Kinston zone will be leaving the mission and chances are very high that I will be going with them. I don't know how I feel about that or why the Lord will put me with three different mission presidents and two separate missions, but all I know is that I am supposed to teach the gospel for two years in Spanish apparently and where I am put doesn't really matter, I guess. So I am working hard and leaving it at that. All final calls about who is going where will be told to us in June, but it isn't too hard to predict. We'll see how it goes.

Other than that this week has been pretty crazy. Due to my sickness Elder Sosa and I were very restricted to how much work we could do. I had zero energy and felt like puking at even the smell of food so it was a rough time. We still got out when we could and luckily the members were very nice about not forcing me to eat, but I hate being sick. We didn't teach as much as we had planned and we didn't find as much as we had planned, but we did our best under the circumstances. We even had 6 investigators come to church which was amazing. This area is golden, but there is a lot of work that has to be done. It seems like a lot of investigators and members here were converted to missionaries rather than the gospel so Elder Sosa and I have some things to get done. I am loving life over here and as long as I'm happy then that is all that matters. Many are called, but few are chosen.

I love y'all very much and I sure hope all is going well. Keep up the good work!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

I am sick

Elder Sosa and Elder Burnham

I am feeling miserable right now. I believe the Mexican family that fed us enchiladas last night poisoned me. This is the first time I have ever felt this gross on my mission. Gotta love eating at strange homes right? :)

Well on the positive side of things I am loving Smithfield, NC. The ward here is nice and big and everyone is on top of things. I am glad to be in this area where the members are actually somewhat missionary minded and love the missionaries. I must admit that I do miss Wallace though. I sure hope all is well there. Here in Smithfield my companion is the wonderful Elder Sosa from Honduras. He has never lived in the states before and his English is very broken. It is so funny hearing him teach Americans. He has been out 9 months and is a great teacher in Spanish. I am definitely going to learn a lot from him. We get along very well and we even just had a baptism together. Here are some pictures of us.

Well I am feeling super gross right now so I am not going to write much more, but I hope life is going well. I love y'all very much and yes we got that news about emailing so it is okay. And also it looks like my mission my be getting split and there is a very good chance I could be going to the other mission. Well with that I leave you. Thanks for everything. Good Luck Sara. :)

Bye,

Elder Burnham

Why Me ?!

So I must say that was the best picture of my little brother I have ever seen, besides when we were little boys of course. Also he can never make fun of my cheeks again. :) I love my little brother. It is amazing to see him in that way and I almost can't believe its real. I am definitely proud of him though and I hope we see some pictures of him and his trainer soon. Work hard little brother!

So first things first. I am getting transferred. I will be leaving Wallace tomorrow morning and I am not one bit happy about it. Yeah change can be fun, but I love this area and the people and I just didn't get the amount of time I wanted here. I have so many things I have started that I have to let by boy finish. I am doing my best to recognize the hand of the Lord in this and realize everything happens for a reason. Unfortunately that probably won't happen until I am in my new area. I am not nervous to leave or who my next companion will be, I am just sad I am leaving Wallace. I do feel really good about the work I got done here though and how much I was able to make a difference in this branch. Now my boy and his new companion have to keep the momentum going from here. I pray it keeps picking up for them. There has been a huge change in this area, especially in the branch members. I hope to do better in my next area. Well that is where I am at for now. 

I am super excited to hear how the next SS class goes. The Book of Mormon is my favorite topic. There is nothing that book can't do when it comes to bringing us closer to Christ. I could go on forever on that book. Most of what I would say though can be summarized in the fifth chapter of PMG. I sure hope those kids can find some sort of passion for that book after your class. We all have to read it over and over. Nothing should keep us from it. I am extremely glad to know I have figured that out and also learned the why behind it.

Dad, I would have loved to have been in that meeting. I am also excited to hear how your lesson goes and what videos you use. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help out. I love y'all very much and I guess I'll be writing from another place next week so be ready. :) Well I hope life is treating y'all well. Keep up the good work and remember I'm praying for you.

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

Elder Burnham 1

I can't believe there are two of us once again out here serving. It was so good to hear that Ryan is already serving in a leadership role and working hard and understanding the necessity and importance of prayer. It is going to be his best friend for the next two years. Study it, Use it, and please Master it!!! The other thing is why are they already sending that release stuff home. I am still young. I'm in the middle! I can't even think that that day will come. I have so much to get done. 

Anyway this week has been kind of slow, but we definitely saw miracles. We have been working on our faith this week. Faith in finding the elect every single day! Elder Young and I have been really learning a lot and seeing progression. Our investigators that are just waiting to get married, moved this week and we helped them as much as we could. It seems like their lives keep getting more hectic as they get closer to this step in their life. Also our other investigator that I told you about last week has been struggling with Satan as well. He had one more day of probation and then he got a ticket for driving with out a license. Because of that he had to go to court and pay a fine and also received 18 more months of probation, which means that he can't baptized for that time. Every time these people get close something comes flying their way from Satan. He really has a desire to change, but he has a lot of consequences for his actions that need to be paid first. It is super unfortunate, but it is the way of life. We also had other investigators that just couldn't keep commitments and other nonsense. It was rough here and there, but among the bad we found a lot of good. The biggest miracle we saw was that this Sunday was a special day. It was stake conference for us, and also our mission decided to do a mission-wide fast to find the elect. Well I was all gun ho for that and we had a great meeting. Unfortunately being the only Spanish elders in the stake we had to translate the whole meeting. Well I had to so it because Elder Young is still working on that. We did have one returned missionary form the singles ward help out as well, but either way it was an interesting two hours of trying to translate these talks about crazy stories and analogies to weird things. What was really good was when our mission president actually spoke and threw down on doing missionary work and exciting the members to get out there and help the missionaries. There are so many ways to help, it just needs to be done! Well after that great meeting we went home and got ready for a lesson with a referral from one of the youth in out branch. We drove out to the appointment after picking up the young man and had a wonderful first lesson with the Martinez family. We found the answer to our prayers. We found 3 new investigators and the elect all in one day. My testimony grew. They accepted a baptismal date right away and even committed to take their 17 year old daughter to mutual and then come to church on Sunday. It was absolutely wonderful. Miracles are so great. What was funny was that after the lesson we realized that I parked the car in their front yard where the mud was so bad that we got stuck. So we had to ask for them to help us get out of their front yard. That's how you gain trust my friends. :) 

Well that is pretty much all I have for you today. It was a roller coaster of a week, but it was full of the hand of God. I love y'all very much and I am so happy to hear from my little brother and little sister as well. Keep the love coming. Thanks for everything.

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham