Elder Transfer :(

I really wish I had some brilliant pictures to send out as well, but seeing as I'm not chuckin' or draggin' logs or doing any other type of service with an accent you can't blame me. I am pretty impressed with how everyone has been doing and what they have been going through. Sara you are about to start the wonderful journey of high school. Make every day count. Enjoy that book you are reading and really get into it. Talk to Grandpa about it because I'm sure he would love it. That is one of my favorite books as well so don't slack on it. If you can do your best in those classes you will be ahead of the game. Work hard! I wish you the best of luck in your dance show as well. Go get em.

So I too am kind of curious to know which boys don't want to serve. I also wonder if they ever spend time with the missionaries. Why don't people understand this work. What is it that the youth aren't getting in classes to want to serve missions. I can honestly say I didn't completely understand what a mission was all about before I left. Somehow it is getting them to have some kind of missionary experience. That can be the only way. Anyway instead of preaching about that I will share some HORRIBLE news. Elder Sosa is getting transferred next Tuesday and I will be staying here in Smithfield to be a part of the new Chesapeake Virginia Mission. Staying in the area and being a part of the new mission isn't so bad, but losing my fun Honduran companion is going to be unfortunate. We have had a lot of success together and we just get along. I know we are both in for some good learning experiences soon. ;) 7 more weeks and my third mission president will come in. President Baker is his name and that is about all I know. I also found out that we will be getting a set of sisters in my district. woohoo... 

Other than that the work is going great. We have investigators that have read the entire Book of Mormon and are going to be baptized soon. I am sad things will have to change up soon though. Time is flying by so quick and every time there is a change it just picks up even quicker. Hey what would y'all say if I asked for an extra transfer out here like Brianne had. It's just a thought I had and with having a new mission president and being part of the start of a new mission maybe my chances of having that opportunity might be greater. Let me know what you think. Well I love you all and I am glad to see things are going well for everyone. Hopefully I can send another SD card soon. Well I'll talk to y'all later. :)

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

Holy Pants and Awesomeness

Mom and Dad I don't care what people say y'all are as hip as the parents come. Just seeing the phone pictures and hearing that story I felt I was reading someones blog or Facebook account. I love you both so much and am happy to hear that you made a renewal of the 25 year pact.  I knew you could do it. ;) I also now know where I get my smooth moves and romantic touch from. :) Thanks Dad!

Well my beautiful family I have been working hard. My wonderful companion and I had a few bumps in the road this week with investigators and pants so we had to push through the road block that Satan threw at us and get back on the top. We taught a ton of people and didn't stop there. We are making progress with the elect and dropping the non-elect. Missionary work sure can get hairy. We have an investigator who is 13 years old and his mom just told us she doesn't want him to be baptized. His dad does, but because of the battle there we have had to hold off a little. That is never fun. Another investigator we have is the mother of a recent convert and we caught her on accident with a new boyfriend and the wonderful smell of alcohol and smoke. mmmmmmmmm... Her daughter also came out running from her room telling us that we need to have a lesson on the law of chastity right then and there. That was a an unexpected awkward situation we were put in. Her daughter is only 13 and reminds me a lot of Sara. In fact her name is Sarah. But anyway I had to think quick and try to calm people down and just let them know we had stopped by just to see how things were going and if we could do anything to help the family. We weren't expecting to be thrown into that. We ended up leaving with an invitation to obey the Word of Wisdom, a prayer and a wave to the embarrassed boyfriend. I love the people of North Carolina. :) Another miracle this week is that we finally got a Ward Mission Leader and he is the best. He loves the work and is only about 3 years home from his mission. We are about to get things moving quickly here. The fun is starting and we are getting more excited and more importantly the members are getting excited. 

Well other than that I guess I'll mention the "pants" part. I am now without any pairs of pants that aren't holy. Here are some pictures. I am telling you this because I am going to need to buy some new pants today. I am wearing a pair of Elder Sosa's pants right now and I hope to be able to fix at least on pair, but some of them are beyond repair without an ugly patch that I don't know how to do anyway. I guess my awesomeness just disintegrates pieces of my pants over time. For some odd reason  they are always in the crotch area. :) 

Well I love you all to death and I am happy to see we all love each other more than ever now. You are the best family ever. I am so lucky! Happy Birthday to all and Happy Anniversary to all!!!! \

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

Mother's Day

Well I don't know what more I can really tell you now. Love you a ton and I sure hope y'all slept well. Mom, I forgot to ask, but I hope you got my card I sent home. Te quiero mucho!

I can't really think of what else to say. We had a rough week finding this past week, but we saw a lot more progression with the investigators we do have. We are looking at having a great week full of finding the elect. We are excited to see what the next few weeks have in store for us. I was telling you yesterday about the investigator that came to church yesterday that we sat next to. He is by far the most difficult investigator I have dealt with. He is keeping commitments and searching for the truth, but he is not doing it in the correct manner it seems like. The problem is we haven't figured out in what way he is doing it. We can't seem to locate his motives, which is making it hard for us to know how to help him. He came to church though and sat next to me. He read through the hymnal, the program, he stared at every inch of the building and just analyzed the life out of everything. When the bread was being broken he was in awe the whole time. He is very well versed in the Bible and ancient Hebrew practices. He wouldn't touch the sacrament trays and it just stressed me out so much. I was going crazy thinking about what was going on in his mind. It was like we didn't meet his expectations as the true church because we don't have crazy ancient rituals that you would read about in the Bible. Well as I was stressing out about that the primary children got up to sing a special number for the mothers and they did a song where one little boy sang a verse and then his mother sang the next and then the rest of the primary came in for the chorus. As that was happening I just got hit with the spirit. The light bulb turned on and I knew that we aren't in church every Sunday to have crazy rituals and to take only so many steps because we are recognizing the Sabbath, but it is a time to worship God and to love the family we are a part of. It is kind of hard to explain, but I just kept feeling peace as I thought that if he couldn't feel the spirit then and didn't want to be a part of this wonderful feeling then so be it. I realized that he wants the true restored church to be something to fit his crazy ancient ideas. He hasn't opened his mind to what the spirit is really saying and what God really is about. God is Love!!!! Anyway that is my update for today. I love you all very very much. I am glad to have what I have. Keep the love coming, I'll eat it up. :)

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham