Pictures

My first district in Wallace, NC. My companion is on the far right Elder Beecroft.

This is the district from youngest in the mission to oldest. (Elder Edmond, Elder Beecroft, Elder Me, Elder Caldwell, Elder Randall, and Elder Hartley)

One of my favorite missionaries, Elder Taylor Shirrod

Wallace, NC on Christmas day.

My last district in Wallace, NC from youngest to oldest.

Me and my hijo, Elder Young, playing tennis on preparation day.

This Honduran family investigated FOREVER and never got baptized. I love them to death

Ah the Verdin family. They make some of the best tacos!

Sister Gray and her grandaughter. This is Michael Jordan's Aunt.

Hermano Del Angel, our biggest member missionary helper in the Wallace branch

One of my favorite companions, Elder Sosa from Honduras. I love that pudgy hispanic.

Big boy Elder Bush, he looks like Mr. Incredible

The baptism of Yammi Vargas and her grandmother Dominica.

The baptism of Dominica's husband

MTC Companions half way through our missions, Elder Miller and Elder Adams.

Elder Olson

My district in Smithfield, NC

Pictures

Me and my second mission president and his wife. The Bernhisels. This was right before the mission split and I was going to have a third mission president.

My last zone conference in Wallace, NC

The Maley family's baptism.

We were basically forced into dressing like this from a member to get free Chick filet. Totally worth it.

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

Nice!

Yeah!!!! I am so excited to hear how that night went. I am glad to hear so much of the family came out to send him off. I also want to know about this Nate fellow. Where did he come from? Anyway, life here in Wallace has been going well this past week. I still wish I could have been with y'all just for a few nights before Ryan took off. I hope he is loving his time in the MTC. It is weird that he only has a super short time in there. He will be out in the field baptizing in no time. Hoorah!!!!!

Well Dad I'll thank you for the info. I was just wondering because of a certain investigator situation that we have been working through and then our branch president decided to be a party pooper and tell us that once they are married and start coming back he would have to talk to the husband about excommunication. I just don't feel much love and mercy from this man towards any of our investigators and that is something we have been working with. Speaking of that though, we have made some big progress. At least in my eyes. I came up with that pass-along fireside idea and after pitching it to my companion and revising it and writing it out and stuff we finally presented it to our branch mission leader just to let him look it over. Well he then had his dad, the branch president, look it over as well. He actually complimented me on it and just told me to come up with a solid way to measure success form it and then at branch council this week we will present it to the council to see if we can excite the branch to do some work! I felt good about that response and was surprised to even receive that much. We'll see how it goes. I'll let you know next week unless I get completely shut down and tore to pieces. So other than that we are still in the beginning stages of getting some type of catalyst thrown in the mix of this small branch. Vamos a ver!

Another miracle worth sharing is that we found an investigator who had been taught in the past and has the biggest desire to change his life around. I was going through the area book entering some addresses in my GPS of some former investigators that got dropped in the past. Well Chris was one of them and one evening because one of our appointments fell through we decided to go find some of these people. We drove up and there he was standing out on his lawn with some alcohol on the porch waiting for us to approach him. At first I was like "hmmmmm" and then my confidence decided to wax strong like usual and I was like "just another adventure for the missionary journal." :) We approached him and I started to talk to him about how we saw he had visited with missionaries in the past and we just wanted to come visit and see if he wanted to retry changing his life. Well come to find out the only reason he wasn't baptized in the past was because he went to prison. Good reason I guess. Well Chris has been in and out of jail, has 20 years experience with illegal drugs, has kids who knows where, and right now has the biggest desire I have ever seen to change his life around and find the straight and narrow. He told us it must have been divine intervention that we came that day because he has been wondering where those past missionaries went. Well we set up an appointment and met with him a few days later. That man is one of the craziest men I have ever taught and yet the most enjoyable and the most full of desire. His past life has had such a huge impact on his life that everything he can relate to right now isn't at all in line with the standards of the gospel. Go figure. :) When we taught about prophets and what they do he then went on to say, " So you guys are like prophets, but not really; kind of like a man who is a wannabe pimp, but isn't really a pimp." Yes we got compared to wannabe pimps in our first lesson with him. This guy is the best. :) I am sure I will have more adventurous stories to tell y'all about shortly.

For now that is all I got. I sure hope life is treating you well and hopefully the quiet at home isn't too difficult to adjust to. Well I love you all very very much. Thanks for everything.

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham 1

Elder Ryan Burnham to the MTC

I guess today he is being dropped off. ("Brother "  Elder Ryan Burnham)Tell me everything. How many tears were shed. I will admit that when I read Ryan's email about allowing me to be with him throughout the day on Sunday, I cried. Why would I cry? Anyway, I can't believe this is happening. I am so excited to see how things are going. I wanted so bad to be there this week. I wanted so bad to be there to feel the spirit and to give all my knowledge I can to him. I know he will get more as we write back and forth, but there is so much I want to say to him in person. I sure hope he takes my last letter to heart and just dominates out there. What is Sara going to do now? There isn't anyone home for her. She better stay out of trouble. I miss you all very much and I sure hope everything is going well.

Well for me in my neck of the woods, not much has really happened out of the extraordinary. We are still teaching quite a bit and Elder Young is coming along really well. We went on exchanges this week and I left the area so it was on him to take over what was planned for the day. He had some good lessons in Spanish that he was able to follow the spirit on and I was proud to hear that. My boy is growing up. I am training one of the best.

Well family, I don't really have a lot to say this week. I can't think of anything remarkable that happened. We did have an inactive man come back to church this last sunday. I feel like the Lord is definitely blessing us, but it just hasn't been with anything humongous this week. Sometimes I wonder if that is because I just don't have enough faith in big miracles or maybe it is just not time yet. Hopefully soon though because we have so many investigators that just need to make a few more changes in their lives and they are set. One couple has to get married and another has to give up his smoking habit and another has to just decide to read and put Moroni's promise to the test. I pray so hard for these people and these steps aren't the biggest ones that they could make in life. Right now and where they are at they shouldn't have any problems with just doing it, but for some reason it is the biggest fight. I am pretty bummed that there is a good possibility I might leave in the next few weeks and I won't see the progression of these people completed. That's alright though I know it is all in His time. One day I'll accept that much more freely. :)

...

Well I love you all and I hope today was a great day!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

Oh Man!

I can't believe this is THE WEEK!!! I am so nervous for everyone now. This is going to be crazy. I hope Ryan got my letter and I hope everything is ready to go. I want him more than anything to be 5x the missionary I am. I know that's not hard, but I can promise him that if he will take to heart that letter I wrote him completely he will be better than any other Missionary. The hard part is applying it perfectly. It will be an ongoing process that every missionary must learn. I must say that my progression as a missionary has increased immensely because I am training. When you have to focus on every little detail it really helps you change in the areas that need it most. I am definitely learning a lot. I really feel that this is sometimes much more for me than for my boy. I have been trained in patience and humility and much more. IT IS WONDERFUL. ;) So before I answer your question Mom I just wanted to let you know that prayers have been answered. Last night we had dinner at the branch president's home and we had the best meeting with him there. I kind of took the opportunity to make this dinner into a heart to heart with the president. His son was also involved because he is the branch mission leader. Well we first built the trust by talking sports, which is what I am good at. Then we pulled out the progress record to discuss the work. They looked it over and started calling us out on little things here and there and eventually I just came out and told them how we know what we want things to be like and how they can help us there. He actually agreed with some of the things I said and told me that he has been trying for seven years, but hasn't gotten anywhere. Well I have been working an idea up for awhile now about a pass-along fireside thing and I finally ran it by them. They kind of said in their own way that they aren't really sure it will work. But after explaining more he was all for me expressing this to the rest of branch council to see if it will go anywhere. Now I still have to perfect the idea on paper, but it was definitely a trust building moment with the branch president. I may not be in this area much longer and I may not see any fruits from this, but I am going to get something rolling out here. This area has a ton of potential and I see it and so does my companion and so do some members. Now we just have to get everyone on board to step up there game ans start by building their own unity within the branch and then the missionary effort will follow. It is an exciting thing. I'll keep you updated. Oh yeah so we found out yesterday that because of the increase of incoming missionaries this next transfer this current transfer is only 5 weeks. That means there is a possibility I may be gone soon. UGH!!! Anyway, pray my boy gets transferred and I stay. :) 

Okay now to answer your question. This topic has actually been something on my mind for a while now. I think of Alma 29 and how Alma wishes to be an Angel to travel the world and preach the gospel to everyone. I have been pondering how horrible of a missilery I was back at home. Yes, I feel like I lived a pretty good life and lead by example, but we all know how I feel about that whole example thing. Mom, I am so sad that during my high school years I was not a better missionary. I had such solid friends that I was close too. And yes there might be things that I did that influenced them for good, but did I share my testimony in the way I should have? NO! Did I keep my baptismal covenant in the way I should have by being a witness of Him, YES and NO! Like I said, yes I was a good kid and lived high standards, but I did not express my feelings of the truth like I should have or at least not enough. I did not extend enough invitations to people to change, to join me in activities, to come to church, to read the Book of Mormon. Now I can say that a big part of that was because of the level of my own testimony and how there was still doctrine behind missionary work that I didn't understand, but now that I do I am saddened by it. Everything I am saying reminds me so much of Alma 29. And I am happy with where I am at now and how I am preaching the gospel and I understand I can't go back in time and I have learned from that,  but oh how I wish I could have been better. If all those youth in your class could understand the true joy that Alma talks about they would be on missions in no time. One experience I wish I could have had and that I wish everyone can have is to see a close friend of theirs get baptized and gain a testimony of the truth. I don't care if it is a girlfriend, a best friend, a complete stranger that you get to know through going out with the missionaries, but the joy from taking part in such an experience is the greatest thing known on this earth. God tells us this same thing in the D&C. How great will be our joy? Alma said Now, when I think of the success of these my brethren my soul is carried away, even to the separation of it from the body, as it were, so great is my ^ajoy.   

 I hope this answers your question Mom. I know I could have been better. I know I wasn't horrible or the vilest of sinners, but I could have been a better missionary and in reality I could have experienced more joy. And isn't that what this life is all about? JOY!!! 

I love you all very much and I sure hope everything is going well. I am excited to hear how things go. I love you soooooooooo much!

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

P.S. Ryan resolve to send your testimony or a BOM or an invitation to some nonmember friend before you leave. Invite everyone to your farewell, especially nonmembers. Leave satisfied.

Woah!

Mom, it sounds like you are doing absolutely wonderful over there. When the branch president presented the whole new way to teach out here I got super excited. I am actually really excited to see how things are going when I return. I have a feeling that this same program will be implemented into the adult classes as well. Teaching the gospel is such a sacred responsibility and I hope it is something I will have the privilege to do the rest of my life. Whether it is as a teacher in Sunday school or a ward missionary or wherever I am. I am super excited to hear more about how your class goes and the preparation for it. Teaching your class is a whole lot harder to do compared to the adult class where there are still manuals. Anyway, I am super excited to hear back from y'all.

So yes due to the holiday I didn't get the opportunity to email. We could have done it a different day, but we were super busy this week. I guess that is a good reason for not writing y'all. Elder Young and I are teaching a lot and on a finding frenzy. I know it is never about the numbers in this work, but is good to see where the Lord is blessing us on paper. :) We have been biking a ton this week due to minimal miles, in the freezing cold as well, but as we all know sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. We are working really hard with the investigators we have now and it is always great to be teaching, but we are still working on getting those members involved. We have brainstormed a lot of ideas on how to get things rolling and some things that may bring some more unity within the branch, but it will take an energetic branch council and willingness to get things going. That is where we lack. We will see how it goes. A new young couple from Apex just moved into the branch and from what we hear he is pretty solid. Maybe he is the answer to our prayers in the branch. We'll see. :) 

So a lot has happened in the past two weeks and it will be a little tough to tell you everything. But real quick, we have a part member couple looking to get married so the wife can be baptized, we have been dropping and finding investigators consistently, we had five new investigators in one day and in one trailer park, and we two investigators finally come to church this last week. It feels so good to have progression. My companion shared with me from his studies this morning how Ammon was serving the king three days, just watching sheep, before anything happened. He explained to me that he feels that Ammon probably was wondering what in the world he was doing or what the Lord had in store for him in that position. Well three days later we read how excited Ammon got when he finally had the chance to show his power and get some action going in his missionary work. Elder Young then expressed how some times he feels that he has no idea why we are doing certain things or he feels he has no idea why the Lord has us in a certain situation when he does, but if we patiently endure for even three days of riding bikes in the freezing cold we will see the reason and the opportunities arise to share the power we have. I know that this is true and we have definitely witnessed it lately. It has been a roller coaster of a week, but we are definitely grateful for the ups of the ride we have seen. 

Well family I love y'all a ton and am very grateful for all you do for me. I sure hope life is treating you well. I know that Ryan's time is slowly coming around, I hope he's ready. :) If I can do anything for anyone let me know. Oh hey how is Russell?(For those of you that don't know Russell.  He is Sean's friend serving in the Nevada Las Vegas Mission that came home for a few weeks to have a benign tumor removed from his head.  Ryan got to do some great missionary prep with him during that time.  He went back out to the mission field and was called to be a Zone Leader.  A couple of weeks later he slipped on ice got a concussion and some stitches, but that's another story.  All is well, the Lord watches over his flock.)  Any news on him going back out? I sure hope he is alright. Well I love you keep up the good work. Oh one last thing, Mom. That love that you were talking about in your last email when describing Sis. Wagner's lesson. You are very much right that we need to love these people into the fold. But at the same time we have to remember that we need to love the people enough to open our mouths and testify of what we know to be true and that will bring these people that same amount of love. Living as a good example is excellent, but it isn't enough. We have to act because God expects that of us and that is why we have that ability. I don't mean that because you aren't doing it, but it is something I feel strongly about and I have heard too many times of members that only want to do missionary work by being an example. There is a lot more to it. But obviously it takes that love and charity to do it. That is something I understand better now than I ever did. Love ya mom! Talk to ya later.

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

Week 4 of Training

It seemed to me that this week just flew by. We had a lot of crazy experiences that were really good and one horrible experience. We are teaching a lot of people and are pretty much busy all the time which is pretty wonderful. I think the best thing about this week is that we have really seen the faith of our investigators grow. We are teaching an older black man, Leroy, who doesn't even know that God exists and it is amazing to read with him and pray with him and for him to start to build a relationship with his Father in Heaven. Along with him we are teaching a Hispanic family that is starting to do more things as a family. They are really enjoying scripture reading and family prayer. Elder Young struggles with understanding everything, but he really has a desire to help them feel the spirit and do what he can to help. I had him lead our lesson on the Plan of Salvation with them and he did really well. It was a little shaky, but I was right there if they needed help to understand. The spirit was strong and we had a good evening with them. So we definitely had a good amount of spiritual teaching opportunities and seeing real growth, but we had one major problem. We are working hard as the missionaries in doing what we need to further the work out here in Wallace, but the branch council is not so helpful. This last week we were chewed out by the branch president for what our branch mission leader doesn't want to do. Instead of going into details I'll just say that we were chastised in front of the other council members because the branch president doesn't understand what our role is or what the relationship between the missionaries and the branch is supposed to be. It was ridiculously hard for me to hold my tongue in there and not fire back at him for many things that need to change because I know my purpose and I know my role in this area and how to do it and others in that room don't really understand what theirs is. Well after a long planning session with Elder Young and a perfect teaching opportunity for me I went through with Elder Young what needs to change and what we are going to do to make things start turning into what they need to be. This will take a lot of prayer and love on my part so I don't cause more problems, but I am certain that this event was a start to what I need to do out here for the missionary work in this area. I am confident that with this "extra assignment" to everything else we do the Lord is teaching me love, patience, charity, and much much more. Elder Young is going to be pro at member missionary work by the time he gets transferred. I must admit that that night was full of frustration and repentance on my part, but I have overcome those feelings I had and am more pumped or inspired to work out here. I will leave this area better than I found it.

Well aside from that family we had a great week. We had a training meeting for just trainers and their trainees which went all day and took forever, but was really good. My boy told me that he was glad I was his trainer compared to the other elders he saw. I guess that is a good sign. We get along pretty well and haven't had many disputes. Occasionally we get into little debates about dumb things like running, food, ways to cook the food and other funny things. It is always a good time though and good unifying moments. Yesterday in fact we got in one about the doctrine behind "soul-mates". It was really funny, but I finally helped him realize that they don't exist. Gotta love missionaries. :)

Well family I love you all very much and I sure hope everything is going well. It sounds like Jenni and the baby are doing well so that is good. I miss you all and I am very thankful for everything you do for me. Y'all are in my prayers forever. Que Dios les bendiga!

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

Nice!

Wow that was really neat to see the pics of my new baby niece. The family is constantly growing while I'm gone. It was good to see the family. Jenni sure looked pale in that picture. I hope everything is going good over there. So it sounds like y'all haven't done too many exciting things besides house work. I know that is a blast. 

Well this week for us has been kind of up and down. Some days were really good and others were kind of blah. We definitely still saw and recognized miracles throughout the week, but it just seemed like a non-exciting week. Well actually we did have two investigators come to church which is always super exciting. The work is going well here. We have two families that are coming along pretty well. Unfortunately no one has made resolutions to do missionary work except one brother has decided to do more and he is pretty much the only member of the branch council that helps us out. It sure is amazing to see how these wards and branches function inside and out and to learn from what they do. 

Well since I can't think of anything too major that happened I'll just tell you two experiences we had this week with our investigators. So the Hispanic family we are teaching had a pretty impressive experience. Hispanics are pretty well known to have dreams or "visions" about religion and things pertaining to God. Well this week we were on exchanges so Elder Young wasn't with me for this lesson. In fact I had an English missionary with me so he had no idea what was going on and just sat and smiled at the baby girl the mother was holding. Well I taught the entire lesson on baptism and what the covenant means and why we do it and all that jazz. Well in the middle of the lesson I felt prompted to just ask them if they had ever prayed as a family about anything we have been teaching them. The father then began to tell us how they prayed one evening and that night he had a dream where we had come by and taught his family something and then when we left we extended our hands for a hand shake. Well everyone accepted our hands except his sister that lives in Honduras. And she began to yell and tell them that we were from the devil. Well he said that as she started to drive us out him and his family right there began to defend us and he just felt really good about everything. He said that he interpreted that dream to be his answer that this is what his family needs. Pretty neat, right? I was impressed and our next appointment with them I had them tell Elder Young all about it as well. He didn't understand one bit of it, but I got to hear it again. :) It was pretty amazing and that family is progressing smoothly. It was a good day. 

The other experience was the other family we are teaching, who are super southern white people. Well the father is like 75% Cherokee Indian, but super heavy Pentecostal. Well we got to teach him for the first time with his boy this week and he just went on and on about religion and his experiences in the military and how it has affected his outlook on religion and God and all that stuff. Well we through a curve ball that he wasn't expecting. You see we have this little blue book called the Book of Mormon and it is all about his wonderful ancestors and their relation to the Tribes of Israel and how they too need to come to a knowledge of their Redeemer. Thank you 1 Nephi 15:14. It was funny to see his desire change once we introduced that. We didn't even get to talk about Joseph Smith or most of the restoration for that matter, but we felt like he needed to hear that right then and he has now committed to read and pray about it. The power of that book is indescribable. We have to flood the Earth with it. It was a pretty good day I would say. 

Well family that is all I have for now . I sure hope things are going well over there. Live long and prosper!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

Merry Christmas

I sure hope I hear from you before my time runs out. I was so happy to hear from you and to read those heartfelt emails. I am really blessed to have such a loving family. I guess I am also glad I was able to bring the spirit into the home with a simple testimony. That helps build my testimony right there in itself. Especially since y'all couldn't really understand what I was saying and Dad had to translate. I am glad he knew what I was saying and if not, the spirit filled in. Well since I just called y'all I guess I kind of know what is going on except for the new baby girl. I hope all is well. If they have a name tell me that as well. 

So I have included some pictures from Christmas that you might be impressed with. The first couple are of Christmas day. The first one  is a gift the members got me and my wonderful cheeser smiling at the camera. The food pictures are what Elder Young and I cooked for dinner since no members invited us over. We didn't complain. We actually had a good time getting to know one another through this experience. :)

 

 The next picture is of a service project we kind of got into. We have an investigator who had to move across the street to another apartment. Well this man only has one leg and is pretty old so he can't really move anything. Well he did have two wheelchairs and two willing missionaries. So as you can see that one picture is of us balancing his dining room table on two chairs. There are many other balancing acts that followed. :) It was pretty impressive what we got done with just two wheelchairs. The last picture is obviously of Elder Young and I. Elder Young is a very smart, dedicated, hard-working missionary. I am very lucky to be able to train such a good Elder. He struggles with Spanish, but his desire to work and do missionary work makes up it. We have had some good times together just within the two weeks. We have seen a lot of miracles this past week. These include new investigators, member help, spiritual lessons, and much more. We are definitely being blessed out here. I love the work and I love y'all. I sure hope life is going well and I hope Jenni is doing well also. I love you very much. Thank you for everything. 

Con Amor, 

Elder Burnham

P.S.  I am now following up with Ryan!!!! I sure hope he was able to read because he already failed at updating me on it. :) I love you Ryan. Keep working hard and I hope you will recommit to updating me on your reading. At least let me know how it goes in your next snail mail letter. Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xoxoxooxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Holy Cow!!!

What in the world is happening over there? I can't believe Russell is home! Where in the world did this tumor come from? I must say that I am super glad to hear he is okay. When he goes back does he have to stay out a little longer in the mission field or is this going to be as if he never left? I can't believe that boy gets to be home for Christmas. I am a little jealous that he gets to do that and be there for all those boys going through the temple, but I am glad he gets to be there to give tips and really let them know how amazing it is out here.
Well I am also glad y'all are doing really well too. Sounds like it has been a hectic week, but hopefully it turned out wonderfully, which it sounds like it did. I wish I had some advice for that exchange student. It does kind of bug me that he would come to experience such a thing in his life and he doesn't want to get out and do everything he can. I would be having a field day out here in America. i sure hope that he comes to the reality of his situation soon. So if y'all are leaving on the 22nd I will try to send another letter to Ryan by then at the house. So look for it. Well as for me here in Wallace we had a good week. We had a Christmas party/farewell party for a miembra here that is leaving for her mission to Canada. It was a really good activity with lots of good food, and the spirit was definitely present. Some family members of the sister bore their testimony on the work she will be doing and it was amazing how strong the spirit was in there. We were glad to have inactive members show up and nonmembers. It was a good evening. Then yesterday at church we had to speak on Christmas because two speakers didn't show up, so I came up with a talk out of nowhere on Christmas here in America. I guess it went alright. After that we booked it to Mt. Zion for the baptism of Sandra . She is technically out of our area, but since there aren't any missionaries in that area we got permission to teach her. You can see the pictures of her and her husband who baptized her. It was an amazing service and I have never seen such an awesome baptism performed by anyone. Terry is hilarious! (That's her husband.)

 

 Anyway other than that we had a very regular week. We do have quite a few more potentials, but we will see how it goes.
The other picture is the Rivenbark home. They are some members that we basically decorated their house for them this last week. So we did get some Christmas decorating in. It was a good time though.
Alright so some big news! Elder Beecroft will be getting transferred tomorrow and I will be going with him to pick up my greenie. Yes, I am training a new elder. I can't say I am excited about it because I am not the biggest fan of the training schedule, but it should be interesting and I am sure I will learn a lot myself. I pray for the best and that we as a new companionship do well. You will obviously be posted on that. So when I call maybe y'all can say hi.
Speaking of that I am assuming we will probably call later in the evening, but I'm not sure, so be prepared for that. Plus I don't think I'll be able to set anything up next week because I doubt the library will be open. So let's just plan around the evening time here, like 6-9 somewhere. If not I'll just call y'all over and over until I get an answer, or I'll just talk to my companion's family. :)
Well family, I love you very much. I hope all is well, and I will for sure keep everyone in my prayers. Thank you for everything.
Con Amor,
Elder Burnham

Regocijaos, Jesus nacio!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! Alright so I'll start out with a miracle. Thanks to a wonderful little gift I received from my loving parents Elder Beecroft and I have made some progress. This last week we had an appointment in Rose Hill, a 15 minute drive from Wallace, and we decided that we would go up a little early and bike around the area to do some finding. Well we hooked up the bikes to the rack and drove up there, parked by a fire station, and got on pedaling. Well like I said, thanks to a GPS we found an inactive man who hasn't been visited in a long time. His house was kind of odd and thanks to the GPS we were lead straight to it. Anyway this man is from Honduras and was baptized a long time ago back there, so when he came here it was a little rough making adjustments in the church. Well we just knocked on the door and they let us right in and it was kind of awkward because everyone inside just stared at us waiting for us to say something. It just seemed awkward because we had no idea who was who and what the story was behind the family. Well I broke the ice and found out everyone's name and who was and wasn't a member and all that good stuff. Well it turns out that the man is the only member in that family, he has 7 children, but four are from a previous marriage and don't live with him. The other three are with him and his wife that have been married for the past 8 years. Well I made a horrible mistake and forgot my Libro de Mormon in the car. I was stressing out because I knew they needed a message that was strong and my companion was speaking up in Spanish either. Well I noticed a laptop on the couch. I asked if they had internet and began to help them through the church website to watch a wonderful video on the youth site for the church. We then watched the video of the two kids that talk about their role in the dedication of the El Salvadorian temple and how it brought their parents back into the church and eventually to be sealed. He loved it and we were soon talking about eternal families and if that is something he wanted to share with this family that he has never even shared the gospel with. His own wife hadn't ever even heard of the "Mormons" before. Well the spirit was there and even though I was stressed at first, it went really well and now we will be teaching their family tomorrow in fact. Anyway thank you so much for the GPS. It has been a huge help.

 

Alright, well Mom... I am doing very well as you can see, it has actually been pretty warm out here the last couple of days, I can't afford to be anything other than exactly obedient, this mission doesn't allow anything other than exact obedience thanks to President Cotterell, and of course I am preaching with boldness. Sometimes I wonder if I'm too bold. It is an art to be able to find the perfect balance between pure love and boldness. We can't be too loving to where we are pushovers, and we can't be too bold to where we are overbearing. Part of missionary work is definitely finding the happy medium and ultimately learning how to teach like the Savior did. That is why we have Preach My Gospel. :)  

So I am super happy to hear there have been some new convert baptisms. I was trying to think back at my life in the Modesto First Ward and I can't really remember that many convert baptisms. It seems like we struggled in that area. It sounds like things are changing though and I sure plan on helping in any way I can when I get back for those few months. I also wish I could meet these exchange students and be their friends. I hope Ryan has started his mission right there at home with Tony. Oh hey y'all should watch the new Emmanuel music video on mormonchannel.org featuring the Piano Guys. Sara you need to YouTube the Piano Guys and watch some of there stuff and tell me about them. Some members here told us they are super good and are crazy good with the piano and cello. They are why you need to keep practicing. I wish I had musical talent like that. :) Well family I know y'all know I love you, but I'll say it again. Les Amo!!!! Keep up the good work and thank you so much for everything. I sure hope life is treating you well. Feliz Navidad! 

Miracles and Blessings

I love my family! I have definitely been blessed this week and I am seeing more and more miracles every week. We didn't even reach all the goals we wanted to, but we saw miracles. Mom, that testimony was wonderful. This week was quite the roller coaster of emotions. We had a lot of appointments fall through, but thanks to good backup plans we were able to see miracles and continue to help new people feel the spirit and hear the gospel. Yes, member missionary work is still ridiculously tough out here, but we were able to receive help where we needed it. I can't really say anything super amazing even happened this week except we got into doors. We added 4 more investigators to the teaching pool which is spectacular out here. Two of them are a young family. S___ is the mothers name and D___ is her 8 year old son. The father is in prison and she really wants to know more about the church. She was telling us how her mom is Jehovah's Witness and she just never agreed with their beliefs and didn't want to get baptized. We talked about the restoration and committed her to be baptized. We have only taught her once so we will see how it goes, but she is really interested so far. She was funny because at first all she wanted to discuss was our beliefs compared to the Jehovah's Witness. She wanted to know what we believed about blood transfusions and celebrating holidays and all that. I think she is searching for somewhere that will bless her family and not seem so crazy to her. Unfortunately I didn't have any doctrine to back up the whole blood transfusion thing, I think I explained it alright. She is a funny lady and we are super excited to see how things go and this week should only be better. 

So we got to watch the Christmas devotional last night which was wonderful. I love Christmas time and it is wonderful out here in this small town setting. The town goes all out and there are activities and parades and flea markets and just busy people during the holidays. It is pretty neat and I always think about that one old town place (Sutter Creek) we would go to after visiting the grave sites of grandma and grandpa. Mom, would love it here and we will definitely have to come back to visit so y'all can see what I'm talking about. 

Well I can't really think of much else to tell you, but I love you. It is so good to hear that the family is doing well. I pray for all of you. How's Aunt Laurie and her man? How's Brianne and college? How's Ryan's preparation going? Keep me posted. Thanks for everything. I love y'all to death. 

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

Thanksgiving

So I guess I will start by answering all your questions. Also I am glad to hear that the holidays were so great for everyone. Alright yes, I am in a small branch of mostly English speakers with a few Hispanics that we have to translate for every week.  I am currently trying to change those things. I am trying to bring in more Hispanics and trying to get two other kids to translate so Elder Beecroft and I can sit within the congregation with investigators. The next closest missionaries are either in Clinton or Wilmington i think. Elder Miller is actually in Clinton, but I don't know if he is closer or the zone leaders in Wilmington. I have not yet had to work with sister missionaries or had the privilege to do so, however you want to look at it. :) We haven't even had sisters in any of my districts. There aren't even any Spanish speaking sisters in our mission so I don't know if I will ever serve around many of them. Um, Elder Beecroft is from Taylor, Arizona, but he also lived in St. George for a while. He is the oldest child of 5 where there are 4 boys and one girl right in the middle. Also his two youngest brothers are twins. His dad is a banker or something like that and so far that is all I really know. Like I said he is a pretty quiet elder and likes to keep to himself. I think that's why I am serving with him. He has had three companions that are all pretty close to the same person I am and we are slowly, but surely prying open his shell. :) He is about 6 ft. I think, but you can estimate that from the picture I sent. Yes I am pretty sure that is our house. It is pretty large for missionaries with a ton of space and high ceilings. I love the place we stay in here. Wallace is pretty rural and all the people have always been small town/country folk so they are a lot like Mt. Olive. I am going crazy with the fact that there is literally nothing to do here. We are lucky we have fast food joints. There might only be one park around us and the church doesn't have a basketball court to shoot hoops on. It's all good though. Oh speaking of basketball, yall will never guess who I met. I sat and talked with Michael Jordan's aunt on Thanksgiving day. She is actually a member of the branch and the sweetest old lady. Her older brother is Michael's dad. She is super funny and it was fun talking to her about life. Anyway, I am reading a ton which I guess is good. I have now read Jesus the Christ three times. So this past Sunday we had about thirty five or so people show up to church. It was a rough Sunday and I was a little frustrated with how it went. We had a punk teenager messing around during sacrament meeting and back talking a sister in the ward which everyone could notice due to the size of the building we meet in. One sister gave a talk and she can't even speak English  but she tried anyway and her husband ended up going up there and she kind of argued with him to let her keep trying. She should have just given it in Spanish and let one of us translate for her at the pulpit. It was just an unfortunate sight. the church is so different out here in the East coast and even more in a small branch on the East coast. After church we went home and finished our studies and stuff like that and then we had an appointment and about an hour before the appointment our branch mission leader who was supposed to take us told us he couldn't go and didn't have any excuse. My problem is this man hasn't helped the missionaries out for almost 5 months and he doesn't do anything  I have been a missionary long enough to know when someone is just lazy and doesn't want to help. He is an RM too and has only been home for about 3 years. It is just frustrating to see a Preach My Gospel missionary act like that. Anyway now that i have vented. This branch has a lot more elderly than youngens. That is how small town areas are though. Everyone is kin also so that makes things fun. I can't really think of anything that anyone in the branch needs or what special needs they may have. Everyone here is pretty blessed under the circumstances. What I need though is a GPS for the work here. I have pretty much everything else necessary to really be effective at teaching, but getting around places here isn't the easiest. That is definitely something Ryan should call the mission office about. He should ask about whether or not he will be doing a lot of driving there and if that is the case he should definitely get one too or at least be ready to get one when he gets out there because he may get lucky and all his companions could have one like I did up until now. 

Well family this week has been full of miracles over here. We have definitely been blessed with new investigators and members having non-members in their homes so we can teach them. We did realize that most our help comes from inactive members, but it is better than nothing. These in-actives have a lot of nonmember friends and we are finding them. I wish the active ones would start inviting the people they know. Being out here on a mission has really opened my eyes to missionary work and I understand the doctrine behind it which has change my attitude and behavior about it. I wish everyone could understand this. Exciting members is one of the hardest things to do, besides getting investigators to church. If there was some miracle way to excite every member to do missionary work I would be so happy. Until we find that secret out I guess I am stuck where I am at. For now I send an invitation out to all: Read the Book of Mormon and find one story in there that you can retell to any nonmember friend. Just tell it to someone like you just barely read the greatest novel ever written and you want to share it. Tell how amazing Ammon was at cutting off arms or something and then explain how he did it just because he knew it would help him show the power of God to a people that didn't know God even existed. Find someway to flood the world with the book and run with it. Man, I was a pretty lame member missionary before my mission, but I didn't understand then what I do now. I know this work is the most important work we can be a part of in this day. There is nothing greater then being out working to save souls, to bring the lost sheep home. We have the truth and the blessings that it brings, why are we selfishly keeping it to ourselves? 

Family, I love you all and I am grateful for all you do. This is the best time of the year and I know I am going to be trunky thinking about the holidays back at home, but I am glad i am doing what I am doing. I hope yall have a wonderful week. Talk to you later. 

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

Transfer to Wallace

Map of Wallace





I am no longer in the wonderful town of the pickles, but have moved to an even more country area. Wallace is my new home and just in the day and a half that I have been here I am already in love with the place. It is very much more country, but it is a booming area and I am super excited to be here. The field is white and ready to harvest. My new companion is Elder Beecroft from Arizona. He has just finished his training and I am his follow up trainer. This is his third transfer out and he is still very green. He is very humble and soft spoken and I am going to have a good time with him. On the ride out to Wallace from the transfer meeting the member that brought me out here told me that I have the job of getting Elder Beecroft to open up and be more confident. He speaks pretty quite around people and just isn't the biggest talker at all. When we are alone in the house/apartment thing he reminds me a lot of Ben, but with more worldly knowledge about stuff like music and actors and things. It's going to be a good time. I bet I only get him for one transfer though because it will be a good time. There is no growth without discomfort so I won't get to be too comfortable before something jabs me in the side. 

So yes, I do miss Mt. Olive especially since it was my home for the last 6 months. I really love the people there and I sure hope I can build those same type of relationships with the people here. This is the closest I will get to the beach as a spanish missionary and I still may never see the water. The 4-man in Mt. olive was always really fun and now that I am back to just the two of us it is weird not having the extra people to talk to during down time. I know they miss me over there too.  It will be interesting to see how a lot of these companions of mine turn out.

 When I get home the ward will be so different. I can't believe Ryan is almost going to be receiving his call to China soon. I really do feel that he could go  to Asia somewhere. I am so excited. I wish we could skype so I could watch it or something. This is so crazy. Is there any news on whether or not Olivia has actually decided to go or not. She told me in her last letter to me that she was going to think about it some more. Missions are going to start booming. 

So the holidays are coming up and being here in the country is really helping me see I need some help. I now have a really young companion who doesn't know the area too well and I could be training soon also, soooo I just wanted to put in a wish for a GPS. My area is huge and I am not going to be able to work out here to effectively on the maps we have. There are too many places I can't get to just by these horrible maps we have. I just wanted to put on a wish list for a small Garmin GPS which I have seen do a lot of good out here. Oh also due to crazy hectic mail time of the holidays the mission has asked us to give you our actual street address so that mail just goes straight there and doesn't flood the office full of packages. 

So my address is now 211 S. Orange St. Wallace, NC 28466 

Well my family, I love you all to death and I am glad to see everyone is doing well. I sure hope Ryan got my latest letter. I love it out here and I have a lot of work to do in this new area. I also hope Sara's knees heal up fast. Yall are in my prayers.