Smithfield, North Carolina

Elder Burnham with Leonarda, the lady who got married finally. That was his last day in Smithfield.

Elder Burnham with the Gruvers, an older couple that spoke spanish so they helped us out a lot.

Last Day in Smithfield

The Gruvers, an older couple that spoke spanish so they helped us out a lot.

Is me with Leonarda, the lady who got married finally. That was my last day in Smithfield

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

Trunky???

I'm glad to hear that life is getting back into those crazy days of school and and other fun stress. Sounds like the ward is really starting to to enjoy those missionary talks. Hey just wondering, but what would a talk in the first half of November have as a topic? Just thought I would ask? :) This week for us has been full of member work. Well I'm assuming the world is changing to that culture and to be honest I have a feeling that the missionary work is going to struggle a little bit out here for a while until we can really get that culture embedded into the member's heads. It sounds like from that one broadcast that the brethren don't want us knocking on doors. I COMPLETELY agree with them. Well we have set goals and made great plans to get these members going. We have had some great success in getting these people excited to make their own plans to share the gospel. We still have a lot of work to do, but I have a good feeling that even if we don't see immediate success it will come shortly. Probably after I get transferred, but that's okay.

Other than that we have seen some other little miracles. This week we went to the courthouse and got all the info needed to know how to get two illegal hispanics married. That, my friends, is a tough job. At least both parties have consented to do what they can to get it done. This means Leonarda's long wait to get baptized may be coming to an end. We are excited. Another miracle is I'm worthy again as President Baker came down to get my recommend updated. :) Other than that it has just been a simple week of gaining member trust. There is a lot more to do that we have planned this week, but things are happening.

Oh another thing is that I went on exchanges with an older missionary who is going home next week, which may have made me a little trunky since most of what he wanted to talk about when the day was coming to an end was BYU and marriage and other real-life junk. Anyway it does make me think about housing and all that other stuff I will have to worry about. Just wondering if there is any updated news on that stuff and also if Brianne or someone could look around for jobs open as well. Maybe she could see what requirements they are asking for now at the MTC. Just thought I would throw that in there. Well I love you all and hope this week goes great.

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

P.s. I really enjoyed reading that letter to the presidents. I pray that it will be seriously considered and even more that it comes to pass.

Bishop LOVES us

Wow yall had a super great week. I wish I could have been there to see all those great experiences. I love the spirit I feel just reading about how our family is growing and progressing. This week has been just a happy week all around. The family is doing great, Ryan is fluffy ;), Sara is excited for school, Brianne has my back for school, the grand kids love the grandparents, and the members here in NC are loving the work. We have made a huge push to focus so much more on the members. This Sunday was brilliant. We saw less actives bear their testimony, we had new people come to church, we had investigators make progress after a long time of fasting and praying, and member trust is building. It feels good to be making progress with these people. The best part is Bishop LOVES us. That is one thing that has been a struggle in this area in the past and we have blown it out of the water. Not that it is a competition, but the sisters have nothing on us. I mean having 6 months in this area may be part of that reason, but hey I love the members and we just get along.

Two huge miracles outside the members is that one of our investigators has finally made progress with getting her man to marry her so she can be baptized and she really wants us to be her witnesses. Super exciting stuff. The other is that a 13 year old boy that wants to get baptized came to youth conference and has made progress with his mom who was super anti. Poco a poco vamos a llevar a cabo el plan de Dios en esta area. :)

Hey mom thanks for taking care of those pics as well as sending that card. So i found out that i will be going home a week earlier than expected thanks to a shorter transfer because of the mission change. Also my temple recommend expired last week and President hasn't been able to interview me yet. Elder Leisek keeps joking with me that he can't work with such an unworthy creature. Its not my fault! We are having fun and making the most out of this transfer. I'm afraid this will be my last one here in this area.

I love what has been going. I hope y'all are doing well and keeping the good work. Well I'll talk to ya later.

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

Better than a box of chocolates

This week was wonderful, but there is so much more I wish we could have done. Time just doesn't want to be there for us. So first of all I am glad to hear this week was good for y'all. Yes Jenni you are getting old and I am too in the mission age. Pretty soon if you procrastinate enough I will be home to help paint that home of yours. We would have a good time doing that. I'm not sure exactly where Mom and Dad went , but I sure hope Sara is working hard and getting things ready for school. Water Polo is going to be awesome. You will definitely need to be fierce and play no games. I am excited to see how that goes. Read a lot Sara and please don't slack on those assignments. You are the last to go through high school and I sure hope you show all of us up in how well you do. Goals for the future have to be set now. Probably my biggest regret of high school is not planning far enough ahead in the beginning. I am excited for you.

So on this side of the world things have been great. As you can see we had a wonderful baptism where Bro. Vincent entered into a covenant with God. Their little family is great and are going to be doing a lot for this ward here. His wife has been through a lot through her life, but she found a this guy who is bringing her back into activity with her Savior. They are great to be around and to learn from. This week has been full of working hard at helping investigators progress and become commitment keeping people. The other thing about that is I have been stressing over how to get these other missionaries to do the same. I have been throwing down on accountability with the missionaries, but now its time to approach the love and charity side of things. :) We had interviews with Pres. Baker this week and he is excited for some of the ideas I have come up with that are actually totally different than anything my last two presidents would have allowed. Its fun being an older missionary that kind of gets to mold some of the mission culture here. Hopefully things stick after I leave.
Well other than that I have found myself being asked trunky things like about school and housing and I guess I need to just ask Brianne to keep her eyes and ears open and be ready for all that. I have zero idea on when and what to do about all that why i am here. I am almost nervous to have to go back and deal with all that real-lief junk. ;)

Well I love you all a ton and hope life is treating you better than a box of chocolates.

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

Vincent Family

Represent Modesto!

I'm glad to see that all my childhood friends are the best missionaries ever. Representing Modesto!!! I'm also glad to see that the family is surviving all the craziness that is going on. This week has been pretty crazy for us as well. Lots of changes are still being made and as leaders we are shaping the new culture of this mission. We have been doing a lot of changing up the way we hold missionaries accountable and how we can better unite the districts and the mission in whole. I'm afraid it may take a while before a culture is completely established. The mission president has been trying to figure out what will work best for who and where. These next couple of weeks should be interesting. I have a lot of work to do. the unfortunate side if it is that most of it revolves around missionaries instead of investigators. We do have quite a bit of progressing investigators and even a baptism coming up shortly. One miracle is that this Sunday the bishop had asked our recent convert's husband to speak and he bore a powerful testimony. He was the first speaker and even though it wasn't the longest talk it was inspiring. Other than that this week was just busy work. We are excited to see some results from this throughout next week as some ideas are applied.

My little brother is getting so old. He is filling out nicely. ;)  I sure hope we can be companions sometime soon. I hope he understands that being called as a trainer is going to train him more than it will his boy. I'm excited to see how that goes. Hey did y'all get my SD card. Hopefully it wasn't wiped clean like Ryan's.

Jenni that was a nice looking house. All I could think of though was the task of trimming all those bushes and stuff outside the home. I feel like I have done those kinds of things a ton out here so I naturally notice the work. :) Have fun with that.

Well family I love you all a ton and I'm glad to see things are going well. Sara keep reading a ton and go for gold in whatever you decide to do. I love you all and I am excited to hear how next week goes.

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

Mission Changes

 Well this week has been a roller coaster for everyone it seems. Lots of
bitter sweet moments. It is awesome to hear that the family is doing well and having a blast together. Things sure are changing rapidly in every aspect of our lives. I am excited for everything though. The whole mission split and that broadcast and the change for the family and just everything is super exciting. This week we had our final zone conference with President Bernhisel. Tears were shed and hugs were given. It is going to be huge change in the next couple of weeks. We found out that the whole culture clash between the missions is going to be bigger than we thought. Also it sounds like President Baker is making plans already to flip everyone as soon as he gets here to break any pride battles that may take place so I may see Virginia after all. I guess we will see what happens. 

Well as you can see we did have a baptism this weekend and Sister Julie Maley is the best. She reminds me a lot of Jenni but a little taller. :) She is just as outgoing though and loves to be there to help people. She was a little nervous to get baptized and confirmed in front of people, but once it happened she ate it up. She is awesome and I am looking forward for her and her husband, the man that baptized her and a returning less active,
to get sealed in the temple. They have big goals and we are super excited to help them. This week has been huge. Lots is happening and it is only starting. After that broadcast we are expecting a huge fire in the ward and if not then we are expecting to start one from it. I love this work and I can't believe how fast time is flying. Next week we will have a lot more news on everything and a lot more info. Be prepared. Well enjoy the family time and I can't wait to see y'all soon. Keep up the good work. Study that broadcast and use it for EVERYTHING! Your awesome. 

Con Amor,
Elder Burnham

New Comp

Hello my familia! This week has been different. We have started a new transfer and lots of changes have been made. My new companion is Elder Leisek from Mesa, Arizona. I don't know if you remember Elder Beecroft my companion back in Wallace before Elder Young, but they were MTC companions. They also came out with Elder Sosa so I have now served with their small group. They all have just hit their year mark and are doing great. Elder Leisek is a great missionary that I seem to get along with just fine. He is an athlete and isn't too shy around new things. I am excited for this new transfer. As you can see in the picture he is not brown, unfortunately and he is a little taller than me, but we have a good time. The other picture is of my last district. We were all very much spiritual giants you could say. :) The only other big change to the district is we did get sisters. I had my first accounting call with them last night and even though it went for longer than I planned it wasn't too bad. They are opening up the area they are in and they seem to be excited. I guess I'll keep you updated on how things go there.

Well this week has been full of miracles. Elder Leisek and I had a rough start, but the Lord took over quick and things started to get rolling. We have been finding lots of people and then Sunday lots of people brought friends that are just looking for the truth. We also had a random 15 year old girl show up just because she lives down the street and wanted to come to church. She had never even heard of the church. Miracles were seen all over the mission. The other awesome thing was that in sacrament meeting a returned missionary from the other ward that meets in the same building spoke to us. He just returned from South Africa. Well I got to talk to him afterwards and come to find out he trained Elder Richard Wilson. It really is a small world out there. Sunday was a great day for everyone. The work is progressing and even though I am working with some changes we have a lot going on to keep us busy. This is the best part of the work. I'm excited to update you on things next week.

So about the plaque thing. I decided I want both the NC and Virginia plaques or I may go less active when I get home. ;) I also like the scripture in   3 Nephi 5:13. Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life. 

 

 It's short and straight to the point and explains exactly what I am doing. Well I love you all and I am extremely grateful for everything you have done for me. I guess we are all praying to have the two Elders Burnham serve together. Keep me posted and I hope y'all have a great week.

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham 

Elder Burnham and Elder Leisek

New Companion and Ward mission leader

Mom I would love more than anything for you to write the presidents and see if that is possible. I would give anything to serve with my brother as a full time missionary just for a day even. That would be the experience of a lifetime and I would do anything to have it. I can see that probably being really hard to make happen, but it would mean so much to both of us I'm positive. If you could pull any strings that would be miraculous.

Well other than that I don't have any huge new about anything yet. We know that Elder Sosa will be heading to Durham tomorrow and I will be getting a new companion. I went to a massive leadership meeting last Wednesday and pretty much could bring down my new companion to two elders, but we will see which of them it will be. Both are unfortunately Americans. :) I also learned that President Baker will officially be my new key holder on June 27. Exciting I guess. Other than that not much happened. I am always learning a lot and working hard. We didn't have too much help from members this week so we had a lot of other lessons from our own efforts. Always finding is what we do!

One amazing thing that I can tell you about is we have the best ward ever!!! Our War Mission Leader is straight from heaven and knows exactly what to do and is working super hard. He is our best friend in the ward and is more converted to this work than any other member I have come in contact with. I love his spirit and his testimony. I really hope to be able to serve as well as he does in the church. We have huge plans to change this place around and get everyone excited about missionary work. He is a strong believer that if missionary work is strong in the ward amongst the members than everything else will strengthen along with it. He just gets it! I am glad to be serving here in this loving ward where everyone gets along for  the most part and where we can focus on the most important things. I will definitely keep you updated on how things progress here.

Well beautiful family I love you more than bananas and I sure hope things are going fantastic. Pull those strings Mom!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

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

The South Will Rise Again...

Wow sounds like a crazy week. I am glad to hear everyone is doing alright though and that the family is healthy and strong. Mom, thank you so much for the package. It was perfect and it actually took care of us for we had a skimpy week in regards to being fed by members. I don't know why, but we had to do a lot of cooking. Unfortunately my Hispanic companion has zero cooking skills in his native food groups. We were stuck to my American cooking and whatever else I could come up with. Nothing crazy. So the name of that man was Roman Castellanos and he is the most relaxed man I know. His whole family is loving the gospel and just eating up all the blessings that come from living it. Smithfield is a great area.

So this week for us was really good in some areas and rough in others. We are doing our best to improve where we can. We have been finding a lot through members, which is the only way to do missionary work, but we have seen lots of miracles this week form it. We are teaching a man's fiancee who is a little slow, but excited to learn. That is wonderful and all, but ever since we have started this the man has been super excited to do missionary work. He calls us up and says, "Elders I have a surprise for you. When you get to church I will give it to you!" Soooo we come to church and he hands my companion a receipt from Food Lion with a persons number and address on it and then he handed me a receipt from Walgreen's with the same. Every where he goes he is talking about what we are teaching and about his love for the Book of Mormon because it talks about Christ coming to the Americas and he then asks the cashiers and others if we can stop by and share it with them. He has done it with half used napkins from Taco Bell as well. Kind of disgusting I know, but I love it when members do missionary work like that. Referrals are the best.

Well other than that miracle the only other awesome experience we had was in Sacrament meeting. To preface this I'll just say that you can do what you want in NC. So some speakers didn't show up to talk today so the first counselor in the bishopric was asked to step in. For 30 minutes straight he bashed all of us on our lack of patriotism and how we are just being silent, sitting on our hands while the government is trying to take God out of everything. He gave some examples in the Book of Mormon of great leaders that tried to save their people, but they couldn't because the majority of the people rejected God. He basically said that as we sit silent and let these things happen we are rejecting God and we need to repent! He got all Jefferey R. Holland on us and even leaned into the microphone. It was a pretty intense talk about this land of promise and our duty to keep the commitments we made at baptism and in the temple to stand up for God in all things. THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN!!!!!!!!! Well I was inspired so I decided I would go out and do missionary work! :)

Well my delicious family I am grateful for everything that you do for me. I really have been blessed to have y'all in my life. Keep the love coming. Y'all are in my prayers. I sure hope things are going well over there in the nice California sun. I love you a ton! xooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxo

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham.

19 books

I definitely have been blessed with a wonderful family. I am super grateful for all that you have done for me. It was super good to hear how much the spirit has worked with y'all this past week. Over here we too have seen miracles and felt the spirit. We have had a lot of success and we really made up for what happened last week. Everything went well except for a slight bump in the road. We got in a small accident. I will send pictures so you can see what happened. It wasn't anything too bad, but it definitely slowed us down. We were just turning out of a street having just dropped off our exchange when, boom, a speeding mom came hurrying down the road hoping to pick up her daughter from school on time. It took about an hour to get everything taken care of with the police and all. Lucky for us it happened when it did because we weren't in a hurry for anything. Really the only bad part about all this is the extensive paper work that goes into doing things like this with the church. Anyway that was the only crazy thing that took place. Other than that we have been blessed. We taught a ton of people and all were with members present, we found more people to teach, 6 investigators came to church, and we had a baptism. I also had to speak in church on Sunday which wasn't necessarily a blessing, but it went pretty well. Elder Sosa and I are working hard and seeing blessings everyday.

The new transfer for us starts today and things haven't switched up for us, but our district is going to be totally different. We still haven't gotten any sisters in my district yet though. I am sure they will be coming soon though. Well family other than those things I don't really know what else to say. I guess all I can do is say I love you all very much and I better get to work to place 19 Books, talk to 19 people, get 19 new investigators and hopefully baptize 20.5 people. :) Thank you so much for all that you do. I am blessed and I am glad to see the rest of my family is as well. Hasta el proximo lunes.

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham  

The 19 books and investigators is in reference to Ryan's birthday today.  The 20.5 is how old Sean is this month.

 

Eat, Drink and Be Merry

I am glad to hear y'all had a wonderful conference weekend and an even better fast Sunday. Fast Sunday is definitely the best day of the month for me. I love being able to bring investigators to hear the testimony of real people that could very well be their neighbors. This Sunday we had a lot of visitors that aren't investigators yet, but it was nice to see families inviting others to come to church. This week for us was a trial of our faith. I spent many minutes counting my blessings so I wouldn't get caught up in the trials that were being thrown at us. We had planned for an amazing week, but for one reason or another a lot of things just fell through. Our numbers don't do us very much justice, but I know we worked hard and still got out to find people. We are praying that this new week will be where everything will be made manifest. This last week we did do a lot of service for people. I got sun-burnt, but it was worth it. It felt good to do some hard work out in the yard of some members. We dug up and replanted an entire yard of grass, we helped build a shelter type thing for a member's tools, and we also did a lot of moving of boxes and other junk for an investigator. We got busy and it was nice. Member trust is growing out here which is needed. We also have a baptism scheduled for this next weekend so the work is progressing and the miracles are coming, we just can't get complacent.

So update on our investigators, the one family with crazy questions are still throwing them at us and we had to have a huge testimony throw down and explain to them the importance of the Holy Ghost. The spirit was felt, but we'll see if they want to recognize it or not. We just recently found a new investigator. She is 15 and impresses me every time we meet her. She is super intelligent and has been through a lot of problems with her family, but wants to come closer to God. Her family situation is crazy and I am worried about her mother's boyfriend getting in the way of things, but we'll see how it goes. She is fun to teach though because she reminds me of some friends back at home. I know Elder Sosa is a cute boy, but I think she really has strong desires to learn. ;) Other than that the rest of our teaching pool is growing, but we are still dividing the elect from the non-elect there.

Last night was pretty funny while we were out finding. We were looking for a former investigator and the GPS took us to the address of this small home. We got out of the car and walked up to 7 drunk Mexicans enjoying the last of their weekend. My funny companion decides to just ask them if they knew the guy we were looking for. They all said that he moved out a while ago. Well they then began to poke fun at us and asked us to share something about the gospel with them. My quick companion pulled out a scripture before I could think of something in response. He begins to read to them 2 Nephi 28 which talks about people saying eat, drink and, be merry for tomorrow we die. They all laughed at us and we invited them to repent and come unto Christ. They talked about coming to church and began to feel bad about themselves. We left them at that and figured they probably wouldn't remember it tomorrow, but we fulfilled our purpose, right?

Well my family that is all I have for now. I love you all a ton and I am glad to see things are going well.

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

I love conference!

Alright so here is the update here in the beautiful South of the promised land. :) Things are progressing super fast and we have a lot of people to teach. Now are they all elect, well that is something we are working with still. What is good though is that we are finding and teaching and teaching and finding. We had some crazy experiences with investigators this week, but with more study and relying on the spirit we should be able to overcome them. One investigator wants to believe that studying scriptures is as easy as thinking of what you want to learn and just opening to a random page and God will have directed you to the answer that way. He then has shown us that he no longer wants to kneel and pray, but hold hands in a circle for more power. That was an awkward lesson having to stop these false traditions from who knows where and teach true doctrine. Another investigator won't receive an answer about the Book of Mormon because he is caught up on tangible evidence and not the spirit. He also expressed that the one true church has to have the correct restored pronunciation of God's name as found in his Hebrew bible. Well I don't about God's name ever being lost in the first place, but seeing as I am not well versed in the Hebrew language I couldn't help him out much. All I know is that he is letting all these small details that won't be made known to him yet impede his progression and his ability to receive a spiritual confirmation. And last we have an investigator who wants God to give her everything she wants now and is acting like a complete cookie monster about blessings when she is in a rough position and doesn't understand what she needs to do to change things. We have a lot of work to get done, but this is what makes studies in the morning super fun. :)

Well that is basically where we are at. Smithfield is great and I am loving all the people here. Sooooo... y'all are dealing with a perezoso. I am sorry to hear that he has no interest even when his own culture is all around him. Hearing about that makes me feel super bad for all those times that I whined about not wanting to do certain things with the family or not wanting to go somewhere because it was too much walking. Mom, I promise that when I get home I will stop and read every sign along any path with you. :) I would probably enjoy things like that so much more now. In fact I have already made it a goal to go walking with you in the morning if you are still doing that just so we can talk and enjoy that time. You probably can out walk me by now, but it will be worth it. Happy Birthday by the way. Life is speeding by.

Well I sure hope conference was as inspirational for y'all as it was for me. I always want to be a better missionary when I hear conference, but then there are those talks that make me trunky and want to be a better man all together when I get home. I am super thrilled to hear so much about missionary work. I sure hope the members here and there step up their game on finding people to teach. The work is hastening, but it will get a flat tire if we have all these missionaries out there and the members aren't stepping up to the plate just as much. When ward mission leaders were talked about I sent ours a text saying BOOYAH!!. He laughed, but I think he got the other part of that message as well which was basically saying we have to step it up. HE is by far the best ward mission leader I have had on my mission. Well that is all I really have time for for now, but I want to leave with one thing for dad. Here the bishops are like never heavily involved in helping the missionaries actually teach and stuff. I know they are busy, but it makes the elders so happy to know that the bishop is willing to go out with us too and it lets us know there is a trust. I don't know if you go out them much or if you even trust them, but if you do trust them and if you could please go out with them. It will make them feel more comfortable in the ward and it will help them feel they have trust with everyone. The bishop makes a huge impact on the elders in that area they are serving because we as missionaries get in the feelings of bishops being super busy and don't have time to deal with any part of our work except giving callings and making sure other people help us. We often fear even calling for help from the bishops family just because we don't want to make them feel like we are adding to their plate. If doing missionary work is adding to their plate then something is wrong. I just had this thought though and thought I would share it. I love you all a ton and am very grateful for everything you do for me. Hasta luego!

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

999,999 people

Y'all have had a great week it sounds like. I love hearing about how great my family is. :) Sounds like the family has definitely felt the spirit this week and that is by far the most important thing we can have in this life. I try so hard to get people to understand the importance of that heavenly gift and yet people still take it for granted. It is the most important gift!!! Anyway from picking apart the emails I tried to figure out how Ryan is doing since I didn't see his email. I want to know if things are improving with him and his trainer. He better start sending pictures out as well.

Anyway, Dad it would be much easier to get the newsletter by snail mail than print especially with some of these libraries that are stingy. I love getting those by the way. I sure hope a lot more ward members see it and share it. 

Well this week has been kind of odd. We have been improving a lot in some areas, but whenever that happens it means that another side needs more doctoring up. Well this week it was finding. We were very much blessed with having investigators accept baptismal invitations and are really progressing towards that step, but we just aren't finding like I want to be. I'm sure every one of my companions has been irritated with me saying that nothing happens in missionary work until we find people to teach. That comes straight from PMG. The funny part is they always ask me if I think we aren't actually doing anything. Yes I know we are working hard, but I would rather have some many in my teaching pool that I can't keep track of them. There are thousands of people in this city and every one we find and share the gospel with may not accept our message, but that means that we have raised our chances for finding the elect because now we only have 999,999 people left to contact instead of 1000000. :) I have had to train myself to love finding as much as teaching because finding the elect is the hardest part of this work. Anyway, the miracles are coming as we show forth our faith, but I am looking for more faith and bigger miracles.

I am super excited for next week. Conference as a missionary is always the best. We just seem to pay attention more as elders. I know that's bad, but at least it is happening. I just hope for some more crazy news like China is opening up or we all need to start preparing for a massive exodus to Zion or something. :) Anything could happen I guess.

Well family I love y'all to death and I am super excited for the work that is going on. Keep up the missionary work and remember you are in my prayers. Good luck on finding a home Jenni!

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

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