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

Ryan's Mission Call

Elder Burnham's younger brother Ryan got his mission call yesterday and will be serving in the Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission. He will report to the Missionary Training Center on February 20th 2013!

We are so excited for you Ryan and I know that many blessings will come with 2 great Elders serving the Lord!

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.