Great Week

Sounds like everyone had quite the week. Girl's camp sounded like way too much fun. It is good to hear the men were so willing to scare some poor innocent girls. I would have loved to join in the fun. :) I'm glad Jenni and the family is all situated almost. I am excited to see the new house and see all the fun they are having in the country. I hope yall are planning a big garden. Everyone out here are garden masters so I'm learning a lot through the service we render. Everyone is preparing for the massive civil war they think we will be having soon or the apocalypse. People are crazy in the south.

So for our hectic week or at least mine as I have to help so many companionships figure things out. There has been a lot of changes to the mission life out here and we are all adjusting. The biggest one is that we now have sisters in our are and they have no idea what to do. Having been in this area for 4 months now I am in charge of getting things together for them and making sure they are ready to get to work. Plus I am in charge of holding them accountable each week. Fun stuff! We have been working hard in literally every aspect of this work possible. Lots of progression has been made and we are excited for anything else the president can throw at us.

Another crazy experience was I was interviewing a man for baptism this week and the elders had failed to go over some very important worthiness questions with him before the interview date. Well I sat through an hour long interview hearing this man's testimony/life story and only ended up having to tell him that our mission president would have to interview him due to some things that took place in his life. That was not a fun experience. I think everything will go well though and he should be baptized soon. I then immediately let those missionaries know to NEVER skip that question when preparing an investigator for baptism.

Well other than that we had a great week and only a better one coming up. I am excited for the work. I love you all and I hope things are going well.

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

Virginia Here I Come!

So first off I want Ryan to know that no where in the white handbook is there a rule against hugging the opposite sex. It does say that there shouldn't be any inappropriate relationships, but I don't think that situation falls into that category. I also must add that sometimes it is necessary to follow the spirit of law and sometimes the letter of the law. You use your own judgment, but I will say that I have given hugs out when needed. :) Also I want to say that I am super excited for him to train. I want so bad to train again before I die. It is the best growing experience a missionary will ever go through and it help them become such a better missionary. You get to fill all the gaps that your trainer missed. Be exactly obedient, work hard and don't ever be prideful! :) I am sooooo excited to hear about how this goes.

Well on my side of things transfers is this week, but the rumor about a huge flip flop in the mission is not coming to pass. In fact there is only one elder leaving my district this transfer. The biggest change is that we are receiving Spanish speaking sisters here in smithfield. They are moving right around the corner from us so that will be weird, and I don't know exactly how we are going to split the work here since we are both bilingual companionships. I'm just going to pawn all the single sisters off to them and wish them luck. ;) Our ward mission leader is super excited  so we'll see how it goes. This means I will have the biggest district in the mission I believe. We will now have 7 companionship's. It is going to be a crazy transfer. I am excited though. I have come up with some pretty great ideas to get the member work moving. I sure hope with sisters here that will just allow them to take off faster. I have no doubt that it will since sisters seem to always bring an increased amount of excitement when they come to an area for the first time in years. I am having a good attitude it about it for now so unless I get calls for blessings every other night we should be just honky-dory. :)

President Baker is awesome. He reminds me a lot of Ben Walker. He is tall and lanky and he is has an awesome sense of humor. ;) He has already made some big changes like transfer days and when we have district meetings and other little stuff. For the most part though it shouldn't effect the NCRM missionaries too bad. I'm excited for the change.

Other than that this week was crazy. It seemed like we were hardly in our area to do work. Somehow we were able to find 5 new investigators while in the middle of driving to and from Virginia, which takes three hours from here, having a surprise zone meeting and being told the 4th was a non-proselyting day. It was a weird week. I'm glad we were able to work hard amidst the chaos.

Well things have been going great and we have a lot of work coming our way so keep us in your prayers. I am on board with Ryan being my trainer as well here in two transfers. I would serve under him with no problems at all. I'm sure he could teach me a lot. I would also enjoy teaching those spanish families as well. Mom work your magic. :) I love you all and I hope this week of camping and box-moving will be full of excitement and missionary opportunities. Go get 'em!!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

New Mission President

What a week y'all had. I'm glad to hear that everyone is still intact and ready for the next phase of life. Even Ryan had some crazy experiences. Over here we didn't have so much craziness except for the weather. I feel like this week was a rough one for us, but when I look back at previous weeks it wasn't all that terrible. I just don't like the feeling of a stand still I need to be improving or changing something or I feel that not much happens. I guess that is a lack of patience in me. This next week will probably be pretty crazy with the official mission changes going to be taking effect. I am already seeing things as a district leader that I didn't deal with before. We actually get to meet the mission president this Tuesday which will be exciting. I guess we will see how things go in the short two hour meeting in Portsmouth, Virgina we will be having. All we keep being told is there will be a lot of changes and in the first transfer President Baker wants to completely switch everything. The Zone Leaders also told me that he is not as laid back as President Bernhisel, but he isn't as strict as President Cotterell. I mean he has only been out like a week so we can't really judge him yet, but we will see.

Well other than that we had a week of service this past semana. We did some major yard work with the ward around Smithfield and we also helped a few families move. WE Mormons are the greatest moving company known to man. Some non members that were there were impressed with how well we work together and just move those boxes right along. Other than all the service rendered we were able to teach some of our investigators new things which brings out new doubts which makes our jobs fun. I must say that the best feeling ever is when you study for an investigator and you come across a scripture that you just know will rock their socks. You get a fat grin on your face and that kind of evil chuckle comes out as you think to yourself, "muahahaha they can never deny it after reading this. This is exactly what they need to hear." :) Oh I love the morning study schedule. Well other than that not much has changes around here. We did add a sister to the companionship we already had thanks to some drama that went down between another companionship. This is what I was warned about. It shouldn't be too bad though. ;)

Well my lovely family things have been going great here amidst the beautiful summer lightning storms and all. I hope the heat isn't killing y'all too bad over there. I love you to death and hope all is well. Tell Michael I love him and hope he doesn't get married too fast.

Con Amor,

Elder Burnham

P.S. Make sure Claire gets this message. "djbhfklsdhguisdbnfguilsduilfhilfugdvkljdfguisdghldfhvuisdgfvjklnsdbfkljghsdfuilgh"

It means I love all those kids a ton and I can't wait to get those hugs and kisses.

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

Trunky??

Wow that was a bunch of great letters that just made me laugh and made me trunky. I confess this weekend was a trunky one for this missionary. We had a lot of great miracles happen and things have just been going well. This Sunday we had two new investigators come to church made it a total of four there. With it being the Father's Day theme I heard a lot about personal stories these people had with their fathers and it really made me think of the good times I have had. It was just such a trunky day. Life has been just really great this week. I also have to say that reading Sara's email and Jenni's email just made my day. Sara is going to need to stop growing up and talking about boys and stuff so much. Reading what she wrote just made me bust up. I can remember all that nonsense going on when I was at youth conference. Now I know the girls side if it. hahahaha I also love hearing about Jenni and the kids and picturing all the things that she said they were doing. I am excited to see them again. My WML here and his wife remind me a lot of Jenni and Buddy and it just adds to that trunkiness. I get a long with them well and we are working super hard. We have done some serious planning and we are about to flip Smithfield around. I sure love the work out here.

Ummm to answer your questions. We are teaching half and half here. (Spanish & English) We have a lot of work going on in both areas. My companion has never done so much work apparently and he is surprised to see how often we are finding. The pants are working great and I also was given some pants from Elder Sosa that didn't fit him anymore. They are Honduran Homemade from his mom. I feel special. I have one functioning suit that I am hoping makes it the rest of my mission. I have been doing my best to only wear it when necessary. I really hope it makes it. I don't have any room to grow in them either so its just more motivation to keep working out and eating healthy. My new companion is Elder Leisek from Mesa, Arizona and he is really a good missionary. He has a big heart. He has only been out a year. He came out with Elder Sosa. My new mission president arrives June 27 and apparently he is planning on transferring people around ASAP to get rid of any barriers between NCRM and CVM missionaries. It will be an interesting change. We also have been encouraged to go to that broadcast with our WML's so I 'm glad we will be listening to the Prophet together. I don't know anything about a map and I'll see what I can do about a picture.

Family I love you all a ton and I'm glad to see that things are going well and people are happy. Life is great when we have the gospel. We have an exciting week planned coming up so we will be busy. If there is anything I can do for y'all out here just let me know. I love ya tons. Hasta entonces.

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