September 7, 2014

Dear Family,

Well I think spring time is just about here! The flowers are starting to bloom and we have had some days with really nice weather. We had a pretty good week. Nothing too our of the ordinary except that which I shared last week. We did a lot of service on Saturday. That was good though, it is always nice to help people out who deserve it. We did some turning over of gardens (this time by hand), some stacking of firewood, and some moving of buildings! Well we moved large pieces of a partially assembled shed. So it was good to help out those people, some of whom were less active members and others nonmembers. 

There was an old man that we had been visiting here in Temuka that was taken to the Hospital in Timaru. We hadn't seen him for a few days even though he told us to come around the next day. Then the Sister Missionaries got a call from the office that this man wanted visits from someone in the church. So they went to go see him and then told us about him. So we have been visiting him in the hospital. He doesn't have any family or friends really around here so he really enjoys when we go see him. He is doing better than he was but still needs some time to recover. He is actually a member of the Church but hasn't been in several years so we are trying to get his records moved in here. 

Last night, we had an appointment with a Filipino family. They like to have us over and have little Bible Studies. Last night they also gave us some Filipino food. Well some dessert at least. It was Cassava cake. I have honestly no idea what cassava is (even though I have eaten it several times) except that it is some sort of vegetable/root. But this cake was really good! Then we had a dinner appointment with a member family but they were running late and decided just to give us groceries. Well that is fine with us! So my companion made dinner last night. I will send a picture of the "stew" he made to put over rice. I think it is safe to say that I almost fasted for another meal just so I wouldn't have to eat it. But it turned out tasting alright, not good, just alright. Not what I would choose to do with corned beef!

Well that is about all for this week. I hope things are going well! I am doing great! The time is flying by quickly!

Love,
Elder Burnham

September 1, 2014

Hello again family!

So we got permission to do our emails for a short time again today. Yesterday was pretty crazy. So we drove up to Ashburton, about 60 km away, to the other Elders in the district because we were going to spend P-day with them and now we are on exchanges. And I was supposed to email a baptismal candidate. Well we get there are we go to the Library and it had a sign saying "CLOSED DUE TO EMERGENCY" So we went to take down the baptismal font at the chapel. (The Ashburton ward meets in a building that used to be a bank so for their baptismal font, they have an above-ground pool they fill up and take down in a little courtyard out the back of the building.) Then we went to McDonald's for lunch. Well while we were there, one of the Elder's investigators told us not to go to the other side of the town because there was....a shooting! Two people were killed and one severely injured. Crazy! So that is why the library was closed. We saw the crime scene (from afar) and saw it was near the Sister missionaries' flat! So we thought for just a moment it was the sisters! But it wasn't. So we were all relieved. But we received instruction to stay inside all day and not do anything. The shooting was in the morning and they didn't find the guy until about 6 PM that night. I heard he was just angry with one of the government agencies called Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ for short). WINZ is the agency that does the welfare program. We heard the man was upset with the agency and specifically one of the employees that interviewed him and denied him money. So that was our crazy experience for the day. But we are all ok!

But other than that, this week has been pretty normal. We had a special meeting this week for the District Leaders. So the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders all went to Wellington then the day after, the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leader for each zone meet with the District Leaders and pass on information for the missionaries. So we had one of those meetings this week. Also, I was able to do my first interview for a baptismal candidate! That was a really neat experience. The Elders are having a baptism this Saturday for an eight year old boy named Darius. Neither of his parents are members but his auntie and uncle are. And his mom encouraged him to be baptized so that was a really neat experience. 

Saturday we had a sports afternoon. That was good. We invited the members of the Branch and specifically those who were less active. We didn't have too many less active members come but we did have one member bring a friend so we called it a success! But later that day, and ever since, I have been really sore. It was the most sports I had played for probably over six months. And I wore the new shoes you sent so I got a blister or two from breaking them in! But by now, I am feeling almost all the way back to normal. 

Well that is about all for this week. I hope things are well at home! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Burnham

P.S. A bit of a celebration photo for my one year mark! Ginger "Beers"! (New Zealand- ginger flavored soda)

August 24, 2014

Hello Family!

Well this has been another great week. Nothing super out of the ordinary but just a good week. In fact, as far as the progress of the work is concerned, it is probably the best week I have had in this area. We just were able to teach a few more lessons than usual so we were pretty excited. We have a new man we are teaching named Mike. He is a little bit lonely so he likes to talk heaps when we go over there but he also will listen when we go to teach him. We shared with him the Restoration and he seemed to be pretty excited to learn more about Joseph Smith. We had three lessons with him last week and have another appointment with him on Wednesday. So we are hoping we can continue to help him move forward. 

We did a bit of service this week, like always. Mostly we just weeded and turned over people's gardens. The first one we did was for an older man named Graham. We do service for him pretty much every week. But this one was cool because I got to use a rotary hoe! That was pretty cool. It did make my arms/shoulders really tired though, trying to control it in the hard dirt. Then later in the week we helped out a less active lady with her garden. We spent about an hour clearing weeds and turning over part of her garden as well. There is probably another 10 hours of work to do in there though! Just weeds every where. But she gave us some cake afterward so that was cool!


Good news! My camera is not broken! I just took it to a photo shop and they did something and it works now! I actually think what happened was that the battery just got really really dead and so it looked like it wasn't charging but it really was and I just needed to be more patient and let it sit and charge over night. So that will save us all a couple bucks! 

Well that is about all for this week. Pretty exciting! We also had the Assistants to the President spend a night with us and work with us for a couple hours Saturday morning. They are just going around to the areas and I think trying to meet with all the new missionaries. They traveled about 2200 km in 5 days driving around the south island in a brand new car. Sounds like fun! Hope you are all doing well!

Love,
Elder Burnham

August 17, 2014

Dear Family,

Well we have had another good week. Monday and Tuesday were spent saying bye to people here, mostly the Tongans. Which for me meant heaps of food. So that was alright with me! Wednesday morning Elder Lxxxx left at about 7 AM and my new companion got here at 10 AM so I spent a couple hours with a couple members. So Wednesday we got Elder Hxxxxxxxxxx all settled in and did some work. We were both very very tired. Transfers are always long days. Bust mostly this week has been pretty good.

Elder Hxxxxxxxxxx is from Tonga. He is 18 years old. He is the oldest of five boys. His family are all members and area from the main island of Tonga. He went to the Church high school. He is a bit shy but I think that is how we all are at the start of the mission. That will go away as time goes on. He is pretty soft spoken but has very good English, I think as a result from going to the Church high school. This is the first companion I have had who is younger than me so that is a bit different for me. But overall, things are great with him! I am gong to really enjoy working with him. 

We had a pretty neat experience with a member on Saturday night. So we were having a meal with the Gxxxxx family. They are an older couple that live here in Temuka and they feed us almost every Saturday. We starting talking with them after we finished the meal and Sis. Gxxxxx really opened up about how she wants to share the Gospel more effectively with her friends. She asked us to help her to study Preach My Gospel and told us she would like us to follow up on her commitment to do so. She just expressed such a sincere desire to help her friends who are struggling and to reach out to those who are people prepared to receive the Gospel. I think if we all had the desire and commitment she has, missionary work would be increased exponentially! It was just a great strength to me. 

Well that is about all for this week. Hope things are going well back home! Love you all!}

Love,
Elder Burnham

August 10, 2014

Dear Family!

Well there it is! I am training again! So my new companion is Elder Hxxxxxxxxx. He is from Tonga. I don't really know anything about him because he is brand new but the cool thing is that he went to the same ward in Tonga as our Branch Mission Leader here in Timaru. So that is pretty cool. Other than that, I will tell you about him next week! 

Well this week was pretty good! We had a nice family home evening night with a member family from Argentina on Monday night. On Tuesday, we did a lot of service chopping wood and stacking it. We also did some help setting up the chapel on Tuesday night for a funeral on Wednesday. So we also helped a bit with the funeral on Wednesday. There was a woman who used to be a member of our branch but had moved away who passed away. She was taken by cancer at the young age of 46. Just goes to show how precious life really is. There were quite a few less active members and non members there as well. So we had the chance to friendship a few of them. We also helped out at the Salvation Army store. They gave me a slice of chocolate cheesecake for my birthday, so that was really kind of them.

Overall we had a pretty quiet week. We have been sorta saying some goodbyes because of Elder Lxxxx leaving. For me, that just means some nice Tongan meals! Saturday night we had an activity combined with the ward closest to us. It was a Talent Show. There was a lot of Samoan and Tongan dancing and singing going on. The ward next to ours is mostly Tongan and Samoan. But that was cool. We did a number with the Branch President. He is very talented musically and he has a song he likes to sing called "Missionary Blues." So we sung back up for him haha but that was pretty cool. 

Oh and I did get the packages so thank you for that! I am enjoying it all! Thanks! Hope you are all doing well! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Burnham

August 3, 2014

Kia Ora Whanau! Hello Family!

Time is going by quickly! We are into the month of August and we had a couple of great days of weather this week! It was up to about 20 deg. C and sunny all day! What happened was there was a very warm wind from the Northwest. So we got all the warm air from Australia. That resulted in a wonderful couple of days. We also had a good week with missionary work.

So on Wednesday evening, we had our plans and back up plans fall through. We decided we would go to visit the Branch President. When we got there, his wife answered the door and told us that we had "perfect timing"! Naturally, we were curious. So her son had moved in just recently from Christchurch and told her that he wanted to stop smoking. She told him, his name is Jesse, that we had a stop smoking program. I had heard about it but I had never before used it as a missionary. So we had to get a copy of it and came back a couple days later to teaching him the stop smoking program. He accepted all the commitments and even told us that he wanted to come to Church on Sunday. Jesse is a member but he has been away from the gospel for a little while. So he did not come to Church on Sunday, but we had dinner at their place on Sunday night and we got to catch up with him. He is doing pretty well! He went from being a chain smoker to only one or two smokes a day. And he still says he wants to come back to church. So I ask you all at home to pray from him for this next week while he gets completely clean from smoking. His name is Jesse Fxxxxx. Thanks!

We also got a new investigator the other day. It was a referral from the Sisters. His name is Jason. He was pretty busy but we were able to have a short 15 min lesson with him. He told us that last year he lost three of his family members, including his wife. So we are going to do all we can to share with him the Plan of Salvation and especially eternal families. We can see that he is a really sincere man. So hopefully we can help him and give him strength and comfort at this time. 

Well that was about all for this week. Tonight we are going to a member family from Argentina and they are going to cook us a meal too so we are excited to do that! But that is all for this week! Hope you are all doing well! Love you lots!!!

Love,
Elder Burnham

P.S. This is the sunrise from Saturday morning!

July 27, 2014

Hello Family!

Well it really isn't that cold for me but other people down here are cold.

This week has had some interesting things happen. Just after we got
home from emailing last week, Elder Lxxxx

felt really sick. He slept
pretty much the rest of the day. He got the flu! So for me, Monday was
spent cleaning and studying all day long. Then Tuesday morning came
and he still didn't feel too well. So by the end of Tuesday, I was
feeling a bit restless. Wednesday morning, we had a district meeting.
That was pretty good. All the missionaries get along pretty well.

We helped out the Salvation Army again after the district meeting.
They told us that if we came back next week, they would get us some
food! But even cooler than that was what they told us when we got
there. We could see that they were really busy and had a lot of big
stuff they just couldn't handle very easily. I don't know if they were
mostly joking but they were saying that they were praying that we
would show up. Even if it was more that they were just hoping, it is
cool to see that we can help others out and how much they appreciate
it in a time of need, even people of other faiths.

Saturday was probably one of the most tiring days in my life. We did a
bit of tracting in the morning but from about 12-7PM we did service.
So first we helped a less active member to chop wood for his sister.
And there was only one dull axe so I had to put in a little more
effort. Then after that we helped an older couple in the branch to
move and chop some wood. While we were there, we got a call from the
Elders Quorum President asking if we could help with that service
project. So we went to a farm about 15 minutes south of Timaru where a
farmer allowed us to cut up some logs on his farm to take. So we
loaded up his van and a trailer with probably about 1500 lbs of wood.
Thankfully, he fed us dinner after. So by that time, I was really
tempted to just relax in the flat but we changed and went back out to
work at 7:30 for the rest of the night. It was a good day and I
certainly slept well that night. I think in the end, I am grateful
that we have central heating at home and don't have to worry about
fire wood.

Sunday was a pretty good day. We had church in the morning and then a
Branch Council meeting after church. Unfortunately, a lot of talk goes
on in those meetings and not a lot comes out. But that is ok. We
struggle with having enough people with enough time to do things in
this branch. We got a new branch clerk (which New Zealanders pronounce
"clark") so hopefully he can help sort out our membership records.
After church we visited someone the Branch President asked us to
visit. His name is John. The senior couple that used to be here worked
a lot with him and he enjoys our visits. He gave us a 900g tin of
Milo. Milo is a chocolate/barley drink that most people have hot.
There isn't really anything like it that I know about in the States.
Maybe I will send a pack home. It pretty much just tastes like hot
chocolate. But that was cool. We had a great dinner that night too. A
sister in the ward really loves to feed the missionaries but because
her husband passed away, she can't have us over. But she came up with
a plan. Invite another family over and feed them too and then the
Elders can come too! So we had a good time on Sunday night getting to
know the members of the Branch better. Our branch mission leader, who
just got called, suggested we work with the members the gain their
trust. So I think we are going to be doing some of that this week.

Well I hope things are going well with all of you! Try not to get too
hot! Just remember me and the frost we have on the ground every
morning!

Love,
Elder Burnham

The members Elder Burnham and his companion had dinner with.

July 20, 2014

Well another week has come and gone! It sure does go by quickly! This
has kinda been a crazy week. Well it also has been a bit of a
disappointing week. We have had a few appointments fall through and
even an investigator drop us. So I am trying hard to always remember
the line from Preach My Gospel that says "You should not, however,
become discouraged; discouragement will weaken your faith. If you
lower your expectations, your effectiveness will decrease, your desire
will weaken, and you will have greater difficulty following the
Spirit." That is definitely true. I was feeling a little discouraged
last night and this morning. But after pondering a little more, I
remembered this. I determined to lift myself up and to have this week
be GREAT! Our new (unofficial) mission motto is "Good, Better,
Becoming Great in Christ." So this is going to be a great week!

I had a very new experience for me this week. We had an
unplanned/emergency exchange. The other Elders in the District were
not getting along too well. They were having arguments often and had
one really bad one Saturday morning. So I got a call from them and one
of them was requesting an exchange. So I got it all arranged and
approved from the Zone Leaders and we had a little exchange. So I
brought one missionary with me down here to Temuka and my companion
was up there in Ashburton. So we switched Saturday afternoon and went
back on Sunday evening. So we went to church with different
companions, which never happens, except in the case of an emergency.
But I think those Elders are doing a bit better now so that is good. I
just hope that I helped them both with a little bit of the counsel and
advice I gave.

Funny story. There is an Argentinian member family that live about 15
km out of Temuka on a farm. We went to visit them one night. We didn't
call them before so we were just hoping that they were home. We got
there and it turned out they weren't home. Well I also made the
mistake of parking the car on the grass. And mud. When it came time to
leave, we were going nowhere except deeper into the mud. Well my
companion had to get out of the car and lift/push the car out of the
mud while I very gently gave it some gas. It took us about 20 minutes
to get out of the mud and grass and onto the still muddy/dirty road to
their house. I guess Corollas don't make good 4WD cars. Who would have
known? We went to their house a couple days later, after confirming an
appointment and this time we didn't get the car stuck! Hurray! But
their power was out for the first 20 minutes or so when we were there
so they joked about having a "romantic candlelight dinner" with the
Elders there. They are really awesome. It is unfortunate they live a
while out of town.

One more funny story. We got in a really bad car accident this week!
Well that is according to the black box that we didn't know we had in
our car. So we got a call that this "GPS unit" needed to be taken out
of the car. So we called the mission office to confirm and it was then
we learned we had a black box on the car. I guess it was a little
trial/test thing for the missionaries. So we took the car in the next
day to get it taken off. While the car was being service, we went to
help a woman with some service in her garage. We had forgot the phone!
(Oops!) When we got home the Zone Leaders were calling so I picked it
up." Elder Burnham! How is the car!?!?!?" "Uh, it's fine. It's in the
shop." "We heard you were in an accident. The car rolled over and you
are flipped upside down!!!!" Well I think what happened was that when
they were taking the black box out, it was still recording data and
sending it to the company. They informed the mission of what had
apparently happened to the car. So we then had to call the Senior
Sister that is serving in the office to tell her everything was ok.
And the sister in Timaru drove to the police station to find us
because nobody could get a hold of us on our phone. So moral of the
story: always carry and answer the mission phone!


Well that is about all for the week. A couple of good stories there. I
hope things are going well! Thanks for all the love and support! It
really has changed my mood this morning! Love you all lots!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Elder Burnham

Elder Burnham and his companion in their flat.

July 13, 2014

Well it has been a pretty great week! Well there have been two experiences that make this week great. The first one is a potential investigator that we found. Her name is Leonie. We were just walking in town and talking to people on the streets when we met her. She was with her two daughters. We just talked to her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and specifically how families can be together forever. We asked if we could come to her house and share more of our message with her. She said we could come back the next day! But then we found out that her partner lives in Christchurch. So we aren't allowed to teach her. So we told her the sister missionaries would come around and share the exact same message. Well the sisters went around the next day and said that the appointment went very well and that she wanted to learn more. Now she is a new investigator for the sister missionaries and seems to have a lot of potential!

The next is a woman named Jacquie. We met her by accident on Wednesday night. So we had a missionary trade-offs night every Wednesday. We didn't have any appointments, so we just asked the Branch President who he would like us to visit of the less active members. He gave us the name and address of one family. So we went with one of the members that came to visit this house. We get to the house and it is dark, looks like nobody was home. So we starting walking back to the car. We got in the car and before we turned the car on, someone pulled up in front of the house, a woman got out of the car, then went inside. We then sat for a minute trying to decide what to do. We determined we should just do our job! So we went to the house, walked up to the door and just called out hello. She came to the door and invited us right in! I thought it was the member but it turns out that they had moved and this woman lived here with two of her kids. We got talking to her and she had some great questions about what we believe and the standards that we live by. We invited her to church and she said she would be happy to come to check it out. She doesn't have a car so we said we would organize a ride for her. We left her with a Book of Mormon, and a prayer. We went back on friday to introduce the Branch President to her, who would give her a ride. Then yesterday, she came to church! She enjoyed herself and really got along with the members. She even said that she was going to come back to church again next week! But again, she is a single mother, so we had to give her to the Sisters. But that is all good because it doesn't matter who does the teaching, it is another soul who is getting nourished and blessed by the Gospel! The member that came with us on that Wednesday night was assigned a talk yesterday. He shared this experience with the branch. It seemed to make people even more excited to have Jacquie at church. So I would certainly deem that experience a MIRACLE!!!!!

We also had Zone Conference this week. We were able to meet the mission president and his wife. President and Sister Hudson are great! We could feel their love for us and for the Savior immediately. We had a two hour meeting, then lunch, then interviews with President and his wife. They were just a little bit of a get to know you interview, so it was really fun. We met in Christchurch with the whole Zone, about 50-60 missionaries. It was a really great time. I think that President Hudson is going to be great for this mission!

Well that is about all this week. Hope things are going well for you all back home! Love you lots!

Love,

Elder Burnham

July 6, 2014

Happy 4th of July!

Well I may be a little late with that one but it's the best I could do!

We had a sorta tough week this week. It was just hard to follow up and see our investigators. We had several appointments this week but it seemed they all fell through. So hopefully this next week will be better! 

We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week. So I spent half of Thursday and all of Friday in Christchurch. It was pretty good. We did heaps of biking when we were on exchanges. It was kinda unfortunate because the reason we had to bike so far was because there was an appointment on the whole other side of their area. So we get to the appointment and it turns out the person was "sleeping" according to the rude partner who answered the door. So all that biking was for not much progress. But that's OK. It just helped build my appetite for our meal on Friday night. The Zone Leader, Elder Kxxx, learned how to make sloppy joes. So I had a real American meal on the fourth of July! It's funny because Elder Kxxxis from Scotland and never had sloppy joes until he got to the MTC, and he loved them. So now he makes them because he loves them! So that was good.

I also got to see the big city center. Well what used to be the big city center. Christchurch is, apparently, nothing what it used to be. They had a very bad earthquake a couple of years ago. The first was stronger than the second but did less damage because it was more of a "normal" earthquake where things shake back and forth. Well they had a second one that was not as strong but it was worse for damage. Pretty much the way this one hit was devastating. It was 2 km below the surface of the earth and I heard it described as "punching" straight up under the city. So essential all the buildings "jumped" up. But on the way "down", there was another "punch" straight up. They said it was like when you are on the trampoline and someone steals your bounce. You just collapse. Well that is what a few buildings did. They just fell. There were many deaths. But of the buildings that stood, nearly every building was damaged beyond the point of repair. So nearly all the city center was demolished. What used to be the bustling city center is nearly entirely abandoned. Only two skyscrapers are left standing, both in need of repairs. You can walk along and see the huge foundations of the multi-story buildings just sitting there. It is kinda haunting. They also had liquefaction and major flooding in parts of the town. There are entire streets of the city where the EQC (Earthquake Commission in change of helping rebuild they city) has red-zoned. Entire streets where the houses are all too damaged to live in. Yet through all this destruction, the people are still wicked haha you would think that would cause people to repent but heaps of people just got angry at God and reject religion even more. It is very sad. But I did enjoy my time there. 

Well that is about all this week. Nothing too exciting. I am doing pretty well. I have gotten over my sickness so that is good. I can get back to working my hardest! It is still cold down here but the days are starting to get longer so I am happy about that! Hope all is well back home!

Love,
Elder Burnham

June 29, 2014

Hello Family! 

Well another month has come and gone. Time just keeps on ticking. We had an alright week this last week. I actually caught a cold and was not feeling very well for a few days. Starting on Wednesday I had to slow it down a bit and then on Thursday, I just wouldn't/t do anything. I was coughing and had a congested nose all day. No good. After Thursday I slowly started to get better. Today I am still feeling a bit of the congestion but the coughing isn't nearly as bad. So I am getting better! 

As far as the missionary work goes, we had a pretty great day yesterday! We were very excited because for this first time in my stay here, we had a couple of investigators come to church! They are two nine year old girls we are teaching. One is actually the niece of the other which is kinda funny. But the family has had a few members that were members of the church but no longer are. That is because they have been associated with the local chapter of a gang. In fact, the grandfather/father of these two girls is the president of the xxxxxxx. But he is really nice to us so it is all good! But they came to church yesterday with a few other of the kids who are not of baptismal age, along with the wife of the president. So we were really happy about that. 

Yesterday, we also got our new mission president. It will be about two weeks before we meet him at our next zone conference but it is still exciting to have that change. Today was the first letter that we sent to President Hudson! Pretty exciting stuff. Well there was nothing really too momentous about the transition but perhaps something will happen in the coming weeks/months where the mission will take some strides forward! 

Well I hope things are going well at home! It is still going well over here! I hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Elder Burnham

June 22, 2014

Well at least I hope it is on it's way out. We have just had the shortest day of the year so that should technically mean that the warmer weather is on it's way. But people tell us that usually July is the worst month for winter weather. Great. The Maori's also have a mid-winter celebration called Matariki. There aren't many Maori people down here so it wasn't really a big deal. But I think it is supposed to be their traditional New Year. Pretty cool. 

Well this week went pretty well. The highlight of this week was on Wednesday night. We had received a referral from the Sisters of a family, the Mxxxx family, that was staying in Timaru that were former investigators. So we went to go visit them. We stopped by once and they were on their way out. Another time and they were just getting home. This time, they were home! So we went in their home and got to know them better. They are from the Philippines. They are very open to us. The father said that he thinks that you have to listen to all the different messages of each church because how can  you know which one is true if you don't hear them all? So that was an open door for us. We set a return appointment for this week on Wednesday night again and they said that they would cook some dinner then we could have a lesson after. So I will be getting real Filipino food! My first time. Very exciting for us! It was the first new investigators we have gotten in a couple of weeks. 

Overall we have had a good week. We are saying bye to President Kezerian through email today. It is his last week! On Sunday next week, we will have a new mission president. We are sad to see President Kezerian go, but also happy and excited for the new mission president, President Hudson. It will be interesting what kind of changes go on in the last year of my mission. I am sure things will change a bit. 

Sounds like you all had a great week. Lots of work and travel and family visiting. The new house for Greg and Aurora looks great! A house like that here would be very very expensive! The cost of living in NZ is pretty high, my guess is just because it is an island. Thanks for the pictures, it looks like fun. I am a little jealous of the warm weather! Although the weather here has been unusually warm. We have had a few days in a row without any rain! On Saturday we did a bit of service and it was so sunny that I think I got sunburned! In the middle of winter!

Well that is about all for this week. Hope things keep going well. Love you all!

Love,
Elder Burnham

June 15, 2014

Hello Family!

Malo e leilei!

We got our transfer list today and my companion and I are both staying here! And because last transfer was only 4 weeks, this one is 8 weeks. That is to accommodate for the new Mission President coming in two weeks. So I will be here until at least August, probably longer. I say that because after this transfer, my companion is finished with his mission. So I will most likely be here for at least another transfer or two after that to get another missionary to know the area. I am happy to be staying here and at least I know (of speculate) more of what the next few months will be like. We have two moves in our District this week. One sister is going home and another sister is getting transferred out so we will have two new sisters and no new elders here. 

Well it was a pretty great week this week. We were able to spend more time in our own area this week, no exchanges. That was nice. We had a few lessons and even had a recently returned missionary to come with us to a few lessons. That was pretty cool. He is Tongan so he gets along with my companion fairly well. I try to follow the conversation from a few of the English sounding words that get thrown around but it's pretty hard. I don't mind though. 

This week we offered to do some service at the Salvation Army Family Store. They were happy with us helping because only elderly women really volunteer there so they need some help with the more physical stuff. Unfortunately, we have to fill out all this paperwork and stuff. We have to get a police check done. I don't know if that is actually worth it or not but we will probably end up doing all that stuff so we can volunteer there maybe once a week or something. 

We are still working hard to find new investigators. We have a couple of people that we are working with. The best ones for us is a family in Timaru. The parents and grandparents are almost all no longer members of the church, but they are encouraging the young ones to be involved. So we go once a week at teach an eight year old girl and a nine year old girl. Unfortunately they aren't coming to church, so we are going to offer for the Branch President or someone from Primary to pick up the children, Hopefully they can start coming to Church!

Well that is about it for the week, nothing too exciting. No stories of crazy animals or anything like that! I hope you all have a great week and happy father's day to Dad and Karl and Greg (BUT not until I get back!!!!)

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Burnham

June 8, 2014

Dear Family,

Well another week has come and gone. This week we went on exchanges. I was with another missionary in the District in my area for a couple days. As a District Leader, I have to go on exchanges with each companionship of Elders in the District. Luckily for me, there is only one other set of Elders. For the exchange with the Zone Leaders, we went up to Christchurch. We were there for Thursday night, all Friday and Saturday morning. We had a Zone Conference on Friday morning, the last one with President and Sister Kezerian. That was a little bit sad for us missionaries, but we all knew it was coming. Christchurch is a pretty big place though. Definitely bigger than I have ever served before. I was with Elder Hxxxxx. He is a good missionary. He asks questions and stuff about you and makes you feel like he cares about you.

This week we got a bit of a reprimand from President Kezerian. Last month we had gone over on how many kilometers we are allowed for the month by about 450. Which is a lot. We just have to make sure we are using our bikes every day and if we go over this month, we are in big trouble! It is hard though because we want to go to the bigger city, Timaru, about every day. But we can't afford to do that with our mileage allotments. I guess we might have to figure out the bus schedule, if there is one!

It is getting colder here but I think it is about as bad as it gets. Today it is raining quite a bit. That is no good for me because the back fender/mud guard thing on my bike is broken so I have big mud splatters up the back of my rain coat. Just have to buy one as soon as I get the chance, hopefully today!

Being a district leader isn't as bad as I thought it would be. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to that assignment when I saw the transfer list. But now, I see it as an opportunity to help the other missionaries. I still don't really like telling people what they need to do but as long as it is out of love, then I guess it is ok!

Well not much is new this week. It is the last full week of this transfer. This one is shorter, only four weeks, compared to the normal six. So we will have news of any shifts next week. I certainly don't expect to go anywhere and my companion says he has a weird feeling he might. Well I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Burnham

June 2, 2014

Hello family!

Well I am emailing today instead of yesterday because yesterday was a public holiday! It was the Queen's Birthday! Nothing too exciting going on except no work and lots of sales at the stores. But unfortunately for us, even though it was P-day, we couldn't get to the shops because we can't use the car and all the stores are in Timaru. So yesterday was pretty boring.

But we had a pretty good week last week. I made it through my first District Meeting as a District Leader. It wasn't that bad I guess. Just had to do what I have seen other DL's do. Nothing too exciting happened last week though. We did some colunteering at the Salvation Army Store, that was pretty fun. A lot of moving rubbish out into the "skip" (a.k.a. dumpster, kiwis have weird words for things...). We did some more service with helping a member of the ward move and helping another member mow his lawns. I am pretty sure it was the longest and largest lawn I have even mowed. It took AGES to do. And it was a little wet, so that didn't help much. So yeah we get to do a lot of service here in Temuka and Timaru. Our branch has quite a few older people. On Sunday, one of the younger families, the father of which is the Elder's Quorum President, was gone. So they asked me to help them to do the tithing and fast offerings with the computer. I wasn't sure if that was normal protocol, but I wasn't gonna tell the Branch President "no" so I did. Funny how they all relied on me to help out with that. I guess it is preparing me for when I follow in Dad's footsteps and get called as a ward clerk some day! 

This next week we are going on TWO exchanges. Crazy. It was the only time we could exchange with the other Elders in the District and also the Zone Leaders. So we are going up to Christchurch for a couple days later on this week. We will also have a Zone Conference while we are up there, the last one with President Kezerian! 

Well that is about all for the week. Oh just one more quick story. This week, we went to the house of a member that the Branch President asked us to go to. There was a sheep just hanging out around the property. It was a fairly large property. Well we are walking up the drive to the door and the sheep is running alongside us. We knock a couple times and there was no answer. So we decide to leave. As we are leaving, the sheep charges me and head butts me in the leg! What the heck!?!?! Then it continued to threaten the same thing so I just hopped on my bike in hopes to outrun it and it was running along side me! Crazy sheep! Well that's all for the week! Love you all!!!

Love,
Elder Burnham

Hey Mom!

It is for sure colder down here but not a whole lot. We get frost almost ever morning. But it melts away by 10 when we leave the flat. We may get snow but probably only once. Or we may not get it at all. Because we are on the plains, it isn't quite as cold as the mountains that we can see. It would almost be like Utah Valley here, except the whole thing is basically sea level and the mountains aren't quite as close. We cover a branch. Geographically it is a pretty large area. I would say it is about an hour and a half drive from one side of the area to the other. I am not entirely sure though, we don't go to one of the towns that is technically in our area. Something must have happened there but the area is closed now.

May 25, 2014

Hello Family!

Well it has been a crazy week. Saying bye to all the people in Wanganui and trying to get packed up and all that jazz was crazy. I ended up taking pretty much everything which was good. The new area is much colder than my last. It isn't horrible yet. There is snow on the mountains around us but nothing down here. We cover a few little towns but we focus our efforts on Temuka and Timaru. Timaru is a pretty good size city. It has anything you would want by way of shops and stuff. There is a branch in Timaru. But it is a fairly large branch. I think there were about 40 or so people at church. The work for our area is pretty slow though. I guess it just means we need to work harder. I also am feeling pretty overwhelmed being a district leader. I should be getting some training on Wednesday so that is good. But I just don't know at all what I am doing! Well I actually only have 30 min to email in this area if the library is busy. It's not too busy right now but I only have a couple minutes left of the initial 30 mins so that is all I have for the week! Sounds like the service for Brady was good, that is good to hear. Hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Burnham

May 18, 2014

Well there is big news this week with transfers!

I am going to be leaving my area! I was really not expecting that because My companion is still in training. I am going to be going to Temuka, in the Christchurch Zone. I have been called to be a District Leader! I am really nervous for that calling. I still feel like there is so much for me to learn and that there is no way I am going to be able to fulfill that responsibility but I will have to trust in the promise of "Whom the Lord calls, He qualifies." But it certainly was a shock to me! I will have to make sure that I don't have too much stuff, lots of missionaries are over the weight requirements for bags when they have flights, like I will have. I will surely be a nervous Elder for the next few days and weeks! So the next couple days will be packing and saying my goodbyes! It will be a bit of a rush the next two days! 

Last weekend we had stake conference as well. Ours was fairly interesting. Our stake is working very much on the theme "to the rescue." This is under the direction of the Area Presidency. So we had a couple people share their reactivation stories. It seemed to me that they turned out more of telling a big long story of how they got AWAY from the church and not nearly enough on how they got back to the church. That was Saturday night. Sunday session was a broadcast from Salt Lake for all of New Zealand. President Monson, Elder Oaks, Bishop Causse and Sister Wixom were the speakers. That was pretty good except we gave up our seats in the chapel for seats in the Primary room where there wasn't any video. That was a bit of a bummer. But it was pretty good. 

Well that is about all for the week. I am sure I will have lots to talk about next week with the new area! Wish me luck!!! Love you all!!!!

Love,
Elder Burnham

May 4, 2014

Hello Family!

Well this week has been a bit better than last week. I actually think that it was not quite as tough and also I was able to deal with some of the stress and discouragement a little bit better. My companion is helping me a lot with the area. He pretty much tells me to suck it up, so I do and things go alright. I have made it to the end of the week so I can't complain too much! 

This week we got to go on a bit of a road trip again to the branch in Waiouru. It is about a two hour drive there and back. I enjoy the drive too, nice and curvy. We had a district meeting up there and we also had a service project as a district. We helped out at a daycare type place that was on the Army Base up there. We were staining and sealing some cubicles for the kids to put their backpacks and stuff in. It was nice to spend some time with the other missionaries and get to know them a bit better while still working and serving as a missionary. So that was pretty much our whole day gone on Thursday. My companion and I also got to do some service in Wanganui. There is a less active couple that own a takeaways shop in town. They were feeling really swamped with work so when we offered to help, they took us up on it. We came in the next day and spent a couple hours helping them make Pork Dumplings for them to sell in the next week. All I did was roll the dough with my hands into a ball then press it out into a circle. Then my companion rolled them out with a rolling pin into the actually size and shape for the dumpling. Pretty fun! We also got to mow a couple lawns this week. That means there was at least one day of good weather! Right now it just started pouring down rain. Hurray! And we don't have coats or anything so we get to walk home in the rain. I will probably be soaked.

Well that is about all for the week. Hope things are going well at home!

Love,
Elder Burnham

April 27, 2014

Hello there family!

Well this week and last week were pretty tough. We have two of our good investigators drop us in the last two weeks so we have been doing a lot of finding this week. Yet we are still having little success. I am not sure what to do other than just keep working hard. I guess that is just part of serving a mission is that there will be ups and downs. I am just hoping the "up" time comes here quickly.

So Anzac day was on Thursday. It is a national holiday to remember those who have served in battle. This thing that most towns/cities do is a dawn parade/service. So we were all told we had to go to that. So we woke up at 4:45 to get to the town center by 5:30 when the parade up a little hill started. Then there was about a 40 minute service where a few speeches were given in remembrance of Anzac cove, where the Australia and New Zealand forces landed in Turkey in WWI. It was a pretty neat thing to do but it made the rest of the day seem pretty long.

Other than that, nothing really exciting happened this week. Just hard work and what seems like no results. We had a nice dinner on Saturday night with a less active member. He made a pork roast and then just cut it in thirds and gave us each a third. We had some potatoes and kumara as well. Kumara is sorta like a sweet potato kind of thing. I am really not too sure what exactly it is but it has the consistency of a potato.

Things are going well with my companion and I. We have very different personalities and upbringings but it seems to work out most of the time. Sometimes I just have to bite my tongue and let him say things that I don't quite completely agree with. He hasn't really had much of a solid family growing up so he is really used to doing things on his own. We have had a bit of communication issues but I think it is all worked out. Well at least we know that we are pretty different and we try to look at things through the eyes of the other.

Well sounds like things are going well at home. Sorry last weeks email was so short. Miss you all!

Love,
Elder Burnham

April 21, 2014

Hello Family! I only have 30 minutes to email today and I am almost up! So this is going to be short sorry!

We ahd a pretty good week. We unfortunately had an investigator, Lance, drop us this week but we found a couple of potentials to make up for it! So I am hoping in the coming weeks we can get a few more new investigators. Looks like a pretty eventful week in Boise for you all! My companion came back from exchanges this week with the District Leader and he was sick. Lucky for me, I got it a couple days later. Not too bad though, I am just about over it and we didn't have to stop working so that is good. Again sorry the email is a day late and really short but time is up! The library was closed yesterday for "Easter Monday" and since today isn't p-day, President said we only get 30 mins! Hope you all have a great week! Love you lots!!!

Love,
Elder Burnham

April 13, 2014

Hello family!

Well I got my new companion this week! He isn't fob like I thought he was! Elder Mxxxxx is full Maori and is from Kaikohe, north of Auckland. He is 22 and has been a member for about 4 years. He is the only one of his family that is a member but they support him, so that is good. We get along pretty well. It might be hard really to tell in the first week but I think this is going to be a good transfer. He is really excited about the work and wants to work hard all day every day. So I don't have any issues with him being disobedient, that is a relief. He is pretty familiar with Preach My Gospel and stuff so he is going to be an easy one to train. I expect in the next couple of weeks I will have him lead the area.

Being a trainer is interesting. I feel a lot of responsibility but at the same time, President is telling me that everything will be fine and that I just need to do my best and the Lord will do the rest. We have an hour less during the day to do work because from 10-11 we do training in stead of starting work right at 10. I am back in the other house on my side of town. It was kinda dirty so we had to do some deep cleaning today. But it is nice to be back in my own area again, everything is familiar again.

We had General Conference this weekend. It was very good. We had President Kezerian here for all of Saturday. We had interviews with him before the Sat. morning session. Pretty much he just told me to make sure we are doing training every day. It is when we don't do any training that a problem comes up.  So I think that might be why the work is a little bit harder here than other areas in the mission. We unfortunately had no investigators come. But the talks were good so we are hopefully going to share them with our investigators in the coming weeks.

That is pretty much all for the week, nothing too exciting other than I got my new companion. We have done quite a lot of biking because we are still sharing the car. I think I made my companion a bit sore with too much biking. Reminds me of my first two weeks. Sore legs at the end of every day! Hope things are going well at home! Love you lots!!!

Love,
Elder Burnham

April 6, 2014

Hello Family!!!

Big week this week and a big day today! I am sure you are a bit curious about transfers! Well on Thursday we got a call from the Assistants in the morning and they told me that I was training! Then a couple hours later, they called again and told me that both of my companions are training as well! So they are going to be in a trio on the other side of town. My new companion is Elder xxxxxx. I am not too sure where he is from, other than he is "fob" (fresh of the boat). I am definitely very nervous to be training. As a trainer, I can make or break this Elder's mission. I sure hope that I can be a good trainer. We had to call President this morning regarding some details of our baptism but at the same time, he told us that he NEEDS us to be the BEST trainers of the mission! Well that is a lot to live up to! I am sure I will be learning a lot about being a leader and also a lot about myself. I am grateful for this opportunity but nervous too! He comes here on Wednesday, probably during the day some time. So we are going to go from 3 Elders here to 5. None of the three of us are leaving, and we are getting two more new guys! Exciting stuff! Training lasts for 12 weeks, two transfers, so there is a pretty good chance I will be in Wanganui for another three months!

This week there were some other cool things that happened too. We did end up having our baptism go through! His name is Mitchell Phillips. He is in the other side of town so I was kinda lucky I guess to be a part of it. He is in his low 30s and has an auntie in the ward. It is always cool to see the fruits of your labors. 

Well that is pretty much all of the big news. Our district is changing a fair bit and there are three new missionaries coming in. The other Elder's companion isn't coming until Thursday, my guess is that he came from the Provo MTC instead of the Auckland one. Mine comes on Wednesday so I will let you know how this next week goes! It sure will be an exciting one with two new elders, general conference, and President and Sister Kezerain visiting us this weekend up here in Wanganui! Some great stuff to look forward to! Thanks to you all for the photos and the love that you sent! I always enjoy it!!! Love you lots!!!!

Love,
Elder Burnham

March 30, 2014

March 30, 2014

Hello Family!!!

Well this week has been another good one. Nothing too much out of the ordinary. We are really excited for this coming week because we have an investigator, Mitch, who is going to be baptized on the 5th of April. He has been meeting with missionaries for a while but has finally made the choice! We got a call this morning from his auntie who is in the ward saying that his more immediate family are happy with his decision and may be attending the baptism. That is wonderful because in the past, the mother hasn't supported him. He is old enough to make his own choices but it is always good to have familial support. We have the program all planned out and ready to go! It is exciting to bring a precious soul unto our Father in Heaven. I am certainly grateful to see the fruits of our efforts and the efforts of missionaries and members before us. It is even greater to see another come into the fold. 

This last week we had exchanges. The district leader came up to Wanganui to be with me and Elder xxxxx. He is a great missionary. It seems that when we are on exchanges, we are always more productive than when we aren't. Even though we plan and work just as hard, things seem to work out better when the District Leader is with us! We did have to do lots of driving last week though. We had to drive to Feilding and back Wednesday and Thursday morning. It's about an hour each way. I don't mind though, I am pretty much used to driving on the wrong side of the road. Still haven't accidentally gone on the right side of the road! 

One funny story for this week. We stopped in at Burger King to get some ice cream at about 8:45, just before we went home for the night. We went in and finished up our ice cream and got ready to go. Well one of the rules for us is that we have to have one missionary outside of the car whenever it is backing up. So I was backing up and one companion was in the passenger seat and the other backing us up. I pulled out of the spot, he opened the door to get in, then closed it. I starting going because there was a car behind me waiting for the spot. Then we were driving down the road for about 15 seconds and I get a call on the phone, it was the other missionary! I thought he was playing a prank in the back seat but then I looked and he wasn't there! So I had my companion talk to him as I turned around and went back to Burger King! I had left him there! He closed the door without getting in because there was junk on the seat he was going to get on. That was a really funny. So now we joke that we are going to leave him behind. That would only happen in a trio too because in a normal companionship, you can always see if your companion is in the car or not!

Well that is pretty much it for this week. I am doing well. Nothing much is new. It is amazing how fast this transfer has gone, only one more week left! Then I will be getting my new companion. Hope things are going well at home! Love you and miss you all!

Love,
Elder Burnham

March 23, 2014

Hello Family!

Well this week wasn't quite as great as the last few weeks have been. It seemed like it was just harder to get things done this week. We didn't have as many appointments and stuff with our investigators and even some of them fell through too. It was a little bit disappointing. But we had exchanges this week which was pretty fun. It was the first time that I had been out of my area to work since I came here. Elder xxxxx (one of my companions) and I went to Feilding to work with the District Leader's companion. We went down on Tuesday at about lunch time. Feilding is a pretty nice town. It is smaller than Wanganui, yet there are more missionaries there. They have one set of elders, a set of sisters and a senior couple. It was good to work in a different area and meet new people. We did all sorts of missionary things: finding, teaching and some service. It is always good to be able to learn from the other missionaries on how they do things and have them give you tips and advice. We finished the exchange on Thursday morning after District Meeting. Thursday night we went to a less active member's house and had dinner at about 7. Two nights a week, the whole mission goes out from 5-7 and does "family finding." Pretty much we door knock for two hours. We do ours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so it was after that we had dinner. He made "pancakes." These pancakes were very dense and egg-y and they were about 4 inches tall and the size of a dinner plate. So we each ate about a quarter of it. They were alright, but I do miss good old American fluffy pancakes. But we topped them with whipped cream and fruit salad. So that was good. 

Friday and Saturday were kinda bum days, we had quite a few appointments fall through. But on Saturday we got to do some service. There was a St John's hospital/ambulance place that has a used book sale every couple of months. Some how a member of the ward is involved and asked us if we wanted to help. So when I was in the other area, the missionaries here helped out setting up and then when we got back, we took it down. It was good to help out. There was one person who kept saying "these guys are from America and are helping us out today!" or "these nice boys are from the Latter Day Saints" so I think pretty much everyone there knew where we were from. And they invited us to help them again when they do it in a couple months. It turns out this was their 100th sale so they had some snacks and stuff for us after we finished. There was also some beer and my companion said, jokingly, "what kind of cola is this??" It was funny because he is a convert and before he was baptized he was real big into drinking and stuff. But that was good to help with that.

Sunday was probably the best day of the week. We had two investigators come to church, although only one made it to Sacrament Meeting. That was Mitch. He had a baptismal date for the 28th but has to go to a funeral so we reset it for the first weekend of April, just before the Transfers. That should be good. He has been interviewed and is good to go! The other investigator is Philip. He came only for the Gospel Principles class. But he really enjoyed it. Afterward he sent us a text message saying that he liked it and wanted to do more. We talked in class a little about works and faith and how we need both. He mentioned to us that he wants to talk more about what works he can do. So that should be good to talk about baptism with him. He is what we call an eternal investigator. His teaching record goes back to 2009. And I heard he had been meeting with missionaries before then too. But he has had a baptismal date in the past! Sunday night we had dinner at a part member families house. The mother had been excommunicated a couple years ago and she told us that she is ready to be baptized again and want it to be on Easter weekend. It sounds like she has been meeting with the Bishop and he thinks that would be good too. SO there is another good thing coming up in a couple weeks.

So other than a mildly disappointing week with lessons, we had a great day yesterday! This week, we will be going on exchanges again but this time, I will be here with Elder xxxxx and the district leader. So that should be good. Nothing else is too new or exciting. Hope things are going well at home! Love you all!

Love,
Elder Burnham 

March 16, 2014

Hello Family!

So Lucy was a "cyclone" that was supposed to come through Wanganui, but it never did. I guess it hit the more northern parts of the island a little bit harder. We were told we needed to make sure our 72 hour kits and all that stuff was prepared, just in case. But it never came. I was a little disappointed. I guess it is all good cause we are all safe! 

This week was pretty normal. There are a couple of good experiences/stories that I will share. The first one is with an investigator named Johnny. He is about 65 years old and lives alone. We visited him on Tuesday and shared a lesson with him. At the end of the lesson we asked if he would say the prayer and he said "I will say it on Friday." So we go back on Friday and share another lesson with him and this time he says the prayer. It was a great prayer. Afterward, he got up and was going to give us some scones before we left. While he was standing up, he told us that he had this funny feeling. He said that his legs were turning to jelly and he felt kinda weird but that it was a good feeling too. I was happy to tell him that he was feeling the Holy Ghost. He said it was kinda scary. It was a little bit funny the way he described it but also a really spiritual experience. But the even better part of the story is that about 6 hours later, about 9:30 PM, he gave us a call and told us that he just couldn't stop thinking about that feeling he had. It was cool to see that it left such an impression on him. He said that "it must be some sort of step or something." It definitely was! So I am excited to continue working with him, he just loves the missionaries!

Another neat experience we had this week was that we were able to invite and commit an investigator to baptism. His name is Lance. He is 35, single, and loves wrestling. But he is a really genuine guy. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ: faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost. After teaching him these things we invited him to be baptized. He told us when he was ready that he would go for it. It was a great step and we are excited to keep working on getting him ready. The next step is getting him to church and getting him to meet ward members. But I am excited to work with this guy as well. 

One thing that is kinda frustrating, but understandable, is that we aren't allowed to teach single women of any age. The sister missionaries are also not allowed to teach any single men of  any age. That is understandable. The frustrating part is that we always find single women for the sisters to teach but we never get single men from them to teach! Kinda a bummer but it is all good I guess. That's what happens when you have only Elders in a city! 

Well that is about all the exciting stuff for this week. I heard from President that there will be two companionships here but not until April 9th, the next transfer, so I will be in a trio until then! Also, me and one of my companions is going on exchanges this week down to Feilding. That should be exciting. The first time since January leaving here on exchanges. Hope things are going well! 

Love,
Elder Burnham

Email

Hello everyone.  This is Derek's mom.  Missionaries don't have a lot of time to write emails but they love to get them.  If you want to send him a note it's

derek.burnham@ldsmail.net

March 9, 2014

Hello Family!!

The weeks sure to fly by! It was a pretty great week this week. Nothing too out of the ordinary except on Thursday, we had a Zone Conference. It was in the nearest big city, Palmerston North. I am not too sure how many people live there but it is for sure bigger than Wanganui. There is also a University there which is cool because there aren't too many of those in New Zealand. We had a good zone conference. It is always good to hear from President and Sister Kezerian. They are wonderful and they are sure going to be missed when they leave in July! That took up most of our day on Thursday. Other than that, this week was pretty much normal. We can't spend as much time finding people to teach as we could if there were four missionaries here so we haven't had any new investigators for a while. That is kinda  a bummer but it is ok. I am sure it will all get better in a couple weeks. 

There is one investigator here that says that he wants to get baptized! His name is Mitch. He has been meeting with the missionaries for a little while I think. The teaching record also says that he had a problem with drinking. We taught him the Word of Wisdom again and he committed to live it so I think that shouldn't be a problem. It would be pretty exciting to have a baptism this month! His date is set for the 29th of March. Unfortunately, I don't feel a big part of it because it is the other side, not my side, of Wanganui. But I guess I helped in my own part of his teaching. Should be exciting!

Another cool thing that happened this week is that one of our less active members that we have been working with came to church yesterday! He only stayed for Sacrament meeting but it is the first or second time he has come since I have been here. He had a big smile on his face after Sacrament meeting so I think he enjoyed it! I think that we just need to invite him to come every week and he feels more motivated. 

Also, we have an "eternal investigator" (he has been meeting with missionaries for about 6 years) that is working on getting back together with his ex wife. He is a really interesting guy. His name is Philip. He used to be part of the army but now his main focus in life is supporting his 15 year old son. This last week he sent us a text that said he received a great blessing and he would tell us about it when we visited next. Turns out that he decided to give up smoking and the money he would have used buying tobacco, he is using now to pay for a motorcycle. He was very excited about the bike, and I was excited about the quitting smoking. He has had a baptismal date in the past and I think smoking was something that held him back. We could see some progress there! 

The last cool thing for this week was that there is a less active member who says he is preparing to receive the Melchezidek Priesthood who came to church, not yesterday but last week. He is a really cool guy. His name is Wayne. He's about 45 or so (I think) but he looks like he is at least 60. But he had a nice rugby league jersey that he showed us and we thought it was awesome. So this week he told us that he ordered a couple, one for me and one for my American companion. I guess he is making weekly payments on it from now until November. Pretty awesome. So he told us to keep in contact when we leave because he wants to give them to us! I sure hope he isn't just pulling our chain!

Well that is about it for the week! I am doing real well! Everything is going great! Hope you are all doing well! Love you lots!!

Love,
Elder Burnham



Hey Mom!

I am doing good! The trio is still working well. It is actually pretty fun and we are always busy which makes time go quickly! So I would say for the most part it is a good busy. Sometimes I wish we could work more in my area but that is just the way it is. Gotta sacrifice some good things for things that are better or best. We had a couple of chilly days this week. And one or two mornings with lots of fog! It was like being in San Francisco because by 12, it was a clear sunny day. Got really hot that day too! The weather here is pretty all over the place.  We are driving Corolla Hatchbacks. Pretty good cars for us. Don't seem to have any problems and they are pretty cheap too. I actually have no idea if they celebrate St. Patrick's Day. I would assume they would use just about any reason they can to drink. There is a lot of alcohol in NZ. There seems to be less people who are religious here than in the US. I would say the predominant religions are Catholic and Anglican. Much of the city of Wanganui was founded and built up by the Anglican church. There is one religion that is predominantly Maori and that is the Ratana faith. It is kinda a funny faith from what I have heard from it. It is a Christian Church but they don't like to talk about Jesus Christ because they think too many people say bad things about Him. So they focus on a man who they think was called to be a prophet. There are also some pretty radical thoughts in the Ratana faith. I met a couple who are part of the leadership and they have a plan to have all the Maori people pull their names out of the social security type thing and by doing so they will collapse the whole NZ government. I also heard that this same guy said that the US would have fallen by Christmas and that didn't happen. So interesting faith but very kind people. It is big here because the place where is was founded/is centered is only about 20 minutes drive out into the country, a town called Ratana. So that is a bit about the Maori's and religion. There are also quite a few Maori's in the Church because of some Maori chiefs who prophesied the coming of the "true church" such as that they would come in twos, speak their language, and raise their right arm when they prayed. Pretty cool stuff! So there is your Maori history with the church for the week! 

March 2, 2014

Well the first week of the trio has passed. It was pretty cool! It is somewhat difficult to try to work in both areas the same amount as we worked in them before. So sorta what has happened is that the area I am called to is not getting quite as much attention as the other area. It is ok though, there will be lots of work to do when the new elder comes. It could be anywhere from now until next transfer in April. But I am not too worried. In fact, I am a bit relieved that I am not training this transfer, it seems like a daunting task. 

Well this week went by pretty quick. On Monday we said a few goodbyes and then on Tuesday we said lots of goodbyes. It was hard for my companion to say bye to some of the members and investigators. It is understandable when he had been here for about 7 months. So most of Tuesday was spent saying bye and getting him all packed up. 

Wednesday morning we took him to the airport in the next closest city, Palmerston North. They have a little airport there so he got on a plane and left that morning. It took about an hour to drive out there. Luckily we didn't have to wake up any earlier than usual to get him there. Then we drove back and got my stuff packed up and moved over to the other flat. We had rented a trailer for the day because we had to move my companions bike and stuff but we also had to move my bed over there. That took up most of Wednesday morning. Then we just had regular missionary stuff going on the rest of the day, but mostly in the other Elders' area. 

Thursday morning we had district meeting in Feilding (Yep, the name of the down is Fielding but spelled wrong). Then we spent the rest of that day mostly in the other Elders' area again. 

Friday and Saturday mornings we spent helping a member family move. They are a bit older and needed some help moving the heavy stuff like the washer, dryer, fridge and beds. On Friday afternoon we spent time with the investigators in my area. It was good to be back in familiar territory. Saturday was spent mostly in their area. We had two lunches that day which is never really fun. Just makes you want to sit around the rest of the day. Then we had dinner with a member again, in fact it was one that fed us lunch that day too! But we just took it home and ate it at night. 

Sunday we went to church. It was a pretty good fast and testimony meeting. Nothing too exciting though. One of the other elders' investigators came to church though. His name is Mitch. I think he has a pretty bad drinking problem but seems to be interested. I think he has been meeting with missionaries for a long time. He had more pamphlets and stuff than I had in my bag! Then we had a couple lessons and dinner over in the East side (my side). One was to an older man named John. He told us he wasn't really interested but that we could go there and be ourselves. He always gives us some really good hot cocoa and a little treat too. He used to be a chef so he makes good food. That was pretty much my week! Nothing too great but nothing bad either! 

One last thing. I had my first little bit of homesickness! I had a dream on Saturday night that I was back home. I don't remember much of it but the part I do remember was that Brianne was a little more grown up (maybe like two years older than when I last say her). She gave me a big hug and was laughing and smiling and then I woke up. It definitely made me miss all of you and the fun gathering you had recently with the two little girls. I am just a little sad I will miss a bit of their growing up! But all good! 

Things are going great here and starting to cool down a bit too. By the end of March it will probably be full on into autumn. There was a bit of rain a couple days ago and some this morning too. But rain in the summer is pretty normal here. But that is all! Hope things are going well! Love you lots!

Love,

Elder Burnham

February 23, 2014

Hello Family!!!!

Well the big news of transfers is here and....I am staying!!! My companion is leaving to be a District Leader down in the bottom of the south Island, a city called Invercargill. And...nobody is replacing him! So I am going to be in a threesome!!!! Crazy! I will be joining the other two Elders herein Wanganui! So what happened was that I was supposed to be training but there were some visa issues and that didn't work out. So for this transfer I will be in a threesome! It is going to be pretty crazy! We will have to cover both areas! I am excited for this next transfer! I might get a new companion partway through the transfer or something but who knows! So that is the really big exciting news for this week!

We had exchanges this week with the District Leader. He is a pretty cool guy but a little bit hard to get along with because of his personality. I got along with him great for the exchange but I don't know if I would be able to do that for a whole transfer. We had a good couple days though and it was a good practice in completely leading the area. We had some really hot days. It doesn't get quite as hot as back home but it just feels like it is a million degrees! I think we got into the upper 20's maybe low 30's. What made it worse was that at dinner on Wednesday, the Samoan family gave us Cocoa Samoa, a really rich, almost coffee-like, hot cocoa. I think I sweat more that I ever had in my life. We were on bikes all that day too. We also ran up and down like 200 stairs because the District leader wanted to go to the top of the tower on a hill in the city. It was super hot. 

Another cool thing that happened this week was that an investigator I had in Masterton, Michael, came over here for a couple days to visit some friends. At the same time he also visited me. He told me that he had a baptismal date set for Saturday, two days ago and that he was going to get baptized! It was really exciting to me to hear that news. I am happy for him and he will be a great addition to the ward and the Priesthood there in Masterton. I was happy to hear he got baptized, even though I wasn't able to be there. My last companion there, Elder Christensen, was still there but now is going to be a Zone Leader in Wellington. 

On Saturday, we had dinner with an investigator, Johnny. He made some real good food. He mad a beef stew sort of thing, which I DID eat! (I have gotten less picky with food now) He also made some Chinese noodles, potato salad, coleslaw, and asparagus with cheese sauce. It was a bit of a going away gift to my companion because they have gotten really close. For dessert  we had homemade Pavlova, a Kiwi specialty! It is like a layer of marshmallow and then meringue and then some kiwi fruit on top. Pretty good! 

Things are gonna be pretty different for the next 6 weeks with being in a threesome! I will be sure on letting you know what all the new cool things are with being in a threesome! And it has now been just about 6 months! Crazy! The time sure does fly by! I am missing you all but I am doing great as well! Hope things are going well for you all!!! 

Love,

Elder Burnham 

P.S.Here is the photo of the pavlova!

February 16, 2014

Kia Ora Whanau!

This has been a pretty good week! The good part is that there were no accidents or anything with our bikes. So that was good! We had a pretty busy week. Mostly what happens is that there are one or two days where we have a ton of stuff to do and it makes the week feel really really busy, even thought it was just a couple days that were busy. But the weeks still fly by. Our really busy day was Saturday. We went to a farmer's market thing that goes on every Saturday morning. We talked to quite a few people there and were there for about two hours. There were lots of cool little stalls and booths and stuff like that where they were selling food or fruit or little trinkets. It would be really cool to go to if it were on a P-day just to look around. Then we had a lesson and lunch with an investigator, Philip. He is a cool guy and really loves us coming over, but never comes to church and has been meeting with missionaries for about 5 or 6 years. Crazy. Then we had a couple of other lessons with potential and other investigators. We got a new investigator, his name is Ray and he is like 80 years old. So he probably won't change this late in life, but you never know! He accepted a Book of Mormon and said he would read it and he sounded sincere. So that was really cool. Then we had a not so busy evening. It seemed like all our plans fell through so we went to our investigator Johnnie who is always up for a visit. So we hung out for a bit and talked and right as we were about to leave, we saw Philip, the investigator from earlier in the day, walking down the street. We called him over and introduced them to each other. They were both talking about how they really appreciate what we have done for them. It was a really cool experience. It definitely strengthened my testimony on the fact that this is where I should be. It was a miracle!

Yesterday, one of the other Elders and I went to ward council. Man that was a boring meeting. I, along with a few others, were struggling to stay awake. The ward here really wants to focus on missionary work, but they are all talk and no walk. It is frustrating for us because they want to bring people into the ward but they don't do anything about it. We just have to keep saying that we want to help them and always be available. Elder Nelson came to visit New Zealand this week. There was a broadcast in our stake of the meeting. It was for the YSA and the Youth programs. I guess they talked a bit about sharing the gospel with their friends and the responsibility to have everyone sharing the gospel in the church, not just the missionaries. Stuff like that makes me really excited, but then our ward doesn't act on it. And the mission and stake presidents know that this ward really struggles. But President Kezerian keeps telling me that he is confident in me to be able to help the area so I guess it just gotta work hard!

Well that is about all the exciting stuff for this week. One more thing, we were with an investigator who isn't too interested last night and we were talking about cooking, because he is a chef. So I was talking about chocolate strawberry crepes, because I really wanted some. He asked if he could get the recipe from Mom. So if you could send that, that would be great! Hope all is going well back home!! Love you lots!!!

Love,
Elder Burnham

February 9, 2014

Hello Family!!!

The time just keeps flying by! It is crazy to think that it is already February! I think there is a weird phenomenon in the mission field where the days feel like weeks but the weeks feel like days. This week was a little bit of a different week. Usually we do service for a sister in our ward every Tuesday, but this week we had district meeting on Tuesday. So we couldn't do that. Then our Wednesday morning was messed up because we didn't have district meeting but we did some service for an investigator so that was good. Then Friday morning we had something called Open Chapel. So pretty much what usually happens is that the Senior Couple in our district comes out here with the Sisters and the sisters go with the members to do some visits and the Senior Couple will help people with doing family history from 10-12. But this week the sisters couldn't find anyone to go out with them so they didn't come and also the senior couple didn't come so we got to run open chapel. Turns out that one person came and we couldn't really help him because he needed help with the computer and we couldn't get on them. So we kinda sat around for two hours of our Friday morning. But all good I guess! There were just a lot of plans we had this week that fell through or times where our plans to go tracting or whatever just got overrun by other random things.

Last Monday, my companion biffed it on his bike and broke the rear gear shifter thing so we took it into the shop to see how much it would be to fix. It cost him $170 to get it fixed! And it has been in the shop all week so we have been using the car, and walking, everywhere. The car is no good for my desire to lose a little weight! But I think it will be fixed in the next couple days so we will get back on the bikes. I am just glad that when I had a crash, nothing got broken too bad! Just had to buy a new set of pedals. 

Thursday was a national holiday called Waitangi Day.It is the celebration of the day that the British signed a peace treaty with the Maori people. So most people had work off and there were a couple of little celebrations in town. So we went down to one of these celebrations that was in a park next to the river. We were walking around trying to talk to people but it was tough because there was a live band playing. But we got over to a booth where there were some older Samoan ladies there that were selling some food. They gave us some Samoan doughnuts and also some chop suey and rice! For free! That was the best. But then we went back after we ate it because they were selling lava lava's too. So we each bought a lava lava for 10 bucks. I will have to send a picture of it next week but it is pretty cool! And my companion taught me how to tie it like a real Samoan! 

Well that was pretty much the highlight of my week. Nothing too exciting this week. Transfers aren't for another two Monday's so that isn't exciting. Hope things are going well for you all! Sounds like some exciting stuff with Kara! Love you lots!!!!

Love,
Elder Burnham