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
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!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.
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
Love,
Elder Burnham
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