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