January 26, 2014

Hello family!

This has been another good week on the mission. Nothing too exciting this week. We were going to have a lesson with one of the investigators here but then 3 of his friends came in and were swearing and smoking and talking about how they were going to drink until they couldn't drink anymore that night. It was kinda a bummer of a lesson. We just told them we had other places we needed to go and left. They also said that the investigator, Jacob, drinks with them all the time. That was kinda a bummer because he has a baptismal date for the 1st of March. It is looking like that is unlikely now. It is a bummer to see that happen but I guess it just isn't his time. We are going to do all we can to get him away from those friends but it is all up to him.

One highlight from the week was that we got to take a little road trip to go to district meeting this week. We went to a little town called Waiouru. It is about 150 km from here. When I say little town, I really mean little. There is an army base there and that is the majority of the population. The elders that cover that town knocked on almost every door they were allowed to knock in one day. They have a little church building there for the branch that pretty much is just an above average size house. It looked like there were about 20 members in the branch and that is from Waiouru and a couple of other bigger towns around. So the reason we had District meeting there was so that we could help them out with a car wash they were having there, kinda like the one we had in my last area. The car wash went on for about 3 hours and a whopping total of 3 cars showed up... kinda sad but that is what I expected. But the town itself is in a really beautiful part of the country. Hopefully the picture I attach will show up on your computers. It is near the base of a large mountain called Mt. Ruapehu. It is a volcano but I don't think it is very active. I heard the last time it really erupted was 15 or so years ago and it was all just ash. It is kinda weird though because it is just this random huge mountain in the middle of mostly flat land. It isn't part of a mountain range like most mountains are. But very cool to see some more of the country and to go somewhere different. District meeting this week is closer. But we are going to be having a couple visitors, the mission president and his wife! Kinda nervous to sit down with President and have interviews but I am excited to see him. We didn't seem him often in my last area and probably won't in this area either. We have to present a 3 minute lesson to him as well. I hope my teaching is up to standard!!

I bought another 2 short sleeve shirts so you don't need to worry about finding any more. They were only 20 dollars each so I figured why not? Things are going great with me and Elder Farnsworth. The reason he didn't get along with his last companion was mostly, if not all, the other Elder, not him. I don't think we will have any issue getting along! Also, from the hints that President is giving Elder Farnsworth and me through email, it sounds like he will be leaving at the end of this transfer and I will run the area. I trying really hard to learn quickly my way around town and all the member's names and stuff. It is kinda hard sometimes though!

Well I hope all is going well and that maybe you get some rain! We got soaked last night on our bikes! The saying on the mission is the more your badge gets wet, the cuter your future wife will be! Sounds like good motivation for some missionaries to get out there and work! I am doing well and trying to follow the counsel of President when he said that too many missionaries are complaining about gaining weight so they need to eat higher quality food and less food in general and bike more. We are certainly biking more but that is because we are over our milage amount....

Well I love you all and hope things are going great!!!!

Love,
Elder Burnham