September 29, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this has been a pretty great week! We have been very busy. We are occasionally stopping in with this great family, the ?????? family. They have 4 kids, ages 15, 12, 10 and 7 I think. They are friends with a pretty good number of people in the ward. The first time we visited a while ago, the kids had a ton of questions  like "where did God come from?"  We set a return appointment for this week and we have been looking forward to it for the last couple weeks. We are really praying and pondering hard about what we want to teach them because they are such a neat and golden family, but also really busy so we want to make the time we have with them REALLY count. We stopped by one night to hand off a DVD and just pop in. The father, Rusty, gave us some frozen mince and venison! It is still frozen but we are going to thaw it out and cook it sometime. They are just a really awesome family and we love them! So I will let you know how that goes next week.

I got my drivers license and my approval to drive from the mission! BUT the date of birth on the license is incorrect... They put xx-xx-xx when it should have been xx-xx-xx. That was kinda a bummer and they couldn't change it over the phone because I have to show my passport again. So I have to wait for the Zone Leaders to come up here because they have my passport. But it is valid for 10 years! Kinda crazy. 

We met this new fella named Owen. He is 20 years old and really interested in the Gospel. He has some family in the Church and had gone to a funeral for a member about a year ago. We got in contact with him and met him at the Chapel and gave him a little tour. We ended at the baptismal font (of course) and he thought it was pretty cool. We then sat down in a classroom and talked to him a little bit about the Church and stuff. He even brought his own Book of Mormon to the appointment! We committed him to baptism and set a date! He told us he felt this feeling that he couldn't describe. He said it was some sort of energy right in his chest. I told him that was the Spirit because I felt it too and so did Elder Christensen. That was probably the most awesome experience on my mission so far! 

We got a new car! I don't remember if I told you last week but it is a Holden Cruze, which is pretty much the same as a Chevy Cruze, just the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car..... I haven't driven any thing yet though, just my awesome bike! I have a few pictures that I have to show you this week.

We met with a young boy named Shayden. His older brother Tane got baptised a couple weeks ago and now we taught him the lessons and he wants to be baptised. We talked to the parent and step parent but they think that we should wait because he is young and isn't committed to things too well. So we get to wait until November 16 until the parents feel it is ok. They support him 100% in his decision, they just want to make sure that he is fully committed to this. Which is really cool that they understand it is a big decision and a lasting one as well. 

 A recent convert named James is starting to have some awesome missionary experiences. He said the other night that some guy he knew and that used to go to church a LONG time ago just randomly showed up at his door super drunk. James took him in and started to talk to him cause the guy was really down on himself. The guy didn't even know that James had been baptised and he thought that was really neat. The most amazing part of this story is that not too long before, James was taught about missionary work in an after baptism lesson. It was certainly a miracle! He also had a friend from work come to Church this sunday too! It is really good for him because he is like 21 and thinking he might want to serve a mission. 

We did some service the other day. We mowed this Sister's lawn. The grass was, no joke, taller than the lawn mower. It took ages to get it done but it was good to do some service!

Well that is just about it for this week but I still have some time left so if you have any questions, let me know! Also I am going to be including some pictures as well!

Love,

Elder Burnham

The Holden Cruze

This is me and my companion, Elder Christensen on a swinging bridge in Masterton. We didn't go far out on it but the whole thing shakes, you wouldn't like it haha.

 Here is a picture of the dessert I had at a cafe that a recent convert works at. It is a chocolate milkshake/ice sorta thing with every type of fruit imaginable on top of it!

This is the 16 inch long grass that we cut the other day. And no bag on the mower our legs got grass all over them but I managed to avoid it fairly well.there was a whole huge yard like this

From Mom-  I have removed some names and dates for privacy reasons.

September 22, 2013

September 22, 2013

Hello Family!!!

I had a great week this week! We had a baptism just on Saturday.

Just yesterday we visited a man named Andrew. He had been divorced and his ex-wife found a new partner fairly quickly after that. She has the custody of the kids for all but 2 days every 2 weeks. A little while ago, the Sister Missionaries saw this man standing on a high ledge, looking like he was about to jump to take his own life. They convinced him not to do it and he told us last night that those two sisters saved his life that day. The previous Elders had given him a Book of Mormon and taught him the Restoration but he told us last night that he hadn't read any of it. He told us very plainly that he didn't understand what the Atonement could do for him or how to use it. We were able to tell him how the Atonement could be used and showed him a couple passages in the Book of Mormon that he could read. He said he would read it. He told us that he is part of the Salvation Army and that if he ever mentions the Book of Mormon the people there tell him not to read it. So we are hoping that he will ignore them and read it because he could really use the spiritual uplifting in his life right now. It was amazing, he just jumped right into praying as we were leaving. We know that he felt the Spirit and that he felt compelled to thank Heavenly Father that we had chosen to visit him at that time. It was one of the coolest experiences so far on my mission!!!!

I did not find the moleskin, I must have just forgot to throw it in the bag with everything else. The blisters are healing up nicely, don't bother me at all any more. We teach maybe 15 lessons a week but we really want to be doing about twice that. We just have been so busy with meetings and trying to get me acquainted with the members and stuff that we don't have the time but we are going to try for 8 lessons with a member present, 5 lessons to recent convert and less actives and 15 other lessons. It is a goal we can definitely attain. We have had maybe one or two service opportunities but both for the same member. It seems like most people around here like to do things their own way. We eat with members maybe 2 or 3 nights a week. Mostly because we block out two nights for "family finding" And many of the members here are older, single (divorced, widowed or unmarried) ladies so the sisters get fed plenty but the elders, not as much. But I am OK with that because I guess the Wellington mission is a "40 pound mission." That is plus 40 pounds... So far I am about even so hopefully I can keep that up!! Elder Christensen has gained 30 lbs. in 6 months..... The brown suit and the new black pants we bought are a little tight in the waist so there is no way that is happening to me or else I will have to get new suits!

Good to hear about Jordan Preciado. I am sure he will be a great missionary! I don't remember if I told you guys but we are going "global" in January, so that is like facebook and iPads and all that good stuff. It will be neat to see that happen. I got an email from Madison so I will read all about that but that sounds exciting! It is good to hear about Kaylee.  I had never heard of something like that happening. And they moved her call date up too! First rain of fall eh? Well we are warming up now. It is kinda weird to be going into summer again... Tell Lance and Mandy congratulations from me and I hope that things are going well! You will have to send me a picture of the new kitchen table.

This sunday we had a special invitation sunday were we just had everybody invite anyone they wanted and we invited like everyone we talked to. We ended up having about 100 people there. It was really neat. One person came to the chapel at about 1:30, church ended at 12. But he found the Bishopric and they gave him some materials. We contacted him but it sounds like he just wants to come to church, not too interested in the missionaries....YET! We will get to him haha but it is amazing the miracles we see every day!

Well I hope everything is going well! I am doing great and working hard!

Love,

Elder Burnham

Hamilton NZ Temple Visitor Center

Elder Burnham and his MTC companion at the Hamilton NZ Visitor Center before leaving the MTC.

First Week in the Field

Hey Family!!!!!

My first week in the field is now over! Well it wasn't quite a full week but it feels like it was only just a day! The first day we spent in wellington and did some street contacting. that was kinda Crazy. I was really really nervous to talk to anybody but we gave out 4 copies of the Book of Mormon so that was kinda cool. I don't know if anybody actually followed up on that but hopefully! Then I spent the night at the zone leader's "flat" and woke up at 4;30 to go back down to the airport so that I could be picked up by my new companion! His name is Elder Christensen. He's from Layton Utah I believe. He is a really cool guy and has been on his mission for about 6 months. We are serving in a small (pop. ~7,000) town called Masterton. It is on the North Island about 140 km NE of Wellington. The people here are very very nice but lots of uneducated people as well which makes it hard to teach sometimes. The work here is pretty tough but at least the people are nice. There were 2 or 3 baptisms just about a week before I got here. So we are super duper busy because there are lots of referral that we need to contact. I love the mission president and his wife! They are just about the most energetic and happy people I have ever met. Which can be kinda annoying when you are really tired from waking up at 3:30 to leave the MTC in the morning....But I certainly look forward to working with them! We get a car for like half the week and the sister missionaries in our area get it for the other half. We have been doing a TON of biking though. The town is pretty small and relatively flat but it gets really tiring by the end of the day. Anyway I don't have much time left I don't think and I still have to email the Mission President. Thanks for the instructions on the watch I will see if that works. Sounds like jacob is doing good work, tell him to keep it up and invite nico to our house to have the missionaries teach there! Good to hear about grandma and grandpa!!! Hopefully dad's shoulder gets better and he doesn't have to get surgery! Talk to you guys later! Love you!

Elder Burnham

Elder Burnham has arrived!

Hey Mom!
Well I am officially now in the MTC. The flight was super long and I hardly even slept so today will be a very long day. But there isn't a ton of stuff that we have to do so I was told I can take time to relax. NOT SLEEP but relax. They really want to keep us up until at least 9 so that we can start to get used to the time change.

Well in LAX, after about two hours of waiting, I met up with 11 other elders and 4 sisters. From what you heard on the email list thing, I was expecting only a couple to show up. I had already had dinner but they were mostly all from Salt Lake so they already kinda got to know eachother a little and had dinner at the airport. These Elders and Sisters are all really cool though. But none of them are my companion here in the MTC. My companion is from Tonga and has not made it here yet. I didn't quite catch his name though. It will be really interesting to see what differences we will have and how we are going to work around that. Especially since.....I am a district leader! I am feeling a little daunted by that but hopefully it will teach me and help me to be better at other leadership callings I might have later in my mission. 

 

Well we got a little packet that has our schedule in it for the next 12 days and boy is it going to be busy! There is always something that we are doing, wether it is classes or excersize or eating or anything. There is just always stuff scheduled. I think it will be good though. The more busy we are then the more quickly time goes by!
I am starting to realize that I forgot to pack a good number of things..... The most important thing I forgot was a copy of Preach My Gospel. It didn't even cross my mind, I don't even remember it being on my list! I am sure that I will get a copy of the Preach My Gospel here. They are bound to have a couple around here.
The MTC was only about a 10 minute drive from the airport. But it was 10 minutes on the LEFT side of the road! It was really weird....And of course, it is raining here. Like pouring rain. It is kinda weird to see because we don't ever really get rain in August or September. They keep telling us that it is really cold down on the South Island and in the Wellington area, much colder than here. I think that will be awesome though because I don't think it is too cold here so I should be fine down there too. Although someone said that it is still snowing down there....
So we all had interviews with the MTC President. His name is President Talawhiti. The "wh" is pronounced "f" though which is kinda weird. He recognized our last name though and asked if I had a grandfather that came down here. I said I didn't think so. He said that he was a school teacher though so I thought maybe it actually was grandpa Burnham. You will have to ask Dad on that one.
The MTC here is really small though. I think there are only like 40 or so people here right now. It will be cool though because I will get to know everyone here better, and so will President Talawhiti.
Well anyway, I am not too sure when my next chance to email will be but I am running out of time on the computer is running out and I want to make sure this will actually send. I am doing well! Talk to you later!

Love, Elder Burnham