Happy Halloween 10/31/16

This week was really great, we had the visit with Elder Dallin H Oaks, and it was soo great.  It was super spiritual, but then every now and then he would crack some jokes.  

"Don't worry about home, focus on the work,  Forget about your girlfriend...she will marry someone else.    And forget about the elections in the United States....I wish I could forget..."

He taught us about Moroni 10:4 which asks us to question God with faith in Christ, with a sincere heart, and with real intent.  He taught us that real intent is the most important part of those three because it means that we will ACT upon the answer that we receive from God.  We can have faith and a sincere heart, but if we don't act upon the impressions we receive from the spirit, the first two don't help us too much.

He also taught us that we need to make goals that depend on OUR agency, too often we make the mistake of making goals that depend on the agency of other people.  

We are here to convert the people to the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ and not here to convert people just to be members of the church.  

On Sunday we spoke in Sacrament meeting.  I got called to speak about the plan of salvation, but focused my talk on our responsibility as members of the church to teach the gospel to others so they will know how to put in practice the plan of salvation.  

So they don't celebrate Halloween in Honduras, but I hope that everyone else had a spooky time!

- Elder Burnham

another apostle visit/ 10/24/16

Hello people!  Sorry, I have not been able to write much these last few P Days.  But everything is going great.  So I kind of forgot to mention last week that Elder Dallin H Oaks is coming to Honduras and will be speaking to us on Wednesday!  One more apostle visit before I finish! haha  

This week was really good, We were able to have interchanges with the zone leaders on Tuesday.  It is always a cool experience to work with a different elder for a day.  But now that we are covering the two areas, we have to walk a lot! haha  We also had interviews with President on Saturday, getting me really pumped to work hard these last few weeks.  

Today for P Day we went and played paintball!  I went last year in October, so it was cool to go again a year later.  Next P Day we will have to do something fun for Halloween, even though it is not really celebrated here.  

This Sunday we should have an activity where we take investigators and less active members to the temple to go on a tour on the temple grounds.  That should be really fun, hopefully we will be able to bring a lot of people.  

That's all I have time to write for now, see you all soon!

- Elder Burnham

10/10/16 - been really fun to be district leader of our tiny little district

Wow what a week!  I feel like I had transfers to another area now that we are covering two areas.  We basically work in one of the two areas every other day, switching off so we don't end up walking a ton!  This week we were able to find all the positive investigators the elders left in their area.  We are getting to know the people and the area little by little.  It has been really fun.  

My companion is super awesome as well.  We actually have really similar personalities.  He is from Quito, Ecuador.  It has been really awesome to teach with him because he has a really strong testimony of the Atonement and shares it with everyone.  Even if the lesson is about a different topic, he will always relate it back to the atonement.  It's so true because any gospel topic can be and should be related back to the atonement of Jesus Christ.

It has also been really fun to be district leader of our tiny little district.  Just another companionship.  The elder in the other companionship is training a new elder from Utah.  It has been really interesting to reflect back when I was in that position-  I have come a long way since then and I hope that I can make a positive impact on the new elder as he is transitioning into being in the mission field.  

We had stake conference this weekend, and it was really good (Even though we couldn't hear very well) haha  Elder Maravilla, an area 70 and also President and Sister Ferman spoke.  I really liked Sister Ferman´s talk.  She talked about Charlie and the chocolate factory explaining that the gospel is like the golden ticket.  We need to do everything we can to find the gospel and put it into practice in our lives.  

Have a great week!

- Elder Burnham

Unexpected Changes!

My last transfer is going to be a busy one!  So let me explain the changes that are going to happen in the district.  I am staying for a fourth transfer and my companion is leaving.  I am now the district leader, and the other area in our ward has been closed.  So now my area is twice the size and we need to meet all these new investigators that once belonged to the other companionship.  My new companion will be Elder Gallegos from Ecuador.  This will be exciting!  

General Conference was really great!  I really liked Uchtdorf´s and Holland´s talks.  Uchtdorf basically explained the entire plan of salvation, that will be cool to share in lessons.

On Friday we had a talent show/culture night in the ward.  I sang a hymn, whoo! haha  It was fun, there was a lot of singing and dancing and skits.  It was really funny, because by the end, it turned into a karaoke party, a ton of members all of the sudden had the desire to sing and dedicate the songs to their wives and stuff. haha  

I almost forgot to mention that we moved apartments! We had problems with the plumbing in the old apartment and we ended up with no water at all.  We would have to go downstairs and fill up a bucket of water to bathe.  So we were really tired of living without water, so we moved.  Our new apartment is behind the house of a family of members.  We are the first people to live in the apartment, so it is new!  We have water constantly!  There is also a rooftop terrace that has probably one of the best views in the city overlooking everything!  

I am really excited to work really hard this transfer, hope that everything goes well!

- Elder Burnham

Whoo! Next week is General Conference (09/26/16)

Whoo! Next week is General Conference!

On Tuesday we went to the office,  It was kind of weird not being a secretary this time.  I left the office almost four months ago.  I was able to renew my temple recommend, whoo! It was going to expire at the end of this month.  When we were on the bus back to our area, there was this crazy guy outside that was running alongside our bus trying to keep up.  He was running really fast and was following our bus for a long time!  Basically from one side of the city to the other.  Why take the bus if you can run faster? haha  

On Saturday we had the baptism for Josue, Brenda´s son.  His sister didn't gt baptized because she was sick.  Part of the reason she got sick was because she was reading the Book of Mormon too much! haha.  I think that this is some kind of record.  She would read at night until her eyes hurt and got a really bad headache.  We also had two ward baptisms for two 8 year old cousins.  The parents asked me to do the ordinance, so that was a cool experience.  

Sunday was really cool because we went to go visit less active members with three other members.  So we were five in total.  Missionary work is so much more fun and effective when you visit with members.  They were young adults our age, so it felt like doing visits with friends. 

Everybody needs to go watch General Conference!  I am super excited.  Have a great week!

- Elder Burnham

 

 

My tomatoes in my little balcony garden are ripening (09/19/16)

Hello!

Yesterday we had ward conference, so we were inviting everybody this week.  We had an activity on Saturday to go out with the members and invite all the less actives to the conference.  A ton of missionaries from the stake came to help. But we ended up going on divisions with a member from the other ward inviting people from another area to the other ward's conference.  Haha But I am glad we could help.

The ward conference was really good.  The topic was on tithing and the blessings we can receive when we obey this commandment and when we show faith, obedience, and sacrifice.  It was really neat.  We were able to bring five people to church.  Two of them have a baptism date for this Saturday!

Thursday was 15 of September, which is the Honduran Independence Day.  Which means that it is really hard to get work done, everyone is either not home, or if they are home, they don't want anything from the missionaries. haha  

My comp has been sick this week, so we weren't able to get everything we wanted done this week, but he is getting better.  My tomatoes in my little balcony garden are ripening . I also replanted some of the little sprouting plants in separate little cups.  Yes, I garden with the very little free time I have. haha

Have a great week!

- Elder Burnham

The first picture is this weird fruit called liche and it looks like a sea urchin, but the inside tastes like a grape

Another good week in Laureles (09/12/16)

Another good week in Laureles.

We have this really awesome investigator Brenda.  She absolutely loves reading the Book of Mormon, she is reading every night.  She comes to our church building even though she lives really far, on the complete other side of the city.  But she has her friendships in our ward, so she is insistent on attending church here even though there are other churches closer to her house.  She and her two kids have been coming to church and they all accepted a baptismal date. Whoo!

On Saturday we went to lunch with the assistants at Wendys! Whoo! haha.  I was excited because I hadn't had a frosty in a while.  

Saturday was also Dia del Niño.  Kids Day, which really isn't a thing in the states.  Basically it's like a second birthday party.  Everyone was scrambling around to buy piñatas and stuff.  

We were able to do a lot of visits with members this week.  We had lessons with the ward mission leader, the young mens president, the young womens president, and the primary president.  There was a big youth activity this week and we were able to bring a ton of youth investigators with the help of the ward leaders.  I also really liked church on Sunday because the messages were focused on families and service.  

That's all folks, have a great week!

- Elder Burnham