I use a computer all the time, but sometimes I don´t have time to write
home. oops...haha. I will try to sum up what happened within the last
two weeks. This will probably be another stream of consciousness email
again.
Elder Bingham was listening to this DVD
thing that had Elder Holland speaking, so I was kinda listening too
while we were working. Elder Holland was talking about how we always
face trials in our lives, but that doesn't mean that God has abandoned
us. In fact, we had trials because he loves us. We are able to learn
and grow so much from our experiences. He was talking about prophets
from the bible and how they had so many trials in their lives because
God loved them. The whole Ether 12:27 thing:
27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
I
was thinking about that and how I have so many trials in my life, as
well as everyone else. I was in the office looking out the window
(three stories up) and saw a little girl our on the street. She was
probably 7 or 8 years old, in the street begging for money and food. I
have no idea what her situation was, but it really hit me that my trials
are nothing compared to hers. Why should I be so caught up in my
problems? And why was I not doing anything to help her? I am really
just rambling on about this, but I guess the main message that I want
you to take away is that:
1. Trials make us stronger
2. God loves ALL of us.
3. We should serve others, we will forget about our own problems and learn to love the people around us.
TRANSFERS!
This was a pretty crazy week. We had the transfers meeting, but it got delayed for 4 hours later,
because the day we decide to have transfers, is the day that there is
some kind of nationwide public transportation strike which caused
everyone to be late. whoops...haha. With four other missionaries, we
did a musical number in the meeting and sang Silent Night (the
Pentatonix version, whoo! Hopefully a video coming soon) But it´s what
happens after that gets a little more crazy. We have to go to the
airport and pick up the NEW missionaries, and the next day we have to
send the OLD missionaries home.
I don´t know
what the issues are exactly, but immigration has something against
people from Bolivia. We had two new missionaries (one for our mission
and another for Tegucigalpa) that are from Bolivia and customs was
giving them a hard time. They received less than 90 days on their
entrance stamps in their passports in the airport. Then we had Elder
Mamani, who was going home to Bolivia, and they gave him trouble in the
airport. He had some dumb scotch tape in his bag and they started
freaking out because it's a sharp object, and they didn't let him take
his flight! We had to schedule another flight for him TWO days later
because the flights for the next day were all full.
Transfers
leave some missionaries displaced for a little bit so they have to stay
at our house. That is why we had a big nice house, to accommodate
large groups staying over night, but did we have a big group stay with
us! Including us, we had 28 missionaries in our house!!! It was
absolutely insane. We had 10 elders that were going to train the new
missionaries, 8 zone leaders that were staying for the leadership
meeting the next day, 5 elders that were finishing their missions, Elder
Hernandez, and us 4 secretaries. We ended up locking ourselves in our
room so no one would bug us haha. Of course the house was absolutely
trashed (but we will get it cleaned up haha).
We
have Elder Hernandez staying with us right now because he has to be in
the city to receive some therapy treatments for some tendon problems he
has in his legs, so we are kind of in a trio right now, he is super
cool.
The other day, this protest/mob came
walking through the city and they were chanting and holding torches and
some of them had scary masks on, but we never really figured out what
they were protesting about. We all came to the window to watch, and
then they started pointing and yelling at us, so we moved away from the
windows, then they kept marching on. There was this ten year-old that
was flipping us off. yep.
We have another
elder staying with us right now too, Elder Argueta. He is from Honduras
and was serving in Peru Trujillo Norte (the same mission as Sister
Brogan!) but he had to come home because the AP´s in his mission LOST
his passport. That is crazy, and makes me make sure to do my job well,
haha. He is only going to be here for this week until he gets a new
passport and can go back to Peru. When we went to go pick him up from
the airport, I swear I could recognize him. After talking to him for a
little bit, I found out that he is from Catacamas (my first area). But I
still couldn't make the connection yet. He didn't seem to recognize me
either. We knew a whole bunch of mutual people. About an hour later,
my brain went pop and I remembered him first name, his cousin´s name,
where he lived, and I kind of freaked him out for a second. Elder
Bradshaw and I went to his house to teach some of his nonmember
cousins. Everything became clear and we remembered each other. So that
was kinda funny.
Tomorrow, we are
going to Immigration again to take out more residencies for missionaries
( I still am waiting for mine :( haha). And Wednesday and Thursday, we
will be having some mission Christmas activities. So that should be
fun.
On p-day, we decided to go to Ojojona.
Which is that small town about an hour outside of Tegucigalpa. It is a
super cheap bus, so we decided to go and check it out. It is a super
cool place. It is in the hills and has a more temperate climate. You
kind of feel that you are transported back in time, because you have
these old buildings and churches and cobble stone streets with children
riding on horses and donkeys wandering around. It is super pretty and
also a cool place to get souvenirs (maybe I got some stuff). I will
have to go back and visit one more time before I leave the office ( or
maybe I will get transferred there one day).
Christmas
is coming up! I hope that everyone has a good time! Here is a link to
a super cool video that everyone should check out if you haven´t seen
it yet. #ASaviorIsBorn
Happy Holidays!
- Elder Burnham
