I'm going to Honduras tomorrow & I made it to Honduras!

Jan 5th 2014 - I'm going to Honduras tomorrow

In less than 12 hours I will be on the plane to Honduras! Crazy!  I am so excited, and a little nervous.

Wednesday was the last day of 2014!  Still a normal schedule at the CCM.  In the evening we taught this teenage girl named Britini for TRC.  She was a member and she hopes to serve a mission when she is older, Really cool!  We didn't really stay up for new years, but I remember being half asleep´and hearing all the fireworks out my window.  

On Thursday we taught our last lesson with Gabriel.  He told us he had a date for his wedding, so we were able to schedule a date for his baptism!  We wanted to focus our last lesson with him on Enduring to the end, but then he had some questions about tithing.  We clarified that for him and tied it back into our lesson by saying that part of enduring to the end is obeying all of God´s commandments.  Later in the day we had to do some CCM evaluations on the computer and had to answer questions in Spanish into the microphone.  I guess they want to see how much we can speak directly from our heads.  

Friday we had a completely different schedule with classes getting us ready to go out into the field and focusing on the importance of working with members in the wards.  It kinda felt like being at a youth conference.  Also, they had to cut off the water at the CCM for some reason, and so we couldn't take showers for a while. Then Elder Linsenmann flushed the toilet and it made this really loud boom sound and the toilet filled up with black water.  It was kinda frightening, but it didn't make a mess and we were able to fix it pretty easily.  We were able to take hot showers that evening, but then I realized it might be one of my last hot showers for a while.  Another Elder was telling us about a friend he had who went to Honduras and didn't have running water for her first three transfers!  It is going to be an adventure!

Sunday was a really great day! We had our last sacrament meeting and all the testimonies from the missionaries in our zone were really powerful.  We also had a really great devotional from Elder Holland!  Sunday evening was a different story!  When we came back to our apartment, the electronic lock to our bedroom door deactivated!  We couldn't get into our room, and the guy at the reception office wasn't really able to help us, so we took the mattresses from the spare room and slept in the apartment next door with our district.  We were able to get it resolved in the morning and were able to do our laundry and start packing.  That is what we spent today doing, and now we are packed and ready to go tomorrow!  

I am super excited to go to Honduras, but it is a little bittersweet to leave the CCM.  We have a pretty big group of people riding the bus tomorrow at 2:30 am, so that should be fun.  

I love you all, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of Honduras!  I know that this Gospel is True, and I can´t wait to share the joy and happiness that is brings!  This is going to be an incredible adventure!

- Elder Burnham 

 Random Sketch

Finally got a picture with Cybill

My District in the CCM, these are Great Elders and Sisters

Jan 12 2015 - I made it to Honduras!

I´m alive, No need to call the Mission President! haha!  Sorry if this email is choppy or incoherent.  And sorry for no pictures, I left my camera at the apartment, Last Tuesday was a crazy travel day.  We left the CCM at 2.30 in the morning and had a flight at the Mexico City Airport at 5.20 am.  BUT...there was apparently some bad weather, but it just looked like fog outside.  We had to sit on the plane for FOUR hours before it could take off and fly to our layover in El Salvador.  There were 10 of us flying to Honduras (6 going to Comayaguela Mission and 4 going to San Pedro). We were able to catch a later flight to Honduras in El Salvador.

When we got to Tegucigalpa, we met up with some other missionaries that took us to the church building. There we met the Mission President and our new companions.  We had a quick meeting and dinner, but then they sent us off to our new areas.  My area was on the other side of the country and we needed to take a 4 hour bus ride to get there. (lots of traveling that day). 

My new companion is Elder Torres from Guatemala.  He can speak a tiny bit of English, but not much.  We can communicate enough though.  This just means that I will be able to learn Spanish faster.  But he is really great.

Catacamas, our new area is crazy!  There are dirt roads and dogs, chickens, rabbits, cows everywhere.  Most of the houses are cement with tin roofs.  Our apartment is pretty nice and spacious though.  But we don´t have hot water. haha.  

Even though I cannot communicate very well, the people here are so great! The Spanish is so hard to understand sometimes.  The people here slur all their words and the letter ´S´ is sometimes just nonexistent.  For example, the word seis is just sei, or the phrase ´mas o menos´ is ´mah o meno´ 

The members are so awesome. We usually have someone come with us for part of the day.  Every butchers my name though.  But it´s okay.  Some of the little kids sometimes refer to me as Elder ¨Ban nan¨or Jokingly Elder "Batman", which I just think is hilarious.  

The chapel is in the more ´downtown´ area and is really small.  The chapel is basically 5 classrooms with accordion doors that open up into a larger room.  Its really awesome though.

We only get a partial P-day today to just write emails and buy groceries because on Wednesday we get to go to the Temple.  Which will be a four hour bus ride back to Teguc.  I am excited.  I will hopefully take lots of pictures and send them next week.  

I feel like there is so much more I could write, but I can´t remember every detail and don't have much more time to write.  

I love you all. I love Honduras. I don't necessarily love the Spanish Language. It is getting better little by little.  Have a great week! 

- Elder Burnham