Elder Gomez played guitar, while I sang.

Something that I forgot to mention last week was how awesome our Relief Society president is.  She went to San Pedro Sula on a trip and while she was there, she found and met Elder Gomez´s family and then she brought him a package from them.  The perks of living close to home while on your mission. 

So we had two intercambios this week.  One with the zone leaders and one with the district leader.  On Wednesday I went with Elder Andrews (zone leader) in his area. It´s not that big, but way bigger than my area.  His area is on the border of the mission. There is a river and a bridge that if you cross it, you are in Mission Honduras Tegucigalpa.  We crossed it.  But just to go drop a bag of garbage in the dumpster. haha.  When we were in the middle of the bridge I kept saying that we were in mission limbo!  Elder Andrews is really great.  He is from Montana.  Dad you were just there! haha.  He lives about an hour south of Kalispell (I think),  Anyway he lives close to Kalispell.  Maybe in the same stake as Paul and Kim. 

On Friday we had double intercambios with Elder Wickel and Elder Salazar.  Elder Salazar came with me after our district meeting until about 7pm when we traded and Elder Wickel came to Sorzales because we had the baptismal interview for Bryan.  We had some really good lessons, especially with Bryan C, (Other Bryan, we actually have FOUR investigators named Bryan so it gets a little confusing sometimes. haha).  He was a contact that we found tracting and he has always been super receptive.  He was super interested in the Book of Mormon and had lots of questions.  Then he was shocked that we were just going to give him a copy for free! haha.  Hopefully he reads it! 

Hermana Daisy, a member, had a returned missionary visiting with her and her family.  He baptized them and returned to visit them.  He wanted to meet Elder Gomez because he too is from San Pedro Sula, and served his mission in Comayaguela.  Then he told us that he was mission companions with the grandson of Gordon B Hinkley!!  Yeah he served in my mission. haha. 

Our ward had a talent show and we wanted to participate.  We borrowed a guitar from a member and Elder Gomez played while I sang.  haha.  It was really fun, the youth had a whole bunch of little plays and dances and it was really great.  Elder Gomez is actually really good at the guitar.  It was cool to have the guitar in the apartment all week and he would play in the evenings. 

Most importantly we had the baptism of Bryan!  After working so much with him and all the opposition we faced to have lessons with him, we finally made it happen.  He is such a great guy and will definitely be a great leader in the church in the future.  We had the baptism scheduled for 5pm but it didn´t really start till 6:20pm (but this is pretty normal here).  It was a really great, simple, service and then we had the talent show right after, which he participated in too with the other single adults. 

Another great week, and a lot of potential to come in the next month (wow which begins tomorrow!!!)

- Elder Burnham


Intercambios Selfie with Elder Wickel ... notice the cool knot in my tie!

Bryan's Baptism

We got to meet and listen to Elder Russell M Nelson

Aug 24 (delayed 'cause my lame parents were still on vacation)

This was a very spiritually and physically exhausting week! haha.  I´ll start 

off with the best part of the week which was Saturday.  We got to meet 

and listen to Elder Russell M Nelson.  He was absolutely delightful!  And 

we got to sit on the front row!  We all got to shake his hand at the beginning 

and there were 4 hermanas in front of me, but I was the first ELDER out of 

the two missions to get to shake his hand! haha.  I would have been the first 

if the hermanas didn´t rob our seats haha.  He didn´t have a prepared message 

so he was just saying what the spirit prompted him to say. Which meant we got 

to hear about many different themes.  One of the things he talked about was 

that we should teach our languages that we speak to our companions.  He 

shared a story about a missionary who forgot a lot of his English by the time 

he returned from his mission, because he didn´t teach it to his companions.  

As expressed in past letters, I felt this happening to me so we have been studying 

a lot more English together! haha.  He also asked if there was anyone who spoke 

a language besides English or Spanish, and there was a pretty good group of 

people.  A few people who spoke Tongan, Tagalog,  Quechua, and a variety of 

other native dialects, and there was one guy who spoke Swedish.  

Super interesante.  

One of my favorite things that he said was about Sacrifice.  Sacrifice or Sacrificio.  

The first part of the word comes from the same root as sacred and fice or ficio 

means to make or fix (something like that) so Sacrifice doesn't really mean to 

give something up.  We are making something sacred, we are making ourselves 

more holy.  

We didn´t have a baptism on Saturday, but we hope to have one this Saturday.  

Bryan is super ready and we have been facing a lot of opposition just to be able 

to teach him.  His work schedule has been crazy this week, one night the power 

went out so we could´t go teach him. The next night some strange characters 

entered the church and the relief society president sent us to go teach/distract 

them until they left.  So a lot happened to prevent us from teaching him, but we 

will find him this week.  

On Thursday we had Intercambios and Elder Wickel came to my area.  It was a 

really good day, and it's always great to learn from another missionary the way 

that they teach and interact with the people.  That night we talked about the 

MTC a ton haha.  

Saturday night we had the Noche Blanca, even though we didn´t get to participate, 

but it was a really great service.  President Ferman showed up and spoke to all the 

new members.  He then gave us a ride home in his car which was kinda fun haha.  

Well this was a very exiting week.  And we´re excited to work hard this week!

- Elder Burnham

4 Generations... Generations Elder Rolsales trained Elder Torres who Trained Me, 

and I'm training Elder  Gomez

We got to the conference with Elder Nelson .... Early

Big news! Elder Russell M. Nelson is coming to Tegucigalpa

Aug 17 (delayed 'cause my lame parents went on a vacation)

I am going to start with the Big news!  Elder Russell M. Nelson
is coming to Tegucigalpa this week!  He is coming to give a big
devotional to all the married couples, but Saturday morning he
is going to speak to the missionaries.  All the missionaries in
Mision Comayaguela and Mision Tegucigalpa are going to be
there, and it will be broadcast to all the missions in Central
America.  so yeah...no big deal.

Last P-day we played futbol against zone comayaguela, but more 

importantly we went to Wendy´s afterward!  Being in the city means 

fast food, and I had my first chocolate frosty in over 8 months 

(waaaaaayyy too long).  So that was fun.  

You find more drunk people in Tegucigalpa and this one guy came 

up to us and started talking about WW2 and Elvis Presley, and tried 

to speak in English a few times.  He also would just start singing.  

It was kind of really funny.  I want to meet him when he is sober.  

Our second week here, we still focused on learning the area and 

meeting the members.  We were able to meet more members, less 

actives, and recent converts this week, especially because we had 

a lot of appointments fall through this week.  But the youth in this 

ward are super great.  We are pretty much working only off of 

references.  On Sunday, our ward mission leader, and FIVE young 

men came with us to visit. We helped out with the home teaching 

goals for the ward and also we were able to visit with some new 

investigators.  yup.  

On Wednesday, we also had a multi-zone conference.  We had three 

zones, so a lot of missionaries.  It was a really great meeting. except 

for the part when the mission nurse talked about intestinal parasites.... 

And of course I was asked to participate in a musical number for the 

program. haha.  

Since we have been visiting lots of members, we had plenty of 

opportunities for little acts of service.  We helped an old lady move 

her bed from one side of the room to the other.  There is another 

member who is taking English classes, so I help her with the English 

workbooks.  

My companion has also been studying a lot of English and I have 

been able to help him.  He actually understands really well, but is 

a little shy to speak.  Yesterday he told me that I should only speak 

English when we are in the apartment at night.  And he pretty much 

understands everything.  So basically we have bi-lingual conversa-

tions.  But to my great shock, I feel like i´m losing my English.  It's 

hard for me to maintain a conversation in one language.  I tried 

praying out loud in English and I really had to take it slow without 

going back into Spanish.  It's super funny!  

This Saturday night, our zone is going to have a Noche Blanca, which 

is when we have a baptismal service with all the baptisms in our zone.  

We are working with an investigator, Bryan, who wants to be baptized 

this Saturday.  We weren't able to teach him much this week, but he is 

set on this date so we will need to teach him a lot this week to prepare 

him.  He is really great and really receptive.  His girlfriend is a member 

and that's how he was first introduced to the church.  

We get to hear Russell M Nelson and we should have a baptism this 

Saturday.  I am super exited!

- Elder Burnham

3 Generations Elder Rolsales trained Elder Torres (not pictured) who trained Me, 

and I'm training Elder  Gomez

 

Goofing off at Zone meeting

Training in the City

So about an hour after I wrote last week´s email, I found out that 

not only am I training, but we are opening an area!  Then on 

Tuesday I found out that I am going to serve in Tegucigalpa!  

Then I eventually found out who I would be training.  My new 

companion, (my son) is Elder Gomez.  He is from San Pedro Sula, 

Honduras.  He lives about four hours away, haha.  He is from 

Mission Honduras San Pedro Sula West and is serving in Mission 

Honduras Comayaguela.  ¡Que Loco!  He is really great, and 

determined to work.  Since he is from Honduras, he can really 

communicate and relate to the people here.  He is only 18 years 

old, (maybe the youngest missionary in the mission, haha).  It's a 

little different to be training, especially having to study SO MUCH 

in the mornings, but I feel like I am learning more than my comp.  

We opened an area in Zorsales, a neighborhood in Tegucigalpa 

that is pretty close to the airport. We are also only 20 minutes 

away from the Temple.  We had the transfers meeting, then we 

had to take a taxi to our area.  It is a really small area.  We are also 

serving in a Ward! My first area in the city, and my first ward.  

We also have this magical thing called a food calendar!  We are 

actually getting fed by members!  We basically have lunch and 

dinner provided for us almost every day.  This is something that 

I will have to get used to! haha.  But it is also a really good way to 

get to know the members in the ward because we came not knowing 

anyone!  The elders before us left us some references as well as the 

youth in the ward.  The youth in this ward are super great and are 

always coming out with us to teach and giving us references.  Since 

the area is super small, contacting just is not very productive.  The 

members were able to show us around the area as well.  

We live in a normal apartment instead of a giant empty house, which 

I really like a lot better.  The only problem is that we only have running 

 water every three days, haha.  But, we have a pila to fill with water and 

when there is no running water, we can take bucket showers. whooo!  

We live on the first floor of a three story apartment building.  Super 

different, super noisy!  All the noises of the city that I am not used to.  

Elder Wickel, from my district in the CCM is also my District Leader!  

Whoo!

This was a really good week, a lot of changes, and a lot of work.  I think 

that these next 12 weeks will be really great.  We will learn a lot.  

- Elder Burnham

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Papa Elder Burnham - I'm a Trainer now... Wow

So, a super interesting week!  Tuesday at 6:40 in the morning, Presidente 

Ferman calls me and asks me to TRAIN!  I am going to train a new 

missionary!  Voy a entrenar!!  I am super excited, but also a little nervous! 

haha.  We have 11 elders coming in this transfer.  We have their names and 

photos from the monthly bulletin, but I am not going to know who I am 

going to train until tomorrow!  This also means that I am going to stay 

two more transfers in Zambrano.  (6 months total).  Hermana Hernandez 

from my area is going to train as well.  Whoo! I hope everything goes well!

Then Tuesday night I got sick, and we didn´t go out to work for two days. 

 I got up Wednesday morning to go to a new trainers meeting, but we 

came back to the house and also spent Thursday at home.  I had a super 

bad fever and cold, and my lower back was in pain.  Not super fun, but 

I am feeling a lot better.  I still have a cold though.  I just hope I am back 

to 100% to train a new missionary.  Sorry for the short email.  This is kinda 

all that really happened this week.  

- Elder Burnham

 

 

pioneers and pupusas

Each week just goes by so fast.  Every Tuesday night at 6:00 we try to

have some kind of activity planned, un noche de hermanamiento, and 

invite all the members and our investigators. We plan with the Hermanas 

in Zambrano as well.  Last Tuesday we had an activity to celebrate the 

Pioneers! Whoo! haha.  The hermanas had a little message prepared from 

the Liahona, and then we had some members act out little stories about 

pioneers.  I acted out a little dialogue about Brigham Young.  It was super 

fun.  Then we had a video from LDS.org that talks about how we can be 

modern pioneers.  

Elder Alvarado and I were out teaching in La Divina and we ran into a 

whole bunch a gringos from Seattle for a mission trip for their church. 

haha.  They were helping build walls for a church/school in La Divina 

(But one of them said they were really getting in the way of the actual 

workers, haha).  It was kinda super weird for me to have a normal 

conversation in English.  I kept wanting to go back into Spanish.  I would 

start speaking back to them in Spanish mid sentence haha.  It was also a 

good opportunity for Elder Alvarado to practice his English.  

On Saturday, we helped Danny and Sandra (she is a recent convert) sell 

pupusas.  We still needed to raise a little more money to pay off the wedding.  

Elder Alvarado helped Danny make the pupusas and then we went and 

delivered them to the members of the branch who made orders.  So we 

basically walked ALL over Zambrano that day. 

Nothing too crazy this week but still great.  

- Elder Burnham