¡Buenas Dias, Tardes, o Noches!

¡Buenas Dias, Tardes, o Noches!

Another good week here in Catacamas! I am getting close to the end of my training!  We started week 11 today of my 12 week training!  Time has gone by so fast.  Week 11 also means that I am in charge of all daily and weekly planning, as well as all the lessons!  We we will see how that goes,  I think this week will be a true test of how well I know Spanish! haha.  

On Wednesday we went to Tegucigalpa for the second meeting for new missionaries.  We went over the mission manual and a lot of the rules that are not listed in the manual. For example, we are not supposed to drink water given to us in the homes of investigators or members. haha.  A lot of other information about following the daily schedule and process for weekly planning.  I also got to see the missionaries from my district in the CCM!  

We climbed up to the cross on Saturday morning again (those who were not in our district the last time we went wanted to go).  On Sunday we had a district conference (basically the same thing as stake conference) so the two branches in Catacamas and Juticalpa met together. They had buses come around town and pick everyone up and bring them to the meeting.  We had the meeting at a hotel with a large conference space so we could fit everyone.  President and Hermana Fortuna came and spoke along with some of the local leaders.  

Sounds like you all had a fun time with Curtis.

Thanks for the music and recipes!  We will see what ingredients I can get here.  

I haven't gotten the package yet, but I got another letter from Sister Erskine.  What I think she does is that she writes a little short personal message, but then sends the same general message to all the Zion choir missionaries.  

In her letter she said that the Gills sold their bed and breakfast in Clearlake, but the stake president is adamant that Zion returns and performs, so the members are going to host small groups of the choir in their houses. Sister Erskine arranged for a bus to drive the choir up there.   They will meet at a park on the lake and have a bbq and boating activities.  Then the next day they will perform.  So it will be different, but I hope they have a fun time.  

I love you all so much! have a great week!

¡Feliz Dia!

Adios

- Elder Burnham

 

Kitten climbed up on my leg and then fell asleep

 

District Conference

 Another P-Day hike to the Cross on the Hill

 

 

Raining so hard I couldn't hear what Elder Torres was saying three feet away

We had soooo much rain this week!  Wednesday and Thursday were the worst! haha.  It would be raining so hard that I couldn't hear what Elder Torres was saying from three feet away.  Luckily we weren't out walking around in most of it.

On Tuesday we had a multizone conference in Talanga (I thought it was going to be in Tegucigalpa) which is still a three hour bus ride away.  We got to hear from Presidente Fortuna and his Wife.  We learned about how important it is to always keep the area book updated and that the people we teach are not just names on a piece of paper.  They are ''un registro de los hijos y hijas de Dios'' (a registry of the sons and daughters of God).  Hermana Fortuna also taught us that we should always be developing Christlike attributes.  

We taught Familia M about temples and family history on Wednesday because the branch was having a temple trip on Thursday.  It was really cool because Beatriz was calling her relatives so that she could find all the names and dates of her ancestors. This was their first time going to the temple for baptisms and they ended up having a really good time.

One of our investigators couldn't make it to our sacrament meeting, but was able to go to the other branch, so we went with him to Rama Catacamas at 8 am.  Then we went to our own meeting, so we ended up going to two sacrament meetings.  

I have a request! haha 

I have had this song stuck in my head that Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings called ''Consider the Lillies''  If possible, you should send me the lyrics, just in the email body is fine.  And even better if you can find the lyrics in Spanish.  

Also, maybe some super simple recipes.  We don't cook very extravagant food, mostly microwavable things haha.  note: we don't have an oven, just a microwave, and a two burner stove.

haha, yup. Everything is pretty good here.  I still have a lot to learn but I'm all good!

 

Love Elder Burnham

 

Our District with the Presidente Fortuna & his Wife

 

Zone Conference Lessons

 

P-day Walk

Elder Torres kills one year

Poke it with a Stick... Crazy Iguana

Back to Teguc tomorrow!  We have another Multizone conference.  I will probably have a new missionary meeting pretty soon, as well. 

We were able to go back and visit Raymond (the gringo) and Yolanda.  I kinda talked with him while Elder Torres talked with Yolanda.  Whoo! bi-lingual lessons! haha.  He has had a lot of experiences with different religions, but I guess he decided he liked the Mormons the best.  He wants to come visit our church again, but he won´t go unless Yolanda wants to.

On Thursday I had intercambios (exchanges) with Elder Carvajal. He is the new zone leader and is from the Dominican Republic.  It was fun to go to his area and see the other side of Catacamas.  He is a super great missionary.  We ended up doing a lot of contacting (tracting) but had to return to the apartment early because the power went out around 7pm and it is completley dark, minus the lights from the cars driving around.  The next day we had a zone meeting.  It's always fun to see the other missionaries.

This week I also learned the importance of always bearing testimony.  We had a lesson with one of our contacts. She was super receptive to our message, and was super impressed at how we were so sure of what we were teaching was true.  The spirit is the strongest when bearing testimony.  

Sunday we had church at 10:30 again.  Such a more convenient time.  We had a few investigators in the meeting which was great.  Especially Raymond and Yolanda.  Not only that, he showed up wearing one of those black shirts with a clerical collar.  I thought it was pretty great.  I honestly don't know how much he understood, but I am glad that they came! 

-Elder Burnham

Elder Torres with this crazy iguana

 

Our Zone

 

¡Espero que ustedes tuvieron un semana fantástica! 2/23/2015

¡Hola!

¡Espero que ustedes tuvieron un semana fantástica!  On Wednesday in the afternoon, the power went out in all of Catacamas while we were teaching.  It was extremely windy and probably played a part into why the power went out.  If the power stayed off, we would have to go home early because it would be completely pitch dark at 7pm without any lights.  We went over to one of the families in the branch because they were having a celebration-homecoming for a returned missionary that served in El Salvador.  Elder Alvarado, or now Jose, came home to Catacamas to no electricity. The power finally came back on around 8.45.   

Thursday we ran into two other gringos. It's kinda strange to have conversations in English.  One of them pulled up to us in his big red truck and chatted with us for a bit.  Even though my Spanish is not that great, my brain was in Spanish mode and I would respond to him in Spanish.  He eventually said, ¨Please speak to me in English´´ haha.  He must not have many opportunities to do so.  

We also contacted a guy that was listed in our area book named Raymond M****  (yes that is his name).  He was super interesting.  He was active when he was younger, but also has a really interesting past.  He grew up in Tennessee and told us that he ran away from home when he was 17 and lived in California and joined a motorcycle gang, that he specifically said he was not going to name.  He has all kinds of tattoos on his arms and has traveled all over the place.  He said that his wife passed away and he needed a change in his life.  He had a ton of friends that lived in Honduras and decided to move here and has been here for about three years.  He was super cool and I am excited to go back and talk with him some more. haha

We had a another Baptism!!  Our investigator Javier was baptized and confirmed this weekend.  He is the son of the Maria the tamale lady from the picture last week.  I am not sure how much I have mentioned of him before, but he is really good friends with Nahum (a member) and they work together.  He was one of the first people we started talking to when we got to Catacamas.  And as I mentioned in other letters he is part of the family that lives way out in the outskirts of Catacamas.  Hopefully we will keep teaching the rest of his family as well.  

Good week!

¡Hasta Luego!   

 

Hermano Nahum, ElderTorres, Javier y Yo

Nuestro Hamaca

¡Hola! 2/16

¡Hola! (2/16/2015)

This week was pretty normal.  We had some good days and one day where we only had one lesson, nobody was home or interested.  Oh, I have completed my first change! (every six weeks) which means that I am half way through my training.  Crazy how time flies by.  

Last P-Day we had a little birthday party for our zone leaders (Elder Rodriguez and Elder Ochoa) because they both have birthdays in

February.  We had a piñata and played UNO at the church. Elder Torres and I also bought a hammock! Now we just need to find out where to put it haha!

Something I realized this week is that I need to work on teaching the plan of salvation lesson, because I kinda blanked out when teaching this week! haha.  Elder Torres was able to take over. haha.  I need to refresh myself on the vocabulary, I also have the least experience teaching that lesson out the the main 3.  But it's all good! 

On Friday as a district we got up early and climbed la cruz!  There is a giant cross on one of the hills in Catacamas with a long staircase that leads up to it.  Nice views from up there.  

Saturday we went back to La Toronjal to teach Maria and Jose again.  They were making tamales and Elder Torres tried to learn how to fold the leaves up.  We took some pictures and Maria was kinda freaking out because she thought the camera was going to steal her soul or something haha!

Our landlord put these tiny little fish in our pila! They are supposed to eat the mosquito larvae and algae and keep the pila clean.  So now we have three pet fish!

Esta obra a veces es dificil, ¡pero es increible! ¡Espero que ustedes tienen una semana fantastica!  ¡Adios!

- Elder Burnham

 

Making Tamales

 

 

piñata

 

the top of  La Cruz!

 

Yep, Back to Teguc For a Conference, And Got to See My CCM Missionaries

Yep, back to Teguc! On Tuesday we had a meeting for the new missionaries and had to get up early to catch the bus.  After four hours we made it to Teguc and went to the same chapel that I first went to when I first arrived to Honduras, somewhere in the city.  I got to see my old district from the CCM (those who came to my mission).  It was fun talking to Elders Linsenmann, Tualatamalelagi, and Wickel.  They are all in areas closer to Teguc. I am the one that is super far away.  In fact, Elder Tualatamalelagi has hot water and access to laundry machines (so i am super jealous, haha).  Everyone seems to be doing great.  The meeting was really cool, and basically to see how we are all adjusting and to make sure we are using our time wisely and following the first 12 week program.  We talked about the importance of obedience and Presidente Fortuna asked us about any challenges we are having and gave his insight.  We will have another meeting in another 4 weeks. so I will get to see the CCM missionaries again and which means another trip to Teguc.

One of investigators , Javier, has some family that lives in Catacamas as well, so we went to go visit with them.  His parents, daughter, and nephew live out in this area called La Toronjal, WAY out in the middle of nowhere (still in our area).  The houses out there are made out of adobe bricks and there is no electricity or running water.  I actually really like going out there because it is really quiet and peaceful.  There is this group of children that live out there and they just follow us around and ask me to say words in English, which is really funny.  They probably don't see many gringos haha.  The family we taught (Maria, Jose, Kenya, y Misrael) are super awesome and have already come to church.  

The other branch that meets before us wanted to have their meeting at a later time, so our meeting got bumped to 1 pm, so our day yesterday seemed so off, haha.  It kinda felt like a p day since we had no proselyting time.  I kinda hope this change is not permanent.

Nothing too crazy happened this week. But it was great.  I hope you all had a great week!

Elder Burnham

 

Moo...  Middle of Nowhere... and still cool.

 

 

Back and Forth from Tegucigalpa (Feb 2)

So P Day was really fun.  We went to this place that I thought was some kind of animal reserve, but it is really a big tourist attraction.  It is basically a water-park and small zoo.  Obviously we couldn't go to a water-park and it was closed on Mondays.  But they let us in to see the animals for FREE.  They had all kinds of animals like monkeys, parrots, sloths, anteaters, water buffaloes and obviously iguanas.  One the employees even came and showed us around and brought out a huge boa for us to hold.  Super fun!  Later that day we ended up going to this huge thrift shop warehouse thing will all kinds of random stuff.

On Wednesday we had our multi-zone conference in Tegucigalpa.  We got to hear from President Fortuna and his wife and Elder Jose Alonzo (I think from the area 70). Super cool messages even if I didn't understand everything. haha.  

Thursday I had an intercambio (exchanges) with Elder Ochoa (one of the zone leaders).  He is super awesome and knows a decent amount of English haha.  He is a super great missionary.  

On Friday we had the baptism for our investigator L.  She is this ten year old girl who has a cousin that is a member.  She had been taught by the missionaries before us.  She is super silly and fun to teach, and half the time doesn't understand what I am saying, haha. oh well.  We almost didn't have a baptism though, for some reason the water got cut off at the church and we had no water in the font.  We made some calls and messed with some plumbing machinery stuff outside (obviously over my head). and got it back on and filled the font up with water.

No washers or dryers here.  We have to wash our clothes on this scrubbing board next to our pila, which is basically this tub of water,  and we hang them up to dry.  

I don´t know what you should put in the package haha, candy.?  I will probably think of something after you send it haha.  I currently don't have a blanket, but so far have not needed one, and its only going to get hotter in the next few months, April and May are the hottest months here.

Awesome week!  Once again I have to go back to Tegucigalpa tomorrow for a new missionary meeting.  But that means I will see the CCM missionaries!  

Have a great week!

Happy Birthday Chris! (tomorrow)

Adios

Elder Burnham

 

District Lunch

New Missionalries meeting with the President