Week ending 9-24-09

Friends and Family,

I had a great week! We had a baptism- my first on the mission, and it was great. Her name is Audra, and she is 21. The baptism went great, with only one hang up. The member who took the towels home last time to wash them didn't bring them back. There are supposed to be a few at the church, but there weren't any. We were able to get some last minute, with a member there running over to a nearby member's home. We didn't find the real culprit for the missing towels until after the baptism was over. That means the missionaries got the blame. Go us. It all worked out though.

The sidewalks here are terrible. It seems like everyone gets to do the ones in front if their house however they want. They can choose from one of four options:
1-concrete right on the street
2-conrete about ten feet in
3-brick, half eaten by grass
4- no sidewalk at all
In some areas of the town it's almost like people make it a point not to have the same type as the person next to them. The sidewalk will be going along perfectly fine, and then it will suddenly dissappear. Thirty feet later, it will slowly reemerge... A few bricks and there with what seems like miles of overgrown grass inbetween. And then all of the sudden. Poof!! It's there again! But what's this? It ten feet over from where it was last time!
In areas like that, we usually just walk on the street.

So I said before that I have a really young companion. Actually, it's more like my whole district. There are six missionaries in my district. One is on his first transfer, three are on their second and one is on his third. The last one has been out just over a year (he's our district leader). They are all young, but they all rock.

Transfers are only a week and a helf away. So crazy. It seems like the first of August was only a few days ago. Time is already going so fast; I hate to see how it will be in a year. But I'm going to enjoy all my time while it's still here.

I was told that when you're on your mission, all the days of the week blend together. I'm surprised at how true this is. We drive by a middle school every day, and now that school has started, there are usually cars there. We drove by it on saturday and I couldn't understand why there were so few cars in the lot. A few seconds later it hit me- it's the weekend! Threre isn't any school today!

Okay well I'm out of time for this week, but I will leave some advice for all- especially those who are preparing for missions themselves:
Learn to love to pray. Pray earnestly. It is so important. In the MTC, we had a fireside on just that. If you look in the Book of Mormon, you will see prayer left and right. It is mentioned in the fifth verse of 1st Nephi, and in the last chapter of Moroni. There are numerous stories of how prayer brings miracles, and helps conversion. Christ even prays with the Nephites when he is with them. That's how important it is. May we all plead with the Lord every morning and evening and have a prayer in our hearts throughout the day.

Love you all,
Elder Burnham