7-19-10

Family and All,

We had a busy week this week. Monday we had a Zone Activity. We went up to Lincoln the last part of preparation day, and met with the whole zone. President Kunz even came. We had a barbecue, and played football and ultimate Frisbee. It was really fun, because I had not done any of those things in a while. I was sore the next day.

Wednesday, we had a training meeting. The missionary department just came out with a new series of 8 trainings for missionaries, to help us better teach and adjust to investigators needs. These will help standardize what missionaries are trained on around the world. We will have 4 training sessions the next two weeks, with two every month. This training session, we learned about how to better find the Lord's elect, and how to teach to investigators needs by using inspired questions. It was good stuff. We have been trying to apply them in our daily teaching. I felt like we did alright with asking questions before, but we have really improved, both in quantity and in quality. We get more feedback from our investigators, and they understand better. I also think they are more comfortable with us, and know we are there for them, not for us.

Saturday, we had a group activity. It was a carne asada lunch at the park/lake with activities. We invited some people, but no one from Crete showed up, sadly. Lincoln Elders did have a few investigators. It was fun. We had a balloon toss with towels and teams of two. We also played soccer. We enjoyed it.

Sunday, we had about 45 minuted in between getting back from church and a dinner appt. We had an appointment with a back up planned. The appointment fell through. As I thought about the back up, I doubted she would be there. But as I did, the house next to her came to mind. I felt we should knock it. Indeed, she was not there, so we knocked the door. No one answered. But I had seen a little hispanic kid around back, so we went around there. There was a mom, with 4 kids. Her name was Gabriela. We talked to her, and had a good conversation. Aparently she is Evangelical/Pentecostal. She has a lot of faith, but her Husband is a dumb face. He is not religious, and she is having some troubles with him. She said she almost didn't go to church that day even. We left her a proclamation to the world, and will try back later.

I am a slow writer. It is frustrating. It always takes me forever to get out what I want to say, whether or not I am on a computer. So my time is up, but I will write more next week! Love all of you.

-Elder Burnham