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

Week ending 9-17-09

Hello Friends and family,

Thank you everyone for your emails and letters! I always enjoy them.
SO. I mentioned last week that I was going to try and buy an electric keyboard from the thrift store. We went, and they had one!! It was eight dollars, so I bought it. The keys are smaller than usual, but still playable. I love it. It's not as good as a piano, but it's enough to satiate my desire for music and the piano. It should fit in my suitcase, so I'm planning on taking it with me my whole mission.

Okay I meant to write about this last week, but I forgot. The first week I was here, I looked for refried beans, and COULD NOT FIND THEM. That either meant that I was just an idiot, or that they did not have them. Naturally, I decided to say it was the latter. Sadly, I was wrong. As it turns out, refried BEANS are not on the BEANS aisle.......... way to go, Walmart. Who would have thought??? I discovered the next week that there is a Mexican aisle, which consists solely of refried beans and taco shells- what a waste of space. In Mesa, the entire Walmart is a Mexican aisle. I was surprised to see that the signs in the Walmart here were only in English!! Anyway, moving on.

Story time: Wednesday morning, I went out on the balcony of our apartment, and looked down at our car. The passenger mirror was broken and just hanging there. I was incredulous. I asked Elder Burton if he knew anything about it (we had been on exchanges with the assistants the day before and he was driving that car). He was surprised too. We went down to check it out. We got to the bottom of the stairs and were met by another surprise. On each side of the doors leading into our apartment, there are glass panels. One of them was completely shattered, and the other was covered with cracks. We went the rest of the way out to the car to see the damage. It was broken and we would have to get a new part to have it fixed. Our car was the only one with the broken mirror, and the doors going to our apartment were the only ones broken. It was a little scary. I felt like we were being hunted. We looked on the windshield and there was a police business card with an insurance claim number on the back. We called the number and they just said to put that number on our insurance thing.
Well- as it all turns out, some girl in our apartment had a drunk boyfriend who felt like going on a little rampage in the middle of the night. He broke two car mirrors. We had the awesome luck of being one of them. He is in jail now. Now we have to go get our car fixed. Lame.

We had zone meeting Tuesday. Me and Elder Burton gave a training there. It went well. And we also get to give another one this Wednesday at interviews! Man we're so lucky. (For those of you who don't know, a training is where you get up in front of people and talk for about 25 minutes on an assigned topic that we as missionaries can do better at.)
Zone meeting was good though. We played dodge ball for about two hours after.

We went on exchanges Tuesday and Thursday this week, with the assistants to the president and our zone leaders. Not much to say, but I learned a lot. (can you tell I'm getting a little sick of writing?)

We set four more people for baptism this week. Mike- someone who I found with one of the APs, and the Pendletons- a family where the dad is a member but the wife and two ten-year-old kids are not. It's way exciting. Most definitely, the best thing about missionary work is seeing people change their lives for the better and finding greater joy because of what we teach them. We also have an investigator, Vihn Tran, who stopped smoking about a week ago. He is so determined. It is awesome.

I like to wave to people and see how many people wave back. It doesn't matter if we are in the car, or walking down the street. I wave to everyone I see (well, almost). It just makes me happy. Usually about 70 percent wave back. It's great.

This weekend was teh 12th annual Kool-Aid Days!! Yes, once a year, they celebrate koolaid here. And it's big. There were so many people. There were a whole bunch of blow up things, a band, and the worlds largest Kool-Aid stand!! I bought a shirt and a commemorative mug. I will send pictures home.

To the priests in Westwood ward back home:
Thank you for your emails! It's nice to hear from all you and I'm excited for you guys to go on missions as well! It's nice to know a little bit about what's going on back home.
The mission field is awesome. As I said earlier, the best part is seeing people change their lives because of what we teach. It brings such great joy. A mission is definitely worth all the preparation and sacrifice.
I recommend you all go to mission prep class. You will learn valuable things there that will help you prepare. I also suggest you prepare to enter the temple and make more covenants. It is an amazing place, and the more you prepare, the more you will get out of it.
Go on splits with the missionaries as much as possible. I'm glad I went as much as I did, but I definitely could have learned more if I had gone more frequently. Those experiences made the MTC a much better learning experience because I already had some missionary experiences to look back on. Splits are definitely worth the time.
I also suggest you become as familiar with the scriptures as you can. Learn how to study effectively, and learn to love it. Out here, you study an hour a day by yourself, and another hour with your companion. All the knowledge and studying habits you bring with you will help.
I'm excited for all of you to continue preparing and eventually serve a mission! Check back here every week and I'll try to include some more advice in every email.

Love you all,
Elder Burnham

Week ending 9-10-09

Family and Friends.

It seems I have had yet another bad experience with myLDSmail. I sent my email last week and it said it went through. I logged on today, however, and had a report saying it never went through. VERY frustrating. I resent it and I hope last week's and this week's get through. I will try to be a little less violent with this computer, seeing as they might take away my library card if I destroy the computer.

I got a free bike this week!! We had zone conference this week on tuesday. Apparently Elder Plowman's dad had called Elder and Sister Johnson (the mission car coordinators) and asked them to find a bike for him. They had it in their car at zone cenference, but Elder Plowman already had gotten one. I told her I needed one stil so I got it!! I'm so rad.

The rest of zone conference was awesome. We learned a lot and it got me excited to do the work. We have zone meeting this week.

I made cookies last preparation day. They were interesting. We didn't have brown sugar, so we were going to go get some and just put it in at the end. We ended up not getting any so I just added more regular sugar. I also put in more flour because they didn't seem like the right consistency. I guess I added too much because they turned out kind of cakey. They were still good though. I will do better next time I make them.

So the guy who just showed up at sacrament meeting (who you won't read about until today[curse that email...]) hasn't called and didn't come to church again. I'm still hoping he calls this week or comes to church next sunday.

I have fallen in love. The piano in the chapel is amazing. It is a nice grand that sits across from the organ. I play it every time we are at the church. Sadly, I think I'm the only person who does. They use the organ in sacrament and I'm the only one who can play it in priesthood. It sounds so beautiful though. I really miss playing the piano. We are going to stop by the thrift store today and see if they have any electric keyboards I can snag for the appartment.

Well, that's about it for this week. The letter's kind of short, but I think it will be okay since you get two week's worth all at once.

Later-
Elder Burnham

Week ending 9-3-09

Family and Friends,

The COOLEST THING EVER happened this yesterday. Well, the coolest as far as missionary work goes. We were greeting people waiting for sacrement meeting to start when a menber came in and told us there was someone who had never been to an LDS church or met with the missionaries. We rushed out to talk to him. He told us that he had moved to Hastings about three months ago. He was raised Catholic but didn't really believe they followed the Bible. He had looked into BYU Hawaii and came to see "the requirements for being Mormon. He said he knew we didn't drink or smoke and he was the same way, and wanted to surround himself with like-minded people. He asked how long it would take before he could be baptized and wondered how many lessons he could take a week! I didn't know what to say!!!! It seemed too good to be true!!! I can't wait to see how it turns out. I'm really hopeful.

So I seem to blank whenever I come to write letters, so throughout the week I wrote down what I wanted to write about. I will just put them in the order they are in in my planner.

I saw fireflies!!!!! Ha ha I love it. It made me so so happy. I have always wanted to see them. They are smaller than I expected, but still cool. The light up for only about a second while they are flying and then go dark again. It makes me giddy every time I see them.

So traffic is pretty weird here in Hastings. In the residential streets, sometimes they have what I call a 4-way-go. There are no stop signs on any of the streets leading to the intersection, so you just have to yield. The thing is though, not all of them are like that. Even though I don't drive, I have gotten in the habit of checking the OTHER way for stop signs, to determine what kind of intersection it is: A four-way, a two-way, or a no-way stop
.
We set someone for baptism this week!! Her name is Audra. She is 21 I think. She will be baptized the 22. I am so excited. It will be my first.

So you all know how my companion is only on his second transfer? It turns out that I am two months older that hin. Weird. We also taught Audra the third lesson. I had only taught it once in the MTC, but Elder Burton had never taught it. Crazy to think that I would have taught that lesson more times than my trainer. This experience is helping us both to become more mature and experienced missionaries.

Dad- That's awesome that you got the Lumina sold. I feel like a burden has been lifted from me! I do feel a little sorry for the guy who bought it though...

So a weird thing happened. We were helping someone move, so we were both in street clothes. I had on one of my more favorite pair of jeans. But then the thought struck me that they weren't comfortable! SO weird. I always loved wearing jeans back home. I guess I'm just more comfortable in a suit and tie now.

So my companion had this weird way of doing his hair. it makes me laugh, so I thought I would share it. It is a combination of combing the hair all forward with the front sticking up, and combing it to the center, like a fohawk (is that how you spell it?). The result is a piont of hair right at the front of his head. I think of a unicorn every time I look at it. I will send some pics of us next week.

Also- Could I get a picture of little Brigster? I miss that kid.

Our ward mission leader here is Bro Brown (kind of a coincidence eh?). He is old and just a funny guy. He never gives a straight answer. He always mutters "I suppose.." and then fades away into nothing. He also has a forest of hair in his ear. Some of his ear hairs are longer than my head hairs. He is truly an old man.

So because we are on daylight savings time, it gets dark really late here. The sun rises and sets about the same time we do: about 6:30 and 10:30 respectively. (okay maybe about nine thirty, but is sounded cooler that way.)
In the Kmart by our appartment, they have an entire corner dedicated to Huskers items- shirts, jerseys, cups. It's crazy how devoted to the team the whole state is.

Shopping last week: We went to Wal Mart to get groceries. I wanted to make some chese crisps (quesadillas), so I bought tortillas and cheese. To spice things up a bit, I wanted to get some refried beans too. We went to the beans aisle, but they were nowhere to be found!!! THEY DON"T SELL REFIRED BEANS IN NEBRASKA! What is this?????? They have every variety of chili and pinto and black bean you can think of, but not refried beans. I was astounded and severly disappointed. I will have to go without, or make my own.

So that is everything I wrote down. Time to move on and respond to your emails. Thanks to everyone who sent one! (Mom, Brandon, Annie, Wesley, and Zeus [aka pops])
Mom- Yes I remember going to Wheel of fortune. It was a couples edition for Vallentine's Day. It was a good memory.
Brandon- Thank you for your travel log. I read it this morning and it was very enjoyable. Also. That is lame about the ipod. But it still works. It's not like it costed very much anyway... :)
Annie- I look forward to your letter.
Wesley- Congrats on the new CD! yes I miss music very much. I just sing songs in my head now.
Dad- That's cool that mom is Relief society President! I remember when she was in 4th ward. I know she will do a good job. Also, the attaatchment does work. You can just send it like that from now on.

I hope I didn't forget anyone or anything!! If I did, I might just end up writing a letter later today. It seems like a do that almost every week.

Your missionary,
Elder Burnham

In Nebraska Now

Dear Family and Friends,

I feel a long letter comming on. I am writhing this from the library here in Hastings, Nebraska Pop~20,000- he birth place of Kool-Aid!! They actually have something called Kool-Aid days coming on August 12. We'll probably end up stopping by there.

There are lots of cool, old buildings here. Many of them are churches- small cathedrals with large spires. It seems like there is a church on almost every corner! It's probably pretty close to that. But lots of churches means lots of people who faithfully go to other churches. Lots of Catholics and such. The most common answer when we try to talk to someone is that they already go to a church and are happy with that. It can get frustrating.

My companion is Elder Burton. Both our last names start with BUR... So sometimes on the phone people aren't sure who it is. He is super new. This is only his second transfer, which means that this time last week, he was still getting trained. SCARY. We are both learning a lot, however, and will be good missionaries by the time our six weeks are over.
We don't ride bikes in this area. I'm going to try to snag one off a missionary going home next transfer; we'll see hoe it goes. We do have a car, though, and that's what we use to get around. He is the assigned driver. The weather here is not too bad. It hangs around 80-90 but is humid as can be. Two days ago I saw a thermometer that measured temperature and humidity. It was 85 degrees and 55 percent humidity. Surprisingly it doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would! I just get sweaty a little quicker, but what's a little perspiration to a missionary??

We had an adventure getting to Omaha. We left the MTC at 6:00 Tuesday morning. We took a bus to the Salt Lake Airport, went through security and checked luggage, and then waited about an hour for our flight. We got on and it started off as a normal flight. But the cabin wasn't pressurizing correctly. My ears were popping all over the place. I felt like I was scuba diving and had to clear them every minute or so. We hit almost 10,000 feet when the captain realized this. If we went any higher, the oxygen masks would have dropped because the pressure wasn't right. So he basically cut the engines. In a few seconds, we went from climbing to a fairly rapid descent. It was kind of scary. Then the air conditioning went out and the plane got really hot. The flight attendant came on and told us the deal and said we would have to land *lots of groans* but in order to get to landing weight, we had to fly around for about 15 minutes to burn off our fuel. We did so and got back to the ground. Some workers came on the plane to check it out and said that it would be a long fix so we would have to switch planes. We unloaded and waited about another hour and a half until we left again. Our next plane was sweet. It was straight out of the factory- it had never been flown before. It was also far more spacious. There were some open seats in front right behind first class so I stole one. I had SO much leg room!! I felt like a king. But because we didn't make it on time, we missed our connecting flight from Denver (Yes, we had a layover on such a short flight). Because there were 13 of us traveling together, we had to wait until 9:40 for the next flight to Omaha. Eight hours in the airport. Eight long hours. We finally got to Omaha at about midnight. We were picked up by President Kunz and didn't get to the hotel till about one. So in the end, we left at 6:00 in the morning and didn't get there until midnight. It would have been faster to drive....

The next day we had orientation at the mission home and then went to see the temple and the Mormon Trail Center, as well as the cemetery. It was a good afternoon. We all went out tracting after that with some older missionaries. I went with Elder Marchant. He had just been released as an AP and sent home Friday. He was cool. We talked to a guy and gave him the first lesson outside his house while he painted. He was pretty receptive.
That's pretty much all I have to write. So until next Monday, farewell.

-Elder Burnham

P.S. Nebraskans do NOT have accents.

P.P.S. Here is my new adress. When it gets toward the end of August, start sending them to the mission home again.
Elder Awesome Burnham
3020 Parklane Drive #5
Hastings, NE 68901

Week 2

UGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am very very angry right now. I had been typing away furiously for ten minutes and then all of the sudden the stupid computer logged me out!!! I hate this. It killed part of my soul.

I only have seven more minutes to write now, because we are only allotted 30 to begin with. This will be brief and I will send more in a letter later today.

Dad: I do not have the swine flu, thankfully. We leave the MTC Tuesday at 6:00 AM and our plane takes off at about 9ish. We have a layover in Denver and get to Omaha about 3 (their time).
Mom: That is great that Kaylee got baptized and that you get to teach her! I taught her the Plan of Salvation when I was with Elder Crook.

I parted my hair twice this week. Once down the middle and once down the side. It was fun. I kept forgetting I had done it and would see a reflection of myself and realize how ridiculous I looked. You got pics of it from Sister Smiley.

I will send pictures when I get them developed.

Thank all of you for your letters and emails. I will send more in a letter to the whole family, I am sorry it is not in a email.

Your MTC-computer-hating Elder,
Elder Burnham

First letter home (week 1)

Dear family,

It's my first night here-they told us to write letters home. I am short on time so it will not be long. I will also be emailing from now on, so you will not have to put up with my handwriting. Preparation day is Thursday (not tomorrow though). So at the airport after I went through security I went to the terminal and there were four other elders. Travis Osbora was there and three others. We flew there; it was an uneventful flight. I talked to the person sitting next to me ( I had a windiw seat). We chatted for a while about lots of things. I eventually told him exactly what I was doing and then gave him that pass-along card. We landed in Salt Lake and met a few more Elders. Me and three others took the shuttle first. It was just a van. We arrived at the MTC and unloaded. We ate lunch. i sat next to a new missionary Elder bingham.

Our schedule for the rest of the day was as follows:

2:00-3:30 Training activities
-Health orientation
-watching a mock discussion

3:30-4:45 Orientation by the MTC presidency

4:45-6:00 Dinner/unpack

6:30-9:00 Branch Presidency orientation
-meet zone leaders
-interviews
-get district leaders
-tour


I am really short on time so that will be all for tonight. i will write more next Thursday in Email. Here is my address to post on the Blog for others.

Elder Austin James Burnham
MTC mailbox #141
NE-OMA 0721
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

Sincerely,
Elder Burnham

Ps: I am loving it here!