Hey Mom and Dad!
That was so fun getting to talk to you guys! I felt so good just getting to here your voices. Things have changed just a bit for Christmas. I probably wont be able to call until about 1:00 pm central time, so it will be 11:00 your time. I am so excited to talk to yall. I forgot to ask you one important thing on the phone though. When do you want me to sent the memory card home? I could send it today, but then you wouldn’t get all the pictures that I take on Christmas. I think im just going to send it to yall the day after Christmas so that you can get more pictures. That will also give me some more time to make a longer recording on the tape recorder
Theres not really that much to say right now because I just talked to you and Im going to have a lot of stories to tell you on Christmas! I already told you the highlight of my week last week. It was so awesome. We were riding our bikes to an appointment with a new investigator, and as we were riding, some kids that were skating on there ramps were making fun of us saying, “Come ride your bikes off our ramps!” They were all laughing at us. So I turned my head around and yelled back, “We will on our way back!” So after our appointment, we were riding back, and sure enough, the kids were still there. They thought we were just going to ride by again so that were still kind of laughing at us. Then I turned the corner and stopped right where they were skating and I asked them what kind of decks they had. They were a little stand offish at first, but then one of the kids who looked like the oldest of the group asked me if I wanted to try. So I got on his skateboard in my brown Bostonian dress shoes and my white shirt, tie, and slacks, and landed a 360 flip on the first try. Right away all of the kids opened up and all started letting me ride with them. While this was happening, Elder Hill was talking to their youth pastor about the restored gospel. He saw that I was messing up my dress shoes, so he took his shoes off and let me where his. After about 45 minutes, we ended up leaving, and we thought that was the end of it. But the next day we got a phone call from the other Wards ward mission leader saying he had talked to some youth pastor that said he was extremely interested in the message that these two young skater missionaries at taught him the day before! So were going to go back this week and talk to this guy more!! So yeah that’s our fun missionary story for the week. My mission has been full of these types of experiences so far. I don’t know why the Lord has blessed me so much when I am such a punk haha! I love Him for it though. He understands me perfectly, and im starting to understand Him a little more every day. I love how it works. Prayer has completely changed my mission and my life. I love it. I am so grateful for everything I have and for the miracles that I have seen out here.
Mom and Dad, I love you guys so much. Thank you for everything you have done for me. Thank you both for the patience that you had with me. I love you with all my heart. I am SOOOOO excited to talk to you on Thursday!!! I love you!!!! Merry Christmas!!!!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
p.s.- Sorry this was a short one, I figured I wouldn’t say as much so that ill have more to tell you on Christmas
Monday, December 22, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Josh's first baptism!
Mom and Dad-
So yeah everything went well this week. The baptism was awesome. Her boyfriend Ben was actually the one that baptized her. It was such an awesome experience. She is still going through a lot with her parents, but her testimony is just so strong that I don’t think anything could break it at this point. After her baptism on Saturday, Jenny went with her parents down to Destin for some family thing. I guess her Dad totally cussed her out and said that as long as she is living with them, that she will have to go to the Catholic Church. We were pretty stressed out when she called us and told us all that because her confirmation was the next day (Sunday) and so was her parents church. So she ended up calling Bens dad and he drove 45 minutes down to Destin to pick her up so that she could make it for the confirmation. She was stressed when she got to church, but after she was confirmed, she just looked like she was at peace with it all. Then I guess on Sunday night, her parents called the catholic priest over and he met with Jenny. She said that he asked her three questions. 1.) What is your reason for leaving the Catholic Church? 2.) Are you doing this to rebel against your parents? 3.) What is their (Mormons) view of the God Head? She said that all she did when he asked her these questions was bear her testimony that Christ lives, that he is the living son of God the Father, and that there are authorized Prophets and Apostles on the earth again, and that we don’t need to just rely on the bible alone, but that there is additional scripture and latter-day revelation. Anyways, I cant describe every situation as well as I would like to, just know that it all worked out very well. I couldn’t ask for a better Christmas gift than the joy we had at that baptism. It was awesome.
So anyways, yeah you can have those scriptures, and make all the marks in them you would like. Im going to hang on to the ones ive got. Sadie is so funny, I miss her so much. The other day we were tracting, and I looked on a window and saw two huge black and white Great Danes. One of them looked identical to Sadie, and she was just staring at me with her ears all perked up! Im not gonna lie, I got kind of teary eyed haha!
The works been pretty good this week. We found a couple new investigators, they both seem pretty promising. We got permission from the mission president to go caroling with the sisters last night as well, so that was pretty fun. We had some pretty awkward experiences actually haha.
That good that you have all your shopping done. I don’t yet. Im trying to find some cheap little things for our district cuz I guess everyone is getting eachother stuff and I don’t want to be the only one who doesn’t get everyone something. I am sooooo excited to call you guys. Ill be calling probably the night before to set everything up so be ready Its so wird that it has already been 7 months since we talked on the phone last. Im taking some good pictures for you guys so I hope youll like em. Thank you so much again, I still cant believe yall sent me a camera! I hope you didn’t send me to much in the package, ill feel really bad
K well im sorry that this was kind of a short one, There is a ton of people on the computers today so we didn’t have to much time to write. And I don’t feel too bad because ill probably be sending a Christmas card home this week. That’s right, we made Christmas Cards at walmart haha. Im good as far as food goes, we disposed of all the cakes this week so were good now haha. But anyways, I love you guys so much. I am so excited to talk to yall next week. I love you with all my heart Mom!! And I love you too Dad!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!
So yeah everything went well this week. The baptism was awesome. Her boyfriend Ben was actually the one that baptized her. It was such an awesome experience. She is still going through a lot with her parents, but her testimony is just so strong that I don’t think anything could break it at this point. After her baptism on Saturday, Jenny went with her parents down to Destin for some family thing. I guess her Dad totally cussed her out and said that as long as she is living with them, that she will have to go to the Catholic Church. We were pretty stressed out when she called us and told us all that because her confirmation was the next day (Sunday) and so was her parents church. So she ended up calling Bens dad and he drove 45 minutes down to Destin to pick her up so that she could make it for the confirmation. She was stressed when she got to church, but after she was confirmed, she just looked like she was at peace with it all. Then I guess on Sunday night, her parents called the catholic priest over and he met with Jenny. She said that he asked her three questions. 1.) What is your reason for leaving the Catholic Church? 2.) Are you doing this to rebel against your parents? 3.) What is their (Mormons) view of the God Head? She said that all she did when he asked her these questions was bear her testimony that Christ lives, that he is the living son of God the Father, and that there are authorized Prophets and Apostles on the earth again, and that we don’t need to just rely on the bible alone, but that there is additional scripture and latter-day revelation. Anyways, I cant describe every situation as well as I would like to, just know that it all worked out very well. I couldn’t ask for a better Christmas gift than the joy we had at that baptism. It was awesome.
So anyways, yeah you can have those scriptures, and make all the marks in them you would like. Im going to hang on to the ones ive got. Sadie is so funny, I miss her so much. The other day we were tracting, and I looked on a window and saw two huge black and white Great Danes. One of them looked identical to Sadie, and she was just staring at me with her ears all perked up! Im not gonna lie, I got kind of teary eyed haha!
The works been pretty good this week. We found a couple new investigators, they both seem pretty promising. We got permission from the mission president to go caroling with the sisters last night as well, so that was pretty fun. We had some pretty awkward experiences actually haha.
That good that you have all your shopping done. I don’t yet. Im trying to find some cheap little things for our district cuz I guess everyone is getting eachother stuff and I don’t want to be the only one who doesn’t get everyone something. I am sooooo excited to call you guys. Ill be calling probably the night before to set everything up so be ready Its so wird that it has already been 7 months since we talked on the phone last. Im taking some good pictures for you guys so I hope youll like em. Thank you so much again, I still cant believe yall sent me a camera! I hope you didn’t send me to much in the package, ill feel really bad
K well im sorry that this was kind of a short one, There is a ton of people on the computers today so we didn’t have to much time to write. And I don’t feel too bad because ill probably be sending a Christmas card home this week. That’s right, we made Christmas Cards at walmart haha. Im good as far as food goes, we disposed of all the cakes this week so were good now haha. But anyways, I love you guys so much. I am so excited to talk to yall next week. I love you with all my heart Mom!! And I love you too Dad!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!
Monday, December 8, 2008
Dec 8, 08 Jenny's baptism set for Saturday
Hey Mom and Dad-
`This week as been a good week, we have been doing a lot of tracting lately. For a while there it seemed like we had a ton of really promising investigators but they all seemed to have fallen through the cracks lately, except Jenny of course. So we have been looking through our records and doing a lot of prayer and fasting so that we can find more people to teach. Its been kinda tough, but the Lord has definitely helped us out. We had about 3 days this week of non-stop tracting and did not find a single person. By the time Friday came around we were getting pretty discouraged. Then at Zone Conference on Friday we ended up getting a referral from President Summerhays and another referral from Head Quarters. Then on Saturday we got another referral from head quarters. So we are pretty excited to go see them this week.
Jenny is still set for this Saturday. She is so excited. I don’t think her parents are going to come, but she said she is fine with that. It really is one of the best Christmas gifts I could ask for. She is so solid in her testimony. She just had her baptismal interview last night and we have the whole thing all planned out and ready. Ill make sure and take some good pictures.
Thank you so much for the camera!! Oh my gosh, you really didn’t have to get me such a nice one! Seriously, thank you. I love you guys so much. I went ahead and bought another memory card for like $15 so I hope that’s ok. Both memory card were in the other case that got stolen. The cool thing about this camera is that I can put other memory cards into it and just copy their pictures to the internal hard drive of the camera and then just copy them from the internal hard drive back to my own memory card. I hope that makes sence. It makes things much easier. And the good thing about that is that a lot of the p-day district pictures that I lost, I now have them back because Elder Hill had a lot of them on his camera. So im way excited about that.
Im ok as far as presents go, really, I guess the only other thing I would want is pictures. Even just pictures of the house, and the back yard, and the animals, and that kind of stuff, and of course pictures of the family would be awesome too. And if there are any good talks that you like, you could always print of some of those.
I don’t really have too many fun stories from this week. Zone conference was probably the best thing. I love the spirit that is always there with all the missionaries and President Summerhays. I always look forward to the interviews that I have with him. Seriously, this man is inspired. Every time I talk to him it seems like he knows my exact thoughts, because he always says the exact things I need to hear. I cant wait for yall to meet him.
Oh yeah, I guess another thing I would like is some more Juice Plus pills. I finished them off a long time ago. Seriously, you guys would be so dicusted if you looked inside our fridge. Members just keep making us cakes and pies and cookies. And then after zone conference, we got stuck with all the left ove deserts. We have 3 huge cakes, 3 full pies, about 200 homemade cookies, a batch of brownies, and a tub of ice cream. And then of course our main course meal when we don’t go to a members home for dinner consists of Spagettios and either microwave corn dogs or taquitos. So yeah, those juice plus pills would be nice haha.
That’s fun that you went up to Boppa and Colleen’s. That dinner story made me laugh really hard haha. When is the last time yall went to the lake house? Your probably pretty busy lately with work and with getting ready for Christmas. I am getting so excited to call home. The pre-call to set it up will either be the Monday before Christmas (our p-day) or on Christmas eve. We still need to figure that out, I will let you know next Monday.
Anyways, I love you guys with all my heart. Is there any kind of trinkets that you or the kids would like for Christmas? Mom and Dad, I love you and miss you so much. I hope you know how happy I am out here. I love my mission. It means everything to me there is no where else in the world that I would rather be. I just wish you guys were here to share these experiences with me. I love you Mom! I love you Dad! Merry Christmas!!!!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
`This week as been a good week, we have been doing a lot of tracting lately. For a while there it seemed like we had a ton of really promising investigators but they all seemed to have fallen through the cracks lately, except Jenny of course. So we have been looking through our records and doing a lot of prayer and fasting so that we can find more people to teach. Its been kinda tough, but the Lord has definitely helped us out. We had about 3 days this week of non-stop tracting and did not find a single person. By the time Friday came around we were getting pretty discouraged. Then at Zone Conference on Friday we ended up getting a referral from President Summerhays and another referral from Head Quarters. Then on Saturday we got another referral from head quarters. So we are pretty excited to go see them this week.
Jenny is still set for this Saturday. She is so excited. I don’t think her parents are going to come, but she said she is fine with that. It really is one of the best Christmas gifts I could ask for. She is so solid in her testimony. She just had her baptismal interview last night and we have the whole thing all planned out and ready. Ill make sure and take some good pictures.
Thank you so much for the camera!! Oh my gosh, you really didn’t have to get me such a nice one! Seriously, thank you. I love you guys so much. I went ahead and bought another memory card for like $15 so I hope that’s ok. Both memory card were in the other case that got stolen. The cool thing about this camera is that I can put other memory cards into it and just copy their pictures to the internal hard drive of the camera and then just copy them from the internal hard drive back to my own memory card. I hope that makes sence. It makes things much easier. And the good thing about that is that a lot of the p-day district pictures that I lost, I now have them back because Elder Hill had a lot of them on his camera. So im way excited about that.
Im ok as far as presents go, really, I guess the only other thing I would want is pictures. Even just pictures of the house, and the back yard, and the animals, and that kind of stuff, and of course pictures of the family would be awesome too. And if there are any good talks that you like, you could always print of some of those.
I don’t really have too many fun stories from this week. Zone conference was probably the best thing. I love the spirit that is always there with all the missionaries and President Summerhays. I always look forward to the interviews that I have with him. Seriously, this man is inspired. Every time I talk to him it seems like he knows my exact thoughts, because he always says the exact things I need to hear. I cant wait for yall to meet him.
Oh yeah, I guess another thing I would like is some more Juice Plus pills. I finished them off a long time ago. Seriously, you guys would be so dicusted if you looked inside our fridge. Members just keep making us cakes and pies and cookies. And then after zone conference, we got stuck with all the left ove deserts. We have 3 huge cakes, 3 full pies, about 200 homemade cookies, a batch of brownies, and a tub of ice cream. And then of course our main course meal when we don’t go to a members home for dinner consists of Spagettios and either microwave corn dogs or taquitos. So yeah, those juice plus pills would be nice haha.
That’s fun that you went up to Boppa and Colleen’s. That dinner story made me laugh really hard haha. When is the last time yall went to the lake house? Your probably pretty busy lately with work and with getting ready for Christmas. I am getting so excited to call home. The pre-call to set it up will either be the Monday before Christmas (our p-day) or on Christmas eve. We still need to figure that out, I will let you know next Monday.
Anyways, I love you guys with all my heart. Is there any kind of trinkets that you or the kids would like for Christmas? Mom and Dad, I love you and miss you so much. I hope you know how happy I am out here. I love my mission. It means everything to me there is no where else in the world that I would rather be. I just wish you guys were here to share these experiences with me. I love you Mom! I love you Dad! Merry Christmas!!!!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Dec 1, 2008 I'm so grateful for my family this Thanksgiving
Dec 1, 08
Hey Mom and Dad-
Wow so it sounds like the holidays are going to be pretty fun back home. That’s awesome that chad, Emily and parker are coming home for a while. Yeah, im allowed to call anybody in the family so you don’t have to worry about staying with everybody if you don’t want. Were allowed to call a day or two early so I will most likely call on Christmas eve just for about 5 minutes to set up a time and what not. Im am so stinkin excited! You really don’t have to get me much this year. As far as the ties go, I know that express has skinnier ones and regular sized ones. I would rather go with the regular sized ones. Im not a huge fan of the real skinny ties anymore. You can just send the package to the Crestview address. Tranfers were last week and we are both staying here for another 5 weeks. Can you believe at the end of this transfer I will be hitting 9 months? So crazy. I don’t know where all the time has gone. I will be a third of the way done in about 9 days. But who’s keeping track anyways? Haha.
So dad bought a Nintendo wii? Do you guys play it a lot? I know that bowling game that comes with it is pretty fun. The kids want a new trampoline? Are you really going to buy one? Remember what happened to me on one of those things? Haha
Anyways, thanksgiving was a blast. First we went over to the Mozina families home at around 2:00pm and had our thanksgiving over there. Their family totally reminds me of ours so that was really fun. Theres two boys in the family: chris who is 22 and Justin who is 16. They are so funny . And then their sister amber who is about 21 just came home from BYU so all three of them together was a crack up. We played pictionary for a while with them, and then we went over to an investigators house for a second thanksgiving dinner. This is when things got a bit interesting. This investigators name is Chuck. His daughter Miranda who is 18 years old , got married to a less active member of our ward (Jeremy) who is about 30 years old. He grew up in detriot so he is pretty gangster looking haha, but he is way cool. Anyways, Chucks Daughter Miranda got baptized about 3 months ago, but after about two weeks, she went crazy and started doing drugs and cheating on Jeremy. So for the passed three months, hes been trying to get a divorce with her and she has pretty much been living on the street. So I say things got interesting at Chuck’s house, because he had Mirand and her friends come over, and also invited Jeremy as well. So yeah things went pretty crazy over there. There were a few choice words said, but finally Miranda and her friends left and everything went good after that. We had some good laughs and dinner was amazing. Chuck is about 70 years old, and hes from Boston so he has the coolest accent. Hes really hard headed, but extremely smart and very nice. So yeah Thanksgiving was good
The rest of the week was decent. Elder Hill was sick most of the week, so most the time I was on the phone trying to call potential investigators to set up appointments. That got pretty boring after a while. He says hes feeling better now though so hopefully this next week will pick up. Sometimes I feel like im the only one who wants to actually get up and work. Its getting a little frustrating, but oh well, it’s the frustrating and discouraging times that you grow the most right?
So yeah like I said, you can send stuff straight to here for the next 5 weeks. I havnt gotten any mail for a while now so im excited to finally get something haha! That’s awesome that Emily called you guys. What did she say? Tell my friends to write me! Actueally, most of them have, im just a bum and it takes me a while to write them back lol. Brett sent me some Hillarious Halloween pictures so that was pretty fun.
Anyways, I love you guys. I thought a lot this thanksgiving about all I am grateful for, and there is nothing on earth that I could be more grateful than my family. I love you guys so much. I pray for you everynight. Keep praying for me and especially for my investigators, especially Jenny. Shes still getting baptized on December 13, but she needs all the prayers she can get because of her family. Mom- I love you with all my heart. Dad- I love you so much also. Say hi to everyone for me and tell Chad and Shawna they need to write me back! Im going to write Katey today, and Boppa too because I got another letter form him. Anyways, I love yall!!!!!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Hey Mom and Dad-
Wow so it sounds like the holidays are going to be pretty fun back home. That’s awesome that chad, Emily and parker are coming home for a while. Yeah, im allowed to call anybody in the family so you don’t have to worry about staying with everybody if you don’t want. Were allowed to call a day or two early so I will most likely call on Christmas eve just for about 5 minutes to set up a time and what not. Im am so stinkin excited! You really don’t have to get me much this year. As far as the ties go, I know that express has skinnier ones and regular sized ones. I would rather go with the regular sized ones. Im not a huge fan of the real skinny ties anymore. You can just send the package to the Crestview address. Tranfers were last week and we are both staying here for another 5 weeks. Can you believe at the end of this transfer I will be hitting 9 months? So crazy. I don’t know where all the time has gone. I will be a third of the way done in about 9 days. But who’s keeping track anyways? Haha.
So dad bought a Nintendo wii? Do you guys play it a lot? I know that bowling game that comes with it is pretty fun. The kids want a new trampoline? Are you really going to buy one? Remember what happened to me on one of those things? Haha
Anyways, thanksgiving was a blast. First we went over to the Mozina families home at around 2:00pm and had our thanksgiving over there. Their family totally reminds me of ours so that was really fun. Theres two boys in the family: chris who is 22 and Justin who is 16. They are so funny . And then their sister amber who is about 21 just came home from BYU so all three of them together was a crack up. We played pictionary for a while with them, and then we went over to an investigators house for a second thanksgiving dinner. This is when things got a bit interesting. This investigators name is Chuck. His daughter Miranda who is 18 years old , got married to a less active member of our ward (Jeremy) who is about 30 years old. He grew up in detriot so he is pretty gangster looking haha, but he is way cool. Anyways, Chucks Daughter Miranda got baptized about 3 months ago, but after about two weeks, she went crazy and started doing drugs and cheating on Jeremy. So for the passed three months, hes been trying to get a divorce with her and she has pretty much been living on the street. So I say things got interesting at Chuck’s house, because he had Mirand and her friends come over, and also invited Jeremy as well. So yeah things went pretty crazy over there. There were a few choice words said, but finally Miranda and her friends left and everything went good after that. We had some good laughs and dinner was amazing. Chuck is about 70 years old, and hes from Boston so he has the coolest accent. Hes really hard headed, but extremely smart and very nice. So yeah Thanksgiving was good
The rest of the week was decent. Elder Hill was sick most of the week, so most the time I was on the phone trying to call potential investigators to set up appointments. That got pretty boring after a while. He says hes feeling better now though so hopefully this next week will pick up. Sometimes I feel like im the only one who wants to actually get up and work. Its getting a little frustrating, but oh well, it’s the frustrating and discouraging times that you grow the most right?
So yeah like I said, you can send stuff straight to here for the next 5 weeks. I havnt gotten any mail for a while now so im excited to finally get something haha! That’s awesome that Emily called you guys. What did she say? Tell my friends to write me! Actueally, most of them have, im just a bum and it takes me a while to write them back lol. Brett sent me some Hillarious Halloween pictures so that was pretty fun.
Anyways, I love you guys. I thought a lot this thanksgiving about all I am grateful for, and there is nothing on earth that I could be more grateful than my family. I love you guys so much. I pray for you everynight. Keep praying for me and especially for my investigators, especially Jenny. Shes still getting baptized on December 13, but she needs all the prayers she can get because of her family. Mom- I love you with all my heart. Dad- I love you so much also. Say hi to everyone for me and tell Chad and Shawna they need to write me back! Im going to write Katey today, and Boppa too because I got another letter form him. Anyways, I love yall!!!!!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Monday, November 24, 2008
Nov 24, 2008 Starting more serious journal writing....I love my mission
Nov 24, 08
Hey Mom and Dad-
Those pictures you sent are crazy!! Wow, I thought you were exaggerating when you said the fires were 100 ft tall. You weren’t joking! So yeah the whole camera thing was a huge bummer. I was pretty down about that for a while because I had a ton of pictures and videos of my old district which was my favorite district so far on my mission. I really don’t need much for Christmas though. You really don’t have to get me a new camera. I will just by some disposable ones haha. And as far as cloths and stuff, I like regular width ties, not the slim ones. I have to warn you though, I am very picky about my ties, and I really don’t need too many more. All I want is like 2 more ties, and there are a couple that I know express carries that I really like. I don’t really need any more white shirts, im pretty much covered in that area. I told you about the pants, probably just a black or brown pair size 30”32 from express. The size 30”30 ones have tended to get a little too short after I wash them. That’s really all I need, and I don’t even NEED that stuff so you really don’t have to get me anything. Oh yeah, as far as the mosimo shirts, I don’t really like those ones as much as the Athletic fit ones that I used to get before. And I wore a size small in those. If you just got me like 1 or 2 of the dark charcoal grey color of those that would be fine. Ok im don’t asking for stuff.
This week has been much better. We had Zone conference this week and that always makes for a good week because we are always so pumped up to work afterward. My only struggle lately has been with Elder Hill. He is an extremely hard worker when he wants to be, but then other times he will just want to sit and not do much, which irritates me. He doesn’t really like other people telling him what to do so that has kind of caused some contention lately because im not just going to sit and waste time out here. I didn’t sign up to come out here and work 75% of the time. Its not just him though. So many of the missionaries out here are just so young, and they are so naive about everything. Its not like im mature or anything haha, you know im not, but some of the missionaries out here you just cant help but wonder what they are doing out here. I don’t know, sometimes I regret not coming out here when I was nineteen, but then at the same time, im grateful, because im able to get to a lot more people than I think I could have when I was nineteen. Sorry about that tangent, like I said, we had a good week this week. I was a little bothered because we got in last night with 30 minutes left of our day, and we only got one investigator all week. So, Elder Hill and I knelt down and prayed for inspiration for what we could possibly do at 8:30 on a Sunday night where we could find someone who is searching for the Gospel. We both decided to go out and walk down our street. While walking, we both felt that we should walk into this little apartment complex that is next to ours, and as soon as we walked in, we saw a lady taking out her trash, so we decided to talk to her. To our surprise, she had never even heard of the Mormon church and she wanted to learn more. We set up an appointment for next Saturday with her. The Lord delivers when we ask in faith, that’s all I can say.
So have yall gone up to the lake at all this week? I havnt heard any fun lake stories lately. I guess the whole fire thing must have been a good scare for everyone. Next time you sent pictures out, can you send some pics of our house and the backyard? That sounds kind of weird, but I would just like to see all that stuff haha.
So ive started to write in my journal after like 8 months. Ive written in it a few times, but not as much as I should. This week ive been writing in it almost every day. I guess I just figured that you guys will have all my letters when I get home and that I could just look at those as my journal, but lately, I feel like I should really be writing all the expeiences ive been having on a daily basis down. Seriously Mom and Dad, my life style has changed so much out here. The Lord has shaped me and is continuing to shape me into everything that ive wanted to become. I love my mission. Im so grateful for the savior and everything he has done for me. I love you Mom with all my heart. I love you too Dad, so much. Im sorry I have to cut this short, I only have 5 minutes left and I haven’t emailed president yet. Just know that I am happy and I love you!!!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Hey Mom and Dad-
Those pictures you sent are crazy!! Wow, I thought you were exaggerating when you said the fires were 100 ft tall. You weren’t joking! So yeah the whole camera thing was a huge bummer. I was pretty down about that for a while because I had a ton of pictures and videos of my old district which was my favorite district so far on my mission. I really don’t need much for Christmas though. You really don’t have to get me a new camera. I will just by some disposable ones haha. And as far as cloths and stuff, I like regular width ties, not the slim ones. I have to warn you though, I am very picky about my ties, and I really don’t need too many more. All I want is like 2 more ties, and there are a couple that I know express carries that I really like. I don’t really need any more white shirts, im pretty much covered in that area. I told you about the pants, probably just a black or brown pair size 30”32 from express. The size 30”30 ones have tended to get a little too short after I wash them. That’s really all I need, and I don’t even NEED that stuff so you really don’t have to get me anything. Oh yeah, as far as the mosimo shirts, I don’t really like those ones as much as the Athletic fit ones that I used to get before. And I wore a size small in those. If you just got me like 1 or 2 of the dark charcoal grey color of those that would be fine. Ok im don’t asking for stuff.
This week has been much better. We had Zone conference this week and that always makes for a good week because we are always so pumped up to work afterward. My only struggle lately has been with Elder Hill. He is an extremely hard worker when he wants to be, but then other times he will just want to sit and not do much, which irritates me. He doesn’t really like other people telling him what to do so that has kind of caused some contention lately because im not just going to sit and waste time out here. I didn’t sign up to come out here and work 75% of the time. Its not just him though. So many of the missionaries out here are just so young, and they are so naive about everything. Its not like im mature or anything haha, you know im not, but some of the missionaries out here you just cant help but wonder what they are doing out here. I don’t know, sometimes I regret not coming out here when I was nineteen, but then at the same time, im grateful, because im able to get to a lot more people than I think I could have when I was nineteen. Sorry about that tangent, like I said, we had a good week this week. I was a little bothered because we got in last night with 30 minutes left of our day, and we only got one investigator all week. So, Elder Hill and I knelt down and prayed for inspiration for what we could possibly do at 8:30 on a Sunday night where we could find someone who is searching for the Gospel. We both decided to go out and walk down our street. While walking, we both felt that we should walk into this little apartment complex that is next to ours, and as soon as we walked in, we saw a lady taking out her trash, so we decided to talk to her. To our surprise, she had never even heard of the Mormon church and she wanted to learn more. We set up an appointment for next Saturday with her. The Lord delivers when we ask in faith, that’s all I can say.
So have yall gone up to the lake at all this week? I havnt heard any fun lake stories lately. I guess the whole fire thing must have been a good scare for everyone. Next time you sent pictures out, can you send some pics of our house and the backyard? That sounds kind of weird, but I would just like to see all that stuff haha.
So ive started to write in my journal after like 8 months. Ive written in it a few times, but not as much as I should. This week ive been writing in it almost every day. I guess I just figured that you guys will have all my letters when I get home and that I could just look at those as my journal, but lately, I feel like I should really be writing all the expeiences ive been having on a daily basis down. Seriously Mom and Dad, my life style has changed so much out here. The Lord has shaped me and is continuing to shape me into everything that ive wanted to become. I love my mission. Im so grateful for the savior and everything he has done for me. I love you Mom with all my heart. I love you too Dad, so much. Im sorry I have to cut this short, I only have 5 minutes left and I haven’t emailed president yet. Just know that I am happy and I love you!!!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Monday, November 17, 2008
Yorba Linda of Fire Week of Nov. 15, 2008
Mom, Dad, and Fam-
I am so happy to hear you guys are ok! A couple days ago I was at Pizza Hutt and they had the TVs on. I looked at the TV for a split second, and in huge letters I see YORBA LINDA ON FIRE! I was like, what the heck!!?? The News was showing videos of it and I recognized some of the streets they were filming. So yeah I was pretty eager to email you guys. Im not gonna lie, I was 2 seconds away from calling president and seeing if he could call you guys to make sure everything was alright. That letter that Mom sent was like an action movie. Im sitting here in a nice quiet library, and when I started reading the email, I pretty much yelled, “holy crap!!” I feel like I cant even write back after an email like that. Everything that went on this week is pretty boring compared to 100 ft flames almost completely destroying our house and our entire city. When I saw the news, I though for sure yall would be up at the lake house! Did you guys not realize how close the fire was? Im still all shaken up, so I cant even imagine what it was like for you.
So everyone is ok though? Did the fire go by Bretts or Rays house at all? Why couldn’t the fire just go get all the protesting gays? That’s crazy that they are still at it. Weve heard bits and pieces out here. They tell us not to talk about politics or anything out here, but its kind of hard not to when that’s all we hear about when we talk to the members. It’s a little annoying.
Anyways, the work was kind of slow this week. It was actually a really frustrating week for me to tell you the truth. I’ve gotten into a mode lately where I just don’t really like wasting any time. ......... There are just a lot of little things that I let get under my skin and I shouldn’t let that happen. I have a lot of pride that I never new I had, so im really trying to work on that.
Things are still going really good with both Jenny and Marty. Jennys baptismal date is still on December 13th and Martys is now on December 5th. Im really excited about Jenny, shes just so excited to get baptized. Shes getting involved with the youth and going to institute down In Pensacola. You can just tell that her testimony is so sincere. She still hasn’t told her parents about it. She says that she doesn’t care what they say or do, she knows that its true and that’s all she needs.
Transfers are coming up next week. I really don’t know whats going to happen. Theres a possibility that Elder Hill might leave. Im most likely going to stay because they aren’t going to white wash Crestview, theres just too much good stuff going o here. If Elder Hill leaves, theres a chance that I might train because there are 6 missionaries going home and 12 plus missionaries coming out. I really don’t know though, we just hear rumors about what going on so its kinda fun when tranfers come around.
Everything thing else is going good though. Im getting way excited for the Holidays. Its pretty crazy if you think about it, ill be talking to yall in about a month on the phone. Actually it will probably be sooner because they let us do a pre phone call a few days early so that we can tell you what time exactly we will be calling. VERY NICE!! Haha.
So I havnt sent any pictures home yet of Elder Hill and I? The last ones I sent were definitely not the ones of Elder Honzic and I. I think your getting confused of who my Companions have been . I was trained by Elder Honzic, then I was with elder Taylor, then Keesler, now im with Elder Hill. K well I have to wrap this letter up, I only have 7 minutes left and I havnt even written president yet. I love you you Mom!!!! I love you dad!!!! I love you family! Oh, wait, my time just got extended an additional 15 minutes. Sweet!!!
K so have I already told you what I needed for Christmas? Not really anything haha. Ill try and think of a list. So far, all I can think of is a pair or two of size 30”32 express pants. Brown or black, or both haha. Anyways, I love you!!!!! Send pix of the fires and ill send the chip home in the next day or two. Bye!!!
Love,
Elder Joshua burnham
Monday, November 3, 2008
Last couple of weeks in Crestview have been amazing
Mom and Dad and Family-
What the heck?! I wrote you guys last week! That is so weird! Dang it that makes me kinda mad actually. Im really sorry guys. That would ruin my week if I didn’t get a letter from you guys. Don’t ever think that I would deliberately not write you guys. I will never not write you on purpose.
Anyways, I guess that means I have to catch you up on the last two weeks lol. The last couple weeks in Crestview have been amazing. Crestview seemed to be dead at the beginning of last transfer, and now in the last few weeks it seems to have exploded. I don’t know what happened. I think I told you about Marty, well he is getting baptized on November 22nd! Im pretty sure that’s all I wrote about in the last letter. Or maybe it was the one before? I forget. But yeah he is an amazing person. The only hurdle for him is Coffee. Oh yeah and I guess theres the whole fact that hes an active anarchist haha!! But we can work on that. I'm trying to think of what else happened last week. All I remember is that we did a whole bunch of tracting and had a whole lot of success in that. I think last week was Zone Conference as well. It was one of the most powerful Zone Conferences that I've been to so far. I made a ton of little changes because of it and it has made a huge difference in the work. The Lord has blessed us so much.
This week was even better than last week. We found a few new investigators and we have had some amazing lessons. The one I want to bring up is the one we had with Jenny. I think I told you about her a few weeks ago. Shes about 18 years old and her boy friend is the one I told you about who reminds me of Ray. He just got his mission call to New Zealand. Anyways, his girlfriend Jenny was interested in the Church and so we have been teaching her for about 5 weeks now. Last week was pretty scary because she had talked to her Catholic priest and a bunch of her catholic friends and for a few days there she didn’t want anything to do with the Church. We were all so confused because she had born her testimony and had told us she knew it was true. We were pretty discouraged. After a few days she called us and said she wanted to meet with us without her boyfriend Ben being there. He had been at every lesson before so that kind of confused us. But anyways, so we met with her yesterday which was fast Sunday. Surprisingly we found out that she had fasted. All I can really say about the lesson that we had with Jenny yesterday is that it was the most powerful and spiritual lesson I have been in so far. Jenny started out with many questions which we answered. I wish I could remember everything that was said, all I know is that it was pretty much just a testimony meeting with the 3 of us. Elder Hill and I bore our testimonies and by the time the lesson was over, Jenny’s countenance had changed. She then once again bore her testimony and was completely in tears. She told us that the next step for her was baptism! So we set a date with her for December 13. Let me just say that there is power in Fasting. We thought we were the only ones fasting for Jenny, but it turned out that Jenny and Ben had both fasted, the Mozina family from our ward had fasted for her, and even the Stake President had fasted for her. Ahhhh, I just wish I could tell you everything that happened or at least write out how happy I am! I get frustrated because I cant type everything that I feel. So yeah we have 2 baptismal dates set, Marty and Jenny. Please keep them in your prayers. Especially Jenny. She has a tough road ahead of her because her whole family is Catholic and very stubborn. Please pray for her.
I cant believe how involved the church is in this whole Prop 8 thing. That’s so crazy. It’s a pretty big deal out here too but its probably way crazier in California. Yeah send me those papers so I can vote. I hope its not to late though, I hear election day is tomorrow? I don’t know, they don’t tell us anything here.
Oh yeah, I think I told you the wrong size for those brown express pants a couple of weeks ago. I said size 32”32 but I think a size 30”32 would be better because they run kinda big.
Ill send pictures soon. Sorry its taking so long. I just want to get as many as possible in each chip.
K anyways, all is well here in Crestview. Ive been the happiest that ive been my whole mission so no worries. I love you guys so much! Mom- how is the business going? How are the kids? Dad- is the practice still going strong? Hows the boat and the sea-doos? I love you guys with all my heart!!!! Bye!!!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
P.S. Im going to send this twice just to make sure!!
What the heck?! I wrote you guys last week! That is so weird! Dang it that makes me kinda mad actually. Im really sorry guys. That would ruin my week if I didn’t get a letter from you guys. Don’t ever think that I would deliberately not write you guys. I will never not write you on purpose.
Anyways, I guess that means I have to catch you up on the last two weeks lol. The last couple weeks in Crestview have been amazing. Crestview seemed to be dead at the beginning of last transfer, and now in the last few weeks it seems to have exploded. I don’t know what happened. I think I told you about Marty, well he is getting baptized on November 22nd! Im pretty sure that’s all I wrote about in the last letter. Or maybe it was the one before? I forget. But yeah he is an amazing person. The only hurdle for him is Coffee. Oh yeah and I guess theres the whole fact that hes an active anarchist haha!! But we can work on that. I'm trying to think of what else happened last week. All I remember is that we did a whole bunch of tracting and had a whole lot of success in that. I think last week was Zone Conference as well. It was one of the most powerful Zone Conferences that I've been to so far. I made a ton of little changes because of it and it has made a huge difference in the work. The Lord has blessed us so much.
This week was even better than last week. We found a few new investigators and we have had some amazing lessons. The one I want to bring up is the one we had with Jenny. I think I told you about her a few weeks ago. Shes about 18 years old and her boy friend is the one I told you about who reminds me of Ray. He just got his mission call to New Zealand. Anyways, his girlfriend Jenny was interested in the Church and so we have been teaching her for about 5 weeks now. Last week was pretty scary because she had talked to her Catholic priest and a bunch of her catholic friends and for a few days there she didn’t want anything to do with the Church. We were all so confused because she had born her testimony and had told us she knew it was true. We were pretty discouraged. After a few days she called us and said she wanted to meet with us without her boyfriend Ben being there. He had been at every lesson before so that kind of confused us. But anyways, so we met with her yesterday which was fast Sunday. Surprisingly we found out that she had fasted. All I can really say about the lesson that we had with Jenny yesterday is that it was the most powerful and spiritual lesson I have been in so far. Jenny started out with many questions which we answered. I wish I could remember everything that was said, all I know is that it was pretty much just a testimony meeting with the 3 of us. Elder Hill and I bore our testimonies and by the time the lesson was over, Jenny’s countenance had changed. She then once again bore her testimony and was completely in tears. She told us that the next step for her was baptism! So we set a date with her for December 13. Let me just say that there is power in Fasting. We thought we were the only ones fasting for Jenny, but it turned out that Jenny and Ben had both fasted, the Mozina family from our ward had fasted for her, and even the Stake President had fasted for her. Ahhhh, I just wish I could tell you everything that happened or at least write out how happy I am! I get frustrated because I cant type everything that I feel. So yeah we have 2 baptismal dates set, Marty and Jenny. Please keep them in your prayers. Especially Jenny. She has a tough road ahead of her because her whole family is Catholic and very stubborn. Please pray for her.
I cant believe how involved the church is in this whole Prop 8 thing. That’s so crazy. It’s a pretty big deal out here too but its probably way crazier in California. Yeah send me those papers so I can vote. I hope its not to late though, I hear election day is tomorrow? I don’t know, they don’t tell us anything here.
Oh yeah, I think I told you the wrong size for those brown express pants a couple of weeks ago. I said size 32”32 but I think a size 30”32 would be better because they run kinda big.
Ill send pictures soon. Sorry its taking so long. I just want to get as many as possible in each chip.
K anyways, all is well here in Crestview. Ive been the happiest that ive been my whole mission so no worries. I love you guys so much! Mom- how is the business going? How are the kids? Dad- is the practice still going strong? Hows the boat and the sea-doos? I love you guys with all my heart!!!! Bye!!!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
P.S. Im going to send this twice just to make sure!!
Pray for Marty!
(week of Oct. 27, 2008)
Hello Mom and Dad and Family!
This week was a pretty crazy week. We had Zone conference on Wednesday which
always seems rekindle the fire in the work. We made a lot of changes this week with
the activities that we do on a day to day basis. We went through and just wiped out all
the activities we do that didn’t affect
our numbers over the last few weeks. Our desire to find people to teach really increased
Wednesday, and we are both happier because of it.
. Earlier this week, we got a new investigator named Marty. Marty is about 30 years old and
has lived an extremely rough life. He was an adopted child and when he was about 10 years old, his parents decided they didnt want him anymore and he went to a foster home. He was living with a
foster mom for a couple years until she died. He grew up extremely rebellious, blaming god for all his problems. He has lived on the streets for the past 5-10 years and has been on and off hard drugs. About 2 years ago he got in hold of his Mom who gave him up when he was 10 and he has been living with her. Hes been clean for the past 2 years as well. Anyways, so we met Marty and we taught him the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. Already in one week he has almost read half of it. He is extremely smart and has researched many different religions. He said that that Book of Mormon just ties all the loose ends that were in his mind. He mentioned how he read about the Mayans and the myth of the great white God who visited them and how it makes sense that it was Christ. He said that he has always known that there was just something missing from the Bible and that there had to be something else. So yeah, we had a lesson with him 3 days ago and asked him if he would be baptized and he said Yes! The date is for Nov. 22. We have a lot of work to do though. He still has coffee on a daily basis and he is an anarchist haha. Were researching the group that he is part of to make sure there isn’t illegal stuff that goes on in it. Were taking him fishing next P-day because he really doest have very many friends.
Thats awesome that yall went to the lake this week. I miss that place so much. The weather that we are having out here lately reminds me a lot of the weather in
Yeah Ray and Brett are both doing good. Its been awesome talking with them. We are still cracking the same jokes and being all nerdy like we used to so that’s fun. Emily is doing really good as well. Shes in the relief society presidency in her ward in
easier. I still need to write
I feel like my letters have been really boring lately, im sorry. Im going to be better at writing in my journal so that I can remember stories throughout the week to tell you guys about. I love you guys and I miss you. But just know that I am happy. This week was amazing. Mom- I love you so so so so much. Dad- I love you with all my heart. The rest of the Fam- I love and miss you all! Bye guys!!!
Nov 3, 2008 Martys baptism date set
11/3/08
Hello Mom and Dad and Family!
This week was a pretty crazy week. We had Zone conference on Wednesday which
always seems rekindle the fire in the work. We made a lot of changes th=
is week with the activities that we do on a day to day basis. We went through and just wiped out all the activities we do that didn't affect our numbers over the last few weeks. Our desire to find people to teach really increased after Wednesday, and we are both happier because of it. Earlier this week, we got a new investigator named Marty. Marty is about 30 years old and has lived an extremely rough life. He was an adopted child and when he was about 10 years old, his parents decided they didnt want him anymore and he went to a foster home. He was living with a foster mom for a couple years until she died. He grew up extremely rebellious, blaming god for all his problems. He has lived on the streets for the past 5-10 years and has been on and off hard drugs. About 2 years ago he got in hold of his Mom who gave him up when he was 10 and he has been living with her. Hes been clean for the past 2 years as well. Anyways, so we met Marty and we taught him the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. Already in one week he has almost read half of it. He is extremely smart and has researched many different religions. He said that that Book of Mormon just ties all the loose ends that were in his mind. He mentioned how he read about the Mayans and the myth of the great white God who visited them and how it makes sense that it was Christ. He said that he has always known that there was just something missing from the Bible and that there had to be something else. So yeah, we had a lesson with him 3
days ago and asked him if he would be baptized and he said Yes! The date
is for Nov. 22. We have a lot of work to do though. He still has coffee on a daily basis and he is an anarchist haha. Were researching the group that he is part of to make sure there isnt any illegal stuff that goes on in it. Were taking him fishing next P-day because he really doesnt have very many friends. Ill send some pictures home of him. He still looks pretty rough around the edges with his foot long hair and his 6 inch beard, but he is such a good person. So pray for Marty!!
Thats awesome that yall went to the lake this week. I miss that place so much. The weather that we are having out here lately reminds me a lot of the weather in California. There isnt too much humidity anymore and its about 70 degrees every day. Such nice biking weather! So the wave runners are running well? Thats good to hear. I cant believe we have a master craft and wave runners out there. Jeeze. I dont even want to think about it haha.
Yeah Ray and Brett are both doing good. Its been awesome talking with them.
We are still cracking the same jokes and being all nerdy like we used to
so thats fun. Emily is doing really good as well. Shes in the relief society presidency in her ward in Utah so that says something haha. Ive wrote Kimmy about a week ago so im still waiting on that. Its been really fun keeping in touch with people. It really has eliminated the whole home-sick part of the mission so it actually makes work a lot easier. I still need to write Chad and Katey. I just sent a letter off to Shawna and the Kids so now im working on them. Thats good to hear that chad is so close to being done. Thatll be a blast to have them closer to home.
I feel like my letters have been really boring lately, im sorry. Im going to be better at writing in my journal so that I can remember stories throughout the week to tell you guys about. I love you guys and I miss you. But just know that I am happy. This week was amazing. Mom- I love you so so so so much. Dad- I love you with all my heart. The rest of the Fam- I love and miss you all! Bye guys!!!
Hello Mom and Dad and Family!
This week was a pretty crazy week. We had Zone conference on Wednesday which
always seems rekindle the fire in the work. We made a lot of changes th=
is week with the activities that we do on a day to day basis. We went through and just wiped out all the activities we do that didn't affect our numbers over the last few weeks. Our desire to find people to teach really increased after Wednesday, and we are both happier because of it. Earlier this week, we got a new investigator named Marty. Marty is about 30 years old and has lived an extremely rough life. He was an adopted child and when he was about 10 years old, his parents decided they didnt want him anymore and he went to a foster home. He was living with a foster mom for a couple years until she died. He grew up extremely rebellious, blaming god for all his problems. He has lived on the streets for the past 5-10 years and has been on and off hard drugs. About 2 years ago he got in hold of his Mom who gave him up when he was 10 and he has been living with her. Hes been clean for the past 2 years as well. Anyways, so we met Marty and we taught him the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. Already in one week he has almost read half of it. He is extremely smart and has researched many different religions. He said that that Book of Mormon just ties all the loose ends that were in his mind. He mentioned how he read about the Mayans and the myth of the great white God who visited them and how it makes sense that it was Christ. He said that he has always known that there was just something missing from the Bible and that there had to be something else. So yeah, we had a lesson with him 3
days ago and asked him if he would be baptized and he said Yes! The date
is for Nov. 22. We have a lot of work to do though. He still has coffee on a daily basis and he is an anarchist haha. Were researching the group that he is part of to make sure there isnt any illegal stuff that goes on in it. Were taking him fishing next P-day because he really doesnt have very many friends. Ill send some pictures home of him. He still looks pretty rough around the edges with his foot long hair and his 6 inch beard, but he is such a good person. So pray for Marty!!
Thats awesome that yall went to the lake this week. I miss that place so much. The weather that we are having out here lately reminds me a lot of the weather in California. There isnt too much humidity anymore and its about 70 degrees every day. Such nice biking weather! So the wave runners are running well? Thats good to hear. I cant believe we have a master craft and wave runners out there. Jeeze. I dont even want to think about it haha.
Yeah Ray and Brett are both doing good. Its been awesome talking with them.
We are still cracking the same jokes and being all nerdy like we used to
so thats fun. Emily is doing really good as well. Shes in the relief society presidency in her ward in Utah so that says something haha. Ive wrote Kimmy about a week ago so im still waiting on that. Its been really fun keeping in touch with people. It really has eliminated the whole home-sick part of the mission so it actually makes work a lot easier. I still need to write Chad and Katey. I just sent a letter off to Shawna and the Kids so now im working on them. Thats good to hear that chad is so close to being done. Thatll be a blast to have them closer to home.
I feel like my letters have been really boring lately, im sorry. Im going to be better at writing in my journal so that I can remember stories throughout the week to tell you guys about. I love you guys and I miss you. But just know that I am happy. This week was amazing. Mom- I love you so so so so much. Dad- I love you with all my heart. The rest of the Fam- I love and miss you all! Bye guys!!!
Nov 3, 2008 Elder Hill, possible baptism date with Tony
Nov 3 08
Mom and Dad and Fam-
So yeah I have been hearing about all the stuff going on in California and in Salt Lake. So crazy! The members out here have been really good at informing us about everything. It seems like so much crazy stuff has been going on since I left and its only been 7 months! Is it true that they were writing on the walls Temple grounds? That’s so cool that the Polynesians were protecting the temple. Some of the best missionaries that I have met out here so far are the Polynesians.
I got the package you sent with the pictures and cloths. Thank you so much. The only thing that I forgot is that those shirts don’t have pockets haha. Its ok though. There is a senior missionary couple out here that travels around the mission and they sew and alter everyones cloths so im sure they’ll be able to so some pockets on for me. I’m still working on sending you more pictures. I forgot which ones I already sent last time. I’m sorry im taking so long with that. I love The fam looks so good! Ithe pictures that you guys send me though loved the pictures of sadie and murph-durph especially. I miss those dogs.
The weather out here is beautiful. It’s about 70-75 degrees every day. It gets pretty cold at night, but im ok with that. Im getting way excited for the holidays. I cant believe its almost Thanksgiving! Are you guys going to go get a big tree again this year or are you gonna get a smaller one? We have a really cool family signed up to feed us for thanksgiving so you don’t have to worry about me not getting fed. I am hoping to stay here another transfer. Elder Hill and I get along pretty good. To be honest there are some things he does that really irritate the crap out of me haha! But for the most part he is a good kid. He might get transferred because hes been here for almost 6 months. I don’t think ill be going anywhere soon. But of course that’s what I said back in Pensacola and I ended up getting transferred so I dunno.
This week was a pretty good week. Not as much happened as the couple weeks before but it was still a pretty good one. We got a few new investigators, but all but one got antied before we had a chance to have a second lesson. One of them called an hour after our first lesson and said, “Sorry but I’m going to have to cancel for next week because I don’t believe in a heaven where you can have more than one wife.” Then she hung up on us. She must have went on the internet or something right after we left, kind of annoying. We had to push Marty’s baptismal date back because he is still struggling a bit with the word of wisdom. He still really wants to be baptized and he knows its true. He is totally committed to quit smoking and drinking coffee so just keep praying for him. Jenny is still on for December 13. She’s going to tell her parents this week, so on Tuesday were going to give her a blessing because shes pretty scared. We are probably going to set a baptismal date with another investigator named Tony Despane soonas well. His wife is a member and I think he is getting pretty close. We have had some really good lessons with him. Other than that we just contacted, tracted, and visited less-actives all week.
Im glad you guys had fun at the lake this week. I miss that place. Theres about 5 or 6 really cool missionaries out here that I invited to come out there for a weekend when we all come back so I hope that’s ok with you guys haha. Mom and Dad, I love you so much. Thank you for everything. Your letters, packages, and emails make me so happy. Im so happy that everything is going good back home. Keep me posted about this whole Prop. 8 thing. I love you Mom! I love you Dad! I love you Family!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Mom and Dad and Fam-
So yeah I have been hearing about all the stuff going on in California and in Salt Lake. So crazy! The members out here have been really good at informing us about everything. It seems like so much crazy stuff has been going on since I left and its only been 7 months! Is it true that they were writing on the walls Temple grounds? That’s so cool that the Polynesians were protecting the temple. Some of the best missionaries that I have met out here so far are the Polynesians.
I got the package you sent with the pictures and cloths. Thank you so much. The only thing that I forgot is that those shirts don’t have pockets haha. Its ok though. There is a senior missionary couple out here that travels around the mission and they sew and alter everyones cloths so im sure they’ll be able to so some pockets on for me. I’m still working on sending you more pictures. I forgot which ones I already sent last time. I’m sorry im taking so long with that. I love The fam looks so good! Ithe pictures that you guys send me though loved the pictures of sadie and murph-durph especially. I miss those dogs.
The weather out here is beautiful. It’s about 70-75 degrees every day. It gets pretty cold at night, but im ok with that. Im getting way excited for the holidays. I cant believe its almost Thanksgiving! Are you guys going to go get a big tree again this year or are you gonna get a smaller one? We have a really cool family signed up to feed us for thanksgiving so you don’t have to worry about me not getting fed. I am hoping to stay here another transfer. Elder Hill and I get along pretty good. To be honest there are some things he does that really irritate the crap out of me haha! But for the most part he is a good kid. He might get transferred because hes been here for almost 6 months. I don’t think ill be going anywhere soon. But of course that’s what I said back in Pensacola and I ended up getting transferred so I dunno.
This week was a pretty good week. Not as much happened as the couple weeks before but it was still a pretty good one. We got a few new investigators, but all but one got antied before we had a chance to have a second lesson. One of them called an hour after our first lesson and said, “Sorry but I’m going to have to cancel for next week because I don’t believe in a heaven where you can have more than one wife.” Then she hung up on us. She must have went on the internet or something right after we left, kind of annoying. We had to push Marty’s baptismal date back because he is still struggling a bit with the word of wisdom. He still really wants to be baptized and he knows its true. He is totally committed to quit smoking and drinking coffee so just keep praying for him. Jenny is still on for December 13. She’s going to tell her parents this week, so on Tuesday were going to give her a blessing because shes pretty scared. We are probably going to set a baptismal date with another investigator named Tony Despane soonas well. His wife is a member and I think he is getting pretty close. We have had some really good lessons with him. Other than that we just contacted, tracted, and visited less-actives all week.
Im glad you guys had fun at the lake this week. I miss that place. Theres about 5 or 6 really cool missionaries out here that I invited to come out there for a weekend when we all come back so I hope that’s ok with you guys haha. Mom and Dad, I love you so much. Thank you for everything. Your letters, packages, and emails make me so happy. Im so happy that everything is going good back home. Keep me posted about this whole Prop. 8 thing. I love you Mom! I love you Dad! I love you Family!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Reading Jesus the Christ
Mom, Dad, and Family-
This week has been a pretty good one. We found 4 new people to teach so that was pretty good. The weather is getting so nice here. Its about 75 degrees today and not very humid at all. That’s pretty much how it’s been all week and hopefully it’ll keep getting colder from here on out cuz I’m loving it You want pictures of Elder Honzic? That was my trainer, I think I sent pictures of him a while ago. Elder Hill is who Im with right now. I know its probably confusing because they all start with Elder.
Im still having a blast here. The only thing I miss is being around other missionaries for P-day. The closest missionaries to us besides the sisters are about 45 minutes away in Defuniak Springs. The whole Jenny situation worked out pretty good. We are still going to teach her. It’s a long and complicated story so I'm not going to get into it haha. But it worked out that’s all that matters. We actually just taught her another lesson yesterday and it went really well. She said she wants to be part of the church and raise a family in it so I think she is getting pretty close. Id say she is probably our most promising investigator right now. We ended up doing a butt load of tracting this week. Its hard to get ward members to get out and talk to their friends and neighbors. Seriously, that is the only way the work is going to progress, is if the members realize that it is their job to get out and find people. I feel for them though, because it is extremely intimidating to talk to people in the south considering everyone is Baptist and pretty much everyone has heard of the Mormons and thinks we are a bunch of Loonies. I guess theres an anti-mormon movie that’s really popular our here called God Makers. Its some ex-temple worker that fell away and he made this cartoon of the temple ceremony that is all false. Most of the people that like to bash out here have that movie and swear by it. Its so annoying.
So Daniel Griffin is putting in his papers? That is so crazy! Has Brett Anderson left for Africa yet? Ive been talking to Ray and Brett a lot lately. Its kinda fun writing letters back and forth with them. Ive also been writing to Emily Labonte a little bit lately. She says shes going down to Yorba Linda for a little bit soon and shell probably come visit you guys. That’s so awesome that you guys talked to Sister Baird. Yeah she was way cool. Her Daughter is Sister Cooksie in our Ward. The Cooksies are probably one of my favorite families out here. So You talked to her for like 30 minutes I here? Sister Cooksie said you guys were both crying lol. That made my day yesterday when I heard she called you guys. I knew she was going to try but I know how our family is with answering phone numbers we don’t recognize haha. That’s awesome that you guys are doing that Prop. 8 thing on the street corner. Ive heard a lot about that out here as well. Everyone is talking about how bad it is in California right now. So scary. But at least we know that whatever happens, it'll all work out in the end.
Ive been reading Jesus The Christ every night before bed. Thank you for sending it out. That book is so amazing. Its completely addictive though. Can you believe how close Christmas is? That is so weird to me. Summer flew by way to fast. I don’t really have any Christmas ideas yet. Ill probably ask for another brown pair of 32”32 express pants and that’s it. I really need Shawna's new address. I wrote her and the family a letter and I cant send it until I have their new address. Anyways, sorry about the boring letter. There wasn’t that much to write about this week. Ill do better next week. I love you gusy with all my heart. Your in my Prayers every night. I love you Mom! I love You Dad! Im way excited to talk to yall on Christmas
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Current Address in Crestview
Josh's local address in Crestview is:
368 Hospital Dr.
Crestview, FLA. 32539
368 Hospital Dr.
Crestview, FLA. 32539
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
A great phone call!
Just had a call from a lady named Kathy Baird, who just recently had dinner with Elder Burnham and Elder Hill in Crestview, Fla! She was visiting her daughter and they had the missionaries for dinner. She called and told us how cute these elders were, what a sweet message Josh gave, and how impressed she was with them! She said she thought Josh had been out a whole lot longer than he has been cause he seemed so confident with the scriptures, and seemed like a "seasoned missionary"! He looks great, has gained 25 lbs, and she said the ward there was so friendly and there was such a good spirit there. In fact all of the people she had met in that area were extraordinarily friendly and sweet. All of this information is quite good to hear of course! Makes me realize I need to call the families of these elders we have for dinner. The call meant so much to us!!
Sister Missionary drama
Hey Yall!!
So this week was kind of a quiet week back at home? Im sorry. That’s probably a good thing to have every once in a while though. When are you guys going up to the lake again? I sneeked a peak at the blog site just now lol. Im glad everything is going good back home. I had no idea Ryan was engaged though! Wow that’s crazy. Have you met the girl? Is she cool?
This week wasn’t as exciting as last week, although there was a lot of drama in our district. It was actually quite annoying. I don’t know if dad or chad ever served in a district with sister missionaries, but if they have, they will know what I am talking about. To make a long story short, Jenny(the girl we have been teaching) lives about 500 feet outside of our boundaries which would technically mean that she is in the sisters area. But Jenny has said that she is comfortable with us teaching her and her fellowship is in our ward. Anyways, the sisters freaked out because we called the Zone leaders and they said for us to keep teaching her. So one of the sisters called my companion(Elder Hill) and left probably the most threatening message I have ever heard from a girl in my life saying she was going to tear him a new one and then kill him. Elder Hill is the District Leader by the way so he pretty much takes all the heat from them. I just sit back and watch it unfold haha. I recorded the message and im going to send it home so you can hear it because frankly, I think its hilarious.
Besides that, this week was a little slower than usual. We taught a few lessons so that was good. A bunch of people either cancelled on us or we had to cancel on them because it rained pretty heavy in the beginning of the week so it makes it difficult on the bikes.
We just got transfer information today. This is the first time I am actually staying with the same comapanion for more than a transfer. Its kinda nice because I actually get along with Elder Hill pretty well. Sometimes I get a little annoyed with him, but hey after Serving with my first comp, ill be fine serving with anybody for the rest of my mission.
Although not that much happened this week, I feel like ive still grown a lot. I reflected a lot on my calling as a missionary. I really feel like we are a part of something so amazing. Not just us as missionaries, but the Church in general. Ive taken the Church for granted my whole life, and I feel like im just starting to figure out the importance of it all. I guess im just really grateful to be out here serving the Lord. He has shown me so much. I have been able to make so many changes in my life, and I have been able to realize my true potential as a son of my Father in Heaven. Im sorry I don’t have much to write this week, but just know how grateful I am for how you brought me up and raised me in the gospel. Although ive learned a ton on my mission, you guys taught me the basics of who I could rely on when ever I needed help, and that is what saved me.
I love you guys so much. I love our Family with all my heart. I think about all you guys everyday. And it doesn’t make me sad at all, it gets me so excited for what the future has in store. I have been blessed beyond measure with the opportunity to be out here. I am so grateful to my Father in Heaven that he has seen it fit in his plan to allow me to be an instrument in his hands. I love You Mom! I love you Dad! I love you Katey, Shawna, Chad, and the rest of the Fam!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Monday, October 6, 2008
Missionaries do not teach these lessons, the Spirit does!
Mom and Dad-
Hello again! K my Address is 368 Hospital Dr. Crestview, Fl 32539.Yeah I just got the package on Saturday. When did you send it? Im pretty sure it takes like 4 extra days to go through the mission office. Thank you so much. Its nice to have stuff to snack on. That’s awesome you guys had everyone up at the Lake house this weekend. Sorry about the weather though. Was dad bummed? General Conference was so good. I really liked Elder Hollands talk on Angels ministering to us. That one was hit me pretty good. Which ones did you guys like? I loved how when they announced the temple in Rome, you could hear everyone in the conference center gasp. We watched it at our church building. There wasn’t too many people there because most people just watch it on tv now days.
Yesterday was amazing! In between sessions, we had a lesson with this girl named Jenny. Her boyfriend Ben just got his mission call to New Zealand and a couple weeks ago he gave us a call and said he wanted us to teach Jenny some of our beliefs. Ben is awesome by the way. He totally reminds me of Ray. So anyways, last week we taught her the First Lesson and she just seemed very quiet the whole time. Then a couple days later Ben called and said that Jenny was still very interested and she had read some of the Book of Mormon. So we met with her yesterday and it was such an amaizing lesson. At first she was saying how she just didn’t know how to know for sure whether the Catholic church(which she was raised in) was right or the Mormon church. She told us how everything about the Mormon church just feels so right and it all sounds so good, but she just didn’t know. She then said that she had prayed but wasn’t sure if it was an answer she was getting or just her own feelings. I explained to her that God is always going to give an answer, that’s not the hard part. The hard part is the fact that so many people in todays world are just too comfortable with there lives to actually act on the answer when it is received. I told her that I have seen way to many people on my mission so far that have prayed and prayed and prayed for answer, then they complain and say the church isn’t true because they didn’t receive a sign. Its not because God wasn’t willing to give them that answer, its because they were not willing to act on it and to change there lives. I bore my testimony to her about prophets and about the plan of salvation and eternal families. She then started crying and said she knows its true, but she didn’t know how she would tell her parents. She said that she was scared that they wouldn’t speak to her. I then told her about Mom and how she converted and how Nanna and Boppa didn’t but how they still loved each other. Then we talked about Temples and that they will have the opportunity to hear the gospel whether it be in this life or the next. To sum it up, she expressed how she wants to raise her family in the church. She told us that as she has read about baptism, she gets so excited. ANYWAYS, it was a good lesson. I wish I could explain it better! Words cant describe how happy I was yesterday. We had planned on teaching her the plan of salvation, but for about an hour and a half we talked about stuff that had nothing to do with that. It was a testimony builder for me, that the spirit directs these lessons, not us. Ben called us today and said that Jenny said that every single thing that was said by Elder Hill and I, were answers to questions that she had prayed about the night before. Missionaries do not teach these lessons, the spirit does.
That whole thing probably sounded extremely boastful, sorry. I was just really excited. I hope that all made sence. I love you guys. I wish you were here sharing these experiences with me. I love my mission. Experiences like the the lessons we had with shaheem and Jenny make every bad day worth it. Mom- Yes I am taking my Juice Plus pills. I just took one today I love you with all my heart. Dad- I love you with all my heart too. Take care of the grandkids for me. I miss them so much. I love those pictures you sent. Im fine on cloths, at least till Christmas I love Yall!!!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
P.s. The rest of the week was good too. I just realized I didn’t really say anything about how im doing or how the rest of the week went. All I did was tell you that story. Ill do better next week Sorry! I love yall!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Nov 1, 2008 Zone Conference always rekindles the fire
11/3
Hello Mom and Dad and Family!
This week was a pretty crazy week. We had Zone conference on Wednesday which always seems rekindle the fire in the work. We made a lot of changes this week with the activities that we do on a day to day basis. We went through and just wiped out all the activities we do that didnt affect our numbers over the last few weeks. Our desire to find people to teach really increased after Wednesday, and we are both happier because of it. Earlier this week, we got a new investigator named Marty. Marty is about 30 years old and has lived an extremely rough life. He was an adopted child and when he was about 10 years old, his parents decided they didnt want him anymore and he went to a foster home. He was living with a foster mom for a couple years until she died. He grew up extremely rebellious, blaming god for all his problems. He has lived on the streets for the past 5-10 years and has been on and off hard drugs. About 2 years ago he got in hold of his Mom who gave him up when he was 10 and he has been living with her. Hes been clean for the past 2 years as well. Anyways, so we met Marty and we taught him the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. Already in one week he has almost read half of it. He is extremely smart and has researched many different religions. He said that that Book of Mormon just ties all the loose ends that were in his mind. He mentioned how he read about the Mayans and the myth of the great white God who visited them and how it makes sense that it was Christ. He said that he has always known that there was just something missing from the Bible and
that there had to be something else. So yeah, we had a lesson with him 3
days ago and asked him if he would be baptized and he said Yes! The date
is for Nov. 22. We have a lot of work to do though. He still has coffee on a daily basis and he is an anarchist haha. Were researching the group that he is part of to make sure there isnt any illegal stuff that goes on in it. Were taking him fishing next P-day because he really doesnt have very many friends. Ill send some pictures home of him. He still looks pretty rough around the edges with his foot long hair and his 6 inch beard, but he is such a good person. So pray for Marty!!
Thats awesome that yall went to the lake this week. I miss that place so much. The weather that we are having out here lately reminds me a
lot of the weather in California. There isnt too much humidity anymore and its about 70 degrees every day. Such nice biking weather! So the wave runners are running well? Thats good to hear. I cant believe we have a master craft and wave runners out there. Jeeze. I dont even want to think about it haha.
Yeah Ray and Brett are both doing good. Its been awesome talking with them.
We are still cracking the same jokes and being all nerdy like we used to so thats fun. Emily is doing really good as well. Shes in the relief society presidency in her ward in Utah so that says something haha. Ive wrote Kimmy about a week ago so Im still waiting on that. Its been really fun keeping in touch with people. It really has eliminated the whole home-sick part of the mission so it actually makes work a lot easier. I still need to write Chad and Katey. I just sent a letter off to Shawna and the Kids so now im working on them. Thats good to hear that chad is so close to being done. Thatll be a blast to have them closer to home.
I feel like my letters have been really boring lately, I'm sorry. Im going to be better at writing in my journal so that I can remember stories throughout the week to tell you guys about. I love you guys and I miss you. But just know that I am happy. This week was amazing. Mom- I love you so so so so much. Dad- I love you with all my heart. The rest of the Fam- I love and miss you all! Bye guys!!!
Hello Mom and Dad and Family!
This week was a pretty crazy week. We had Zone conference on Wednesday which always seems rekindle the fire in the work. We made a lot of changes this week with the activities that we do on a day to day basis. We went through and just wiped out all the activities we do that didnt affect our numbers over the last few weeks. Our desire to find people to teach really increased after Wednesday, and we are both happier because of it. Earlier this week, we got a new investigator named Marty. Marty is about 30 years old and has lived an extremely rough life. He was an adopted child and when he was about 10 years old, his parents decided they didnt want him anymore and he went to a foster home. He was living with a foster mom for a couple years until she died. He grew up extremely rebellious, blaming god for all his problems. He has lived on the streets for the past 5-10 years and has been on and off hard drugs. About 2 years ago he got in hold of his Mom who gave him up when he was 10 and he has been living with her. Hes been clean for the past 2 years as well. Anyways, so we met Marty and we taught him the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. Already in one week he has almost read half of it. He is extremely smart and has researched many different religions. He said that that Book of Mormon just ties all the loose ends that were in his mind. He mentioned how he read about the Mayans and the myth of the great white God who visited them and how it makes sense that it was Christ. He said that he has always known that there was just something missing from the Bible and
that there had to be something else. So yeah, we had a lesson with him 3
days ago and asked him if he would be baptized and he said Yes! The date
is for Nov. 22. We have a lot of work to do though. He still has coffee on a daily basis and he is an anarchist haha. Were researching the group that he is part of to make sure there isnt any illegal stuff that goes on in it. Were taking him fishing next P-day because he really doesnt have very many friends. Ill send some pictures home of him. He still looks pretty rough around the edges with his foot long hair and his 6 inch beard, but he is such a good person. So pray for Marty!!
Thats awesome that yall went to the lake this week. I miss that place so much. The weather that we are having out here lately reminds me a
lot of the weather in California. There isnt too much humidity anymore and its about 70 degrees every day. Such nice biking weather! So the wave runners are running well? Thats good to hear. I cant believe we have a master craft and wave runners out there. Jeeze. I dont even want to think about it haha.
Yeah Ray and Brett are both doing good. Its been awesome talking with them.
We are still cracking the same jokes and being all nerdy like we used to so thats fun. Emily is doing really good as well. Shes in the relief society presidency in her ward in Utah so that says something haha. Ive wrote Kimmy about a week ago so Im still waiting on that. Its been really fun keeping in touch with people. It really has eliminated the whole home-sick part of the mission so it actually makes work a lot easier. I still need to write Chad and Katey. I just sent a letter off to Shawna and the Kids so now im working on them. Thats good to hear that chad is so close to being done. Thatll be a blast to have them closer to home.
I feel like my letters have been really boring lately, I'm sorry. Im going to be better at writing in my journal so that I can remember stories throughout the week to tell you guys about. I love you guys and I miss you. But just know that I am happy. This week was amazing. Mom- I love you so so so so much. Dad- I love you with all my heart. The rest of the Fam- I love and miss you all! Bye guys!!!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Just throw out tht little extra effort....and the Lord really does bless you for it!
Hey Mom and Dad!
Im glad to here everything is going good back home. Yes I got your package Thank you so much. I get so excited whenever I get letters or packages. Some of that stuff I probably wont be listening to because there are some love songs, but you put some really good ones on there as well. I love the Jason Castro songs! I can definitely listen to those out here because its all gospel. You should so send me out his version of somewhere over the rainbow! But yeah, thank you for those CDs and also the goodies. Oh and thank you for remembering Kimi’s address. Im actually trying to write people on my P-days now. Im gonna try and write the rest of the family either today or next P-day. I have been writing Ray and Brett as well so that’s been fun. I’m so jealous that you get to go to the Temple! Missionaries out here are always talking about how much we miss the temple. I really do miss it. I regret not going more often when I had the chance to.
This week has been one of our better weeks here in Crestview. I found that when just throw out that extra effort and try to just step out of your comfort zone a little bit more than you are used to to talk to somebody, the Lord really does. Bless you for it. For example, this last Tuesday, We were biking around visiting Less-active members and by the end of the day, we were dead tired. We had one more house to visit and it was the farthest one on the map. We pedaled all the way there just to fid that they weren’t home. So as we were about to bike back home for dinner, We noticed that there was a lady sitting out on here front porch right next door to the house we were at. So we kind of sighed and went to talk to her. She was a nice lady but she really didn’t seem to interested, but we still felt good about throwing the invitation out there. So anyways, as we were biking home after a long day of not really any success, all of a sudden this young black man runs out in the street and stops us. He asked us what we were doing riding around in such nice cloths. We told him who we were and taught him the The Restoration in about 3 minutes. When we told him about Prophets and Apostles on the earth today, he was like, “ No way! Really?! Like, a real Prophet like Moses or Abrham? Wow!” This kid (Shaheem) is so prepared for the gospel. I honestly feel that its because we threw out that extra effort that the Lord allowed us to find Shaheem, or rather, for him to find us. Im not saying that to brag, im just saying its awesome how when we show the Lord that we are willing to go just that little extra distance, he ALWAYS delivers. Anyways, long story short, we ended up setting up a return appointment with Shaheem and we asked him when he receives an answer that the Book of Mormon is true would he be baptized and he said, “Yes sir!” So we are very excited for him.
Other than that, Were teaching this other married couple now who I guess you would call eternal investigators. The missioaries have been going to there place for the pst 8 years and they take very good care of us. They feed us when ever we go over there and we actually have benn going over there for fishing on the last 2 P-days haha. They have 70 acres of land, 1 lake, 3 fishing ponds, and a swamp. It’s the most beautiful land I have ever seen. Were going ove there today to go fishing again.
Anyways, I only have a couple minutes left to type. I am alive and Kicking. I don’t wear my seatbelt, but I do wear a helmet This week has been so much better. Yes, I am still very happy out here in Florida. I love you guys so much. I don’t know the address right this moment, but I am sending pictures home this week so I will put our home address as the return address. Its just scary though becuae I get tranfered and you send a letter to the old address, most likely the missionary would be to lazy to forward it right away. I don’t think im getting transferred though so ill give it to you. I love you guys so much! Thank you for everything! Mom- hows the business going? I love you so much! Dad- Is this practice still going strong? I love you so much also! Bye guys!!!! Tell the Family I love them!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Monday, September 15, 2008
Chased by the dogs
Mom and Dad-
So you guys didn’t go to the lake at all this week? Sweet haha. Ill have to see pictures of moms new haircut. This week was kind of depressing. The work was good, but aside from that, I was hoping to get some letters this week. I wrote a few of my friends a while back and havent really heard from them yet. Oh well. So your sending off the CDs and some pictures? Awesome! I love getting pictures from you guys. I really don’t have nearly enough.
So funny, the other day when we were riding our bikes, all of a sudden two dogs jump out of the bushes and chase Elder Hall for about half a mile. I swear these dogs were the fastest dogs I have ever seen. He was in front of me so of course I was just watching the whole thing and laughing my head off. I have never seen a 210 pound man bike so fast in my life. There were some people watching the whole thing too that were pretty entertained. But anyways, after the dogs were done with My companion, they looked back and saw me not to far behind. So they quickly hide behind the nearest bush, and sure enough, as I ride by the bush, they jump out of the bush at me and start chasing me down as well. But at that point they were a little more tired and I had my foot off the pedal ready to kick one in the face if it got close enough. We escaped with our lives so I guess that’s good.
Yeah so far this area is really cool. Im getting used to the whole bike thing. I think at this next Zone conference we are going to petition for a car though. This area is pretty big for a bike area and there are a few places that we just cant get to with out a car. So hopefully that works out. This is definitely a different area from Fox Run though that’s for sure. There are some weird people over here. Theres two areas that we never go through at night. One of the neighborhoods we call Crackville, and just on the other side of the street is Dope District. We have a black friend who lives there and that’s what he calls it. He says he will keep us out of trouble when we ride through there haha. We kind of have like, 3 different classes in Crestview. We have the completely rural red neck area, the more family oriented neighborhoods, and of course the ghetto which is my favorite place to go. I really don’t know why, I think its because the people are just so much more humble there so they will sit and talk to us all day long. Our apartment is the biggest one that I have been in so far. Its actually really nice. The members feed us very well in the area so we hardly ever have to make our own dinner. The only concern in this area is that since it is more inland, there tends to be more tornadoes up here. So Good!! I hope I see one.
Im trying to think of anything else exciting to tell you. Oh yeah, last week for P-day, we got permission to drive 30 minutes north to Alabama. The sisters drove us up there. We went to a little town called Florala, Alabama. It was awesome. Such a beautiful area. I took a lot of pictures so ill be sending those off soon.
Well, nothing else to special to tell you guys. Im still as happy as can be. I love it here. My studies have improved so much as ive prayed for help. The Lord is helping me and lifting me every single day I am out here. I really miss the Temple by the way. I know, kinda random, but I do! I miss you guys. I love you sooooo much. Tell the Family how much I miss them and love them! Mom- I love you!!!!! Dad- I love you!!!! Katey, Keegan, Chad, Emily, Parker, Shawna, Andy, Julie, Ryan, and Kenna-I love you all!!!!!!
Bye yall
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Friday, September 12, 2008
Transfer to Crestview...The Lord is on my side
Mom and Dad-
This week has been a really good week actually. It was so weird when I found out that I was getting transferred. I really thought that I was going to be in Fox Run for at least like two more transfers. I loved Fox Run. The Pensacola Zone was just so great. I really do miss it. But im excited about this new area. The only thing im not excited about is the fact that it’s a bike area! Lame, lame, lame. Itll be nice to get back into shape though haha. Maybe ill shake off the 25 lbs that I have gained out here. It is so weird, I am still as skinny as can be, but my stomach sticks out about 7 more inches than the rest of my body haha. All the weight I have gained is all in my stomach. It looks really weird. Anyways, my comapanion is really cool. We already get along really well. Hes kind of a dork though. He looooves superman and he Loooooooooves star wars. But other than that, hes actually really cool and we have a lot in common.
Crestview is a pretty simple area. Its more rural than Fox Run that’s for sure. Half of this area is a little more city, and half is extremely back country. There is a ton of military in this area because its next to Fort Walton. We are actually in the Fort Walton Zone. I havnt really met any of the other missionaries in our zone yet. Our district is pretty cool though. We have two sisters; Sister Bartson and Sister Malcom. My comp (Elder Hill) has a crush on Sister Malcom haha. And then the other missionaries in our district are Elders Lewis and Treasure. Elder Lewis is the one who I came out with the first time who I said was awesome. Hes our district leader.
So that’s awesome that you guys had a lot of the family down for a little bit. Im so jealous. I bet that was so fun. And I cant believe you guys bought sea dews! That’s so awesome. Those will be so much fun out there for everyone. I bet Julie loves them.
Im glad you got the pictures. Yeah that’s fine if you put some pics on the chip. But I would rather you get them developed so I can have them to put in a picture book or something. Im trying to get more pictures. As far as the pics I sent you, you can take the chip to any Walmart and usually they have these machines there that you can just stick the chip in and they will just develop the whole chip. Im just going to start doing that before I send you guys the chip. I just found out you could do that like a week ago.
We don’t have as many people to teach in this area as we did in Fox Run, but the people that we are teaching seem like they are a lot more promising. We have about 6 or 7 investigators. I haven’t met each one of them yet, but from what I hear, they are amazing people. We average about one or two full lessons a day here so its not to bad. The Lord will help this area to grow, I know it.
I will send Boppa that letter today. I have a lot of letters to write today so I will add him to the list. Ive been writing Ray and Brett so that’s been fun getting letters from them. It sounds like they are both doing very well. I miss them a lot. Anyways, I am back to using dumb library computers that only give us 60 minutes to write all our emails like I had back in Navarre. So im gonna go write President now. If I have some extra time, I will get back on and write a little more. I love you guys so so so so much. Seriously, a day doesn’t go by where I am not thinking about the family. I hope you don’t ever worry about me. Im loving life right now. I have never been so happy. The lord is blessing me in so many different ways. If I am ever struggling, he gives me the strength to cope. There is no need to worry. The Lord is on my side. I love him and know that he lives, and is watching over me. I love you Mom. I love you Dad. Stay close to the Savior. Make sure the rest of the Family is too. I Love Yall!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
"But for a small moment"
Mom and Dad-
So yeah the storm was actually pretty sweet over here. It was mainly tropical storm conditions which is still unlike any rain ive ever seen. The storm has already passed but there is still some thunder and lighting going on outside. Did you here about the other tropical storms out in the Atlantic right now? Hanna, Ike, and Josephine. They say its really crazy to be having so many storms back to back like this. So maybe we will have better luck in a couple weeks with another hurricane haha. But anyways, of course mom, I am safe and yes my seatbelt stays on. It was on in that video! I promise!
So guess what? Im getting transferred again tomorrow! I’m moving to Crestview Florida. Its in the Fort Walton Zone. Im going to be with Elder Hill. I hear he’s a really good guy. Its kind of bitter sweet because I love Fox Run. I really don’t want to leave the people here. So I don’t know what to think yet of these transfers. The one really good thing is that im going to be in Elder Lewis’s Zone. That’s the one I was in the MTC the first time with who I loved. He’s so awesome. I really excited to serve around him.
So I’m glad you liked the pictures. Whats the name of the blog sight? Ill see if I could get permission to check it out Im taking tons of pictures with the other chip because I feel bad about how long it took to get pictures out to you guys. I just took some awesome pics yesterday of a banana spider next to our apartment. No joke, this thing was as big as my hand. And im not exaggerating! It was pretty cool.
So this week was still a pretty slow week just like last week. Elder Keesler was still pretty sick so we didn’t have a chance to do much. We found a few new investigators and taught a few different people but that’s about it. Plus we couldn’t do anything all day yesterday because of the storm. Oh crap! I just realized I forgot to tell you we didn’t have P-day yesterday. Our p-day is today because of Labor day. Sorry, I’m sure you weren’t expecting an email anyways because of the storm so I think im good.
Definitely take some pictures with chad and take some next time you go to the lake. And could you maybe print off some of the better pictures I sent you guys? I would like to have some of those pics. Next time ill get some developed off my chip before I send them to you.
I just listened to a really great talk this morning by Maxwell for my personal study. I forget what its called! Dang it! I was going to tell you the name so you could look it up. Ill write it down when I get back and tell you next week. Its sooo good. Oh I remember!! Yes!! It’s called, “But for a Small Moment” Its one of the best talks that I have heard up here so far. If you haven’t read it, you guys should read it this week. It changed my mission when I first read it in Navarre when I was serving with Elder Honzic. If you have any good talks for me to read, let me know.
Oh yeah before I forget, Dad- can you burn me a couple CDs off the computer? If they are still on there. They might have been on the old computer. Can you burn me Alexi Murdoch and also that really good “slap guitarist” that we really liked. The one that had that video? I think the song was called drifting. Thers no lyrics. That kind of stuff is approved out here for P-days so if you could do that that would be really cool.
Anyways, I have to go email president now. Im glad to here everything is going good back home. I love you guys so so much. I hope you know how happy I am out here. I havnt had a baptism yet but that’s OK! Some of the conversions ive seen have been better than seeing a baptism anyways. I love you guys. Tell the family I love them too. Bye
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Prayer has changed my life
Mom and Dad-
Elder John is amazing. He says he loves yall. He says you did an amazing job raising me. Anyways, how are you guys? The pictures are in the mail as of today. This week has been really good. I went on a 2 day trade-off this week. It was really fun. I love the district im in right now. That’s crazy that you guys went to the lake for the whole week, but no education week? What’s up with that? Ya I felt really bad about last week and how I ran out of time. And I am really sorry about the pictures! Im horrible with taking pictures. I labled them all last night and they are being sent today.
The storm was pretty lame in our area. Church was cancelled yesterday because we were supposed to get 12 inches of rain, but the storm missed us. There were some areas right around us that got over 30 inches of rain in 2 days! That’s more than seattle gets in a whole year. Crazy stuff. They say that because we have had so many storms in the passed couple months, we will most likely have a hurricane before the season ends. There were a lot of tornadoes that went through mobile and Tallahassee. Im mad we didn’t get any
Time is flying by out here. This transfer has been so awesome. Ive kind of figured out how to work hard and get work done but not stress myself out too much. Ive connected with a lot of the members in this area. They are a great support. We have so many people we are teaching and 2 of them have committed to baptism. I love this area. Im pretty sure I will be here for 2 more transfers. I hope ill be training next transfer. That would be so much fun.
Did I ever tell you we are moving into a new apartment? We are moving in today! Im really excited to get out of the 10 by 10 ft room that we have been living in. Itll be nice having a place to ourselves again. Can you believe that this summer is already almost over? School is in session for most of the kids out here. That is so weird. I’m almost at my 5 month mark. So crazy.
Sorry I didn’t really go into to much detail about how this week went. It was kind of hectic because of that trade off that I was on. Elder Keesler has been sick all week too so we havnt gotten too much work done. But its been good because I have had tons of time to study. We only got like 3 new investigators this week. Well do better next week though.
Could you put just a little more money in my account? I had to go by a pair of prosyliting church pants from pac sun because im getting to fat for my pants haha. Im trying to stop but I don’t know how. My stomach is getting bigger and bigger. The pants I have still fit, they are just getting pretty tight on me. Im all out of money on my mission card, but we get money put back in that at the end of this week so I just need like $20 to get me by for food.
I miss you guys so much. Don’t get me wrong, I love my life right now, I just miss my family. Im glad everything is still going good at dads office. How is the your business going mom? Anyways, I love you guys, I hope all is well. I think about you all the time. I hope averyone is saying your prayers everynight and morning!! Seriously, if you guys aren’t, start doing it! Prayer has changed my life. I love it so much. Its crazy how much prayer really works. I love my heavently father. He has worked so many miracles through us in this area. The gospel Is the greatest. I love you Mom! I love you dad! I love you Family! Bye!!!
Love,
Elder Burnham
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
There is a hurricane coming up toward this direction...
Mom and Dad-
Since i couldnt really write you guys yesterday, i got permission from our district leader to come back to the library for just a little bit and write a little more. Its still productive because Elder Keesler is looking up something on the church website that we will probably use in our next lesson.
Tonight we are teaching a teaching the Purvis's, who are a part member family in our ward. We are also teaching an investigator named sister Hutchins who we think will probably committ to baptism soon. Shes an awsome lady. We are teaching her at Sister Thomas's house. I think i told you about sister thomas, shes that awsome black lady who i celebrated my birthday with.
Everything is going good here in Pensacola. There is a hurricane coming up toward this direction though. Im sure youve heard about that. Im getting pretty excited. They say its projected path is a little more East of our mission, but everyone ive talked to down here says that the weather people dont know anything and that as soon as the storm hits the gulf it could pretty much go anywhere. Maybe that will humble the people here a little bit.
Anyways, I dont wanna use up too much of our prosyliting time. I just wanted to let you know that everything is alright and that I love you guys with all my heart. I love my mission. Its da best! I love you Mom! I love you Dad! Im sending pictures home before the week is finished. I promise this time! Tell everyone i love them!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Since i couldnt really write you guys yesterday, i got permission from our district leader to come back to the library for just a little bit and write a little more. Its still productive because Elder Keesler is looking up something on the church website that we will probably use in our next lesson.
Tonight we are teaching a teaching the Purvis's, who are a part member family in our ward. We are also teaching an investigator named sister Hutchins who we think will probably committ to baptism soon. Shes an awsome lady. We are teaching her at Sister Thomas's house. I think i told you about sister thomas, shes that awsome black lady who i celebrated my birthday with.
Everything is going good here in Pensacola. There is a hurricane coming up toward this direction though. Im sure youve heard about that. Im getting pretty excited. They say its projected path is a little more East of our mission, but everyone ive talked to down here says that the weather people dont know anything and that as soon as the storm hits the gulf it could pretty much go anywhere. Maybe that will humble the people here a little bit.
Anyways, I dont wanna use up too much of our prosyliting time. I just wanted to let you know that everything is alright and that I love you guys with all my heart. I love my mission. Its da best! I love you Mom! I love you Dad! Im sending pictures home before the week is finished. I promise this time! Tell everyone i love them!
Love,
Elder Joshua Burnham
Monday, August 18, 2008
5 solid new investigators...
Mom and Dad-
How are you guys?? I love hearing about how everything is going back at home. That's awesome that Chads pretty much done with all the schooling and stuff. I loved that Alma 36 thing that you guys sent me. That was so awesome.
Oh crap, for some reason they are closing the library early today! They just came around and said they are closing in 5 minutes! Dang!
Oh crap, for some reason they are closing the library early today! They just came around and said they are closing in 5 minutes! Dang!
Ill hurry and write. If I don't get that much done I promise I will just write you a letter tonight
So yeah this week has been really good. We got about 5 solid new investigators. Elder Keesler and I are getting along great. I love teaching with him. He is so powerful. A lot of prayers have been answered for me this week as far as asking for strength and I have felt the Lords presence very strong. I love being a missionary. I have some of the best missionaries in our district. We played Volleyball today so that was really fun. Im a little bit rusty though. Oh poop they are making us log off right now! I love you! Ill write you tonight and send pics!!! I love you
Love,
Elder Burnham
Love,
Elder Burnham
Monday, August 11, 2008
really productive week...
Things are going really good out here. We just got done playing dodgeball at the church with most of the zone. It was way fun. Were ending our p-day early today and going back to work until about 6pm. Then at 6 were having a zone bon fire. Its going to be really fun. My trainer (Elder Hunzic) leaves on the 19th so hes gonna be there. He called me last night and hes starting to get really sad that hes leaving.
This week has been a really productive week. Its also been one of the more difficult ones because of how hot its been. We found 6 new investigators, all of which are very solid. One of them has completely agreed with everything we have taught him and says that he and his wife want to get baptized. We have about 20 people in our teaching pool right now but after this week im sure that number will drop a little bit. Teaching is becoming easier and easier, but there is definitely room for improvement.
I got the cloths you sent me Im so mad about those jeans though. They used to fit me pretty loose, and now I can hardly fit my legs into them. And there is no way I can button them. So that was kind of annoying haha. But everything else worked out so thank you.
Im really sorry I havnt sent pictures yet. I promise im going to soon. Im going to take a bunch tonight at the bon fire and then Ill send them off. Ive love the picture you guys have been sending me.
My comp. is great. Hes an extremely hard worker and doesn't ever let anything slow him down. Are personalities are very different though so im working on that. Sometimes he gets a little to stressed out and way to serious so Im trying to get him to calm down a bit. But other than that, I love the kid.
Jeez it seems like every email I get, you guys are heading back to the lake or just getting home from the lake. Im Jealous! Actually, im not that jealous. I just miss spending time with the family out there. And I miss being with the dogs out on the beach. How is Sadie doing? Is she still healthy? She better still be alive when I get home or I will be extremely sad. I love that Dog.
So yeah this transfer is flying by. Its already half way through. Im pretty sure ill be out here one more transfer because elder Keesler is going home after the next one and I don't think they would send him or me somewhere else befor he leaves. Then I will probably stay one more after that cuz im sure they wont white wash this area. So maybe they will have me train? Thad be way cool.
We got bible bashed again the other day by three Bible Baptists. They're the ones that stand out on the street corners with their bibles and yell at people. They make their wives and little kids stand out there with them too. Its really sad. We were just knocking on some doors and when we knocked on this one, two friendly guys answered the door and let us come in. We were stoked at first because of how nice they were. Then we walked in and saw that they had two huge bibles and a pass along book of mormon sitting on the table and right then I knew we were in trouble. They started by saying they had a few questions about the book of mormon and that they were interested in finding out if it was true. The main thing that they drilled us with was The fact that we say that God was once a man. And they pointed out scriptures in the Book of Mormon that say that God is infinite and eternal. It was pretty annoying. We just had to keep bearing our testimonies to them because they knew how to set us up using the bible. Very frustrating, but it was a good learning experience. If you have a good answer to their concern, please feel free to write back about that one.
Well, I have to go write president an email. Is everything going good at home? I hope so. I love you guys. That's crazy that Sean is back already. I miss those guys. Tell them I love them. I havnt written Ray yet. Ill probably do that today. Anyways, I love you Mom! I love you Dad! I hope everything is going great with the office Bye guys!!!!!!!!!!
Love, Elder Joshua Burnham
This week has been a really productive week. Its also been one of the more difficult ones because of how hot its been. We found 6 new investigators, all of which are very solid. One of them has completely agreed with everything we have taught him and says that he and his wife want to get baptized. We have about 20 people in our teaching pool right now but after this week im sure that number will drop a little bit. Teaching is becoming easier and easier, but there is definitely room for improvement.
I got the cloths you sent me Im so mad about those jeans though. They used to fit me pretty loose, and now I can hardly fit my legs into them. And there is no way I can button them. So that was kind of annoying haha. But everything else worked out so thank you.
Im really sorry I havnt sent pictures yet. I promise im going to soon. Im going to take a bunch tonight at the bon fire and then Ill send them off. Ive love the picture you guys have been sending me.
My comp. is great. Hes an extremely hard worker and doesn't ever let anything slow him down. Are personalities are very different though so im working on that. Sometimes he gets a little to stressed out and way to serious so Im trying to get him to calm down a bit. But other than that, I love the kid.
Jeez it seems like every email I get, you guys are heading back to the lake or just getting home from the lake. Im Jealous! Actually, im not that jealous. I just miss spending time with the family out there. And I miss being with the dogs out on the beach. How is Sadie doing? Is she still healthy? She better still be alive when I get home or I will be extremely sad. I love that Dog.
So yeah this transfer is flying by. Its already half way through. Im pretty sure ill be out here one more transfer because elder Keesler is going home after the next one and I don't think they would send him or me somewhere else befor he leaves. Then I will probably stay one more after that cuz im sure they wont white wash this area. So maybe they will have me train? Thad be way cool.
We got bible bashed again the other day by three Bible Baptists. They're the ones that stand out on the street corners with their bibles and yell at people. They make their wives and little kids stand out there with them too. Its really sad. We were just knocking on some doors and when we knocked on this one, two friendly guys answered the door and let us come in. We were stoked at first because of how nice they were. Then we walked in and saw that they had two huge bibles and a pass along book of mormon sitting on the table and right then I knew we were in trouble. They started by saying they had a few questions about the book of mormon and that they were interested in finding out if it was true. The main thing that they drilled us with was The fact that we say that God was once a man. And they pointed out scriptures in the Book of Mormon that say that God is infinite and eternal. It was pretty annoying. We just had to keep bearing our testimonies to them because they knew how to set us up using the bible. Very frustrating, but it was a good learning experience. If you have a good answer to their concern, please feel free to write back about that one.
Well, I have to go write president an email. Is everything going good at home? I hope so. I love you guys. That's crazy that Sean is back already. I miss those guys. Tell them I love them. I havnt written Ray yet. Ill probably do that today. Anyways, I love you Mom! I love you Dad! I hope everything is going great with the office Bye guys!!!!!!!!!!
Love, Elder Joshua Burnham
Monday, August 4, 2008
I need some p-day clothes...
I hope I have enough time to write you a long one like I said I would last week. I just wrote a ton of emails so I'm really sorry if this isn't that long. Sounds like everything's going great back home. I just got the pictures you sent. They are so good! What camera is that? The quality is amazing. My favorite is the one of Ryan flying through the air like a mad man haha! I laughed so hard when I saw that picture. I've looked at it everyday since I got it. Yeah I got the memory card you sent back and yeah I just got Katey's package this week. Thank you again for everything. Everything you sent me is perfect. That gps has gotten us through a lot so far. Its being used every single day. Thank you for everything
Why do you think I'm not telling you everything about how I'm doing out here? Of course there has been some rough days, but for every rough day I have had there has been 3 to 4 amazing days. And besides, the rough days aren't even that bad because I know that those are the days that I'm being stretched. And its worth being stretch because then that gives me more experience which gives me even more awesome days! I don't even know if that made any sense but whatever, it made sense in my mind haha. But seriously, If I have a week that's really just stinks, I will tell you. Honestly though, I haven't had a week go by yet where I thought, "well that week sucked." Every week I have been out here has been awesome, whether it was a tough week or not.
The new companion is awesome. He is one of the most powerful teachers I have ever met. It took him a few days to open up to me but now he's way cool. We have a lot of fun together. The new district is so fun. They are some of the coolest guys I have ever met. We had a bon fire at a members has last P-day so that we could get to know each other. Next week the whole zone is having a bon fire at the same place on P-day so im getting excited for that as well.
Today were going to go play some soccer with the district and maybe some dodge ball at the church gym. Oh yeah befor I forget, Could you send me some of my old cloths? I need some p-day cloths out here:
1.) My grey shorts with pinstripes. I thing the brand is RVCA?2.) Some of the shirts I used to wear. If you just send a box of shirts that you think you remember me wearing I can just take the ones I don't wear to goodwill3.) My blueish brown volcom jeans.
If you cant find any of that stuff don't worry about it. If anything, those shorts are the most needed. Its so Hot!
Anyways, sorry I couldn't write very much. I have to go. I love you! And I promise ill write more next week!!!! Actually, ill probably write you a letter today and ill send picks later on this week I love you Mom! I love you Dad!!!!! Love, Elder Joshua Burnham
Why do you think I'm not telling you everything about how I'm doing out here? Of course there has been some rough days, but for every rough day I have had there has been 3 to 4 amazing days. And besides, the rough days aren't even that bad because I know that those are the days that I'm being stretched. And its worth being stretch because then that gives me more experience which gives me even more awesome days! I don't even know if that made any sense but whatever, it made sense in my mind haha. But seriously, If I have a week that's really just stinks, I will tell you. Honestly though, I haven't had a week go by yet where I thought, "well that week sucked." Every week I have been out here has been awesome, whether it was a tough week or not.
The new companion is awesome. He is one of the most powerful teachers I have ever met. It took him a few days to open up to me but now he's way cool. We have a lot of fun together. The new district is so fun. They are some of the coolest guys I have ever met. We had a bon fire at a members has last P-day so that we could get to know each other. Next week the whole zone is having a bon fire at the same place on P-day so im getting excited for that as well.
Today were going to go play some soccer with the district and maybe some dodge ball at the church gym. Oh yeah befor I forget, Could you send me some of my old cloths? I need some p-day cloths out here:
1.) My grey shorts with pinstripes. I thing the brand is RVCA?2.) Some of the shirts I used to wear. If you just send a box of shirts that you think you remember me wearing I can just take the ones I don't wear to goodwill3.) My blueish brown volcom jeans.
If you cant find any of that stuff don't worry about it. If anything, those shorts are the most needed. Its so Hot!
Anyways, sorry I couldn't write very much. I have to go. I love you! And I promise ill write more next week!!!! Actually, ill probably write you a letter today and ill send picks later on this week I love you Mom! I love you Dad!!!!! Love, Elder Joshua Burnham
Monday, July 28, 2008
they treated us to Chile's for my B-Day!
Hello again Thank you guys so much for all the birthday stuff you sent me. Everything was so great. That GPS seriously kicks butt. It has helped me out so much out here. Its one of the coolest things ever haha. Yeah my birthday was really fun. We went over to a members house named sister Thomas. She had a surprise Lunch in at her little apartment and she invited the Pine Forest Elders from our district to come and surprise me. Our new district is soooo awesome. Im actually with some of them right now. They drove us today because were almost out odf miles. Anyways, so yeah sister Thomas is a big black lady who everybody in the ward loves. Shes a true southern black lady haha. She cooked us a huge breakfast consisting of: grits, hash browns, eggs, biscuits, and steak. We had a lot of fun over there. After that we did service all day in Dixie Bowman's backyard again. It is SOOOO HOTTTT HERE!!!! Im seriously dying. After service, some other members (the Smiths) took us out. They are probably my favorite family in the Ward. They treated us to Chiles for my B-day. So I actually had a really fun Birthday.Oh yeah I forgot about my new companion! Hes a really great kid. His name is Elder Keesler. He is about 5 ft tall and has serebral Palsy in the right side of his brain so he has some problems with his right arm. But seriously, he is probably the hardest worker I have ever seen. Hes been a Zone leader for the past 9 months in panama city so he is a top notch missionary. I love him. I don't know why the Lord keeps blessing me with such awesome companions! But anyways, he has a ton of fresh new ideas for FoxRun so im way excited. Hes going home in 3 months so im guessing ill be killing him off here in this area.So today has been an awesome P-day. The district got together and played some basketball at our church building. Tonight the district leader is suprising the district with something fun I guess. Were all meeting at some members house and supposedly were doing something really fun. Whatever it is, they got it approved so no worries haha.I keep looking at those boat pictures you guys sent me. Did you get the new decals on it yet? Or are you just going to keep it the way it is? It already looks so nice. Ahh it kills me haha. So you went out to the lake this week? That's fun. Thatll be so cool if Jared and Andy get a place up there. Were taking over!!! Ive already met some awesome missionaries up here from Utah and we will definitely have to have them come out to the lake house when I get back. You will love some of these guys. They are some of the best friends I will ever have.Is anybody else home yet? Sean should be home soon right? Can you send me Rays address? Im gonna start writing him. Ive been writing brett a little. I should probably start writing the family a little more too. Tell them im sorry.Anyways, sorry I didn't have too much to write this week, ill do better next week. I love it here so much. I love the Lord and the challenges that he has laid in front of me to allow me to grow. I love you guys with all my heart. Ill send pictures soon I promise. Mom- I love you! Dad- I love you! I love you Family!!!!!!!!!!!Love, Elder Joshua Burnham
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