General Conference Weekend

Mom and Dad-

That’s so cool that Chad and Emily are finally done and ready to go. They must be so excited! That’s way cool about the Webbs and there new lake house too. Brett will enjoy that. Are they getting pretty excited to have him back? I just got an email from him saying that he has 6 weeks left! That is so weird. So you want me to go to school in St. George? I don’t know, ive really been looking forward to going out to the provo area but who knows, maybe I will change my mind within the next year. Besides, I will have some time to decide when I get back as well because before I go anywhere, I really just want to go community college at FJC or something along those lines. Anyways, things have been good here. Thank you so much for that blender! You didn’t buy it brand new did you? I really hope not, that would make me feel really bad. But seriously, thank you so much.

This week was pretty average. The storms out here made it really hard to do anything. There were thunderstorms for about three days straight so we couldn’t go out at all in that time. It was kind of annoying because the same thing happened last week. It made it difficult to reach our goals for the week because of General Conference as well. How good was General Conference?! I hope you recorded the first session back home, it was really, really good. My favorite talk of them all was probably Elder Holland’s talk on the Atonement. The stories that President Monson tells are always good. Oh and Elder Perry’s talk on member missionary work was really good too. I loved how he related it to that lost sheep on the hill side, and how the sheep probably wouldn’t listen to the rescue team, but if the Sheppard were there, the sheep would most likely follow his voice. Usually Christ is the Sheppard in these stories, but I loved it how he said that the members are the Sheppard to these lost sheep, because in reality, the members are the ones who have the non-member friends, neighbors, and co-workers. These people aren’t going to listen to strangers, but they will listen to you guys. I don’t know, I just thought he really hit home with that.

Something really weird happened this week. K, so a bunch of new missionaries just got out here, and we have a new sister in our district who’s name is sister Hall. Every night Elder Gooch has to make a phone call to the sisters and make sure they are in safe. So on Wednesday, he made the call and the new sister answered and asked if she could talk to me. So he hands the phone to me, and I was kind of confused. Anyways, I took the phone and Sister Hall was like, “Elder Burnham this is Jen Hall, do you remember me? I was like What the crap?! I went to institute with this girl and we were totally friends with eachother. We hung out every once in a while! Really weird. I had no idea she was even planning on going on a mission, so it really wierded me out when that happened. Such a small world.

I really don’t have to much more to say about this week. Like I said, we weren’t able to do that much. You wanted to know more about Elder Gooch? He just way cool, theres not too much more to say. Hes really dorky, but just so fun and easy to get along with. We have a lot of the same interests about music and all that stuff. And we both enjoy working hard so that works out good. I don’t know what to say, he just a really great companion.

I finished the Book of Mormon this last week, so im starting a new one and Marking in 5 different colors the Gospel of Christ. I just got done with 2Nephi. The last few chapters in 2Nephi are so good! You should go back and read them. It explains The Doctrine of Christ so Simply. I was talking to Elder Goch about it this morning, and its really cool how in just1 or two verses in 2Nephi 31, it says the entire Gospel, Faith, Repentance, baptism, Gift of the H.G., and ETTE. In the bible, to these basic simple doctrines aren’t ever even found all on the same page. Nephi makes it so simple of the exact steps we need to take to be saved. Another thing that’s really cool, is how in 31:10, Christ says, “Follow thou me.” And Nephi says, “how can we follow Christ save we be willing to keep the commandments of the Father? Some people out here are so dumb! Christ tells his disciples multiple times in the bible “follow thou me.” We cant follow Him by just saying “I believe” like so many of the Baptists out here believe. I completely undersatand how they can get so lost though, because the bible can make such simple doctrines so complicated at times. Sorry, that was a weird tangent, I just cant explain enough how cool the Book of Mormon is.

How is Dads Practice coming along? Is the economy effecting you guys in a negative way at all? I don’t really get the chance to hear anything that’s going on so im always in the dark about how everythings going in the outside world. Are you still doing the Teris Toys business Mom? Has anyone been wakeboarding yet this season? I bet the weather out there is starting to be really nice, it is here. Anyways, Im going to go now. I love you guys so much. Thank you for everything Your emails and your prayers help me so much. I love you Mom! I love you Dad!

Love, Josh