Dec. 21

Hey guys!

You havent gotten my letter yet? I sent it off on Thursday so hopefully you will get it today. Sorry you had to call the mission to get my adress, i wrote it down on the letter i wrote and i was hoping it would get to you by Saturday.

Anyways, i wrote all the details of last week in the letter that you will most likely be getting today. The new area is great. It has alot of potential, i am just trying to endure until next tranfer................. I guess the leadership in the Mobile hasnt been very strong in the past few months and that has made an impact on the whole Zone. I am just trying my hardest to think of ways i can help some of these missionaries make changes. Its really hard for me after working so hard in Fort Walton and Troy, to see missionaries who just kind of do things their way. If i have learned anything from my mission, it is the fact that if you are shooting for anything less than exact obedience, you will not be guided by the Spirit; and if you are not guided by the Spirit, then you cannot have real success in the work. So anyways, thats why the adjustment was a little difficult here. But, things have gotten alot better. My companion is getting more and more motivated every day, and our Zone had one of the best weeks they have had in months this week. So things are picking up. I really enjoy getting to work with President Summerhays. He seems alot more open with the zone leaders. In my interview, he told me alot of things about the Zone, and gave me alot of encouragment to help make changes in some of the areas. I cant wait for you guys to meet President.

This week was so much better than last week. I talked to ...(the other elders)....told them what i wanted out of my mission and asked for theirhelp, and( they) have made alot of changes and are working alot harder. We have done alot of tracting, but still dont have anyone too solid that we are teaching. I have had some really great studies that have altered the way i look at things in my life. I finished marking my last Book of Mormon in August and started another one. I am marking the Blessings and Conditions again. That book has been such a source of strengh for me throughout my mission.

As far as my responsibilities go, all we really have to do is help the missionaries in the Zone to be motivated and be examples for them. We go on alot of trade-offs with younger missionaries and help them in their teaching and finding efforts. We conduct the meetings at Zone Conferences, but President does the main bulk of the Training. Also, every month we have Zone Leader Council in Crestview where we receive leadership training from President on how to encourage and help the missionaries in our Zones. There really isnt too much more than that. Its fun. I actually really like helping the othe Elders. I have served with or around a few of them in this Zone earlier on in the mission, so it is fun to work with them again.

So yeah, that is pretty much it. Ill be able to talk to you more about all the details on the phone in FOUR DAYS!!! I am so excited to talk to you guys. I wont be calling early to set up a time, I will just call you early in the morning like last time and set everything up. Ill probably call around 7 or 8 pm my time. I have so much to talk to guys about, i can hardly wait:) I will write things down this week. I have been religiously writing in my journal over the past 5 months as well so i will have that by me when i talk to guys. We are going to have district meeting on Christmas morning, then we are going to the Soup Kitchen to feed the homeless. I am looking forward to that. After that, we are going to The Shlamers for either lunch or dinner and they said we can just use their phones. We will find out exactly what time we are going over there and i will let you know Christmas morning. The rest of the day, when i am not talking to you guys, we will most likey be tracting. I hope you write stuff down too so that you dont forget anything!

I think the package you sent will be fine. We have a pretty secure mail box that you need a key to get into; and if it is too big for the drop off box, our apartment is on very botton floor of the building and is pretty much the only one down there. Its pretty secluded, so i think the package will be fine, even if they just drop it off.

I promise to be careful over the next ew months, but you guys have to promise to be careful when you go up Skiing. That is going to be so much fun. Did you get to Ski at all last year?

Well, i will stop now so that i will have something to talk to you about on Friday. I love you guys. Please be careful traveling this week. I love you so much. Tel everyone i said hi and i cant wait to talk to them!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Josh Burnham