Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
History . . .
I will have this blog bound into a book for Elder Burnham so that he will have this "history", so to speak, of the last two years. Below is just a timeline I have created for his missionary book (although, I am certain his own records will be more detailed than mine). Thus, this will not be interesting to anyone but me, myself and I (and maybe his father):
- April 15, 2008: Received Mission Call
- August 5, 2008: Left for Brasil
- August 6, 2008: Arrived in Sao Paulo, Brasil, Center for Training Missionaries [CTM]
- August - October, 2008: Sao Paulo, Brasil, CTM. Companion: Elder McGruder.
- October 8, 2008: Reports to Brasil Santa Maria Mission, President Myrrha is the Mission President.
- October 2008 - November 2009: Sao Gabriel, Brasil. Companion: Elder W. Ferriera
- November 2009 - February 2009: Sao Gabriel, Brasil. Companion: Elder Abreu
- February 2009 - May 2009: Santa Maria, Brasil. Companion: Elder Botelho, with interim companion: Elder Favreau
- May 2009 - July 2009: Cruz Alta. Companion: Elder Frei
- July 2009 - October 2009: Cruz Alta. Companion: Elder Tebatini
- October 2009 - November 2009: Livramento. Companion: Elder Silva
- November 2009 - December 2009: Livramento. Companion: Elder Zequini
- January 2010 - August 2010: Santa Maria, Brasil. Companions: Elder Bryson and Elder de Araujo
- February 2010: Companions: Elder Bryson and Elder Marx
- April 2010: Companions: Elder Reis and Elder Witt
- July 1, 2010: President Myrrha is released and President Ribeiro arrives as the new Mission President
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Last Week . . .
Excerpt from Elder Burnham's email, dated July17, 2010:
Sorry I didn't email last week. I was on the road with President and Sister Ribeiro for the fist round of interviews and conferences, and I only got home Saturday very late at night. It was interesting to spend a whole week traveling. We passed in 8 cities in 2 days, haha. I now have officially been to every city in the entire mission except Itaqui. The trips were great! I love Presidente and Sister. Sister is the sweetest person ever, just like a mom. She is hilarious and we had a ton of fun. Presidente is the man. He knows so much of the scriptures it is awesome. We had some great talks about the mission, his mission, after the mission and also about doctrine.
I was doing our weekly planning on Saturday, we have a planning board in our house, and I started putting the dates and thinking, "Freak, it's my last week..." Oh well, what can you do. It has come so very fast, but life goes on I guess.
This week was awesome. Presidente let me stay in the area for the last two weeks, so I didn't have to travel! It has been awesome to work. We don't divide anymore with E. Witt and E. Albrechtsen, so I have been able to work with E. Reis this whole week. It has been so great. I love that kid. In the morning it is so hard to get [out of] bed and every night my feet hurt and I am so tired; I am not able to sleep. But, during the day the Lord has been giving me so much strength to work with intensity. I feel light as I work and filled with so much excitement to be out in the field just walking and talking with the people, or playing soccer in the street with the kids again. Oh, how I have missed it and will miss it. It is absolutely freezing right now - I am excited for summer again, haha...
Josias wasn't baptized this week, unfortunately. He is a great man but in the week of his baptism he started acting strange, though he still wanted [to be baptized], and then he told us [the reason that he couldn't]. He said that he knows it is wrong and that he needs to stop. We are working with him on that. Hopefully it can be before I go home. We have some other people that we just found this week who are completely elect and could be baptized in my last week. That is all I hope for, just someone on the last week. Pray for me!
I love you all so very much. Thank you for the support that you have given me over these last two years and for all of your prayers in my behalf. I, and the people here, thank you. This is the work of God, that knowledge runs through me like a fire threatening to consume my bones...
Com Amor,
Elder Burnham
I was doing our weekly planning on Saturday, we have a planning board in our house, and I started putting the dates and thinking, "Freak, it's my last week..." Oh well, what can you do. It has come so very fast, but life goes on I guess.
This week was awesome. Presidente let me stay in the area for the last two weeks, so I didn't have to travel! It has been awesome to work. We don't divide anymore with E. Witt and E. Albrechtsen, so I have been able to work with E. Reis this whole week. It has been so great. I love that kid. In the morning it is so hard to get [out of] bed and every night my feet hurt and I am so tired; I am not able to sleep. But, during the day the Lord has been giving me so much strength to work with intensity. I feel light as I work and filled with so much excitement to be out in the field just walking and talking with the people, or playing soccer in the street with the kids again. Oh, how I have missed it and will miss it. It is absolutely freezing right now - I am excited for summer again, haha...
Josias wasn't baptized this week, unfortunately. He is a great man but in the week of his baptism he started acting strange, though he still wanted [to be baptized], and then he told us [the reason that he couldn't]. He said that he knows it is wrong and that he needs to stop. We are working with him on that. Hopefully it can be before I go home. We have some other people that we just found this week who are completely elect and could be baptized in my last week. That is all I hope for, just someone on the last week. Pray for me!
I love you all so very much. Thank you for the support that you have given me over these last two years and for all of your prayers in my behalf. I, and the people here, thank you. This is the work of God, that knowledge runs through me like a fire threatening to consume my bones...
Com Amor,
Elder Burnham
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Three Weeks and Counting . . .
Zackary arrives home in three weeks. He will speak in Church on August 8, 2010, 11:00 a.m. All are invited to join us. We did not receive an email this week. It is 4:30 p.m.--8:30 p.m. his time, so I expect we will not get an email. I know that he is very busy with his responsbilities--and will be until he returns home.
I must say, though, that I cannot complain. Zack turned 21 this week. I received a call from him on his birthday, as did his father. It was truly a tender mercy. He sounds busy, but great. He is a tremendous man.
I must say, though, that I cannot complain. Zack turned 21 this week. I received a call from him on his birthday, as did his father. It was truly a tender mercy. He sounds busy, but great. He is a tremendous man.
Updates . . . finally!
Elder Burnham's last two emails. These should be read in reverse order.
"A New Dispensation", July 3, 2010:
Well, time flies. This week was probably the strangest of my entire mission, haha. Monday we spent the whole day in the office just packing things up and getting everthing ready. On Tuesday the moving van came and we supervised as everything (and I am talking about 150 boxes or so) got shipped out. President and Sister Myrrha are gone, now home in Belo Horizante and working as though they hadn't missed a step these last 3 years. It was very hard to say goodbye to them, very hard. I don't want to make you guys jealous or anything, but it was much harder than when I left home.
On Tuesday I had one more interview with Presidente, which was great. He gave me some great last counsels, then I gave him a hug and left. Then Elder Reis and I took Sister out to dinner, which was actually a tradition for her when [someone] left, but we reversed it and took her out to Subway (yes, the same Subway). It was awesome to be able to talk to her for a little bit. I created a great relationship with her, both as a mom and as a friend, and it was very hard to say goodbye. Elder Reis and I walked into our apartment and sat on our beds crying (I wouldn't have cried but Elder Reis started and made me do it too), haha. I imagine that it was quite the site.
Then, Presidente Ribeiro and Sister Ribeiro arrived, officially starting a new dispensation da Missão Brasil Santa Maria. It is completely different - it is literally the complete opposite in every way. They are fantastic! He is a spiritual giant, and the way he thinks is actually very similar to the way I do. She is a soft-spoken, fun, mom type. We sat in a meeting with him for about 3 hours on Thursday and literally EVERYTHING is changing. It is so strange and different, but I am very excited. He has a ton of new ideas and things that he brought straight from the Twelve and his meetings with them. He wants to put them in fast! It is a new fire and all this change is exactly what the mission needs. I hope we really do come back in December so that I can see where all of this change and ideas have gone.
As for the area, we marked the date of Josias, Richard's dad for this next Saturday. It was a lesson that we do just to accompany (is that a word?) the Book of Mormon reading that we leave with the people the first time we teach about it and it usually isn't a date marking lesson. I was there with Elder Witt, coming to the close and I wasn't going to make the invite, but then I just felt that he was going to accept, as though a voice saying, "DO IT!" So I did, and he accepted. He is an awesome dude, and the family is great. It will probably be my last baptism because of the traveling I will do, but it is a good way to finish
Mom, my ward is one of the strongest in the mission. It has a frequency of about 130-150, but as in all of Brasil, about 600 members or so in the ward. The Brasil statistic is that only 1/3 of the country is active. We have 4 missionaries here: Me, Reis, Witt and Albrechtsen. I love you so much. See ya is 3 weeks, haha!
Com Amor,
Elder Burnham
"The End Has Come", June 26, 2010 . . .
Well, the time of Presidente and Sister Myrrha has come to a close. Sorry about last week, but I forgot what happened so I will just write about this week. We spent the week doing the last Mission Tours, one here and one in Alegrete, which was the last time for the missionaries to see and talk with Presidente and Sister. They were wonderful. Each zone had a half-hour to do a presentation for them. They were so funny and everyone was crying. Then Presidente and Sister Myrrha, and their daughter Nathalia, also gave their last discourse, and everyone was crying. There was a time at the end to sing and hug them goodbye. It was like a funeral with the heavy rain outside.
On Tuesday, I was making the our mission film 2009-2010 and everything that could possibly have gone wrong did, meaning that I stayed in the office with Elder Reis, until 5:30 in the morning; then, we literally ran home, took showers, and Presidente picked us up at 6:00, haha. It was terrible, but the film turned out great. It has been a very different experience.
I am excited for the arrival of the new Presidente and the change that will occur, but I can hardly believe that Presidente Myrrha is leaving. They are so awesome and I love them so much. But, strangely enough I haven't cried or anything, much like when I left you in the airport. Though ready and prepared to cry, I didn't, haha. There were also a bunch of return missionaries at the Tour, which was cool. I, oddly enough, felt much more comfortable around them than I did around all of the other missionaries. I am old and don't fit in anymore. It has been a sad time, not just because Presidente is leaving, but because all of my best friends from my generation of the mission have gone too. Saying bye to some of them has been very difficult...But, all is well.
With everything that happens, the work still continues on as it always has and always will until the Lord says it is finished. I don't know if I talked about Richard and his baptism? Did I? He is the man and is so smart and now we are preparing his dad, Josias, to get baptized, and other family members are also listening with much interest, like his Uncle Caleb. Edimara and her family still go to church but are not progressing anymore. They keep smoking and now Roberto is traveling a lot and Jamile has a boyfriend, which hinders our work completely. I love that family and want to see them enter the Church, but it seems as though a miracle is all that can do that now
Mom, it is super great about your friend [Editor's note: my dear friend, Evelyn, who is such a kind and supportive woman, even though time and distance makes it difficult to ever see each other] who I don't know but who has kept up with my mission. Also, that is cool about President and Sister Showalter. That is exactly what I am going through right now [Editor's note: We had dinner with President and Sister Showalter, the Mission President here in the Everett Washington Mission. They left at the same time Zack's Mission President left, so we talked about what they were feeling and the emotion among the missionaries.]
Happy 29 years, Mom and Dad!!! And happy late Father's Day, Dad, haha! I love you all so very much!
Com Amor,
Elder Burnham
P.S. - I picked up my last group of arriving missionaries last week and there were some who knew Spencer and I got a note and hugs from them, from him, it was great! [Editor's Note: Spencer is Elder Calvert, one of Zack's closest friends. He started his missionary service on June 2, 2010, reporting to the Brasil Sao Paulo Missionary Training Center. Between the two of them and the timing of their missionary service, it will be four years before they see each other again.]
"A New Dispensation", July 3, 2010:
Well, time flies. This week was probably the strangest of my entire mission, haha. Monday we spent the whole day in the office just packing things up and getting everthing ready. On Tuesday the moving van came and we supervised as everything (and I am talking about 150 boxes or so) got shipped out. President and Sister Myrrha are gone, now home in Belo Horizante and working as though they hadn't missed a step these last 3 years. It was very hard to say goodbye to them, very hard. I don't want to make you guys jealous or anything, but it was much harder than when I left home.
On Tuesday I had one more interview with Presidente, which was great. He gave me some great last counsels, then I gave him a hug and left. Then Elder Reis and I took Sister out to dinner, which was actually a tradition for her when [someone] left, but we reversed it and took her out to Subway (yes, the same Subway). It was awesome to be able to talk to her for a little bit. I created a great relationship with her, both as a mom and as a friend, and it was very hard to say goodbye. Elder Reis and I walked into our apartment and sat on our beds crying (I wouldn't have cried but Elder Reis started and made me do it too), haha. I imagine that it was quite the site.
Then, Presidente Ribeiro and Sister Ribeiro arrived, officially starting a new dispensation da Missão Brasil Santa Maria. It is completely different - it is literally the complete opposite in every way. They are fantastic! He is a spiritual giant, and the way he thinks is actually very similar to the way I do. She is a soft-spoken, fun, mom type. We sat in a meeting with him for about 3 hours on Thursday and literally EVERYTHING is changing. It is so strange and different, but I am very excited. He has a ton of new ideas and things that he brought straight from the Twelve and his meetings with them. He wants to put them in fast! It is a new fire and all this change is exactly what the mission needs. I hope we really do come back in December so that I can see where all of this change and ideas have gone.
As for the area, we marked the date of Josias, Richard's dad for this next Saturday. It was a lesson that we do just to accompany (is that a word?) the Book of Mormon reading that we leave with the people the first time we teach about it and it usually isn't a date marking lesson. I was there with Elder Witt, coming to the close and I wasn't going to make the invite, but then I just felt that he was going to accept, as though a voice saying, "DO IT!" So I did, and he accepted. He is an awesome dude, and the family is great. It will probably be my last baptism because of the traveling I will do, but it is a good way to finish
Mom, my ward is one of the strongest in the mission. It has a frequency of about 130-150, but as in all of Brasil, about 600 members or so in the ward. The Brasil statistic is that only 1/3 of the country is active. We have 4 missionaries here: Me, Reis, Witt and Albrechtsen. I love you so much. See ya is 3 weeks, haha!
Com Amor,
Elder Burnham
"The End Has Come", June 26, 2010 . . .
Well, the time of Presidente and Sister Myrrha has come to a close. Sorry about last week, but I forgot what happened so I will just write about this week. We spent the week doing the last Mission Tours, one here and one in Alegrete, which was the last time for the missionaries to see and talk with Presidente and Sister. They were wonderful. Each zone had a half-hour to do a presentation for them. They were so funny and everyone was crying. Then Presidente and Sister Myrrha, and their daughter Nathalia, also gave their last discourse, and everyone was crying. There was a time at the end to sing and hug them goodbye. It was like a funeral with the heavy rain outside.
On Tuesday, I was making the our mission film 2009-2010 and everything that could possibly have gone wrong did, meaning that I stayed in the office with Elder Reis, until 5:30 in the morning; then, we literally ran home, took showers, and Presidente picked us up at 6:00, haha. It was terrible, but the film turned out great. It has been a very different experience.
I am excited for the arrival of the new Presidente and the change that will occur, but I can hardly believe that Presidente Myrrha is leaving. They are so awesome and I love them so much. But, strangely enough I haven't cried or anything, much like when I left you in the airport. Though ready and prepared to cry, I didn't, haha. There were also a bunch of return missionaries at the Tour, which was cool. I, oddly enough, felt much more comfortable around them than I did around all of the other missionaries. I am old and don't fit in anymore. It has been a sad time, not just because Presidente is leaving, but because all of my best friends from my generation of the mission have gone too. Saying bye to some of them has been very difficult...But, all is well.
With everything that happens, the work still continues on as it always has and always will until the Lord says it is finished. I don't know if I talked about Richard and his baptism? Did I? He is the man and is so smart and now we are preparing his dad, Josias, to get baptized, and other family members are also listening with much interest, like his Uncle Caleb. Edimara and her family still go to church but are not progressing anymore. They keep smoking and now Roberto is traveling a lot and Jamile has a boyfriend, which hinders our work completely. I love that family and want to see them enter the Church, but it seems as though a miracle is all that can do that now
Mom, it is super great about your friend [Editor's note: my dear friend, Evelyn, who is such a kind and supportive woman, even though time and distance makes it difficult to ever see each other] who I don't know but who has kept up with my mission. Also, that is cool about President and Sister Showalter. That is exactly what I am going through right now [Editor's note: We had dinner with President and Sister Showalter, the Mission President here in the Everett Washington Mission. They left at the same time Zack's Mission President left, so we talked about what they were feeling and the emotion among the missionaries.]
Happy 29 years, Mom and Dad!!! And happy late Father's Day, Dad, haha! I love you all so very much!
Com Amor,
Elder Burnham
P.S. - I picked up my last group of arriving missionaries last week and there were some who knew Spencer and I got a note and hugs from them, from him, it was great! [Editor's Note: Spencer is Elder Calvert, one of Zack's closest friends. He started his missionary service on June 2, 2010, reporting to the Brasil Sao Paulo Missionary Training Center. Between the two of them and the timing of their missionary service, it will be four years before they see each other again.]
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Oh well . . .
I have waited all day for an email from Elder Burnham, but nothing has arrived. They must be busy with Zone Conferences or some other meetings. Sad day . . .
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Last Transfer . . .
Excerpt, with pictures, from Elder Burnham, June 12, 2010:
Preparation Day outing with President and Sister Myrrha 
Preparation Day attire...yeah right!
He could only watch . . .what a killer!Sister Myrrha, Elder Reis and Elder Burnham
Well, it seems as though I have officially entered into the "lasts" of my mission. We went to the market to buy things. I realized that that part of my mission arrived as I looked at Elder Reis and said, "Dude, this is my last shampoo." So, as for the transfer, I am staying, obviously, with Elder Reis and the other two in my house are Elder Witt and Elder Albrechtsen, another new American. He is a good missionary and a nice guy with about 6 months. I think that I will work more with Elder Witt (when I am in the area, which is going to be never in this last transfer)...
Anyway, this week was good - pretty routine in my life. I had the chance to do a division in a city that I had never been too called São Borja. It was pretty cool. I actually had the chance to do a division with Elder Neves and Elder Albrechtsen--that is why I said that he is a good missionary, haha. It was good, and I was able to mark a couple of dates out there, which is always fun. . . . I listened to a great talk on the bus ride to São Borja called "Exaltation and Eternal Life" by Hugh Nibley in which he just reads of Brigham Young's life and quotes stories and talks that President Young gave. Basically, it talked exactly about how we focus too much on this two-dimensional earth life without thinking of things on the eternal plane as God sees it, and how we worry about things that have no true importance. Needless to say, it was a perfect training for me to try and solve these 2D problems between the Elders. I had 8 hours of bus ride on Thursday to pick up Elder Reis in the city he was in and then back to Santa Maria, so it was quite a traveling week.
Tomorrow, we are going to have the baptism of Richard, who is the grandson of a woman in our ward called Marli. It was quite an experience. In January, I went to Marli's house one time with Elder de Araújo. She smoked and was going to another church at the time. Then, in May, our commitments fell one night and Elder Witt and I had nothing to do. We didn't want to knock doors at 8:30pm (because Gaúchos are afraid of the cold and don't open the door,) so we were just walknig in the general direction of our house trying to think of something to do. We were walking and I saw a market which is right by where Marli lives. The thought came into my head, "I should visit Marli." So we went and we told her that it had been a long time but that we felt like we should visit her, and she said that she had been hoping that we would come. We invited her to church the next day and she went--and then for the next 5 weeks until now. She showed us her grandson who is super smart, loves going to church and is going to be baptized; her two kids who live with her of 12 and 11 are going; her son who is 35 or so has starting coming again; and, we are teaching all of Richard's family, trying to reactivate his mom and baptize his dad--and Marli has stopped smoking! It was quite an experience. I just pray now that we can get all of Richard's immediate family in the church.
Mom, you're great. Thank you so much for Spencer's email. I am glad that he is here. My flight plans you will receive from the secretaries in a couple of weeks. All I remember is that I arrive in São Paulo at 5:00pm; that is, if I don't stay longer on the mission... I am thinking again...
Two more weeks for President and Sister. It is a sad but exciting time. I am glad that I will be here to help in the change. I love you all!
Com Amor,
Elder Burnham
Anyway, this week was good - pretty routine in my life. I had the chance to do a division in a city that I had never been too called São Borja. It was pretty cool. I actually had the chance to do a division with Elder Neves and Elder Albrechtsen--that is why I said that he is a good missionary, haha. It was good, and I was able to mark a couple of dates out there, which is always fun. . . . I listened to a great talk on the bus ride to São Borja called "Exaltation and Eternal Life" by Hugh Nibley in which he just reads of Brigham Young's life and quotes stories and talks that President Young gave. Basically, it talked exactly about how we focus too much on this two-dimensional earth life without thinking of things on the eternal plane as God sees it, and how we worry about things that have no true importance. Needless to say, it was a perfect training for me to try and solve these 2D problems between the Elders. I had 8 hours of bus ride on Thursday to pick up Elder Reis in the city he was in and then back to Santa Maria, so it was quite a traveling week.
Tomorrow, we are going to have the baptism of Richard, who is the grandson of a woman in our ward called Marli. It was quite an experience. In January, I went to Marli's house one time with Elder de Araújo. She smoked and was going to another church at the time. Then, in May, our commitments fell one night and Elder Witt and I had nothing to do. We didn't want to knock doors at 8:30pm (because Gaúchos are afraid of the cold and don't open the door,) so we were just walknig in the general direction of our house trying to think of something to do. We were walking and I saw a market which is right by where Marli lives. The thought came into my head, "I should visit Marli." So we went and we told her that it had been a long time but that we felt like we should visit her, and she said that she had been hoping that we would come. We invited her to church the next day and she went--and then for the next 5 weeks until now. She showed us her grandson who is super smart, loves going to church and is going to be baptized; her two kids who live with her of 12 and 11 are going; her son who is 35 or so has starting coming again; and, we are teaching all of Richard's family, trying to reactivate his mom and baptize his dad--and Marli has stopped smoking! It was quite an experience. I just pray now that we can get all of Richard's immediate family in the church.
Mom, you're great. Thank you so much for Spencer's email. I am glad that he is here. My flight plans you will receive from the secretaries in a couple of weeks. All I remember is that I arrive in São Paulo at 5:00pm; that is, if I don't stay longer on the mission... I am thinking again...
Two more weeks for President and Sister. It is a sad but exciting time. I am glad that I will be here to help in the change. I love you all!
Com Amor,
Elder Burnham
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)