Letters!!

Here are Hermana Burnham's last 2 letters.......and an extra letting us know she is ok from the earthquake.


So let me start with the beginning. I HAVE LICE. Yes. That really did just happen. It's awful. Our investigator, Katherin, her kids have it so now I HAVE it. It's awful and I feel like a little monkey when my companion has to dig through my hair to take out these little creatures. So I will be buying a $20 shampoo this week. Yay!

And fleas. I broke out in FLEAS again this week. Tons of them! All over my legs, arms, hands, chest, back. Me and Hermana Anunciaco. We are flea infested human beings. Hahahahaha! 

Anddddd I HAD MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE. I may or may not have freaked out a little. It was a 4 and happened at 11am on Thursday. I was with Hermana Arce in an intercambio when the house just startd shaking. It was perfect timing. We were talking about some deep doctrine, then I said, "Okay there's a part here in the Bible that is super deep and it says...." Then, the earthquake passed. I stared at Hermana Arce and she stared at me and said, "temblor". Which is earthquake. She is from Costa Rica and has her bachelors in Archeaology, so she literally studies earthquakes. Hahaha! I jumped up and ran to underneath the door and she looked at me like I was crazy. It only lasted about 10 seconds. Maybe less. But ya! That was super fun! 

Yesterday I got super upset. We had no investigators in the church! None. We are working super hard, challenging people to be baptized every lesson, teaching, having a little bit more members to be with us in the day, and other things. Why is it so hard to get people to church? Then after weekly planning, which was basically us being upset and sad, we got in with the most amazing family ever. Natalia and her sweet 4 kids. She is Katherin's neighbor and actually, Katherin told her that she should listen to us too. That we have a great message to share. We taught her and her 4 kids. Natalia and her 2 oldest accepted to be baptized on October 2nd! 

The mission truly is awesome :) I love it even when it gets rough. But I know its the work of the Lord! 

Con amor,

Hermana Burnham

 

So if there is something that I have learned this week, is to be a GOOD member in church when there are non members there! It's not necessary to talk about deep gospel, but the basics. Because if you talk about deep gospel, the investigator will get scared and be super confused. So be simple people! 

Another thing I have learned, is the importance of paying your tithing. Yesterday in Gospel Principles, we had a lesson on tithing and fasting. These 2 things are so important. 

WHY WE PAY TITHING

Did you know that tithing was a law in the old testament? YES! It's in Malaquias 8:10 (sorry I forgot how to write these names in English!). So it's nothing new. For tithing, we pay 10% of our income. Actually, in Spanish the word for tithing is diezmo and the word for ten is diez. So... diezmo. Hahaha cool huh? But, we need to pay 10% of everything that we make. It doesn't matter if we make very little, what matters is that we pay. God isn't going to look at our tithing and say, "You sure didn't pay that much.". No. He is going to see if we were honest and paid the 10%. Imagine if everyone stopped paying tithing right now. We wouldn't have light or water in our buildings. We wouldn't have houses for missionaries. We wouldn't have books. We wouldn't be able to build more temples. Every persons tithing is important! Everyones.  I hope you all pay an honest tithing. It's hard, and I know it's not ever going to be super easy, but it's worth it. 

Sorry for the short letter today, but I hope it helped someone in some way :) Thanks for the love and support!!

Hermana Burnham

 

Hey familia! Okay so I am not a rebel, but we were asked to write home to our families today to let them know that we are okay.

Yesterday an earthquake passed for a big part of Chile, Bolivia, and Uruguay. We for sure felt the earthquake at about 8pm but it wasn't that strong and we were in the house where we have church. Then another little earthquake passed right after. But it was super calm! Then in the night at about 10:30 our district leader called and told us to go to our church for emergencies, which is in Concepcion! That's about an hour away. It was quite a scary phone call to say the least because this elder was breathing so hard because he is in an area right on the coast and there were tsunami warnings. So it was a bit scary to say the least. So me and Hermana Anunciacao jumped up and put together super fast an emergency kit with food and clothes ready to leave to Concepcion. Then we called Hermana Bluth to just make sure and she told us not to leave because the drive to Concepcion from Santa Juana is SUPER dangerous in an earthquake. So we just went to bed. Honestly, we didn't sleep at all but all it's okay!!! I am fine and actually it made me realize just how much the Church is true. Yesterday we had zone conference and Hermana and Presidente Bluth felt very inspired to teach us what we need to do in emergencies. Especially earthquakes and tsunamis. So all yesterday we talked about what we need to do in emergencies, and then in the night, one happened. 

Honestly, my mind is traveling a thousand miles an hour right now, but I know that this church is true. That Hermana and Presidente Bluth followed that little prompting that helped other missionaries be safe. Some slept in the church last night. And that the Lord always has us build the church's that are safe during natural disasters. All is well, and I know that all will continue to be well.

So dont worry, all is well with me :) 

Hermana Burnham

"Read, Pray, Attend"

This week I was thinking really hard about the things I have seen in my mission. Being a missionary isn't easy, but I love it. Sometimes things happen not only here, but in my home. That make me sad or happy. This time in my life is FULL of different emotions and I was thinking really hard today about why sometimes we let go of the iron rod. Here in our mission, we teach our investigators. These are the 3 things.

READ PRAY ATTEND

Read every single day from the scriptures. I can't even begin to explain the huge difference this will make in your life. Your eyes open up to so much more and the spirit will speak to us more clearly. 

Pray every morning and every night. This is a huge one. Can you imagine being a parent and your kid never talked to you? Just left voice mails every night? We shouldn't do that with our Heavenly Father. He wants to hear from us. Every morning and every night, and more. 

Attend church every Sunday for the 3 hours. Not just 1 or 2. But 3. There is something we need to hear or learn in every class on Sunday. And the sacrament is SO IMPORTANT that we need and must take it every Sunday. If we don't, we are not repenting. Repentance is not complete without the sacrament. 

I hope and pray for you guys every day. I sure love you all and want you to be doing these little things every day. If not, Satan drives us away and then we let go of the iron rod. It's not worth it folks. Not worth it at all. Who cares what those people think in the great and spacious building? What matters is that we do what God wants us to do. I know that doing these 3 things will change our lives for the better and that we will hold firm to the iron rod. I know it because I have seen it in my own life. Love you all!

Hermana Burnham

"Our investigators little boy, Eduardo, fell asleep during the lesson! Hahahaha :)

"Teaching the gospel to our friendly neighbors.......VACAS!"

"These are called camarones. They are like lobsters but from the ground, not the ocean. Our investigator gave us a huge bag full the other night. They are super delicious!!"

 

YSA!!

This week was so good and we have transfers.... I am staying with HERMANA ANUNCIACAO! I love my little Brasil girl and so I am alllllll good with this transfer :)

This week we found some awesome YSA guys that are soooo awesome. I don't know what happened to Diego but he is kind of off the face of the planet right now :( Which makes me sad, but we will never leave him alone. Mwahahaha! And we also met Carlos who is 22 and Miguel who is 20. They are both so cool. Carlos before was a bit gangster but now he is totally normal and he said he has changed so much. That he wants to find the true church and wants to still be a better person. He is so cool. He lives super close to us and said he'll tell his old gangster friends to protect us and our house. So that will be good :) No but Carlos is super awesome. I had an intercambio with Hermana Stevenson last week and we saw two guys playing soccer and just said hi to them. One of them was Carlos. Then the day after, me and Hermana Anunciacao decided to knock a street and the first door, CARLOS. It was so cool and he even said that when he saw us in the street, felt that we would come to his house but not so soon. That was so amazing. 

Miguel is super cool too. He is 20 and studies in Concepcion and goes to Los Alamos for the weekends to see his family. But he is so interested in the message we have and we actually have to teach him inside the church. He can't take the lessons in the house where he is living. It was such a good first lesson with him that we had with him. I love all the YSA people we are finding. 

So our reading the Book of Mormon with the branch is going soooo good. A few people are behind but all the talks yesterday were about the Book of Mormon and kind of a bit strong. But really. this book is amazing. Never in my life have I treasured this book so much and I regret not seeing it as something very important in my life. I know that when I read from its pages everyday, it helps. I see the difference and I love it. 

Oh and Katharin is doing awesome. She just can never come to church with this stinkin' weather. It's making her little girl so sick :( But one day. We need SPRING! 

Con amor,

Hermana Burnham

"Chocolate Cake from Brazil for Family Home Evening" :)

"Last district meeting for this transfer."

"Cleaning a house"

"Hermana Lozano went home today. I shall go to Mexico when I get home!"

"My Crazy Zone" :)

"Judge Not"

Sorry everyone. I have been a bit lazy lately with writing and I feel bad. So no need to tell me, ya? Hahaha! 

Well, things are going pretty good here in Santa Juana with my little Brazil girl. It's such a little town that it's a bit hard to contact people because in about 2 weeks, we know everyone. Hahaha but we have been finding miracles here in Santa Juana. 

First, is Katharin. Ohhh she is so good. We had so many spiritual lessons with her this week and the last that I can't even begin to describe how cool she is. She has a bit of a rough life and really wants the gospel. She was so excited to go to church too and then her little girl got super sick again in her lungs. It's so hard here with the weather in Spring. Super, super cold in the mornings and nights, but during the day, HOT. So it's hard to not get sick here. But Katharin is progressing a lot. 

Then we met our other miracle, Diego. He is only 21 years old and is studying construction. He has soooo much desire to find the truth and has so many good questions. We gave him a Book of Mormon the first lesson and before the second time we visited, a friend of his told him some really awful things about the "mormons". She said that we make sacrifices in our temples and that the Book of Mormon is a book written by crazy people, and much more. But Diego totally defended us! Hahaha he told his friend that it's not that nice to talk about other people that way and that she doesn't know because she never tested Moroni's promise. Wow. He is so good! Diego really does inspire me because he is so happy all the time. I love it! 

Me and my comp had a really weird experience today and we have been talking about it a lot. We were on a crazy micro (the small buses) to go to Concepcion today. There was a young Father and his little girl. The little girl was throwing up the entire way to Concepcion and I felt so bad for him. He had a lot of backpacks to carry, his little girl, and also this bag of vomit. We got to his stop where the micro stops at 50 mph and barely makes time for people to leave the micro because they have to complete their route. He couldn't have his little girl in his hands because of the other things. So he had his daughter walk behind him and he waited at the bottom of the micro stairs for her to step down. The driver started yelling at him that he need to take his daughter in his hands. Because if he didn't, she would fall and the driver would have to pay a huge fee. He yelled so hard at this young dad and the little girl. Then drove off all upset and yelled and said bad words. Then started talking with the passengers and all were so mad at this young dad. I felt so sick to my stomach that someone could be so mean to someone else. A lot of the time, we judge people so quickly when we don't even know the situation. I am so guilty of that, but I am trying to get better and not judge. Especially when I don't know the full story. 

Well, folks. Sorry again for being off the face of the planet, but I live! Hahahaha! Don't forget to be like Jesus. Don't judge and always remember to help those around you! 

Hermana Burnham

"Brownies with Hermano Jorge."

"The truck for gas. It's a bit creepy."

"This wall says 'Hey Chubby. I love you!!!"

"Someone decided to break a window at the church."

"Our Branch activity. The Elder's Quorum cooked for all the women." :)

"Lunch with the Branch Presidente"

"Happy Birthday Ella!" :) :) :) :) :)

"Happy Birthday Mama!" :) :) :) :) :)

"Rainbows and crazy nights." :)

"Chocolate from Juan Antonio! Our eternal investigator" :)

"Crazy times in lunch with Hermano Jorge"

"We got to work in Concepcion and the graffiti there is the best!"



"Celebrating Hermana Anunciacaos' birthday! My cute little Brazil girl reached 20 years!!!!!!"

"The funniest dog. Hahahahaha!