Week 28 --Week 1 from Santa Maria

Zackary is now in Santa Maria. Here is his first email from that area, entitled "Secretary to the Secretaries":

Well, what can I say? I am in the coolest and strangest situation right now. Presidente joined our companionship, so I have 4 companions. I am actually living with the secretaries, which is the best. Three of us, Elders Arruda, Christensen, and I entered the MTC together and Elder Botelho entered the MTC 6 weeks before me - so most of us are very young in the mission. Everyone calls us the "princes" of the mission, haha. Elder Arruda is from São Paulo and is 2 meters tall, which is about 6'6" I think. He played basketball professionally before the mission for the championship team in Brazil. He is the new Executive Secretary and is being trained as such by Elder Wageman, who goes home pretty soon. Elder Wageman is from Utah and is absolutely hilarious. Elder Botelho is also from São Paulo, but not the city itself - kind of like a suburb. You already know Elder Christensen. So, we all live together in the same small house, but it is great. Elder Botelho and I are like the secretaries of the secretaries, and we work in the office 2 days a week. During the other days we work normally in the field and every night at about 6, we divide and go and teach. It is fantastic because we have a lot of people in an area with a lot of potential. I am very excited to be here and it is already great!

So, this week was crazy with the different situation. I still haven't even unpacked my bags! But it was very good. We arrived on Tuesday and on Thursday we went to the house of an investigator, Aline, who is 22 years-old. She was absolutely elect/elite (eleita in Portuguese, but means both words) and Elders Arruda, Wageman and I went there and challenged her to be baptized. She said yes and was baptized this Saturday! It was very awesome and super great to enter an area with a baptism so quick--after being in an area where they were really hard to come by. We have 5 others with all the requirements to be baptized and just need to accept it. One such investigator is Sérgio. He is maybe 45, with a wife and 2 kids. The mom and the daughter were baptized a couple of months ago, but Sérgio, who is actually stronger than them in the gospel, was waiting until he could be baptized with his 16 year-old son who never wanted to listen to the lessons. So, in our nighttime division with the three-person companionship already mentioned, I went to meet this family. We taught the first lesson to them again and the son was there. The Spirit was so strong and we asked the son, Gustavo, what he was feeling and he said, "I don't know, it's like a tranquility...", and he made the motion of something flowing through him. We asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said yes, but he still has more to learn so we didn't set a date. Then, though, the dad proceeded to tell us about a dream that he had had the night before. He said that he was climbing a tall mountain with his wife. It was very hard and in some places the trail seemed to disappear, but they made it to the top. When they reached the top, in front of them was a wall of smoke, more or less lost in translation there, but a wall of smoke is the best way to describe it. He said that he was nervous to pass through the smoke, but he did with his wife's encouragement. When they past through the smoke, they entered into a large field of the most green grass and there were other couples walking very slowly and he felt a great calm. He said that it was lit but not by sunlight - almost like a sunset, but the light was not eminating from a sun. He then told us that for a long time he has been praying to receive an answer, "a sign," he said, of what he should do and if this is the religion to follow. We talked about the dream, explained it, talked about families and it was unbelievable. The Spirit was so incredibly strong. He recently had a car accident and he said that he will be baptized when he recouperates - so probably a few weeks. Now we are going there to help the son prepare for two weeks, also; or, maybe we will baptize the father first and he will have the oppurtunity to baptize his own son. It truly was one of the most special moments of my mission so far. It truly reaffirms what we teach--that if you pray, Heavenly Father will answer. I hadn't really had anyone tell me that they had received an answer to their prayers, so this was very special for me.

Thanks so much to all of you!!!

Com Amor,
Elder Burnham


Thank you for your love and support.