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
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