Not a second wasted.

I love you. We haven't gotten too many storms, but we have received lots of wind. We had a couple of days where it drizzled, and showered occasionally. We also have blossoms a plenty. My allergies have not acted up yet so I am happy. This week Elder Anderson and I saw miracles! First, early on in the week we had been tracting and having 0 success. So we decided to take a breather and go to braums, a big ice-cream/diner chain, and get a snack. It was quite chilly that day so I got some chili. Well as we entered braums, a gentleman and his daughter walked in behind us. to our surprise he wanted to converse with us, I was sooo excited! Well until he started asking questions like "I heard Brigham Young, the founder of your church, hired assassins to take out opposition, is that true?" hahaha it took all I had to not laugh. We explained that yes saints were persecuted and driven out of their lands, and yes there was a militia for DEFENSE, but that we would have to research whether or not Brigham hired assassins. Anyway his name is Eric and he is from Bakersfield. He is truly interested in bettering himself, and having a religious based household. We were able to teach him and his wife the Restoration, and he liked it and wanted us to come back, well he just had surgery on his brim, shoulder, and has asked us to comeback this Friday. We know this man and his family need what we have to share, he admitted to us he had a sketchy past and that he wants the guilt to be taken away, I nearly blurted out "well then accept our message and be baptized!!!" We also ran into a Chinese foreign international student, who we prayed with. He is in a band that plays at one of the churches here so he has been exposed to religion a little bit. He wanted to talk to us and find out our beliefs so I am excited to see where this goes. I also impressed him by saying "xie xie" or thank you, when we left. I got us in for sure ;) We, Elder Anderson and I, have very strong testimonies of exact obedience! After having some really tough weeks with no success, we turned to our White Handbook, and picked out things we could improve on, even as little as dropping the sarcasm, or being more positive. We have seen such an increase in opportunities to share the gospel. So this week at church I found out some challenges the bishop gave to the ward. the first was in a specific time period, 5 months, he had asked the ward to read the Book of Mormon and when you finish write your testimony in the front cover then give it to him, and then he will in turn give it to the missionaries. We are really excited to use these Books of Mormon when teaching, it is more personal, and a way of fellow shipping without being there with us at the lesson. Second was the bishop had asked all persons 16 and older when called upon to give a talk to prepare sufficiently to give their talk without notes or any resources on the stand. This has brought such a powerful spirit into the meetings, because of the strength of these members testimonies! It is amazing! I know how much members want to share the gospel, but don't know how, have the courage, or don't know who to share it with. I would suggest having a ward activity with the missionaries, where they teach how to teach with the pamphlets they have. They are simple, and can be shared with anybody in 10 minutes. Have the missionaries real-play, role play, how a lesson is taught, and how it can be applied to that specific persons needs. Have the Missionaries bring copies of each pamphlet they have and explain how they use them. I am so very thankful for the wards "anxious engagement" in missionary work, I pray that everyone will pray as a family for a name that they can give to the missionaries. Referrals are one of the key tools to teaching prepared souls by the lord. I know it can be nerve racking and scary, but how great are the worth of souls who are waiting for their neighbors, co-workers, friends to share the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I love this work. I love being a missionary. I love you all. I love my Savior. I love teaching my brothers and sister. I pray you have the same desire to share the truth.

 

Not a second wasted.

 

Elder Burnham.

New areas galore

Dearest Mother,

Its always great to hear from you, I apologize for not thinking and sending only the info in the Snail-mail. I will do better. Ada is awesome, tough, but awesome! So we have basically only been finding/tracting. We have taught probably 3 lessons since Ive been out. everyone will pray with us but no one will set return appointments or be there when we do. At first we thought maybe we as a companionship wasn't doing everything we could to be exactly obedient. We were getting down on ourselves. My trainer said that this last week has been the hardest of his whole mission. We made it to Friday and had district meeting, and come to find out no one has had success. All our stats were super close. Our ZL's were there and they informed us that actually our mission has had ground breaking success, that we were averaging about 25-30 baptisms a transfer, but in just four weeks it has already hit 40. so the work is going forward, it just may be a point in our missions where a trial is needed. they also said that since we have doubled our efforts, with the new age, that Satan has also reinforced his attacks. So we are to expect resistance. It all made sense to us, so we took it as a motivator and decided to make some new goals, like be more positive...etc. we have also been praying more fervently. We had a couple families feed us this week, which is always great. One sister took us out to a cafe, and ordered us fried green tomatoes, which I really like. and I was pressured into getting catfish, which I did NOT really like! So I don't know if you have received the letter from the First presidency but it was read here. It spoke of the new scriptures. So For Christmas that's what i want, the mini quad in the new style. :) Oh so i have something for you to relay to the Marshalls. My trainer is elder Anderson, his sister played soccer with jenny and jenny was a bridesmaid for her. So they actually know each other pretty well. Small world! OK So for my birthday, i have a funky request but i think it is a logical one. The thrive powdered milk. Ive been good and i have bought fat free milk, you have converted me momma. So we have on solid family and one semi-solid  man. The Roberts are great. She is 100% native American, and he is a white boy. She grew up doing Indian rituals and rain dances and stuff like that, its crazy. we had a baptism date set but they weren't able to make it to church enough. So we have set a new one. She loves the Book of Mormon, due to it being an account of the ancient America's. That's what got her hitched. Her husband just does whatever she does. :) The semi-solid man, Simon Garcia, is actually a Spanish investigator so i have no clue what has been taught or comprehended. he works weird hours so we haven't had a chance to meet with him recently. I do a real good job of looking good during those lessons, I nod my head and say "si." So no we have not heard any news on the emailing thing, but almost every missionary emails friends and leaders anyways. that's probably why it has been allowed.

 

 Hey I remember you and aunt Laurie always talking about us having native American blood in us, is this true? If you don't know, i think some family history needs to be done :) Because there are tons of Chikasaw and Chaktaw out here, and if we can prove our heritage, we could get a card, and college could be free!!!! just saying. 

So next Sunday you should request to sing hymn #335. It is our mission hymn. So I don't know if i told you, but our mission is not being affected by new missions being made. Good for Debbie! Maybe sister Tolboe shouldn't make those arrangements. keep her coming!!! What better way than to keep her in the presence of saints and the spirit? I vote keeping her coming. Hey drama Queen, stop it! Your like the best dancer in your class and you know it! you always worry and then do perfectly fine! just relax, and go dance your heart out!!!! (Sara is getting ready to take her Ballet exams)I didn't know tony ran track! Good for him, hows his schooling coming along? Maybe Sara can be his coach! I'm really impressed with your class mom, I wish you would have been my teacher, i honestly believe i did so little in my Sunday school classes. I wish the new manuals came out when i was in SS. it would have prepared me so much more. I actually felt prompted to write the Lange's about things, so they will be receiving a letter shortly. Brianne just needs to get married already! I mean take your time, have fun, enjoy college, date a lot, your still young you've got time  So i would like to make some requests. I need addresses for: Josh, Adam Daley, Elle Mele, Shea's dorm, Ryan Taylor, Heffner, Brenly's dorm and home, fischer, Lemmo, and i need sara to either get on my phone, or facebook and get Teilor Macy's. PLLLEEEEAAASSSSEEE  I also would like to know which picture is going to be put on the plaque. Oh one more thing before I get off, the church attire here is great, Cowboy boots, denim, and leather jackets! with bolos. Its fantastic! I love the vocabulary here, i know I'm going to adopt some of it! Well I love you guys so much! Y'all are the best! I pray for you everyday! Keep up the good work!

 

P.S. How is your reading coming? Im almost to Alma are you?

 

The work must go on!

 

 

 

Ada, Oaklahoma

My dearest mother it is good to write you. I'm glad the week has been a good one. So first things first, I am soooooo excited for Jessica that is fantastic!! You need to tell that woman to write me!! So my mission family is awesome, but I super love sister Taylor, she is amazing!! Kind of reminds me of you, but not as cool! :) So the night we arrived in OK we had training, dinner, received our bikes, emailed home, interviews, and had a quiz on ZL's, couple missionaries in the office, and played Jeopardy. It was a fun night. I've never been so excited to have a bike! Ok onto the juicy stuffs. My trainer is named Elder Anderson from Danville, California. He has been out 10 months and I'm his first son (trainee). He is pretty awesome. He is probably 2 inches taller than me, and buff. He was a cornerback/runningback in High School. He is pretty awesome. He is actually a Spanish missionary. We have had dose lessons so far where I have been inspecting the home we are in because I have no clue what they are saying until I hear Jose Smith and cabesa. That is when E. Anderson is reciting the first vision to the investigators. So I try to be real quiet at that part so the spirit can be there as strongly as possible. Other than that we have had one other lesson with an investigator. It has been rough, since we are shot-gunning an area, meaning we are both new to the area (which is Ada, OK) and we know nothing about the area. There are 2 other missionaries in Ada but they knew we were coming like 3 weeks ago so they basically dropped anyone in the area we would be in because Ada was getting split, so they focused their efforts on the north. So in reality we are basically opening a new area. Our area has a college and Pres. Taylor has given us permission to proselyte on campus, which is very rare for elders, usually only sisters are allowed because of the possibility of distraction. I guess he trusts us. The ward we serve in has about 60 people attend church actively, just in October it was made into a ward, it used to be a branch. Oh so we had a service project on Saturday for these two investigators, and I am scarred!!!!! We were moving this lady from a home, that was condemned by the city. This ladies roommate allowed 15 Chiuauas to live in the home, and did not care if they defecated or urinated where they pleased. It was horrendous. Poop everywhere, the tile floor was slick from who knows what, cockroaches a plenty, and we found brown recluses, and another spider that apparently when bitten its poison eats your skin and leaves giant holes in your arm or legs. I nearly threw-up when entering the house. And being the good boy my daddy taught me to be, I took the lead and grinned and bore it. I have no clue if I will ever be able to recover from that traumatic experience. Lysol was my best friend after that! When we got home, we all took showers!!! We are not sharing an apartment by-the-way. E. Anderson and I actually have a pretty sweet apartment, it has a dishwasher, fridge and freezer, and a washer and dryer. Well I don't know what else to say, besides we have been doing a ton of tracting and have had some success. We have like 7 potential investigators and only one is atheist, but her little sister is religious, so she wants to get into religion. Her name is October. She is pretty awesome, she always has crazy hair-do's because she is a hairstylist. Oh I met my first jerk this week :) He was raking his lawn, which isn't a lawn!!! There is no green here, the biggest thing I miss is how green California is, and sidewalks, and bike lanes. Those are of no existence here. Anyways he was raking his dirt, and we offered help, he declined, then we offered something we call heavenly gifting, meaning we offer to have a prayer with him, it has been found to be less intrusive and aggressive, and allows us to get return appointments easier. Anyway I digress, we offer a prayer and then he blew up, he started yelling and then he asked if a Buddhist came up to us and asked if he could have a prayer with us would we allow it? Us being missionaries and knowing rejection, said yeah we probably would allow a prayer. That caught him off guard, so he told us to go back home and wait for them then. And that we shouldn't be forcing our religion on people. We smiled and told him to have a good day. I don't think he knew what to do with us being happy still. I love this work, and I love these people. They are so friendly and kind, and conversational. Even the students, which surprised me. I am so glad to be here in Ada it has only been a week but it has been fantastic! Our ward mission leader is enthusiastic, and takes his calling seriously so that's great. Our bishop is a cold and blunt man, but he is a good man, and wants the work to go forward, we are happy with that. No I have not received the shirts yet, but I am sure they are in the office. We head back next Wednesday for a trainer checkup so we will be able to check then. I love you so much thank you for the support and prayers, I feel them.

 

            Love,

                Elder Burnham #2 

He's There

I'm alive and kicking! Two hour flight. I have P-day on Monday so expect a more lengthy letter then. Mission Pres. is great and mission mom is even better. 
Love ya lots. 

 

Elder Ryan Burnham has arrived in the Oklahoma Oklahoma City Mission, along with 15 other Elders and 3 Sisters.  We spoke with him on the phone this morning and it was wonderful to hear a sincerely humble missionary voice coming from the other end of the line.  He loved his MTC experience and was anxious to meet his trainer and get moving in Oklahoma.