Busy is Best!

Man, sounds like a wonderful week! I'm glad you all have enjoyed this wonderful event of Sean returning home. I am anxious to see where his next move will be. Has he done all the crazy missionary things yet, like back up without anyone backing him, or get on the Internet, or watch a movie..... ? hahaha. Hey just curious when does Elder Fischer return home? I'm glad you got my letter. I guess I didn't decorate it with graffiti stating not to open it until Thanksgiving. Sorry. :) Man this area is picking up so much! We have a super solid investigator. Her name is Dana Stone she is the fiance of a recent convert and has had a bad experience with her church and is now ready to accept truths! It's wonderful to see how the Lord provides! So Speaking of stress I think I might have gotten in over my head with suggesting activities and service projects. I might be the one heading them all. A secret Santa drive. A ward rake and run, and then we have begun a competition with the other elders in my district to see which ward can get the most member present lessons, via member referrals. I love being busy! It keeps me out of trouble! Luckily we have a decent ward mission leader who is willing to step up when he can. He is an EMT so he has funky hours and can't always meet with us or even talk to us over the phone. I have gained such a testimony of relying on the Lord! With all that has happened recently I have had to just pray and leave it all up to the Savior, because I couldn't do it. We had an awesome zone conference this past Friday. Craig A. Cardon of the seventy came and chastised us all! It was great!!!!! I've never enjoyed being told I'm doing things wrong so much in my life! It's amazing what spiritual preparation will do for you! He spoke a lot about the concept of inviting the head of the house hold to pray, and how it's become routine to ask the head who they would like to say the prayer, well he said "never do that again!" Rather be bold and say something along the lines of "at the conclusion of our lesson we will have a prayer and you will be saying that, but before that we want to talk about the principles of prayer...." We are to use skill and tactic to overcome this giant hurdle! the reason we don't "ask" the head of the household is because we already know the answer. It's going to be someone else other than him/herself. I enjoyed it so much I applied it immediately. Right when we got back from OKC we had a lesson and guess what I did, I commanded that woman to pray! haha. It happened to be Dana Stone who is now prepping for baptism!!!! i love this work! I love being an ambassador for the Lord! I am so very thankful for this opportunity to serve! It is sooooooo fantastic! All I have to say is I would not trade these experiences for anything in the world! This Thanksgiving we were invited to go to Bishop's. We are hopefully going to receive more and more dinners this holiday season. Bishop announced from the pulpit that the members need to make sure the missionaries are cared for at this time of being away from their family. Honestly I was thinking to myself "self.... I don't think this holiday season is going to be hard for me, just stay busy, but I'll take all the dinners handed to me :)" I hope that doesn't make you sad Mom, But we all know you would rather me be out serving then home! I know and you know where it is I am to be! Just make sure you give the elders a little treat or something. They may not have as much support as I do! And to answer the question about my companion, I would say a letter could never hurt. Although he literally gets one a day. His grandparents send him like 2 a day then like a package every two weeks! It kind of drives me crazy! I haven't gotten mail in like a month! He just laughs and says he will have his sister write me :) hahaha. I love Elder Faulkner! Well I hope this letter is long enough ;) I am thankful for all you do for me!

Not a Second Wasted,

Elder Burnham!

Happy DL

I am a happy district leader!!!!!!!! haha. One of the elders out of the struggling companionship has been transferred and the new elder is meshing with his companion perfectly! They are having all sorts of miracles! I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders let me tell ya! I had an interview with President Walkenhorst and we talked about the struggling companionship and what the Lord wanted me to focus on them and let Him take care of our area. Holy cow, that's exactly what I needed to hear. I was so down and out about my area tanking. Now that this "trial" is over I see how the Lord has taken care of my area. We are having referrals left and right and former investigators want to start the lessons again! It is such a remarkable thing to see miracles happen right in front of your face! I love relying on the Lord! This Friday we are having a mission tour conference, and Elder Cardon of the 70 is coming. This should be a great conference. I want to hear from Sean! That punk hasn't written in me in like 5 months! What the heck! I'm part of the family too! You don't leave your little bro out of the loop! He will bring some thunder you don't want! I'm glad you had a great time in the choir ordeal. So I have gotten the ward on board to do the secret Santa thing we did back home with the ornaments with descriptions of needy people ex. 5 year old boy toy. We have a fake tree in our apartment that's been up year round so we are going to donate that to the foyer for this season. I feel good about this project. I also asked a bunch of people if we could have their rake and go around and use raking as a finding method. Offer to rake a yard for free then ask if they have ever met missionaries before. I think it will be positive. So this ones for Dad; is there going to be a jiffy lube turkey bowl this year? So just thought I would stick a bug in the air; GPS's just got approved. I love ties. A sweet CTR ring. Oh and music just got limited to Mormon artists, MoTab, and Classical. Hey did y'all receive an email from President Walkenhorst regarding Christmas? Other elders say their parents did. I'm glad the package brought a smile to your face. That's my favorite thing to do! Well I'm excited for this season. It gives us great reason to talk about our blessings and Christ! Wait that's what all our messages are about! Whoda thunk! I love y'all! A letter with all my thankfulness is headed your way. 

Not a Second Wasted,

Elder Burnham 

P.S. I came up with a pretty good top ramen recipe. Take the Chili flavored ramen cook it, drain all the water, then add the flavor packet, then add 4-5 tablespoons of alfredo sauce. It's actually pretty good. Try it!