Happy New Year

Man, I hate it when you make me cry in the library! Now my district is making fun of me! Thanks a lot! ;) This month has been the most memorable month of my mission! I have found my purpose in being here in Ponca and I have grown so much. I have felt my Saviors love the strongest while serving among the people here! The trials I have experienced have been minute to the amazing miracles I have witnessed! Most of them I didn't even think I deserved! I love my Father in Heaven! I love His grace! I am striving each and everyday to be better than the previous! I feel like the holidays have dampened my go a little, but resolutions are so great and fun to make! I'm ready to put my shoulder to the plow and plant some more seed! This week has been great! We had been working with Dana all week in prep for her baptism, and it went over sooo well! She is fantastic! We are so glad to have been the ones to guide her back into the fold! She has blessed our lives immensely! These coming weeks we are going to work diligently to help her daughter enter the waters of baptism as well! She has some shining examples to look up too, and seeing her mom get baptized was a great testimony builder for her. 

We will have another baptism up in Ponca City soon! I will be printing out some pictures from Walmart today and I will send them home for y'all. It's been a crazy month! New Year's eve wont be anything exciting it's a no-proselyting day, unless we have appointments. New Years day is a normal day. I love my Savior! I love the Book of Mormon! I love the feelings of the Spirit! I love being fed by members! I love having a cooperative and functioning district! I love reflecting on the past and seeing how much I've grown in the gospel and in my testimony! I love my family! I am thankful for all y'all do to inspire and bless my life each and everyday! I hope I was able to brighten your day with the few things I had at my disposal. I know it wasn't much but I wished to show my appreciation for all you have done! I will continue on strong! I will finish, I will not falter! I know who I am, and what my purpose is! I'm out here to love my brothers and sisters, the rest just falls in line naturally! I have been taught how to love by my family! Y'all are the most unconditional in your love! I wish to emulate that love to all! I will not waste my Lord's time! I will not be a stumbling block for others! I am a child of God!

Not a Second Wasted,

Elder Burnham

Don't like ICE!

Well I don't like Ice!!!!!! Blah! :) We are so very excited for the new families in our ward! They have truly brought a fire to the ward that wasn't there before! And we are not done yet! We will be having yet another baptism here in Ponca City! Dana Stone will be baptized this Saturday! She has been prepared for quite a while! She was pretty reserved at our first meeting but we found out that was because she has converted and been baptized 3 or 4 other times. She felt guilty for the "easiness" in switching churches. We helped her understand that God was placing truth in her path and it was a preparation in her understanding and accepting truth when presented to her! She was very understanding and prepared to continue on her path of truth! We are so excited for this wonderful event! She has a great support system with her fiance and friends in the ward already! It will be a great Christmas present! We are also working with her daughter, and she is now reading and praying daily! She WILL be baptized in January! I'm glad Sean is instigating Sara with missionary mindedness! I can see Sara becoming a very strong testator of her beliefs! She has always been strong and determined with the things she knows to be true! I love that little girl to death! I'm not sure what this instagram is but I assume it's like facebook, If it can be utilized for missionary work I like it! I do remember that story, I love it! I'm glad your sacrament mtg went well, because we didn't have one! I guess Okies are scared of a little snow and ice. It really wasn't all that bad. But our bishop decided to cancel church :( I was looking forward to an amazing day! We still had one, but it just wasn't the same! Yes our Christmas conference was great! it wasn't a temple conference because the temple was closed :( but it still was good! VERY LONG, but good! We were there from 8:30am to 8:00 pm! We had some amazing talented missionaries perform and entertain! Yes I got the package sent directly to Ponca and the letters at the conference. I wasn't sure what to do with that giant one. I guess I'll find a spot on the wall for it! The conference was split into two days, Friday for the southern half, and Saturday for the northern. 7pm will work just dandy for me! I'm not sure if I have too many questions, but I'll see if there is anything I can come up with. :) Oh so in the package I sent home there are goodies for the munchkins so I don't know if you want to wait for them to come over or if you just want to go ahead and open it then give it to them when you see them... I don't care. As long as they get it ;) So Landon did get my letter? Ok that's good to know. I figured I would try and send him a letter monthly.... TRY..... :) Also will you let Sean know that the music restrictions that were in place have been lifted. President Walkenhorst has changed it to any spiritual uplifting music. Thanks you're fantastic! Well I've got a lot of work to do with preparing for this baptism so I gotta go. I love you all so much and I am looking forward to talking with y'all. I'll call the home phone. I love you more!

 

Not a Second Wasted,

Elder Burnham!

 

               7:00 pm!!!!! =   5:00 pm!!!!!

Weird Missionaries

Elder Burnham and Elder Roundy

Elder Chavez (he is a wrestler)

Elder Faulkner

Elder McGlothlin and Elder Burnham

Elder Ochs

Elder Roundy and Elder Ochs

9 Baptisms

Holy cow!!!! 9 baptisms!!!!! It is one companionship in our district, but I got to baptize one of the girls. The library here doesn't allow any external hard drives so I will print off some pictures at Walmart and send them. It was an AWESOME service! President Walkenhorst and the stake president attended because we now hold the record for convert baptisms performed in one day in the OKC mission! haha. Faulkner and I have 2 baptisms the 28th so that makes up the 11 baptisms. 

This month has been full of so many miracles! the Lord truly provides! The family is great! it was a family of 7 then another couple. They are both very strong and dedicated! 5 youth! and 3 in the primary from the couple. Our youth organizations just tripled!!!! As a missionary I would enjoy participating in the family traditions! I would love to laugh and play any games they have. I don't know, I just like having a good time, so anything that you can involve the missionaries in should be great! Hopefully they aren't shy! Those kinds of missionaries make me so angry! I want to hang 'em up by their toes and beat 'em like a pinata! Man as a missionary I would love a big meal with activities! :) It's called compromise! :) Well I guess I will read those scriptures suggested by Sean, and then I will respond either in snail mail, or next week in my email. So we got transfer calls this Sunday and Faulkner and I are staying for another transfer! I'm glad it's the promised land up here! Hey so about calling home on Christmas, when would you like me to do that? Any time works for me. Just let me know when that will fit best into your schedule. Love ya!!!!!

Not a Second Wasted,

Elder Burnham

Holy Cow!

Holy Cow, miracles have been all over the place!!! Well to address the first question, yes we are allowed to write the next day if the libraries are closed. Our sacrament meeting went great we had 8 investigators at church! Many less actives and lots of supportive fellow shipping members! I would liked to have been informed I was teaching Gospel Principles that day, but being a district leader has improved my ability to do quick thinking and rely on the spirit. I taught on temple work and family history. Lesson 40 of the manual. I guess it went alright because I got a txt from Dana after church saying the lesson has inspired her to set the temple as her goal! That made me one happy missionary! :D Dana is doing so well!!!!! We rescheduled her baptismal date for the 28th so we could be there as well as her fiance. We had it originally set for the 21st but we have a temple conference and her fiance is a firefighter so he would be on call that day. She has already claimed she knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true scripture of God!!! I love this!!!! If you can't get me a copy of Sean's talk have him send hard copies! I have been studying lately for some trainings and today I studied about repentance! I love when your studies are so involved that the hour we have allotted feels like 5 minutes! I just don't have enough time in the mornings! I have also taken some time to study about the spirit of Enoch, and how we can have that spirit, and have "no poor among them." I love the Gospel!!!!!!!

Not a Second Wasted,

Elder Burnham

Thanksgiving

Man I love hearing about the family! Sorry this is late the library wasn't opened yesterday. I'm glad all went well this holiday. We spent 30 min. of dinner at bishop's house. I think this is the first time I've liked all dishes cooked for Thanksgiving. We had to leave early due to a request of a blessing for a sister going into the ER. I have given more blessings in the ER than I ever imagined. I think in just these past 2 transfers I've given 9. So I want a little more info on this Robert kid. Also how's Wilson doing? I miss that kid, out of all Sean's buds he was the one I considered another brother. So, Man bags: what I have heard is that those coming in are required to have purses and those out here can have backpacks until they break. My backpack is currently functioning. So when it does die I'll let you know, sound good? The Okies are hillbillies do you think they care? Their favorite thing is duck dynasty and duck tape! Well I'm super excited for our Investigator Dana! She is progressing very well! We are going over tonight and will be celebrating her birthday, good sign, then we will teach the law of chastity hehe! My favorite! Well I'm excited for this winter season and for the opportunity to dive into Christ! I will be taking every opportunity to strike up conversations about Christ. It's great to catch people who claim to be a certain denomination and say they can't pray/visit with us. I just ask if they are Christian and they reply yes 98% of the time, then I reiterate my question and about 75% of the time they will feel compelled to participate! I love it. Well I'm running low on time and I've got to get to an appointment so I love you all, and I pray for you constantly. Keep up the member missionary work. Oh and ask dad about his spiritual message I gave him last week ;) hehe

Not a Second Wasted,

Elder Burnham