New Bishop

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is weird! Y'all are pulling my leg! It seems so surreal! Dad's not the bishop, or in the bishopric, or on high council? Let's have a moment of silence! ............................... Wow, that is so weird for me! I don't even know why. Well do I give me condolences or congratulations? Whichever it is, there you go. Well this week we had another finding miracle! We ran into a young guy outside his apartment complex and he invited us in. His name is Dustin and he's 25 and an army vet. He is now in the National Guard. He is super excited about learning about "Mormons" and he wants to read the Book of Mormon! He understands the importance of baptism and really wants to make sure he is going to faithfully keep all the commandments we teach before he commits to baptism! We are working with him on that! It's great! I went on exchanges Friday-Saturday with an Elder Edmunds. He is a ZL down here and he is from Centerville, UT! He remembers Eric and Uncle Jeff. He remembers Eric being a punk haha. Well I guess if he's related he'd have to be! Small world! Well I was talking with Bro. Lusk and now that we have a connection all he talks about is his mission glory days serving around Elder Jamon Quemado! He talked about ?jaqueba? Is that how you spell it? Anyway, he talked about the Bishop family dad baptized who later became the first native branch president in that little town. Apparently Dad and his companion ran into the Bishops and taught the restoration, well Bro. Bishop got all excited and got his pamphlet that had no cover or back on it which would have identified it as a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints literature. Apparently all this info is in a book! Dad is written about in this book! Dad you were a spiritual pioneer in Bolivia! You brought about so many miracles that you written about in the history of the church in Bolivia! Bro. Lusk has this book and he is going to let me look at it. I am so proud to be your son! Thank you for raising me to be the man I am! I have always looked up to you as my hero! Although you may not be my Bishop anymore, I will always come home and seek your counsel and advice! I love you! I am thankful for your stalwart determination to follow the law of consecration and devote your all to the Lord! I strive to be just like my Father! I keep on pressing forward because of the experience I had in the temple when I was depressed and discouraged. I heard your voice tell me you were proud of me, and to keep going. I have never forgot that! I work diligently to make both my fathers proud. (Moroni 10:32)

Not a Second Wasted,

Elder Ryan Burnham

This is Mom's email to Ryan, I thought it was wonderful:

Hi Elder Burnham,
Crazy is the only way I can describe the past 4 days.  It began on Tuesday with an email to your father/the Bishop and then continued from there.  There is a bit of a roller coaster of emotions within right now.  Most of my time has been spent caring for your nieces and nephew but my thoughts and emotions were mixed with other events as well.  I'm hoping your father will take time to write to you today.  It will probably be therapeutic for him if he does.  You see, we sustained a new bishopric yesterday.  Your new home ward Bishop is now Byron Chapman.  His counselors are Tracy Walker and Bro. Jeff Lundquist.  I know you would have been happy to raise your hand to sustain them if you had been here.  Because I was dividing my attentions between grandkids, a daughter, and your father, as well as trying to get some sort of meaningful thoughts together to bear my testimony, I can't really tell you what was said by all who spoke in Sacrament meeting yesterday.  I think maybe I was blessed to have the distraction of the grandkids but in my heart I would like to have been there more for your father.  He has put so much into being Bishop for the past 5 years I would truly loved to have stood up there and honor him more than I probably did.  His testimony and the way he has ALWAYS fulfilled his Priesthood responsibilities has been a "rock" for me to rely on.  Sacrament meeting is to worship our Savior and our Heavenly Father so I felt like they needed to be the focus of my testimony.  It would have been so easy to share stories and experiences about Bishop Burnham but I know my responsibility was to testify of truths that would build others up in the congregation.  President Marshall made it clear that it was also mine and your father's responsibility to help the ward members to sustain the new bishopric and accept the change.  So many thoughts went in and out of my head all week after Dad let me know the change was coming this week.  In some ways I have observed and know too much and I did not want to say anything that could be misconstrued or offend.  I do not speak with the eloquence that so many other sisters seem to have.  What I would like to have said to all of them is that I have watched this man evolve and make many difficult decisions over the past 5 years.  The man I married is still inside the one that everyone sees today but there is so much more inside of him than they could ever imagine.  I will never know the complete burdens he bore because the mantel of Bishop is the only power that could have carried him through.  I will never understand completely the loss he is feeling now because I have not and will never walk in his shoes.  All of the excitement and fear that was there 5 years ago when your father was called to be the Bishop of Modesto 1st Ward is the exact opposite of what it feels like with this release.  He has carried the weight of others needs, trials, tribulations, frustrations.  He has given his time, talents and treasures to care for and comfort his brothers and sisters.  He knows what troubles are weighing people down and can do no more to directly counsel or assist them.  They will need their Bishop to help get them through.  It seems to me there is a feeling of being let go or fired, if you will.  In a 30-45 minute meeting with Bishop Chapman, your father turned it ALL over to him and now must trust that the Lord's plan will continue to roll forth.  I believe that it will be a blessing for your father not to carry the weight and worry but along with letting go of that he must also let go of the joyful opportunities that come to one who serves so closely with his brothers and sisters.  The blessings of being with the youth as they do temple baptisms and experience the other youth activities that are building their testimonies and preparing them for the future.  The blessing of seeing a brother or sister become clean through the joys of repentance and forgiveness and waters of baptism.  The excitement of the children as they bring the birthday certificate from the Primary so they can get their treat from the Bishop.  The thrill of seeing young men pass and bless the sacrament and fulfill their Aaronic Priesthood responsibilities as they home teach or collect the Fast offerings.  The humble blessing of receiving tithing and other offerings from those that have much to give and more so from those that sacrifice to give ALL that they have which seems so little and is so great.  He will miss hearing the stories of anonymous service given out of love and not from being compelled to do so.  Visiting the Primary on Fast Sunday and hearing them sing, seeing them smile, and listening to their innocent comments of love for the Savior and their families.  Helping prepare and then sending missionaries off into the world to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The joy of their return after fulfilling an honorable mission and presenting them with the plaque that has been on the wall to remind us all of the service we should give.  I'm sure there is so much more that I can't think of or don't know.  What I do know is that the physically strong, extremely confident, and sometimes proud man that is your father, is also the spiritually immovable, tender and loving, very wise and willing servant that blessed our Ward and our family by doing the Lord's will as Bishop.  I don't know what his legacy will be to the ward members but my hope is that he has taught his posterity to keep the most sacred covenants that they make in their lives here in mortality so that we can be the Eternal Family our Heavenly Father desires for us.  We are truly blessed!
Love ya tons,
Mom
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO