Dear, family
There are a few things about my new companion that I like. He is an extremely good teacher and a very hard working missionary, and I am striving my best every day to learn to love him.
What's happened with Cheng is that he hasn't been able to make it to church because he has school exams and stuff that happen on Sunday, so what we did is we had to move the date to the 5th of December so that he could come to church a few more times before getting baptized. He just needs to gain the desire to come to church more.
I will get to go to the temple when we have Christmas conference. It will be awesome but its too far to travel from here.
One really cool experience that I had this week was of course to baptize Michael, and that was so exciting!!!!!!
What was really cool is me and Elder Lord where walking out of an appointment with an investigator that really wants to get baptized, but he wont be able to until January because of criminal stuff. We where walking away when this guy walked past and said "Hey, elders. How are you?" We were caught a little of guard, and we found out that he had been associated with the church for a couple of years, but had just moved into the area and hadn't seen missionaries for a few years.
He had been taught everything for about eight months and he wanted to get baptized but the only thing that was holding him back was that he couldn't quit smoking. So we told him that we could help him stop smoking and we would come around and teach him. He has been off smoking for 6 days now, and still going strong. We are teaching him as often as possible. He wants to be baptized in 3 weeks, so that's way awesome. The Lord prepares people all around us, we just need to find them.
One more thing - continue on to read in chapter 3 of second Nephi as well. It's very powerful and I love it.
That is so awesome that you are losing so much weight and making that commitment.
I have lost another 5 lbs this week, so I'm continuing to lose weight and it's awesome.
I love you guys so much. I'm going to email pictures as well really quick.
YOUR SON
ELDER BURNS
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Letter from Elder Burns 11/15/2009
Elder Burns' First Baptism
Elder Lord (Elder Burns' new companion) is pictured in the large group photo standing to the right of Elder Burns.
Congratulations to Michael Gould for being baptized. We are proud of Elder Burns for being there to help guide Michael's conversion to the Gospel.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Letters from Elder Burns on 11-08-2009
Dear mom,
I can't believe I have already been out two months it's so exciting guess what!! Transfers happened this week and I am losing elder Kingi. Th mission president thinks I am ready to be on my own. I'm the only one in my intake that isn't going to be trained the full 2 transfers. Guess what else - this Friday the 13th, Michael Gould is getting baptized. It's so awesome I will get to perform it. My new companion is going to be Elder Lord. Hopefully the name says tons about what kind of a missionary he is. I will miss Elder Kingi :)
I'm sitting at about 235. I have lost heaps of weight its wonderful because right out of the MTC I weighed 257, so that's 22 pounds and its awesome - I feel great. That's way cool that Alan is going to Seattle, Washington. I can't believe it, but ya, he should totally teach Mary!
I am so glad that the girls and Jared are doing well. I can't believe that Mikey got baptized. It's so awesome that he is finally a member of the church. I love you tons and wish you the best. love your son elder burns.
Breanna, I am so so exited that you got a car! How are things going with my car lol. It does make you look freekishly tall lol. Those teens classes are so awesome, they help tons. How much did you pay for it and how many miles are on it? You are always in my prayers I love you tons.
your Bro
ELDER BURNS
Crystal you are so awesome. I love you so much and I am doing wonderful. I can't believe that Breanna got a car. I still love my companion. He is leaving though because of transfers. I'm getting a new one. His name is Elder Lord. I'm so excited. Well I love you tons, you're awesome.
your brother
ELDER BURNS
Dear jared,
I love you tons and miss you as well. I have been hearing great things about you and I am so excited that you are being nicer to everyone. I got attacked by a bird this week while I was riding my bike. It kept flying down and pecking my helmet - it was funny. You're awesome!
love, your brother
ELDER BURNS
DEAR DAD,
Everything here is going wonderful. I am continuing to learn and to grow from Elder Kingi's teachings. It's amazing how I can feel the spirit so strongly every day when I am out teaching on my mission. I love it. Elder Kingi is such a hard working missionary and I am lucky to have him as my companion. I will print out your testimony and show it to Michael. I know it will further strengthen his testimony just as it has strengthened mine in reading it just now.
We actually went to an all you can eat place called Diggers. It was just for Halloween to celebrate. It was really nice and they even had a chocolate fountain. The main foods that I eat here are lamb chops, chicken, pork,
KFC, sausages and Rice and Pasta. It's really nice.
I decided to do that [mark the Book of Mormon references to members of the Godhead] so that I could show to an investigator how Christ focused the Book of Mormon is, and also so that I would have a better understanding of the Book of Mormon.
What the church does with medical stuff like that is we still have to pay for it, but they will send me a reimbursement for that amount. The only reason I used the home account was because it was the end of the month and I was out of money in my mission account. I don't need a copy of my yearbook, it's alright. Everything is going great with Cheng, and he is committed to the 21st. Although the 21st was just a goal we are still shooting for that date.
I haven't heard from them [Grandma and Grandpa Burns] but I'm sure I will soon. Pass on my love to Grandma Brown. I love her so much she is such an example of kindness and love to all those that she meets.
Transfers are today and I am losing elder Kingi after only one transfer. I'm supposed to be trained for 2... oh well, the mission president thinks that I'm ready to go on by myself, so I will be getting a new companion named Elder Lord. I have heard lots of good things about him. He will be a zone leader as well - it's awesome, and I will be able to baptize Michael. He will be my first baptism. I'll send pictures next week. I'm so excited his baptism got moved forward to this Friday the 13th - kinda scary lol. Well
for family scripture study, read through 2 Nephi chapter 3 - it testifies of Joseph Smith. Love you tons
Your son
ELDER BURNS
I'm off now, I love you so much send my love to the family. I miss you guys but not to the point that its getting in the way of the work. I'll email you next week love you tons.
your son
ELDER BURNS
ABOUT THE FLOOD:
my area didn't flood too bad. Everyone is ok, it wasn't too bad.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Letter from Elder Burns, Nov 1, 2009
I'm sorry that my letters arent very specific. I am always happy. I really enjoy what I am doing. I am continuing to learn more and more about the gospel, and I am able to teach really well now.
Our area is doing really well me and Elder Kingi's numbers seem to surpass everyone else's in the mission. We always have the most lessons with a member present and we visit tons of less actives. This week we had 4 investigators at church and the less actives that we went and visited came to church as well. I continue to see the Lord's hand in changing the lives of these wonderful people.
My studies now days consist of preach my gospel lessons and lesson plans and I am reading the entire book of mormon and highlighting every reference to God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. I just started 4 days ago and I'm already through chapter 20. It's awesome and I should finish by the end of the year.
Me and Elder Kingi are getting along wonderfully - we have our moments but we get over them quickly and dont really have any problems. We are learning how to teach better every day.
I haven't had the chance to play the piano yet, but I'm sure I will sometime on my mission. The days just fly by. I can't believe I have been out over a month already! I'm almost finished with my first transfer and then the next one will only be 4 weeks.
Every day I wake up at 6:30 and exercise and then at 7, I shower and then I eat breakfast. Then at 8, I start personal study, and at 9 we start companion study. At ten we usually start the day with some finding gq/tracting, then we take a 30 min lunch break at 1:00 and at 1:30 we go out until about 6:00 for dinner. Sometimes we don't take dinner until 9:00, when we have planning and then we usually just go to bed after planning. And that'ss the wonderful life of a missionary!!!
I do have more pictures to send you I just forgot to bring my camera with me to do email today which kinda sucks. They dont celebrate halloween in Australia, but we still did we went to an all you can eat buffet to celebrate it cost about 20 bucks it was amazing though. I love the food here we eat lots of meat mostly chicken lamb chops and pork chops, and a fair amount of sausages lol but ya I am loving it.
Me and my companion are both doing the weight loss but what sucks is he doesn't have any to lose, but it's still going well
I have gotten letters from the Thomas family. Also from Josh Stock, and one from Jake Bean.
I love getting the mailed letters as well because then I have a hard copy to keep forever and its very nice I have recieved them it takes about 2 weeks for the letters to get here.
HMM what do i want for christmas A couple of preparation day T-Shirts and a really nice Belt because the ones I have are already falling apart. Get the belt in sizes 36 to 40. send me a case of mountain dew lol its too expensive here. I would have to say that my favorite candy bar has got to be the snickers bar.
I havent gotten a letter from a couple of people but its not that big of a deal. I am so happy that I made the choice to come on a mission. This has already been one of the best experiences of my entire life and I am so thankful to have you as my parents you have helped and guided me to this point. I have also enjoyed everything that the family has taught me.
Everything is going well Michael Gould is still planning to be baptized on the 14th of November the same day as Jessica's marriage lol. Last night I committed for another investigator to get baptized it was so awesome! I committed him to be baptized on the 21st of november which is awesome!!!!
One more thing is if you could send me a copy of my yearbook!!!!!!
That would be awesome and by the way my bike is paid for the used one was in almost perfect condition so I just got that one.
I had to use 60 dollars for the doctor visit so that is where that went.
Send me Pictures of the family.
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH
YOUR SON
ELDER BURNS
