Back to Back Exchanges

This week was pretty loaded. We had two exchanges and 20 lessons. It felt over before it started haha. 

First exchange was with Elder Johnson from Arizona! He just got out on the mish 4 weeks ago. Hes a stud. He surprisingly has no culture shock whatsoever. We spent the day just seeing a bunch of less actives and had another good lesson across the river with Mary and Steven. 

Second exchange was with Elder Desir from Aruba! Also a solid exchange. Didn't have a whole lot planned but we were busy just about all day seeing more less actives. 

Friday we were packed full with doing baptismal interviews from other district leaders. We went down to Pango and did one for a 14 year old girl then went to Etas and did one for this handicapped girl at the bottom of this cliff in the back of the bush. We were basically slipping our way down this cliff trying not to die to get to this investigators house haha. 

Saturday we saw this less active teenager named Mike. Not going to lie he did not look happy to see us but after talking for a while it was all good. Had a good lesson on Ether 12:27. Later we had a family house night with this really cool family that just moved into our ward. The father is from Pentecost (famous for land diving) and his wife is from Fiji. She apparently remembers my HEFY group that went to fiji summer 2015 which is crazy. Their family is also hosting a few Muslim dudes from Bangladesh who work in Fiji. They were pretty chill. They made us some super good curry for dinner. The whole lesson was in English which was even weirder cause....English. 

Sunday we walked our church squad down to the chapel again haha. We had 6 investigators come and 2 are getting baptized next week! Also another miracle: Papa Kamie's divorce papers are finally going to come through and they don't have to go to court! He should be getting baptized with his daughter Nana in about 2 weeks I reckon. 

That's it for this week! It's good to be on the mish! Wouldn't want to be doing anything else right now!

Love,

Elder Burbank

Pics:

-Walking down the cliffs in Etas. Elder Johnson at the bottom, Elder Gunnel in the middle and Elder Hardy up close.

-Big tree that fell down but its still alive and grows lol. 

Happy Mother's Day

Had another solid week. Last P-day we had this awesome FHE with a massive family from Tanna. There were a ton of kids so it got a little disorganized and crazy but its hard not to love the kids haha. For the closing hymn Elder Hardy and I basically sung "As Zion's youth in latter days" by ourselves. Twas funny.

Tuesday I gave our districts training on revelation. I spent a good while studying the prophets talk on the subject. I really like the quote he used from D and C talking about how we as mortals cannot stop the flow of revelation that God wants to give to us. He compares it to a man putting his hand in the Missouri river. Anyway after we had to do something president calls "train the trainers". We just spent a little bit of time with the newbees and their trainers and talking about the expectations of the mission. It went well. 

Wednesday we found 2 new investigators in the village on the other side of the river, Mary and Steven. They are pretty young but their parents want them to go to church with us so voila. We also saw Tino again who really perked up this lesson. He actually talked so that's some progress! He has a baptismal date for the 26th :). 

Thursday we saw Kawia again and had a solid lesson with her. She seems on track to be baptized. Shes been coming to church but now we just have to get her Mom reactivated!!! Later we also had a meeting with the mission president and the state president on Efate. The meeting went really well I think. We were just discussing some of the needs of the mission and the state and how we can work together and what not. 

Friday we did some baptismal interviews in this area right next to the beech called Pango. We interviewed 2 super cool little kids who seemed hyped to join the church. Cool to see such strong testimonies at such a young age. We also found out that one of our solid potential investigators just kinda fell off the map. We think shes avoiding us and she keeps making stupid excuses. She really liked taking the lessons I think but she doesn't want to let go her party life quite yet :(. Them Ni-vans and their partying...sigh. 

Saturday we did another baptismal interview then went back across that river. We found two new investigators again named Natu and Juliet. They are both related to this inactive dude who loves talking to the missionaries named Thompson. We're hoping to get them all to church next week. 

Sunday we had 5 investgators at church. We walked Mary and Steven with a mob of pikininis (kids) to church. We cant take people in the truck so we figured we'd just walked all the way with them haha. After church we saw Kawia again and got to know her family a lot better I think. Next lessons we're planning on giving her a baptismal date. She just learned how to pray and really loves coming to church. Cool to see! 

That's all for this week! 

Avec amour,

Elder Burbank

Pics:

"Lyn" from this awesome member family 

Blacksand church building

Helping move a bunch of wild peanuts

Bush walk

River Crossing

Last P-day I got to ride my first famous "port vila bus". Our truck was getting serviced so we had to take buses to get around. We also had an awesome family house night with the second counselor in our ward. Shared a few good verses in the Book of Mormon Ether 12:6-9 on faith. 

Tuesday we went into another Tanna community and found this return sister missionary named Winnie. She showed us around the village and we started teaching this little 10 year old boy named Tino that they look after. They kinda took him in after he lost his parents and now he's been coming to church so he might get baptized this month! 

Wednesday we went into the bush to a place called RangoRango. Some missionaries baptized a few people who lived up there but their baptismal records never got properly done, so we spent quite a bit of time trying to find them. Twas a really really pretty area. I didn't really take any pictures unfortunately.

Thursday we saw Marian again! We invited her to be baptized and she said she'd think about it. She did come to church for the first time this Sunday though which was awesome! We are kind of hoping she can get baptized this month. 

Friday we went to yet another Tanna village behind the airport. The only way to get to most of the people was to cross a river. We rolled up the pants and went for it haha. It was actually super cool. We met this little 10 year old kid named Samuel and he showed us around the whole village. He even walked us all the way back to our house haha. 

Saturday was solid. We started the day teaching that french speaking family and we did a little service project for them too. The papa has a date for the 26th so were working hard to have that happen. Later we met some members in blacksand. We are trying to work alot more with the members to get referrals. There is honestly no better way to do missionary work! 

Sunday we had 4 investigators come to church! We also had quite a few solid lessons. We met this girl named Marie in our ward and she is getting ready to put in her mission papers so she said she'd help us work in blacksand.

Bout it for this week! Looking forward to mothers day calls next week! 

Love,

Elder Burbank

Pics:

Walkin in RangoRango

Truck

Blacksands

Well this week was definitely a change of pace! Being in a new area is nice! We spend quite a bit more time in the area which is good. We've been seeing this one lady named Mamma Lina every single day this week and she got baptized this last Saturday! The ward is the biggest I've been in on my mission, not counting salt lake, and the members are all pretty awesome! People seem to love helping the missionaries and the Bishop does everything he can to help the ward. I'm pretty hyped to be working here. 

Some random highlights of the week:

-There is a port member family that we are working with a few of them speak french! I got to give the non member papa a blessing in french which was super cool!

- I also got to perform a baptism for the first time which was super cool too! All went well.

-One of Elder Hardy's recent converts named Thelma in the area also referred her friend to us so we just started the lessons with her! We are pretty sure she wants to get baptized and change her life around! Recent converts can be powerful examples to others. 

-I huge part of the neighborhood is getting bulldozed because a business man is building something we think. Some of our investigators unfortunately got displaced :( We found where they moved though. Its this random place on the side of a mountain which is pretty actually. 

-For my studies Ive been looking deeply into the old and new convent that Jesus Christ has made with his people. Its crazy how deep the symbolism gets. Its also crazy how much you can learn while comparing the Book of Mormon with the Bible. 

Bout it for this week! Ill be sure to write more next time. 

Love,

Elder Burbank

Pics:

Mama Lina's baptism

Random beach picture

Bye Bye Mission Office

Found out transfers this week! Looks like my "travel elder" days are behind me! It's kind of a relief but at the same time kind of sad. I'm really going to miss the area we had. Elda LaMont, Child and I all had some pretty good memories. Some to be discussed after the mish haha. Now Ill be going to a new area and ward called Blacksands! I've heard that this ward is the most missionary minded in the mission so I'm really looking forward to working with lots of members! 

As for the week its been solid. Pday was Pday. 

Tuesday the highlight was seeing Glen and his family again. The lesson got super serious again and I kinda felt like we were chastising the family a little but they all seemed up to the challenge! This Sunday a few of the older boys all came to church too! My last Sunday in the Etas ward but we had a decent turnout with investigators!!! 

Wednesday we went out to a village next to the ocean and taught this Presbyterian lady named Sarah. Turns out she is super interested in learning about other religions but is solidly founded in hers. I wish I could keep teaching her but looks like I wont have that chance :(

Thursday I did an exchange in Blacksands with my previous companion Elder LaMont! Its was actually super legit! We taught a balanced mix of investigators, less actives and members and had a pretty cool miracle. One papa of a family that are almost all members finally softened his hard and is taking missionary lessons! He started following the commandments and is open to the missionary lessons. Elder LaMont said that he wouldn't even take a pamphlet before and now he basically wants to get baptized. It was a nice little sneak peak into the area that I am now in!! 

Friday the highlight was definitely a baptismal interview for this girl named Margret from Fiji! She speaks perfect English so we did the interview in English which was the first time on my mission doing one in English. It was super awkward at first. I kept throwing in Bislama words and couldn't get my point across haha. For some reason talking to strangers in English is just as hard as it was before the mission. Funny how that works. Anyway I found out that Margret's mother is from a village really really close to the village that I worked in for 3 weeks in Fiji! It was awesome to get to talk about Fiji again! She is just a super cool convert. 

Saturday was just a day full of lessons :). Nothing too out of the ordinary. We are really pushing the members to get them to take our investigators to church and it seems to be working! Like I said before we had about 4 investigators come to church finally. Twas a relief. 

That's about it for this week! 

Love,

Elder Burbank

Pics:

-Farewell to the Mahit family

-Elder Hardy

-There is something about kids and climbing in the islands haha. They can just fly up trees and ropes.

-Farewell to Grem and his family

Another great week

Monday was another casual P-day. The assistants bought us some milkshakes for all the work we've been doing for them. There is this American diner called Jills and the milkshakes are pretty good actually. Monday night we had a powerful lesson with Glen and his family. They basically all admitted that they need to put in a lot more effort into studying the gospel and to coming to church. I was super disappointed when they all didn't come to church after promising us like 3 times that they'd come. Tis the missionary life. 

Tuesday we had like a 2 hour Q n A sesh. in a small little village with people from Tanna. They wouldn't stop asking questions about our church. I felt like we got our point across really well. The spirit was strong. 

Wednesday we spent a while just trying to see a bunch of random investigators next to that same tanna village but nobody was home! We had a bunch of random kids following us around to try and find people but literally nobody was home. To subside our frustration one of the kids ran up a coconut tree and probably gave us one of the best coconuts I've ever tasted. Twas nice :). We also found a part member family while we were just exploring in the bush. Only 1 dude named Kal is a member and everyone else are non members. No one in the ward knew about them till now and they all would like to come to church.

Thursday we found another family from Tongoa. Started teaching them about the Book of Mormon but most of them cant read without glasses! Elder Child and I figured we could just buy some and give some to them. 

Friday we saw Kal again with his Dad, James. James seems to be the only non member in the family that wants to learn more but hes solid! 

Saturday we went to Elder Kennedys and Elder Gauldens baptism! We also invited a random lady from the flight agency to go to the baptism and she came! 

Alright I'm running out of time already so I just wanna say that I'm happy to be on a mission! Ive been learning so much over these last 20ish months! This is definitely the hardest thing Ive ever done in my life but nothing could ever replace the experiences that I'm having. I know Jesus Christ leads us in this work and I'm happy to be the instrument in his hands! Have a great week everyone.

Love,

Elder Burbank

Conference week

Pretty good week. General Conference was good as always! This

conference didn't really resonate with me as the other generals

conferences though for some reason, I think part of the reason was

because I had seen all the new announcements on LDS.org before I

watched it and we had to watch it in Bislama too. Lets just the the

translation in Bislama is....interesting. Not that I don't like Bislama

its just that the language isn't really capable of capturing general

authorities talks haha.

As for the week it was solid. We had an awesome family home evening

with the Hilliman family. The guy standing to the left of me in the

picture just left to the MTC last Wednesday. We will be picking him up

in like 2 weeks cause hes serving in Vanuatu :)

Tuesday we had zone conference. Elda Child and I gave our zone

training and we thought it went well. We talked about being full

purpose missionaries. For the zone activity half of us just ended up

playing basketball in the rain barefoot haha. It got a little crazy.

Wednesday we finished up zone conference. It was kinda sad cause

president had to start training us on how we are going to transition

to the new mission president! I cant believe President is going to be

leaving in July! Ive spent my whole mission with him and now I wont

get to go home with him as my mission president :(

Thursday we found and helped this lady, Florita, make some simboro. We

talked to her about the Book of Mormon while we made it. We

essentially spent the rest of the day just talking about prophets and

inviting people to conference.

Friday we had some office meeting and planning etc etc. We also picked

up a returning ni-van who served in the Philippines. He got released

but we took him out to teach one last lesson before he flew out to

Tanna Saturday morning.

Saturday and Sunday we watched conference and spent a decent amount of

time in the area given our circumstances. One of our new investigators

who we haven't even taught yet came to conference but we didn't see her

till it was over! We felt super bad. She got lost in the crowd of

people she didn't know. My favorite talk from conference was probably

Elder Bednars about meekness. Some really good insite. Never really

thought about what it meant to be meek before his talk.

That's it for this week!

Love,

Elder Burbank