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

Time flys - Happy Easter

Somehow it's the forth week in the transfer already. Time is just getting faster and faster. Only 5 months left in the mish! 

This week was solid, Last Monday we had a family home evening with a less active, partial member family. The whole time they were making jokes about how they should come back to church. The husband kept joking how he should get baptized too but nothing ever happens! Only their 13 year old son comes to church haha. We'll keep working with them. 

Tuesday we set a baptismal date with our investigator Zackaya! He's one of Jonathans (our recent convert) friends! Same kinda situation and he want to change his life around a bit! We also had to tell this one lady straight at the flight agency that missionaries cannot in fact have girl friends haha. This lady was slipping Elda Child some notes every time we came into their office to book flights.

Wednesday we finally met with this investigator named Phillip Noklam. Hes one of the dudes we found contacting with president when Elda LaMont lost his planner. By backtracking a bit we ran into him and thought it was meant to be! Turns out hes actually pretty interested in learning about other religions I think. 

Thursday was quite the unproductive day. We took some missionaries to and from the airport like normal but didn't really get out to the area. We did get to talk to some random people at the airport though! Met this lady from Virginia and another from Poland and some other people from France. Perk of being a missionary: you get to talk to everyone from around the world! 

Friday we met with this random papa from the SDA church again. We don't actually know his name but he freaks out in joy every time we come it seems haha. He's been studying the Book of Mormon like crazy! He made so many connections to the Bible it was insane. Elda Child and I also spent a good while to prepare a training for zone conference next week. A ton of missionary comps are doing the trainings this time round. 

Saturday we saw Angelina again and her parents newly born baby boy! They still haven't named him yet haha. She seems to be getting ready for her baptism. We saw a bunch of other people too. We kinda had a Book of Mormon theme going on with all the lessons we taught. It was pretty solid. A nice busy day :) 

Sunday not a single one of our investigators with a baptismal date came to church! They all promised so it was quite disappointing. As for the rest of the day we went out with a member, Adam Hilliman. He leaves to the MTC in 3 days and will be serving in the VPVM! The same member we go on splits with will be getting picked up from us at the airport when he arrives as a set apart missionary haha. Maybe one of us could train him. Anyway that's about it for this week!

Avec amour,

Elder Burbank

Have a good Easter everyone!

From Vanuatu this Week

Last pday was just like the rest except we picked up all the New Cal zone leaders and STL's for mission wide MLC. Its been a good week to see them all again. I think I'll be going to Alberta after the mission cause Elder Secretan and I need to go fishing haha. 

Tuesday we picked up the rest of the the leaders around the mission and booked a ton of flights for upcoming zone conferences and what not. Just a simple office day. 

Wednesday we took all the leaders to presidents house then had a good amount of time in the area. Saw Angelina again. Going to have to push her date till April 14th cause she hasn't been reading! We also met this really cool family from Tongoa. Elda Child just walked up and started shredding their dry coconuts and they all thought he was from Vanuatu cause he knew how to do it haha. We also taught this mami named one eyed marie. She was suuper nice to us. She told us next time that we'd make simboro together. 

Thursday we got to go to a bit of MLC, the dinner out and the talent show. Twas cool.

Friday was another super long day. Up at 3:30am to get all the New Cal people checked in a 4:30am. We also got news of an emergency transfer so we had to make a bunch of last second flights. Also we had to do a couple baptismal interviews all over the place. For one we had to climb of this big hill covered in mud. My shoe was more mud than shoe afterwards haha. 

Saturday we saw Priscilla again for the first time in forever. She said she's at a pivotal moment in her life. Doesn't know if she should be baptized Seventh day Adventist to follow her Mom or baptized Mormon to follow her dad's side of the family. She really like learning with us but she just doesn't know enough yet to make her decision. We also found another family from Tanna who proceeded to rail on Joseph Smith a bit. It took me off guard how much they actually knew about him. I'm pretty sure we answered all their questions well enough. At this point on my mission I've heard so many of the same questions they I think I got some clear answers down :) 

Sunday we went out to find a bunch of referrals without much success. We didn't stumble upon a bunch of SDA members that wanted to talk to us though. They proceeded to indoctrinate us in their church :). I think they were a little taken off guard to see how many of the same things we believed in as well. They kinda came off like they didn't think us 2 young little white kids knew anything about the Bible. To add they recommended we read a book called "secret terrorist". Maybe its worth the read? I do genuinely like learning about other religions. My mission so far has shown me how diverse the beliefs actually get but I don't think I can read other churches material on the mish haha. Bout it for this week! 

Love,

Elder Burbank

Actually took pictures this week!

    

-MLC

-Little baby named Kennedy 0_0

also severed in this mission baptized the girl on the left side of the photo. Crazy.

-Bush walk

-Angelina on the right with a bunch of kids from the "Mahit" family. Elder Child's older brother who 

Missionary Pictures

Busy week in Vanuatu

Well Ill just start with last Monday. Had a pretty normal P-day. Didn't really have time to do any cool activity like normal. Elda Child did however taste his first milkshake from "Jill's American Cafe" though. Those things are heavenly haha. 

Tuesday we got haircuts really quick from the cheep barber dude just before our district meeting. We didn't have time on P-day so we got it done. We have quite a bit of flexibly in our schedule as travel elders :). After we saw Jonathan again. We are just following up with him and getting him really to get the priesthood. We also saw our most potential investigator Angelina. She is suppose to be getting baptized the 31st. Its been kinda hard teaching her though. We gotta bang our heads against a wall just to get here to talk haha. She's super super quiet. Same goes with most Ni-vans honestly haha. 

Wednesday we spent the morning getting our vanuatu's drivers licences. After living here for 3 months you have to get a local licence for some reason. Pretty pointless, I think the government just wants our money. A cool souvenir though! haha. We also met with this inactive mama, Mama Diane! She made this Ni-vans version of a Banana Pie haha. Its was pretty good but just...different, like everything else here :). We also saw Ian's, girlfriend Ailine. She broke the news that he is really not trying to stop any of his word of wisdom problems and now hes working 7 days a week. Literally like 70 hours a week or something ridiculous. Gonna be real hard to help em now :(. We also saw a less active named Harriet who came back to church this Sunday! Twas good to see a less active finally come back to church!! 

Thursday was chill. Made some flights for a district president training conference that we literally just found out about haha. All the district presidents on the outer islands are coming into Vila. We also found a few new potential investigators. To end the day we picked up a zone leaders who is going home this transfer, Elda Hathcock. His Vanuatu visa is expiring before he goes home so we had to send him to Honiara so he could finish his mission on a visitors visa haha. Believe it or not it is actually cheaper to send someone on a return international flight then to have them pay a late visa fee when leaving the country. 

Friday we were up super early to send off Elda Hathcock. We'll be seeing him in a week again in a week to actually send him back to the U.S. Later we went back to the flight agency to finish up some of the district president flights and some other stuff. There was a horribly smashed up bus just in front of the travel agency that hit a pole the night before. The bus was never cleaned up and 2 people were brutally killed in the accident. There was still blood and stuff all over the bus. A gruesome scene due to drunk driving. Not even the government I feel is taking responsibility to clean up the mess and its kind of ironic because elections are going on right now haha. The plot actually thickens on Saturday. 

Saturday afternoon we were just chillin out in our area. Trying to find some people to teach or whatever. We happen to find Mafin again who was back in Teouma, our area, just for a day or two. He was there in his little village with tons of friends. One among them had a huge bandage on his head full of staples. Turns out he was literally the driver of the bus that hit the pole in Vila. He was the only survivor and he was basically hiding out in the middle of nowhere in the bush because tons of people basically hate him now. He can't go back to his house in town because I think someone will literally kill him. Right then and there we teach the whole group about the Book of Mormon. The lesson went well actually. One guy was a devout Ba'hai. I really don't know much about the religion but I think they believe that there are like 9 holy books of scripture or something such as the Bible, Quran etc etc etc. It was actually really hard to teach someone that believes that so many religions are all collectively true. Anyways...

Sunday we had to deal with more flight complication with everyone trying to fly back to their outer islands after zone conf. President loves to call air Vanuatu the pirates of the skys haha. It can be fun to deal with them sometimes. Church was also good. 12 year old Jerry came to church on his own and passed the sacrament for the first time! Not even his parents go to church for the moment and his solid uncle in the church just flew back to New Cal for a few months. Literally nobody shows him a good example for the moment but he pays his own bus and comes haha. What a stud. We also found a few solid potential investigators. Looking forward to following up! 

That's bout it for this week! 

Avec amour,

Elder Burbank

A goat stole our phone

Its been a couple weeks! Last week I couldn't really email cause I was back in New Cal!! I went over for just a day last Sunday and came back last Monday! I went to go get my "Carte de Sejour", or visa because you have to pick it up in person. It was suuuuper weird going back. It was actually hard to switch back into French but after speaking for a few hours it was just like before haha. As for these last two weeks its been great! Jonathan, the guy who randomly started following the word of wisdom on his own got baptized!! Elda Child baptized him and I did the confirmation. In classic Ni-can fashion we both got asked to give talks on baptism and the spirit on the spot at the baptismal program haha. This time round it was a lot easier though. Bislama is coming along.

Elder Kennedy and Elder Gaulden, some other office elders, also had a baptism in our ward too. We had to drive out to a place called Eton which is a tiny little village about a 30 min drive. There is a tiny little unit of the church out there but its technically part of the Etas ward so we did our baptism together with our recent convert! Being in Eton for a bit was actually awesome. When we got there its turned out the guy we were suppose to interview hadn't come back from work yet so we made simboro (some local food. Look it up!) and talked with the members for a bit wait we waited. 

Another story. So last Saturday after the baptism we were kinda having a rough proselyting time. Nobody we wanted to see was home and so we were a little frustrated. To let out a little frustration, after walking back from a house of someone we wanted to see but wasn't there, Elda Child jumped out and yelled at a goat to scare it haha. Turns out that this dumb little thing would come back to haunt us. What we didn't realize is that the phone at fallen out as he jumped out at the goat. We were looking around for hours back at the house and back tracking our steps in our area to finally find it next to the flippin goat. Looking back I should've taken a picture of that dumb goat haha. 

This week we also picked up some mid transfer arrivers. 2 Tongans and 1 Micronesian. They were in the "english second language" program at the New Zealand MTC so they come in mid transfer which makes things interesting. It was a little special this time cause president and sister Granger were not even in Vila at the time they came so they never really got a proper orientation. Me and Elder Kennedy had to do a make shifty welcome for them at the mission office haha. 

Another story. Elder Child and I have decided to "contact the neighbors" We bought a pineapple and decided to basically do some door to door. We figured we'd prepare now to be 40 year old men in our future neighborhoods and to be Mormon neighbourly neighbors haha. It worked kinda. They said they'd invite us over for a "drink" one time haha. Maybe an opportunity to teach the word of wisdom :). 

Well that's everything interesting that happened these last couple weeks! 

Avec amour,

Elder Burbank

Pics:

-Tontouta airport in New Cal!! Took Elder Hable back with me cause he got transferred to Vanuatu!

-Cool sunset in Vila

-Makin Simboro in Eton 

-Jonathan's baptism! 

-Eatin some sugar cane