November 16 letter

No pictures this week, just a letter.  My other son and I just got back from San Diego helping a sister in law remodel a bathroom.

That is good that you guys had a good time in San Diego. Mom sent pics of the house and the bathroom in San Diego, they are looking good. I am glad you had a good week. Our week too was really good.  On Friday I was with Elder Fifita on exchanges. He cam to my area and we went and visited Jeannine. We shared with her a talk from the priesthood session of conference by Randall K. Bennett. It was called Your Next Step, and about how we need to take the next step in coming closer to God. And we told her that her next step was baptism, and she agreed surprisingly easily! She said that she had been praying and thinking about it a lot and that she was finally ready to do it. She finally came to church to! Then on Sunday we went over and went over all the baptismal interview questions and she aced them all so we are good.

We also got two new investigators, Paula and her son. She is an old catholic lady and Is Very knowledgable about religion. So we tried to teach the restoration but in turned more into a question and answer intellectual conversation then a spiritual discussion. Update on JJ, his uncle is still causing us problems. His uncle keeps putting us off on signing for permission, but we found out that he isn't even the one who has custody. His aunt that lives in Utah apparently has custody, and we hope to fax the permission slip to her so we can get it signed and get him baptized. 

We had a cool miracle Saturday night we needed one more conversation and were at our apartment with 40 minutes left in the night. So we walked around for 38 minutes and didn't see a single person. Then right before we walked inside a lady came out of her apartment across the street and we were able to have a good talk with her. She was a
very nice Christian lady but not interested. 

Otherwise that was our week. It was super exciting because of Jeannine. Please keep her in your prayers, I know that they definitely help! I love you and will talk to you later!! 

Elder Burnside

November 9 letter

Start with the November 9 letter.  First of all a picture that Dallon sent of he and his district.

Onto the letter.  In our letter we let Dallon know that his sister Janelle is pregnant and they will have a baby before he gets back.

Sounds like you had a great week. That is so exciting about Janelle!! It is so exciting to be an uncle haha. Our weather here has cooled down but nothin like Los Alamos haha, you will enjoy it in San Diego. We haven't really done the mission plan too much on our mission but it is a good idea. Our week was also pretty good! We went on exchanges and saw a couple miracles. We taught a couple lessons. We taught a referral named Kiyoshi whose half sister is on. Mission. We taught him the restoration and he is semi interested but pretty non committal. We also taught another referral named Richard who was pretty much exactly the same. We received a referral named JJ. He is a nine year old Tongan kid. The other elders were teaching him but he is in our area. So we went and talked to him, and he is so prepared! We just went through the baptismal interview, and he has a strong testimony and is so ready to be baptized. The only problem is he lives here with his uncle during football season but come December he will move back with his less active parents in Texas. So we aren't completely sure where he will be baptized. But that was a super cool miracle. We also ran into Ricky who is a guy we met way back at the beginning of last transfer, and he gave us his new number and so we will meet up with him soon. On Thursday we had a lesson with Jeannine at the visitors center. It was awesome! We focused it on keeping the Sabbath day holy. She loved it, at the end we watched a video about some missionaries baptizing a family and the spirit brought her to tears. It was so good, and she is so close to being baptized. On Sunday she was going to come to church and then 30 minutes before she found out that the Catholic Church was having a service for all the members that died that year, one of which was her husband who passed away in February. So some bad luck there. But we stopped by that night and read the Book of Mormon with her and she will come to church next week.

So our week was really good. And hopefully this one will be as too. I love you guys and will talk to you later!!



Elder Burnside

November 2nd Letter - A trainer again

It's November 2nd and Dallon is a trainer again.  First of all some pictures.  The first is Elder Burnside and Elder Weidrich's last day together.  The next two are Elder Burnside and Elder Taylor from Las Vegas Nevada.  Good looking Elders.

And now with the letter.  It was Elder Burnside's 20th birthday on Saturday.  I think that is why they went to Island's for dinner.

I am pretty sure that the reason you can still remember the day I was born is cause I was born so it was only like the best memory ever hahaha. I am glad you guys have had a good week though. I got the birthday package thanks! Me and my companion have enjoyed the treats, and the lego thing was pretty cool. I also got the suit, and it all fits well and everything, so it is all good! Our week has been pretty good. So my new companion is Elder Taylor. I thought that was pretty funny since my trainers name was Elder Taylor. He is from Las Vegas, Nevada and came straight out of high school. He is 6'4'' so once again I got the tallest trainee/companion. It has really become a theme on my mission. While we were waiting to find out who our trainees were going to be, the trainers were all talking and all the other trainers called that I was going to get the really tall one, and sure enough haha. But Elder Taylor is super cool, and we have had a fun time in our week as companions. On Tuesday on Tuesday our first day together, we were walking between less-actives and we started talking to this guy who was washing his car. His name was David. He said he used to have a girlfriend who was Mormon, and he invited us when he was done washing his car. Turns out he actually went to UNM and lived in Santa Fe for a long time so that was cool. He spends about half his time in Florida and half his time here in LA for work. An he was telling us that he is looking for a substance abuse group to support him here, and that we were an answer
to his prayers. We then ended up teaching him about the Book of Mormon, and he was all like, "wow I need to read that, where can I get one?" We were all like here you go! He doesn't live in our area though so we will have to refer him :/ But it was a cool miracle! We then had the Tongan ward Halloween party, so we got stuffed full of great food. I finally got to try horse, it was super good! Friday we had the English Halloween party, and that was cool because someone invited a former investigator from a while back, and when we talked to them she said we could come teach her and her son again, so that should be good. We also got candy and pumpkin pie among other
assorted goods,s o we enjoyed it haha. Saturday was my birthday of course! We weren't able to get a lot of
proselyting done because Elder Taylor's ankle was acting up, he tore a ligament in it playing volleyball at the MTC.  But we did have a fun time celebrating. We went out to eat at Islands, and then we had Pumpkin pie and cookie dough ice cream for dessert, so it was a good time. Elder Taylor also taught me a tiny bit of piano while we were
taking a break for his ankle :) On Sunday we finally got to teach Jeannine again! We stopped by with
our Ward Mission Leader, and talked about her trip and everything. We read 2 Nephi 31 with her, I had thought we had done that before, but she said that we hadn't, so we read it. And it went really well talking about the gift of the holy ghost and baptism. She said she had been thinking a lot about baptism while she was in Montana and everything and that she is warming up to the idea. And just while we talked about baptism she seemed a lot more positive and optimistic about it, so that was good. Otherwise that was about it, we spent a lot of time finding, and found a couple cool people but the best ones never seem to live in our area haha. I love you guys and will talk to you later!

Elder Burnside

Oh yeah you wanted a spiritual thought! My ponderizing scripture is Isaiah 53:3-5- He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Jesus Christ bore everything, he suffered pains from others so that he could help them. He loved us enough to suffer all the way through death for us. And the last phrase is my favorite. It is through his stripes we are healed. It is through his sufferings that he can heal us from our sufferings. Because he has gone through it he can strengthen and support us through everything and anything as long as we turn to him.

Being a Trainer again - Oct 26 letter

Dallon is going to be companions with another new missionary to be a trainer again.  He sent the following picture entitled "Me and Elder Weidrich's last day together"

Now onto his letter:

Hey how is everything going? From the sounds of Mom's email everything is going well. Sorry to hear about the buttmunch's guinea pig though. I hope everything else is going well though.  Our week was pretty decent I guess. Jeannine has been out of town all week, so we haven't met with her. And I think Rick is mad at us because he has ignored all of our calls and everything since the whole Sunday fiasco. So we haven't met with him either.  We did teach a guy named Miguel this week. He is a referral we got from some members, that works in the donut shop. So we went and talked to him there for a little while. We just taught him about the Book of Mormon and the priesthood. But I don't think it clicked with him. He has a very strong Spanish accent, so I don't know how much of a language barrier is there. the concerns he expressed were that all these different churches tell him that they are right, but he doesn't know how he can know which one is truly right. We tried to answer him, but he didn't give us a lot of time top talk, and he just didn't seem to get it when we did. His other concern was how a lot of people that go to church are hypocrites, and he doesn't want to be that. So hopefully next time we meet with him we will be able to get across to
him.  

We had a cool experience on Sunday night while contacting. It was about time to head home, and we started talking to this black lady at the bus stop. And she said she wasn't interested at all, and had what she needed but then had a casual conversation with us about our missions. Then at the end as we were about to walk away she asked, "So what would you have told me if I was interested in your message?" She liked it and found it very interesting. It was a good lesson, but then at the end the bus suddenly came and we weren't able to get her information :( Those bus drivers are cruel, but she said she would check out the website, so hopefully she does.  My favorite story from this week though was this. We went to visit the somewhat less-active Tongan elders quorum President.His brother came to the door, and told us he wants to introduce us to his neighbors. So he took us over and we talked to his neighbor who was Hindu and had a good conversation, and then he takes us to the guy that lives in the back. We walk up to the door which is open, and the guy Larry who is 63, was sitting there on his bed by the door naked with just a pillow covering himself. But he just had us come in while he was like that, and we taught him the restoration. It turns out Larry was homeless for a while, and has recently become sober, so he is a little crazy. But we had a pretty good lesson with him considering the circumstances. Although It was a Tongan member that went with us, so the guy lives outside our are and we will have to refer him to the sister that cover over there. So that will be interesting for them lol. It was a memorable experience to say the least haha.

We had transfer calls last night. I will be staying in this area for a 3rd transfer, while Elder Wiedrich is actually leaving to go to the Downey second ward :(. My new companion will be brand new again, I am training again! So it will be fun. Talk to you later, Love you!!

The mission home sent the following letter, I'll admit it makes the heart swell a bit.

29 October 2015
Robert and Janet Burnside
xxxxxxxxx
Los Alamos, NM 87544

Dear Brother and Sister Burnside,

Elder Dallon Jay Burnside has again been appointed as a trainer. No more important position exists than that of training a new missionary. New missionaries need to be properly taught immediately upon entering the mission field. Initial experiences truly influence the remainder of their mission. Your son will teach by both precept and example the conduct and skills that his companion needs to become an effective messenger of the truth. I am confident that he will, with the help of the Lord, be very successful in his new calling. Sister Weidman joins me in extending to you our sincere congratulations to you for having a son of such quality. We know he will receive your continued support in his missionary service.

Sincerely,

David N. Weidman, President
California Los Angeles Mission

I'll be caught up! Oct 12 and 19th letters

For October 12th we start with some pictures from a ward member that were sent to us of Elder Weidrich and Elder Burnside

Along with a nice note from the family

We had such a great visit from Elder Burnside and Elder Wiedrich
tonight. Joshua was excited to have the missionaries come for dinner
on the 1-year anniversary of his baptism day.
Thanks to these Elders for their service to our family, ward, and friends!

A couple more pictures including a zone picture

 Dallon's October 12th letter

People are telling me that I need to get on you about updating the blog. So get on it! haha. I am glad you all had a good week though. Our week was pretty good. The bad news first is that we are going to turn Maurice over to the Lord. He is high all the time and cant understand anything we teach him, which also means he can't keep commitments. So that is the news with our first baptismal date. Then we have Rick. We went and over and taught him on Friday. We had a long lesson about the Plan of Salvation and he really liked it. He loved the idea of eternal families. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying, and he believes the stuff we teach him and likes it, but he says he has to know before he could commit to a date. So he no longer has a baptismal date, but he is going to be praying about baptism now. So he is still doing pretty good. We got a new investigator named Stan this week. He is married to an inactive lady, and they are an older couple. He is going to retire next month, so he said he actually planned on reading the Book of Mormon afterwords. He said that he would be willing to take the lessons too. So we went over on Friday, but he is one of those people who just talks and talks, and we made the mistake of bringing a member who does the same thing. So we didn't get too much of a chance to teach. We just showed the Always Remember Him youth Mormon message and talked a little about the sacrament.  We had a couple cool miracles this week. One was one exchanges. Elder Comeau came with me in my area. And we were going to go visit some less-actives, but we took a couple wrong turns. So as we were walking back, and Elder Comeau spotted a credit card on the ground. We asked a couple people that were outside, and eventually someone told us to try a house on the corner. So we knocked, and she said she would give it to her land lord, who knows everyone in the area, and then we talked to her about the gospel And she was interested in us coming by, and even has a member roommate. Then as we were about to leave the roommate got home early from work and we started talking to her. Turns out Elder Comeau use to be in her family's ward and knows her mom pretty well. It also turns out the roommate has started to go less active. But he is now going to come to church with her friend. It was
super cool. Then on Saturday we were walking around to visit less actives again. Before we left the car we prayed to be guided to people who God had prepared for us. And I swear it was like 120 degrees outside, super freaking hot. And there was just absolutely nobody home or outside. Then just before we got to the car we ran into a guy and his 2 year old son. We talked a little about the importance of families, and how it is getting harder to raise kids in the world today, and they need some good morals. Just a very casual conversation, but he said he is looking for a church to raise his son in, and would love for us to come by. It was super cool to see God lad us to the people he has
prepared, a long as we show faith. Well I hope you guys have a good week. I love you and will talk to you later!
Elder Burnside

Now on to Dallon's October 19th letter

The suit looks good thanks. Yeah umm I am pretty sure the definition of cold is like 65 degrees now hahaha. Wait are family early to church?!?!? Or even on time?!?!? haha I am glad to hear you all had a good even if uneventful week. Our week was also pretty uneventful :/ We weren't able to have a lesson with either Jeannine or Rick they
both cancelled on us multiple times this week. So we tried just stopping by Rick's on Sunday afternoon. But he got pretty mad at us for coming by unannounced during his family time. I think he just doesn't want his wife to know that he is actually talking with us. So it will be interesting to see where that goes. 

We met with Stan again, his wife was wasn't feeling well though, so we didn't see her. Once again though he just talked and talked and we struggled to get a lesson in. He is getting ready for retirement on November 1st though, so he says that he is too busy to meet until after then. But after that he will read the Book of Mormon and take
the lessons from us.

We met with a couple less-actives this week the main one being a younger Tongan couple. They just had their baby blessed in Sacrament last week. But they were super awkward to teach. We tried getting to know them, but they wouldn't really make conversation, and so we started teaching the lesson, and every time we would ask a question it would get silent for a minute, and then they would give us a short general answer. So it was a little tough, but they came to church so I guess it worked.

So we spent a lot of time this week just talking to people on the street. But it was a lot of no's, and crazy homeless people. I think everyday this week we had homeless person talk to us for at least a half hour lol. You learn a lot of interesting things haha. One guy that we did talk to though who was interested and not crazy was a guy named Shawn. He said he would be interested in reading the Book of Mormon and learning more. When we tried to stop by on Sunday he wasn't there but the rest of his family was. They said that Shawn is very spiritual and always tells his family about the things he learns, and then they all have a discussion about it. So it should be interesting to meet with him. 

We also talked to a guy named David for a while. He said he had met with missionaries before and liked it, and would be open to meeting again. But much like Maurice, I don't know if he is mentally all the way there. So we shall see. But other than that nothing really happened. So hopefully next week will be better. The Lord has been blessing us everyday. As long as we keep doping what we are doing I know it is only a matter of time until we find someone that the Lord has prepared to be baptized for us. I love you and hope you have a great week!!
Elder Burnside

Sept 28 and Oct 5 Letter

The September 28th letter and picture

Caption: Picture of me with a tie that an investigator I met in the other elders area gave me last week

Me and Elder Wiedrich still can't get over that, it is crazy! Yeah it
was sad to hear about Elder Scott. Saturday will be even crazier now
that they have to call 3 new apostles. Although that provides a great
door to inviting people to watch it. I am glad that you all had a good
week and had fun. Sounds like you all had a good time. Our week was
super good and fun too!
We went on exchanges Friday I stayed in m area with Elder Larson. He
is a Spanish missionary who has been in the same zone as me
practically my whole mission. We wet and visited a potential
investigator from about a year ago name Rick. We talked to him for a
little why, and it turns out he actually met with the missionaries a
lot. So we reviewed some of what they had taught him, and talked a lot
about the Book of Mormon. We were then able to set a baptismal date
with him for the 25th of October! His biggest concern is his wife. He
said that she is very Christian and he would have to ok it with her.
But we are excited for him!
Then Sunday we had a lesson with a guy named Maurice. We had talked to
him on the street the night before. He had made it sound like he was
previously baptized, but then when we sat down with him we found out
he was not baptized. So we taught him, and it was tough. He got in an
accident when he was younger, and got some brain damage from it. So he
has a lot of trouble grasping some of the concepts. But we did our
best to teach as simply as possible and we were able to set a
baptismal date with him for October 25th as well!
We met with Jeannine a couple times this week too. One night we went
over and just read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon with her,
and explained all about it. Then on Sunday night we went over again
and talked a lot about the priesthood authority, and reading the Book
of Mormon to find out. She said that her mind has opened up a lot
towards baptism but she isn't ready to commit to that yet. But she was
super close! We should be able to set one with her next time!
That is all the super exciting news from this week! We were super
blessed and saw many miracles! It was amazing to see the Lord's hand
in this work. I love you and hope you have a great week!!!
Elder Burnside

The October 5th letter

Sounds like a good time with the family. I am sure you do love that
Janelle and Gabe enjoy cooking haha. But I am glad everyone had a good
week, it sounds like it was quite busy and fun. Our week was a little
less busy, we weren't really able to meet with a lot of people.
We weren't able to meet with Rick. He said his wife is pretty opposed
to the church, but he still wants to meet with us. He has just been
ver busy with his family. We were able to meet with Maurice again.
Turns out he is just high all the time. We tried to teach him, but not
much was really going through. It was a pretty frustrating lesson,
because he didn't follow along, or understand anything no matter how
simple we were. so we are not sure what we are going to do with him.
We had a decent lesson with Jeannine yesterday. The previous time we
met with her, we tried to set a date for the 18th, and she said that
it spooked her, and kind of turned her off a bit. So we just talked,
and shared with her some of the talks from General Conference that we
liked since she wasn't able to make it. We shared that talk with her
where he compared the commandments to the barrier in the bay. And we
also shared with her the one about ponderizing scriptures. She really
liked those and committed to start ponderizing a scripture in the Book
of Mormon every week, so it was good.
We had a good lesson with a referral named Rica on Sunday too. She is
an older lady that has M.S. Her friend referred her to us, because she
is looking for a church that is close by and easier to get to. And by
the grace of God she lives right next to our church! So we shared the
restoration with her and she absolutely loved the First Vision. The
spirit was super strong. But she said that her husband would be
against us coming over so she wants to meet at the church from now on.
But it is also too hot for her to go to the church, because I guess
heat makes M.S. act up. But we will keep in contact with her and
hopefully be able to meet again soon.
We also had a lesson with a less-active Tongan member named Leni. He
just got out of jail for the second time, but is actually committed to
changing his life this time. He found Jesus when he was in jail, but
really only believes in the bible right now. He is only in his 20s but
doesn't really remember anything he was taught at church when he was
younger. So we are pretty much teaching him like an investigator right
now. And it is going well. The spirit ha been there and he has really
opened up to us. Hopefully he can start coming to church!
But that is about it for our week. I love you and hope you have a
great week! talk to you later!

Elder Burnside

September 14 and 21st letter

Dallon is going to be a trainer for a new missionary!  Here is the letter from Sept. 14:

Wish the buttmunch a happy birthday for me! I will try to get out a
letter for him this week. Sounds like you all had a great week. I am
glad you had fun out on the boat. Next time you go I might be there :)
That is too bad about the Hammer's baby that would be really tough,
but it makes you really appreciate the Plan of Salvation.
We had a pretty good week. Elder Fifita is super cool. We have been
working pretty hard. But Elder Fifita was in a trio as a zone leader,
and is still a zone leader so we had to go on a lot of exchanges for
him to do zone leader stuff haha.
We had a pretty cool miracle happen the other day. We were trying to
find a referral named Claude who wanted us to come by his office. But
he wasn't listed on the directory and we didn't have the office number
and nobody would help us. So after walking around a couple floors with
no success we decided to say a prayer. After the prayer we both felt
inspired to go to floor three. There we ran into a janitor who guided
us to the Claude's office on the fourth floor. He had already gone
home, but it was super cool to see the answer to our prayers. Heavenly
Father didn't just give us what we wanted, but he gave us a way to
find it ourselves so we could learn and grow through the experience.
We also taught another super cool referral named Jackson. He is 18 and
going to Loyola Marymount. But his girlfriend of two and a half years
is serving a mission in Houston. He is super prepared. His girlfriend
sends him talks and scriptures all the time, his only concerns are
pretty much like blacks and the priesthood and gay marriage. Sadly
though he should be going to the YSA so we had to refer him to them.
Our investigator Jeannine isn't really progressing right now. We tried
to teach her but she didn't have much time and could't focus. Then our
next lesson sh didn't show up. But hopefully we can kind of get things
going with her.
The big news is that I am staying in this area and getting a new
companion. My companion will be a brand new missionary out of the MTC
I will be training. It is a little exciting, and kind of scary too, I
already feel bad for the new missionary haha. But it will be a fun
experience. I love you and will talk to you later!!
Elder Burnside

Here is the letter we got from the mission president:

Dear Brother and Sister Burnside,

Elder Dallon Jay Burnside has been appointed as a trainer in the California Los Angeles Mission. No more important position exists than that of training a new missionary. New missionaries need to be properly taught immediately upon entering the mission field. Initial experiences truly influence the remainder of one’s mission. Your son will teach by both precept and example the attributes and skills that his companion will need to become an effective representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am confident that he will, with the help of the Lord, be very successful in his new calling.


Sister Weidman joins me in extending to you our sincere appreciation for having a son of such quality and our appreciation for having Elder Burnside in our mission. We know he will receive your continued support in his missionary service.




Sincerely yours,

President David N. Weidman
California Los Angeles Mission

That was pretty cool news.  Then on September 21st we got this letter and pictures:

Caption:
Us after ball today. From left to right, Me, Elder Wiedrich, ElderBossy, Elder Comeau, Elder Larson, Elder Provost

I had a whole email on my Ipad, but it is deciding to be extremely
mentally challenged right now... :/ So I will send that email when my
Ipad decides to behave again. But Elder Wiedrich is my trainee. He is
from Odessa, Texas and is super cool. He was actually born in Amarillo
too. But he is a super good missionary, he has brought an enthusiasm
to our area that has brought miracles, which I will tell you about
when my iPad works again. I got to go for now, but I will talk to you
later. I love you!!

After I saw this email I replied and mentioned that when we were living in Amarillo First Ward in the mid 90's, that there were some Weidrichs living there, Henry and Nancy were the parents and I worked in young men's with some of their sons, including one named Jeff.  My baby sister was living there and was good friends with some of their younger son's. Dallon replied with the following.  Amazing how small the world is.

Well I am giving up on my iPad. I lost the charging cord, went out and
bought a new cord, but the new cord doesn't work. So I am going to
retype it on the computer. Lol I just showed Elder Wiedrich this and
he said that Jeff is his uncle! Small world haha. Sounds like a good
plan to me for Trek.I am glad your talk went well.
Well I don't have much time. But our week was great. I am having a lot
of fun training! It is extra responsibility, but I am enjoying it.
Training is definitely forcing me to be a better missionary, as I try
to be a good example. Elder Wiedrich is a super good missionary. He
has definitely brought an extra fire to our area that is bringing lots
of miracles.
I still don't know the area very well, so one night we were walking
around visiting less-actives and we got a little lost. We knew our way
back to the car but didn't know how to get to the less active's house.
But we didn't have enough time to go back to the car to figure out how
to get there. So we said a prayer and decided to keep looking for the
house. We eventually found it, but nobody was home. So we started
heading back to the car, and we ran into a girl named Jasmine who
really wanted a Book of Mormon. It was great, it was cool to see the
Lord guide us to where he needed us.
Then yesterday we were walking around trying to visit potentials. But
nobody was home, and nobody was outside to talk to either. So we said
a prayer that we would be able to find people to talk to and have good
conversations with. We then turned the corner and started running into
a ton of people, all of whom were open and we were able to have good
discussions with them.
But that was most of our week. Just walking around trying to find
people we can teach. But the work is progressing, we found some good
potential investigators, so I am excited for next week. I love you and
hope you have a great week!!
Elder Burnside

Wow I got behind August 31st/September 7 letter

I was chastised in Dallon's letter yesterday about getting behind in the blog.  I will do better (at least I tell myself that:))  Let's start with the letter from August 31.  The pictures are of the elder's bowling on P-day.

I quoted some 80's songs in my letter to Elder Burnside and here is his reply

80's!?!?!? SSSOOOOOO OOOOLLLLDDDDDD!!!! lol haha. Sounds like you all
had a good week. Mom says you really enjoyed test driving the trucks
haha. What car would I take to Idaho when I get back? The sabbath day
thing is church wide, they talk about it a lot at all the ward council
meeting we have gone to lately. Trek will be fun, if I had to pick one
of the two options I would be cool with going to Wyoming to be
released.
Our week has been really slow. We did meet with Jonathan a couple
times for lunch. And we set him up with missionaries in Rhode Island.
He moved on Saturday, we helped him pack up and everything. I don't
think he will change his decision anytime soon, but he will change it
eventually.
Other then that not much happened. We weren't able to meet with
Jeannine or Shad once agin. As soon as we can meet with them we will
set baptismal dates, but we just never seem to be able to meet with
them. Other than that not much happened in our area. We got a couple
referrals that we will visit this week.
On Wednesday I went on exchanges with our district leader Elder
Comeau. It was fun even though it was in a Spanish area so I had no
idea what was going on lol. It was a super hot that day. And we went
and taught this really old lady. Then we went to visit some referrals
a several blocks down. And I started feeling very dehydrated. I didn't
want to just ask anybody for water because I didn't want to be that
guy. So I was praying that somebody would offer us water. Then after
visiting a couple houses, the lady that we taught at the beginning
comes walking towards us with water bottles. She some how chased us
down after the lesson, it was a really cool answer to my prayers! Oh
and then we got our car towed... So I am going to be down 43 bucks
each of the next 3 months paying for that haha. just so you are aware,
I maybe using some personal funds. But other than that not to much
going on, hopefully that changes soon!
I love you and hope you have a great week!
Elder Burnside

On September 7 we received the following letter.  We were sorry to see Elder Lee go.  The picture was just before he left.

  Wow it sounds like you actually had a productive week lol justkidding haha. It sounds like you're are enjoying your new truck though. Sounds like a fun day you all got planned. We aren't going to an cook out or anything today, but we did go to basketball this morning. The Tongan ward had a big basketball activity with a ton of non members there. We played from 6-10 this morning. So now I am super tired haha. That sounds like a sick play by BYU. Its funny too because me and my companion were just talking the other day about how Taysom Hill can't stay healthy.

Our week was not so productive as yours was. Elder Lee wasn't enjoying his mission very much, so he talked to President for a while a well as his stake President, and actually eded up going home early. He flew home Saturday so that was kind of sad :( But because of that whole situation, we weren't able to get a whole lot done.

So I got a new companion for the rest of this transfer, which only has a week left. His name is Elder Fifita. He is Tongan and is from Aurora, Colorado. He has been out for 17 months, and actually played college football at Kansas State a little bit before he came out. He is a super good missionary though!  On Saturday and Sunday we went to what the Tongans call an "eat".  Which is pretty much just a party with more food then you have ever seen haha. One was a baby shower, and the other was to celebrate a baby blessing. Tongans apparently just have parties for everything haha. I enjoy it lol. We went over to meet with Shad on Saturday, he was the kid that wants to be baptized. But we found out that he is moving to Calla Bases this week, so we won't be able to do that. So we don't have a whole lot to work with now. But we are really working on finding those that Lord has prepared! But we got a couple appointments for this next week, so hopefully its good! I love you!!
Elder Burnside

August 24th Letter

Start with pictures,which Dallon called "our version of Straight Outta Compton"

And his letter

Wow sounds like dad has actually been doing a lot of work lately haha.
Yeah you are correct, I will fly home on the 6th of July. Sounds like
everybody had a good week though. I am glad to hear you all are doing
well. Our week was a bit of a struggle.
Our focus all week was on Johnathan. We visited with him every single
day to keep him ready for his baptism. On Wednesday we had him meet
one of the recent converts in the YSA ward named Tracy, and had him
talk to her about her conversion story. She is a super solid recent
convert, her testimony is very strong. She told him all about how she
had people against her being baptized, and all these other things to
stop her, but she went through with it and was very blessed. She told
him all about all the blessings she has received from baptism and the
gift of the Holy Ghost. She told him how grateful she was, and how he
is surrounded by people that are there to help and support him. It
think it really helped him a lot. Then on Thursday we took him around
with us pretty much the whole day as we visited members in both the
palongi and the Tongan wards. He heard a ton of testimonies that day,
and we got a lot people who were going to come to the baptism.
But then at 4 in the morning Friday he texted us that he saw some
things that he didn't agree with and didn't want to be
baptized...again :/ So we met and talked with him a bunch on both
Friday and Saturday. We answered all of hi Anti-mormon material for
him. But in the end he still chose to not got baptized :( That was a
bit sad. I don't think I have ever worked so hard to get someone
baptized on my mission as we did for him. If only the investigators
understood all that the missionaries do haha. But he just wasn't
ready. I am pretty sure he knows he needs to get baptized, and he
loves the church to; he is just not ready to act. He is comfortable
where he is and doesn't want to do the things necessary to be a member
of the church. I told you last week about how he made a plan to read
as much of the Book of Mormon as he could by Friday, but all he read
was the introduction, he looked up a ton more anti-mormon material
than reading in the Book of Mormon. \but he is one of those people who
will eventually be baptized, it is just going to take time.
So with that taking up much of our week we didn't do much else. We are
trying to meet up with Shad, who is a Tongan investigator. The rest of
his family is recent converts, but Shad was staying with his dad when
it happened. He has told his family that he does want to be baptized,
he is just very difficult to meet with because of his family
situation. But he will get baptized sometime over the next couple
weeks. Our other main investigator Jeannine was sick so we couldn't
meet with her either. She has been on vacation and just got back last
week, but has been sick so we haven't been able to teach her.
Apparently she wants to be baptized, just in a river in Montana. So
that is her only concern. Other than that not much is going on.
Visited some less actives with a little success, and knocked on a lot
of unanswered doors haha. I hope you have a great week! I love you!!
Elder Burnside

August 17 Letter

Starting with pictures that are 2 weeks old.  This is Elder Burnside with his previous companion Elder Shepherd in the middle and his new companion Elder Lee on the right.

And now his letter.

Our apartment is pretty nice, and it is right next to the airport. We
can't really see the beach though :/ But it is pretty annoying
sometimes to have a conversation with someone when a plane interrupts
you every 60 seconds. Thats crazy that schools started again, time
flies by so fast! I don't know why you would think I would make an old
age joke, I respect my father too much to do that...lol. But it sounds
like everybody had a good week, so that is good.
Our week was pretty much a straight up war with Satan over Johnathan.
Pretty much everyday something came up that made him not want to be
baptized. I have never seen someone get so much Anti-Mormon stuff in
such little time. Everybody around him was telling him not to get
baptized, and they were telling him all these awful things about
Mormons that contradict the bible. We met with him several times, and
his baptismal interview just kept on getting delayed all the way until
Saturday, and he seemed pretty solid. Then at 1 m the day of his
interview he sent us this long list of Anti-mormon stuff as reasons
why he couldn't be baptized. So we took him to the visitors center and
had a lesson there with President Weidman. It was super powerful! We
were going to just address all of his Anti Mormon concerns but the
spirit took the lesson another way. We just taught about the Book of
Mormon and Joseph Smith. He expressed concerns about his family being
against it. So I told him the story of Mom's conversion, and how much
that has blessed our family, and that really helped him. So he is
going to try to read the whole Book of Mormon by Friday to get his
answer, and even if he doesn't he is going to show his faith and be
baptized Saturday! So we are excited for him. It was just crazy to see
how hard Satan was trying to stop him, he was going all out.
We met a couple less-actives we are going to start working with. One
was named Curtis. He is married and has two kids, and hasn't been
active since he was 24 and is now 40. His wife is Jewish, but he wants
to get their daughter baptized still. It was cool to see that he still
has a testimony, and is very open to the church, it is just his wife
isn't for it. We also met a woman named Tina she is a single mom with
3 kids. She doesn't feel the need to come to church, she expressed
that she has some disagreements with some doctrine. But she is willing
to let us come back and share a message anyway.
Our other investigator in the English ward, Jeanine was sick. So we
weren't able to meet with her. And we weren't able to meet with our
Tongan investigator Shad either. So that is about it for our week. I
hope you guys have a great week! I love you!
Elder Burnside

August 10 Letter

Let's start with pictures. The first is Dallon with a YSA member named Ian, The second is with Napolean and the third is with Fito and Blanca

And now Elder Burnside's letter

Sounds like everybody had a good time. Thats cool that everybody was
able to come up to snowflake. It is not very often that everybody is
able to get together. Sounds like a fun weekend. I will continue to
keep everybody in my prayers.
So it turns out that I am actually not in the ghetto haha. I am in the
nicest part of the Inglewood zone over in Century city. So it is
pretty good, and we actually stay over in like Santa Monica. I don't
know the exact address but it is at xxxxxxxxx. It is on
Centinela one spot above the corner. So we double cover wards. We
cover the Westchester 1st ward and the 3rd ward. The first ward is an
English ward and the 3rd ward is a Tongan ward. So i am not sure of
our area boundaries, because for the Tongan ward we cover the west
half of the mission. So they actually speak Tongan in sacrament and
meetings, so I have no idea what is going on haha. But they are all
super cool and love missionaries, we get fed way too much! lol. I am
having lots of fun! My companion Elder Lee is super cool, already one
of my favorite companions. He was born in South Korea but was raised
in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was called Korean speaking and has been out
for 9 months. His brother actually served Korean speaking in this
mission too, in fact he left the mission one week before Elder Lee
arrived. So Elder Lee is super cool.
So there are not a ton of investigators in this area. But one we are
working with is named Jonathan. He was born in the Dominican
Republic, and is 30 years old. He had a baptismal date, but then
looked at anti-mormon stuff and decided he didn't want to be baptized
the day before I got here. But they set up a make it or break it
lesson for my first day here. And so we took him to the visitors
center and showed him some things about the temple, and we taught the
Plan of Salvation. The lesson was awesome! We reset his date for the
16th and he is set to go for that. His main problem is that his
parents and siblings are very against him joining the church, so they
give him a hard time. But he knows what he needs to do and he is going
to go through with it.
Other than Jonathan though we don't really have too many people we are
working with. All of our other investigators we have were unable to
meet with us this week. So we spent it all looking for new
investigators and visiting less-actives. Not too much success, but
hopefully more will come next week! I love you all and hope you have a
great week!
Elder Burnside

Transferred again

Let's get all caught up with Monday August 3rd's letter.  But first pictures from Elder Shephard's departing missionary fireside

And onto the letter

Yeah she is a ward missionary, and I saw her at the departing missionary fireside, because elder Shepherd is going home. Sounds like you all had a great weekend. It is good to spend it with the family. That is a cool story about our ancestors. I knew that they came at the end of the pioneer period, but other than that I didn't really know anything.
We had freakin awesome week! We taught Victoria a couple lessons. The first one went really well. We taught about tithing and fast offerings. She accepted it, and had no problem paying it if she got baptized. The second lesson not so well. We have pretty much taught her everything, but she still hasn't come to church, so we decided to teach about revelation through church attendance. We started teaching, and she stopped us and said that if we were going to just tell her to come to church all the time then we didn't have to continue meeting. So we backed off that and just read 3 Nephi 18. Which talks a lot about church, but we just talked about the ones that didn't really mention church, and let the church ones just be in the back of her mind. So we don't know what to do with her, she isn't coming to church so we might have to turn her over to the Lord and stop teaching her.
We had a couple good lessons with Napolean. We talked about Charity one day, and how it is all about what is in your heart. And then on Saturday we read Jacob 4, which is a really powerful chapter. It talked a lot about how the Jews rejected the simple truths, and wanted stuff they couldn't understand. So that is what they got, and because of that they were blind to Christ and didn't accept him as their savior. Ms it just made me think about how sometimes I get bored of the basic principles of the gospel, and want to hear other things. But we need to cherish those simple truths because they are most important and if we don't then we will lose them.
On Wednesday I stayed in my area for exchanges with Elder Babo. He is super cool and is from the island of Quedapest. We visited a referral named Johnny, he is 17 and ran into the missionaries about a month ago. So we visited him, and he said that he has never really learned about God before and wants to build that relationship with him. So we were all like "you ran into the right people!" Haha. And we taught him the restoration and set a baptismal date for August 23rd!
We then went and taught Fransisco. We had previously set a date with him for July 19 but then he went MIA for a couple weeks. So we stopped by and both him and his fiancée Patty were there. That was the first time we had met her and she was actually really interested. So we taught them about eternal families and set baptismal dates with both of them for August 30th! It was an awesome day!
Then the next day the sisters gave us a YSA referral named Jason who they had set a baptismal date with. He is super prepared! They gave him a Book of Mormon Sunday, and then when we met with him Thursday he was already in 2 Nephi 25! It was super cool.
On Saturday we went on splits, and I went with the bishop. It was fun to go with just a member. We taught a referral named Tray. He use to be in gnat activity and jail and all that good stuff. But then through Christ he had been able to change his life. He now is married with 2 kids and very active in his church. He wanted a Book of Mormon to see what separated Mormons from everybody else. So we taught him about the priesthood authority, and set a time to teach him again.
Then Sunday was not as good. None of our baptismal date dates were able to come to church :/ The departing missionary fireside was really good. 33 missionaries were going home, it was so packed full of people. It was cool to see Elder Shepherd again. Then afterwords we got transfer calls... I am leaving :( Right after we had all that success, I am getting transferred. It really caught me off guard. But I am going over to Inglewood. That will be my most ghetto area, so it will be fun haha. My companion will be Elder Lee who is from Michigan. It will be fun!
Well I hope you all have a great week! I love you and will talk to you later. Here is some pictures from the departing missionary fireside.
Elder Burnside

Rest of July

Start with some pictures from July 20.  The first two are from their temple trip.  Third is a note someone left on their car (I'll never understand some people).

and now the letter

Sounds like you all had a good week. I am glad Aaron had fun, and I am sure it was good to see Grandma and Grandpa again. That's crazy how much rain you are getting. It sounds like everywhere except California is getting a ton of rain this year. Although it did rain Saturday and Sunday here, high was nice but now it's really humid :/ anyway we had a pretty good week.
Tuesday we took President Weidman to a lesson with Lumi and Victoria Tuesday. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and it went awesome! They both committed to baptism on August 16th. Although Lumi called us a couple days later and she doesn't want to meet with us. anymore :( But August 16th is still the date for Victoria. It turns out that they are both schizophrenic which is why they have trouble committing, so we are trying to get over that.
We had another lesson with Victoria Saturday and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It went really well, she wouldn't commit to church this week but said she would next week which is a lot better than before. So she is progressing well.
We had some good lessons with Napolean. We finished 2 Nephi and did the first chapter of Jacob. On Thursday we talked about blessings. And how Heavenly Father blesses us. It was really good for him. It is really cool because he is starting to pack up his stuff, he is ready to move out so he can get baptized! It will happen anywhere between the next couple weeks or the next couple months. He is just fed up with it, and he is so excited to be baptized!
On Sunday we only had 1 person at church. So that was no good. But a high counsellor gave a really good talk at the YSA sacrament meeting. He talked about how the commandments are all about love. How they all either increase our love for God, others, or ourselves. And just how it is all about becoming more like god, which happens when we increase in love.
Sorry today's email is so late, I was finally taking my drivers test. Don't worry I passed haha. They hadn't asked me before because apparently they never got the papers we were suppose to fill out before my mission. But now they are running out of drivers so it looks like I will drive next transfer. I love you and hope you have a great week!
Elder Burnside

Barely haha, the hard part was parallel parking, because I have never done that. But I figured it out after 2 or 3 tries. We get transfer calls on the 2nd of August. Thanks for your prayers. I know they help!

The July 27th letter had 2 pics he said

Went to the Rob Dyrdek fantasy factory with the ASL elders on the left. Elder Monegro then elder Saavedra. Then it's Elder Westergreen, me, elder Babo, and then Elder Rickman. Sent from my iPad

The Letter

I am glad you all had a good week. Sounds like you did a lot of scuba stuff haha. That's good you got to play softball, that's insane how much it got rained out. I can't wait to play again haha. That is cool you got an iPad. I do keep mine, and it came with a case and screen protector, so it's good. I was actually looking at our family tree, just trying to see how far it could go. I got to 169 a.d. Our week was pretty good.
We taught Victoria a couple times this week. On Tuesday we taught her the Word of Wisdom. She understood all of it, and accepted it all except for coffee. She doesn't see why God would ban coffee, but she is praying about it. We taught her again on Friday, but I was a way on exchanges. They taught her the law of chastity, and I guess she already lived and believed it. So that was good. She still Wouldn't come to church though, so that is what we are still working on with her.
We had several good lessons with Napolean. We read chapters 2 and 3 of Jacob. And I really liked the first verse of Jacob 3. It says that If we have a pure heart and faith, Christ will plead our cause. That is such a cool line. Then on Thursday we talked about the comforter and we read Romans 5:5-6, and I realized that the Holy Ghost comforts, guides, protects, and all of its other jobs BY witnessing of Jesus Christ. The witness of Jesus Christ is what gives us comfort, because it lets us know that he is there to help us and he has a plan for us that will make everything work out for good in the end.
As I briefly mentioned earlier I went on exchanges Friday with Elder Hamblin in his area. He goes home next week, and is actually from Farmington. The only other New Mexico missionary out here. He is my zone leader, and was my zone leader when I was in Hollywood too. We taught on of their investigator's sisters named Leslie, and she accepted to be baptized on the 23rd! We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ, and she loved it.
Saturday we trained with Justin. We did some sword fighting stuff with bamboo sticks. It was pretty cool. We then told him about the pioneers and invited him to the Pioneer Day activity, but he wasn't able to come. The Pioneer Day activity was fun but we were only allowed to stay for an hour.
Sunday was good. There is a part member couple that has been coming the past month or so, and they always sit right next to the door, and as soon as sacrament ends they take off. So the past several weeks we have been trying to catch them, but we always get caught up in the crowd. But this week we were able to talk to the, and set up a time to visit them not this week but next. So that was good, and about it for our week. I love you and he you have a great week!
Elder Burnside

Sent from my iPad

Finally getting around to posting again

Let's start with Dallon's July 6th Letter

I know it is crazy to think it has been a year! I feel the same way, sometimes it feel it has flown by and other times I look back, and it feels like that was forever ago. Umm highlights huh. Well of course I have to say the 4 baptisms. Just all the people I have met and friendships I have made have been super cool. Goals for next year I don't know if I really have any specific goals, but I would just have to say continue to grow in learning to fell and follow the spirit. And then of course continue to help others come into Christ, and more baptisms! Hahaha. Sounds like you all had a good week end.
Our week was pretty good. We taught Lumi on Tuesday. We talked about her reading in Alma 32. She understands more of the Book of Mormon then she gives herself credit for. She understood that she needs to continue to nourish her faith and that it would continue to grow. And more importantly she is willing and wants to continue to read pray and go to church. We taught her the plan of salvation as simply s we could and she seemed to understand it. She wasn't able to come to church because she went out of town, but we are still on for her baptism Sunday!
We also finally met with Fransisco. We just stopped by on Thursday. We shared what our purpose was and the importance of church attendance. We told him that we were here to help him come closer to Christ, but could only do that if he did what we asked of him. So he committed to come to church on Sunday, but didn't show up :( so we don't know what to do with him.
Wednesday we had a zone conference. It was themed on mighty prayer. We talked a lot about how we can have mighty prayers and how they will hasten the work. There was one comment that I found very interesting. They said when we pray in the name of Jesus Christ that means that we are offering the prayer Jesus himself would offer. So when we pray we need to follow the spirit so that we can know what to pray for in order to do that. I thought that that was very intriguing.
On Friday we weren't able to get anything done, because our apartment manager knocked on our door during our personal study and said that the people were here to take out our carpet. We had no warning and were completely unprepared so we started trying to move everything out last second, and we have some extremely heavy furniture haha. And then of course the company sent only one guy to do it because they thought the room was unoccupied. So we spent all day at our apartment waiting for him to finish the carpet. Not too much fun.
On the Fourth of July we went to a barbecue at a members house. It was fun and the food was really good. Then we weekly planned and watched fireworks for the rest of the night. It was crazy there were so many fireworks, it was cloudy and so they just lit up the sky it was pretty cool. But that's it for my week, I love you me hope you have a great week!
Sent from my iPad

And on July 13th Dallon sent this

Sounds like a good week. Figures dad isn't doing anything at work
haha. That is cool that grandma and grandpa are coming by. It is good
to know that Jet is still causing as many problems as possible haha.
But it sounds like everybody is having a good time.
We had an okay week. The bad part was with Lumi. We met with her on
Wednesday. But she told us she doesn't want to be baptized :( she
wouldn't give us a real reason though. We think she is having negative
family pressures. But she did agree to keep meeting with us and still
continue to pray about baptism. So it seems like she still wants to be
baptized but her family has made her unsure about it, so we will keep
praying for her!
Something cool though is that she lives in a group home, so she gave
her roommate Victoria a Book of Mormon and we came over and taught
them the restoration. Victoria had decided to start from the back of
the book and had read Moroni 10. And she loved it! She said that she
already know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. So we invited
her to be baptized, but she was still unsure about joining our church
so she said she would pray about it. So that was a cool experience.
We had a couple good lessons with Napolean this week. We read 2 Nephi
32 with him and that is a great chapter. It is very powerful about the
power and role of the Holy Ghost. We also talked about believing, and
the blessings that come to those who believe. I always love going over
there, we all learn a lot.
We taught Stevan the goal of Jesus Christ. He liked it and knew a lot
about it. When we invited him to be baptized, he said that he would
feel like he was betraying his pastor who he is very close to. It
really feels like he is more into it for educational purposes, but
that can always change!
On Friday we went on exchanges. I went to elder Westergreen's area in
Redondo Beach. That was fun. We taught another guy who was into it for
educational purposes, and we answered a lot of his questions. Then at
the end of the day we built a fort in the apartment and slept in it. I
included a picture. It was lots of fun!
That was it for our week thought, not bad just trying to help Lumi get
to baptism. I hope you guys have a great week. I love you!!!
Elder Burnside

Sent from my iPad

Dallon had a Baptism!

Dallon's June 22nd Letter.  The pictures are (from Dallon's words) 1. when we got IPads. 2. me in
our new mission car haha. 3. Destiny's baptism.  4. Destiny's baptism.  5. me and elder taylor at his departing missionary fireside.

Hist June 22nd letter

Happy Father's Day! How was it? We had a great week this week! I guess
I will start with Destiny. We taught her the law of tithing and
keeping the Sabbath day holy on Tuesday. She accepted it all and so we
set up a baptismal interview, and she passed that. Then she got
baptized on Sunday! The baptism went good, and interesting as always.
I conducted the program because only one of the branch presidency was
in town due to Father's Day, and he was presiding, baptizing, and
welcoming her into the branch. Her sister who gave the baptismal talk
was completely unprepared and didn't really talk about baptism, but I
think that she did say what Destiny needed to hear. Then for the
actual baptism the 2nd counselor wasn't able to get her back up out of
the water and they both fell over, it was pretty funny. The spirit was
strong though, and she is so happy to be baptized, she said that when
she came up out of the water she just felt new.
We started teaching a lady named Lumi. Her friend has been bringing
her to church for about 2 months, but she wanted to come to church a
couple more times before meeting with us. So we finally met with her
for the first time on Tuesday, and our mission president actually came
with us. She had read all of he gospel principles book, all of the
teachings of President Benson, but only a little bit of he Boom of
Mormon because it is hard for her to understand. She had a lot of
questions, as she has no religious background. We taught the
restoration and having President there definitely helped. At the ended
when we asked her to commit to baptism she thought about it for what
seemed like forever. Then after a good 2 minutes she said she had to
think about it, and wasn't ready to commit yet. We had her Read 2
Nephi 31 about baptism because that is what most of her questions were
about. Elder Rickman then went back on exchanges on Friday. And they
taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and committed her to be
baptized on July 12! She has the desire to be baptized, she is just an
extremely timid and hesitant person. But she will definitely end up
getting baptized.
Also while I was away on exchanges they went and taught Fransisco. He
was a referral that was suppose to be Ysa but he is married and has 3
kids. Luckily he lives in our Gardena area anyway. So they taught him
the Restoration and he accepted a baptismal date for July 19th! His
wife wasn't there when they went by, so hopefully we will be able to
teach her soon, and set a date with her too!
We taught Fito and Blanca about the priesthood and the temple since he
got the priesthood last month. So the are going to start family
history work so they can take some names of the temple with them. They
are so solid. I love them.
So a lot of progress in the work this week! We also had some
interesting stuff happen. On Wednesday night a recent convert in the
other Gardena Elder's area called us and asked us to come over. He
struggles with substance abuse and he also is gay. So when he called
us he had just relapsed and was drunk. So we went over there and the
whole time he was hitting on us and trying to "seduce" us. It was
extremely awkward especially because we had our recent converts Fito
and Blanca in the car since we were taking them to help us teach when
he called. It was crazy to see how different he was when he was under
the influence. He was completely different. So we were there for about
40 minutes and finally left and had to take his pills from him since
he threatened to overdose on them, it was crazy. He was just not
himself it was weird.
Then later that night president texts us asking what size shoe I wear.
Apparently someone wants to anonymously buy me a new pair of shoes
haha. Even though I have several good pairs haha.
It was a good week this week, hopefully next week will be just as
good. I hope you have a great week. I will send some pictures in a
little bit. I love you!!!
Elder Burnside

Let us also include his June 29th Letter

Good to hear that you all are doing well. I leave my shoes tied loosely, they are most comfortable that way, and they are quick and easy to slide on and off. The car is a 64 corvette that is owned by some members in the ward named the Lee's who fed us that day.
We had a decent week this week. Destiny got confirmed on Sunday. Branch President Hanson confirmed her. It was good, she was very excited, and is so happy to have the Holy Ghost. Next week she will have an interview so she can go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead. Then sometime over the next couple weeks we will have a transition lesson with her with the elders in the family ward, so she can get her kids baptized.
We met with Lumi this week. She had called its and told us that she couldn't get baptized because she doesn't understand the Book of Mormon. So we were go into help her resolve her concerns, but when we got there she had already resolved her concerns. She told us that she understood that she needs to be baptized and that she feels good when she reads the Book of Mormon. So we taught about he Holy Ghost and how it is much more importNt to feel the Holy Ghost and do the things that allow the Holy Ghost to be there. Then after you are doing that, he understanding will start to come.
We haven't been able to get in contact with Fransisco since last time. He has been very busy so we weren't able to meet with him, and then he didn't come to church either.
We got a new investigator this week named Sarah. She is married with 2 kids, ages 8 and 13. She has been meeting with missionaries for about 6 months now. She even had a baptismal date, but then her husband lost his job and they got evicted from their home. So they came to our area because her mom lives here, so the kids stay with their grandparents but Sarah and her husband are sleeping on the streets. They are pretty cool and we just need to help them find a home, because they are ready to be baptized. Although I am not sure how much of the actual story we are getting, because they didn't show up to church and they haven't responded to us since we met with them Friday. Something just feels a little off about it, but hopefully it all works out!
Then of course we had a couple lessons with Napolean this week! We read towards the end of 2 Nephi. And I really liked the last verse in chapter 26. It talks about how everything God does is to help us draw closer to him. Everything he does is to help us, and it says that he makes it plain into us. He lets us know his plan for each of us individually through the scriptures, the prophets, and prayer. As we do those things he will give us personal revelation on what he wants for us and what he wants us to do.
So it was a solid week of teaching. I hope you all have a great week and Fourth of July. I love you!!!
Elder Burnside

More June Letters

Dallon's June 15th Letter

So this week has been really good. On Tuesday we taught Destiny the
plan of salvation, and when we talked about baptism we talked about
some of the commandments we have to follow in order to be baptized,
like the law of chastity and the word of wisdom. She committed to
keep the commandments no problem. She is so ready for baptism and very
excited for this Sunday!
We had a couple lessons with Napoleon this week. We continued our
reading of the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon. I really liked 2
Nephi 22. It is a good chapter about what the people will say in the
last days. And it talks about how the people will be declaring the
good tidings. And so that is really what we should be doing is
declaring the gospel to the whole world. We also had a lesson with
Napoleon on the apostasy. We talked a lot about the importance of the
prophet and the priesthood. We also talked a bit about personal
apostasy and how if we are only "lukewarm" in he gospel that we will
fall away. We need to be continuously nourishing our testimony or
eventually it will wither away.
On Saturday we got iPads! The stuff we are able to do with it is still
limited because we are only in the early stages of implementing iPads
in the mission. But they are useful, it is a lot lighter than carrying
all of our books around and I am able to link stuff together on the
gospel library app and do all sorts of stuff with that.
We also got to train with an MMA fighter. His name is Justin. He is
interested in coming to church, but he doesn't really want us to come
teach him. He said that he would be happy to train us for free though,
so hopefully we will be able to fellowship him and then slowly start
to teach him. It was pretty cool, but I have no idea what I am doing
when it comes to fighting haha. I just hope that all the training
will be able to help me lose all this weight lol.
On Sunday we had two friends of the 1st counselor in the bishopric
come to church. He had given them a Book of Mormon and invited them to
church. So hey came and enjoyed it. Their names are Kenneth and
Beverly and they are engaged. So we are going to try to meet with them
this week. He only problem is he works nights and she works during the
day so heir schedules are really busy. So we had a pretty good week. I
hope you guys have a great week! I love you!!!
Elder Burnside

After I replied Dallon PS'd

Those pictures are pretty cool! I would not say that the parent fishare the best looking fish haha just kidding. I just saw all youremails, and to answer all of your questions, we are still in a car. In fact we went and exchanged cars, so now we are driving a brand new 2015 Corolla that is grey. Yeah hump day is what missionaries call it. I get to keep the iPad, and we are suppose to pay a "usage fee" I think the stake president was suppose to talk to you about it. That's cool you got the new job! Now you get to just boss people around huh.?  You will do great at that! Lol.