Week #102!

October 25, 2014

Yes I stayed as the assistant for the last change and I got a new companion.  How did you know that?!
His name is Elder Lindeman.  He is he buffest person I have ever met in my life! He is a stud! We get along really well. I had to stay as the assistant to help train the Elder who will replace me.

 I got into it this week with Elder Miranda on Sunday.
Our fight ended with him telling me he didn't care about me basically and that it would be better if we both just stayed quiet and focused on work until the end since I was almost done and he hates me that much.  I wanted to be mad and tell him off but I just got super sad and started crying like a little girl becuase I have been having such a hard time getting along with him lately and I don't want to end my mission like that.  So I told him how I thought it was sad that he had been serving so long and learned so much but that he had forgotten the most important thing is to love the people around you.  So then I just manned up and let it go and we went to class and then after lunch he said he wanted to talk.
He got really emotional when he talked and told me that he hadn't thought of it that way and he wanted me to forgive him and that he would try harder with me.  I forgave him for sure! So now it has been better between us finally.

As far as my week goes, there isn't much to say.  We had a crazy week with all of the changes and new missionaries and all that and it worked out well.  We had a good week! The new missionaries are cool.  There is another one here from MI now.

My feelings these days have been all over the place!!! Sometimes I am super happy thinking about going home and being with everyone especially you! Then other times I just start to cry thinking I am not going to be a missionary anymore.  It is super weird to think that it will be over in 5 weeks! Crazy right?! hahaha

I have been spending a lot of time recently trying to improve my prayers.  The wife of the mission President told me it is a good idea to meditate before and to keep a prayer journal where you write the things you are asking for and then slowly write the things that the Lord gives you and you will see how he answers and blesses you! I want to keep doing that with you when I get home I thought it was a good idea!
Anything else I say not will just be rambling so is there anything else you want to know about?!

Love,
Christian

Week #101

October 18th, 2014

I was going to write about my week and the truth is that in these days I have been having a really hard time on my mission!! My companion and I don't talk at all unless it is related to work, he has no interest in talking to me, so that makes it really hard for me.  I have been with him for 6 months now too.  I know I am doing what the Lord commanded though and that is what keeps me going strong! I am working my hardest and doing my best!!! Tomorrow I will know where my last sector will be (stay here or be changed) because it is my last change before I go home in 6 WEEKS! That's crazy.  I am sooo excited, but also bummed to lose my nametag.  
Also, out of all of the days I wanted some time to write today the President did an inspection of our house and it took away a lot of our writing time, so now I only have about 10 minutes to write.  Oh well, I will write more next week!!! 

Love, 
Christian  

I got some letters in the mail this week and here are a couple parts: 

9-12-14

Good Morning! I am starting to actually feel like I have a long time in the mission.  Everyone is asking me how much time I have and in the mission we have a rule that you can only say “a little more/less than a year.”  So I always say “a little more than a year,” then my companion says 22 months and everyone goes crazy saying how little time I have left to serve.  The truth is that I really want to go home to see you and be a cowboy again and stuff but the funny thing is that even though I want that, everytime I imagine not having a nametag I start to cry.  I know that the name tag has no power or anything like that, but it is something pretty amazing to have the name of the savior of the world and all mankind stuck to your chest, knowing that you represent him.  But at the same time I plan on still serving when I get home and doing missions later in life too.  I know you can still help people come to Christ all the time, even without a nametag.  Sorry the missionary part of me had to come out in that paragraph!! (: 

9-14-14 Week:

Sunday: We had a normal Sunday at church then after church we went to the President’s house for dinner and then were there until 11:45 calling out changes and then the President wanted to say Goodbye to Elder Hess who was leaving the offices to work in another sector after serving in the offices for 8 months.  When the President came to our house he was shocked to see how messy it was he said and he had to give us a talk.  I am not the cleanest, but the kitchen which is my part wasn’t THAT bad so I didn’t feel too bad (:

Monday: Well it started out normal but at night we had the going away dinner.  There were 6 that went home which was kind of sad because one is an ex assistant who was super good.  We always serve the food to those wo leave which I always like to do.  That finished at about 10:00 and then at about 1 in the morning the bus came to pick them up. 

Tuesday: At 7:30 we were in the hosue of the President to go to the airport to pick up the new missionaries.  There were 23 of them, which is a TON! 10 of them were from the states!

9-19-14

Haha looks like I didn’t finish writing about my week, sorry.

Week #100

October 11, 2014

Hey there!!!!!!! ooooooooh myyyyyyy i miss you soooo much!!!!

 So i will start out by answering your questions because you always say I don't answer anything... 

1. My week was pretty good. but pretty boring to talk about!!!!!! I didn't travel. We had the mission council, which turned out really good!!!!!! We trained about leaving legends. As far as my change that is coming up the President has not told me anything.  I was hoping he would say something to me in my weekly letter but he didn't even write me that sorry sucker!!!! 

2.  Well my knee is pretty much the same!!! I have not been running just jumping rope so I have had not problems with it recently. and my other health problems are great!!!! as good as ever!!!! the stuff the nurse gave me helped a lot. 

3. Elder Miranda does not go home for a long time!!!!! So he will still be here even if I get changed.  I have been having a hard time with him.  We are going about two weeks where we only talk about the work, nothing else.  I know that I am kind of fighting fire with fire, but it is really hard to talk about anything else between us.  It is hard for me not to talk, but he doesn't want to and I go crazy and end up talking outloud just to myself! haha 

4.  Tell Allison that if she cuts all of her hair off I will KILL her!

5. Tell my Dad that I have been learning that song already!! Tell him "cuando cuando cuando yo llege a la casa le voy a cantar las canciones de amor mas dulces que jamas han habio"

6.  Overall, I am good! I am trying so hard to focus on the work and I have done pretty well! 

This week I had to see the last testimony of Elder Pinta who is like my best friend in the mission. That was the first time that I had cried with tears for a long time!!!! It was super sad! But he said to will go to the states to live. and I think he is telling the truth!!!! but yeah that was sad!!!! 

Today I got the papers from our Mission Secretary that I have to fill out so she can buy me a ticket to go home!!!! That's soo freaking crazy!!!!! I can't believe that in 7 weeks I will be there!!!

Ok my week,

Monday: I did all the verificasions with the zoneleaders and then started on the councle!!!! we have a ton of things we have to figure out every month!!!!! it always takes us forever!!!!!! so yeah from like 4 in the afternoon untill 12:30 in the morning we were at the computer figuring those things out!!!! oh and just to let you know i am way better with the computer! but i still suck compared to other people but yeah i know a lot more now!!!!! and yeah that was what we did allll day!! just getting ready for the councle.

Tuesday: started the day out early with the mission coucle wich turned out really well!!!!! i feel weird to know that in the next one i will be giving my testimony! it is crazy to think that it is almost over!!!! but anyways if i get the change that i want i wont even go the the missin councle because i wont be a zone leader, just a trainer!!!! but we will see!!!!! then that finished at around 8:00 at night and we cleaned up the building and then went home! i have been pretty tired ever since then.

Wednesday: i was in the offices even though i didnt have much to do but i have to be there until at least 6 and then i left to work and had no visits all night!!!!!! hahaha just walked in the rain!!!! oh yeah it has been raining a lot these days!!!!!! and it has been pretty cold!!!!! and yeah we talked to a bunch of people but no one was really ready to listen yet and that is how we finished the day!

Thursday: we went to the district meeting of the misisonarys in the Ofelia zone! i just went to watch to make sure they are doing alright! and i could tell that they were doing a good job!! i also went because some of the missionaries from there zone told on the zone leaders for breaking the rule on playing soccer and yeah i talked to them and they had to ask forgivness in frond of all 35 missinoarys in there zone. they didnt like it much but it was good.

Friday: we were in the offices until 6 getting ready for the next month with all of our trainings and all that stuff. then at night we had a visit with a guy named Bolivar and it was pretty good but the bad thing is that there were some Ex-members of the church there and they where pretty nice, but they were for sure jacked up in their brains!! they joined some group called John 23 which is named after a pope and yeah they are crazy!!!!! hahaha anyways i wrecked the guy with his own bible!!!!! and i did with love and by the end he was just pissed because i made him look dumb and he left. oops! but yeah it was good!!!

Today: got up and washed my clothes and then studied!!!! and then we went to buy food!!!! and then we cleaned the house really good!!!!!! then we made lunch and then came here to write!!!!!!!!

I am so happy to hear from home but I am nervous to come home!!! 

Love, 

Elder Burleson 

Week #99

10-4-14:

One of the things that I have learned in my mission is that I don't know a lot of things and one of the things I least know is why God sometimes responds right away and sometimes he waits. What I have learned is that he ALWAYS responds... I promise! 

I only have 10 minutes to write, because I have to go watch the priesthood session!!!! hahaha 

I know you want to know about my week, but I didn't really do anything this week!!!! I have just been working like freaking crazy and thinking a ton about my last change!! The pte. asked me what I wanted to do for my last change and I told him I wanted to train a new missionary and do it in the jungle!!!!! So we will see what happens there!!!! hahaha and other than that I visited a lot of missionaries in divisions and stuff like that, but no trainings!!!! 

Now I'm getting readdy for the mission council! But that's about all! Watch Conference and really try to have a question and get revelation from it! It has been really good! 

Love,

Christian!!!! 

Don't Forget About Me!

Week #98!

September 27, 2014 

I had no idea it was going to be so hard! TO think about coming home! Elder CAlderón who is an area 70 came and talked to us in a zone conference and he talked about the missionaries and finishing and I cried like a little girl. haha no joke I was so proud to have served and to still be serving but it makes me soooo sad to think about not having this same calling as a missionary. hahah but I know it’s not the end of me being a missionary at all  haha so yeah um this week….

I had a good week!!!! I won’t tell you what happened everyday because it will be kind of boring, but I will say that we went to Otavalo pretty much all week and we where training the missionaries there. And also we had a big zone conference here in Quito!!! I am like a pro at training now! At least in Spanish!! I don’t know how I would do in English. haha but I will get better when I get back!! I will have to be taught how to speak again! Haha just kidding I do speak a little English when I am with the President. 

Love, Elder Burleson 

 Some Sweet Hats, With Elder Miranda

 Elder Miranda, President Richardson and I

Us again at the hotel we stay at by the Imbabura volcano.  

Week #97

September 20, 2014 

Haha this week was really good! I am not going to lie I am sooooo happy to go home and be with you and never leave like this again, but at the same time every time I think about not being Elder Burleson anymore I start to cry! I have loved being a missionary sooooooooo much.  It is sooooo hard to explain how I feel! Haha

Sunday: Church and then we had to go pick a sick Elder and his comp from the hospital and take them to their house and make them lunch. Then my comp stayed in the house with the sick one and I took the comp of the sick one out to work! It was a good time and we worked hard!  But we didn’t get to visit and investigators, only less actives, which is still pretty cool! 

Monday: We had our verifications in the morning and then we finished them at 4 and started working on everything for the zone conferences and the leaders meeting! We did that until 12:30 in the morning!

Tuesday: got up early and drove to the coast!!!!! I freaking love going there!!! It’s warm and the people are really cool and the missionaries are great! We got there around 1 pm and started training and went till about 6 pm and then I went to work with the zone leaders and my comp went and stayed with the mission Pte. in the hotel! 

Wednesday: Trained again in the coast until about 6 pm and then I went with the Pte. And my comp went with some other missionaries to stay the night! Me and the Pte. Went and taught a lesion to a lady who had just had a child die right after it was born and she was sooooo sad! She was like crazy! You could see the saddest look in her eyes and we taught her the plan of salvation, which helped and she looked less sad after but it is still sad for me to think about that! Then we went to the hotel and he bought me dinner and the place was right on the beach and it was soooooo good!!!! and then when we finished eating we just sat there and read the BOM until like 9:30 pm and then went upstairs and went to bed! 

Thursday: got up early like always and went to take a shower and the Pte. Told me to put on my running clothes and some flip-flops and so I did and yeah we went down to the beach and kicked off our shoes and went on a beach jog. hahaha for any other missionary that would have been really against the rules but with the Pte. We can do anything! hahaha we ran a good mile or so and then got to this big cliff and found some cool sea shells!  Then walked back in the water up to our ankles! super cool! then we got back changed, picked up elder miranda and started our drive back to quito! before we got back we stopped off at this fishing place! It’s really not fishing because its sooo easy but it is still super fun! and yeah we had them cook it and then we eat right there!!! haha then we went home and had to get ready for the training the next day!

            Friday: well we started training the leaders in Quito at 8 in the morning and then finished the day training two more zones in Quito until 7:00 pm! hahaha alllll day! Then we got some pollo gus! Which is like this chicken place! Pretty good! haha then went home and slept!

            Saturday: Well that would be today! I got up and cleaned which was good and then we went to the office to send a few things and get ready for next week a little! Then I went home and slept for an hour and then we ate a burrito which was pretty dang good and then we came here to write!

Love,

Christian

This is what my rep is in the mission! haha Everybody knew me as some super tough acting guy who doesn't tolerate things! They called me the "machetier" because when I started out as assistant I was not very good at telling people in a nice way that they needed to be more obedient, but now I have gotten way better and I am a lot better at making people feel good at the same time as teaching them or correcting them! I have learned sooo much!  

 Food on the Coast.... This is called a corbiche... yes the mayonnaise is on top.... no it is not good for you..... yes it is my favorite coastal food!

This is us fishing in El Paraiso del Pescador.

 This is us with the President! He paid for everything staying there!

 The burrito my companion and I ate today!!!

Week #96!

September 13th, 2014

I will write more about my week in a letter and mail it this week, since I didn't really have time to today! I have had a good week though and worked really hard! This week we got 23 NEW missionaries which is crazy and there is never a group that big!
I really like training them though it reminds me of how far I have come since I first started in my mission when I was just like them.  It is really cool!

 This is us with The Williomsons, a senior missionary couple in the offices here!

Elder Miranda, President Richardson, Me

Week #95

September 6, 2014

So being that you wrote it in huge letters asking about my knee I guess I will tell you that first! My knee is SCREWED UP!!! haha I stopped running for a little while because it was hurting really bad and then I figured it would be better after waiting for 6 weeks so I ran again and it didn’t bug me the whole time and then the next day all day just to walk was killing me!!!!! Not like the muscle it’s my actual knee. The doctor said that I have "jumpers knee" which is like some kind of tendonitis. He told me I would have it for the rest of my life but he is a crappy Ecuadorian doctor and I don’t trust him at all! So I’m kind of just waiting to go back to the states and get it looked at!

As far as other health things gooooo, welll I think I have got a bug because I have lost a lot of weight recently. I now weigh 160 lbs which is really small for me! Also my butt itches like crazy and my companion told me that it is a sign of having parasites. I know I need to talk to the nurse of the mission but I feel like it is something sooo dumb that will just go away haha but other then that I am good to go!!!!

Haha well to tell you a little about my week really quick! We had the verifications of the new missionaries on Thursday, which is where we see how the missionaries are doing and how they are progressing with their teaching and stuff and yeah it was good! We went to the Panecillo, which is like this cool lookout spot here in Quito. Other than that we have been trying to get ready for the zone conference in the next month which is kind of hard!

Me and my comp are doing well but I feel like I don’t know him very well and we had a little problem this week because he said he felt like he couldn’t trust me.  When I asked him why he said that he thinks I lie to the President because something I said offended him or something, which really upset me because it is soooo important to me to be honest in everything I do because of everything I went through.  That’s okay though it will work out, and I am changing companions for my last change anyways.

ha anyways that was pretty much my week! Oh and we got a bunch of new DVD players and we had to tape all the rules on them and all that and we spent about 2 days doing that because there where about 60 of them and we have to do a ton for each one! 

I made a few videos but the problem is that I forgot my adapter sooo I can’t exactly do anything about sending them to you! Oh yeah and we had the mission council this week! That was the other big thing! It went well!

haha sorry I just am randomly saying things now.

Love,

Christian

P.S. Tommorrow i have 22 month in the mission!!!!!

That means Christian has 11 P-days left!!!