Sister Burnham: 2nd area ako....sa Santa Maria!!

My Dearest Family and Friends,

Wow, a lot has happened this past week but first off I want you to know how grateful I am for the gospel in our lives and especially the knowledge of the plan of salvation. It was sad to hear about Grandpa's death, I will miss him greatly but I'm so happy for him and his reunion with Grandma. Having the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation is such a blessing. And it makes me want to share even more about it with the people here who don't know that we can be with our loved ones forever and that through Jesus Christ, there is hope in this life and the next. It's such a beautiful truth to me and one that sustains me. And I can feel now Grandma and Grandpa by my side helping me in this work so others can have the same blessings we have. How beautiful it really all is.

Well as you all know, I was transferred!! Leaving Mindoro was so hard for me. I really feel homesick from Mindoro right now. Haha, but I had a good departing- all day on Tuesday, I went and said goodbye to Ricky, Jane, the Ting's and some other members and investigators. Ricky was the hardest. In our lesson to him about service he shared to me how great of a blessing I have been to him and serving him by sharing the happiness of the gospel to him. We both were having a hard time holding back tears as we expressed that we changed each others lives for good. He wrote me a note too that made Sister Maagad cry too. Haha She had the hardest time with saying goodbyes. I know we had our differences and struggles with each other but we really learned and grew from each other. We made each other better people and came to love each other and it was really hard saying goodbye to each other. It was also hard saying goodbye to the other sisters and elders there...I miss them a lot.

But we had fun traveling, Sister Dadivas got transferred with me as well as three other Elders, one my old district leader. Haha we're on good terms now but I'm glad he's not my district leader anymore :) Haha good guy but you know...haha But I'm so glad travels are done, two days of traveling...ugh...But the second day I finally got to the mission home in the morning and when President pulled me into his office, he told me that he had an assignment for me...that's always good to hear, right? Haha So the assignment is being in a threesome companionship, following up training with Sister Japus and...drumroll...training a new sister!! Yep, I had another baby!! Haha :) Sister Temaaka, she's from Kiribati!! It's this tiny little island by Fiji and Samoa. Ya, CRAZY!! I learned I was training 2 hours before meeting my next anak! Haha But it's great, she is the sweetest sister and hilarious!! Sometimes I struggle understanding her because she's learning english AND tagalog- hard, right? But she's the sweetest thing. And she comes from a hard life and she's only been a member for a year. She's awesome. So happy to have her as my anak. And Sister Japus is super sweet, Filipina siya and she's always smiling. It's a good companionship. Kinda hard because it's three and I'm the senior companion leading the way for both of them, but if President changed things at the last moment because he felt inspired to, then it's meant to be.

I'm in Santa Maria, it's in Siniloan but it's this little province with nothing. Haha I mean nothing. Okay, it has a 7 Eleven and tindahans but other than that...ya. Haha But it's so beautiful here! With mountains and rice fields surrounding the area. I think I'll come to love it :) But there are some problems here...the branch is not functioning and we don't really have investigators. Starting over...so ya. Hirap talaga. But President knew that and he warned me but he also told me he knows I can do more than I think I can. I know I can do this because we can't fail when we are on the Lord's errand.

Well, I'm still just trying to take all this in but something the Lord really has blessed me with is helping me in my Tagalog. I feel like I can understand so much more here and talking is getting easier. I don't know how, but I'm grateful for that blessing. And I think helping my anak learn tagalog and having Sister Japus help us is going to help me get fluent. Haha Nagpapasalamat ako talaga!!

Well, I love you all so much! Keep sending the prayers because I need them! Haha :) I'm praying for you all as well. I know it's hard with Grandpa's passing, but we all know he's with Grandma now and that's what he wanted the most. What a blessing it is that we can be with our loved ones forever. And I'm grateful that I have that blessing with you :)

Mahal na mahal ko kayo!!

Love, Sister Burnham