Merry Christmas from Sister Burnham!

"Brother Ricky :) Hey's so little right?!"

"Quail eggs...masarap!!"

"Elder Manalili...he's a model. Haha :)"

"All our purchases broken..."

"The Filipino sleep, cloth over the face! Haha"

"Beach playing :)"

"Branch Christmas Party!!"

Holly and her very first companion, Sister Malig!

"Zone Conference and our skit! Ours was the best :) It was about the struggles the missionaries in mindoro zone having to get to zone conference...we just rocked it!"

"Christmas Eve! Singing carols to the Ting's with our ZL's- they are seriously my favorite!"

"Oh ya, and the snake! Haha :)"

"And Christmas morning!! Thank you again for the presents!! I love them!!"

Christmas is Coming to Town!!!

Family and Friends, 

Christmas is a coming!! Even though it doesn't really feel like it here, it's coming!! I am so excited to skype! Though I won't lie, it's going to be hard to talk and then say goodbye, talk to you in May!! Man, weird how it works that way! But I am looking forward to it! 

This week me and Sister Maagad went to training check up in San Pablo, it was really good. The best part was seeing Sister Reed and Sister Malig. I loved my first two companions, my greatest friends in the mission thus far...well and of course Sister Wilson, even though she's not my companion I love living with her. It was just a lot of fun :) Poor Sister Maagad, she was car and sea sick the whole time. And we travel a lot. Sayang, but we had some fun together shopping in Lipa and spending time together. 

So I really only have one great investigator right now...haha Brother Ricky. I just love him, he's so great and has this very strong desire to be baptized and do everything he can to follow Christ. But we found out this week he is addicted to alcohol...ya. We committed him to follow the Word of Wisdom and he accepted, but a couple nights later we caught him drinking. Haha oh man!! He gave in while hanging out with some friends... We taught him the next day and he sad that he didn't sleep that whole night cuz he felt bad and he texted us that morning making sure we were coming over. Haha I think he thought we would give up on him. He felt really bad and wants to stop. He even asked us yesterday at church what he has to do to be baptized and it's all about stop drinking. I bet that's hard. I'm thinking about getting him another things to drink for encouragement and support and might ask my zone leaders to give him a blessing. I know he can overcome, through the atonement of Jesus Christ. It will take a lot of effort, but I know he can do it. If you have any ideas though how to help someone overcome an addiction, let me know! I want to help him as much as I can. 

Today we had zone p-day and we went to the beach again! I loved it, so much fun!! We have a really fun zone and it was just a good time to relax and have fun. Haha But we totally got to the beach with 18 missionaries all squished in one truck. Haha Oh man, it was hott!! Haha But it was funny and hilarious. Wish I could've taken a picture of it but I'm sure you can imagine all these missionaries shoved in a truck. I'm sure we were a sight!!

Anyways, I better end this. I love you all and I hope you are all enjoying the season of Christmas. Enjoy the snow for me!! Because I won't be getting any! Haha :) Can't wait to skype you soon!! 

Mahal na mahal ko kayo!!

Love, Sister Burnham 

"Ellen and Rollan- Less active members that we've been able to reactivate :) They are super nice! Rollan even blessed the sacrament yesterday."

"Elder Tolefoea...super funny Elder!"

"Lorence's gift from Nichole...haha so funny!! And such a girly gift he gave!"

"Rice fields :)"

"Two of my favorite Elders on the rock- Elder Gray and Elder Wanoa...and it's totally an oreo effect going on...I'm the cream!!"

"Elder Toleafoa dancing for us...Haha :)"

"Poor Elder Langi....he got buried alive! Haha"

Family and Friends, 

Oh my goodness, it's already December!! But it doesn't feel like that here in the sunny, warm Philippines. Haha the weather is actually perfect right now or maybe I'm just adjusting...who knows!! Haha :) But I'm getting excited for Christmas and to skype the family, it's going to be great!!

We did a lot of service projects this week, we helped clean this members home, more like a hut. Haha There were these HUGE spiders though! As big as my hand!! I wish I got a picture but sadly my camera died but it was a fun cleaning together. Then we helped one of our investigators make these rugs made out of t'shirts or jeans, just any scrape fabric. Haha She's super sweet but our last lesson she said that our church and the catholic church are the same....umm....no. Haha We tried to fix that but it all goes back to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon to know if this church is true. Haha But for some reason so many people think that. Haha It's really fun...

Ting's are super excited for their Christmas present! They are sad they have to wait for it but we started celebrating Christmas yesterday. We do a gift exchange every Sunday and you have to get something no more than 30 pesos, and yesterday we did something soft. Next something red, then sweet, then funny. I LOVE the Ting's- they are so funny and great. Singing karaoke songs to us and what not. Haha :) And Nichole....so Nichole is the gay one....haha oh my. He sung us Last Christmas and was wearing his heels....yep that's Nichole but you gotta love him! He's so funny!! And Lorence is awesome, he likes to play jokes on me but we're good friends. I wish he would accept the gospel, but I think he's just one of those people where it will just take time for him to accept it. Hopefully the rest of his family will help him along :) 

Ricky is doing great!! He's been to church three times!! That's GREAT!! Haha I'm afraid he has a word of wisdom problem though....I guess we will find out though Tuesday. But he bore his testimony on the Book of Mormom during a family home evening we had, it made me so proud :) Haha I'm just really happy for him and he becomes happier and happier everyday :) I'll try to send a picture of him, he's just this cute little Filipino man! Haha :) 

I'm sad I missed Thanksgiving but I hope you all had a great one!! I had rice....and more rice. Haha I love rice, I think that's all I'm going to eat for the rest of my life. Haha it's a necessity. Haha Why I never ate it before the mission, I'll never understand. Haha So next Christmas I think I'll ask for a rice cooker. Haha :) Just so you know :) I'm sending a Christmas package this week, probably will be late but I hope it gets there!! 

Well family, I love you all! I hope you have a good first week of December! Devon and Robyn...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Or Maligayang Kaarawan!! Mahal na mahal ko kayo!! 

Mahal, Sister Burnham 

"Family Home Evening with Jane's family, Anna and Ricky. Ricky is the one behind Jane in the white t-shirt. And then me singing a little bit as well with karaoke :) Haha :)"