I am loving the work!

Hello all! 

This past week has been another crazy one! Tuesday and Wednesday I went to the center and got my documents filled out for my DNE which is an ID card for Argentina!

This past week we have been in a trio covering both areas, La Paz and Paque Capital, it's been crazy for sure. 

A couple days ago I realized that hearing people speak Spanish no longer feels foreign to me. I don't fully understand what they are saying but things come in steps. 

I am loving the work! Whenever we are in lessons and people seem interested in what we are saying I feel the spirit and the love of God! I can't wait to be able to fully understand Spanish so I can really start to get to know people. 

Today is transfer day! Elder Poulson, Pitts and I are staying and Elder Pitt's new companion is Elder Blanco! It'll be a good transfer for sure! 

Anyway hope everyone is doing well! 

Love Elder Burbank 

Inside the Capital building in down town Córdoba!

Military Planes

The last district council of the transfer 

Elder Merlo came by to pack his things 

The Trio next to the temple!

The week of 50 exchanges!

Hello all!

This past week has been absolutely crazy! Before I explain, I need to give some background information about Elder Merlo, who lives in the apartment with me and Elder Poulson. The past 4 weeks Elder Merlo's feet have been giving him a lot of trouble. Some days he couldn't walk and it's been a whole thing. So this past week he has been in the mission home with one of the AP's Elder Duarte since he also hurt his foot while playing basketball last week. So basically it has been Elder Pitts, Elder Poulson and I in the apartment. 

Tuesday was the only normal day this week! Elder Poulson and I had multiple lessons fall through so we were stuck with knocking doors for 3 hours during the siesta which is not ideal. We didn't find anyone during those three hours and it was a long day! Towards the end of the day Elder Pitts was coming back to the apartment after being with Merlo in the mission home figuring out what the next week will look like. He said I would be going on an exchange with one of the AP's Elder McArthur for Wednesday. At the time, I just wanted to go to bed but I had to pack and head over to their apartment. 

Wednesday morning was a new day and I was feeling a little better and ready to work. We went to a district council in a different Zone and that was cool to meet new missionaries in the mission! Elders Cluff, Lewis, Medina, Seamons and Hermanas Derrick and Prato La Roca. During the exchange with Elder McArthur we had a great day! Talked to lots of people and had a great lesson with a family! 

Thursday... Since Elder Merlo was gone we had a trio during the morning and had a lesson with a family which went super well! Afterwards our trio went to lunch and at the end Elder McArthur came by to be with Elder Pitts for the day! Afterwards Elder Poulson and I had a lesson with a guy who is dating a member in the ward and that went great since Elder Poulson has known him since the first transfer Poulson has been in this area! 

Friday... we had Elder McArthur and the Zone leaders Elders McQuivey and Larson come by to do more exchanges. McQuivey and McArthur went to the AP's area and Larsen was with Elder Pitts in Parque Captial. In the morning, Elder Poulson and I met a guy who just got off his mission 6 months ago and is visiting Córdoba to see family, it was awesome to talked to him because he knew Elder Poulson's trainer which was crazy to figure out! We had a plan at the end of the day to have a baptismal interview with our boy Thiago who wanted to get baptized 2 weeks ago but it got pushed back to this week so we were going to have Elder Larsen interview him because we need one of the Zone leaders to interview our investigators since Elder Poulson is district leader. So, at lunch we had a four way exchange, so I went with Elder Pitts to parque Capital for the rest of the day and Larson and Poulson were in my area. 

Saturday... We were back to the trio! But this time we stayed a trio for the whole day! Morning time we contacted people in both areas La Paz and Parque Capital, had lunch and afterwards we went to a ward activity at the church which was way fun! Our boy Thiago and a family that we are teaching also showed up which was amazing! During the rest of the day we were in Parque Capital! 

Sunday was kind of crazy as well! We had the baptism for Thiago and that was super awesome! The plan was for Edler Poulson to baptism him and an Uncle to confirm Thiago but the uncle was sick and left after sacrament meeting. Thiago said he wanted the Elders to do everything so like 30 minutes before the baptism I was told that I was confirming Thiago! I was very hesitant since I've never confirmed or given a blessing in Spanish  before so we quickly pulled up what to say in Spanish and I started thinking about what I wanted to say during the blessing. I said a prayer since I was feeling really nervous and during the confirmation I said everything I wanted to say and I didn't forget anything. I know God was with me during that time and I am grateful that it went smoothly! 

This was a pretty long email but there was just so much that happened this week! Anyway hope everyone is doing well! 

Love Elder Burbank                                                     

                                                      Elder Poulson and I with Thiago

                                                                               Trio

Poulson and I with the returned missionary 

Pitts, Poulson and I playing foosball 

Thiago and his dad with us. 

Elder Poulson and I being funny 

Trio picture on Thursday 

Trio with Carlos and his son!

Cute dog! 

McArthur and I behind the red lights 

Another Trio picture

Hello all! 

I had an email all ready to send but it some how got deleted so this is gonna be shorter. 

This week has flown by but it has been a great one! I have felt super tired lately because we had a mission wide meeting through zoom and our schedule changed so we now wake up at 6:30 am and go to bed at 10:30 pm instead of 7 am to 11 pm. 

On Sunday we had 8 people show up to church which is amazing because that is a record for Elder Poulson and I. It is a great feeling when investigators are progressing and are coming closer to Jesus Christ! 

On Saturday Elder Poulson and I did service for our bishop and a member in our ward which was a super nice change of pace from walking everyday all day. 

My Spanish is coming along pretty decently. I am starting to understand a little more each day! Anyway hope everyone is doing well!

Love Elder Burbank 

After Elder Poulson and I helped our bishop move tons of rocks and dirt at his new house he is building

Elder Poulson and I on our way to a lesson

Huge Dog

Horse and Carriage!

The weekly grind and a broken water heater!

Hello all! 

This past week every day felt the same. I'm walking everywhere, having a few lessons fall through, and having some great lessons too. It's all just a blur! My Spanish has been coming along very slowly. I'm starting to recognize more and more words but my comprehension of everything is still bad, in time I'll get there! 

Lately the weather here has been pretty cold at night and in the morning! Walking everyday hasn't been too bad but I got a decent sized blister on my heel which isn't fun but it's not stopping me. Elder Poulson and I are getting closer and closer with our investigators which is a great feeling! 

Other than daily missionary work the one thing that happened this week was our water heater started leaking. A couple days later in the morning we messed with the drain valve to see if we could fix it but ended up making it worse and water started pouring out all of the floor! But we got it fixed before we headed out for the day so we didn't have to waste any time waiting around in the apartment! 

But other than that it was a pretty good week. Lots of great lessons and we found lots a new people! Hope everyone is doing well!

Elder Burbank 

Eating Empanadas after a day of work 

Elder Poulson and I on the grind

Water pouring out 

Elder Merlo plugging the hole

Beautiful day

"You want this?"

Hello everyone!

This week has gone by sooo fast because we only had four days that were full work days since we had zone conference last week. The work has been coming along nicely, Elder Poulson and I found 10 new people this last week! 

Thursday was an amazing day! We had 4 great lessons but 2 of the lessons went over which isn't a big deal because the 2 lessons that we couldn't make it to canceled so everything worked out perfectly!

Friday we had exchanges with the other Elders in our apartment, I went with Elder Pitts to his area and Elder Poulson went with Elder Merlo to our area. The exchanges went great and It was a good day!

Saturday night. Elder Poulson and I were in the top left part of our area, which isn't the worst part of our area. We were at an investigators house for a lesson but he wasn't available at the time so we would come back in about 15 minutes. While we were checking our phone to plan what we were going to do Elder Poulson says to me "Elder I don't like taking out the phone in this area." After we finished, he put the phone away and we started walking to the member dots we were going to contact. As we were walking by an intersection we saw a guy on a moto, which is what they call a motorcycle or scooter here, which is normal but as we turned the corner we saw the same guy stopped by the side of the road and he asked for directions (which never happens), and after he says, "give me your phone". Elder Poulson tried to play dumb and showed the guy his scripture bag saying "you want this?" but the guy said, no, your phone... so Elder Poulson handed him the phone and asked for mine as well but I didn't really know what the guy was saying so I just stood there but Elder Poulson said we only have one so the guy got back on his moto and drove off with our phone. It was the stupidest thing. We got a new phone Sunday night so it wasn't to bad. 

Anyway it was a good week for the work and I hope everyone is doing well back home. 

Love Elder Burbank 

Our District

Evening sunset