1st week in Santa Rosa de Calamuchita

¡Hola a todos! 

First off,  Santa Rosa has a Branch of about 25 members and they are all super awesome! This week was a bit crazy! A good week and a not so good week. We found lots of great people to teach and a member in our branch brought a friend to church which is awesome! But we also had two of our people with a baptismal date say that they don't want to get baptized and another person said that she doesn't think that she will get baptized in the future. So, it was a week with ups and downs! 

I am loving it here in Santa Rosa! It's a beautiful town set inside a valley and there are tons of green trees and dirt roads! I'm excited to be working in Santa Rosa for the next two or three transfers or so! 

During some lessons with a couple, their names are Ariel and Romina. There was this small dog that loved to chew on my pant legs and my socks! He was a crazy little devil it was hard to focus on the lesson in the moment haha! 

But anyway that's all for this week! 

Hope everyone is doing great at home! 

Love Elder Burbank 

Pictures! 

1) Elder Medina and I

2) A picture of the beautiful river that runs through Santa Rosa! 

3) A picture of me in front of a beautiful view!

4) Me and the devil puppy! 

5) Puppy on the ground!

Transfer News!

 ¡Hola a todos!

This week was actually really good! We invited 2 people to be baptized and they said Yes, and we found some really great people to teach! 

Wednesday, we did an exchange! I went to Parque Capital with Elder Padrón and we had a blast! We had some really great lessons and we found this one guy named Santi and he is amazing! When he said that he only believes in God and no saints I knew he was going to be someone who would want to listen to our message because everyone here is Catholic and so many people believe in Saints. He said he was looking for the truth, and when he listened to our message he said that everything we were talking about made sense to him. Also, when he saw the pamphlet of the Restoration he straight up Said "Look it says it right here the Restoration of the Gospel, this is true!" It was definitely a cool experience! 

Thursday, we headed out to an area about an hour and 15 minute walk from our apartment but we had a member drive us out there so it worked out well! We found two new people to teach! We traveled to this area because we were teaching a women named Yvonne but turns out that when we got to their house she told us that she is a member and she was baptized like 8 years ago! That was definitely a shock for us haha! But she's the only one in her family that is a member and her mother seems interested which is awesome! 

Sunday, we had 4 people come to church and 3 out of the 4 people that came was a family! I was surprised that they came but I was very happy when I saw them walk in! The Lord is changing the hearts of the people in so many different ways.

TRANSFER NEWS! Saturday we received the call and I am officially leaving "La Paz"! I have had an awesome four months in this area and I am grateful for all the things that I have learned over these past few months! I am being transferred to "Santa Rosa de Calamuchita" and my companion is going to be Elder Medina who is from Uruguay! Everyone is saying that Santa Rosa is super pretty and I've seen some pictures and I can say that they're right! The church down there is a group of about 15 members more or less, and the church building is a house that the people meet in! I'm sad to be leaving the members from the La Paz ward but at least I'm headed south and not north where all the heat is! 

Anyway that's all for this week! I hope everyone is doing well! 

Love Elder Burbank! 

Pictures! 

1) Selfie in a house that a member in our ward is building!

2) We helped the member fill this whole container with rocks!

3) Elder Navarro and I in the other area! 

4) The country side of Córdoba 

5) The garage area in the house 

6) Elder Balnco was getting a hair cut and there was an Argentina soccer game on the TV! 

7) The District being funny 

8) The last photo of the District before Elder Padrón and Hermana Sorensen go home! 

9) Dog

10) One of the Roads in the other area!

The week with the best potential

¡Hola a todos! 

This week was filled with heat, rain and, thunder which was a nice change of pace! This week we had tons of lessons set with our friends and we were going to have members present but all the lessons canceled. It was pretty sad but we had a decent week because we talked with lots of people and had some good lessons! We had some great potential to invite lots of people to be baptized but it didn't happen! 

One of the lessons that we had this week was with a lady named Maria and she seemed interested and she said she would read the Book of Mormon and pray! I really hope she chooses to pray because I know this will change her life! So, we'll see what happens in the next lesson we have with her! 

We are going into the last week of the transfer and I am getting exited to hear where I will be going because I've been here in the area La Paz for 3 transfers and that is the usual amount of time a missionary stays in an area in this mission! 

Another lesson that we had this week was with an Abuelo (Grandpa) and he is 92 years old! It was crazy when we heard his age because we saw him run up the stairs like it was nothing! He's like president Russell M. Nelson with his athleticism! During the lesson we talked about the Book of Mormon a little bit and he said he had the book already and he showed us a book of mormon from the 1980's! It had a black hard cover and there were pictures placed throughout the pages of the book which coincided with the storyline, it was way cool! He also said that he would want to talk with us more about the gospel which is always music to my ears! 

This coming week we are planning to work extra hard to finish out the transfer strong! 

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well! I'll keep you guys updated on where I will be going for transfers! 

Love Elder Burbank 

Pictures! 

1) Zone Pday today! 

2) MEGA MESSI - We saw Messi on an ad board and Elder Navarro took a picture at a high angle haha! 

3) One of the many bridges we use to cross the dirty canal! 

Another week of sickness

¡Hola a todos!

This was a crazy week for sure! Tuesday both Elder Navarro and I were sick, and we ended up going over to the hospital to see what was wrong and when we got back, we once again worked from inside the apartment. I'll spare the details but let's just say it was an interesting time. The other thing is, Elder Padrón (also in our apartment), got sick and he was out of commission for a few days! Something was definitely going around but right now we are all doing well! 

This week we spent a lot of time in the south part of our area where some of the "Villas" are located. (Villas = poorer neighborhood). We found some really great people down there and we found this one guy named Victor and I think he has really great potential to receive the gospel! 

It is also starting to get really hot around here since we are going into the summer months and we are getting close to the end of the transfer and I could be sent up to one of the northern providences La Rioja or Catamarca and the heat up there reaches to 110 Fahrenheit or 43 Celsius during the summer so I'm kind of worried about getting transferred up there!

Also, yesterday marks the 5th month since starting the MTC in the mission which is crazy because it doesn't feel like it's been 5 months at all! It was a good week but besides feeling sick not much happened besides teaching lessons and preaching the Gospel! 

Anyway hope everyone is feeling ok at home! 

Love Elder Burbank

1) The district in downtown Córdoba 

2) Our Church building because i don't think I've ever sent a picture!