Baptism!!! and Tender Mercies

¡Hola a todos! 

Jeremías was baptized! Yay!! On Saturday we had the baptism of Jeremías Lopez and on Sunday he was confirmed! It's always amazing to see the light of Christ inside God's children when they're on the correct path!

These past two weeks, during a few of the days I felt quite sick and I had some problems with my stomach. All I'm going to say is that I ALMOST had an accident that happened to my Dad's companion in Haiti during his mission. 😐 Dad you know what I'm talking about. Haha. 

Here in Santa Rosa we are still grinding everyday to find new people who live here and want to listen, especially during the summer season because santa rosa has A LOT of tourism but I have seen many tender mercies these past couple weeks when talking with people in the street or in their homes. I know God is always guiding us in the right direction. 

On Friday we found 4 new people to teach and It was tender mercy after tender mercy, we found a couple from Misiones, Argentina, and they speak Portuguese which was way cool becuase Elder Coutinho is from Brazil and it was neat to see him speak the language a little. Then we were walking to another contact we had, and we talked with a man who was leaving a grocery store and said he wanted to come to church which was awesome! Sadly he didn't make it on Sunday but that's OK! 

On another high note! The couple, Amy y Dimar are so close to getting married! Amy already got her Argentina ID and Now only Dimar is waiting for his! Once they have their ID's they can get married a be baptized which has been about 9 months in the waiting. 

Also, these past few weeks I have been reading in come follow me and been learning and connecting lots of amazing things about the life of the Savior! I am sooo thankful for the Atonement and the knowledge I have to apply it in my life! 

Anyway I think that is all for this week! Hope everyone has a wonderful upcoming week! 

Love Elder Burbank 

Photos! 

Bautismo de Jeremías!! 

Walkin by the river and found this bird chillin on the rock 😎

We visited some members and they had baby chicks (Pollitos)

The River is always amazing 

Made some hamburgers one night

Zone Conference and Technology Team

¡Hola a todos! 

This week went by way too fast! I feel like I just sent a weekly email like yesterday but, lo and behold, we´re here again! 

Very sad update - Jeremías didn't get baptized this week and we have to move the baptismal date to the 28 of January, but don't worry, everything is all well! 

We had zone conference on Friday and it was awesome! Learned lots of great things and I heard lots of great ideas to improve our work here in Santa Rosa. Also, during the conference I got a message from the technology leader that I'll be on the technology team for this transfer and maybe more to come. So, I've got an extra assignment to do during the day. It's nothing too crazy, I just have to like every comment and send a private message to all the people who commented on a facebook post from our Facebook page that's called VenirACristo en Río Cuarto. (ComeUntoChrist in Fourth River). I'm excited to be doing something a little different to change things up! 

But anyway that's all for this week! I hope everyone has a great week and is doing well! 

Love, Elder Burbank

1) A couple days after it rained the river was looking very nice!

2)  Playing with a cat that was chillin in the sun.

3) There is a decent story behind this picture, we were doing our normal contacts throughout our area and a man stopped us and asked if we wanted a glass of water, naurtrally we said yes, because it was super hot and he was someone to talk to during the siesta. We walk over and stepped our way over a small dirt wall because the road is under construction and the road is dug lower than the grass level (if that makes anysense) and We talk with this guy for about 15 mins or so, and 10 mins in to the conversation, this dog (in the picture) jumps up from the road and was being very friendly, We didnt think to much of it at the time, since it happens a lot, but after we finished talking with the man (He wasnt interseted in learning about the gospel) We continued with our contacts and the dog starts following us. Now, you may be thinking what's the big deal about that? Well when we are walking around the Neighborhoods all the dogs behind their fences just bark their heads off  at this dog thats following us and its a little hard to do missionary work like that haha 😅 and the best part is, is that I took this picture 3 hours after we first saw the dog 🐕 so yeah it followed us for too long. 🙃

A long week filled with fun and teaching

¡Hola a todos! 

This week was great but felt very long. Probably because of the immense heat that is here everyday but we're going strong! Nothing to crazy happened this week that I can recall. Basically just talking with everyone and having lessons everyday which is a great feeling! 

Update on Jeremías - He came to church yesterday so he will be able to be baptized this coming Saturday so stay tuned for that next week! Also, about a week and a half ago we found another couple, and we had a very spiritual first lesson with them and now they are reading the Book of Mormon and they are very enthusiastic about reading which is amazing! 

Saturday we helped a member in our branch with his house that he's building, we helped move dirt into the foundation area so later he can make a concrete floor. It was awesome to do some physical work! 

This week, I listened to (or read) a lot of talks during lunch and I would like to share some things about those. The first is called "What is a consecrated missionary?" And this talk helped me to realize that I can improve in so many aspects of being a better missionary and a better person in general. To make it short, a consecrated missionary is someone who sacrifices everything for two years and gives all his strength to do the will of the Lord, always be happy no matter how many times you are rejected because we are here to serve and shine the light of Christ in all things we do. Be exactly obedient and strive to follow all the standards of missionaries. When I read this I really thought about myself and thought how can I better myself to become a consecrated missionary? It won't be easy getting there but I think that once I'm there it's going to give me even more joy during my mission, and serving the Lord. 

The other talk is called "Be 100% responsible" by Lynn G Robbins, BYU speeches. There is too much to talk about with this talk so if you would like to listen to it and ponder his words, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! 👌

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

¡Que tengan una buena semana! (Have a good week!)

Love, Elder Burbank 

Pictures!

1) These horses came up to the fence and wanted a picture :)

2) This dog followed us for a good 25 minutes.

3) Cooking French fries and might I add, They were fire 🔥 😋

4) River picture. 

5) We went to a lesson but the guy forgot we were coming and wasn't home, so, we took a picture of his beehives on the way home. 

6) The result 👌

7) Ice cream 🍦 

Happy New Year!! 2023!!

¡Hola a todos! 

These past two weeks have been crazy! Before I give some highlights about what happened these past weeks, I would like to say I hope everyone had a wonderful new years and a merry chirstmas! 

Update on the area! We are having transfers this week and nothing is going to happen in Santa Rosa! Elder Coutinho and I are staying for one more transfer! Also, We have one person on date for a baptism, his name is Jeremías his date is for january 14! He is super awesome, his younger brother is already a member and its been super great teaching him because he alreadys know some things about the church! Also we have 2 couples who are waiting to set a marriage date so we are working with them to get baptized as well!

Little recap on christmas, a sister in our branch invited us to spend christmas with her and her husbands family which was very nice of them! Christmas here is a little different, people celebrate Christmas the 24th and wait for midnight to say FELIZ NAVIDAD!! and everyone opens presents at midnight. Its basically new years and it was very fun! For christmas eve dinner we ate Empanadas, Milanesa (flat breaded chicken), and Papas fritas (french fries) it was interesting but man was it delicious! For new years Elder Coutinho and I slept hahah, we went to bed early because we were tired from the week. The weeks leading up to christmas and new years were sooooo dificult working with memebers. Since we have about 30 ish active members in our branch it was either someone was traveling or no one had a free schedule to accompany us in lessons but now its a new year!!!! I have set some goals for the start of this year and they are to read every single word in preach my gospel in spanish in 6 months or less, Follow and study "Come follow me" for this year, and also keep learning more spanish!!! 

Last Pday we tried to go on a hike to walk to a waterfall here in Santa Rosa but the trail head was closed that day so that was a complete bust, haha RIP :( . The past couple weeks the weather here has been wack, sometimes it rains and thunders all night and in the morning nothing.... and its been raining here like crazy and sometimes it was sunning and hot in the morning, rained in the afternoon, and got really hot again, so I dont whats going on... but its raining!! which is great for Argentina because there´s been a drought here for some time.

Anyway thats all for this week! Hope everyone has a great first week of this year!

Love, Elder Burbank

Photos!

1) Cool Staircase

2) Eating Lomitos!

3) Picture by the rain filled river

4) The picture we took after we returned from the disappointing short hike to the trail head.

5) Our church building

6) Nice background for a photo, no?

7) Lunch on January 1st!

8) At least we had a decent view from the trail head :)

9) Me and my small Christmas gifts :)

10) Here's everyone who was at the Christmas eve dinner (except for the sister that invited us).