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Greg Burnham
1-304 Itakadai
Meito-ku
Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken 465-0028
JAPAN

gburnham.blog

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    August 31 
    about 5 months ago

    Yikes.. Zone Leader August 30, 2009

    So… transfer calls came. I will (finally) be leaving Ina, and I’m off to Okazaki (pretty close to Nagoya) as a zone leader. My companion is going to be Elder Miller, who I’m really looking forward to working with. He is a crazy guy, lots of energy, and plays the guitar really well. Maybe he will help me improve a little. We likely won’t have time though. Anyway, what I’m most excited about is their success. Last transfer they saw six baptisms there, and they have a ton of people to teach. It is the second largest ward in the mission (I think) and is going to be a blast I’m sure.

    The problem is the zone leader part. I’m excited, but I kind of feel unqualified or not fully prepared. I am also going zone leader one or two transfers younger than most people, and so it is kind of scary. I guess the worst part is that now I have to really deal with the problem missionaries, and will be so busy that I’m not sure I’ll even notice the last eight months of my mission go by. I’m excited, but I’m kinda nervous a little bit too. Everyone says it is like starting a second different mission. Ha.

    Elder Warner is getting Elder Stevens as his new companion - Elder Stevens came into the mission the same time I came back to Japan. He is shy, but I think he will be a decent match for the branch here. We will see.

    Other news… it was our Branch Conference this weekend, and we got 20 people there. This means that I have officially achieved my goal that I made that first transfer with Elder Katanuma. It was on my last week, but I finally saw the Branch go from five people in Sacrament Meeting to 20. I don’t think that 20 will be consistent just yet, but it was a good landmark to reach. It was also a ton of fun to see President and Sister Traveller there, and Sister Traveller and I talked alot. She is a total punk, haha. She sat next to me so I could translate for her, and she looked over at me and said, ‘Look! You’re sitting next to LeeAnne.’ Cause her name is LeAnne (one e). I refused to translate for her for a few minutes to teach her a lesson about trunky jokes. She always likes to give and take jokes like that with the missionaries. She is hilarious. I also found out while riding in the car that President Traveller has the entire discography of The Beatles on his iPod. I am proud to report that is the only unapproved music he has. I gave him a hard time about that too. 

    We ate so much food after our Branch Conference - we had a giant Branch meal after church, then went straight to Kitahara-san’s house and ate watermelon and cake, and then went to Katou-shimai’s house and had a birthday dinner for her three-year-old daughter. I’m not sure I have ever been so full in my life… We still have food in the fridge from Sunday.

    It has been kind of tough to say goodbye to everyone in the Branch - though I think more for them than for me. There were a couple criers, and a few who tried so hard to get a hug. One of them even gave me a book of art she drew (she draws comics for a living…). Branch President is going to send me fresh-picked Nagano apples to my next area - a huge box of them. It was pretty cool. I think I am going to be missed, and I am going to miss them too.

    Good to hear Karl got along well with the family. President offered me permission to call them if I felt I needed to if/when Kathryn gets engaged, but I don’t know if I am going to. I don’t want it to be too distracting for me, but at the same time I do want to talk to the two of them. He did, however, advise me to get Karl’s email address and email back and forth with him a little bit until I get home in June. He wants us to build a little bit of common ground before I get back. So have him toss me an email if he has some time. He can send me football scores while he is at it… haha.

    Everyone here is praying (possibly literally) that BYU can pull off the upset at their first game. And I hear there is a big Apple event on the 9th or something. Tell me what happens!

    Derek, I want to hear you sing man! Do you like to sing solo or just in the Baritone Choir? Either way, that is way cool! You will have to sing some songs with me when we get back - I can finally accompany on the guitar.

    Jacob, how is school going? I bet you are destroying all your tests. Keep up the good work. Have you bought any good games lately?

    Mom and Dad - I’m sending home a package of mostly boring stuff today, but in it will be three memory cards full of photos. My camera takes regular SD cards. I can get them here too, but it would be easier if you toss them in the package. And it sounds cheaper there than here.

    Thanks again for the emails - sorry about last week, we were just full of appointments and other good fun stuff. I don’t really know what else to say, but I have about 20 minutes of time left, so feel free to shoot off some questions if you are still on the computer. If not, I’ll talk to you again next week, from my new area, as a zone leader!

    Love you all.
    Elder Burnham
    Greg Burnham
    gregburnham@myldsmail.net
    1-304 Itakadai
    Meito-ku Nagoya-shi Aichi-ken
    465-0028 Japan

    Comments (View)
    about 5 months ago

    Tons of Emails August 17, 2009

    Thanks so much for the emails! I came to mail today with eleven emails in my inbox, and it made me quite happy - although I can’t respond to everyone because of time. I am extremely happy, however.

    Well, the last week was ridiculous. The reason I went to Suwa on an exchange was because they were struggling a bit (and the fireworks… haha) but we had a great two day exchange. We found them some new investigators, and the fireworks were unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it in my life. 40,000 explosions, and some were half domes that were done on the top of the lake, some were heart shaped or smiley shaped, and some were just huge. They were so big that when launched at above normal height, the bottom embers that were still burning would touch the bottom of the lake. It was literally a 2000ft diameter I’m sure, if not larger. They had lots of small ones too, but the big ones were unbelievable. I have some videos and pictures of them, so you will see them someday. I can’t really describe how awesome they were.

    Then at church, we had an excellent number of people, and everyone stayed after for almost an hour just talking and getting to know each other better. It was the first time I have seen the Branch do that. I’m pretty excited about the progress everyone is making.

    The next day, we went down to Iida to meet a member (2hr train ride) and then hit Tenryukyo (the quasi-national park) again for Elder Warner. We talked with some shop people and followed up on an apple juice seller we gave a Book of Mormon to last time with Elder Katanuma. It was way fun, and the member lesson went really well. She is going to visit all the less-actives in Iida for us, since it is nearly impossible for us to do with no car and a 2hr train ride. An excellent member missionary.

    That brings us to today. The week was pretty exciting, but the majority was spent outside of Ina city - I think a good thing for my mental health. Today we have already had two appointments and have another one later, so our Pday is kind of being cut a little short. Kind of a bummer. Because of that, this email might be a little short and boring. I’m going to try and respond to things people sent me…

    Derek - have fun with those tough classes! I’m sure you will be fine, just don’t get Mrs. Gruwell angry at you, because then she just makes fun of you all the time. I never did the homework (bad idea) and she made so much fun of me that I guess she still remembers me! Ha. Glad you had an awesome summer though, next summer I will be there to party with you!

    Jacob - you also had a way good summer, I’m excited for you! Your name in Japanese is ヤコブ which is pronounced Yeah-co-bu, spelled Yakobu in English characters. It is a pretty rare name in Japanese of course, because it is English, but it is pretty cool to have a name like that in Japan. Hang in there in school, and taking eighth grade math early! I did that too!

    Kathryn - dating a geospatial intelligence major eh? I have to admit, that is pretty impressive wordage. Sounds like he held up to the younger brother test, so I can approve. I would definitely like to talk to him sometime, either email or Christmas phone call (assuming all continues well). I definitely understood everything you wrote, and I will write you a letter responding to it. I am glad everything is well, and go ahead and get married in December if that is what it takes!

    Mom - sounds like life is hot and busy, but might settle down again here soon. I hope everything stays well. The BYU stuff is going well, I’m sealing up the form and mailing it tomorrow, hopefully, though the time I have to do things like that is getting smaller and smaller. I haven’t even picked up my guitar in a week now! As District Leader, you have to make phone calls at night to make sure everyone is safe, and we have appointments on our pdays, so… Just a question - you didn’t by chance send a package did you? The mission home says there is one for me but they can’t forward it for some reason, so I have to wait for interviews. If it was you, thanks! If it wasn’t, oops. Haha.

    Dad - sounds like work is keeping you on airplanes. It sounded before like because your boss got changed to Santa Clara that maybe the trips to Oregon would slow down a bit, but this email sure looks like it hasn’t! Hang in there eh? BYU football will start soon, that should be consolation and maybe a highlight of the fall even if work stays busy. Keep me up to date. And I still don’t believe Apple will announce a tablet PC anytime soon - if it happens I’m going to say next January or February. a tablet just doesn’t sound very Apple-like. Everyone going home soon is convinced it is going to come out before the Winter semester starts at BYU. I can’t believe that at all. Guess we will see.

    LeeAnne - You will be awesome as a trainer, I promise. Training isn’t at all about the language, and even though you can’t speak it, your neuva won’t care. Just work hard and have a blast, and you will be the best trainer she could ask for. You just have the personality that a trainer needs to have, and I’m sure that is why your President chose you, even though you are young. He doesn’t lie when he says there is a reason for you being a trainer - you just might not realize that reason until you start training (or even until you finish training her). I would imagine you will train more than once too, as a sister. Let me know how it goes! Sorry for lack of letters - time is rough, I know you understand. Miss you!

    Karen (AKA the other Sister Lowry) - thanks for forwarding emails! I have still not gotten the pictures sent off to you (I’m a terrible person) but I will get on that soon. I appreciate the emails and letters and conference talks, etc. You are awesome! I will try to write sometime soon!

    Thanks everyone for the letters! If you have any questions or anything you want to know, just ask. It is looking bad for me next transfer, the APs talked to me on the phone last night and were telling me how well we are doing and to prepare for more leadership responsibility soon. I am thinking I might go zone leader next transfer, but I’m kind of scared haha. Well, two more weeks and we will know!

    I think that is all. I will try to write a better email next week, we are just hurrying and busy! Talk to you soon, love you all!

    Elder Burnham
    Greg Burnham
    gregburnham@myldsmail.net
    1-304 Itakadai
    Meito-ku Nagoya-shi Aichi-ken
    465-0028 Japan

    Comments (View)
    about 5 months ago

    Earthquake August 10, 2009

    Hey everyone! Another week, another email.

    Yes, we felt the earthquake at about 4:00am this morning. It was enough to wake us up, but it wasn’t too bad in the Nagano area. I think for us, it was actually kind of fun. I hear that Tokyo is just fine, and because it was offshore and underwater far enough, no tsunamis or anything. It wasn’t even strong enough in our mission for the Mission Home to say anything about it.

    Well, off to the regular news. I got pretty sick on Sunday night, and wasn’t able to keep food down - then continued to work until Monday night, which was a bad idea, and then had to turn in an early night for probably the second time on my mission. I went to sleep at about 5:00pm and slept through until 4:00am, when the earthquake hit. I feel much better now, so that is good. 

    The area is doing well. I think we are a little low on investigators, but we are trying to find more. Some members just introduced some people to us, so that is definitely good. I think though, now that I have hit the seven month mark in this area, that I am just about ready to be out of here. It isn’t that I don’t love the people, or that I don’t like my companion, seven months is just a REALLY long time to be working in the same place as a missionary. It is weird to think I will end up spending more than a third of my time in the field here in Ina. Not much I can do but stick it out until next transfer. Only three more weeks. If I stay one more, I’ll break an all-Japan record for Elders, so I assume I will be transferring. The good news is, the Branch President here loves me so much he is going to send a big box of freshly picked Nagano apples to my next area as soon as they are ready in September or so. He also wants to meet everyone if/when we come back and visit Japan after the mission.

    Annie is doing well, though she now works from 7:00pm to 4:00am, making it hard to meet with her. She is still doing the basic things, reading, praying, and coming to church, so I am not worried about her. She is always talking about how happy she was to be baptized, and her faith is still strong. Kouta, on the other hand, is being a little punk and didn’t come to church again two days ago. We are meeting with his family tonight and we are going to challenge his mom to push him a little harder, especially because he is getting his new laptop soon.

    We had zone conference at the Mission Home this last week, and that was great. The training we got was centered around language skills since there are a lot of people in the mission who just can’t seem to speak Japanese. I don’t really understand why - I know it is a hard language but with effort it isn’t impossible to learn. All I know is President Traveller is worried about it, and is really pushing language skills on the mission now. I feel pretty good about my Japanese, I just need to learn more kanji so I can read and write a little better. I can read about 50% of the kanji in the Liahona, so I am getting up there, but it is nowhere near being able to read a newspaper. That is my language goal before I get home.

    Let’s see… other things. I have decided it is really fun to be a district leader and call everyone in the district at night to make sure they are safe. Especially in a lonely area like Ina, it is nice to hear from everyone and talk to them about their day. I enjoy it quite a bit. I’ll be doing a companionship exchange this weekend and after the exchange, we are going to see fireworks in Suwa! You might be able to look up the Suwa Fireworks online, but in case you can’t, it is a 40,000 firework extravaganza that is apparently the best show in Japan. I’m very much excited. I’ll take pictures as long as it isn’t raining.

    Oh, and that reminds me. I am sending memory cards home soon - I am running low on space. Would you mind emptying them and sending them back? Just drop them on your computer and burn a DVD backup of them, if you would. That would be awesome.

    I guess I don’t really have that much else to talk about this week. Good to hear Derek and Jacob had fun even if it didn’t sound fun to begin with. I guess that is kind of how it always goes. It is definitely good and bad to hear how things are going quickly with Kathryn and Carl - I still don’t even know anything at all about him! Kathryn - you have to send me an email with everything about him before you get engaged, especially if you don’t plan on waiting til I get back to marry him. Please!

    Well, I think that is all. I love and miss you all, and will talk to you soon!

    PS: I met Sam Siebach’s companion in the MTC, he is serving in the same zone as me, just further north. He is kind of weird, ha.

    kbye!
    Greg Burnham
    gregburnham@myldsmail.net
    1-304 Itakadai
    Meito-ku Nagoya-shi Aichi-ken
    465-0028 Japan

    Comments (View)
    about 5 months ago

    It's August August 3, 2009

    Yes, it does feel a little odd to me that it is already August, but I am excited. I don’t really know what I’m excited for, but I am excited. This week was pretty awesome, actually. We went to Ina Matsuri (a giant festival that spans over two day, including a fireworks display with 5000plus fireworks). I got some good pictures, we got to spend some good time with some less active members and Kouta-kun, and it was a pretty sweet cultural experience. I have some photos, but none are really all that special, so I’ll just send them home sometime via the memory card. On Sunday night we went to see the fireworks, but about an hour or two before they started, it rained REALLY hard. Like, some of the hardest rain I have ever seen. It was all of a sudden too - the sky just went black and then exploded. Thunder, lightning, scared children, people running for cover - it was actually kind of hilarious. Anyway, we stood under cover for about an hour or two (we didn’t have coats or an umbrella, since it had been sunny all day and in the forecast) and it never stopped raining. Then they started shooting off fireworks! They did them in the rain, since it had at least slowed down enough to set them off. So we walked out in the rain and got soaking wet watching a fireworks show with two investigators and a less-active. It was fun. The finale was set to ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’ and was pretty awesome. I would have got it on video, but I didn’t want my camera to get wet…

    Anyway. Other than that, we had a pretty boring week at church. There were a lot of people out of town this weekend, so we ended up with only eight people at church, instead of the usual 14-15 now. It was a bummer. Kind of took me back to when I first got to Ina - only back then it was consistently six at church. 

    Good to hear everything is going well at home. It is good and bad to hear about Kathryn and her boyfriend being serious-ish (no wedding until summer, when I can come), but I am happy. I hope it goes well. Sounds lonely at home with just Mom there for a few days - at least you know it isn’t really an empty nest, just temporarily vacant. That probably helps.

    Thanks LeeAnne for the engagement photos for Josh and Kendall. I was kinda bummed when I didn’t get an invitation, but I am a missionary in Japan - I guess I can’t get too bummed about it. And crazy that you saw Michael Epps - is he just as weird as he used to be? Or did the mission help him out a bit? I’ll be writing and sending off a letter today if I have time (hopefully).

    Oh, Kouta-kun is doing well. We taught him and his mom again last night. They bought him a brand new laptop with a 50M broadband connection for no reason out of the blue yesterday. The kid is way lucky. Anyway, his mom is kind of blackmailing him with it, saying now he needs to grow up and treat things like church and school more seriously - and it worked. At least for yesterday. He was way more involved in the lessons, and had tons of good questions. I think he is likely to be baptized by the end of the transfer. And I think the laptop will help him grow mentally a little faster, and help him develop a little faster. Still, he is spoiled.

    Well, other than that, I don’t have much. Glad to hear SF and Tahoe with the Carlson’s was fun. I am a little jealous - I miss California weather and fun. Ina in the middle of Nagano prefecture just isn’t quite the same. But I only have 10 months left, and I need to make the best of them, so I try not to think about it.

    This week we have a Zone Conference in Nagoya, which means a good three hour train ride or so, to and from. Should give me some more good study time.

    Well, I should probably finish this email up. I have to get a few talks and such from the LDS.org website to hand out to some members as prep for some lessons we are teaching. I do have one favor to ask, however. If you have any good object lessons or interesting FHE lessons that don’t rely on English to be interesting (ie: no English jokes or games that need English speakers) please send them to me! We are running low on object lessons ideas, and I love teaching them. Thanks!

    Thanks again for the emails, they always make me happy! Keep up the good work there, and I’ll do the same here.

    PS: Sorry if I have started to not reply to everyone’s emails, time is becoming more and more valuable as my mission goes on, it seems. Don’t take it as offense, please!

    Love you all!
    Greg
    Greg Burnham
    gregburnham@myldsmail.net
    1-304 Itakadai
    Meito-ku Nagoya-shi Aichi-ken
    465-0028 Japan

    Comments (View)
    about 5 months ago

    Better Late then Never July 29, 2009

    Hey everyone! Sorry for the late email this week, the library was closed again (turns out it is a monthly scheduled cleaning day on the last week of every month) so we had to postpone email until today. We have been extremely busy again this week, and things are still continuing to go well. 

    Annie is doing very well. To answer LeeAnne’s question - yes, she is our area and our investigator, and we are still continuing to teach her after her baptism also. She just found a new job, which she believes she got because of her faith and obedience in being baptized. Since it is nearly impossible to find a job in Japan right now and she was actually able to do it, I agree with her. Just more proof that the Lord blesses those who follow him.

    Kouta-kun is still on track to be baptized, but his progress is a little slow. He is a normal 12-year-old boy, who has a hard time focusing and goes to see the new Pokemon movie instead of come to church. His mom is helping, but he needs to be a bit more motivated himself. We are going to a nice festival and fireworks display this weekend with him and his mom, and a few other investigators. It should be a ton of fun. We saw fireworks last weekend too, in Minowa Town with Annie and some other people. Japan has by far the best fireworks I have seen yet. They launch them off really close, and right above you, so they feel like they fill up the whole sky. The only downside is you can really smell the explosive powders, but I don’t mind that too much.

    Another interesting thing that is changing in our mission are the way we count statistics for the week. Our mission no longer counts the short little lessons housing or streeting as a statistic anymore. It used to be ‘Other Lessons Taught’ but now we count it as ‘Other Lessons Taught to Investigators’. They have to already be an investigator in order to count in that column. Our mission continues to move away from the traditional tracting approaches, and are focusing on building the church from the inside. As a result, our baptisms as a mission are nearly double what they were at this point last year. I’m very excited about the changes. It will allow us to focus on people rather than numbers.

    Let’s see… other things… Not much else new to report. We have a new Brazilian investigator, and have been able to begin teaching a few previous investigators, so our teaching pool is growing. Still not quite as big as I would like, but it never is.

    OH! I got a sweet In-n-out Tshirt from LeeAnne, which basically made my week. I wear it to sleep occasionally. I asked for stickers, and she sent me stickers and a shirt. I remember why I like her so much. Now I guess it is my turn to surprise with something interesting. I just don’t know what yet.

    Good to hear Apple is doing well. I have to admit, I’ll be surprised if Apple really does release a tablet, but I guess I can see it happening. A tablet just isn’t very Apple-like, but if any company has the creativity to do it right, it is probably Apple. I heard that Apple announced that they claim 91% of laptop sales over $1000. I’m not sure that five years ago anyone would have imagined that happening. 

    Anyway, on the slightly more mission-related side, I have officially stopped using my English scriptures, except for in English lessons. I do my morning study in all Japanese now! It is still kind of rough, but I want to become as close to fluent as possible while I have the chance. And be good enough that I can continue to study in Japanese when I get back as well. I have really grown to love the language. Maybe I will find a way to use it later in life.

    Well, that is really all I have for this week. Sorry it is boring. Elder Warner is doing well keeping me on my toes, though I still have to deal with a lot of femininity and girl voices. I have learned to tune them out, kind of the way you tune out a chime on a grandfather clock. I hope it doesn’t annoy him. He now knows that if he wants me to hear something he has to speak in a regular voice. Ha.

    Thank you so much for the emails, and I will talk to you again soon (normal email day next week). Miss you all!






    Greg Burnham
    gregburnham@myldsmail.net
    1-304 Itakadai
    Meito-ku Nagoya-shi Aichi-ken
    465-0028 Japan

    Comments (View)
    about 5 months ago

    The Results are In July 20, 2009

    And I am the third missionary in President Traveller’s history to stay five transfers in one area. I will NOT be transferring this transfer - and neither will my companion. I did, however, receive another new responsibility. I’ll be the district leader this transfer, which should be fun. Our zone has a lot of people with baptismal dates though, and Ina is really far from other areas so going to interview their candidates will be a little bit tough on time and money. I’m really excited about it, though. Five transfers is a LONG time though. I’m still in shock - I had all the stuff I never really use packed away haha… Oops.

    So… Annie was baptized on Friday, and confirmed at church on Sunday. I was asked to do both the baptism and the confirmation, so it was a great experience for me too. She is such a pure and elect person. She did, however, break down into really heavy tears the second she came up out of the water. I thought maybe she was worried or sad or something, but they turned out to be tears of joy. I honestly didn’t think they were at first, but she started smiling a few minutes later. The most awkward part was that as soon as they start to close the doors to the font, Annie decided to try to go for an all-out hug in front of everyone. We forgot to warn her that the hug after the baptism is a no-go, so she went for it. Way funny, kind of awkward, and the last thing I could hear as I was leaving the font was President laughing on the other side of the doors - and then I started laughing too. But seriously, it was an extremely spiritual and beautiful baptismal service, and I feel pretty lucky I got to participate.

    This week after church we had Shokujikai - something I think every American ward should definitely start doing. It is basically just a potluck lunch once a month after church ends. So good. But the special part was, we were in charge of preparing some sort of game/activity to play as a branch because the District President was coming. So we played Gospel Jeopardy, complete with Jeopardy song and blue and white construction paper board. I have never seen the members be that excited or that involved in an activity or game. It was a blast.

    Other things this week… We had interviews with the President, and that was good. We also had interviews with his wife, and she told me she knew something big about the future part of my mission, but that she couldn’t tell me. She was totally making fun of me, it was funny. I guess something big will happen in the next few transfers - but big to her could be anything. I guess it could have even been staying in Ina one more. President and Sister Traveller really are the best Mission President and wife any mission could have (no offense, LeeAnne, but it is true). He also talked to me about the exact date I will go home but I forgot it. Mid-to-late June or something. I’ll look at a calendar sometime and tell you. It really is weird to think there are only ten months or so left. I’m becoming an old missionary. In six weeks my transfer count will be in double digits!

    Good to hear everyone at home is doing well, both on the business front and the health front. I’m excited to hear the news on the property that Dad is trying to buy with Richard - is it a commercial building like a shopping center or what? I don’t really know the details. It is also good to hear Intel and Apple stock are doing better. It will be interesting to see what kind of earnings Apple reports. It should be pretty impressive. I’ll likely hear it from the Matsumoto Branch President, who is also an Apple nut. The good news is even though the internet is out at the house, you should be able to see the picture I sent on your phones…

    I can’t think of much else. Our other investigators are doing well. Kouta-kun reset his baptismal date to the end of August - meaning I might be able to baptize him as well before transfers. If all goes well, that is.

    I still don’t have anything I really need sent to me or anything, but I do have one weird request. Shawn McDonald is a lovely church artist who writes great music, and if you happen to find a CD of his somehow somewhere, I would appreciate it. Simply Nothing is the CD that I heard while waiting for interviews this week - I actually really liked it. Kind of has a Snow Patrol mixed with the Fray plus some Audioslave mixed in - and it is all about Christ! Sister Traveller recommended it to us. That is all really.

    Well, thanks again for all the emails - it is great to hear what is happening in everyone’s life. I feel kind of out of the mission loop in Ina - we are kind of the forgotten area since it is brand new and separated from everyone, so hearing news from home is really nice.

    Keep hangin in there, and I’ll keep hangin in here.

    Love you all,
    Elder Burnham

    Greg Burnham
    gregburnham@myldsmail.net
    1-304 Itakadai
    Meito-ku Nagoya-shi Aichi-ken
    465-0028 Japan

    Comments (View)
    about 5 months ago

    An Exciting Week, July 13, 2009

    Hey everyone! This is shaping up to be an exciting week. Annie is still on track for baptism, passed her interview, and actually moved her day to the 17th, a day earlier. I will for sure be doing the baptism, which is really exciting,  but there is one slight problem. The 17th also happens to be the day that our zone has interviews with President Traveller. That means I will be performing the baptism in front of President and his wife, all the missionaries in the zone, and possibly both our branch and Matsumoto branch members. It is a little nerve-racking also. I’m excited though - I’ll send pictures!

    Unfortunately, the 12-year old boy will not be baptized this week. He needs a little bit more time to prepare, but he will be baptized eventually I’m sure.

    Other than that, we just have a lot of appointments this week. Everything seems to be full, except today. We actually have a pday we can rest on. We have a lot more people with potential to visit and lots of investigators (though strong ones are a little bit few). It is to the point where it is getting difficult to make time for everyone, but we are doing it somehow.

    Even though we are succeeding here in Ina, I’m just about ready to transfer. I don’t know, six months in one place is just a loooong time. Transfer calls are a week from today, so next email session I should be able to tell you where I am going and everything, if I do leave. 

    I think that is really all I have for this week. So to answer some questions that came in email - yes, I have a guitar handy, I bought a $20 used Yamaha that is serving me well. It was a steal, so I couldn’t help but get it. I figure $20 for two years of practice isn’t a bad deal. I just learned ‘Master the Tempest is Raging’ over the last few days, but it needs a lot of work. I just practice basically from 10:00pm to 10:25 at night, and I wake up a little early to get some practice time in the morning. If you have any music you want me to learn, just email me the tab-notation version of the music (or regular notation - it just takes a lot longer to read) and I will learn it.

    I think that covers everything. I am having a good time, but about ready to leave this area. I’ll let you know next week what happens.

    Love you all,
    Elder B.
    Greg Burnham
    gregburnham@myldsmail.net
    1-304 Itakadai
    Meito-ku Nagoya-shi Aichi-ken
    465-0028 Japan

    Comments (View)
    about 5 months ago

    More Good News July 6, 2009

    Hey everyone! Another excellent week in Ina. The weather has (mostly) been just how I like it, rain at night and nice and breezy during the day. We did, however, have to bike for twenty minutes and back in the rain with no rain suit last Wednesday to visit a potential investigator. We were drenched, it was a ton of fun.

    Anyway, sounds like you all had a great Fourth, we actually had a decent one here too! With Annie (who is being baptized on the 18th for sure, already getting an interview in two days) we had a Branch picnic in a park nearby. Sadly, only her and one other family came, but the other family happened to be the one with the young 12-year-old kid that will be baptized. We had lots of good food, played some cards and blew bubbles with the family’s two-year-old daughter, and then we sang some songs together (with me on the guitar, yes, I can actually play it well now). We sang some Goo Goo Dolls, Eric Clapton, and some Third Eye Blind and then I taught them some hymns also (have to keep it churchy, you know). It was a blast, and though there were no hamburgers or root beer (angry about that one), there was watermelon and American music. And we taught them all an awesome lesson, and Annie invited another person in the park to come to Church with us on Sunday. She is already a missionary machine, and she isn’t even baptized yet! She asked me to do the baptism though, so I’m pretty excited to actually do the ordinance.

    So that was an excellent day. I also set apart my companion to be second counselor last week, I don’t know if I mentioned that in my last email, but I did the actually setting apart and blessing, which was really neat. Just another small thing to throw in the email…

    Let’s see… Our zone now has 12 people with a baptismal date, a record in the history of the zone, as far as we know. The work is starting to explode here, and it is only going to get better. Unfortunately, the rest of the zone needs to catch up to us a little bit, but I’m sure they will.

    Good to hear Mr. Jobs is back at work, some of our English class students were telling me he was out, and he finally admitted to having an organ transplant awhile back. I wonder how the stock price is doing with the iPhone 3GS and his return… (hint hint).

    Other things - my companion and I are actually getting along extremely well. I’m surprised, actually, but I think part of it is just focusing so much on the work and the people we are teaching. I think we will probably stay friends for quite a long time, even after the mission. That is something I probably wouldn’t have ever imagined just a few weeks ago. I hope it just gets better from here out.

    Hmm… I’m going to have to apologize, the package home got delayed because there was an extreme lack of interesting things to put in the package. It will go out soon. The letters to the two Lowrys also got delayed, partially because I never wrote down LeeAnne’s new mission address from email last week - I guess I still have a bit of klutz in me. The package will hopefully go home next week, and I plan on sending off the two letters today, if I don’t get distracted.

    I am also sending two pictures. Sorry, they are huge. We don’t have any way to resize them before sending on the library computers (I wish I had my Mac). There is one of Annie and one of Kouta-kun, the two people getting baptized. It will also give you an idea of what my companion looks/is like. Hope that helps! One will be in the second email.

    As for the maple extract, mom, yes that was to you. But, if you have already sent out a package in the last week or two, don’t stress and you can wait til whenever to send it. It is no hurry.

    Tell Richard sorry about his father passing away. It sounds like it was about his time, and that he was maybe released from some pain and some hardships and that might be making it a little bit easier for him. I’m glad the funeral went well, and I hope Richard is doing ok. Times like these are when it is nice to have the bigger perspective that the gospel brings. It would be pretty rough without it.

    Derek and Jacob - no iPhone upgrades. If I can’t have one, you can’t have an upgrade while I’m gone, that is just kicking me while I’m down. Just kidding. Kind of. Also, I want emails about how life is. I don’t always have time to write back, but it is good to read.

    Anyway, I think that is about all for this week. I have a half hour or so of email time left, so if you have any questions and happen to be on, just ask and I’ll probably respond. Miss you all, glad you are all well and had a good holiday. I’m doing extremely well here, so let’s just hope it continues. Talk to you all soon!





    Greg Burnham
    gregburnham@myldsmail.net
    1-304 Itakadai
    Meito-ku Nagoya-shi Aichi-ken
    465-0028 Japan

    Comments (View)
    about 5 months ago

    Finally Time to Email June 30, 2009

    Well, looks like I will finally have more than five minutes to actually send out an email. I’m quite excited about that.

    Anyway, important news first… Michael Jackson died!? We heard it the day of from one of our investigators, and I thought for sure she was kidding, but then they showed us the news report on his iPhone (I was so proud he had one). Way crazy. I don’t think I have heard more Michael Jackson coming out of car stereos on the street in my entire life. I have had Thriller stuck in my head for the last four days. Ah well, RIP MJ.

    Ok, so that really wasn’t the important news. The real important news is: We have two baptisms in Ina on the 18th of July! Annie Ogawa (40s)  and Kouta Katou (12) are both ready to baptized already, but they have to come to church three times before we can do it for them. I’m so excited! The other good news is, July 18th is four days before transfers, so I will likely actually get to see the baptisms. I’m quite excited for it! I have pictures, but I forgot my camera this week so I will send them next week. Oh, and if you didn’t get the email, I guess Sister LeeAnne Lowry has two baptisms that date too, if they get married. That would be pretty neat to baptize them together on the same day. I hope it goes through.

    Anyway, our zone is exploding right now - we have 12 investigators with a date to be baptized in our zone before the 22nd. As a comparison, last transfer one person was baptized, and the one before that two people were baptized. At the beginning of this transfer we set a goal as a zone for 16, and when the Zone Leaders called the Assistants to tell them about the goal, they got laughed at by one of the assistants. It was mostly because no zone in Japan sees 16 baptisms in six weeks, but we had names behind every number, so we were pretty offended. We have been working hard and smart to achieve the goal, and it seems to be well on the way.

    President called us specially and congratulated us for having two in Ina, and for the other stats we have been getting, and talked about us for almost a week at various staff and stake meetings and everything. I was surprised and actually kind of embarrassed. He said we were an inspiration to the mission. Weird, but good I guess.

    Elder Warner is doing well. Japanese is a bit hard, and before the mission he had never eaten shrimp, any sushi, and actually had never even had asparagus. I was shocked. The food is a bit of a hard adjustment for him, but he is a champion and sticking it out. I have been wearing him half to death with all the work we have been doing. He fell asleep during our prayer before nightly planning last night… I have been able to man him up a little though, and there have been no more roleplaying invitations during dinner. He still uses his feminine voice alot, but that is actually kind of funny, so I don’t mind it. We are getting along pretty well, he just needed to adjust to being around men who aren’t into drama all day long instead of drama girls. He seems to be making a lot of progress actually, and we have a good relationship.

    Yes, the reason why Ina has become bearable is probably that we are finally seeing success, and that the members are finally helping out in the work. Both of our baptisms are referrals from members, and we are getting fed and more referrals extremely often. We are even planning a branch activity, which would have been unheard of just a month ago. This week we had 17 people at church, 16 of which stayed both hours (compare that to six when I first got here). Also, I think it helps to be a trainer, because you have to keep a good attitude 100% of the time in order to show a good example. When you are with regular companions, sometimes you are too used to the work and kind of slump a bit. Either way, now is good, and I actually don’t want to transfer, but I likely will. We will find out on the 21st!

    Let’s see, other things… Well, I’m doing a lot better about President Wood, and it sounds like he is doing better too. It hit me kind of hard that first day, but it seemed to fade away a little bit. I hope his condition continues to improve.

    Since we actually had time this week on Pday, I have some letters (to the two Sister Lowrys as well, sorry it has been so long, I haven’t forgotten you!) and a package of stuff to send home all ready to go. I have been getting a number of Dear Elders from Karen that have really been pick me ups. Unfortunately, one came that was intended to have Japanese in it, but DearElder and Japanese don’t play along, so it just came out as a mix of random numbers and symbols. Bummer! Oh well, maybe next time. Sorry again for getting so few letters out in the past month, I’ll repent and improve.

    I have finally stopped using my English scriptures for study, and I’m now doing 100% Japanese (and an occasional dictionary). It feels pretty good. Doing that in Japanese after only the first year is pretty good, and it is really helping my language skills increase.

    Well, I can’t think of much else. All is going well. If you send the Papers Project books, throw a small bottle of maple extract in there please - we want to make some homemade maple syrup since it is about three times as expensive to buy here as in the US. Please! Other than that, I think I am ok. I’ll let you know again if there is anything I need.

    Thanks for the emails this week, talk to you soon!
    Elder B.
    Greg Burnham
    gregburnham@myldsmail.net
    1-304 Itakadai
    Meito-ku Nagoya-shi Aichi-ken
    465-0028 Japan

    Comments (View)
    June 23 
    about 7 months ago

    Quickly, June 23, 2009

    Hey everyone, sorry I won’t get a chance to email this week. This is all that I have time for - the library is closed again. I will just give a quick update. We have two baptisms set for the 18th of July, and we are having a lot of success. I’m actually really happy in Ina. The news about President Wood was a alittle tough to take, but I am doing alright. I hope he makes it through and his kids are alright. It really is sad that his wife died though. He was the one who helped me through everything before coming back out, as you know, so it is kinda hard for me. Anyway, I have to go, sorry for the lame email. I’ll be emailing next week one day late, since that is when the library reopens. Talk to you then!
    Greg Burnham
    gregburnham@myldsmail.net
    1-304 Itakadai
    Meito-ku Nagoya-shi Aichi-ken
    465-0028 Japan

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