Monthly Archives: September 2014

Hey everyone!  It is pouring down rain here in the Philippines, but that has not slowed down the missionary work!

We are excited to have a person that we have been teaching accept the gospel and want to be baptized. We’ve been teaching him for about four weeks now.  He’s been to church five times and has led a rough life in the past but he’s completely changed now.  My companion and I were able to sit in and help translate during his baptismal interview by Pres. Mangum, so that was cool to be a part of that experience.  His name is Rady (pronounced “Ruddy”) and he’s 46 years old.  We love him so much we even teach him during the day on our day off (P-days).  He’s a crack up and we are totally pumped up to baptize him.

Elder Burbidge and his companion sporting his cool shades.

Other than that our week has been pretty normal for a missionary in this area!  We taught lessons, had some baptismal interviews for other elders, had exchanges, ate dinner with members, spoke Tagalog, oh – and I organized a stake fireside with my companion for our leaders. Just another week in the life!

Lately we have been eating quite a bit of Buffalo Wings and pancakes hahaha!  That is because there are some members in this area who have spouses in the states.  As a result, they can make American food to a point.  So buffalo wings are the thing here – which is just fine with me!

That’s it for now – I love and appreciate all of you good people back home!  It was exciting to hear that Dayton is getting ready to go into the MTC.  He will be a great missionary!

Love,

Elder Tyler Burbidge

Preparing for a baptism in one of Elder Burbidge’s districts.

The holidays are fast approaching! Elder Burbidge and Elder Sinilong in their apartment.

Hi everyone!  This blog will be more photos than words, but thats probably more interesting anyway!  We did a lot of teaching this last week and a lot of service.  Sometimes I prefer to be providing service to the people here, but we also teach folks about how to use their free agency and to make good choices, which is really the best thing we can do for them. Sometimes I get overwhelmed because I feel like I’m always solving other people’s problems.  But I know that’s what Christ does, so I know it’s helping me become like Him which means I am on the right path.

Elder Burbidge and his group of missionaries.

We are teaching a man named RAD.  He’s 46 years old and lives with his mom, but his faith is way strong.  We enjoy teaching him and helping him overcome many issues.  It’s amazing how when you help people out it takes emotional, spiritual, and physical energy right out of you!  But it is worth it!

Here piggy piggy

For the past few days we have been on a rat hunt in our apartment.  There is evidence that he comes around due to the “excrement” he leaves on my study desk!  And I estimate this is no small rat!  We have tried poison to no avail so we are thinking about getting the cat that periodically comes into our apartment and turning it loose!  Or we’ll just go get a trap and hope it works!

Elder Burbidge and freinds.

Planking on the mission. Some things never change!

Well I guess that’s about it!  I love you all and thank you for your support.

Love,

Elder Tyler N. Burbidge

Hey all!

We have had an interesting week this last week.  I am both excited and sad – excited because I got a new companion named Elder Sinilong but a little bit sad because my New Zealander companion got transferred!  But that’s okay – I loved him like a brother though so I’m sad that he’s gone.   But Elder Sinilong should be fun too.  He is from the City of Davao which is in the Southern part of the Philippines.  He goes home in November so I’ll most likely “kill him off” and send him home.  I have really enjoyed my companions throughout the mission so I have been very fortunate in that regard.

Me, a dog with eyebrows, and an Elder from my Zone!  Ahhhh mission life!

Mom asked what some of my duties are as a Zone Leader, so I’ll give a little bit of information on that.  We go on exchanges, or swaps, with each District Leader in the zone as well as with other missionaries that may be struggling, or just for status control.  Each week we report the zone’s numbers to the Assistants to the President (A.P.’s) in the mission office.  We also get to go to Mission Leader’s Council every first Friday of each month to get training and counsel from the Mission President.  We are then expected to share that information with the missionaries in our Zone during a training meeting the following Wednesday.  

We also assist stake and ward leaders in fulfilling their purpose as leaders of the church.  We meet once a month with the stake president to discuss concerns, needs, success, goals, vision, etc., in order to help the stake progress effectively and efficiently.  We also coordinate and share with him the desires of the mission president.

I have also learned from past Zone Leaders that I have had that I also need to be a good friend and helpful person to everyone in the zone.  People tend to get lonely in the mission, even with a companion, and it’s always nice just to have a friend, so i’ve added that one to the list of my responsibilities too!  The zone is comprised of missionaries from throughout the world, but there’s a new American in our zone this transfer from Boise, ID.  He’s being trained by an elder in the town of Paete.  There are also four sisters in the zone, one of which was with me int he MTC.  We also organize a zone P-day activity once a transfer so that we can become unified in the work and get to know each other better.

We are still working on strengthening the relationships between missionaries and members here in Siniloan.  The members need to feel that they can trust the missionaries but that goes both ways because the missionaries need to earn that trust. But we are making progress!  Our branch president, who is the leader of the local church in this area, is awesome!  If we ask him to do something, he does it so we have a good relationship there.  We are working together to instill a sense of self-motivation – for example in home teaching which needs to be improved.  The branch is really cool though because there is a neat group of older sisters (much like Sisters Gum, Cunningham, and Evans in our ward back home).  

Well, I love you all so much. Eleven months left and that’s it!  Thanks for the support – I really can feel your love for us missionaries.  I miss Hunter a lot sometimes and hope that we’ll continue to be close after the mission.  I think about it a lot – but I am sure it will all work out for the best.

Love,

Elder Tyler Burbidge