Elder Burton Arrives in Berlin

Just a few pictures posted by the mission president from yesterday's arrival -- looks like Elder Burton has been assigned to Elder Poch as his trainer.

June 18-July29 Combined Germany MTC Zone

Thomas asked us to share this picture of all the German missionaries as they prepare to leave the MTC. They all reported together 6 weeks ago and all leave together on Tuesday, July 29. What an awesome group!

Last MTC P-Day

Alright, this is gunna read a little like a list this time. I'm way tired, have a haircut, need a nap, and am still getting over a bug. Don't judge.

Phone calls:
We are allowed to all home from the airport. We should have time to call between the hours of 9 and 10 Tuesday morning. We are flying out of Salt Lake City, to Atlanta, then Amsterdam, then Berlin. We only have an hour in Atalanta though, so Salt Lake is probably the only time I can call.
I'm not sure if Dad is going to be on a trip, but I will check my email later today to see, and see who wants me to call them, and what numbers I should call. So please email me who wants to hear from me, and their phone numbers. I again, hopefully between 9 and 10. Might be a little off on the times.

I did have a breakdown after class this week. Its all so hard, expectations are so high. I'll manage, but I need to do a lot of praying to make it through this last week at the MTC. So tired of this place. So ready to fly out to Germany.

We did receive our travel plans last Friday, and everyone was stoked. Like I said, the Berliners are flying through Atlanta and Amsterdam, the Frankfurters are going to Dallas, and then straight to Frankfurt. No one knows what to expect on the flights--except me--so its funny talking to them about how rarely they've flown. I've never appreciated how often we have that opportunity to do that. Its awesome.

Thank you soooo much for the new razor. It works like a dream, and my skin is soooo soft. Love it.

Everyone tell CJ "hi" for me. I'm sorry I'm missing them, but not sorry that I'm not packed into that house right now. Whew.

Is Luke enjoying the new room? I here he has some pretty sweet new video games, I'm way jealous.

I do need to do some shopping here before I leave, so sorry mom if multiple charges appear on the card. I'm trying to buy as much as I can here, to save money there. Not always easy, but...

My companion never did get fast-tracked, so we are flying out together. We might actually get along better then anyone else in the whole Zone, which is fabulous. I'm so looking forward to Germany, but I'm gunna miss him. He is really a cool guy. He is planning on playing football for BYU when he gets back, so if they ever come up and play Utah State, I'll definitely go see him.

Thanks Luke, by the way, for the awesome letter. I really appreciate it. When I have more then an hour to email in Germany, I definitely will take time to talk to you more specifically. I love you, take care of mom.

And I love you Mom. Enjoy vacation, read some fun fantasy books. Everyone loves those.

Again, I'll take a moment later to check my email about phone calls and stuff, so let me know if there is anything anyone needs to know. Love  you all!

On the way out:

Elder Burton

July 18 at the MTC

Hello ALL.

It's still hard to find time to gather my thoughts to talk effectively with each and everyone of you, so I'll do another group letter this time. 

First, I need a new razor. the one I have hardly works, and to get it to work I have to use it over and over, grinding it against my skin and basically turning my face into sandpaper. So if mom could send me a different one, preferable electric like the first one she bought me, with the 3 disks instead of one bar, that would be fabulous. Thank you!

Second, mom asked me to expound on something I've learned about the Priesthood while I'm hear. We actually had a wonderful devotional on this Yesterday, and here is some of what I learned:

"Do not doubt when giving a Priesthood blessing. Doubting the power of a blessing isn't doubting yourself, its doubting the Lord. If you tried to give a 'Priesthood Blessing' with YOUR priesthood, or in YOUR name, then you will fail every time. However, whose Priesthood are we using? In whose name do we give the blessing? that of Jesus Christ. Women also use this authority and power to minister to their children and receive revelation from God. Together, man and wife have the fullness of the access to Christ's priesthood that is needed in the Church. The men to bless, and minister those ordinances pertaining to Repentance, the woman to bless, and minister those duties of raising children, teaching the leaders of tomorrow, showing a divine love, and guiding a family. All of this, however, is done in Christ's name, not ours."

Sorry that's kind of confusing and jumbled. Feel free to re-word it as needed. 

Next, have I told you about my MTC family?

It's like my district is my brothers, the other districts in my zone are my cousins, and the Branch Presidency is our parents. Not that they'll ever replace my original family on Earth, but in so many ways it’s amazing how close we have all already become. Particularly my district, and District A. We all support and uplift each other on a daily basis. I'm not sure how I'd be doing without them, but with them I am certainly prepared to serve the Lord. 

Now, what drives me nuts about them.

Elder X pops his neck by throwing his head to the side as hard as he can. I am convinced that he will one day break it, and kill himself.

Elder Y is so immature sometimes that I feel 3 or 4 years older then him. Luke, you'd get along with him well. He also only showers half the days we are here, and he doesn't shower after gym time. He smells.

Sister Z is a little manipulative. She doesn't tell you, or even ask you to do anything. She just expresses how tired she is, and what she has to do now, and waits for you to do it instead. Genius, and hard to resist when she gives that cute smile, but...

That's about all. Other then that we get along pretty well. Elder X is depressed everyday from Lunch till dinner, but that's cause he takes his ADHD medicine at lunch and it is super strong for a while before he becomes normal again.

Thank you so much for all the treats. I really really liked the pringles, and the short bread is quickly becoming a zone favorite. I have to fight people off almost hourly now. Exciting. 

Because Dad told me to complain though, here are 10 bad experiences I have had since getting here:

1: My feet got super sore for a couple days, and I switched to my old orthotics to let them rest, which made my ankles hurt for a day. I can't win.

2: I'm getting a fever blister on my nose again. Gah.

3: Did i mention that my razor makes my skin feel like sand paper?

4: We play sand volleyball nearly every day, so the skin on my feet is constantly peeling and needs lotion every day or so. Maybe you could send one more small thing of lotion too? 

5: One of our teachers, Brother Q, is super rough, abrasive, and strict. I don't like him. Great teacher, but a jerk.

6: We have to wear suits all day Sunday. Terrible. Hot. Sweaty. I nearly jumped in the fountains a the Provo temple on our temple walk.

7: I didn't jump in the fountain because the temple has been closed for 2 weeks, so even though we got to walk around it, the area around the fountains was closed cause they redid the stone work.

8: Our class building had a sewage leak for a week and the whole bottom floor--which we are one--smelled terrible and gave us headaches. They fixed it, but it was bad. 

9: They run out of bagels everyday for breakfast. We are the last zone in the MTC that goes to breakfast, so they never have any food left at the sack-breakfast line, which my district loves since we don't have to be dressed up for it. 

10: Because I just graduated from high school, I'm still looked down on, even though I'm now their district leader. Grow up guys. Come on. 

That's all I can think of actually...Maybe I'll try 10 good ones next week.

By the way, Sam, where is my sports update?? How am I supposed to know that Germany won the world cup?

Just kidding, a member of our branch presidency gave us an update every 10 minutes the whole time the game was going on. Deutscheland Uber Alles. 

Well, I gotta Go. I love you all, and I eagerly await mail. ;) No rush. Just dying here. 

And did I mention that my skin feels like sandpaper?

Love, 

Elder Burton

July 11 -- PDay at the MTC

This is the Mooooorning Report.

It is the long, and the short.

Every grunt, roar and snort,

not a tail (tale?) I distort,

in the Morning Report.

Guten Morgen!!

It was lovely hearing from all of you, and I received permission to send out a group email, so I think I will.

 (The "permission" was from Dad so Thomas could write just one email to family on PDay.)

This last week has been super hard. We really are working hard every day now, speaking German, teaching 1 or 2 lessons a day in German, and between 10 and 12 hours of class time, along with 3 or 4 hours of study time. The learning curve is still steep, but the work curve is steeper. If that makes sense.

This weeks speakers were Niel L Anderson and a piano player named Josh Wright. I've never heard of him, but you might have. He aint bad. Elder Anderson actually quoted my (and Mom's I believe) favorite scripture, "Be Still, and Know that I am God." I was in the choir that sang to him, and we sang "Be Still My Soul", which was fabulous. I've done choir every week since I got here. So uplifting.

I was appointed as District Leader yesterday. I have now been district leader twice, between the MTC and Mission Prep, and have yet to even get to Germany. Maybe I serve as a DL in Germany as well, maybe not. We will see. But my biggest responsibility here is Just to get the Mail. Particularly since there are no sisters in my district as they seem to be the ones who require the most appeasement and reassurance, that yes, they are indeed valued and needed. 

Apparently our District does have the reputation of being disruptive, though we have been improving greatly throughout our MTC stay. It is actually frustrating for all of us to hear that we have that reputation since we have been working so hard to stay focused and behaved. Other districts are more noisy then this at this point, so maybe we can turn this ship around.

Thank you so much for the snicker doodles and stuff. All the guys loved them. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. I do love sugar though.

Go Germany, Go Bears, Go Aggies.

Elder Burton

July 2, 2014

Speaking of learning, the learning curve here is incredibly steep! We have learned so much, and have so much left to learn. It turns out that the past-tense form of German that I learned is high school was the “narrative’ form. They also have a “conversational” past tense, with completely different grammar and sentence structure! Between these, modal verbs, accusative and dative case, it’s no wonder it takes most missionaries in the field 6 months to fluently speak German.

We also learn so much everyday about “das Evangelism Jesu Christi,” or the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Did I mention that some names have possessive forms? The Spirit here allows/helps us to learn so fast I almost can’t believe it.

I think it’s awesome that you’re going to the temple so much. I’m not surprised that there are a lot of missionaries there. When I reported to the MTC there were roughly 1,200 missionaries, by the time we leave in July 30^th there are going to be roughly 3,400.  There are also supposed to be 90,000 missionaries soon, and almost 400 just in the Berlin, Germany mission, which is growing quickly.

I know almost all the Germans very well. We actually refer to each group of missionaries by the country/language they are learning. So, we are the Germans. The Romanians have their bedrooms right next to ours, and the Italian classrooms are next to ours. The Russians are also around us a lot, but only my friend Elder Mike Graff really interacts with us. We are probably just too much for them.

While I’ve been here I’ve also met people from all over the world, and people going all over the world. Probably about 1/3 of the missionaries here are from Northern/Central Utah as well, with many high school classmates. I’ve actually run into 4 or 5 people from St. George I know too.

Right now one of my favorite parts of the week is letters. Every email I receive is great, but I can always, always, always receive more snail letters. It’s also much easier for me to answer letters by hand, no time limit.

I love you all! I’ll write again next week. Let me know if you have any questions for me!

Love you!

Elder Burton