Snippets and Bits

Elder Burton focused on sending many people an individual letter this week, so we just have some snippets and bits to share with the world . . . (You'll notice that his use of exclamation points is skyrocketing -- must be in the missionary spirit!!)

So the big news this week is that I am training!!! AHHHH!!!! Yep. I am receiving a new missionary, fresh from the MTC. Exactly 1 week after finishing my training period myself. You'll understand that a little better once you get out on your mission as well, but this...is actually a really big deal. He likely wont speak German, will have no idea how to be a missionary and...yeah. Look to me for everything. Egad.

Other news: we met a really golden investigator this week, through a member actually. Her name is Rachel, well, her western name anyway. She is from India, doesn't speak German, and came to Church with her friend Juilia, who also speaks no German, but is a member! So I translated for them both, and taught her some, and she is coming to our Halloween party on Friday! Yay!

Um...yeah. That's all I can think of. This week will be slow, staying in a place called Braunschweig until Thursday so I can have a companion, then going to Berlin to get my new companion, then Halloween on Friday...and then its Monday again! Sorta.

Until next week!

I wish I could tell you of grand success and many baptisms, but in all honesty, we have had none. We had an amazing week, high numbers, several huge miracles, but...no baptism commitments. It is okay. At some point in the scriptures it says ''That one soul might be saved'' and that has kind of become my motto. The whole mission has a goal of 125 baptisms in October, November, and December, and I really hope to contribute...but It will be hard while training at the same time and still learning myself and...yeah.

Luckily, my German is actually at a comfortable level. It has been hard, more then an hour of Language study a day, lots of embarrassing moments, and several doctrinal mistakes.  (Jesus killed for us...) But the members of our ward at least are really impressed. They tell me I am ready to train, and that really boosts my confidence. 

To Jason and Samantha:

So, first off, Congratulations on the Big News!! I still think its really really cool!
And sad that I won't be there...  (Baby Boy Burton is due in mid-March)

2nd, thanks for the help on the Ukulele stuff. a less active we work with is actually a guitar teacher here, so I will ask him where a good music or pawn shop would be...cheaper then shipping one.

3rd, I am out of time again. I sent long emails to mom and dad and Luke, so I figured I could either send a short hasty email to each one of you, or one to both, and do longer emails next week. I promise that you are FIRST on my priority list!

Love you both!! Elder Burton

P.S., The Baby does, indeed look like Uncle Thomas. Lucky baby. He got the attractive genes in the family.  

Hey Dad!

So a couple of the experiences that I had that I might interested you....

I did see the outside of the Airbus Factory in Hamburg while I was there. Drove by. For like half an hour. IT is HUGE!! They had some of their latest, greatest, biggest models on display too. Those are some freakin big airplanes. 

We also had a hurricane blow in from England...so cold! Dropped down to like 8 Grad Celsius for a day. That sucked. Pulled out my jacket from Alaska and stuff. 

I am also becoming a trainer! I dont know exactly how the system worked when you were on you mission, slightly after the dinosaurs, but yeah...It also doesnt help that in Kassel there are just us 2 missionaries, so far away from everyone else. 

Speaking of which, I have learned a little more. It turns out, that in our mission at least, there are now 4 to 6 missionaries in a town our size usually. In fact, Braunschweig, which is the exact same size, has 4 Elders. And Zwickau, again about the same, 2 ELders and 2 Sisters. And Kassel, actually, 3 years ago had 4 Elders AND 2 sisters. There just wasnt any success, so they pulled 3 companionships out. Hopefully one day they can open the other two areas back up. 

I dont have a lot to say actually...just thanks. Thanks for teaching me to be fairly good with my hands. Thanks for teaching me to work fairly hard, and to play harder. Thanks for teaching me that when something needs to get done, we just do it. And thanks for being my Dad.

You say that you talk about me a lot, well I talk a lot about you too. I talk to Sister Renkewitz about airline stuff..she was a flight attendend for Lufthansa..I talk to Francis about Italy--he moved here from there--I talk to Brother Egly about old Mission stuff...yeah. Thanks for being a good teacher.