New Year's Resolutions

So, I have no idea what to write.

At all.

So, I think for this week I will list some New Year's resolutions that I shared with my Mission President:

1) Change my street contacting Approach. Be more simple, direct, focused on the message of the Restoration, not just who we are.

2) Change my teaching Focus. Teach my investigators and others less about the unnecessaries doctrine--no one Needs to know the Body Temperature of a resurrected being(102.6 I believe). Focus on what will lead them to true conversion--that it, prayer, scripture study, attending church, and making and keeping sacred covenants.

3) Switch the large majority of my personal study to German. I am planning on, along with the Mission Book of Mormon study we are undertaking in the next 6 months, also reading through the complete New Testament and Doctrine and Covenants as well, seeing as I just finished the Old Testament. I was planning on doing that in English, then in German next year, but after discussing it with my companion and our amazing GML Bruder Benjamin Steffel, I have decided to rely more fully on your promises that studying in German will increase our abilities, so that we may speak, think, and dream in German.

In short, I plan on acting on the amazing council that I have received from my Mission President, as well as the council I received from the time I entered the MTC. Since Elder Poch left I believe that I have been focusing too much on being able to teach the deep doctrines, on having the most refined Approach possible, and just the sheer amount of study I got done. Instead, I want to Focus on truly becoming a Teacher, who is come from God, on finding the prepared People and sharing the beautiful Gospel message, and on improving the Quality and effectiveness of my study, to fill my lamp of Testimony with the Oil of conversion, as Elder Bednar said in his talk, ''Converted unto the Lord.''

Simplicity is now the Name of the game, and conversion and baptism is the Goal. baptisms to be more accurate.

Wish me luck.

Elder Burton's Testimony in German, December 2014

Merry Christmas!

Elder Burton sends his love and wishes for your Merry Christmas!



The Hallelujah Chorus

Working Hard in the Cold

We are--as a mission force--focusing a lot on what is called ''He is the Gift'' right now. You have probably heard of it, but if not, it is certainly something worth looking up and watching. Short, sweet video about Christmas and Christ. Really our 'In' for this month. We didn't receive our iPads, so we cant share it with people that easily ourselves, but...still something good. We have--had--250 little cards about it to pass out, but are already down to like 100. Uh-ho. Being careful with them, while trying to talk to everyone. Tough.

The weather here has also been absolutely terrible. Rainy, windy, dark. No more snow, it is hovering just above freezing--1 or 2 degrees Celsius--and not a lot of ice, but not enjoyable weather in the slightest sense.

We did have Zone Conference last week, and despite the fact that I was NOT looking forward to it, it turned out that it was EXACTLY what I needed. A good motivational boost, a great time listening to Wonderful President Kosak and his wife, and really just...a spiritual boost. I did receive all 4 packages that were waiting for me, plus 2 letters and a tiny tuner. It was a hassle to get it all home, but we worked it out.

Mid-Winter Blues . . . A Little Early

First off, I may or may not be suffering from a combination of the mid-winter blues--even though winter is just starting--my first real pangs of homesickness, and the typical missionary bout of ''Why am I here?'' that seems to pop up at holidays. Not the greatest combination to have all at the same time.

We also received our new District Leader this week. An interesting character to say the least. He is definitely committed to the work, and definitely a hard worker. He is also very business like, gets right to the point. I do like that about him. I do not like the fact that the first thing he told me that helped the work in the Chemnitz Zone was quotas. He is a firm believer that quotas are the secret. He also takes our numbers very seriously, to the point where he has promised to ask us by name about each of the members of our teaching pool, and why we count them in our pool.  I honestly hope that his leadership will help accelerate the work Kassel.

We are doing pretty well in Kassel, Hessen, Deutschland though. With our nice warm German Jackets the cold is not a problem--which is a marvel of German Engineering--The lack of immediate success is substituted by the powerful feeling of the spirit during each and every one of our teaching appointments. After all, that is our job. If we teach clearly, powerfully, and with the spirit, and they choose not to accept it, there is nothing wrong with what we have done. No, we can not teach perfectly, and no, we cannot possible always be in the right place at the right time. But we can do our absolute best. And that is enough--for now.

We do have our Christmas party coming up this Saturday! Way excited! We took invitations to some 30 less-active members in our area, and the ward mailed invitations to some 50 others, and I hope there will be a miracle turn out. It could really really excite and help this ward.

The Church's Christmas initiative is also going to be a part of the work--we have our Christmas Zone Conference tomorrow, where they have promised to tell us more about it. A rumor is that we might get our iPads tomorrow, but I doubt it...

We did indeed teach a member of a cult last week by the way. A believer in ''Brother William Brenham.'' Crazy dude. It appears to be an offshoot of a certain famous southern racist group, combined with the doctrine of 7 prophets after Christ and stuff. Really weird. Gave him a Book of Mormon, told him to let us know if he had questions.

That is all I have for this week. I hope you all are doing good, staying warm, and enjoying a wonderful Adventzeit!

Elder Burton

Hallo jeder!

Well...this sucks.

You remember that scene in Madagascar, where they get to Antarctica, and it is windy and cold and no one to baptize is in sight?

Just kidding, that is nothing like my mission. But it is super super super super cold here. It dropped below 0 degrees Celsius for the first time last night, meaning that it...froze. And there is frost on the mountain. As the picture I will send will show you. We also went up to the mountain today. Silly silly Mormons. Going up to the mountain in December. Don't do that. Its cold.

Its still cold, though the Germans seem to not notice. The colder it gets, the more people come to the Christmas market, I swear. I also haven't seen the sun in a week, and I think every day without it the Germans get happier too. Something evil about this country...

No, I do love this place. On the inside. My outside is too cold to love right now.


In any case, this was a week. Not great, not terrible, just a week. we got some important work done, contacted some less active members that we have been trying to, taught some cool investigators...and lived the life of the laborers in the Lord's vineyard. Compared to last week, this week was boring, and compared to some other weeks, it was restful. Everything went according to plan, no one died or was baptized.

I did have the opportunity to give a member in our branch a blessing of comfort yesterday. She has been having a hard time lately, and when one was offered, gratefully accepted. Both Elder Warby and I really felt the spirit during and after the blessing, and I hope she did too.

Elder Warby and I may or may not have stumbled across a cult while doing doors this week too...not sure yet. If we did, I will let you know. We have a return appointment...the guy claims to have a prophet, and said something about the mantle of Elijah resting upon him, and ''the Followers'' so yeah...

Other than that...everything is still to the left side. Or something book title like that...

My love to everyone!!

Elder Burton