Just One Degree

31.08.15

We prayed that someone would talk to us today during p-day. It worked. 3 people talked to us:

The first was roaring drunk, convinced that he'd seen Christ standing in the moon, beckoning him to come to heaven, but that he told Christ, that his life wasn't over yet, that he still had stuff to do. Interesting. 

The second was only slightly drunk, and was a very lonely young man who's parents immigrated from Azerbaijan before he was born, who happened to be questioning the meaning of his existence and the very reality of God. Him we could help. No appointment, but we gave him a card and a Book of Mormon. 

The third was a very scantily dressed Turkish woman, dark hair, fire-y dark eyes, and a nose piercing, but still fairly attractive--if she'd been decently clothed, that is--who asked me where I was from, and when I said America, she says, in all seriousness, with a flirtatious tone of voice: "Do you want to take me back with you?" 

Her, I couldn't help. 

We offered her a Book of Mormon as well, which she laughed at and scorned then promptly said goodbye and walked the other direction. Lovely. Well, there goes that chance for a concubine...

Of course, if she'd taken the Book of Mormon and read Jacob 2, her mind might have changed. 

That reminds me, did I tell you about that time a guy walked up and offered to buy my clothes--which I was then wearing--for 50€? He said he was on his way to see a pretty woman, and needed to look good. Thanks for the compliment, my friend. 

1.09.15

In exchange with Elder Barrios today. He is really cool. He is leading the new Spanish speaking program in Hamburg, in a part of the city called Bergedorf ( said "Bear-ga-dorf.) there are struggling, trying to find Spanish speakers in Germany is the proverbial needle in the haystack. It's like trying to find Mexicans in Texas! Oh wait...

Just kidding. There are some Spanish speakers in Hamburg, but hard to find, so they are trying to work a lot with the Spanish members in the stake. Really hard work. But I have full confidence in them. 

Our appointment with Stanoje and his family fell out, sadly, and no one else we already knew wanted to meet with us today, so we went finding a lot, and actually found a couple people. That was refreshing. We really are quite blessed, we can just go walk around on the steel and find new investigators. Whew!! Take that Merca!!

02.09.15

Had District Meeting today. We talked about The Aggregation of Marginal Gains Concept again. Where if you had 1% improvements all over the place, the summation that from equals a greatly improved missionary. For teaching purposes, we went through 13 areas of my day--so Elder Burtons day--and figured out something I could do 1% better in every instance. We then added that together, so yeah, 13%. I could be a 13% better missionary in very simple ways. Is that not important? 

And, to prove the point, we applied it to President Uchtdorf's talk about "A matter of a few degrees." Here is a quote from that:

"In 1979 a large passenger jet with 257 people on board left New Zealand for a sightseeing flight to Antarctica and back. Unknown to the pilots, however, someone had modified the flight coordinates by a mere two degrees. This error placed the aircraft 28 miles (45 km) to the east of where the pilots assumed they were. As they approached Antarctica, the pilots descended to a lower altitude to give the passengers a better look at the landscape. Although both were experienced pilots, neither had made this particular flight before, and they had no way of knowing that the incorrect coordinates had placed them directly in the path of Mount Erebus, an active volcano that rises from the frozen landscape to a height of more than 12,000 feet (3,700 m).

As the pilots flew onward, the white of the snow and ice covering the volcano blended with the white of the clouds above, making it appear as though they were flying over flat ground. By the time the instruments sounded the warning that the ground was rising fast toward them, it was too late. The airplane crashed into the side of the volcano, killing everyone on board."

So, how much is 13% really? We calculated. 13 percent of 360 degrees is 46.8 degrees. If you take off from Los Angeles, or San Fransisco, heading west, we figured that that was about the difference between China, and New Zealand. 

Not that that would make a difference. 

3.09.15

So...nothing happened today. Except 3 fallen out appointments. So, haha, that's 6 this week. Every appointment we had scheduled. It's Thursday. Only 1 more appointment this week. A kiss for luck. 💋

04.09.15

Well the appointment worked out. But she has no further interest. Just wanted an interesting story to tell her book club. Frustrating. But the fact that we actually met in the Community Building for her church "Free-Evangelical" was kind of fun. Whatever. 

Other then that...yeah. Pretty nasty weather. 

05.09.15

Ha...aha...well, when you have no appointments, you spend a lot of time finding. In Lauenburg. And when you spend a lot of time finding in Lauenburg, you don't find a lot of people, because there are not a lot of people. But you also get way skinny and fit, because you walk a lot. 💪

Yeah. We got rained on a lot today. But!! We got some gorgeous pictures. I send you pictures. 

Because I'm bored and studying old Ensigns:

When comet fragments, meteorites, of thought,

On their way from somewhere to somewhere,

Orbit my mind, striking a denser atmosphere

Of awareness, I may either stand in awe

Or bask in the warm momentary glow.

The ever-continuing creative process

Makes me feel very small and humble,

Yet grateful for having been present,

With a mind to be orbited

By comet fragments, meteorites of thought,

On their way from somewhere to somewhere.

Paul Armstrong, May 1971 Ensign

06.09.15

Ate with Family Roggow today. He is the high councilman for self-reliance in the stake Hamburg. Really really cool guy. Then we went and had another a joint Teach with Miroslav from Berlin and Stanoje and his family. It was awesome. Super spiritual as we explained everything about baptism, knowing that they understood everything we said. yeah, they are amazing. When we asked if they wanted to begin a renewed life in Christ he is like "ja, selbstverständlich." Which translates literally as that it so easy to understand, that it doesn't even require questioning. Yeah they are amazing. 

Viele Grüße,

Elder Burton