Transfers!

Well, I'm being transferred again. This time from lovely Schwerin back into Saxony, to a little town in the Ore Mountains called "Annaberg-Buchholz." Roughly 20,000 people, it is one of the smallest towns in Germany that has a full Ward! I'm way pumped.

The catch: I have 2 companions. For at least the next 6 weeks I'll be serving in a trio, and things may get interesting.

The Hansa

10.11.15

Well...pretty ordinary day today. Kind of just walked around talking to people in the city for a couple hours, then went door to door in a ghetto DDR area. East Germany ya know. I really should take more pictures, help everyone see it. I will next time. 

We also had family home evening with a member family, and our new convert, Tina. We watched the movie "The Book of Mormon, how rare a possession" movie thing about Parley P Pratt and about the Italian Priest from Sicily. Tina got so excited when she realized that both times it was the Book of Mormon, she was like jumping up and down on the couch. Hilarious and cute. Very Un-German of her. She is just...such a sweet soul. Not German. 

11.11.15

Went up to Wismar today, the Port town north of Schwerin. It was totally a Hanseatic Town, which Elder Fisher explained to me cause he knew, which is cool,..if you don't know, google it. If you're a missionary...ask a member to explain it to you or google it. 

But it's a really weird town. Really run down is some parts, like never repaired since the wall fell, or more like WWII, but some parts are super new,..instead of fixing up, or tearing town and replacing, they are just leaving a lot of the old buildings. And building in other places. 

There were also the ruins of a HUGE old church. Like huge. It was one of the biggest in Northern Germany I believe. Well...in Mecklenburg-Vorpommen. That's the names of the state most of our area is in--we have Brandenburg a little too. But It's just like 2 foot high walls now, and the repaired church tower, which isn't even as high as it was. Sad...but an effective reminder about the horrors of war, which is why it is still there. 

Also met with Lars, a cool member who can't really afford to come to church.,,he moved from Saxony like 4 weeks ago, so I totally chatted with him about Dresden and the surrounding area. Fun. 

12.11.15

Went to District Meeting in Rostock today. Kind of took up the whole time the sun was up...but was a lot of fun. I'll have to take a district photo next week too, cause this district is awesome. Elder Fisher and I, both from St George, then the Zone Leaders Elder Flack--from St Louis, and Houston TX--and Elder Barton, who is in my MTC group. Yeah. Elders Burton and Barton. Lovely. Oh, and Family Metzner is in our district too, a senior missionary couple from the area of Stuttgart. Really awesome. We met at their home, and they made us Mexican food afterwards, at our request. Delicious. 

We also had to go around telling less active members about a funeral next week, cause the relief Society president couldn't get ahold of a couple of them. Apparently the Sister who died was like 91, but everyone knew and loved her, and one of the two we talked to started crying when we told her.,,which was really sad...and awkward...since neither of us knew her...yeah...

We thought we would have 2 appointments today...but they both fell out. One dude called us though. That was nice of him. The other dude was just old and ornery and not wanting to talk at the moment. Whatever. 

13.11.15

So this day started out pretty normal...until personal study. We got a text telling us that we had a mission-wide conference call, beginning at 9:45. Um...ok. So we call in at 9:30, the role call takes until 10:00 cause there are 100 companionships to go through, and then President Fingerle explains why we actually had this call...

He says that last night--Thursday night--President Kearon, area president for the Europe Area of the Church, called and said he would like to visit this coming Sunday at 18:00 in the Berlin stake house, and President Fingerle was welcome to invite his missionaries...he also said he would be being Craig C Christiansen, a President of the Seventy, and another general authority...Elder M Russel Ballard. 

So we are getting a visit from an Apostle. This Sunday. What?

Yeah. So a large part of the day way was taken up organizing stuff for that. Now we are going to Berlin Sunday for another mission conference, my 3rd, then sleeping in Berlin, and coming back Monday morning. Weird. 

Oh, and we taught Tina, our new convert, but she was LITERALLY on sleeping pills, so I think she only got like 27% of what we said...which is a shame, we cleared up some pretty important questions I thought..,hopefully she learned something. 

And had English class again...it was fun,..a new girl came I didn't know...did I even mention we teach English class? Yeah, we do. To 2 old guys who aren't members, the Elder's Quorum President, and apparently occasionally a random 17 year old girl who wants to practice more cause she gets bad grades for English. Cool. 

Then talked to an investigator on the phone about Christmas and the Refugees. I haven't met her cause she lives like 1.5 hours from Schwerin and can't visit very well cause she lives in a village...but yeah. She had some questions, so we answered them. I hope she liked the answers...had to kind of explain that the church doesn't encourage those studies that are aimed at "proving" the bible, cause we want our members to rely on God and his answers, that he gives us. Yeah...we will see. Hard to get a read over the phone of an investigator you've never seen. And only talked to like 5 times. Yeah. 

At least we had a lot to do today...

14.11.15

So we spent all day in trains today, but not to Berlin. That's tomorrow. We went to Neumünster today for Stake Conference. It took 4 hours to get there, cause one train was delayed 1 hour...but we still got there on time. So 3 minutes before it started. Saw some missionaries I hadn't seen in a while,,,had a spiritual meeting...then a family in the ward, he is in the branch presidency, was nice enough to drive us home cause their son was staying overnight so they had room. They actually gave us some really good advice on college...and on marriage...and choosing a spouse and everything. Really really fun. And interesting. I learn. 

Yeah...that's pretty much it. 

Oh, and we heard about Paris today. That was...weird. We read about it on the advertisement things in Hamburg Central Station, and were like: "what...?" So we asked the members and they explained about the bombings during the soccer game and everything,,,yeah. Feels really distant. 

15.11.15

Well, Elder Fisher and I have certainly spent a lot of time on trains during out first 3 weeks together. In just half a transfer we've been to Hamburg, to Rostock, to Berlin, to Wismar, back to Rostock, to Neumünster--via Hamburg--and then back to Berlin. And we stayed the night in Berlin, so I am actually finishing this in the train--an ODEG, or East German Iron-Rail Company--on the way home from Berlin to Schwerin. 

We were in Berlin this time, you will recall, for a surprise conference with Elder M Russell Ballard. I think he explained it in his own words the best: "we are going to be in Berlin, why don't we meet with the missionaries?" So they did. 

Really, really neat experience. I learned a TON. and I think what we learned with help keep Elder Fisher from getting too trunky over the next 3 weeks--until he goes home, that is. But Elder Ballard talked about the importance of being a great teacher--not just good,  but great--about being bold, and about....well, about being a missionary. And what that means. Quotes:

"Apostles are really in the end just missionaries. We travel around trying to lift people up, to inspire them, to encourage them to come unto Christ."

"Rarely does the Lord interfere (with our lives), unless he is invited to."

"And YOU shall go forth, and none shall stay YOU."

Yeah. We had a lot of fun. And then we went and stayed the night with the Berlin Zone Leaders, who live in this area of Berlin called Moabit, really really famous for drugs and stuff. I've been there like 4 times now. But there were 10 elders in that apartment last night, so kind of crazy and stuff. 

Yeah...and that was our week. Pretty exciting, right?

Viele Grüße,

Elder Burton

 

 

Transfers!

19.10.15

Tried to go door to door today after P-day. The problem with that, is that by the time we started--6:30 ish--it was already dark. So? The people are inside? The thing is, Germans go to bed as soon as it gets dark, regardless of if it is 4:30--like in January--or 10:30--like July. I have literally gone door to door at 8:45 at night, and no one has a problem with it, IF THE SUN IS UP. 

However. Go tracting 5 minutes after the sun has gone down...and you're in trouble. 

It's okay, we only were cussed out 3 times, yelled at 2 times, and told we were not allowed to enter an apartment building 1 time. Heck, we didn't even get the cops called on us. 

20.10.15

Went to Lüneburg today. Beautiful city, terrible weather. Makes for an interesting mix. Almost the only people out and about were the tourists--the ones who pay to be there. Along with that...yeah. 

Kind of a slow day. Could be worse. 

21.10.15

Had Distrikt meeting today, and Elder Somma was sick. He was miserable the whole time. But other then that it was pretty good. Went and got chicken afterwards,,,and discovered that I'd forgotten to bring money. And Elder Peacock only had 10 €. 

So he bought a burger for 5€, and I bought some chicken nuggets for 5€, and it was a party. 

Then we went and worked for a bit, met with a less active and helped him throw out some old furniture, and when we came home, I was really, really hungry, so I tried making some cheese sauce stuff, and rice, but when I poured the cheese sauce onto the rice, the rice proceeded to suck all the water out of my cheese sauce, making my cheese sauce basically a bunch of butter with cheese flavoring in it. So it became, instead of Rice in a Cheese sauce, Rice Floating in Cheesy Butter. 

Nasty. 

THE REST

Well, I failed again. No more have I written this week

I will however send pictures from Lüneburg, we were there and it was gorgeous. 

Oh, and I got transferred...to Schwerin!!! Yay!!! I'm way excited. It's supposed to be a beautiful city. Wish me luck!!

Viele Grüße,

Elder Burton

A Quiet Week

I didn't write a weekly letter this week...and really have no desire right now..,it's funny, in German you say "kein Bock drauf" when we have no desire. It translates: "No Goat on that." Haha really funny.

German.

 We can also say: "Damit habe ich nichts am Hut." Or, translated, "I have nothing on my hat with that."

We did see President Monson's talk,,,it really made some people uncomfortable. We were with all the missionaries in our zone watching it, and some of the sisters were like squirming and gasping...it was
obvious he was struggling though. I looked and he used to talk like 6 times every conference. Now even 2 is almost too much. Really sad.

Yeah..I'm done. Had a week. Not good or bad. Just a week. Ready for a new one.

Love you, be safe.

Viele Grüße,
Elder Burton

End of September

21.09.15 

So. I may have sinned...and bought 3 new ties and a new sweater for my birthday. K, my only 2 sweaters are like a year and a half old, and stretched out and baggy and too big, and I only had like 25 ties, so...yeah... :) oh, and everything was on sale. So, the ties were €3 each, and the sweater was 15, so...calm down. Oh, and we visited this museum in Geesthacht...not worth the €2 entry fee. Tiny little thing. I'll send a picture. BUT. It may interest some of you to know that there is actually something significant that happened in my area, that changed your like!!  That's right. In Geesthacht is where the man named Alfred Nobel successfully created an explosive containing nitroglycerin in a reliable, safe container that detonated  consistently when properly used. In other words, Dynamite was invented in Geesthacht. Not bad huh?  Now there are no more dynamite factories, but, there is a nuclear power plant and research facility. Not bad for backwoods Germany. 

22.09.15 

Was on exchange with Elder Somma today. He is from Brazil actually. He was born in raised in Brazil, but moved to America when he was 14. He speaks Portuguese, Italien, and English, and is now learning Spanish. Really cool guy. He's been in Germany for about 5 months, which makes him much younger then me on the mission, which is really really really weird. He kept on bringing up how old I am, trying to make me trunky, and I'm like: "What, ya kidding? I just got here!" It didn't work. I'm not trunky...We worked in Lüneburg. Found a new investigator. Taught Stanoje and his family--with the bishop there as joint teach--and just had fun. It was kind of...relaxing. And releasing. Just...yeah. I don't know. 

23.09.15 

So, really cool experience today. We go and visit a family in the ward who were the last family that I hadn't visited. So I've visited literally everyone in the ward now. But, we visited them, taught a short lesson, then took the husband with us and went to visit a member family that moved into the ward like 3 weeks ago. The new family was from Rostock, from Africa originally, but moved from Rostock, and the husband is still there, and they probably won't be staying here long. Sad, but that's how it is.  But!! Then the cool part happened. The Brother that we were with, as we are getting in the car, is like: "Ya know, my brother--blood brother--lives on this street. He isn't a member of the church. It's time I really invited him to learn more." So we got back out of the car, walked over to where his brother lived, and rung the bell. He let us in, him and his girlfriend, and they then sat and listened as this brother introduced us to them, explained who we were, taught them about the Book of Mormon, and then as we gave our testimonies of Jesus Christ. The Member then made out a return appointment for us, and we left.  SAY WHAT? yeah it was awesome. The best part? This Member was baptized with his family just over 5 years ago. And now he is one of the coolest people. Boom. Gegospeled. (Only German speaking missionaries will get that joke.)  But yeah. He just received a prompting from the spirit, and acted upon it, and someone who never in a thousand years would have been open to hearing the message from us if we knocked on his door suddenly is meeting with us and committed to read in the Book of Mormon. That's the power of members. 

24.09.15 

So there is this soda in Germany..,it's actually Turkish...but it's called Uludag. It tastes like "Incan Cola" is what I've heard, for those of you in the Latin Americas. Well, usually it's green, and tastes kind of like liquid bubble gum. It goes really good with Döner actually.  But, like I said, usually green. We stopped at this Turkish super marked to get drinks, and they had an Uludag flavor that was orange. I, of course, had to try it, and it actually tasted better. Which was great. Still needs to be with Döner, but that's ok. Well, this was all well and good until, because I drank this, I go to the bathroom a couple hours later, and I discover a disturbing side-effect of this orange drink. It had, indeed, Made my pee orange...and when I say orange, I mean the color of ripe mandarin oranges. It was scary.  German missionary probs.  But yeah. Our appointments fell out today, so that was our highlight...orange...disturbing. Kind of like when you eat beets... 

25.09.15 

I kind of took out my frustration on a less active today. He said something along the lines of: "Yeah, we all believe the same thing anyways--us, the Catholics, the Protestants, the Lutherans...it's all the same, we all believe the same." Yeah...about that...  I spent about 15 minutes just talking about how we don't. We don't believe the same thing. He is like: "but they believe on Christ!!" And I'm like: "yeah, good job. We both believe on Christ. That he performed the atonement, that he was resurrected, and that he lives today. That he was the Son of God.  "But we believe so much more then that!! We believe that his Father, our Father, is also a glorified man, a Man of Holiness, living in Heaven, watching over us, who loves us and wants the best for us. We believe that they have bodies, that they appeared to a young man to reveal themselves to everyone!  "Not only that, we believe on all the deeps things of God too!! You're right, the very first, simplest, most important truth ever taught on the Earth is where we agree: Jesus is the Christ!! However, we believe on the second part of Peter's confession as well: The Son of the Living God!! You cannot separate those two parts!"  Yeah, then I went off on him a little bit about other doctrines I knew he just didn't believe, even though he was baptized into the church. The Holy Ghost, the Book of Mormon, Law of Chastity--as it pertains to your thoughts, and keeping your thoughts clean--yeah...mostly about the character of God though. It just frustrates me that this man, a member of the church for 5 years now, hasn't even really developed a testimony of our believe in God. When, as Joseph Smith said, the most important thing we can learn is the Attributes of God, then why don't we learn them?  Sorry. Still peeved. 

26.09.15 

So. Looking at this letter, it's really long. I'll keep it short now.  Stanoje and his family are awesome. We tried to teach them the Law of Chastity really serious and stuff, and they are like: hey, we've been married 14 years. We figured it out. So we laughed about it, and just explained our beliefs about it. No problemo.  Yeah. They are awesome. They really made my time in Lauenburg worth it. It would be worth it as well, without them, but you know what I mean. I just wish they'd come to church... 

27.09.15 

So. Really busy Sunday. Really good. Had good chili and amazing desert stuff that was like oranges and cream and chocolate and ground up cookies...loved it. Love that member family. Love lots of people. Love Germany. I'm not coming home. Sorry mom. And that's a good week. Beautiful weather, not too sick. My shoulders have been acting up again, but that happens for a week every month, no bid deal anymore.  I love you all!! 3 months till Christmas!! Haha, the Germans are already selling decorations for it,,,this country has issues,,,   

Viele Grüße, Elder Burton

A Little Sick in Germany

14.09.15 

Had  a few hours of our p-day in Lüneburg again. It was raining pretty steadily for most of it, but the last hour or so cleared up enough that we could enjoy the October Fest...fest...there. Basically an excuse for people to go and get drunk and eat tons of wurst and the women to dress up in scanty dresses...but with some pretty awesome thrill rides as well, that...we aren't allowed to ride. 😐  Then went and met with a less active, who is really fun. That...is about it. 

15.09.15  So I woke up this morning, and the first thing I said in my prayer was: "Lieber Vater, segne mir, damit ich nicht krank sein werde." "Dear Father, please bless me so I won't be sick."  He didn't bless me.  Just kidding, I am very richly blessed, but he decided to let me be sick today. So we went street contacting for 2 hours is Lauenburg ran into a couple members--which was weird, never happens--and then came home and had lunch, then I texted Sister Fingerle, and went to bed. So I've slept like an extra 5 or 6 hours already today, and bought some cough syrup--which tastes EXACTLY like it does at home. I mean, it has to be same stuff. Or I'm just nuts.  But yeah. That was...actually my first "Sick Day" on my mission. I've had to call it early a couple times for my shoulders, but never pretty much the whole day before. Really weird. It's like 10:10 now, and I'm really tired again. I'm gunna go sleep like another 8 hours....😴😁 

16.09.15  First District meeting today, with Elder Somma in the district. He is from Brazil, and also lived in Florida for a couple years, and speaks Portuguese, English, French, German, and is now learning Spanish to help out the Spanish program in Bergedorf. Pretty cool guy. Quieter then the other Brazilians I've met. And I think it's really cool that I can say that.  Also went by some contacts in Lüneburg, then came home and slept an extra while. Yeah. I'm getting better. I'm not dead. I think I'll go for a walk.. 

17.09.15  Taught Stanoje and his family about the Book of Mormon again today, we've been going through the very basic and elemental principles of the gospel, trying to help them really build a firm testimony in all of it.  It is rather frustrating though. Partially, Elder Peacock has just decided at some point is his mission that he hates finding. Or, better said, he has not yet reached the point where he has said to himself, ""ok, I like finding." It really is a conscious decision. I know several missionaries who are great finders. And I believe that they are such good finders because they have decided to enjoy finding, regardless of if it is going Door to Door, or talking to people on the street, or whatever. They made the decision that they will be happy doing anything the Lord requires. 

It's ironic, my parents will recognize a lesson they tried to teach me for years. The importance of just deciding to be happy. At some point in my mission--some point in Dresden--I made the decision that I was going to be happy. I really can't tell you exactly when, maybe it was more of a process then really a point in time...it was probably because I was called as a District Leader. The Lord wanted me to learn that lesson, that I have to be happy, and to do it he thrust me into a situation where not only I had to be happy, but I had to convince 2 Sisters and 4 Elders--later 4 Sisters, now only 4 Elders--not only that I was happy, but that they could be happy too. It has done a great deal to change my character, I believe. Perhaps one of the greatest character changes of my life. 

18.09.15  Well, met with the Bishop today to talk about The Family. He is pretty excited, wants to help them get baptized, wants to come on a joint teach next week, and really get things rolling. Hopefully that works out well.  We still have to work better with the Ward, but we are improving. Really are. Slowly.  Also did weekly planning, and went finding in Lauenburg for a while. We are not having any success at all right now in Finding. Still talking to a lot of people as often as possible, still really working at improving my finding, we just aren't having any succes. Frustrating. 

19.09.15  Finally managed to meet with Stanoje and his family with a member there!! Yay!! Brother and Sister Jäger came, he is the Ward Mission Leader and she is the Relief Society President. They were really nervous, and they made Stanoje really nervous, but it still went pretty good. Per talked about Prayer, really did our best to keep it simple. The boys like the Jägers too, so that's good. Can't come to church tomorrow because they're going to be in Hannover. The Serbians, not the Jägers. It's ok.  Also went finding in Lüneburg. Talked to a lot of people. No one was interested. Frustrating. You'd think in a city of 75.000 people you'd be able to pretty easily find someone who wanted to talk about God. Evidently not...  Also found out today that my shoes are worn out enough that they are no longer Waterproof...sad day. 😢 

20.09.15  Well. We heard a cool talk from a member in the ward, Brother Warncke, today about the Family Proclamation. Talked about how this is the 20 year anniversary. How cool it is that the prophet issued it, how we should read it often, and every family should have one framed in their homes. And sitting here thinking, "isn't today important somehow..."  Then I read my email from Mother dearest. Oh. Ha. Today is also the 20th anniversary of Elder Burton. Whew. Who knew that I'm the same age as the Proclamation?  But, Elder Peacock is now sick, with the same tiptoe of thing I still am fighting to get over, so not much partying going on right now, just lots of sleeping. It's funny, when we didn't shake hands with the members because we are sick, they are like: "You're sick!?!? Why are you here?!?" Haha Germans. Really freaked out and confused. If a German is even a little sick, they just stay home. Period. When we told them we came because Elder Peacock had a talk, they are like: and? "He could have canceled easily, just call the bishop." Oh dear.  

Viele Grüße, Elder Burton 

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

No Success Easily Won Is Worth It

25.08.15 

Interesting day. We finally found a translator for the Serbians. Well, he speaks Bosnian. Miroslav, he lives in Lankwitz ward in Berlin, and we sky per him in to translate for us. Turns out Stanoje doesn't understand baptism at all...but they have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, of the word of wisdom, and of the prophet Joseph smith!! Yay!!  Also talked to our Eritreans about baptism because there was one this Saturday...they probably didn't understand a word we said...they are just always like: "ok. Yeah. Ok." Whatever. 

26.08.15 

Had my first interview with President Fingerle today. It was really cool getting to know him a little better. Turns out he went to school for "Wirtschaftler Pedigoger" or someone who trains cooperate businessmen. Yeah, so he is the ultimate German cooperate executive. Sounds like a pretty good mission president, right?  He was then later asked to work for CES, first as director for southern Germany, then for all of Europe...which means my first mission president was the CES director for Russia...and my second was the CES director for Europe...hmm. Interesting.  When I asked how one prepares for such callings and jobs, he said the usual things; "testimony, scriptural knowledge, good finances, physical and temporal and spiritual preparedness."  Then it got very pointed. "Das wichtigste aber, ist dass man glücklich verheiratet ist." "The most important thing, is that you are happily married." He then talked for a couple minutes about how important a spiritually strong wife and gospel-centered marriage are. I was not sure how to react to that...thanks?  Message received in any case. 

27.08.15 

Had district meeting today...super super spiritual. I might finally be figuring out how to be district leader. Like, 7 transfers later. Oh good, great elder burton...  It does kind of feel like we are beating our heads against a wall sometimes though. We make very little progress in this area, in this district, as far as missionary work goes. We all try very hard, there are a lot of very good missionaries in my district. But...the work is just a little slower here. We still can't get Stanoje and his family to church, they won't do their part now. And talk to a former investigator lady who said she'd drive them. The Spanish elders are struggling...cause they are trying to find a needle in a haystack, a Spanish speaker who is prepared to learn about the gospel, IN GERMANY. yeah. Lots of hard work for us. But no success easily won is worth it...or something like that. 

28.08.15 

Went to a City-Festival in Schwarzenbek. There were like 200 people there...which is about 175 more then usual for Schwarzenbek. Joy of joys...  That's probably the hardest thing about this area, is the lack of people everywhere but Lüneburg. No, the hardest thing is getting people to church. Cause honestly, it is usually the poorer people, the people looking for improve,net in life, who accept the Gospel. That is how it has always been. And unfortunately, poor people in German don't own cars. 

29.08.15 

Went finding for 6 hours today in Lüneburg. No success. But lots of walking. :)  Had an asthma attack again...first one in like 6 months...ran up some stairs too quickly. Smooth elder. Smooth. I had an inhaler with me, but the headache I got afterwards was monstrous,..  Also visited 2 flea-markets today. One during lunch break, then one during dinner break. Bought a pair of dress pants for 2 euro. They fit too!! American style. So, very square. But they fit. Not the most attractive...but they work for P-day and maybe a day when I don't care what I look like. Not bad. 

30.08.15 

So. Church today. A Family Visited, the woman's parents live in the ward, they are newly weds who live in America. She is from Germany, obviously, and he is from Bolivia. Yeah, Bolivia. Next time I say lets go to Bolivia...No, they were cool though. His accent was awesome, he only spoke English and Spanish, so I translated one talk for him while his wife fed their 2 month old child.  Then, during sacrament meeting, these 2 ladies walked in. Very plainly Arabic. They sad down, and I and the ward mission leader went and sat on their sides. Turns out they both spoke Arabic, and 1 spoke English, so I then proceeded to translate for them, the speaker speaking German, I speaking English, and one lady speaking Arabic for the other lady. What never seen these two ladies before. 1 from Syria, actually, and 1 from the Gaza Strip, Palestine.  Turns out they are 2 mothers from the refugee camp about 10 kilometers away. It would be absolutely awesome that they just walked into sacrament meeting by themselves, but...unfortunately, they came for the wrong reasons.  Someone--not us--gave a different family in the refugee camp our card, and told some of the refugees that if they came tithe church there would be money and food and clothing for their children. When these women heads this, women without husbands, with 3 and 5 children respectively, they made the decision to walk alone, in the rain, Sunday morning, from the camp to church, to look for help.  Definitely one of the worst, prat least least favorite, experiences of my mission so far, is having to tell these 2 mothers that we don't have money to give them. That we don't have any ability to help them get a better apartment, or clothing for their children, who are already cold, even though it will get much, much colder. We offered all the spiritual and emotional help we could, we gave them a bible and a Book of Mormon, we invited them to bring their children to church next week and to help them feel comfortable in the ward during their time here...but we were very honest about not having the power to change their temporal situation.  I hated that. I hated it.  

Viele Grüße, Elder Burton

Shortbread and Investigators

18.08.15

Had to spend a large part of the day in Hamburg. Learned a little bit about family history from a sister in the mission who is good with that. It was annoying, she showed up 1 hour 15 minutes late for our 2 hour appointment, so we didn't really get to have a good appointment, but as soon as the Zone Leaders and other missionaries showed up for there appointment--missionaries with whom she was obviously very good friends--we got kicked out and yeah. Annoying.  But we did meet with Stanoje and his family again. They are still really struggling to come to church and everything,,,still working on that...but focusing more on spiritual growth now. Making sure that when the day comes when they CAN get baptized, that they will be ready for it. 

19.08.15

All day in Hamburg again, Zone conference with Elder Paul V Johnson, 1st quorum of the 70, who is in the area presidency in Europe as well. Learned a bunch, really excited to try and put it into practice,,,sad we have to spend so much time in meetings and traveling and taking care of paperwork and everything. But that is life.  Also met with a less-active member named Andreas. Ate some of moms shortbread with him. He thought it was great, especially with Nutella on it. He is really cool, he knows what he is supposed to do...the problem a lot is just that they are too lazy to do it. Less actives in general. Too willing to let other things take priority in their lives. 

20.08.15

Met with Stanoje and his family again. Talked about the temple a lot. About how our goal is, that the 3 boys serve their own missions, and that the whole family is sealed in the temple one day. It is still hard to tell, how much they really understand. Still haven't managed to find a translator. But that lesson felt super super spiritual at least. 

23.08.15

So I missed a couple days cause there was a big fight between a new convert and a member in the ward that we had to deal with and we got home late 2 nights in a row and stuff...I was too tired to write.  But today we had church. It was pretty good. No investigators, but maybe next week...then we went to go by on some former investigators in the dorfs around Lauenburg, and our Navi totally took us on this crappy little road that just ended in a bush,,,I'll send the pictures. Really weird. We need to update the navi sometime.  Loving the mission. Really tired. Back hurts a bit today. That's ok. It's normal..,I'm trying to do like 100 sit-ups a day...strengthen my core and,,,Eghm...maybe loose another 5 pounds or so--I'm at 180 now--but only make about 70 a day before I give up for the pain...but oh well. Then it does pretty well. My shoulders are actually worse then my back most of the time...why am I saying this? I'm doing good. :) can't do push-ups, but doing good.  

  

Viele Grüße, Elder Burton

Hot and Humid in Lauenberg

11.08.15 

Well, we had a cool conference call/ Skype meeting with all the district leaders in the mission today. We used the iPads, sat at the church's and listen to teaching from the assistants--who were in Berlin--while elders in Hamburg, Hannover, Dresden, Kassel, Rostock, Kiel, Flensburg, Erfurt, Leipzig--all over northern Germany--contributed and asked questions. Pretty cool experience.  We also met with Stanoje and his family again, the awesome ones. We talked a lot to the boys, taught them the gospel of Christ, and they really seemed to understand it. Really exciting.  

12.08.15

Had a meeting in Hamburg today with all the leaders from my zone. Really fun, learned a lot. A new convert who is actually from New York came and bore his testimony, an awesome black guy named brother Stevens. He talked about how the temple is so amazing, and how it is our bodies, that we are the original temple. Really made me rethink all the stuff I've learned about the temple since I got to Germany, made it apply it all to myself. Really cool actually.  But because that meeting started an hour late--due to construction in the tram and train system in Hamburg--and went half an hour long, that was pretty much all we had time for. We also got stuck in rush hour traffic leaving Hamburg. We then went to a members appointment in Scharnebeck, near Lüneburg, and stopped on the way to see the giant boat elevator on the Elbe-Hannover canal. Short video will be sent...hopefully. :) 

15.08.15

So a lot has happened, but nothing has happened. I'm writing this from inside a church as we take a small break from finding in Lüneburg. I'm actually in exchange with Elder Despain, who was in my MTC group. It is only my second time doing that with a member of my MTC group. It is pretty fun. It is interesting. To see how much he has changed. And continues to change. Have I changed as much?  I've gotten really bad at writing in my journal, only 4 or 5 times the last 2 weeks, but I have switched to doing it in the morning again because I just can't find the time to do it at night. Too many calls and papers to take care of, in my area as well as for district stuff. I am also finding that we are running out of time to eat fairly offen, so I am always starving at night.  However, other than Stanoje and his family, we have very little to work with right now. Contacts are either all on vacation, or read anti-Mormon stuff and don't want to meet anymore. Or in one case, I call them, the ringing stops so I know she answered but didn't say anything, I say "hello?" And hear suddenly a quick inward gasp of surprise and the phone slams down on the box. Ha. Oops. This after I call her, 10 minutes after an appointment with he is supposed to start and she doesn't show up. Germany.    

16.08.15

Dejvid, one of the boys in the family we are teaching, is sick again. :(. He's had 8 operations already, 7 in Serbia and 1 in Germany, and something is up again, they aren't sure what. So they have an appointment in October in Lübeck to find out. Elder Peacock and I gave him a priesthood blessing, had a really really spiritual time with them and everything...but we still can't get them to church. They may just have to take the bus. We really can't find another way. Frustrating.  The weather has been pretty tropical here lately too. Super super humid, and hovering between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius everyday. That doesn't sound too bad, but when you have 85 percent humidity or more, it gets pretty sweaty.    

Viele Grüße, Elder Burton