This past week has been filled with plenty of packing, Greenock good-byes, tons of travel, and now I'm loving Lisburn.
We said cheerio to some members and investigators.
I find face-to-face goodbyes just kind of awkward. But it's nice to get a photo with them because I might not see some of these people again.
I always get this feeling of uneasiness; leaving an area I've become familiar with, and heading off to somewhere I've never been to serve with a companion I've never met.
Speaking of which, Lisburn and Elder Dewsbery are fantastic!
He's from Canada. (That makes six foreign companions so far, and only two Americans.)
We have similar sense of humour, we both are here to work hard, and yeah overall it's just been a great four days here.
We do a LOT of tracting and street contacting, which I don't mind.
It's especially nice when it's sunny; the people's moods seem to correspond with the weather.
Northern Ireland is rainy, but not as much as Greenock. So we're doing well here.
Fun stories from this week mostly occurred as we were out finding.
We met a few crazy born-again Christians, who always tell us that all you need is Jesus, because he's already saved us. Then we say that's true, but he does ask us to keep His commandments, does he not?
We met one man who went to a Baptist church, and the whole time he told us that the way to salvation was "JESUS, and JESUS ONLY!"
We agreed, but then we asked what his opinion on baptism was. He said it didn't matter, because it's JESUS AND JESUS ONLY.
We went away thinking it was ironic that our church is called the Church of Jesus Christ, and his is the Baptist church. These sort of people always have problems with the Book of Mormon too...unless they are newly converted to Christianity, like a born-again man we met in his 20's.
We offered him a Book of Mormon, and he said "Sure...The Lord won't be offended if I read it will he?"
So I opened up to 2 Nephi 33:10 and read it to him. He was pretty excited.
It did get a bit awkward when he asked if we thought it was a sin to drink and get tattoos, which he loved both of. It was difficult to answer his question kindly yet honestly...hopefully we were able to do so.
Another funny story...well, we thought it was hilarious but it may sound silly to yous....We knocked on this guy's door and told him who we were and what we were doing on his doorstep.
He said, "Well...I'm actually watching TV right now so..." Didn't try to say he was busy, but didn't want to say he wasn't interested...I thought it was pretty funny.
Oh another one: We were talking to a man on the street, and I offered him a pamphlet.
I reached into my bag hoping to grab the "Restoration" or "Plan of Salvation"...but for some reason I had a "Law of Chastity" pamphlet in there and that was the one I pulled out.
I saw it, said "Oh...wrong one..." reached back in and pulled out the correct one. Elder Dewsbery and I went away laughing pretty hard.
I truly do enjoy Finding; it's sometimes hard to get out and do it, but it's always worth it whether you find receptive people or not, we usually have funny experiences interacting with people.
Well that's about it for me. Hopefully this week has a lot more fun stories, and also spiritual stuff, and I hope we get to teach some of the people we met who seemed interested.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention, the bus and ferry ride were pretty fun.
There were 10 or more missionaries all on that bus, so the normal civilians riding probably loved being surrounded by a bunch of American Mormon missionaries.
The ferry was a fun experience as always. Didn't take any photos, because I've already been on it twice and I'm guaranteed at least one more.
Love yous all! Have a fantastic week.
Love,
Elder Spencer Ashcraft Burt
Photos:
Turning an ordinary painting into a gospel-related painting.
Elder Johns and I on the bus from Glasgow to Cairnryan.
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