"Kebabtism is a tradition in this mission, when an elder eats his first kebab."

Hey family!

Before I tell you about the week, I have a joke. A little background info first. Northern Ireland has always been a place of great religious disagreement. Irish people are mostly Catholic, but British are mostly Protestant. So N.I. is mostly split half and half, and a while back they used to have "the troubles", where actual fighting happened between

Protestants and Catholics. It's better now. But still some weird little things.

For example, Derry is the city where we have our district meetings every week. But its name is actually Derry/Londonderry. The Catholics/Irish call it Derry, and the Protestants/British call it Londonderry. And that part is necessary to understand this joke:

What does a lactose-intolerant Protestant say? "I don't drink London-dairy."

HAHA! I came up with that all myself. Haven't had the chance to say it to any other people, but I think it's flippin hilarious.

Well, on to the usual emailing stuff.

Last Tuesday was our first district meeting with our new district. Everyone seems pretty cool. Then afterward, we had an exchange. Elder Mills came with me to Omagh, and Elder Holm stayed in Londondairy with Elder South. Elder Mills is super fun. Just a goof. Example: He "Kebabtized" me!

Kebabtism is a tradition in this mission, when an elder eats his first kebab. Kebabs are a super common food over here. I think it's Indian  but lots of takeaway restaurants or "chippy's" sell them. It's lamb meat, with salad and a variety of sauces on naan bread. Super good! Elder Holm despises them. He's never had one, but he just talks about how bad they are for you and how disgusting they look. I don't care, it was delicious! So yeah, I am officially kebabtised.

Wednesday was my three month mark! Woohoo.

We tried a new finding method this week. Our mobile (cell phone) has a ton of former investigators that we have never heard of, so we decided to call them all. Some of them were not interested, some had moved and we gave their number to the zone leaders, but some accepted an appointment sometime later, or at least for us to call back at a better time. It was a genius idea! (Mine of course.)

Saturday was very productive as well. We drove to most of our investigators' houses, and taught two of them on the spot lessons and invited them to church. We even gave a blessing to one of the ladies we are teaching, and she had a great experience and cried a little. We also figured out their concerns with the church, and their intentions for learning about it. We told them both that we believe this IS the right path for them to follow. So it was good. Neither one came to church the next day though...

Sunday was St. Patrick's Day! But they held the "bank holiday" on Monday  which basically meant that all the festivities were Monday and everyone had work off Monday  This is why I'm emailing you Tuesday  the library was closed yesterday!

But St. Patrick's day was a pretty big deal. On Sunday night, we saw TONS of people out on the town, heading into bars and such. Monday, there was a huge parade and an outdoor concert, which we saw part of. We watched several bagpipe bands play throughout the day. Luckily it was p-day, so we got to experience it. I bought a big Irish flag for 3 pounds too. But the best part...we rode carnival rides!

There was this one called The Booster, which I'll send a picture of. We walked past the grounds for like three days straight before the festivities while they were setting up, and we were so excited to ride it. We also rode another one that was kind of like the Samurai but less intense. Pretty fun!

We also met a sweet old lady named Angela, who was not interested in leaving the Roman Catholic church, but she told us how great young boys we were, and how much she admired and respected us. It was nice.

So yeah, it was a pretty great week. Nice warm flat, fun times, and good spiritual stuff too.

This week should be good; we're going to Dublin on Wednesday for an all-Ireland zone conference. Then on Sunday I am giving a talk on why I decided to serve a mission. We/the branch council are focusing on this kid who just turned 18 in the branch, who will either serve a mission in the next few months or go to University. It's harder to leave school and come back two years later here than it is in Utah, so they're really trying to get him to go sooner than later. So I'll try to do my best to convince him, but subtly, to serve a mission.

Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Spencer

Pictures:

A self-pic in the new flat, with my nice parted hair.

Me on Monday, with my green tie, Irish flag, and a real shamrock boutonniere that Tom Henry made for us!

The Booster 

"We brought him some canned food and a jug of water, and tried to find somewhere for him to stay."

Hey family!

First off: New Flat! We got the keys and checked it out today. It is super posh.

The address is:

Flat F

2 Hospital Road

Omagh BT79 0AN

Co. Tyrone

N. Ireland

 

So there we go. Send whatever you want to that address. Or the mission home, unless it's a package. Then send it to the new address.

 

So this week was really good! We'll begin at the end. Sunday was amazing. Gertie was finally able to come to church. She is just so amazing. When we asked how she liked the services, she couldn't put it into words. She always tells us that we're her wee angels, and that we are called by God, and given a special gift. If all goes well, she should be baptized on March 30!

Also, Ian came to church as well! He's the one that we visit three times a week at Vera's house. Apparently he hasn't been out for about six months, and that was because the new building was being dedicated. Basically we just called him on Sunday morning to remind him, and encourage him, and made sure someone was there to pick him up. Hopefully he gets into the routine and it becomes habitual to go every week.

Also, Happy Birthday Joey!

Other highlights from the week:

On Tuesday we came across a man named Peter, from Bulgaria. He was sitting on a park bench looking sad, and had a duffel bag next to him. We went over and asked if everything was ok. He started crying, and told us his wife left him and he had no where to stay. We brought him some canned food and a jug of water, and tried to find somewhere for him to stay. 

There were no homeless shelters in Omagh, so we told him to go to the hospital or the police station and they could help him. He didn't seem like he was going to go, so we called the police later on to see if someone could go check on him. We haven't seen him since, so we hope he got help.

Also, one day we were tracting and we met this old guy. He seemed fairly good at first, but then he started rambling about Anti-American stuff. Told us that Americans try to force their ideals on other people. He talked about Vietnam for a while, and seemed to get quite angry. It was very weird. So we gave him a Book of Mormon.

We met this super sweet old lady a few weeks ago, Beth Henderson. Whenever we're in the area, we stop by to at least say hi. Her husband doesn't like us at all. When he opens the door, he just rolls his eyes and goes to get her. Haha.

One day we went to follow up at a guy's house who we met in the street one day. The neighborhood is called Strathroy. It seemed fine at first, but the further we went into the neighborhood, we saw an Irish flag and a street sign with a guy holding a gun painted on it. So I guess it's the I.R.A. neighborhood. Quite the adventure.

We also taught a new investigator named Paul. He is Pramod's friend. He was born in India, but has lived in N. Ireland and England for most of his life. He is super intellectual, philosophical, and spiritual all at the same time. He asks a lot of deep questions.

So overall, it was a great week. We met some other good people, taught a few other good lessons, and walked and drove many miles.

Until next Monday,

Elder Burt

Picture:

This awesome sculpture thing is in Belfast. I call it the Belfast Ball, but I'm not sure what its official name is.

"Turns out he's been through a lot, and has gotten through it all by having faith in God and Jesus Christ."

Hey family, 

First off, in the library right now there is a wee class for old people using facebook. It's funny.

Alright so the highlight of the week is: Drunk Nigel.

I've told a bit about Nigel before, but just a review...he and his friend Alan are special needs adults who live together. They are great, very fun to visit them and they love singing and talking about the gospel. When we went there this week, Nigel was super drunk. He was talking the whole time, and laughing loudly at everything. Usually he is really quiet, and doesn't say much unless we ask him to read a scripture. But this time, he was just talking and talking. 

I probably should have felt sad for him, but to be honest drunk Nigel was hilarious. He told us he loved us, and that if anyone tried to hurt us he would fight them. The funniest thing he said was, just out of the blue: "I LOVE the Mormon Church! 

When we went to sing our closing songs, he wouldn't stop. We had sung three or four already, and told him it was our last. Then he wanted to do one more, so he sang Silent Night by himself loudly and enthusiastically. Really was a fun visit. It just so happened that the lesson we picked out from a past Ensign was about a recovering drug addict who could only get over it by asking God for help. So it actually turned out spiritual.

Yesterday we drove past, and I said, "There's the Mormon Church! I Love the Mormon Church! I love the Elders, I love the Chamberlains, I love Glen [branch president], or the vice president  or whatever you call him, I love everyone!" It was hilarious. 

In other news, we picked up our car last week! It's a Vauxhall Meriva, fairly new. Since last week was moves week, they moved p-day to Wednesday, but still let us email on Monday.

So on Wednesday we took the car out on some adventures! We went to the Gortin Glen Forest Park, a few miles out of town. It was amazing, tons of mossy trees. Some of it reminded me of Lord of the Rings. 

Then we went and checked out the Ulster-American history park, which is the main tourist attraction in Omagh. 

We thought it would be like the American West Heritage Center in Logan, so we didn't want to go. But we decided to stop by and see how much it cost and what it included. Turns out it is pretty cool. We didn't have much time left, so we'll go another p-day. It looked like there was a lot of Titanic stuff. The Titanic was built in Belfast, which I didn't know before.

Then on Thursday I spent the day in Portadown. Elder Holm went to Edinburgh with Elder Waite, the new district leader in Portadown, and I was with Elder Johnson for the day. It was a nice wee change of pace.

We also taught a part-member family this week, and we invited them to hold a family prayer every night. We thought it would be more of a reminder, but they said that no one had ever told them that before. So that was good, hopefully it will help them progress.

Another highlight was this guy we met on Saturday. As we were walking to Ian and Vera's (we still walk places that are reasonable, to exercise and to save on petrol), this guy stops his car, and runs to us and asks if we're LDS. He said he was a Christian, and asked if we could exchange pamphlets. So we did, and talked to him for a bit. 

Turns out he's been through a lot, and has gotten through it all by having faith in God and Jesus Christ. He's had a gay orientation his whole life, but has lived a celibate life in order to be closer to God. Pretty neat. He'd be a great member. Very enthusiastic and happy about talking about the Savior.

It was a pretty good week overall with some good adventures. 

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY! This upcoming Sunday is Mother's Day for UK and Ireland. We'll skype on American Mother's Day though.

Love yous all,

Spencer

Pictures:

Stonehenge. I forgot to tell yous about this. This was at the Ulster History Museum, which we saw on our way to the Forest and decided to stop. Turns out it's not open to the public, but only for field trips and stuff. But luckily I at least got one picture.

Close up of the deer at Gortin Glen Forest Park. Yeah, they were real deer. In a wee enclosure though. I think they were Sika Deer.

Rockin' my deer sweater, while standing in front of some deer at Gortin Glen Forest Park.

Gortin Glen Forest Park trees. 

"When we gave her a Book of Mormon she was delighted and said, "I will treasure this!" It was amazing."

This week was just great!

But before I forget, a few things:

This is "moves week", which means people move on Wednesday to their areas. We got a call on Saturday saying that we are both still in Omagh for the next six weeks, but Elder Holm is the new district leader! That means the district is the Omagh district now. Pretty cool. He has to fly out to Edinburgh on Thursday for district leader training, so I will either hang out with other missionaries somewhere or if no one else is flying from Belfast that day, I might have to (get to?) go with.

I wore my glasses all last week. Everyone said they suited me well and they liked them. So that was nice. Some said they make me look smarter. I'm gonna keep wearing them so I don't look dumb again.

"All the best" is a common saying when saying goodbye. Basically like "take it easy" or something like that. At first I thought it was just Tom Henry, but then I've heard lots of people saying it lately.

Now this week:

Highlight was setting a baptismal date for Gertie! Not sure if I've told yous about her yet. Elder Holm and Elder Neilson met her a few weeks ago while on an exchange. She said she'd be willing to get baptized right on the spot! So we taught her a second time last Tuesday and she accepted a specific date (March 24th) for baptism! She will have a hard time getting to church; she lives in Dromore and no buses run there on Sundays.  So hopefully a member can give her a lift. 

She is amazing though, absolutely "prepared" for us to find her. When we gave her a Book of Mormon she was delighted and said, "I will treasure this!" It was amazing.

Brendan, the man who came to church last week, turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. When we taught him last Monday  he had tons of Catholic paintings of Jesus and Mary and such. And he read us this super long article about a lady communicating with Jesus through Mary...? It was weird. He said he wanted us to teach him about our faith, and him to teach us about his. Then he invited us to lunch on Wednesday. When we met him, he tried to trick us into going to a Mass.

I would have been down, but there was a funeral going on too so it would have been looong. So when we went to lunch with him, he told us the same thing: that he wants us to teach him, and him to teach us. I kind of wanted to bust out a quote from Jesus in Matthew, and tell him that we came to Omagh "not to be ministered unto, but to minister." But that might have not been taken too well. 

Basically we think he just wants a friend. He gave us a little pamphlet with the Catholic prayers on it, and a little "matrix medallion". He said that if we don't want them, to give them back to him instead of throw them away since they are holy to his church. So we'll give it a while before we return them. 

Or maybe I'll just keep them just because they're interesting. Eventually we might tell him bluntly that we believe that our church is the only one with the authority to receive revelation and perform ordinances, but we'll see.

On Friday we taught Brian Johnston again. He is recovering from a knee surgery. We took Tom with us, and they got along pretty well. We need more Toms in the branch. But anyway, Brian again told us he was Methodist and didn't plan on changing, but we told him that if he prayed he would get an answer, and told him what that answer would feel like. He said he'd pray. So we'll see where that goes.

On Friday we had a birthday party for Tommy Reilly! He's 92 this Wednesday. He played his fiddle for a bit. I got a few videos. Yous will have to see them later because the limit for attachments is too small for the videos my camera takes. 

But anyway, it was a great party. Brother McKenna, the counselor in the branch presidency did the haka for us too. He served in New Zealand. It was intense! Usually he's a fairly quiet, laid back guy, but his haka was crazy loud.

Those are the highlights for the week.

Thank you guys for your love and support and what not!

All the best,

Spencer

Pictures and a video:

Tommy, Iris, Iris' sister, Elder Burt, Elder Holm

The elders with Iris Mc Farland

Tommy with his cake

Tommy with his fiddle

I hope this one is good. I can't listen to how it sounds because we're in the library, but it was the smallest video I had. Enjoy!

"So I basically just testified of everything we believe...and I think everyone felt the spirit."

Hey y'all!

So some quick good news: We're getting a new flat on March 11, much classier than this one. I don't mind our current one, but we got a call from the mission office a few weeks ago saying we might move.

When we tell people in the branch, they always say that we'll be "posh" (richie-rich lifestyle/attitude) haha. So apparently it's pretty nice. 

We have to turn in our keys to the Campsie flat on March 18, so any mail that will get there before then is fine. Be careful though, I think some stuff takes over a week.

Also, we're getting a car! The zone leaders told us we probably would be, and then we got a package from the Mission office that contained a "Missionary Daily Vehicle Report", a book to keep track of our miles and gas/maintenance costs. So it's official! I think we get it at the end of this transfer.

Speaking of which, did I tell yous that this is an eight week transfer? If it was a normal one, people would have moved last week! So we're on week seven now. We're quite sure we'll both stay here for at least one more, since I'm in training.

Alright. So last Monday, we had a bit of fun out on the town. Well, fun being relative to missionary work, it was fun. Elder Holm needed new shoes, so we looked around a few shops. I looked at the skinny pointy-toe shoes they have here. They're super classy, but I guess we're not supposed to wear them because they're bad for walking long distances.

Then we went to the "Strule Arts Centre", and the tourist centre inside it. There was some fairly cool art on the walls, and in the tourist centre I bought a few postcards. I'll send one or two home.

Then we went to the Sacred Heart Church to have a quick look around. 

Kind of eerie, as usual. Dark, dingy, sad paintings of Jesus, etc. Elder Holm hated it, he kept talking about how awful it was. Yeah, it's not my cup of tea, but I saw people sitting in there that I could tell it brought them peace, so if it does that for them then it's good.

Speaking of "cups of tea," several times in the past few weeks we've had to turn down tea. When people let us into their homes when we tract, (I think it's happened about five times so far) they always ask if we want them to make us a cup of tea. When we say no, they ask if we want coffee. Sometimes they ask why, and Elder Holm would say that we try to stay healthy. But since tea and coffee aren't really THAT terrible for you, I usually say that I'm trying to get off caffeine this year. It goes over a bit better.

Tuesday, I went on ANOTHER exchange. I think I've had one every other week. This one was with the Zone Leaders. Their area is Bangor, near Belfast. I had to drive the whole time, because the missionary I was with had

an expired license. 

So that was an adventure. I drove from Derry/Londonderry to Bangor, around the town, and back. So I'm pretty

good at left-side driving now.

On Thursday, we took a bus to Derry to see Brian Johnston. He was in the hospital for a knee replacement, and we told him we'd visit. When he saw us, he actually teared up a bit. He was very impressed that we traveled that far to see him. 

I also talked to another guy in the bed next to him (it was one of those rooms with four beds, divided by curtains when necessary), who said he had been to Utah to ski. We gave him a mormon.org card, so hopefully he gets converted or something.

We spent a lot of time tracting, following up on people who said to come back another day, and visited members and less-actives.

Sunday was a bit different. We were invited to the McKennas' house for Sunday dinner. They live in Derry, and he is here on an assignment from the stake to be our 1st Counselor in the branch. So they drove us back to Derry with them, and we took a bus back. 

Then we followed up at a few houses, and one let us in. It was this lady we had talked to a few weeks back, and she and her husband/partner were both home. It was mostly just a big Q and A session, mostly the dad asking deep religious and life questions, and Elder Holm answering them. 

Then their two teen daughters came in, and asked even more questions. I didn't say much, because I am not very good at handling hard questions like that. But they noticed, and they were like, "We want to hear what Elder Burt has to say about all this." So I basically just testified of everything we believe, quoted the First Vision (we do that a lot out here, but we leave out the part about Satan), and I think everyone felt the spirit. 

The girls went out on a walk, and the mom started cleaning house, but the dad stayed and asked more questions. Elder Holm had him read Moroni 10:3-5, and he read it over and over in his head, stared at it in silence for over a minute. When his wife came back in, he said "Honey did you see that? I almost got [flippin] emotional!" I told him that that was the spirit, and he was touched by the verses. He said he would pray. Which was good. We left a Book of Mormon with them, and then gave one to the girls on our way back. Luckily we passed them, because we were able to actually tell them a bit about the Book of Mormon and invite them to read it. I really hope it works out with them somehow, and I think it will.

Welp, that's it for this week. I'm hungry.

Love yous!

Spencer

Pictures:

A cool dam

Unicorn and dragon statues on top of the city courthouse or something

Monday Feb 11

Feb 4