"...they are THE golden family that every missionary dreams of finding, teaching, and baptizing!"

Dear family and friends and blog readers, but mostly family.

So first off, remember Stewart, the hip-hop loving, chain wearing investigator in Dundee? Well he got baptised! We had a zone conference on Friday and Elder Tinsley, my Dundee zone leader who is now an AP told me that he was scheduled for Sunday. 

So last night I called the Liff elders' number to find out if it happened, and sure enough it did! So that's exciting. Even though I wasn't there for the baptism, I'm still super pumped because I found him and was part of the teaching process, kind of the opposite of how I wasn't there when Jimmy was found, but I was there for the teaching and baptizing. So yeah, that's three people baptised so far. Feels good.

So let's see. Since Thursday...we had zone conference on Friday (well really "zone interview training" where half the districts meet in the morning and the other half in the afternoon, and President Brown interviews each of us to make sure we're all doing superb, and the APs check our planners and area books to make sure we are doing all the right planning and record keeping. It's fun.) 

After ZIT I went on exchange with Elder Maughan, who was in our district my first two transfers. So this was my third time exchanging with him. 

We had fun. It's pretty funny, we both remember stuff that happened on our exchanges almost a year ago. Feels like it was just yesterday! Well, not really yesterday, but yous ken what I mean.

We went and taught Traci and Kenny, and we decided to talk about temples, 1) Because we felt like it might be a good way to help motivate Kenny to be baptised, and 2) One of Traci's friends told her that she would get special "Mormon Underwear" when she got baptised, so when she asked us a few weeks ago we told her that we'd explain at a later date. 

So yeah we talked about temples and what is so special, and what types of ordinances go on there. Then Kenny asked if that's what it meant when people at church would say "sealed" with their family? And we told him yes, and they both said they want to be sealed!!! 

So yeah they are THE golden family that every  missionary dreams of finding, teaching, and baptizing!

Saturday we taught the Jehovah's Witnesses that I mentioned last week. Well, we didn't do much teaching. They were definitely less contentious than the ones we taught a few weeks ago. 

This couple was more friendly, not trying to trip us up in our words, but just directing us to interesting scriptures in the Bible that kind of influenced their doctrine. 

But of course we were there to teach them as well, so Elder Smiler and I would be interested and then insert any bit of doctrine we could, and ask what they thought of the Book of Mormon. But they would sort of avoid it and change the subject. 

So it was a bit of a mess, I think what we'll do is propose to them that we alternate visits; one day they will get to teach us and lead the discussion, and then the next we will. Etc etc. 

Because I'll admit, they know their deep Old Testament doctrine better than us, and they can sort of justify their doctrine using verses in the Bible, but we just need to give them the chance to realize that the Bible can be interpreted in so many different ways, and that is why we need the Book of Mormon and modern revelation to help us know what the truth really is. 

They live on the coast of Wemyss Bay, which is absolutely beautiful.

We made our weekly trip to Dunoon to have dinner and a meeting with our branch mission leader. It's pretty expensive doing that every week. 

Of course it is reimbursable by the mission, but I wonder if we should start just meeting with him after church, so as to "care for the widow's mite," which I think I heard either someone in general conference or else our mission president say about wise use of church funds.

Sunday was good, we had branch council, the first of 2014 and the first one with our new branch president and the new callings he has issued. 

He proposed that we extend our church times. Usually we have 40 minutes for Priesthood/Relief Society, 40 for Sunday School, and 40 for Sacrament Meeting. 

Now he wants to extend the first two bits to about an hour but keep 40 minute Sacrament Meeting. Seems weird to me, because Sacrament Meeting is the most important, but still it will be nice to have longer class times. 

Then after that we went out with President Wilde (the branch president) and visited some members and less active people. 

So yes, it was a good week. Even though it was only four days, I managed to type up a super long email as usual. You're welcome!

Also a fun fact: about a month ago I bought some cheap juggling balls, and now when I need a break from study or planning or when we have some spare time in our flat, I juggle. 

I'm getting better already, so just imagine what sort of awesome juggling moves I'll be doing when I greet you at the airport in December!

Love you all! Have a super fantastical week.

Sincerely, 

Elder Spencer Ashcraft Burt, District Leader

PS The Amazon package came today! Seen here under the birthday tree, complete with the beautiful missionary ornament from Charlotte and Ryan.

My Hush Puppies shoes from Kater Shop.

I went ahead and bought me a cheap pair at a post-Christmas sale--classy brown shoes, kind of pointy-toe-style that is common here in the UK. only £10!

"...they all loved it and felt the spirit and prayed together after it."

First time emailing in 2014!

Well, it was a good start to the year so far. Yesterday we went to Paisley and played some New Year's Day football, a tradition in the stake. We went down with the Cox family, the same ones who I Skyped from.
Unfortunately we were playing on a wet, muddy pitch, and I didn't have any cleats to wear, so I was slipping and sliding all around in my running shoes. It was fun though! Might consider getting myself a pair of boots if we end up playing regularly.

Then we went to the house of our super-friendly investigator and watched a couple movies, because A) No members invited us over ... and B) He didn't have anyone to spend the day with so it was a win win! 

We watched DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE! It was pretty funny. Now that I'm out here, it's easier to distinguish which of the actors have legitimate Irish accents and which ones are super fake. Good classic film. 

Then we watched Shrek The Third and Shrek Forever After, sort of a Shrek movie marathon. I thought they were both brilliant! 

Which is odd because I remember seeing Shrek 3 and thinking it was rubbish a few years ago, but maybe all movies seem really good because we aren't allowed to watch them ever out here. So far, it's a good 2014.

Other cool wee stories: 

We went to visit this one guy we met a couple weeks ago. When we first taught him he was drunk as a skunk, and the lesson wasn't that spiritual or promising. So we kind of had him at the back of our mind, but then we thought we should go visit him again and see how he was doing. 

Turns out, he had watched the Joy To The World DVD we left with him...multiple times, and he invited friends over to watch it with him, and they all loved it and felt the spirit and prayed together after it. 

So although they were all likely drunk at the time they watched it, they were still quite receptive. So we talked with him a bit, set up a time to come back the next day, and when we did his two friends were there. 

They were all drunk, with bottles of vodka and "cider" sitting on the floor, so at times they were yelling at each other to shut up but other times they were listening intently to what we had to say. Interesting, and yet spiritual experience. Drunks are always interesting.

We went to Wemyss Bay the other day (which looks like it would be BEAUTIFUL in the summer time) to try to contact an AUF. 

While tracting near his house, we knocked on this door where as soon as the lady answered she called for her husband and said, "I think you have some visitors!" Then he came to the door and warmly greeted us, said it's been a long time since he's seen any of us. 

We were wondering at first if it was another long lost member, or what, but turns out he's a Jehovah's Witness who used to have discussions with missionaries quite often. He says he has a copy of the Book of Mormon AND The Pearl of Great Price, and he reads them every so often. 

Which says a lot, because every other Jehovah's Witness we've met has accused the Church of being wrong for having additional scriptures. But apparently he's a bit more receptive. We didn't get much time to talk, but we're seeing him again this weekend. Should be fun.

Let's see...other stuff to tell you...Oh yeah so New Year's eve we were MEANT to be in bed at 10:30 as usual. Our plan was to be IN BED at that time, but stay up until midnight watching Animated Book of Mormon stories that Elder Smiler has on our wee dvd player. 

However the fun kept us up a bit late...and when I finally laid down in my bed I was totally knackered. We were laying down just talking for a while, then I started to drift off around 11:55, then woke up at 12:01. So I wasn't even conscious for the New Year! Oh well. That's missionary life for ya. Tired all the time.

No updates on Traci and her family, they have all been sick lately so we haven't had a chance to visit them and they weren't at church. 

So there ya go, that's my week for you all. Next email will be quite short; we will be back to Monday emails as far as I know, so only like four days until I email again. Have a good four days!

Love, Spencer

Photos:

Too many Christmas gifts to hold at once, so here are some select ones! Thanks again!

My very first district...REUNITED! 

L to R: Elder Neilsen the DL, Elder Maughan, Me, Elder Holm, Elder South. 

Only one missing is Elder Kelly and he is away home now. And the Chamberlains as well, also home. 

But it was great to see them all! (Elder Maughan is in my district now, and the other three were in the Missionary Christmas Choir a couple weeks ago.)

"He laid down his sweet head, so he did!"

Friday, December 27, 2013
Well, Skyping was great with you all the other day. Time sure flew by! It was a great time. I feel like we could have talked for hours and hours! I guess we'll have to save it for Mum's Day.
Christmas was nice. We had a nice meal with the Cox family, we watched a bit of Despicable Me 2 and Toy Story 3 at the members' homes we visited that day, and then yesterday we watched Monsters University!
It was really good. Moral of the story: College is pointless; just quit and go work in the mailroom and you'll end up at the top! Just kidding. It was really good.
I think the Scottish couple we watched it with was probably really confused about the whole fraternity/sorority thing because I don't think they have that here. Remind me to never "go greek" when I get back to USU so I don't end up like those monsters.
Well the past week and a half have been really good. Lots and lots of travel.
We went to Glasgow for our district meetings last Tuesday and this past Monday, so we could practice our Christmas carol singing with both Glasgow and Paisley zones for our Christmas Eve performance.
It went really well; we sang in the middle of this posh indoor shopping mall. People were gathered around just listening to us for the whole two hours. It was awesome!
I have grown to love learning to sing actual choir parts. I'm a tenor, I discovered. Sometimes my voice is strained or cracks when I try to hit some of the higher notes, but I noticed myself getting a lot better even in these past two weeks of practice.
The highlight of the weeks: The Missionary Christmas Concert in Paisley last Wednesday. (Different from the previously mentioned one.)
This was a group of uber-talented singers from our mission who traveled around that whole week to each of the five stakes in Scotland and performed. It was amazing.
There were some really powerful performances. A few men's ensembles, a few a cappella duets, some piano and violin performances. Overall I just left feeling amazing, feeling like I was on a spiritual high. Music is amazing. Also Elder Holm was there as part of the choir and I got to talk to him for the first time since a Dublin conference over six months ago! It was nice.
Funny Ollie story (Traci's three year old son) we were with them on Christmas Eve talking about the nativity, and asking what they knew about the birth of Jesus. He said, "He laid down his sweet head, so he did!" It was adorable.
And I was sitting next to him on the couch as we watched a Christmas movie, and he offered me some of his blanket, "Elder, do you need some covers?" So cute and funny.
Well I forgot to bring my camera with me so I can't send photos of the Christmas festivities. But I will on Thursday. (Unfortunately no email this Monday again for some reason...) We have less email time today because we Skyped for an hour the other day. I loved talking with you all, it was great! Just wish it coulda been more time! Thanks so much for the gifts as well. I have enjoyed them thus far. Unwrapping each wee thing was so exciting to discover what surprises lay on the other side of the paper. And Skype was even better.
Hope you all had a great Christmas and have a happy New Year!!!
Love,
Spencer

"...it is a good thing to have a balance of those two things."

Crazy! Christmas is pretty much a week away!!! 

Skype: The members who invited us over said 5:00pm would be best for Skyping...but they could probably compromise for 7pm, since we have to be back at our flat by 9, and Skype sessions always go a bit over the expected time. (Which is good.) 

So I'll check with them and see. Hopefully they reply to my text within this email session. If not, I'll maybe jump on the computer during our lunch break to make sure we're all on the same page. Yeah, disobedient technically, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Anyway, this week has been pretty good. Elder Smiler is a really cool New Zealander/Polynesian. We get on pretty good so far. He keeps telling me he loves me because his last companion was super intense and angry sometimes. So it's nice to be appreciated for my relative laid back attitude.

Our host family just texted and said that 5 would be ideal for them because they go to visit their family after that...however maybe we can go to another family's house after their's and make it work? For now: let's plan on 5:00 Skype, but hopefully I'll get something worked out between now and then.

Elder Smiler likes to be stylish; clothing and also the way the flat is arranged. So the past few days he has repositioned furniture, reorganized stuff, etc. 

It looks nice. But I just can't be bothered either way. As long as it's warm inside, there's a bed, and enough food to survive, I'm good.

Well last week was a lot of me sitting around while Elder Pallin packed, which was fun! Not really, but kinda necessary. 

Monday night we went to Traci's for dinner. Every time we visit they tell us how thankful they are for what we have done, apparently we made a big change on the whole family! But it wasn't us, it was the spirit! 

I think I always feel like I don't teach the gospel very well, but then moments like that make me feel like others have much more confidence in me than I do. 

Like yesterday, the branch president came out teaching with us, and he told us we were fantastic teachers, whereas I always like when members contribute to the lesson because I feel like they put it in a more simple, understandable and relateable way than I can. But it's ok, because as we have seen thus far it's the holy ghost that converts the people, not our words.

A TON of travel this week! We went to Dunoon on Thursday, where our branch mission leader lives.

It was an interesting day; weekly planning, which takes about three hours. Then a lunch break. Then we had to get a bus from Greenock to Gourock, where the ferry port is. 

We missed the one we meant to get, because the driver didn't see us waiting for it and he just drove by. So we waited 30 minutes, in this time we had a nice chat with a friendly old lady going to the same place. 

The next bus never came, and the lady said she'd just get a taxi to the ferry terminal, and offered to let us go with her for free. 

So we got to the ferry on time, but only on time to get to the member's house for dinner. 

Then we had a brief coordination meeting, and by the time we got back it was like 8:30! So yeah, lots of travel, and waiting for buses and ferries. 

Then the next day we went to Millport, which was basically the same. 

Have to get a bus to Largs, then a ferry to the Isle of Cumbrae, where brother Gibson usually picks us up and takes us into the actual town of Millport. 

Dunoon, Cumbrae, and the ferry journeys are beautiful, but sometimes it's dark when we're traveling so we miss out on a bit. Apparently the summer there is AMAZING though; they say that Largs and Millport are the tourist hot spots in the summer for loads of Glaswegians. (People from Glasgow.)

ON FRIDAY I BURNED A SHIRT AND A TIE! Don't worry; they were ones that elders had left in the flat, the shirt doesn't fit me or Elder Smiler, and the tie was old and stained. So I didn't feel bad for wasting clothing. 

Man, it ignited so fast it was scary. Photos attached. Luckily it had rained earlier that morning so we didn't have to worry about setting a wildfire.

On Saturday we went and taught Kenny, Traci's husband. He's real solid. Wants to get baptised, just not sure when yet though. And have I told you that their wee boy Mark wants to go on a mission when he's 18? 

Such a solid family. Still amazes me that it all came from just knocking a certain door, right time right place.

Hmmm well I think that's it for this week. It was a nice week, as will this upcoming one. 

Still trying to find a balance between being a chill, laid-back missionary, and a super serious strict spiritual one. I hope to find that balance someday, whether here or after the mish, it is a good thing to have a balance of those two things.

Love you all! Thanks for everything. TTYL!

Love,

Elder Spencer Burt

Photos:
Beautiful sunset on the bus to Largs

Before

After (Again, don't worry, the grass was soaking wet. And we had a two litre jug of water just in case, because we are responsible!)

"By small and simple things, great things truly do come to pass!"

Hey the news is in and I will be staying another transfer, and Elder Pallin is moving to Dublin.
My new comp is Elder Smiler from New Zealand.
Crazy, I've had so many foreign companions! Let's review them all:
Elder Hunt (England)
Elder Holm (Nevada)
Elder Gomez-Castillo (Spain)
Elder Meyer (Australia)
Elder Winn (Utah)
Elder Pallin (Canada)
Elder Smiler (New Zealand)
So I've only served with one fellow Utahan, and only two Americans! Pretty crazy.
I'm excited. I've met Elder Smiler before, he seems really fun and has a goofy side I think. So we'll have some fun and also work hard and be spiritual.
So this week was real good. We have met quite a lot of new folks that are kind of interested in learning more through members.
Not the typical "referral" they encourage us to ask for, where they tell us who of their friends are interested and we go and seek them out.
No, these are people that have been inside members' houses when we go visit, and they end up sitting in on the lesson and we tailor it to them rather than the member we planned on teaching. This happened on three instances this week.
Each time they seemed really interested and they accepted the invitation for us to come around to their house or else meet up at the member's house again to teach them more. It is really cool, just investigators coming out of the woodwork so to speak.
Also, Traci's husband Kenny is solid! We visited them on Saturday night, answered any questions he had about the church or the baptism, and then taught him about the Restoration and Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and he was real excited. Said he was open to the idea of baptism someday.
So yeah, their whole flippin' family will probably join the church and it will be such a great miracle! Just because we were tracting in the right place at the right time that day. By small and simple things, great things truly do come to pass!
Also, their son Mark who is seven years old apparently talks to Traci about how he wants to go on a mission to America when he is 18!
It just blows my mind how much of one missionary can affect countless lives. So rewarding!
One day last week we went to Dunoon. It's part of our branch, but we have to take a bus and then a ferry to get there. But it is beautiful! I'll try to attach a photo.
We went with the intention of trying to contact some less-active members and also some AUF's, and do some tracting in between.
But not much success. Except one older couple; we realized that the man's birthday was the very day we were going, and the Paisley stake has encouraged us to give out these birthday cards with Jesus on it, wishing them a happy birthday and encouraging them to come to church.
We heard through the grapevine that our surprise visit had a massive effect, and they are both planning to return to church!
We had a zone meeting this week. Good fun.
During it we practiced singing Christmas songs for an upcoming performance. Every year all the Paisley and Glasgow zone missionaries go to a mall in Glasgow and sing carols to raise money for some charity. And apparently we always make loads of money for them, so they like having us do it. It will be fun!
It's weird that Christmas is coming; there's no snow on the ground. Well it did snow a few days, but just flurries accompanied by freezing, strong winds, and none of it sticks to the ground so far. So not a "winter wonderland" just yet but maybe it will get snowy closer to the big day.
I went on an exchange with Elder Davis, we had a good time. Exchanges are always fun, even when you get along good enough with your companion it's nice to have a change. And also to learn from our leaders.
Well, that's it for this week.

HEY! IMPORTANT! When do you all want to Skype? There is a member family that wants us over for Christmas day and they said anytime that suits yous. So what time would be most convenient? Let me know ASAP so I can make sure it's fine with the family and then let you know in advance if it's ok. Deal? Deal. I'm very excited to talk to you all!
Love yous lots! Happy Holidays!
Spencer

Photos:
The Paisley Zone...missing a couple people because they were trying to work out the self-timers on THEIR cameras. But oh well.

Amazing sunrise in Paisley!

"We were just in the right place at the right time...and the spirit did all the convincing."

Wow, What a weekend!
Traci was baptised. And confirmed.
Her mum, dad, husband (he works in England during the week and comes back up on weekends), and two sons were there, and so was a good number of members from the ward. It was a great experience. Elder Pallin baptised her, and I confirmed her the next day.
Traci's husband said he wants to come to church again next week, and he said it's just a positive environment that is rare to find these days. So we're looking forward to getting to know him better; Friday evening was the first time we met him. Such a solid family! And her seven year old son wants to get baptised in May. Just so golden! And Traci bought us each a bag of sweets and included personal letters, very grateful and so nice and such.
It feels weird to me; we spend SO much time teaching someone, worrying about them, praying for them, studying for lessons we will teach them, and overall preparing them for this one big day...and it's super exciting, but all of a sudden it just happens, and it feels kinda weird!
I felt the same way with Jimmy. Very grateful to be part of their conversion and to witness their baptisms, but for some reason I just feel like, what? That's it? It's over? Of course, it's not over for them or for us. And of course I'm super excited at the baptism and extremely happy for each person. Overall it was a fantastic weekend!
Elder Dustin, who is a Paisley zone leader, interviewed Traci for baptism and he was just amazed at how prepared she was. As were we the whole time, I still can't believe it's only been less than a month and she is so dedicated and such a strong testimony.
And the great thing is, we didn't do anything special. We were just in the right place at the right time when we found her, had solid members with us when teaching her, and the spirit did all the convincing. In fact sometimes I felt like our lessons were rubbish quality, but she felt the spirit and understood what we tried to teach and knew it was true. So yeah, it's just magic isn't it!
Speaking of which, I shared what I thought was some really good insight/counsel at my district meeting this week.
There's a segment in The District DVD's where this young, inexperienced elder who doesn't seem too confident, makes a comment in a lesson...whenever we watch it it's just painful.
He basically says, "Yeah, a lot of people tell us, 'Well Jesus drank wine!' and we say, well, no...it was grape juice..." and then the investigator goes off on a tangent about how it really WAS wine because "grape juice wouldn't hold" and then after the segment the elder is telling how much of a disaster that one comment was, but then he says "As missionaries we make mistakes. But it's ok to make those mistakes sometimes because the spirit is there, and if the spirit is there then a good feeling is there."
And later in the video it shows the baptism of the whole family, and the spirit is always so strong when watching it.
So yeah at district meeting I showed those two segments and re-emphasized the message, that we are not perfect missionaries and we don't have to be; sometimes we will make mistakes but if we have the spirit with us then everything will be ok.
And most of the missionaries in our district then shared experiences when they had made silly mistakes in lessons and it worked out just fine in the end, because the Spirit does the actual converting, not us.
A lot of our time this week was spent teaching Traci and preparing HER, but also spent at the church preparing the other stuff.
Such as figuring out how the font filling system worked, making sure the hot water worked, cleaning the font because it hasn't been used in about a year, and cleaning a lot of the building because with such few members it's hard to clean that whole thing regularly.
In the end, it was a great experience for all who were present, and we managed to get a lot of missionary work done in the midst of it all.
Well other than that, there is not much else that happened this week. Usual, visiting less-active members, teaching other investigators who are much slower going than Traci, walking, riding buses, knocking on doors, talking to people on the street, etc.
Oh wait! A cool experience!
Whilst waiting for a bus one day, the bus stop was suddenly mobbed with little school kids and their parents taking them home.
One little four or five year old boy came up to me and just kinda started talking. Random stuff at first. Then he asked me "What's that book?" that I was holding in my hand.
I immediately turned to the pictures at the front of the book, the ones of Jesus, Joseph Smith, Nephi, Lehi, Samuel the Lamanite, etc. I showed him each one and he was amazed.
Especially when I showed him Samuel on the wall being shot at with arrows, and I told him the story about how they couldn't hit him because God was on his side. He wanted to read the story about that, so I put a bookmark in the chapter where that is, and asked him mom if it was ok to give him the book, since she was standing a few feet away talking to someone else.
Then we got on the same bus as them and he was looking at the pictures the whole time. So great!
That's my youngest Book of Mormon placement so far. Then it gets even better.
We were walking around looking for the house of a less-active member we wanted to visit. Suddenly Elder Pallin says, hey, we should knock on that door.
We did, and a friendly old man came to the door. He said he was fine with being Catholic, but we could come by another time to have a little chat.
When we left, Elder Pallin said that on the old man's wall was a photo of the little kid who I gave a Book of Mormon to! So now we have a connection on how to get in contact with the family, and we took it as a sign that they are perhaps ready to hear the gospel. It was awesome!
I feel like little kids are always happy to see us when walking around, tracting, or on the bus, but then their parents are like "No." All angry and stubborn and grumpy. Sort of rings true to that scripture where Jesus says we must be as little children, submissive, meek, humble, etc. I wish the parents were always as innocent and receptive as their kids!
Anyway, that was my week. Hope this one is full of magic and surprises for all of us, wherever we may be.
Love,
Elder Burt

Photos:
Traci's baptism

Nov 25