April 7

"JESUS IS DEAD!" I immediately yelled back "No he's not!"

Well I have limited time for this mass email...I decided to spend a bit more quality personal time writing personal emails to family and friends. But I'm sure I'll be able to communicate what went down this week.
Yesterday was UK Mothers' Day! They had a special service in sacrament meeting. They gave all the mothers a nice rose or some flower, I don't know what type.
It was kinda messed up though because they ONLY gave them to the mothers...not the expectant moms, not the married wives, not the single ladies...so I'm sure some people felt left out.
Oh well, not my problem. I'm just there to bring more souls into the Kingdom here in Lisburn...which we did!
Our investigator Chris, who is 17 (mattress guy) decided to come. We had like four other people say they would probably show up too, but none did. But Chris came.
We almost expected him to leave after Sacrament, but he stayed and said he really enjoyed it! We've only been able to teach him one lesson, but we have another appointment with him this week.
We taught the Graham family (Nelson, Kathleen, Ashley) a couple times, and took different members with us each time. They get along really well with them.
We're not sure if they understand our purpose for visiting them, but they are willing to have us over whenever and to come to church...they've committed to all come together in three weeks. Not sure why, but we'll take it. Excited to see where they end up.
I went to Belfast on exchanges last Tuesday with Elder Kinnard. We walked a lot.
But we taught a young guy who probably listened more attentively than anyone I've ever taught, except maybe Traci.
Usually they're full of questions or objections or concerns or just random comments and going off topic...but this guy was dead on, just listening, nodding, answering our questions perfectly.
I feel like that's it for eventful things this week...not much funny stuff...
Well yesterday we were walking down a quiet street, and a car drove by and a guy around our age yelled out the window "JESUS IS DEAD!"
I immediately yelled back "No he's not!" as they drove away...But I've got a slight cold so my voice cracked really bad and Elder Dewsbery and I had a good laugh over that.
The past few weeks we've been wanting to go "street preaching" on a Saturday in the City Centre here, just like the early missionaries of the Restoration did in the UK.
We're both pretty excited, and telling ourselves we'll be ready for it and prepare what to say...and then by Saturday we just get way nervous and end up backing out.
We're not sure if it's even legal, but we'll do it someday before our companionship is over, we've promised ourselves.
It will be way scary but awesome to say that we did it. And maybe we'll get a member to come down and take pictures of us doing it.
Pretty nerve-wracking idea...but who knows, maybe we'll baptise entire villages just like they did back in the day?
Well, have a great week!
Enjoy General Conference! I wonder if anyone will mention the "Act Well Thy Part" stone this year. Or maybe the Blarney Stone instead to commemorate Ireland.
Love yous!
--Elder Spencer A. Burt

Photo: Moroni 10:4

"...having a gang of wee girls following us around asking for free stuff."

Hello!
It's been a pretty great week. I feel like it's flown by, but at the same time I feel like it was really long. That's the mission paradox it seems.
The highlight was that Nelson, the father of the family we've been teaching, came to church yesterday!
He is old and can't walk much at all, so it was a bit difficult finding someone to give him a lift to church...but in the end we figured it out ok!
He loved it; said that he already has more friends in our church than he did in the church he went to for 10 years. So that was great. Our ward is solid at fellowshipping new people.
He can't hear very well, in fact, we're not sure if he understood a word that was said during sacrament meeting or the lessons, but he said he really loved it, so he must have just felt the spirit and liked it. Pretty cool stuff.
His son Ashley, who we originally contacted on the street, said he doesn't want to come without a suit, even though we told him it was fine. He has a suit, but it's too small so he says he'll buy one before Easter and come to the service then.
His mum said she'd come as well, and who knows, maybe Ashley's wife and kids as well.
The kids are so funny, age two and five, and they just run around and love us being over at their house. It's just a great family overall and we're blessed to have found them!
Now some funny stories.
We were walking around the neighborhood where Ashley's family lives, and these three girls ages 6-8 came up to us and said "Hey, what are yous doing?"
We told them we're missionaries, and we talk to people about God and Jesus.
They saw we were carrying copies of the Book of Mormon, and they said "Can we have Bibles?" We said yes, because I think it's a good seed to plant...the kids will take them home and show their parents, who will maybe read it...who knows?
But we only had two Books of Mormon, so we gave them to two of the girls and to the other one we gave three pamphlets, and we told her that they were just as good, if not better, and she has three now.
So then they started trading books for pamphlets. Then they told us to go visit their parents' houses.
We did, and the parents were usually confused and uninterested. But oh well, it was a funny experience, having a gang of wee girls following us around asking for free stuff.
Then another day we were walking around the city just trying to talk to everyone we could, and we met two teenage girls around 17 or 18 years old.
They started asking us all these random questions, and then one asked "Hey, wanna take a selfie with us?!" So we did, and she put it on facebook saying she was "hanging out with Mormons."
We told them a bit about the church, but it was hard because they were easily distracted. But it was a way funny experience.
They asked our names and added us on facebook, so if there's a girl named Ellen who mysteriously adds me on facebook, go ahead and add her, and then maybe I'll convert her after my mission using facebook, if we don't' get the chance to while we're here in Lisburn. They said they'd come to church but they didn't.
Then while we were talking to them, two guys walked up carrying a brand new mattress. It was actually one of our investigators named Christ who we've taught a couple times, also an 18 year old.
He was carrying it to his house, so we offered to help. It was a big queen size mattress, and we could tell they were struggling to carry it quite a distance, and then when we all lifted together they were just so thankful because we got it to his house in about 30 minutes rather than probably an hour if they had to do it themselves.
So we are slowly building friendships with YSA, youth, and primary age people, and I think that's just as effective as it is to walk around talking to everyone about Jesus Christ and the message of the restored gospel.
Although that's great and everyone needs to hear it, most people just brush it off because they don't give themselves a chance to even hear it.
So yeah, it was a fun crazy night full of facebook selfies and carrying a mattress.
Other stuff...we had six dinner appointments last week which was pretty rad. All with really fun families in the church.
We volunteer once a week at the British Heart Foundation, a charity (thrift) shop, where we help organize and put price tags on donated clothes. Fun time.
We were through a park near our flat yesterday and tried to stop and talk to this man...I just said "Hello sir, how are you?"
He made eye contact, took off running past us, and then stopped running about 10 feet past and kept walking. We were just so confused...like, "What just happened?!" We've asked ourselves that same question with all the other random crazy things that have happened this week.
We approached another lady about to cross the street, and we said, "Hey, sorry we know you're going somewhere and you might be busy, but we're sharing a message about how families can be together forever. Would you be interested in learning more someday?"
She said, "Yes absolutely. Can I give you my address?" We eagerly took it, and we were impressed and both had a good feeling that she was very prepared and searching for truth in life.
But then when we went to her house another lady answered and said it was the wrong address. Such a downer, especially after we felt so excited that she wanted us to teach her quite badly. Oh well, we'll get over it.
That's my week.
As usual, very long, but I thought they were cool stories.
More funny and random than spiritual this time...maybe next week will be super spiritual.
Either way, missions are awesome and I'm loving it.
Love you all!
Elder Burt

Pictures:
Can you spot it?

Some memorial thing.

"...I realize how simple it is, and yet how profound the results can be..."

Hello family! 

So I'm emailing on a Tuesday because the library was closed yesterday for St. Patrick's day!

It was a disappointment though; we went to Belfast hoping to get to see some parades or festivities of some sort...turns out they did the parade on Sunday! 

Pretty ironic that everyone who wanted to go celebrate the life of a Saint had to skip church to do so. Oh well, we still had fun exploring the city, taking photos, buying random Irish stuff, and spent a bit of time playing footy in the church gym with other Belfast missionaries.

So last week was pretty fantastic. The best parts were teaching like four brand new investigators! 

We have done tons and tons of street contacting, which as I think I said last week provides a lot of teaching opportunities and also funny experiences! 

We met this young couple, probably 18 or 19, and we stopped and talked to them, and they just started laughing because to be honest it is a bit weird for two guys in shirts and ties to approach someone and start talking about Jesus Christ or the Book of Mormon or the great Plan of Happiness. 

But the awkwardness faded, and they expressed interest in hearing our message in full at Chris's house. 

So we went to our appointment, and we think he forgot we were coming, but he nonetheless let us share the Restoration with him. 

It was kind of awkward, because we figured he was just too nice to say he wasn't interested, because he was just real quiet the whole time and wouldn't really answer questions we asked...But then a few days later he approached US in the City Centre and said he'd been reading the Book of Mormon and enjoyed what he's read so far, and we'll be seeing him later today. 

So that was cool how it felt a bit awkward at first when teaching, but he apparently felt the Spirit and took something away from our conversation!

We also met Ashley, a man, in the town about two weeks ago. 

He said we could stop by his house anytime, but also said his mum would be interested. So we went to his mom's house last week, she told us a day and time to come back when she, her husband, and Ashley would all be present. 

They all kept the appointment, and the lesson went almost perfectly...when talking about how Joseph Smith was searching for the truth among so many conflicting churches, ideas, and opinions, Kathleen (the mum) said "Wow, that would be really difficult." And agreed that even nowadays it's hard to know which one is right. 

They loved the idea that the truth was restored, and they all three eagerly accepted a Book of Mormon. 

The next visit, we taught Ashley's wife, and they said that they have two other family members that they think would be interested and they'll invite them over next time! 

So we found a golden family to teach, who I have faith that at least a couple of them will be baptised when the time is right...all from opening our mouth to speak to one man!

I feel I always am nervous to speak to strangers on the street, but when I just get out and do it, not caring what they'll think and hoping that they'll hear and feel something that sparks their interest, I realize how simple it is, and yet how profound the results can be from persevering and talking to everyone, even if we go for hours with nothing but rejection. 

The feeling after we leave the house is just awesome, and Elder Dewsbery and I feel like just shouting for joy and high fiving and hugging. 

We usually do the former two but not the latter, because it's a bit of a busy road with lots of cars going by and we don't want them to think we're weird.

We have another investigator who was taught for about a month before I arrived here in Lisburn, and she is totally prepared to receive the Gospel. 

She found a pass-along card on the ground one day, looked up mormon.org, loved it, came to church on her own, loved it, took the missionary lessons, loved it, and wants to be baptised! 

The only catch is that she works all the time, and she moved to Belfast just a week ago so I've only met her once. 

She is great though, I'm excited for her to be baptised and continue to learn and grow in whatever ward she ends up going to. 

So we've been spending most of our time littering pass-along cards all over the sidewalks these past few weeks. Only joking. That's illegal.

Well that's it for this week. We've also had loads of born-again Christians who tell us our church is false...one man in particular who we've seen like three times and each time he says "Hi, Kolob-ites!" 

It's funny. But annoying. 

Last time we saw him, I just said "Matthew 7:21" which is my favourite verse that resolves the concerns that almost all born-again Christians have with our Church (the necessity of works, and the nature of the Godhead). 

At the end of the day, all we can do is testify to them that the Book of Mormon is true, and even when we do that, they seem to have a concern..."No, you can't add to God's word, it's just the Bible..." "That contradicts what the Bible says"...not true, but even if it were, the Book is still true, and I can't deny it.

Then they say, "Well, Joseph Smith was a greedy con artist, and the pioneers killed Indians when they crossed the plains..." My response is still the same...."Doesn't matter, it's still true."

Anyway, Have a fantastic week brothers and elders and sisters!

Love, Elder Spencer Burt

Photos:

Being a monkey on a postman statue

"Insert [pass-along] card this way"

Building companionship unity

"...The Lord won't be offended if I read it will he?"

Hello everyone!
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.

"...I've loved my time here in Greenock; the members, the area, the people we teach, the sights..."

Hello! 

I'll cut to the chase: I'm moving to Lisburn, N. Ireland on Wednesday. It's just outside Belfast. 

Excited to return to Northern Ireland!!! But sad to leave Greenock, as I always seem to be with transfers. Oh well, I may be able to see Tom Henry at stake conference or something. That would be so great!

So the next couple days will be full of goodbyes, packing, cleaning our flat to make the new guy feel welcome and whatnot.

This past week was pretty good. Kind of weird thinking, "Hey, Grandpa's funeral is today..." but then just carrying on with my everyday doings. 

It honestly is kind of easy to forget about until something reminds me of it, just because as I said last week, it doesn't directly affect me. I have taken some time to print out and re-read your emails and look at photos of Grandpa.

I'm gonna talk a bit about the cool things that happened the last two weeks, since last week I didn't really tell you much about the work here.

Best part: The Beith elders had a baptism last-last Friday! 

A super great lady named Jeanie, who they just started teaching a couple weeks ago. 

I had the privilege of doing her baptism interview. It was a great experience; apparently she was really nervous at the idea of an "interview", so I made sure to be friendly and casual. She said she really enjoyed it. 

Her baptism was great. We got to attend it, and go to the branch social afterward. It was sort of like being a member of another branch for a day! 

Then we slept over at the Beith elders' flat. So between the baptism, the interview, and exchanges, we've been traveling between here and Beith quite a lot the past few weeks. It's a beautiful bus trip.

I really enjoyed going on exchanges with Elder Howie. He is going home tomorrow, and he is the most solid missionary I know. 

It's been great being HIS district leader; I feel like I go away from our exchanges with a renewed conviction to be the best I can be. And he says he learns a lot from me too. 

We had loads of success on our exchange in Greenock; we just talked to everybody, shared the Book of Mormon, and had good laughs all the while. Elder Smiler is great too. But I absolutely love my exchanges with Elder Howie.

I also went on exchange to Beith. We stripped wallpaper from a lady's walls. It was actually quite fun. 

We don't seem to get much service opportunities here in Greenock. Maybe we don't offer enough, or maybe people just want to be independent. 

We went and visited a less-active guy on our ward list. He let us right in and was super friendly. 

He knows the doctrine, knows it's true, and knows it's a good thing. He even said that he wishes more people would read the Book of Mormon, because then they'd know what we're all about rather than just read rumors online. 

When I asked if he still reads his Book of Mormon, he said he didn't have one anymore. So of course I offered him one, and he turned it down, and wouldn't tell us why. 

He made it quite clear that he knows he needs to go back to church but he just won't. But he wouldn't give a clear answer on WHY. 

I found it pretty frustrating, just like, come on, you know it's true! Just come back! There always seems to be one of those in every area. 

We've also been teaching a really nice couple who are in the process of changing their life. 

They have three kids, who they just regained custody of. They have a history of drugs, crime, violence, etc. but they are on their way back. 

It must be really hard; the father brought up a few concerns that must be a real struggle. 

One was that he couldn't find any work, and the only way he could provide for his family was to deal drugs, so he asked us if God would understand if he's doing it for that reason. 

Really hard to answer that question. Of course we had to tell him that that was not ok, but I could totally understand where he is coming from. 

It's a difficult life to be in I'm sure. Hard to get out once you're in. 

Hopefully the gospel will help a lot, you never know what the Spirit and the feeling of belonging to something can do for someone.

Sad news: The day after Jim Craig passed away, Joe, one of our [usually drunk] investigators was found dead. Elder Smiler and Elder Jackson were trying to call him, and his sister answered and said he had died. 

Real sad, most likely alcohol related. Really weird week of death, but I suppose Joe might be hanging out with Jim and Grandpa as well. Why not?

We had stake conference this weekend. It was pretty good. Not much else to report.

Overall, I've loved my time here in Greenock; the members, the area, the people we teach, the sights, the scenery along the coast, etc. But hopefully N. Ireland is a bit less rainy! 

Excited for a new adventure. 

Did I mention that I'm no longer a district leader when I move? I get to rest and be a normal missionary again! It will be kind of nice, but I'll miss some aspects of it.

Welp, I love you all and hope you have a great week. 

Love, 

Elder Spencer Burt

Photos: 

Some abandoned building in Paisley

A submarine!

The McMillan family (members)

I got some awesome use out of the panoramic feature this week.
(Views from Gourock, the ferry, and atop a hill in Dunoon.)

"...with renewed strength, for that's what Grandpa would want me to do."

Monday, February 24
Dear Family,
Thanks for your wonderful emails, they filled me with emotion, both sadness but also happiness.
The spirit was strong. What a blessing it is to have modern technology to communicate such feelings in matter of seconds.
I don't want to be the bearer of more bad news, but coincidentally our friend Jim Craig passed away this morning.
He was in the hospital in a bad state for the past week or so, but we didn't expect him to go.
I think there's something special about it though; He and Grandpa died within 24 hours of each other.
This may sound odd, but I can see them meeting up in the spirit world, and both being excited about the fact that they had a friend in common.
I can almost see Jim telling Grandpa that I was able to visit him in the hospital, just hours after the rest of my family had gathered around Grandpa's bedside during his final hours.
I dunno, but I feel like there's something special about it. I am convinced that they are together.
We don't exactly know HOW the spirit world works; although Jim wasn't the most faithful member in his last years, his mental state I feel may excuse him from that and he may finally be in a state of rest and happiness, with his new friend Lyle.
Of course, even happier is envisioning Grandpa's reunion with Barb, his parents, siblings, etc.
Especially Barbara.
I have felt strong feelings while reading all your emails, partially sadness, but also a very powerful spirit.
That's so great that everyone gathered together for the last couple hours.
It sounds like everyone had a very spiritual experience. Hope these feelings are a reminder of what we all know.
President Brown was very good at giving me the news. As soon as he said he got a phone call from you I sort of knew what was going to happen.
I expected him to go during my mission, but recently I've felt some hope that he'd make it till the end. But that's ok because the Plan gives that reassurance that life never really ends.
I love you all.
I'll keep pressing forward as best as possible, in fact, with renewed strength, for that's what Grandpa would want me to do.
Love,
Spencer