"...we could dress up, as long as we were still dignified...you tell me if this fits..."

So I was practically a "Chinatown" elder this week.
I went on two exchanges with the Mandarin speaking elders in the district this week. It was fun. They still do a lot of teaching and talking to people in English, but sometimes it's just pure Chinese.
One time we were teaching an investigator (well, I wasn't teaching, I was just observing because I don't speak Chinese.) at a member's house.
They both had their wives and kids there too, four kids under the age of five. And it was just crazy! Little kids running around, yelling in Chinese, while the other elder tried to teach the investigator in Chinese, and they fed us some...interesting food, and it was just fun.
It's like being in a totally different mission, except for one Scottish investigator that one companionship teaches.
I got to be there for a lesson with him, and it was great. The spirit was very strong. And I usually don't say that about lessons.
This lesson the spirit was very very strong, I could feel it almost the whole time we taught him. Probably because we really just asked him questions, and helped him to find an answer.
He's atheist, but sooo open to our teachings, and he loves the Church and said he would LOVE to get an answer telling him it's true!
And he prayed out loud and you would've thought he was an active member. So I think he'll come around. His name is Thomas btw.
There was a Halloween party on Saturday, combined with the other ward who meets in our building. It was a lot of fun.
At first we were told to not dress up, then the day of the party we were informed that we could dress up, as long as we were still dignified and recognized as missionaries. So you tell me if this fits (photos attached). I'm a monkey missionary.
Our Christian investigators Sam and Jennie came along, and they seemed to have a good time.
It was their first time in the church building...I wish we'd been able to show them around the church to see the paintings and chapel and classrooms and baptismal font and such...but it was a bit hectic and exciting. It was a good time.
On Halloween night we have to stay inside from 6-9pm, and do weekly planning. Fun!
Maybe we'll knock on doors on Thursday or maybe Friday during the day, and say "Trick or Treat!...just kidding." and then teach people and baptize them. Maybe call it "Trick or Tracting"
So that's all the exciting things that happened last week...doesn't seem all that eventful. But it was a fun week, nice to see a new area, new people, and have a change of companions.
I love you all and have a fantastic week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Burt

Photos--
Wizard duel with Sister Cannon last p-day, at Glasgow/Hogwarts University

Halloween. Me and Elder Zander

"Then we went to Sam's church!...It was fun, and kind of spiritual."

Dear Family,
It's been a good week.
Started off with watching General Conference for district meeting, since none of us saw the final session. It was good.
Then I exchanged with Elder Yip, from Hong Kong. We were in his area, Glasgow Chinatown.
It was a fun experience--we go to the City Centre or near the university and street contact only Asians!
We start in English, and if they seem confused or their English is broken, we ask where they're from and if they say China then Elder Yip will just start speaking Mandarin. It's great fun.
Sometimes we get people who look Chinese but they have a Scottish accent because they were born here.
It was a fun experience, pretty much walking down the street, getting an Asian family in our sights and making a beeline to them.
Later in the week we got thrown out of an investigator's house--the first time on my mission!
It was a bad one though--the lesson was with a homosexual lady to whom I had already explained the Church's stance on the matter...although she didn't like it the first time she accepted that that's the way it is and that we still loved everyone.
But we had a member with us, who started arguing back with her this time...telling her she was too stubborn to see the truth, and about 30 minutes later of this he started making personal attacks against her and gays in general.
So she said to him "I'm gonna have to ask you to leave." SO although she wasn't mad at us, we had to leave too because he was our joint teach.
We went back a couple days later and apologized, especially because she was moving the next day to England to live with her partner and we didn't want her leaving with a bad taste of the Church. She was kind about it, but she said straight out that she did not like the guy we brought with us.
She accepted that our beliefs are what they are, but we all agreed that our member didn't handle it in a very loving way.
We also had a three hour lesson with a guy who I mentioned last week. (He is CRAZY) part Jehovah's Witness, part Buddhist, part Hindu, or so it seems.
This was our second lesson with him...and it wasn't a lesson.
It was just him rambling (and sometimes yelling) about how Joseph Smith was a Freemason and we cannae trust him and how some church leaders are even questioning his integrity and how the Book of Mormon was changed and how the Joseph Smith story was changed in 1960 and how Masons worship Satan and how he used to be a Mason and he left it cause it was evil and his super rich and powerful family disowned him because he left it and our temples are just like Masonic temples and the Salt Lake temple is white just like all Freemason temples are white and how Jeffrey R Holland is a Freemason and he's met him and he's a Freemason and Freemasons use the King James Version of the bible and the Freemasons go two by two and can't be alone with another person just like our companionship and Joseph Smith is a liar and how I just convinced myself that I received a witness that it's all true and yeah it was just a CRAZY stressful 3 hours.
We couldn't escape.
The next day he called us to tell how he had no money or food or electricity and asked if we could help him.
So we told him to come to church and ask the bishop and he yelled at me saying, "Do you understand how humiliating that is?!" and when we told him that that's just the way it works he hung up on us, and then phoned back 10 minutes later and said to never come to his door again.
Phew!
We tracted a bunch in some high-rise apartment buildings (high-flats) throughout our area...found some cool people.
We played football on Saturday and it was fun.
I finally scored after blowing like three chances by panicking and trying to one-time a shot on goal rather than control it first. Hoping to get into intramurals at USU.
After church on Sunday we stayed after to see the baptism of a super nice Thai couple. It was great. Then we went to Sam's church! He's the Christian that we teach, who is very active in his church and in a Christian student ministry group. It was fun, and kind of spiritual.
It was like being at a Christian Rock concert, which was awesome. The sermon was kinda boring though.
Lots of really nice people though--a few weird looks when we came in our suits and ties and everyone else just wore casual clothes. Not sure if they were thinking "What are the Mormon missionaries doing here?" or "Those guys must have thought this was a fancy dressed church or something"
I dunno but it was a good experience. Not really any false doctrine that was taught, just not the fulness. Oh well! Now Sam hopefully feels obligated to come to ours. :)
Well that's my week. It was a good one. Thank you all for everything. Love yous!
Elder Spencer Burt, District Leader.

Photos:
Elder Gibson's kebabtism at the Chinatown four-man flat.

Mom, I have met Elder Penman a couple times and here's a photo of me and him at the bus station on moves day. He's being trained by zone leaders!

"...I interviewed a lovely couple from Thailand for baptism."

Dearest family,
Isn't it just cool that I'm in Scotland right now?
Sometimes I just get so used to it that I forget how cool it is. Listening to Scottish folk music helps me to appreciate it.
So last week was full and exciting.
Tuesday we had Zone Development--mentioned before, but basically a super-p-day with the entire zone. Sports, food, games, socializing, etc.
This time, they surprised us by telling us to meet at Glasgow Green, a big park here, and when we arrived we were surprised to see the Paisley Zone there too!
They organized a HUGE capture the flag game, zone vs. zone, and a yoga-football (playing soccer with a big exercise ball) game, and it was crazy fun.
Then we had food and a few other little games back at the church. It was fun to be with all the zone.
Then the next day was a zone CONFERENCE! It was very uplifting and gave me a good boost to work real hard these last couple months. The next day I went on exchange with the zone leaders. So much zone stuff this week!
The exchange helped me a lot with giving it my best...sometimes it's easy to think that just because we're out walking to a destination or whatever that we are being good hard workers...but I was reminded and learned by example that I need to talk to EVERYONE!
Sure, it makes it so the trip back home for lunch takes two hours instead of 30 minutes, but we had a lot of good conversations and planted some Books of Mormons and such. Nothing has come of it YET but it just felt good and satisfying by the end of the day.
Also we found a hive of American university students near the church.
There's a student accommodation place where tons of study abroad students live while going to Glasgow University.
We actually gave Books of Mormon to two of them, from New Jersey. It's weird to hear the american accent from a non-missionary.
I also exchanged with Elder Gibson, the new Chinese-speaking missionary in our district. He's real good--21 years old, decided to serve a mission right before he was about to apply to medical school! He sacrificed a lot, especially when he says his friends were mostly home when he left. It shows how dedicated he is, and you can see it too.
Saturday we went to football and had a good time. Sunday we went to church.
We found two new people to teach, one black guy from Guyana named Prince. He said he would never leave his church, but of course we wouldn't expect him to until he's had a taste of something different.
Also a guy named Colin. We knocked on his door, he asked who it was, we told him, he opened up and said "Come in!" He is very spiritual, he's seen a vision of a wolf talking to him when he was doing a 40 day fast with nothing but water, and the wolf talked to him.
He has tons of books in his flat--the Torah, different translations of the Bible, Hinduism and Buddhism books, "Sutras", magic books, and tons of others.
He'd heard a bit of the story of the Book of Mormon, and we cleared up a bit and he said he'd like to give reading it a shot. He understood the importance of praying to know if it's true as well, so he committed to do it. And he even asked us to pray for him to get an answer when we said the closing prayer.
He seems a bit skeptical on the Joseph Smith story though, so it may be a bit harder to get an answer contrary to what he already believes...but it's possible of course! It just requires "faith in Christ, with real intent."
Oh and yesterday I interviewed a lovely couple from Thailand for baptism. They are so great!
They love talking about how the church is like a big family, and in a prayer, the husband even thanked God for letting him be part of "the Mormon family, and learn the scripture." They are so humble and great.
Too bad many Scots are already hardened against all religion or else dead set in their own. Oh well, just gotta find the few who ARE ready for it!
Love you all and I shall talk to you next Monday.
Cheerio!
Elder Burt

Photos:
Today we visited the Glasgow City Chambers as a district. Pretty cool.

"...so many missionaries love the words "apostasy/apostate" and "rebuke." I don't really think it's that cool..."

So on a mission, General Conference is pretty much the highlight.
Practically the whole zone comes together, we listen to the spiritual giants that we all look up to, and it's just great.
Unfortunately none of our investigators or even less-active members came to the church, but some committed to watch it on their own online. It's a great opportunity for the brethren (and sisters too) to teach our investigators for us!
Honestly not much else eventful happened this week other than meeting Ben, the brother of Jennie, the wife of Sam, the friend of Ali.
He joined in on the last minute of our discussion in the university cafeteria, where we teach them. He actually said the closing prayer, and it was awesome!
The first 10-15 seconds he just talked to God about how great it was to be able to pray. He said "We are so thankful that we can communicate with you, and we should never cease to be amazed that that is an option." I felt the spirit pretty strongly.
They'd be great additions to the ward here. If they would just get a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith!!!!
After our lesson I had a vision, or probably just an imagination, of Ali, Sam, and Ben all sitting on the stand as a bishopric of the Glasgow Ward. How cool would that be?
Ok so since not much else happened let me talk about what I liked from conference!
I suppose it was good that David, a guy who recently returned to church activity, and who we've been visiting, came to two sessions and liked it a lot.
So the first session, the Saturday Morning or 5pm in Scotland, was very good.
All the missionaries seemed to love when one speaker said that trying to lower God's standards to fit the world's "is apostasy."
It's weird how so many missionaries love the words "apostasy/apostate" and "rebuke." I don't really think it's that cool but hey whatever.
We were really excited when Chi Hong Wong from Hong Kong spoke in Cantonese! Especially because Elder Yip, who is just two months out, is from there and speaks Cantonese.
It was disappointing when they just dubbed an English translation over his voice instead of doing subtitles! IT would have been cool to hear it all in his language.
And the Spanish guy too...You could say this was a momentous conference, the first time they address us in non-English!
In the priesthood session they had a missionary choir from the MTC.
I scanned for anyone I know, but no luck. Except for a guy from Airdrie (In the Glasgow stake!) who was the soloist for "Ye Elders of Israel!" I never met him, but he spoke at stake conference the week before he left for the MTC.
The missionaries and members from his ward were super excited to see him front and centre.
Apparently he's a big deal; he was a main character in the British Pageant last year, and he went to Nauvoo to perform in that pageant as well. He's probably the next famous Mormon or something.
I found it very interesting how Elder Anderson (I think) said to record ourselves reading the Testimony of Joseph Smith, and listen to it. If I remember, he said that it would help us to receive a witness of his calling, and of the Book of Mormon. I suppose it could help to strengthen it for those of us who already know, or to re-affirm for those who may doubt. I might give it a shot...why not?
There were a few talks on helping to poor and needy, but also it seemed to be a lot about self-responsibility and such.
Jeffrey R. Holland's was really good, talking about how we need to help the poor and such...but toward the end he said how he still believes in responsibility and such, and seemed like he said something negative about panhandling.
So now I'm not sure--do we give to beggars or not??? Either way, it was a very good talk about helping others. I just kind of got mixed messages from it.
Well that is it for this week. We have zone conference this week, but next week for district meeting we're gonna watch the last session of conference, the Sunday afternoon session or in Scotland, 9-11pm.
I think we can all get more out of listening to that and seeking revelation for our work, investigators and proselyting areas than we could from me conducting a district meeting. It will be great!
Well I love you all and I hope you all have a great week.
Love, Elder Burt

"I have never taught so simply in my life...I love the gospel basics."

Dear Family,
So it's been an interesting week.
As usual moves week was a bit different; A fair bit of time spent with Elder Schmidt packing, a bit of saying goodbye to members, and ya know all sorts of new experiences.
Wednesday was fun; Elder Schmidt had to leave at 8:30 to head off to Ireland, and Elder Zander came from Ireland, so I was with a few other missionaries in the same situation for several hours, just kickin it around Glasgow! It was fun.
We visited the Glasgow Cathedral which was HUGE, we went to "the lighthouse" where there is a tower in the middle of the City Centre where we could see all around, and we walked around shops and such.
As far as our current investigators, or as some missionaries like to refer to them as "friends," we had a few good lessons with them but no huge changes.
We have a few new people we're teaching: two 30-something year old friends named Adel and Bobby, both from Africa. They have separate houses but they hang out together all the time.
Adel speaks VERY VERY limited English. I have never taught so simply in my life, and it actually felt really good. I love the gospel basics. Elder Zander didn't talk much during the lesson...he says he gets frustrated.
So I basically just taught Adel about who God is, who Jesus Christ is, what a prophet is, and that the Book of Mormon was translated by a prophet and how it helps us to understand and know Christ. It was fun.
Honestly that's the only memorable thing that happened. Can't really think of anything significant to tell you! It's been a stressful past few days. But I'm doing ok.
Welllll I love you all and I will write to you again next week!
Elder Burt

Photos:
Big spiral stair case we had to climb to get to the top of the tower.

Me and Elder Dewsbery on top of the tower. Fun having him in the same zone!

"...it would have been so cool to have been here when it happened; when Scotland became an independent country."

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014
Hi everybody!
So the news is in, and I am staying here and Elder Schmidt is moving to Dublin. My new companion will be Elder Zander, also from Germany! I have heard they are very different from each other. So it will be a good balance I think. I'm excited.
Oh and I'm district leader. Not too psyched about that, I was happy to stay as senior companion or even junior, but hey I guess I'm needed in that position!
Ok so we had an interesting and highly varied week.
The first interesting thing was we got a call from the mission office saying we had a referral, and we already had an appointment with him. Whatever elders met him scheduled an appointment with him for us, which was probably not very smart in case we had something else to do, but luckily we were free.
So we went. And he wasn't there. But we decided, maybe there's another reason why we received this referral. Like someone else who was ready for us.
So we knocked the rest of his street, and the street next to it. We were about finished for the night, and right before we went home Elder Schmidt reminded me that we needed to follow up at a house where a teenage girl said that her mom was on the phone but that we could try later. So we did, and the mom was very receptive!
We didn't go in, seeing that it was a bit late and there was no man. But we set up a return appointment for two days later, and she seemed excited to meet with us. But then she called us the morning of the appointment, and said she had read our pamphlet we left and she felt happy with  her own beliefs.
It was frustrating; I honestly felt like she was ready, and felt the spirit!
Yeah, I've had many many appointments fall through or cancel or completely dropped by investigators, but for some reason I was really gutted (disappointed) when she cancelled.
Maybe we'll follow up in a few weeks or somethin.
We taught Ali and Sam, the Christian young adult guys, and when we met up at the university to teach, Sam's newly wedded wife Jennie was there as well. She was going to go somewhere else so we could have our lesson, but we invited her to stay and listen, and she was very happy to!
We taught the Plan of Salvation, and I was honestly surprised at how legitimately interested they seem.
They asked questions about it that sound like they really do want to know, not questions that will catch us saying something wrong, as I often have had and expect to have when I teach some active born-again Christians.
Sam has read up to 1 Nephi 8 already, and says he wants to keep reading. If they simply receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, they would be SUCH great members.
We taught a lady who is a lesbian. It was a bit awkward at first, because she started asking about the church's stance on homosexuality right at the start.
We told her, in a very kind way I felt, and it was a bit uncomfortable. I think we all felt uncomfortable at least for a good portion of it, but by the end she was very happy and thankful that we came, and said she felt uplifted and looked forward to our next appointment.
She called the next day to say that she has never felt so drawn to a specific church like she does to ours; that she admires and loves the way we do everything, how we just tell people what we believe and don't ask anything of them, and just praised how great we and the Church were for about 30 minutes.
She was set to come to church, and then something happened and she didn't come. We've been in contact with her for quite a while now, and she's been sorta up and down like this before.
So yeah it was a good week with I suppose a lot of high expectations and excitement, but sometimes the enthusiasm crashed and burned a wee bit when it came down to the wire.
Oh well, next time. Things are still going very well and I'm excited to stay and to have a new companion to work with.
Oh and the referendum.
As you probably know, it was a "No" vote. (The ballot was simply: "Should Scotland be an independent country?")
It was exciting to be a part of it leading up to the vote, and everyone talked about it and there were big and small "Yes" and "No thanks" signs and stickers everywhere, but I was honestly quite sad when we found out that 55% voted to stay in the UK.
Yeah, it's probably safer this way, and there is less risk of people losing their money or the government or economy crashing on its own or things like that...but it would have been so cool to have been here when it happened; when Scotland became an independent country. But now it's just like, well, I was here when nothing changed. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
Well, that's all folks. Looking forward to this week.
Thanks for all the support everybody. Only three more months, but I've been telling myself that I'm "always in the middle" (Uchtdorf) And I even wrote it on the front of my planner, where I usually write what number of transfer I'm on. And it's helped; I honestly don't feel too trunky most of the time! Till the work is done.
Love yous!
Elder Burt

Photos:
Scottish sunset

George Square in Glasgow, on Thursday night as the votes were being counted. Tons of "Yes" supporters flying the Scotland flag and having a fun time.

A "Yes" sticker on a bus window. These were everywhere the past month or so.

"...whether or not Scotland will become independent! Exciting to be here at this exciting time."

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014
Hi all!
So we had a good week.
We started teaching two new people: A nice lady who might have some sort of mental disability, but not severe. She wants to serve a mission, but mostly to go to an exciting place and meet new people.
When we told her that we don't choose where to go, and that we pay our own way, and that she'd have to be in the church for one year before going, she didn't seem as eager.
But she is nice, and could really use the help of the relief society because she lives a bit of a sad lonely life it seems.
Thinking it might be better to give her to the sisters, because when we showed up for our appointment with her, and we had a member with us, she didn't let us in and we just taught on the doorstep.
I think she was scared of inviting three grown men into her small flat with her all alone. She's promising though.
The other is an alcoholic. When we came over for our appointment at 10:30 am he was already drunk, had been drinking since 2:00 am. Troubled past. But maybe the gospel will offer a better future.
We still teach our other investigators but not much progress.
The two YSA age guys from last week...they seem set in their ways but they are open to keep meeting with us.
One of them read 1 Nephi, Chapter 1, but he said he didn't feel like praying specifically to know if it's true; but just prayed to be led to the truth.
I was just thinking..."Well, He led you to us, so there you go!" They're the type of guys who the only thing that will convert them is the spirit, and the testimonies of fellow converts.
We had a fantastic stake conference with Elder Jose Reina, from Spain. He is amazing! So happy, and funny, and when he talked into the microphone it was super loud because he's just so enthusiastic.
He gave us some great advice on sharing the gospel:
If you only have 30 seconds, the most important things to share are:
1) We are Christians; we believe in Christ, we love Christ.
2) His true church has been restored!
3) Being a member of the church makes us happy!
And the most important thing is to always smile, because life is great, and life with the gospel is even greater. He was just so happy the whole time he talked. A genuine, hilarious, and humble guy.
We had some weird experiences with weird guys.
One super drunk guy around 8:00 pm one night was peeing in the corner of the bus stop when we got there.
Then he came and talked to us, asked about three times where we were headed, and yelled about how great Celtic (football club) are.
The other guy was on the bus, and he was just talking to himself the whole time. He was hilarious.
At first I thought he was talking to me, because as soon as I took my seat in front of him he said "Have you been to Norway?"
I turned around and he was looking at me, so I said no. Then he carried on rambling on about various topics from penguins to Brazil to cricket to football and even ended up talking to himself about Jesus.
Fun times in Glasgow.
Well, that's the exciting events from last week.
The next time I email, we will know whether or not Scotland will become independent!
Exciting to be here at this exciting time. I don't know what would actually be best, but I'd like it to become independent so I can say I was there on Scotland's Independence Day! The vote is this Thursday!
Love yous and have a great week
Elder Spencer Burt

Photo: Disobedience

Elder Spencer Ashcraft Burt
Scotland/Ireland Mission
51 Spylaw Road
Edinburgh EH10 5BP
Scotland