Monday Jan 21

"I then invited him to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized."

This week was absolutely CRAZY with the protests/riots going on in Northern Ireland!
JK.
There has been little to no unrest where we are. There was one night where we were told to be back at the flat by 6 instead of 9, because I guess the UK flag supporters all over Northern Ireland planned to do a demonstration or something that night. Most of the unrest is in Belfast; the elders there have to be in at 6 EVERY night.
Basically, from what I've heard, is that some government buildings don't fly the Union Jack flag in Northern Ireland. The UK government doesn't care, but some people who love being part of the UK are trying to demand that all government buildings fly it. Not sure exactly what they're doing, like if they're standing around with signs or if they're running around flipping cars and setting stuff on fire and looting stores and whatnot. It would be cool if the second one happened here in Omagh.
The only sign we've seen of the protests is a bunch of Union Jack flags hung on light posts with zip ties. I guess people go buy a bunch of flags and take their ladders and hang them up.

Now on to stuff about me.
This week I've started doing my belt one notch tighter than I was in the MTC. So either I'm getting a bit skinnier, or my belt is stretching. Do belts stretch? It's probably the first option, because my watch is also getting looser. Nice.

So Tuesday was my birthday! It was actually pretty great. Tom Henry came over around 9:30 on Monday night with a chocolate cake. He's great. Then on Tuesday Elder and Sister Chamberlain had us over for dinner. Meatloaf, baked potato, green beans, and a vanilla cake with lemon frosting. Felt like I was at home. Then Ann Lee from the branch heard it was my birthday a few days later, and she told her daughter to make me a cake. I told her she didn't have to, but she said she loved baking. So yeah we had a lot of chocolate cake.

One of the best parts of the b-day though, was teaching Brian Johnston. He's a retired dairy farmer about a 30-40 minute walk from Omagh. (we walk out Gortin Road, and he lives on Cappagh road. Dad said he wanted addresses of places we go, so there ya go.)
Elder Holm and his former companion, Elder Greer, found him a few weeks back and gave him a Book of Mormon  and taught him about it. He didn't read it, but we (mostly Elder Holm) taught him about the Plan of Salvation. He seemed to like it a lot. He's fairly old. Sometimes the conversation would go all over the place and he talked a lot. No problem with that, it's just sometimes we'd get way off topic.

But somehow we ended up talking about how he went to Jerusalem, and how he brought home a bottle of water from the River Jordan. He showed it to us, and said that he hasn't showed many people. This was a perfect set up for us to invite him to be baptized. (the AP's told me to try and invite someone by Tuesday night, so this was perfect.) Once we got him to mute the TV, we got real spiritual with him. I told him that when he brought the bottle into the room, I felt the spirit very strongly and I literally felt closer to Jesus Christ in a way. I reminded him that that water comes from the very river where Jesus was baptized  Then I talked for a second about how He didn't NEED to be baptized, but He did it as an example to us. I then invited him to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. He didn't give a yes or no, he said he didn't really know what to say, and then he started talking about something else. It was really spiritual when I invited him and right beforehand though.
So overall it was a good experience, and he said he'd be glad to have us back.
That was the highlight of the week for sure.

Wednesday we had Zone interviews. Not zone conference, I guess that'll happen later. But basically we all met personally with President Brown, got some instruction from him, Sister Brown, and the zone leaders. Received some pretty good advice.

Thursday we walked over 12 miles (I'm pretty sure). First, we walked to Ann Lee's house to give her cookies as a late birthday gift. That was probably two or three miles round trip. Then we walked out Gortin Road (the super long road that goes to Brian's house), past Brian's, and up a very steep hill, to try by another guy who they found before I got here. I think it was about four miles each way. When we got to the top of the hill, the view was supposed to be amazing. We could see  the whole valley, but it was gray and dreary and starting to get dark. Also, the guy wasn't there. So I was kinda disappointed that we wasted so much time and effort for nothing. My attitude improved though, because on the way back we talked to a guy walking down Gortin Road.

He said he had talked to some of us about a year ago. He described them as one really tall guy, and one really short guy from Europe. Elder Holm knew exactly who they were, it was kinda funny. But we talked with him for a few minutes, and he said he'd be fine to talk to us a little more sometime. Didn't get a phone number or exact address, but he told us what street he lived on. Then we saw him a few days later, about the same time and about same area when we went out to try by Brian again (also not home...). We didn't chat long, just said like hey good to see you again blah blah blah... but I feel like he could be a potential investigator.

When I wrote that down in my journal, I realized that EVERYONE is a potential investigator. Such an awesome quote/catchphrase that I wrote it down in my planner and in my journal. Still I find it hard to talk to everyone we see, but I'm working on it. The last part of the day was spent walking to Ian and Vera's, about three miles round-trip. (Dad: out Derry Road heading west , on Watson Park.) So yeah pretty sure it was at least 12 or 13 miles.

Friday, we tried to find a referral from a branch member. She said he didn't seem interested when she talked to him, but that he was friendly and would probably hear us out for a bit at least. She didn't know which house he lived in, but she did tell us what street. So we knocked a few doors there, didn't find him, but did ask one guy who wasn't interested which house he lived in. So now we know his address, but he wasn't home that day.

Friday night we had dinner at President Nelson's house. Pretty dang good dinner. It was fancy Mexican food, kinda like Cafe Sabor style. Mmmm. Then on Saturday a member bought us takeaway (take-out) because we helped her clean the church. Then on Sunday Brendan Foster, a blind guy in the ward, had us over for dinner. So we had three member dinners this week. Elder Holm said he didn't have that many the whole six weeks he was here before me. I guess they just love me.

Saturday was pretty great as well. Every Saturday  we go with Tom Henry to visit Tommy Reilly and Sister Deary. Tom was in England for a few days, so we went with the Chamberlains. Tommy Reilly is 91 years old, and he's been getting weaker every day it seems like. But he is known through out the branch (congregation) for being a great fiddler. This came up in the conversation at his house, and he happily got up and grabbed his fiddle.

He started playing and singing and tapping his foot, with more energy than we had EVER seen him have before. It was great. I didn't have my camera on me, so I didn't get a video. I really wanted to though  it was truly an Irish experience. Especially his singing (very strong Irish accent).

Sunday was nice. Best part was Alan and Nigel were able to come to church! They live way out of town, and the only way they can get to church is if their roommate drives them. It was great to see them there. They especially loved singing hymns with a bigger group. Hopefully their friend can bring them every week.
Well, that's my whole week. Geez, I write long emails! It's ok though, my companion is still typing as well.

Elder Chamberlain shared a pretty cool bit of Gospel insight this week. At dinner with them, we were talking about the scripture that says "a rich man going to heaven is like a camel going through the eye of a needle." He told us that the eye of a needle referred to a hole in the city wall, that was too short for a camel to go through, unless it gets on its knees. So basically, a rich man needs to humble himself in order to do so. I thought it was pretty cool insight.

Alright, well that's it for today. I'm gonna buy a card reader today, so next week you'll get buttloads of pictures.
Peace and blessings!
Love yous
Spencer

"They love singing; we sang three opening hymns and three closing hymns. Most of which we didn't know the tune to..."

Hey guys!

Here are some cool stories from Omagh. (it's pronounced OH-mah in case you didn't know)
First off, some stuff about how they talk. They use "wee" a lot. I know it sounds silly when Americans imitate it and say "a wee bit" or something like that, but they really use it a lot. Just for any use of "little". "Wee bit" is the most common use of it probably.
Also, they say "yous" for the plural of you. Instead of You Guys. Or y'all. Kinda like how in Spanish they say ''ustedes''. Americans should adapt ''yous'', it's really quite practical.
They do say ''aye'' sometimes, for yes or yeah. I haven't heard ''aye, and for sure!'' at all yet. Sorry mom.
This area is not very big with the LDS church. Basically everyone is devout Catholic or Protestant. So here we have the Omagh Branch. I guess all of Northern Ireland is a stake, so that's crazy. Even though it's a pretty small branch, we have our own building. It's pretty nice. They said it was built just about six months ago, and they love it because before they were meeting in some "porta-cabins." I'm not sure what they are exactly but it sounds like maybe a trailer.
There were probably like 30 people there on Sunday  (Not sure. I've never been good at estimating groups of people) The branch president is from the US, and I guess moved here  because his wife is from here. His kids and he all speak American, but his wife sounds Irish. He has like five kids I think.
Most of the people in the branch are descendants of Sister Deary, an old lady in the branch who I have never heard speak. She has three daughters in the branch.
The Lees are the only big family in the branch who aren't related to the rest of them. They have a few kids that come. Another great member of the branch is Tom Henry. He's a retired widower, so he has lots of time on his hands. he takes us to church, shopping (later today), to some teaching appointments that are real far, and he feeds us on Sundays. Super friendly guy. Real contagious smile and laugh. Yeah, I guess he met the missionaries seven years ago, and he has been taking good care of them ever since.
There's also Tommy Riley, a 91 year old who has been a faithful member for years, but hasn't been able to attend these past few weeks because he's getting ill. Also there's Elder and Sister Chamberlain; a senior missionary couple from Farmington. They drive us around a little bit too. Also real friendly.
So far, we've been mostly teaching lessons to members of record who might not attend. My first home visit was to Alan and Nigel, two middle aged special needs guys who live together. I guess the Chamberlains have been taking the elders to go see them every week for the past year or so. Super nice guys. They love singing; we sang three opening hymns and three closing hymns. Most of which we didn't know the tune to so we kinda recited them more than actually singing.
We also visited Ian and Vera. Not married or dating, just friends. Ian lives across the street from Vera, but he spends all his time over there watching tv together. Both older. They are quite funny, just the jokes they make and the things they talk about. I've gotten better at understanding the accent here. I can't explain how it sounds, but I just love it.
Other than teaching those people, we've been walking a lot and knocking doors. This part of the work has been a bit frustrating and discouraging. I don't mind the walking, it's just that we have to walk miles to get to areas who haven't been tracted before. The walking part is fine, I just don't like how if we tract for about two hours, we only knock a small number of doors.
Also, no one we've knocked has been very interested. We've passed out several pamphlets, but usually it's because they say they're not interested and we ask if we can at least give them a pamphlet.
I've been quite discouraged at times, but then I read something or a hymn pops into my mind that helps me feel better. To be honest the things that most improved my mood/attitude was reading little bits of emails I printed out from you guys the past few weeks, they really keep me going.
I think it's just me not being used to the drastic change from MTC to the field. I've been feeling more positive each day, so I think everything will work out ok.
Well, if any of you want to write me, I'll be at this address for the next 3 months or so.

Elder Spencer Burt
10 Campsie Court
Omagh BT79 OAF
Co. Tyrone
Northern Ireland

Well, thanks for the emails! I'm glad to have such loving supportive family.
Love yous!
Elder Burt

"...have a prayer in your heart for your companion while he's talking...I witnessed a bit of that when we talked to Mary. Pretty cool."

From January 3, 2013
Hey guys! Sorry I didn't get the chance to email yesterday, we were super busy with the stuff at the mission home. But what you probably want to know is......

I'm in Omagh, Northern Ireland! My trainer is Elder Holm from Las Vegas.

When we arrived in Edinburgh yesterday (Wednesday) we met all the trainers, (but didn't get one assigned yet), met President and Sister Brown, and then we hiked up Pratt's Hill. To non-Mormons, it's known as Arthur's Seat. It's just a real tall mountain that overlooks the whole city and the North Sea. The reason we call it Pratt's Hill is because Elder Pratt (Orson or Parley, can't remember) hiked up there when he arrived for a mission way back when, and he prayed to ask for 200 souls to bring to the church. He ended up baptizing that many people in two years...I think. I don't remember the exact story.
But yeah President Brown. When we arrived in Edinburgh yesterday we had a few little meetings, each of us met with President Brown (He and Sister Brown are super nice by the way.), and then we all got assigned our trainer and area.

In Scotland I think there are four zones: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Paisley. Then there's Dublin and Limerick in Ireland, and all of Northern Ireland is Belfast zone. Four companionships are going to Ireland; I think three in the Belfast zone. And then the other five new elders and the one new sister went to Scotland zones.

So by the time we all got assigned to our areas it was about 5 pm, so the four companionships going to Ireland stayed the night at the mission home.

This morning (Thursday) the APs (assistants to the president) took us to the bus station, where we went from Edinburgh to a port on the west side of the country, took a ferry to Belfast, and then a bus to Omagh. All in all the traveling from mission home to our flat (apartment) took like 10 hours.

The ferry was more like a freaking cruise ship. It was huge, had restaurants, super nice places to sit with tons of room and stuff. One of the trainers told me that this is the most expensive mission in the world because of the travel. Not sure if it's accurate but it wouldn't surprise me.

So now Elder Holm and I are in the library, just like a block or two away from our flat. The flat isn't too bad. Just us two here, so it's a bit more roomy than the MTC.

I'll be here for the next 14 weeks probably; the mission department came out with this new "12 week program" for new elders. From what I've heard so far it's just an extra hour of companionship study. And they'll keep us both together and in the same area the whole time. Oh yeah but it's 14 weeks because this transfer is 8 weeks for some reason.  I think he said it's because of the elders having only two weeks in the MTC starting this year. I dunno.

Elder Holm is good though. Says he likes to eat really healthy and exercise a lot in the mornings, so that will be good for me. On Wednesday we had our first taste of proselyting/tracting/whatever you call it. The APs took us Irish missionaries to a street in Edinburgh and we just went out and talked to people. The first guy was difficult and kinda disheartening...I hardly said anything. We gave out a few pamphlets to people who didn't have time to talk. But then we ran into a lady named Mary, and that went well she gave us her contact info and willingly took a Book of Mormon and said she'd read and pray about it. I contributed some good things to the conversation, and I felt like it went really well. One thing someone told me at the mission home is to not plan out what you want to say, but to just have a prayer in your heart for your companion while he's talking, and then when it's your turn you'll know what to say. I witnessed a bit of that when we talked to Mary. Pretty cool.

Well, that's my email. P-day is on Monday out here, so you'll probably hear from me again with some cool mission stories, not just travel stuff.

Mom, The lady at the mission home who does the mail said that they take letters and packages from the mission home to the Scotland zones quite regularly, but they don't get them to the Ireland missionaries as fast. So I'm not sure the exact time frame, but I might not get your birthday package until after the fact. That's ok though, I can think of it as like a one month gift or something depending on when I get it.

I'll try to send some pictures in a separate email. But if my camera still doesn't hook up I'll plan on sending you the SD card soon. Or I'll buy a card reader or something.

Thanks for everything you guys. Love you!

Spencer

"I kind of imagined them taking time out of their busy eternal schedules to hear my prayer."

From January 1, 2013

Hey y'all!
It was great talking to you guys on Christmas. Hopefully I actually talked about relevant stuff...I can't really remember what I told you guys. There should be a letter on its way over that I took more time and thought with while writing....but the post from here to there takes quite a while. I didn't get the Christmas cards you sent until a few days after Christmas, but thanks so much they were great! Everyone was disgusted and confused by my rat tail. My response was "well the ladies back home loved it."
I got Christmas cards from the Powells and Grandma &Grandpa. Tell them I say thank you! I'll try to write them personal letters thanking them myself, but I can't guarantee I'll have the time. Also if you find the list of people who sent gave me gifts and/or cards at my farewell, could you email their names to me? I never thanked them because I was kinda stressing out the last few days.
Today is the New Year of course. The Walkers gave us all sparklers and poppers and let us use them outside. But the most fun part was when a bunch of us elders stayed up till midnight (PARTY HARD). Most of us were up packing and writing in journals anyway, but we decided to hang out in the hallway to celebrate. When the clock struck 12, I screamed "HAPPY NEW YEAR" as loud as I could. We were all scared that the president and wife might get mad, or elders who were sleeping would get mad, but no trouble. Then we got all adventurous and decided to run from the dorms upstairs, down two levels to the kitchen/cafeteria, flip over some tables (quietly) and then go back up. Someone said they heard Sister Walker's voice as we were sneaking back upstairs, so it was kind of a close call. So much adrenaline. Yolo.
On a spiritual note, these past few days have been great. We saw some Provo MTC devotional recordings, had a few guest speakers, and some testimony meetings and such. Most days have been a drag in classes and what not, but these past few days made me feel like I'm gonna miss the MTC. One of the talks by Elder Bednar inspired me for some reason to go and try praying out loud. I've never done it before, so I decided that it would be good. I told my companion I was going to the bathroom, and instead I went to a vacant room in our hall, locked the door, and tried it out. It was amazing. I prayed about some stuff I was stressing about (nothing to worry about, mom and dad) and it honestly felt like I was truly talking to Heavenly Father. And for some reason I felt like He and Jesus were both hearing my prayer. I kind of imagined them taking time out of their busy eternal schedules to hear my prayer. I reasoned that the more effort, time, and attention we put into our prayers, He will do the same when He listens to our prayers. It was a great experience.
Well, tomorrow morning nine elders and one sister will be heading to Edinburgh, Scotland. They hired a mini-bus to take us there. I hear it's about 3.5 hours or so, so I should be able to catch up on sleep and maybe a bit of study. They said that we will probably get the chance to email you from the mission home to let you know we're there.
Love you guys. Thanks for the emails. Hopefully you'll hear from me tomorrow, or the letter I sent last week will arrive soon. If not, I'll talk (email) to you next week. Just remember, "no news is good news"!
Love,
Elder Spencer Ashcraft Burt

"Nothing complicated, I just said "Hey before we leave would you like a Book of Mormon to read?"

Hey family/all the people who read my blog! 

Thanks so much for the emails! It's good to hear all about your lives. If I have time I'll answer some of your questions. For now I'll just write all my awesome stories first.

And mom, thanks for the Christmas package! It got here safely and everything seems to be in there! I hung up the decorations and the stockings with Gorilla Tape that another elder had. So it's pretty ghetto-fabulous.

So yeah, the plane ride was pretty cool. However I slept through the part where they handed out free snacks so I didn't get any freaking airplane peanuts!!! I was so sad that I missed out on that during my first airplane experience.

It was just us three elders going from SLC to Atlanta (myself, Elder Farnsworth from Kaysville, Elder Sweat from Heber) and then at ATL we met up with, I think, five more from various states. Oh and one sister. All of us going to the same mission.

At the England MTC there are only 18 elders/sisters I think? 15 elders and three sisters. The majority are Americans going to the Scotland/Ireland mission. In fact I think that all the Scotland/Ireland missionaries are all Americans, and vice versa. There are two other sisters; one from Albania and one from South Africa.  Both are going to some England mission. The Albanian sister came here speaking little to no English, but she is getting better. For some reason they are having her take the missionary prep classes before she takes the language classes.

The non-American elders: There are three from England, one from Brazil (going to a Portuguese-speaking mission in England), one from South Africa, one from Germany, one from Denmark.

Oh psych, the Danish elder is also going to Scotland/Ireland. The German is actually going to the Alpine Germany mission, same as Luke Morrill's. Mom if you wanna tell his mom to tell Luke to look for Elder Fahl, they might be entering the field around the same time since Elder Fahl already speaks German.

My companion is one of the British elders. Elder Hunt is his name. From Dover area. 

The first day was awesome, we just got to do whatever while we waited for other elders to arrive. But then the class days after that were awful. Super long, I was tired, and yeah. But it's gotten better.

One of the cooler experiences was going to the Preston temple at night with my class and just looking at it in silence. Very spiritual and peaceful and stuff.

Other than that the MTC has been kind of a drag. At least as far as the classes go. The elders and teachers I'm here with are great though! I'm not sure if Provo MTC zones (our whole group here is a zone, and split into two districts) are this close, but we all get along pretty well. Just an amazing group of guys. The sisters are nice too but ya know, we don't interact with them quite as much.

One weird thing about being here is that everyone says super long prayers on their food. The way we do it is just on our own silently. Back home I was never in the habit of blessing my food unless it was a meal with the family, so it's a nice change. But it's kinda weird how lots of the elders take like a minute or more to say their prayer. I think I heard this funny saying from dad a while back, ''Four words are as good as ten, bless the food amen.'' hahaha I don't know if it's the best motto but it's what always comes into my mind at meal times. Maybe they're all just more spiritual than me, but who knows. Personally I think four words are as good as ten.

The final, and coolest, story of the week happened today! We got to go to the town of  Chorley (that's where the MTC actually is; the Preston temple is called Preston because it's the closest big city). We got to browse the shops and a little flea market as well. I got some decent stuff. for £5 (five pounds/about 9 dollars) I got an England national team t-shirt and a Man United jersey! At first I thought it was so cheap because it was a fake, but then when I took a closer look at it,  it is used. But still in good condition and still a steal. Also got an Arsenal beanie to even it out a bit since I like arsenal a bit more. haha And when I was buying the beanie, British Elder Hobby was asking which team I liked better and I said arsenal, and a lady walking past glared at me and like hissed or something. Pretty weird haha. I guess it's not good to vocally support a team other than the local team here.

I'm getting off topic. The actual cool part was that when this other elder and I got back to where the van was supposed to pick us up, the other five or so elders who were with us were talking to this lady. She was smoking while talking to us, and didn't really talk about religion at all. But one elder said he had a few copies of the Book of Mormon in his backpack, so I got one out and gave it to her when we left.
Nothing complicated, I just said "Hey before we leave would you like a Book of Mormon to read?"
and she said yeah and even gave us her name and info! It was pretty cool. Everyone was like "Elder Burt you are awesome!'' and stuff, but I was just like, eh I had nothing to lose ya know? So that was a pretty easy/successful first-time missionary experience!

Oh and one more thing: I can call home on Christmas next week!!! MTC prez's wife said it will probably be around 4-6 pm HERE, so about 9-11 am Utah time. Which number should I call? And would a specific time be better for you guys? Let me know so I can log on here Christmas morning and call whenever is best for you guys.

Wow this is a long email...anyway I want to send you guys some pics but my camera isn't being recognized by this computer, so I'm gonna try to email them with another elder's card reader thing.

Thanks for everything, love you all!

Love,

Elder Burt

"One quick fun fact, the keyboards here are different."

December 13, 2012

Hey! They're letting us email you guys today to let you know we got here to the MTC safely.

Also they said to tell you that P days are on Tuesdays. So you will hear more about my adventures in just a few days!

One quick fun fact, the keyboards here are different. When I try to hit shift, the \ button is there instead. the @ sign and the " sign are switched too. Weird

So yeah.

Also: you will be receiving an invitation to a Picasa web album that will have pictures of my MTC experience. It may come in your spam mail. Let me know when you have accessed the site and seen the pictures.

I'll share some more fun things on Tuesday.

Thanks for the email by the way!

Love y'all!

Elder Burt