"The branch organized a fantastic dinner and party...Piping in the Haggis..."

Dear Family,

Here's the cool stuff that happened this week:

We taught some of our drunk friends this week (we sometimes refer to them as "The Fantastic 4"; three investigators and one less-active member who is our source for meeting them all) a new one was added to the picture. A really nice guy who hangs out with that whole crowd, but he says he doesn't drink! 

Pretty awesome. He asked a lot of good questions. He seemed to enjoy our visit, although it was regularly interrupted by loud outbursts from one of their friends--He's not included in the Fantastic 4, he's not quite worthy. He was just loud and obnoxious and super drunk. I asked him to be quiet once while we tried to watch "The Lamb of God," but he got pretty mad. Dropping F-bombs the whole time, but it was great because the two present members of the F4 would always say "Hey man, don't swear!" 

It is always a fun experience with them...sometimes it can be really spiritual but sometimes it's very un-spiritual and I just have to appreciate the funny side of it. 

We are thinking of trying a method where we set up specific times with them twice a week, and have them promise to be sober for that short period of time, because most of them say that they can stop drinking and they've done it before, but it's just hard. 

So if we can get them in a super receptive state of mind without the alcohol interfering, then chain reaction hopefully will make them desire to feel that spiritual high all the time. 

Also I took some advice from an elder and a member in Beith who said that it's not bad to ask them to not smoke while we're there, because it does kind of distract from the spirit, and again, that one hour of resisting the urge to smoke will prepare them for hopefully someday living the word of wisdom 24/7. 

But that of course is in the distant future, but you know, step by step. 

A scripture somewhere says "By small and simple things, great things come to pass." Or maybe it's just the beginning of the Restoration DVD, which I have seen who knows how many times in the past year or so.

We had a brief visit with the flag-loving guy and his friend (also less-active, who practically lives with him but they are not a couple). Good fun. 

In the middle of a conversation about something totally different with the lady, the man randomly said "I have a flag of Azerbaijan." And did that several times throughout our visit, naming off random flags that he has. I think I've mentioned him in emails previous, right?

Another funny story: we were going around with the High Priest Group Leader, visiting people on the ward list that he and we have never met, trying to see if they would like to have home teachers come around in the future. 

One lady we went to lived in sort of an old folks' home by herself. (Side note: In almost every apartment building there is an intercom thingy where you have to press the button of the person you want to see, and they answer on this wee telephone-like thing and ask who it is, and if they choose to, they press a button that unlocks the outside door.) 

We buzzed her apartment, she answered and asked who it was, he said he was with the church, and she said something that we couldn't understand, but then we heard the door unlock so we went in. 

But as we approached her apartment she came out quite angrily, saying "Who are you?! I didn't let you in, who are you?!?!" 

The member told her who we were and she asked angrily for proof, so I took off my name badge and held it up, I felt like a cop. Then she said, "Well, I haven't been a part of your church in years and I don't want to be." 

But luckily, the spirit must have prompted our HPGL to be a little persistent, and he explained that we like to reach out to all the members of the church, and he noticed on her records that she had been a temple recommend holder in the years past, so he brought that up. 

She still was a bit defensive and said it was a long story and she didn't want to talk about it...but then two seconds later she just said, "Oh, why don't you just come in and I'll tell you." So we went in, ended up having a lovely visit. 

Turns out we mostly just scared her by buzzing her apartment intercom sort of late at night (it was around 8:30) and that's why she was kind of defensive. 

Turns out she had been sealed in the temple, her kids are active members in other wards around Scotland and England, and she just hasn't been out in years for some reason. 

So what started out as a bit of a scary and contentious encounter ended up being a nice visit, and she said we're welcome back any time. People are interesting.

We went out to Dunoon again for our weekly correlation meeting. This time they drove us around to try and contact some of the inactive members who lived out there. 

One of them, who didn't even live IN Dunoon, but several miles outside of it in a wee village, let us in and had a good discussion. 

Not really interested at first when we knocked on his door, but then, again, he let us in and opened up a lot more about his past with the church and what not. Pretty cool.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST:

Saturday night was the Greenock Branch Burns' Supper! January 25th is Burns' Night here in Scotland. 

Robert Burns, aka "Rabbie Burns" was a famous Scottish poet. So every year Scots take a night to commemorate his life by being as Scottish as possible basically. 

The branch organized a fantastic dinner and party in the building; loads of non-members and less-active members came out, and everyone loved it. 

Brother Gibson let me borrow one of his son's old kilts that didn't fit him anymore, as well as a kilt jacket and a sporran (that's the awesome black purse looking thing around my waist). 

He lent Elder Smiler one as well, but he decided not to wear it, but instead he just wore the kilt jacket, which was kind of cool because it made him look like a mariachi guy. 

But anyway the party was super fun; we ate haggis, neeps and tatties (mashed turnips and mashed potatoes), some members recited some famous Burns poetry, lots of good music by the branch president and his family, and a few other members. 

There's this tradition where one member carried a haggis on a plate into the hall, and marched around with it while President Wilde played the bagpipes. 

Apparently this is known as "Piping in the Haggis." And then it is set down, and someone else "Addresses the Haggis," where they basically talk to the haggis in a crazy thick Scottish accent and some words that I have never heard before...and then he cuts it open. 

Really different but fun. Almost like an animal sacrifice, except it's a haggis. Anyway it was a fun night. 

The best part was wearing the whole kilt get-up. Best part: Brother Gibson said that the kilt looks so good on me that he might let me keep it! But not the accessories. 

Still, that's pretty awesome! I might have me own kilt soon! 

Traci, Kenny, and their kids Marc and Ollie came as well. Kenny and Ollie wore kilts, as did the Gibsons' son who "Addressed the Haggis". Nobody else though! 

Most others did wear something tartan, like tartan trousers, ties, etc... Really fun night.

Sunday was good as well, as usual. Our branch president made a change so that our meetings now last between 2.5-3 hours, which is nice but kind of seems long because I'm used to just two hours! 

But it's for the best, because everywhere else is three hours, no reason why we can't do it as well.

So yeah, overall, it was a real fun week! Hope you all had a good one too.

Oh yeah, and a fun quote that Kenny told me to say if someone calls your kilt a skirt: "You know why it's called a kilt? Because the last person who called it a skirt got kilt." 

Ooh, intense. Can't wait to use that when I get home and wear my kilt everywhere I go.

Love yous all!!!

Elder Spencer Ashcraft Burt

Photos:
Bagpipes!!!

Ollie in his cute wee kilt

Me, Elder Smiler, Ollie, Kenny (Elder Smiler ruined it with his un-kilted-ness, but Kenny told him to get in the picture with us so I had no choice...)

Me and the Gibson family

Kilt!

"...they say the closing prayer and their words are amazing..."

Dear Family,

Well first things first, Elder Smiler and I will be staying in Greenock for another six weeks. (That transfer flew by! they all do...)

Pretty excited. Some things we need to work out...we both need to work on being more obedient and diligent...I feel like I have slacked a bit when I got to Greenock for some reason. Cant' let that happen, YOSAFTMO! (You only serve a full-time mission once)

Can't leave thinking I could have done more. But sometimes it is really hard.

Anyway, this week has been pretty good and great. 

So you know how we have to take ferries like once or twice a week to visit members/less active members/etc? Well there's one more. The Isle of Bute. 

We have a couple of members who live out there, and we've been planning to go out there for a while now but just never got around to it. 

So we finally did on Saturday and we met a lovely couple who have been members for 20 years or so, they were sealed in the Temple two years ago, and because it's kind of expensive to buy a ferry ticket each week they haven't been out to church for a looong time. 

But we are going to talk with the branch president and hopefully find a way to get them out, they are so solid! Still reading their scriptures, still have pictures of Jesus and temples all over their walls. Really felt good to find "lost sheep."

Tuesday we had a pretty good district meeting. Afterward I went on exchange with Elder Howie in Beith. It's a bit smaller than Greenock, a bit less rainy but still flippin wet all the time. 

We met some great people; one investigator who loves martial arts and fighting, who told us loads of stories about him getting in fights as a bouncer. Which was pretty cool because he's pretty small; shorter than me, and looks quite skinny. 

But apparently that gives him a big advantage because the big guys just underestimate him and then *BANG!* Kind of scary at the same time, because if he wanted to he could knock us out cold.

It was fun seeing a new area.

We had a district leader council on Wednesday. The instruction was brilliant; we talked about how it is our duty as leaders to "correct" missionaries' conduct when necessary. 

We watched one of the Bible Videos on Mormon Channel, where Jesus basically calls Peter Satan after something he said that was insignificant. 

At first I was taken aback, didn't expect Jesus to do something so rash, but then we discussed and our zone leaders explained that sometimes correction is very harsh and sharp and clear, but it is necessary. 

For example, when Christ corrected Peter harshly, it was because it would mold him into the person he wanted him to become. Jesus knew that Peter would be the head apostle/President of His church after he was crucified, so when he saw Peter do something that would perhaps lead him away from that path, he needed to be put back into place. 

They informed us that as missionary leaders we have the duty to help others reach their full potential; If we believe someone has potential to become a district leader or to train a new missionary, we must make sure they stay on that path, and give correction if necessary. 

Kind of a scary thing for me...Sorry for my soapbox about that, it's probably boring and inapplicable to you all, but it finally clicked with me that day WHY we are expected to correct other missionaries. I've been sort of reluctant about it my whole time being a district leader. 

But also, I need to try and "get the beam out of my own eye" if necessary, before I "pull the mote out" of another [missionary's] eye." I read that parable today...I definitely am not perfect, so if I am going to be correcting others I need to make sure I am doing my best as to not be as the Scribes and Pharisees; Hypocrites.

Wow, sorry about that whole paragraph... 

Let's see...what else happened this week...we visited a TON of less-active members. We seem to have a lot of them here, and we work with a lot of them. 

But I feel like we need to focus on one or two rather than spreading our efforts thinly to lots of them...help a few regain a solid testimony and become active, and then work on them one at a time. 

This branch would definitely be a ward if all of the less-active members were active, but I suppose that's the same for anywhere.

Oh yeah! On Thursday, Brother and Sister Cain took us out for dinner in Dunoon. It was to "The 51st State", an American-themed restaurant. Pretty cool! 

Had a classic American burger and a chocolate milk shake...I have been trying to eat better for a few weeks now but the members make it hard haha! Photos will be attached of me showing my American Pride.

I already mentioned the success we saw on Saturday...however after that we seemed to be quite unsuccessful. We had three lessons cancelled on us between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, and none of the people (investigators and less-active members) we were hoping to come to church were there.

I almost forgot; here's a pretty awesome and spiritual story. While teaching one of our drunk friends, he said an AMAZING prayer. 

When we first started teaching him, he would just kind of start praying when we invited him to..."Ok...I just want to thank you for sending the elders here...hope they have a good day..." etc. 

We never told him to pray our way or anything, but after a few visits he started following our example, and our last visit with him he said a really great prayer, if we hadn't known otherwise we would have thought he was a member! Crazy. 

I've actually seen that quite a bit here in Greenock. Sometimes in a lesson that's all jumbled and it feels like we didn't teach them anything and they didn't come away with anything, I've seen it twice with multiple people where they say the closing prayer and their words are amazing, and they sound like they really want to change their lives and often they talk about joining the church! It's crazy. 

They always say, "I don't know where those words came from!" And we say "well duh, it's the spirit!" (not really)

So that's the week. I feel like I typed a lot but didn't have that many cool stories. But I got a lot of cool pictures! Enjoy!

Love you all!

Spencer

  

Loads of photos: 

Me with American stuff!

UTAH!

Trying to teach about the Book of Mormon to a stone wall/door thing.

Me on a ferry coming back from Rothesay (that's the name of the main town on the Island of Bute)

Me standing in front of the ferry in Rothesay

Me standing in front of the water

The Rothesay coast/esplanade

ALMA TERRACE! In a town that has two or three members in it.

"...he was about to get into a fight, but...remembered...about "casting the first stone" and he decided to not fight."

Good afternoon/morning/evening/night! Depending on where you are.

It's been a fun week. Finally some solid missionary work without being interrupted by a holiday! Although I did have my birthday, which was fun, it was still full of missionary work...or "missionary fun". (I think some apostle said that.) 

Funniest experience: Tuesday for district meeting, we held a joint-district meeting in the Paisley elders' flat. Story: we all got to the Paisley church, where we meet for district meeting (Greenock and Beith only) and then the Paisley district consisting of Paisley, and two sets of elders from Pollok. 

However, the family history guy who without fail has been there every Tuesday to let us into the building, didn't show up. The Paisley elders made loads of phone calls to see if we could get someone to open it up for us, but to no avail. 

So our only option was to either go to another ward building, which would have been like an hour bus ride away, or just go to the paisley flat, just around the corner! So we did, and we had a joint district meeting, with 10 missionaries all crowded into their living room. 

The other district leader and I sort of changed our plans and combined to have a twice as awesome district meeting. Quite a funny experience. Photos to follow.

Then we went to Largs and Millport on Tuesday. 

We had dinner with the Gibsons, an awesome member family that takes a ferry and drives 30 minutes to get to church from their wee isle of Cumbrae. 

Whilst there, Brother Gibson let us try on kilts for the upcoming Burn's Supper! (In honour of Robert Burns, a famous Scottish poet.) Photos of that to come as well.

Then on Wednesday we had a crazy birthday party! No, not really, I just opened up packages from yous and also Gam. Fun stuff! I made our tree into a birthday tree of course. 

I was on exchange with Elder Jones that day in Greenock, which was super fun. We had some good laughs and also got a lot of good work done. 

Went out on splits with the Branch President and his 2nd counselor, and visited a number of active and inactive folks. 

Elder Jones sang me a birthday song on the guitar. And the Cains gave me a card the following day, so that was nice! Good quiet laid back birthday.

Thursday we went to Dunoon for our usual dinner and "correlation meeting" with our Ward Mission Leader. We also did some tracting around the area. 

We had some guy who asked, "What if Joseph Smith was a false prophet and you're actually following the Devil, not Jesus?...Not saying he IS, but what if?" So that was kind of weird. 

We tried to tell him, "Well, we know he's not, and you can know for yourself too if you read and pray about the Book of Mormon..." but he didn't really give us much of a chance to speak. Kind of a crazy guy. Good fun!

We met with a few of our drunk investigators last week. Once on their own in their own flats, and once when two were together drinking. 

When they are on their own, they are really humble and sincere, but when together they are really cheeky and loud and funny. 

One of them LOVES the "Finding Faith in Christ" DVD, and he says he watches it every night before bed. He told a story of how he was about to get into a fight, but then he remembered a quote from the movie about "casting the first stone" and he decided to not fight. So that was pretty cool.

We met a new guy this week, someone that some sister missionaries in Glasgow ran into and referred him to us. We taught him and he was really sincere, and he sent us a text basically saying that he believes this is the true Church of Jesus Christ and he wants to unite with it, but he's moving soon down to England so we need to make sure there is a smooth transition to the missionaries wherever he is going.

Well that's about it for this week. 

Apologies; this week's email session seemed to FLY by. I Promise I will send letters home soon!

Love you all!

Elder Spencer A. Burt

Photos:

Joint district meeting in the living room!

Kilts and special kilt-jacket things

Taken from the train in the morning

Birthday tree

I love Irn Bru. ("iron brew") a classic Scottish drink

"...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!)