"...but it feels good to help him out in the here and now."

Hello family and friends!
So we have had a pretty good week. We did a lot of service.
We helped a guy in the ward move a super heavy marble fireplace from his daughter's house into her garage. She and her husband are remodeling a house they just bought that is really big and nice but old.
When he told us he needed help moving the fireplace we thought it would be easy, but even with me, Elder Schmidt, and two of the Chinatown elders and the man, it was difficult.
We ended up using old torn out carpet to slide it along the floor, out the door, and across the garage floor to its resting place. Apparently the member is taking it to his house once he gets a van rented, so who knows maybe he will need help again when that day comes.
We also helped an investigator clean his apartment. We asked him beforehand if we could come and help him clean, and he said it was ok. So we went in our service clothes, bought some latex gloves, and went to work.
We just focused on his living room, where he usually is and where we teach him. It was practically nothing but old receipts, bus tickets, and newspapers. We threw away probably eight grocery bags full of newspapers.
Once the clutter was all off the ground, Elder Housley (exchanges that day) vacuumed the carpet. It looked AMAZING! I wish I could have taken before and after photos, but I felt like that would be a bit insulting. So you'll just have to imagine it and take my word for it.
We suggested that we come over two times a week; one to teach, and one to clean. Because his kitchen and his other rooms could use some cleaning.
Yeah, we know it may just end up in the same state after a month or two...but it feels good to help him out in the here and now.
I can't remember if I told you about Zone Development that we had last Monday...we played a lot of sports, such as "yoga football" (soccer with a yoga ball, and you can hit it with hands too) capture the flag, dodgeball, chair football, and had some dinner and a few silly games at the church. Fun time.
We had zone interviews & training last week as well. That's where President Brown comes and interviews us all to check up on us and give personal advice, while the zone leaders and the assistant to the presidents and Sister Brown give training. Good stuff.
Now the racism story. We were visiting an old and hilarious less-active lady. She lived in South Africa for a good few years, and that combined with the fact that she is old make her a bit racist, and we can't really do anything about it.
She usually says something negative about blacks or Arabs, etc. But last week she told us a story about how a black carer/nurse-type lady came up to her flat (she lives in an assisted living centre) to give her medication or something. Somehow they started arguing, and our lady told us that she told the black lady, "Well, I'm white, what colour are you?" It was terrible! But funny how senile she is. We like visiting her.
We had a stake activity on Saturday: Cultures and Cuisines of the World.
Every ward was assigned a country to do a 10 minute presentation and a small taste of the food. Our ward had China, because we have lots of Chinese members. It was fun.
There were also rooms for Scotland, Brasil, USA, India, Italy, Spain, and Ecuador.
The Chinese families in our ward out-did everybody else in food and decorations and even a traditional Chinese dance. It was awesome.
Well, these are the noteworthy experiences that occurred this week.
Of course we taught a few other investigators, tracted, street contacted, visited members and less-active members, all of which are important as well. But you know, nothing exciting to report back.
Hope you all have a super week!
(I know it's a bit late, but I want to try and share a scripture or a quote every week that is nice or inspirational or applies to missionary work of some sort. I shoulda started 1.5 years ago, but as Uchtdorf says, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is NOW!")
Mosiah 26:20
"Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep."
Love you all!
Elder Spencer Burt

Photos:
Chinese decorations at the stake activity

Feeding honeycomb to Jesus (yes, I still have some left! It's like eating pure honey haha)

"...ended on good terms, and he only accused us of false beliefs like twice."

A few of our investigators, and also a recently re-activated member here struggle with addictions, mostly with smoking, and also gambling. The member is the only one who openly admits it and wants to change, but he has a hard time.
We may try the 12-step stop smoking program, which I found a few copies of in our flat.
We also encouraged him to pay tithing before anything else as soon as he gets paid, and the Lord will help him manage the rest of his money. Perhaps that means his temptation to gamble will be less, perhaps one of those classic tithing miracle stories will happen. Who knows.
It's interesting, here in the UK, on practically every street corner, they have "Bookies" short for Bookmaker. Basically it's where people go to bet on horse races, football matches, etc. But they are also like a miniature casino, with slot machines and roulettes and such.
They are almost as common as convenience stores. And even in the convenience stores they have Lottery scratch-cards for sale. So there is a lot of opportunity for gambling, therefore if someone has a gambling addiction, they can hardly leave the house without a huge temptation to gamble. It's difficult.
We're trying to help these guys with their addictions, but it is hard to relate to them. Perhaps I will vow to give up chocolate if they give up one of their things...one of the sister missionaries in the ward is doing that for her investigator and maybe I'll give it a shot. It would be good for me AND them!
A funny quote from a lady we stopped to talk to on the street: "I'm a lesbian beyond saving." Oh well, we tried.
Last week we helped a member move. She was just swapping houses with a guy who lived down the street, because hers was just a small one-bedroom apartment with no stairs, and the old guy she is swapping with was having trouble with the stairs in his house, and with maintaining the garden.
So we went to help her move her stuff from her house to the new one. And while we were there, we helped the old guy's family help move his stuff as well. And apparently they were quite surprised; they originally thought we were college students or something, but we told them we were on our missions and told them a bit about it, and they seemed a bit intrigued.
At church on Sunday, the member said that the old guy's daughters who were taking care of his move were so surprised and grateful that we helped them move as well, even though we just met them! So I guess that's a seed planted. Yes!!
On Saturday we played football with the big group of missionaries and members from the stake. It was fun.
Later that evening, we did splits with the elders from the Springboig Ward, basically who cover the other half of Glasgow. We met in City Centre and changed companions for an hour or so.
We met some interesting people; one homeless Albanian guy who had a big toy dinosaur on his shoulder. He let me pet it.
We gave away 3 Books of Mormons, one to an interested YSA-age girl, one to a Catholic, one to a Muslim from the Middle East.
Then we walked past a born-again Christian gathering, where one guy was giving a speech into a microphone and a few other volunteers were passing out small pamphlets. We stood and listened for a few minutes, and one guy approached us. He said, "Mormons? So you're actually NOT Christians."
So we quickly jumped to the defense, and I guess we did ok because he changed the subject to why we believe in Joseph Smith. We talked a bit about grace and works, the Godhead, and a few other things.
Toward the end, he seemed to be asking more questions of actual interest, rather than accusing and condemning questions. It almost sounded like he was beginning to question his belief of the 3-in-1 Trinity.
We ended on good terms, and he only accused us of false beliefs like twice. I guess you could say it was a friendly wee bash session. Fun times.
Then as we were about to head back home, we got mobbed by a bunch of retired couples, who were on a bus tour of Scotland. They were all LDS, and apparently the rest of the bus was as well because it was a Utah-based tour group. It was fun!
Church was good on Sunday as well. Paul came, and it was his first time! Although he was a bit confused by the order of the verses in the hymnbook, he got used to it and said he liked it a lot and he'll come next week to.
I like sitting by investigators on their first day at church. Just to kind of experience the new-ness and excitement with them.
Alright that's all folks, talk to yous next week!
Love,
Elder Burt

By the way, I'd suggest you ALL watch this Mormon Message. It's the best one I have ever seen. Everyone should watch it, member or non-member. It's amazing.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001

Photos all from the Kelvingrove Museum last week.

"After we helped him walk across the street he gave us a hug."

Dear everybody,
Here were the funny, strange, spiritual, and overall memorable experiences I've had this past week.
First one was when we were tracting (always the best way to find interesting people). This guy opened the door, and when we told him who we were and what we were sharing, he said "Do you know what opium is?" "Yeah I think so..." "That's what religion is like. This is a Marxist and Leninist household." So that was different.
But a few doors down we met a nice Indian lady, who seemed very quiet and shy, but seemed interested to learn more about God's plan. She said we could come by later that week and teach her and her husband.
We did, and they were both very nice, they said they would read the Book of Mormon a bit but couldn't see themselves going further with it. They were so nice though and I had a good feeling about them after our conversation with the wife! Oh well, that's life.
While tracting in a different area, we met one guy whose late mother was a member in Dumbarton Ward, and he has a Book of Mormon and had gone to church quite a lot in the past, and he even remembers the elders' names that used to teach his family as a kid.
So I was very hopeful that we could maybe teach him again, and perhaps re-ignite a spark that was once there! But when we asked if we could come back and visit sometime, he declined.
Flip! Sometimes people are just SO close and they "slip through the net," as another lady said about herself.
She answered her mom's door when we were trying to contact people in the ward [local congregation], and her mom was on the list. She was very friendly, and said she does wonder if ours is the true church, but didn't get an answer...yet.
We encouraged her to keep trying, and that the best way to know of course is through the Book of Mormon. So maybe we'll see her again, maybe not. At least we have her mom's address and we can follow up sometime.
Another guy we met tracting was really friendly, and when we asked him if he was religious, he pointed to the Rangers jersey he was wearing and said, "I'm Protestant, obviously." (Celtic=Catholic and Rangers=Protestant. I guess Mormons have to choose Real Salt Lake)
He said we could come by another day, because the Rangers lost the night before and he was "mourning" because of that. He actually said that. People are very die-hard with their football here. It's fun.
The sister missionaries and their recent convert, Pierre, organized a small Family Home Evening type thing late in the week at his house. We brought a recently reactivated guy with us, and it was a lot of fun. We watched a few Mormon Messages and then played Pictionary.
One of the happy surprises this week was when we decided to knock on a nice Slovakian lady's door, who we met several weeks ago.
We had an appointment with her, but she cancelled. We'd tried to call and text many times since, and we just assumed she lost interest because she never answered or returned our calls.
But she was happy to see us, and said her baby had been super sick for weeks and that's why she couldn't respond. We offered to bring her a Book of Mormon in Slovakian or Czech for her to read while she is sorta housebound with they baby. She said she'd be happy to have us over for a visit in a month or so when the baby is better. So that was nice!
On our way home on Friday night, we saw this guy kinda stumbling down the sidewalk, and he looked like he was wasted. As we walked past he started hitting his head on a brick wall. Not super hard but still, not good. We asked him if he was ok.
Turns out he was on some sort of hallucinogen drug and was seeing stuff and hearing stuff.
But as we talked to him he cheered up quite a lot, although he was dozing off mid-sentence and then twitching back awake allll the time.  After we helped him walk across the street he gave us a hug.
And those are the eventful events of last week. Always so many interesting people to meet.
Hope all is well in the Promised Land. Until next week,
Elder Spencer A. Burt

Photos:
First day of college at Glasgow University! JK, just going to a museum. But that's what the photo looks like.

Other photos on the Glasgow University campus

I found Waldo Street.

"I think we can learn a lot from new converts."

So the moves call came in, and I am staying in Glasgow with Elder Schmidt. 

So I'm assuming I'll probably get another companion in six weeks, be with him for two transfers, and "die" in Glasgow. Scary thought. But ya never know, it seems our mission president has been moving missionaries for their last transfer increasingly lately.

So we had a pretty good week. 

On Monday after P-day was over, we went to Family Home Evening at the church with a recently re-activated guy named David. It's a YSA activity technically, and he is not exactly YSA (at least mid-30) but the YSA missionary couple said that if we think it will benefit him then he is welcome. 

And he loved it. He doesn't have many friends, so it was very good for him. He liked it a lot. 

I was on exchange with Elder Davis, our zone leader. Usually they do exchanges from Tuesday morning - Wednesday morning, but they decided to do Monday evening - Tuesday evening instead. 

We had a fun exchange; I found we taught really well together. We taught a guy named Paul, who has had a rough past, but he is SO excited to learn about the gospel. As we left his apartment, he said to us, "Thanks for coming over, and I really mean that, thanks." It felt good. 

We had a teaching appointment a few days later with his next-door neighbor, and we took Pierre a recent convert that the sisters taught, but unfortunately the lady wasn't home. 

But we knocked on Paul's door just to say hi, and Pierre related really well to him, being a new convert. Paul talked about how he really wants to come to church; that it "just seems like the right thing." Pierre said his thoughts were exactly the same. 

I've kinda realized that solid investigators, and even solid converts, take a while to form a sure testimony and understanding of the Restoration. I always assumed that that was why people joined the church, because they believed it truly was Christ's church and they agreed with the doctrine. 

But I've increasingly realized that most converts come to church, get baptized, and keep coming, because they feel good, and they feel the spirit. The knowledge of doctrine comes with time. 

And I think that's good for us to apply as well--just be simple. Sure, we probably all know the church is true, and we agree with the doctrine, but we need to recognize that if the spirit's there, and if we feel good, then it is good. And it's a lot more simple that way. I think we can learn a lot from new converts.

Also with Elder Davis we went to Buchanan Street, a super busy place where people are hustling and bustling all over. It can be frustrating, but fun too. 

We decided to split up and just stay within sight and sound of each other, so we could contact as many people as possible. 

While I was talking to a nice, polite guy from N. Ireland, four young adults approached Elder Davis and started asking a bunch of questions. After a few minutes, they told him that they were returned missionaries, three from Aberdeen and one from Canada, and they had served in Birmingham England. I wish I had seen it!

Oh also on our way from District Meeting to lunch in the City Centre, I saw the back of a guy's T-shirt on the bus said New Hampshire Fire Dept. or something like that. 

I was just about to stand up and move over to him to ask if he was from there, when an old lady got on the bus and I got up to offer her my seat. Perfect! 

So I went to the spot where passengers stand, and it was right in front of him. So I asked, and he said yes. He and his wife live in Nashua, and they were over here visiting family and sight seeing. 

He was originally from Boston, and he had a VERY strong Boston accent...such a cool accent. It makes me want to go visit the East Coast someday. 

I told them that although I hardly remember anything about it, I lived in Penacook as a child. We had a good conversation. When we got off I gave them each a mormon.org card. Seed planted: check. 

On Friday we were finally able to teach Sabrina, a YSA age investigator who is half African half Italian. She has been taught since last fall, and she has a pretty good knowledge and I would even say a good testimony, but she is super busy with work which makes it hard to meet with her and for her to come to church, and she has family that are dead against her getting baptized. It was nice to finally see her, we'd been trying to for five weeks. 

On Saturday, there were THIRTY people at the stake football morning!!! 

The last few weeks there have been maybe 16-18. But we brought Noel, an 18 year old from France who has mad football skills (he's a member) and the sister missionaries came with two of their recent converts. 

Some people are fairly chill and not that good, but some of the members are really intense and good. It's a lot of fun. 

We played 15 on 15, which made it even more fun because there wasn't as much space to cover (didn't have to run as much!) Since I'm staying here at least another six Saturdays, or probably 12 or 17, I might buy some turf cleats if I can find a good deal. 

And yesterday we had church, which was good. I gave a talk. And as usual, I was super nervous and felt like I was a nervous wreck at the pulpit. 

But as usual everyone said "Oh I enjoyed your talk!" and apparently they actually meant it because one lady said that people referred to it in both relief society and Sunday school. 

So I guess my subject matter was good, but my delivery could use improvement. Maybe I should take a public speaking class at USU, I've actually heard there is one and it's really beneficial.

So yeah, that's the week. Just over four months till I will be on an airplane! 

It's weird, I literally get a bit more excited when I see an airplane, which is common because many planes fly over the areas we proselyte in to land at the Glasgow airport. 

Maybe just because my first time on a flight (that I can remember) was on my way here, and so this will only be my 3rd plane ride so the excitement and novelty is still kind of there.

Anyway, I love you all and I am grateful for your example, and for bringing me up in the church and in the gospel!

Love, Elder Burt

Here are the photos from District Meting that was held on 5 Aug 14. Enjoy!

"We saw Prince Harry, Prince William, and Duchess Kate there!"

Alright!
So last week started off with some boxing! It was pretty intense.
Most of  the matches were on the light-weight side, but some were more heavy, so the hits were harder and more intense. It was pretty fun!
It was just me, Elder Schmidt, and two elders from the other ward in Glasgow (Springboig Ward).
Sometimes when the lightweights were boxing I was kinda bored, but the good matches made up for it. And guess what else?
We saw Prince Harry, Prince William, and Duchess Kate there!
They walked in and took their seats across the arena from us. We heard some people sitting in front of us get all excited and talk about it, and that's how we noticed.
I got a couple blurry pictures from across the arena, and a couple of the Jumbotron when it showed them sitting there.
So yeah I was in the same room as royalty. Even if the boxing had been total crap it would be worth the £15 to say I was there with them. We didn't get to meet them or teach them about the gospel or anything but it was still cool.
The crowd all went crazy when boxers from Scotland, England, Wales, and N. Ireland boxed.
It seemed like the boxer in blue almost always won, and they were always the favourite.
Alright...now the rest of the week.
We met a lady on the street and talked with her for a few minutes, and then she started looking at me real closely and said I look exactly like someone she knows. The way I smile, laugh, talk, look, the hair, the eyes, and eyebrows, she said it was scarily similar. It was interesting.
I've only had that happen once before; a Mexican guy on one of the service trips I went on said I was the spitting image of one of his friends. Maybe someday I'll meet my doppelganger or see a photo.
I exchanged with Elder Jones who is a Mandarin-speaking missionary. It was cool; he taught one lesson to a lady in all Chinese! I just sat there in awe. It was really cool.
Apparently they teach a ton of students, who have never been able to learn about the gospel in China, and then they return home to China and hopefully spread the gospel to their friends there.
We're still teaching Alistair, and he's coming along...he has a very very good memory, sometimes he'll throw out answers to questions that involve very specific words from the lessons, and it's surprising that he remembers so much.
Sometimes he even says stuff that is spot on and we haven't taught him yet, and we're quite sure the past elders didn't either because they only taught him one lesson. Interesting guy.
Thursday we got bashed by Freddy again. Luckily it was just him, not his friend. The scriptures he read and related to the Godhead made sense, and I'd never heard them used before...but in the end, I KNOW Joseph Smith saw TWO personages and that's all that matters in the end!
Saturday we played football, then did some City Centre finding to take advantage of the Games atmosphere. We met some interesting people.
One guy who was wearing a kilt, and he says he wears it every day. We were interrupted mid-conversation by a drunk and/or high guy who was just asking random religious questions... "so...God so loved the world, right?...." "um...yes...?" "....." He would say random scripture references but they didn't make any sense. It was funny.
Then we were talking to an Indian-looking guy from England who is half Sikh and half Christian. He gave us a DVD on the life of Christ, and it's a bit old and cheesy.
My favourite part is when Jesus approaches John the Baptist, they shake hands, and then Jesus just lays down in the water, basically baptising himself.
We were interrupted in this conversation as well by a Slovakian guy who lives in the Highlands somewhere, telling us that he met two elders in his town and they never came to visit him. We talked for a little while, and by the end he said our conversation had cheered him up significantly.
We also met a squash player for the Lesotho team, and he accepted a Book of Mormon as soon as I held it out, but he didn't say much else. It's a seed, I spose.
Oh and I approached a young guy probably in his twenties, and he just stopped, looked at me angrily, and said "I know all about your church already. You're a cult! Get out of here! Go back to America!" It was quite funny.
I think my short time working at the call center helped me to face rejection with a good attitude on my mission; it's never really bothered me, I just find it entertaining sometimes.
Church was good. One of our long-term investigators came. She enjoyed it. Also it seems like every week there is at least one visitor who is here from America on business or holiday or something. It's interesting.
So yeah, that's my week. Hope all of yous's weeks were nice as well.
Love you!
Elder Spencer Burt

Boxing photos!!

"Scots are good at being bold, blunt, and straightforward."

So first off, we are going to watch BOXING today at the Commonwealth Games!
It's at 1:00 pm and so I may not have as much time as usual for emailing. But it's worth it! And maybe if it's televised in America you can watch it with me!
Last week didn't seem to eventful, but it seems like most weeks I say that I end up thinking of cool things that happen as I type. So here we go.
We did a bit of service--painting--for a couple that the sister missionaries are teaching. It was kind of fun I guess.
We're still teaching Alistair. Hard to tell if he understands what we teach.
Also Frank (the guy who had cops at his house)...he was high during our appointment. We're pretty sure he smokes a lot of weeeeed.
We had a guy from the ward come with us, and he was straight up with him. He basically said "you need to repent of your sins, come to church, and get baptized.
It seemed a bit harsh, but at the same time perfect because the guy was raised in the same area of Glasgow (kind of a rough area) and he knows how these people think.
Scots are good at being bold, blunt, and straightforward. But yeah, Frank was straight up as well and said he can't desert his Catholic faith, even if he got an answer that our church is true. So we'll see where we go with him.
We keep finding more and more good potential investigators, and some end up being too "busy" or avoiding us or just never home...but eventually we'll find someone golden!
On the 24th of July we had dinner at the McKenzies' house. The mom is a member from Utah, and her husband is a non-member from Scotland. They invited us and all the other missionaries from the ward over for a Pioneer Day celebration. We had burgers and such. It was a lot of fun.
We played some football again on Saturday.
The stake president organizes it every Saturday, unless there's not enough people planning to go. It was fun, but I injured my NECK doing a throw in!
I guess I threw it too hard and it felt like I pulled a muscle. For the day it was very painful to move my neck, but when I woke up yesterday it was not as bad and now it's good as new.
We started teaching a guy from Sudan who is Muslim. He kept saying "Prophet Jesus" so we told him that if he reads the Book of Mormon he can gain a testimony of Jesus as more than a prophet, but also the Saviour. That is one of the purposes on the Title Page of the book, so we'll see if it works with him.
I heard of a Jewish lady who had such an experience last year somewhere in our mission...the Book of Mormon convinced her that Jesus is the Christ. Pretty cool.
Last night we were knocking some doors, and an African guy answered. After a couple minutes on the doorstep, he invited us in. He, his wife, and a friend of theirs were all there and seemed happy to see us. I was very hopeful, because it seems like a lot of missionaries in our mission have great success teaching African families.
The man who let us in, Freddy, offered to say an opening prayer. And it sounded exactly like the way we pray. And then he started talking about how he believes in Prophets, and that he would like there to be a prophet today who God could speak through.
He went on about this for about five minutes, and then said he would like us to tell him about Joseph Smith. He already knew the name, and they all three said they had a copy of the Book of Mormon from past encounters with missionaries.
So I kinda had a suspicious feeling that he wasn't as genuinely searching for the truth as he said he was, because if he really was then he would have embraced it when he first learned of the Restoration.
So yeah he asked us to tell the account of Joseph Smith, and immediately this led to a lengthy discussion/debate about the nature of the Godhead. It ended up a bit frustrating.
He and his friend were quoting scriptures off by heart, and then when it was almost 9:00 he went to get his Bible. I told him no, we don't have time for that, because I know from experience that once the Bible comes out, it will be hard to leave.
They were insistent that they share a few scriptures "just for 10 minutes!" but of course it went longer.
So we told them that we don't have time, but to be polite we said if they want we can come back another day. They wanted us to (so they could teach US) so we're going back later this week.
I feel like just lending them my copy of "A Marvelous Work and a Wonder" and telling them that we are called to teach people who are seeking the truth, not to argue or to be taught. We'll see how that goes.
It would be nice to bring Prince, a member from Greenock, who would be well-matched with them. Although Bible-bashing is sometimes fun, it never works because we all have different interpretations of the same verse, and there are verses that support both arguments. Every time.
Oh one cool thing.
We were going down this semi-busy street GQing (street contacting). We stopped a young man and young woman about our age to talk with them.
They were really friendly, and once I asked if they were familiar with our church, the girl said she had been to Utah, had toured Temple Square, had Mormon friends she met there, etc.
She said she worked at a scout camp at Bear Lake. I said "Camp Hunt?" And she was excited and said yes! So of course she knew Logan, she loved Bear Lake, and she said she went to a church service and loved it!
But she said she was too busy to meet with us, and wouldn't give us her contact info to teach her. Dang it!
But she has our number, and maybe she'll contact us. It was a fun conversation though...It's a small world after all!
Alright well that was my week. I guess it wasn't too boring after all. Now time to go watch some men beat each other up!
Have a great week. Love you all!
Spencer

Here's a few photos of that weird hill thing on Plean Street!

"Is it weird that I kind of WANT to get punched in the face..."

OK got a bit more time so here's a quick rundown of the week!
I saw a guy with a "Glasgow Smile." Basically it's like the scars that the Joker has on Batman, but real life.
Apparently it's pretty common in the Glasgow drug/gang scene. It wasn't fresh, but I could see scars running from his mouth to his ears. It was kinda scary.
One of our investigators has a past with police confrontations and illegal stuff. We taught him last week, and right after we finished the Restoration DVD with him, the police knocked on his door.
He went to answer it, and they just wanted to ask him a few questions about someone he knew that got arrested. But he was being difficult with them, kept his foot against the door and wouldn't open it more than two inches.
We listened from the other room for a couple minutes and decided we should leave. He was kind of using us as an excuse to not let the cops in, saying that he's in the middle of discussing with us and can't be interrupted. So we decided we better leave. As we did, the cops kind of let themselves in thru the doorway. It was an interesting experience...
We started teaching this other guy. He's a bit of a hoarder, but a nice guy. He investigated about a year ago, so we decided to go by. He seems receptive, but a bit of something isn't quite right in his head.
We met a solid (so we thought) guy named Anthony while tracting. We were knocking his door as he walked up, and he said "that's my house" so we talked to him outside for a few minutes, and he invited us in.
We taught the first lesson, and he was one of the most agreeing, positive, receptive, and even "prepared" people I've found. He said it all made sense, more than any other church he's ever heard of.
He was super excited to come to church; we set a place to meet so we could show him to the church because it's a bit tucked away. We waited at the destination for a while, called him, his phone was off, waited some more, and then decided he wasn't coming. We've tried a few times since to call and he hasn't answered. So hopefully we'll find out what's up.
We met another interesting guy outside.
He says he believes in Jesus Christ, but can't possibly believe that Mary had a child without [procreation]. He was a bit drunk when we met him, but he asked legit questions, and seemed to want to know.
We set up a time to teach him the next morning. He said he lived in a little camp trailer in front of his grandparents' house.
He gave us the address, we went there, and sure enough, there was a trailer (or "caravan" they'd say here) we knocked on it, no answer. Knocked the house door, and his grandma said he wasn't there; he'd gone to stay the night at a friend's house. So we'll see what happens with him as well.
We played a bit of football with some members and investigators from around the stake on Saturday. It was fun. I didn't play too well but it was fun nonetheless.
Oh funny story: as we were walking down the road around 8:45 heading back in for the night, we saw this teenage couple on the other side of the street.
The girl looked like she was crying...and I guess I "stared" just to figure out what was going on. The guy just stood there glaring back at us, and then he yelled at me, "What are you actually looking at?"
I said sorry, looked down and kinda smiled, because I've learned on my mission that when someone gets mad, it's no use to get mad and by now I find it kinda funny.
But I guess he thought I was laughing at them, and then he got a bit more angry, "What the **** are you laughin at?!" He started walking across the street, saying some choice words to me, but his girlfriend grabbed him and pulled him back.
He was a bit crazy. Anger management needed. Is it weird that I kind of WANT to get punched in the face by a crazy angry guy sometime, especially on my mission? It would just make for a good story to tell my kids in the future.
Got the package this week, thanks bunches to all those who contributed items, effort, etc. I loved it!
Have a great week bretheren and sisters!
Love, Elder Burt

Photos
Glasgow conehead statue

Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 sculpture thing

Half Birthday celebration