Livin' the dream!

This week has been awesome!!! All our finding efforts are now paying off, but I'll get to that good stuff later. First off, it rained!!! For the first time since before Christmas. Things are finally starting to warm up. This morning we woke up to some beautiful post rainstorm fog and some nice warm temperatures.

We had a good Zone Conference. Much of it was taken up by turning I our old iPads and getting the new ones set up. We also drove down to Scarsdale to drop our car off at Ted Herrmann's to get the fender fixed. Funny thing is, the temporary car we're using is the car the Spanish elders in Scarsdale drove when I was there, so when I got in it smelled like carpooling to get groceries from the Scarsdale A&P Grocery. It was weird.

Today we get an unexpected trip to the temple with Ray Smith (Ben may remember him as the man who took us to the city the day we went).

We had an awesome day tracking a little while ago. As Elder L'Espérance was saying our regular prayer before we leave the apartment for the day, he prayed that we would know where we should go to knock doors. Immediately as he said that I remembered seeing a street sign for a little street called Cottage Street. I didn't even know where I'd seen it, but I was pretty sure I had seen it somewhere

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We put it in the GPS, the GPS found it for us, and we went knocking doors there.

First door, we met a Hispanic man named M* who immediately invited us in and started showing us a song he had written. The song was in Spanish, so we didn't understand most of it,it we smiled and told him we liked it. Then we taught him about the Book of Mormon. He's super interested. Unfortunately, his English isn't too great, so we're passing him off to Elder Wagner and Elder Allred, because Elder Wagner speaks Spanish.

Next door, no one was home.

Next door, a guy who is about our age answered. His name is A*  and we taught him the whole restoration right there in the doorway. He had lots of good questions and was really excited to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We since have stopped by again and he had read all the introductory stuff (the testimonies, brief explanation, introduction, etc.) and also the first chapter. He said he's praying about it, but hasn't got and answer yet. He will though, he's super humble and willing to learn. So we talked about how answers might come and red through parts of Alma 32 with him. He always asks lots of questions. We can just tell he craves learning. He's awesome!!!

Next door, a guy named K* answered and quickly stepped outside and shut the door behind him. Before we could introduce ourselves he said that his mom doesn't like people like us, but that he wants to talk to us. So we again taught the restoration just outside the door. He was so interested in the whole thing. When we talked about how he can pray to know if our message and the Book of Mormon are true, he was so excited. He said, "Man, if this church is it, I want in."

We knocked one more door, which no one answered, and then had to go to an appointment. I've never had so much success knocking so few doors. Two hours, five doors, 3 new investigators. That's what happens when you listen to the spirit. I'm learning more and more how the spirit works. It's awesome! I'm also understanding better that when you work hard for the Lord, you realize how hard he's working for you. We've spent so much time trying to find new investigators since the last transfer and we've had no success at all until this last week. But once we were ready, God led us straight to the people he's been preparing for the restored gospel.

But wait, there's more! The story continues. Two days after our awesome day knocking doors, something AMAZING happened. We were back on Cottage Street following up with A* on his reading and praying (both of which he was doing) and K* happened to be outside talking to his sister. We talked with them for a few minutes. His sister was hating on us pretty bad, saying we were worshipping Thomas Monson and such crazy talk. She just wouldn't accept it when we told here what our church is actually about. She was also talking a lot about black Jesus, which suggests that the family may have some connection to the Heebie Jeebies (I've mentioned them, right? Hebrew Israelites?) but apparently their family is actually Jehovah's Witnesses. She was going on and on and finally she turned to her brother and said, "You don't actually believe any of their stuff, do you?" He firmly replied that he definitely did believe it and his sister got really angry and went inside. K* then told us what had happened to him since we had first met him. The night after we met him, he prayed to God asking if what we were teaching was true. After he went to bed, he had a dream in which he was being taught by the Jehovah's Witnesses and he was told that they were not teaching the truth. Then, he was suddenly being taught by us, and he was told that we were teaching the truth and he needed to continue learning from us. HOW AWESOME IS THAT??? He had a dream!!! How's that for an answer to prayers. We're so excited to keep working with him!

So we have two awesome new investigators, both men now, and they both are progressing nicely. We have still been struggling to meet up with the K* family, so unfortunately they are not progressing very much.

That's all for this week. Love you all!

-Elder Samuel Burton

 ​Pictures: Foggy morning in Hyde Park, streets of Manhattan