Easter in the East

Hey Everyone!!!

We've a had a good week to start off the cycle. It started out kind of
slow as Elder Glick was adjusting to the new area, but things have
picked right up again.

Easter was good for us! Sister Nolan, the relief society president,
found out that we had no dinner appointment for Easter Dinner, so she
sent an email to the whole ward and within twenty four hours we had
about ten people invite us over for Easter dinner/lunch. It was great!
We only accepted one for lunch and one for dinner of course and
divided the others between the other missionaries in the ward. The
Smiths were our dinner appointment, and of course they gave us a ton
of Easter candy and cookies to take home.

Also, wasn't conference awesome??? I feel like it had a bit different
feel than past conferences. Maybe it's just because I have a different
perspective on things.

We're kind of stumped with our investigators right now. A* is
doing everything he can but he's just not getting an answer. We keep
telling him to be patient and keep looking for ways we can help him. I
think he just needs to get to church, but he seems to think he's going
to get an answer and then start going to church. K* is doing okay
too. We went over once and his Mom surprised us by laying the smack
down on everyone else in the family, saying they needed to suck it up
and give us missionaries some respect. Sweet! Unfortunately, he's
still being lazy. He says he wants it, but he's not really willing to
put forth the effort, ya know?

On a more positive note, I had a really cool experience just
yesterday. We had just finished dinner at our apartment and Elder
Glick went to change into sports clothes to go to our ward's soccer
night, which we organized as a way of helping ward members fellowship
investigators. I was cleaning up the remnants of dinner when I
suddenly had the thought that I needed to pray and I felt warm a
peaceful inside. It was quite unexpected, but I know well enough to
follow such promptings, especially when that distinct. So I knelt down
by the couch and prayed. I just thanked our Heavenly Father for the
opportunity to serve with a Elder Glick and other things that came to
mind and then I prayed that he would help me to be the best missionary
I could be for my companion and the people in this area and I prayed
that he would guide us  with his spirit and show me what I need to do
to make this area have success now that Elder L'Espérance has left and
I've taken it over. As I prayed, words suddenly came to my mind. "Go
out tracting right now and ask Elder Glick where to go." It was
accompanied by that same warm, peaceful feeling in my chest, so I knew
it wasn't just from my own mind. Regrettably, I kind of protested at
first. I asked Heavenly Father, "does it really need to be right now?
Elder Glick would have to change back into his proselyting clothes and
we'd be late to the activity tonight." But I didn't get an more
response. He had already told me what I needed to do, so I closed my
prayer and went up stairs to tell Elder Glick that we should go to
soccer night late and go tracting first. He let out a big sight and
started changing back into his proselyting clothes, which is kind of
hard for him since half his limbs don't work right. We went out and I
asked Elder Glick where he thought we should go to tract. He told me
what exit to get off the highway at and what street to stop on. Then
he told me exactly which houses he wanted to tract before we left. We
knocked ever door he said and annoyed a few people, gave a kind man
who wasn't interested a card, and then we came to the last house. The
door was covered in bumper stickers with words such as "NRA Supports
Our Rights," "God Bless America," "Team USA," "Support the Troops,"
etc. an old man opened the door and gave us friendly smile, we talked
for a long while on his porch and he told us all about his time in
'nam, his emails to government officials asking what they are doing to
stop Islamic extremists, and his religious views. He said he's
catholic, but then went off on how the Catholic Church just isn't
true. He said they've changed things and added "man-made" things to it
since Christ made it the way it was supposed to be. We jumped on the
opportunity to tell him about a young boy in Palmyra New York who
prayed and was told more or less the same thing about the various
churches that existed at the time and how he was called as a prophet
to restore the Church of Christ to the earth again. I think we sparked
his interest. He readily accepted a Book of Mormon and told us to give
him two weeks to read and pray and then come back. We set the
appointment and left the man, who's name is W* by the way. As we
left I felt the spirit just confirm to me that we had done what we
were supposed to that night. We arrived at soccer night s good forty
five minutes late, but it was well worth it! I'm so glad that I have
the gift of the Holy Ghost and that it will guide me lot be what God
wants me to be when I need it! He surprises me sometimes, when I start
thinking he's leaving me on my own, suddenly he reaches out and shows
me very distinctly that he is there and that he has a plan.

Well, got to go. Love you all!

-Elder Samuel Burton