The High Life

As we maneuver the streets of Manhattan, my mind is a swiftly
calculatory instrument, considering velocity, direction, and intention
as I carry my person through the crowded streets in minimal time and
without incident. But when the tourist right in front of me comes to a
dead stop because she sees something pretty in a window display, and I
may as well have the brainpower of a housefly in a room made of glass.

No serious injuries occurred, and we were both able to laugh it off,
so all is well,

So we've had a great week! To kick it off, we had an amazing lesson
with A* at a members apartment. What we didn't realize is that this
member's apartment is sixty two stories up with a floor to ceiling
view of Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, both the East and Hudson
Rivers, the Freedom Tower, and basically all of Downtown Manhattan. It
was easily the nicest apartment I have ever been in in my life. But
that's not even the best part! The lesson went really well, teaching
the Doctrine of Christ, then on Sunday in Elders Quorumn, Trevor
Packer (the member who hosted our lesson), said he had an announcement
to make. He then announced to the Elders Quorumn that we were some of
the best missionaries he's ever known, that we taught the doctrine
clearly and with tact, and that he would definitely be willing to
introduce his friends to us and so should everyone else! Now we're
really hoping to get more support from the Branch. In the past,
missionary-member relations have been rough here. We're gonna fix
that.

Also, on Saturday we got to participate in a baptism. A woman named
B* B* was baptized in the Manhattan 1st Ward. We had encountered
her several times around the church/temple building and got to know
her really well. We gave her a priesthood blessing on more than one
occasion. Then, when he baptism came, she asked Elder Richards to
baptize her.

I forget if I ever mentioned someone named L*. We have an awesome
member named Stephen, and twice now he's had us over for dinner and we
met his sister who is actually is brother named L*. She lives at
Woodstock and smokes weed with a guy named T.P. Bob who has never worn
shoes. New York has some interesting people.

This morning, we woke up early and met up with half the zone in
Central Park for morning exercises. We played kickball and it was tons
of fun.

Transfers are next week! I'm fairly certain I'll be staying here for
my last cycle, but we don't know what's going to happen to Elder
Richards!

That's all for this week!

-Elder Samuel Burton

Photos: The view from Trevor's apartment. (Crazy thing is, the horizon
shows we're only at half the height of the Freedom Tower)