This week we had a miraculous encounter with someone I taught in the
Union Square Ward: Kevin Ortiz. You may or may not remember him. He
was almost baptized when I was there, but got discouraged and lost
contact with he missionaries. Today we turned around a corner down in
Chelsea and literally ran into him and his girlfriend, Sauce. They
were freaking out when they saw me again. He was so excited! Heck, I
was so excited! Some of the best lessons of my mission were with him.
I don't think I've ever seen repentance change someone's life so much
before or since. He told us he felt like this encounter was God
telling him he needs to start coming to church again and preparing for
baptism. We took him straight to the fifteenth street chapel and
introduced him to the current Union Square Ward Elders, who he set an
appointment with. We then committed him to start living the word of
wisdom again. He said he wants me to baptize him, but it probably
won't happen until after I'm home already. Bummer. He said he'll pay
for me to fly back if he has to, but I kind of doubt that will happen.
Regardless, I'm so excited about it! I've been wondering what had
happened to him since I heard he had stopped meeting with the
missionaries.
On Sunday, Alex had a meeting with our Branch President, which went
really well. As of our last lesson with him, he fully understands that
in order to be baptized he would have to live a chaste life in spite
of his attraction to men, and yet he still wants to continue
strengthening his testimony and has said he still sees it as a
possibility in the future. I have high hopes that he will be baptized
one day, though, again, it will probably be after I'm home. As an
unimportant side note, last Sunday, Alex discovered the missionary
dinner calendar, so we will be enjoying Chinese food and a word of
wisdom lesson tonight.
Dwight, who is also moving right along, gave us tickets to go to the
MoMA, so we'll be going there later today. I'll try to send pictures
later. He's been busy with work all week, but we have an appointment
with him and President Comstock for dinner Thursday evening. I think
we're really close to a breakthrough with him.
Union Square Ward: Kevin Ortiz. You may or may not remember him. He
was almost baptized when I was there, but got discouraged and lost
contact with he missionaries. Today we turned around a corner down in
Chelsea and literally ran into him and his girlfriend, Sauce. They
were freaking out when they saw me again. He was so excited! Heck, I
was so excited! Some of the best lessons of my mission were with him.
I don't think I've ever seen repentance change someone's life so much
before or since. He told us he felt like this encounter was God
telling him he needs to start coming to church again and preparing for
baptism. We took him straight to the fifteenth street chapel and
introduced him to the current Union Square Ward Elders, who he set an
appointment with. We then committed him to start living the word of
wisdom again. He said he wants me to baptize him, but it probably
won't happen until after I'm home already. Bummer. He said he'll pay
for me to fly back if he has to, but I kind of doubt that will happen.
Regardless, I'm so excited about it! I've been wondering what had
happened to him since I heard he had stopped meeting with the
missionaries.
On Sunday, Alex had a meeting with our Branch President, which went
really well. As of our last lesson with him, he fully understands that
in order to be baptized he would have to live a chaste life in spite
of his attraction to men, and yet he still wants to continue
strengthening his testimony and has said he still sees it as a
possibility in the future. I have high hopes that he will be baptized
one day, though, again, it will probably be after I'm home. As an
unimportant side note, last Sunday, Alex discovered the missionary
dinner calendar, so we will be enjoying Chinese food and a word of
wisdom lesson tonight.
Dwight, who is also moving right along, gave us tickets to go to the
MoMA, so we'll be going there later today. I'll try to send pictures
later. He's been busy with work all week, but we have an appointment
with him and President Comstock for dinner Thursday evening. I think
we're really close to a breakthrough with him.
I've been really joyful this week for some reason. The work is great!
Life is great! I feel so happy with the way my life is right now. I've
got almost two years of good work and memories behind me, three more
weeks of the same to come, and I'm sure great things beyond that too.
I'm going to be super busy with the work over the next few weeks and
it's going to be hard leaving with so much unfinished business, but
I'm still excited to come home and see you and get started with
whatever the Lord has for me next!
Life is great! I feel so happy with the way my life is right now. I've
got almost two years of good work and memories behind me, three more
weeks of the same to come, and I'm sure great things beyond that too.
I'm going to be super busy with the work over the next few weeks and
it's going to be hard leaving with so much unfinished business, but
I'm still excited to come home and see you and get started with
whatever the Lord has for me next!
That's all for this week! Love you all! See you all soon.
-Elder Samuel Burton
Photo: view of the sunset from Battery Park
Pictures from the Museum of Modern Art
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