180

WOW. the work has done a 180 degree turn this last week. We now have
two more investigators set to be baptized on November 21st. One of
them is E*, who I may or may not have mentioned, is a writer for
Saturday Night Live. The other is a man named A* from Sri Lanka. They
are both so awesome! Sincere seekers of truth who just fell into our
laps out of nowhere. They both attended church last Sunday and loved
it. A* is having a hard time understanding the Old English in the
Book for Mormon, so we're trying to get a copy in whatever the native
language of Sri Lanka is. E* is loving the Book of Mormon. He reads
with his friend Mary, who is a member on the east side. Our lessons
with him have been so great!

We have an appointment tomorrow for a man named F* who came up to
us when we were advertising chapel tours outside the temple. He took a
tour from us and told us all about how he realized he needs more of
God in his life and felt like he should see what we can teach him.
He's got a lot of promise.

A* is still doing awesome. She will be baptized on the 31st
still, but, as I mentioned, it will be in the Harlem YSA Ward. She
moves up there tomorrow. They're getting one solid new member!

So Shock Calls are this Saturday. Trainer call are tonight. This cycle
went by faster than any previous cycle has! It just flew by! I feel
like I just got here still. Though we have not received the official
word yet, I am almost certain that I will unfortunately be transferred
away from here. This is what we call a "one and done," not very
common, but not unheard of. The reason I know this is because
President Smith told me Elder Tanner will be training here next cycle
and that I need to get him ready to train. He also said he will not be
whitewash training, so it will be in this area. But I won't be! Elder
Tanner will surely be a bit overwhelmed tonight when he gets a call
from President. Haha. I'm bummed I'll be leaving right when the work
is picking up and people are being baptized! Oh well. I still feel
like I'm leaving the area better than I found it. I guess the Lord
knew I'd love Manhattan too much, so he decided he'd treat me for six
weeks and then promptly send me somewhere else so I don't get TOO
content. I'm excited to find out where I'll be headed next week! I
won't know until Saturday.

It was quite a pleasure to see a familiar face down the hall at the
chapel on Sunday, Rocky Schutjer (Did I just butcher the spelling on
that?), along with has family.

Got to get Elder Tanner ready to train! Got to get my laundry clean!
Got to get groceries to last me this last week here! P-day! love you
all!

-Elder Samuel Burton


Photos!
1. "Freedom by Night"
2. Mary, Me, Elder Tanner, & E*!

Raining cats and investigators

When I first came to this area, I was told by Elder Nelson that we
just need to talk to everyone and their mother. He said that
regardless of how many people we talk to, we still probably won't find
anyone to teach from it, but then people to teach would just show up
out of nowhere. So now, along with a ton of rain, we've had new
investigators falling out of the sky. We've gotten some referrals from
different missionaries. Some sister missionaries in our district found
an NYU student named C* who wants to be taught. He's YSA, so he
was referred to us. Unfortunately, he's out of town for the next week,
but we've talked with the him in the phone and he seems awesome! A
young man named A* walked up to two other sisters in our district and
told them he's done with the Catholic Church and wants to learn about
our church. So they referred him to us too! Last Sunday, we were
standing outside the temple using the wifi to send in our numbers, and
a member from the east side YSA Ward came up to us and told us she had
a friend who wanted to be taught by missionaries who would be showing
up in two minutes. Two minutes later we met E* and set an
appointment with him for tomorrow! So things are really picking up
now! We have people to teach!

A* is still doing really well. Unfortunately, she is officially
going to moving to the Harlem YSA Ward before her baptism. We'll get
to attend the baptism, most likely, but she won't be in our Ward.

We had an awesome visit from a Elder Arnold of the Seventy. He's a
fiery one. I look forward to applying some of the things he told us
about to our teaching with our new investigators!

Gotta run now. Until next week...

-Elder Samuel Burton

Photos: Elder Tanner in the rain, Manhattan sunset

Blackman and Robin

The cold came all at once. A few days ago summer still lingered, but a
cold wind blew in and brought the beginnings of Fall with it. Trees
are displaying the first inkling of fall hues and their leaves are
just starting to crisp at the edges. I wore my coat for the first time
already.

A* came back from Texas and she is determined to be baptized,
but wants to wait a few extra weeks to ever her parents more used to
the idea. We want a bit more time to review everything with her too,
so it all works out. Halloween is her current baptismal date now!
She's so solid in her conversion that I know nothing will stop her
from being baptized. She expressed to us that she knows she has to
proceed with or without her parents approval, but she would much
rather have it, which is why she's made her way of introducing them to
the church a matter of study and prayer and so far, as I said last
week, they have shown minimal opposition.

We met a guy named R* on the street who seems promising he said he
once met with missionaries and would like to start taking lessons
again. He's only the second male R* I've heard of, and the other is
Batman's sidekick. He approached us, which is always a nice change
from the usual order of things and shows some sincerity and real
intent.

We also had a man cross our path while we were contacting in Central
Park. He was black, probably about 6'6" and extremely skinny. He just
raised up his arms when he stood in front of us and said, "Brothers!
Pray for me!" And immediately bowed his head and folded his arms. So
we prayed for him right there. For a brief moment, I felt like I was
back in the Bronx! Afterwards an Asian tourist couple came up to him
and wanted a picture with him. I've noticed the countless Asian
tourists are all fascinated by the African American here. Maybe
they've never seen black people before. Haha. Weird stuff.

This Friday we have a special conference with Elder Arnold of the
Seventy. We don't really know what to expect, but President Smith and
the Assistants are making a pretty big deal out of it. I'll report on
how it goes next week.

I'm getting the first signs of a cold, but other than that, all is
well and the work is slowly t surely moving forward. I'm enjoying the
Manhattan life though it's all quite overwhelming still. Thanks for
the prayers and support!

-Elder Samuel Burton

Pictures:

​

Elder L'Espérance wants me to send you his gratitude for the pumpkin cookies.

Too busy to think of a subject for this email

Another exciting week in Manhattan. Things are crazy as ever being a
district leader in such a HUGE district (that is, by number of
missionaries; tiny geographic area though) keeps me busy. A lot of
people to help out, a lot of issues to deal with, but it's all going
well and we're seeing a lot of success in this area.

Being in a YSA ward is a really strange experience. So quiet during
sacrament meeting. So many people my age. It's different. The members
in this ward are awesome though. It's going to great working with
them.

We got a text message from A* during district meeting. She told
her parents she is going to be baptized, and though they didn't
object, they didn't give there support either. Apparently they just
asked her what the LDS church even is. So she started to tell them and
now they're reading the Book of Mormon! I don't know what part of
Texas they live in, but who knows, maybe Elder Hafen will end up
teaching them one day. Haha. Luckily, she happened to have a Hungarian
copy of the Book of Mormon too, so they can read it in their native
tongue.

We started teaching a guy named Y* who lives in Brooklyn. He's in
Manhattan on the weekends, so he can only go to church here. Thus, we
get to teach him in person on the weekends, or over Skype on weekdays.
He seems pretty cool. He was initially found by missionaries when he
just walked into church one Sunday and said he wanted to be taught.
It's been several months since missionaries have been able to contact
him though. Now he's back on the grid and we hope to set a baptismal
date soon.

Most of our work is finding people and referring them to other
missionaries, because most people we meet in our area don't actually
live there, but the work is going good. I'm sure we'll be getting
referrals from other missionaries around Manhattan to. Or, like in
A*'s case, from other countries. So many people coming and
leaving!

Gotta run now! Busy day, lots to do. We have a Zone P-day Activity we
have to be at and we have to get our laundry, groceries, and cleaning
done before that. Love you all, thanks for the support!

-Elder Samuel Burton

Pictures!
1. A room with a view (the apartment of the other elders in my district)
2. Night in midtown
3. Times Square at a distance. SUPER BRIGHT.

Elder Houston & the new apartment

The Manhattan Man

This morning I was running through Central Park. A cool breeze pours
out of the avenues, flooding the park and heralding the imminent
autumn. Never mind the occasional whiff of something less than
pleasant; never mind the murmurings of an out-of-shape companion;
never mind the remnants of sleepiness still being forced from my
bodily systems. The views are spectacular, the atmosphere unmatched,
and the feeling glorious enough to move angels to sing the dawning of
a new day of missionary work! I'm a Manhattan Man now! And what's
more--a Manhattan Missionary! This is the life!

Manhattan has proved to be quite overwhelming so far. A lot more
people than the Bronx. A lot more tourists. A lot more skyscrapers. A
lot more of just about everything except feces in the streets, thank
goodness.

Being in the YSA ward, our teaching pool is significantly smaller than
most of the Manhattan missionaries, because we're limited to 18-30
year old singles. There are a lot of those in Manhattan, but most of
them don't care to listen to us. We do have one awesome investigator
named A*. She's so solid! She has such a strong testimony of
the Restoration. The only issue is the fact that her father is a
Hungarian Pentecostal preacher and she's scared to break it to him
that she's joining another church. She just flew to Texas yesterday
(where her parents currently live) to tell them she's going to be
baptized. We're praying all goes well. Right now she's shooting for
October 17th. We're also teaching a man named K* who's girlfriend
was baptized a few weeks ago. Then he decided he wanted to marry her
and she told him she wants him to take the missionary lessons first.
He's got a lot of lifestyle changes to undergo, but he seems
completely willing. He also wants to be baptized on October 17th.
Those are the only two serious investigators I've met so far, but
we've got some other people Elder Tanner has told me about who we
haven't been able to meet with.

This may seem strange, but on of the weirdest things about this new
area is the white people. I'm not used to seeing white people
everywhere and for the first few days I found myself always surprised
to get on a subway and see white people. It really threw me off. I've
gotten too used to the Bronx.

That's all for now. I'll include some pictures below. Until next time...

-Elder Samuel Burton

1. The view from our fire escape.
2. Madison Square Garden & the Empire State Building
3. IMAGINE at Strawberry Fields, Central Park.