Bittersweet

As I've heard Ben say when quoting from famous Romans through history, "Alea Iacta Est." (Latin for: the die is cast). I am leaving Westchester. I would tell you where I am going, but I am not exactly sure. I know my companion will be Elder Le'Esperance, which is awesome because he is one of the few missionaries that is not from the United States. He hails from Quebec in the French part of Canada. We will be opening a new are together somewhere in the Poughkeepsie Zone (Puh-kip-see). That doesn't tell us much because the Poughkeepsie zone is much, much larger than just the town of Poughkeepsie, in fact the largest geographically in the mission. It's also the furthest north. So from what I understand, I'm about to meet Elder Le'Esperance at the transfer meeting in Ossining, and there we will be given keys to a car and an address for our new apartment and head out. Fun! What makes it more fun is I'm the senior companion now, Elder Le'Esperance has been out for only 12 weeks. So we are both very new. It's going to be an adventure! Especially because we will be driving up in a blizzard. Winter just came all at once. It was warm yesterday, if I wanted I could have left my coat and just worn a sweater. But today it is freezing cold and snow is falling hard enough that even Santa Clause wouldn't leave home. The first real winter storm. I'm not sure if it can be classified as a Nor'easter. As far as I can tell the wind is blowing from the northeast, but I don't understand exactly what else is required for that designation.

Anyway. This week has been good. A lot of saying goodbye to people. Last night, I said goodbye to D*. He has been going strong without cigarettes for almost two months now and he's been thanking both us and God for helping him do it. He's ready to be baptized, he's just not ready to de his family and do it. It will happen one day, I just hope I somehow find out about it when it does.

 I saw John for the last time that same night. It was great, but it was hard. He had written me a thank you note and we talked about how great these last few months have been. I'm going to miss him so much! He's such a great guy.i feel like we just understand each other really well. I feel so blessed to have been able to be there to find him, teach him, see his baptism, and just get to know him. He is one of the most good-hearted men I know. It was so hard to say goodbye to him last night. I have his email and I am definately going to keep in touch.

Right after that we went and visited P* for the last time. He's such a sweet, loving, and wise man. He lives in a 10'x10' room and has such a beautiful outlook on life. We just hung out and talked for a while. I got his email address to keep in touch. I gave him a hug and afterwards he had tears in his eyes--that just broke my heart! P*, why do you got to do that to me? I'm going to miss him so much too!

Right after that, M*, my self-proclaimed Godfather, took us out to dinner at the El Dorado Diner to say goodbye. He talked to us for a long time. He told me he's got a bunch of pictures and a cd of his saxophone music that he's going to send up to Poughkeepsie for me. After a good meal of waffles and fried chicken and after Milton had told anyone that would listen about his "Mormon Godsons," we said goodbyes, gave hugs, and headed home for the last time.

These are just a few of so many people I've said goodbye to over the last few days. I did not realize it would be like this on a mission! Why didn't you warn me? You probably did, but I just didn't understand yet. I have made so many good friends and memories here and yesterday I found that I just wasn't prepared to say goodbye to it all. So basically that made yesterday a really hard day, and yet a day of remembering how much joy I've received because of these amazing people!

I love these people so much!

Saying goodbye to my district tomorrow at transfers won't be much easier. At least I'm likely to see most of them again around the mission. Elder Holtom and I have determined it is our destiny to be companions one day.

But enough of the sadness!

On a more light-hearted note, last week I hit a kind of all time low for pride earlier this week. We helped out a lady who the spanish sister missionaries in Yonkers ran into in a stairwell and became friends with. She's moving to Boston, so we helped her move everything into a storage facility until it can be moved to her new apartment. While we were doing that, she looked at me and said, "He's ten years old! What's he doing here?" That's it! I've heard 16, 14, even 12, but now it's down to 10 years old. Haha. Please, laugh. I feel like this email has been too depressing. Oh well. Maybe I'll start aging one day, for now I'll just have to be content with how I am. She offered to feed us dinner as reward for our help, but unfortunately it won't be until next Saturday, so I will be in my new area. Bummer.

Even more of a bummer is I am opening an area the day before thanksgiving, so we are not likely to have a dinner appointment for the holiday. Oh well. I understand much of my family is in Indianapolis for thanksgiving. Have fun you guys!

Well, I'm excited to get to know my new area! I'll be able to tell you more about it once I've actually been there. I do know it has an express train to the city, so I'll still be able to visit Manhattan on p-days. (I'm talking about when you get here, Ben!)

I'm also looking forward to a lovely meal with Natalie and Mark Pulsipher next week! Love you guys!

Here's to happy times past and more yet to come!

-Elder Samuel Burton

Me saying goodbye to D*

Me saying goodbye to J*

Me saying goodbye to P*

Me saying goodbye to M* (my adopted godfather)

Streetlife Serenade

I would like to start by saying J* is awesome. Such a cool guy. He recently noticed Elder Hunt, a senior missionary on our Ward. He then figured out that not all missionaries are young, college-age kids. So now he really wants to go on a mission! Unfortunately he's not married, so it might be tricky for him to do that, but the desire is definitely there! On Sunday he signed up as a substitute primary teacher, he's going to be blessing the sacrament soon, and he wants t go on a mission!

Anyway, this week has been great! Things are moving right along. Tonight we are going to get training calls, so everyone that's going to be training next transfer cycle will find out. I'm not likely to be training yet, but it is possible. This Saturday is Shock Calls, so I'll find out if I'm going to be transferred and where to. Exciting! And scary. But mostly exciting!

Also exciting news, I'm going to the city today! Elder Nielson is going to Ossining to rehearse for our Christmas devotional with Elder Holtom, who hurt his foot. Elder Nelson (not Nielson) and I are going to Manhattan! His last area was West Side Manhattan, so he knows his way around. We're probably going to hit up the museum of natural history and maybe go down to canal street. It's going to be great! As I'm writing this email, I am riding on the 2 train through th Bronx being serenaded by a man who just got on with a bass guitar and an amp. He just made up a song just for me which he called "Burton, Sing a Song!" Now he singing loves songs to the Jamaican woman sitting across from him. He's actually really good playing the bass! I Love New York!

Also, This last week, I met a woman in the New Rochelle Spanish Ward who started freaking out when she saw me. I found out that roughly 24 years ago she and her family (the Monterrosa Family) were taught and converted by an Elder Burton in Guatemala. She said I look just like him too. She said I have to write home and find out if I have any relatives that served in Guatemala. I know my dad was in Australia, so it's not him. Anyone else?

Well, got to go now. Not much time to email when we go to the city. 

Love all you guys!

-Elder Burton.

N Why? C

I've realized that there are some aspects of life here which I have
grown accustom to, that are very different from life in Utah. Obvious,
I know, but it just dawned on me that in a year and eight months I'm
not likely to be harassed by some drugged up guy; I won't have to
stand in the far corner of elevators to avoid the puddle of urine; I
won't see black people at church anymore. And though I miss the more
prevalent sobriety in Utah and I still don't understand why SO MANY
people feel the need to pee in an elevator (really, it's shockingly
common), many of the day to day aspects of life here are more or less
normal to me now. Tracting project buildings opens your eyes to a new
world of Ebonics, drug deals, and various bodily fluids.  And these
are just the projects in the suburbs of New York City! On the other
hand, having dinner with one of the millionaires in the Ward also
opens your eyes to a new world. Just a very different one. Well,
that's New York.
Soooooo....
The Westchester stake had it's stake conference this last weekend,
which is great, because it means I got to spend some time in the
Bronx. They hold stake conference at the Kingsbridge chapel. We took
J* with us, because as a native New Yorker he knows how to get
around the Bronx a lot better than we do. We got to attend both the
Saturday evening session and the Sunday morning one. So twice this
week we parked on a street covered in trash bags, slid passed the
drunk guy that was blocking the stairs to yell at people for spare
change, and got on the subway (note: subways in the Bronx are actually
above the ground). Stake Conference was great! I was happy to see a
familiar face there: Jenny Richards from back on Hugo Avenue! The
talks were great, mostly focused on missionary work and temple work.
That's good because we're missionaries and we're helping J* and
P* prepare for the temple. There was one talk given by the stake
president, President Jefferies, that every missionary could see was
directed at the Yonkers spanish Ward. They've been having a few
problems lately and the forecast is suggesting we might soon have a
Yonkers English Ward instead of an English branch and a Spanish branch
instead of an spanish Ward. A lot of people are switching over to get
out of there.
Anyway, that's not important. We've been doing a lot of lookups for
potential investigators and less actives recently. One of the lookups
turned into a dinner appointment for us, which is always nice: steak
and potatoes.
On a split last Friday, I got a small taste of what my good friend
Nate O'Brien is experiencing on his mission in Peru. We had dinner at
a Peruvian investigators home, and she made some very good Peruvian
food. She told me to tell everyone in Utah to go to Peruvian
restaurants, because not enough of them do. Haha.
Other than that, this weeks been fairly uneventful. We have Zone
Conference tomorrow (which means back to the Bronx again!) and
transfers in two weeks.
Right now I'm sitting at the scarsdale chapel with some other elders
as my companion practices with everyone that's going to be in our
mission's Christmas devotional. He's playing cello. I didn't make the
cut for the choir, so at least I have some extra time to write home.
Well, that's all for now. Talk to you later.
-Elder Samuel Burton

The Harvest

This week has been very rewarding. If we consider the beginning of the
week to be Wednesday (because you last heard from me on Tuesday) then
we started off the week with a day of interviews. To begin this day,
Elder Nielson and I interviewed Sister Eastman and Sister O'Rullion to
fulfill Elder Nielson's responsibilities as Districts Leader. We then
each had our interviews with President Morgan. During my interview, he
asked how I have handled taking over the area. I told him it had been
a rough start but everything was going well. His face then assumed the
devilish grin of a child that knows a secret (not an uncommon face for
him). He said, "Good, because now you need to get Elder Nielson ready
to take over the area." I said, "okay." Obviously irked that I wasn't
displaying more interest in the matter, he continued, "before the end
of this transfer cycle." Still I kept my suspicions to myself,
determined to draw this secret out of him using his own methods
against him. I could tell his childish side was dying to tell his
secret. After a short while, President Morgan realized I wasn't going
to petition him for further explanation, so he started asking
questions instead. "Now what might that mean, Elder?" Finally I
conceded my suspicion, "it might mean that I'm being transferred this
cycle." Satisfied, he nodded (still retaining his childlike grin),
"Yes, it might mean that!"
I'm still going to prepare for anything this next transfer; President
Morgan is definitely still revising parts of the transfer plan, but
there is definitely a good chance I could be transferred elsewhere in
just a few weeks.
Still, there was one more interview that day, and one I was most
anxious for: John's baptismal interview. We had gone over all of the
standard questions with him beforehand to make sure he wouldn't feel
nervous at all.  President Freihoffner (1st counsellor in the mission
presidency) conducted the interview. Of course John was cleared for
baptism! We finished filling out his record and had a great lesson at
the chapel before he went home.
The next day, We took john to the Darger's (members in the Ward) for a
lesson. We chose this particular family because John knows them from
seven years ago (as calculated by Brother Bill Darger) when he first
met with missionaries. We learned the names of those missionaries:
Elder Alger and Elder Smith. We had a great lesson, making sure John
had been taught everything we're supposed to teach him before baptism.
We taught him about baptisms for the dead, and he was so excited when
he learned he could be baptized for his father who passed away. Bill
Darger volunteered to help John prepare his dad's information for
temple work. After the lesson, Bill Darger Facebook messaged former
Elder Alger to inform him that John was being baptized. Unfortunately
no one knows how to contact Elder Smith. Bill Darger gave him John's
phone number, so John got a call from him that night. Brother Alger
then skyped in to the baptism on Saturday. It's amazing to think how
much the Lord prepared John in those seven years between the two sets
of missionaries. The night after the baptism we took John to the Ward
Halloween party. The next day he was confirmed. That same Sunday,
Percy received the priesthood. The plan is for John to receive the
priesthood next week.
Basically, this week has been a week of harvest, a week for the fruits
of our labor to come forth. How appropriate that it comes in October,
at the time of the real harvest. And how appropriate that in my
scripture reading his morning I happened to be reading in Alma 26,
particularly verses 5-8.
Anyway, I'm excited for Halloween! Today for a zone activity we're
having a pumpkin carving contest. Sister Morgan will be judging and
the pumpkins will be on the mission home porch over Halloween. I'll
take pictures to send later.
For now, all is well out in the mission field. It may be time for the
harvest, but for us missionaries the season is not over yet, so we're
going to keep working hard.
Until next week,
Elder Samuel Burton

A photo from John's Baptism (Elder Johanson came), and Inthe Halloween
spirit, here are some pictures from the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery:

Surprise!!!

Surprise! It's me! only on a Tuesday this week. We got a phone call
earlier this week and President Morgan said p-day is Tuesday for this
week only. Sorry if you were going to write to me today, I won't be
able to respond until next week.
So we've had another good week. Everything is set for J*'s baptism
and it is going to happen this Saturday. He is so ready and so
excited! So are we! Much of last week was spent coordinating with
J*, President Morgan, the Bishop, and everyone else that's involved.
When we worked out the program for the baptism with him, he requested
that the musical number be "Come Come Ye Saints," which is a hymn they
played the first time he came to sacrament meeting and he really liked
it. He requested that I play it, so now I have to work out an
arrangement of that before Saturday. That's stressful, but I think I
can do it. (Thanks Grandma B)
Also, The member we work with named P* is getting the priesthood
this Sunday too. We met with him again on Saturday, he met with the
bishop Sunday, and the bishop said next week. When we met with him on
Saturday we had a great discussion just standing out in front of his
building, but it was interrupted when a car ran a red light in from of
his building and the back end was hit. The two drivers got out and
started working it out (very loudly) but we tried to just continue our
discussion. About five minutes later, another car hit the same car
that was hit the first time. This driver got out two and joined the
yelling. Five minutes later, like clockwork, yet another car slammed
head on into the same car that was hit the first time. This time, all
the people in the car got out and started sprinting down the street
away from the scene and never came back. Despite New Yorkers' apparent
inability to see other cars, no one was hurt and we managed to have a
great discussion.
In other news, I have been authorized for online proselyting, as
anyone who has seen my Facebook page knows. It only took me about an
hour to clean out my Facebook page. For some people it takes months to
get it fully ready for online proselyting. Luckily I didn't use
Facebook much before my mission, so there wasn't much there to clean
out.
Well that's all for now. We may be going to the city for p-day next
week. Until then...
-Elder Samuel Burton

Pics!

I didn't get a picture, but here are some of me and elder Nielson.

Apples and Apostles

Hello again, it has been quite an eventful week: got a new companion, got to watch a movie, got food from a person we never met, got one-upped by the sisters in front of Elder Perry.
So, Elder Nielson is great! He is from Hurricane, Utah... Yes, he is DEFINATELY from Hurricane, Utah. He loves country music, wears cowboy boots with a huge belt buckle on p-days, liked to go "hoodin'" for fun back home, which is riding on the hood of a truck as its being dragged across the ground by an ATV. Awesome! Very southern Utahn. He is a hard worker and is helping me keep things organized in our area. Since Elder Johanson left, I've discovered I know our area a lot better than I thought, with regards to both geography and people. I hardly ever have to use the GPS to get around. Now I just have to teach Elder Nielson how to get around.
So fun things that happened this week:
We got to watch Meet the Mormons at a special screening just for missionaries! It was awesome! We were instructed, however, not to use it as a Proselyting tool. We can invite people to see it, but we can't take people to see it or contact near theaters that are showing it.
Our car fast for the week snuck up on us and we weren't prepared so we ended up doing a lot of tracting. First house, this extremely friendly guy was just coming home with his fiancé. He was really nice and said he'd love for us to come teach him and his family sometime. As we were walking away, he called out to us, and came running after us with a big bag of apples. Apparently they had just come from an orchard upstate and had tons of apples and his future mother-in-law wanted to give us some. Sweet! Off to a great start with these guys. He said his name was something like C*. We're not sure if that's how to spell it.
Then as we were walking to the place where the Spanish elders were going to pick us up to take us home, We passed a house that was completely dark (obviously no on home) but Elder Nielson said he felt like we should try it. We did. No on was home... Yet. As we were about to leave, a van pulled into the driveway (which is always an awkward tracting situation). We went and found the van was occupied by a Guatemalan family that was really friendly. We talked to a guy named V*, we learned a bit about their family: their family consists of V*, his sister, his brother, his sister's boyfriend, and their three kids. Not your typical family, but very close and very solid. Unfortunately, the sister is struggling with English, so the Spanish elders get to teach them. But they are now the Spanish elders best investigators! Car fasts are good!
Anyway, on Sunday we had a surprise in sacrament meeting: Elder L. Tom Perry. Apparently he is in New York and wanted to come to our ward because he used to live in it. He gave a great talk about member missionary work (which our ward could do a bit better with) and in the middle of his talk he said, "where are the missionaries?" And then had us stand up. We made the Sister missionaries stand up with us because we were not going into that alone! He basically told the ward they need to do everything they can to help us, the. He asked Elder Nielson how many lessons we had planned this week. Eighteen. He then told the congregation he wants them to help us make it an even twenty. He then asked the same question to the sisters. They said thirty two... Dang. We're going to have to step it up. Elder Perry just laughed and said "We let them go at nineteen and now they're taking over!" He then wanted the ward mission leader to stand up. Brother Newton, our ward mission leader, moved out four weeks ago and the bishop has yet to call a new one. So the bishop got a brief chastisement for that. He called a new ward mission leader immediately after the meeting. So it was a pretty exciting sacrament meeting.
Unfortunately, J wasn't there because he just got a root canal and wasn't feeling up to it. Because President Morgan isn't free to interview him until next week, we're going to have to push his baptism back another week. Our investigator D* is on the brink of defying his family and coming to church, we had a great lesson the other day and the spirit was so strong! Also, P* told us he wants to get the priesthood and he has a meeting with the bishop set up this week. Sweet!
So it's been a great week! Thanks for all the love and support! Until next time...
-Elder Samuel Burton

Elder Nielson and I (I may or may not be standing on a chair) ... (All
my companions are so much bigger than me!)

Buzz Lightyear meets Icarus

Hey everyone!
Today is transfer day and Elder Johanson is out of here. He's heading
up to Middletown in Orange County which is part of the Newburgh zone.
He's going to be companions with Elder Judd, my MTC companion! Lucky
him. Elder Judd is great. I am going to be companions with Elder
Nielson, who I have never met. The only information I have about him
is he's coming from South Manhattan and he looks like Buzz Lightyear
(according to every single person I've talked to). Exciting! I'm sad
to see Elder Johanson go, but I think he's more sad to be leaving. He
keeps saying "I didn't realize how much I loved this area until now."
Even with all the rich Jews that slam doors in our faces, our area is
pretty great.
So it's been a good last week with Elder Johanson. We visited a lot of
investigators and members he wanted to say goodbye to. We helped a
member move a lot of toys that are being donated to the scarsdale
nursery. We watched general conference and had waffles at the mission
home in between sessions (these are the benefits of being in the
Mission President's ward). General conference is great as a
missionary. We get to watch TV for once! Plus I seem to have a very
different perspective on the talks given now.
We had to move J*'s baptismal date back a week, only because there
are a lot of Ward activities this weekend already and the bishop is
going to be in Brazil. Elder Johanson is pretty sure President Morgan
will let him come back to Scarsdale for the baptism. We had a great
lesson with A*, who I think should be adopted into our family,
because he and Dad would make great friends, he's a history buff, he
likes his second amendment rights, and I like him. He's like a good
friend. He just need to start coming to church again (and he is pretty
determined to do so now). He watched the Priesthood Session with us
and has been talking with the Bishop about receiving the priesthood.
We gave him a priesthood blessing and he gave us tacos for a little
going away party for Elder Johanson.
Just this morning, Elder Johanson gave me our posterity tie, a tie
handed down from trainer to trainee containing a record of our
trainer/trainee genealogy back to Elder Gaillo. We have Spanish blood,
which just means the first elder on the tie was in the Spanish
program. Somewhere along the way someone immigrated to the English
program. I am the ninth generation since the posterity tie began.
In other news, A few days ago we got a media referral for 21
Bloomingdale Road, which is one of our favorite places: The New York
Presbyterian Mental Hospital! Right away we knew it was going to be a
fun one. So we went again to the huge complex on top of a hill
surrounded by lovely old trees and green lawns. We went in to see a
man named J* in Unit 3. The other units we've visited people were
much more secured than this one. In the past we've had to ring a
doorbell, wait for someone to come unlock the doors, go into a small
room, have them lock the door behind us, give them our IDs to be
scanned, have them unlock another door for us and lock it behind us
again. In this one, we just were let in by a doctor and had none of
the other security procedures. We started talking to the guy and he
seemed completely normal, meaning not like you would expect a resident
of a mental hospital to be. We gave him a Book of Mormon and talked to
him a bit about it. As we were talking I noticed the pupils of his
eyes were extremely small. I figure this was a side effect of some
medication they had him on. Then, before we left, he told us he wanted
to show us what he can do to the sun. He took us to a window and
stared out directly into the sun for a while. He then told us to watch
the sun. "Look, now it's in a circle! Now it's out of the circle.
Watch it move! Want me to put it in the circle again? There, it's in
the circle. Now I'll take it out again." Of course, nothing was
actually happening to the sun, but we just nodded our heads and
exchanged glances. He told us his power was a gift from God and was a
power Joshua in the Bible possessed. He also told us he went to the
U.N. to show them his power and they put him in the mental hospital.
He wants to show it to the leaders of the LDS church to see if they'll
"take him." We just told him that if he ever had any questions about
the Book of Mormon or needed anything else, he could call us and we
left. I think the sun may have melted his mind.
So that's it for the now. I'm looking forward to getting to know my
new companion and teaching the gospel to infinity and beyond!

-Elder Samuel Burton

Here's a picture of my district. Every single companionship is different now, but this was it before today.Sisters Groberg, O'Rullion, Smith, and Hobbs; Elders Me, Johanson, Schoenfeld, Holtom

Waffle Group during conference

Zone

"Bouquet of newly sharpened pencils"

Hello again,
Today in New York is looking lovely with a light misting of rain
putting an air of mystery about the whole place. The trees are really
starting to break out in full color for autumn. I love New York in the
fall! And incidentally I just bought a bunch of newly sharpened
pencils (I'm sorry if you don't get the "You've Got Mail" reference)
so I will hopefully be writing more handwritten letters. No
guarantees, but that's the goal.
This week has been great. We got two referrals for one member, which
never happens! We're excited to check those out. We tracted into an
Italian man who just moved here and didn't speak a lick of English; I
wish Ben was there! Also, we may have met a witch... I'm not sure. We
saw a tiny rundown house that was hidden in a cave of tree branches
and ivy. The dark atmosphere cast by the foliage along with a
flickering porch light and wispy white curtains blowing through the
open window confirmed to us that this house was most definitely
haunted. So of course we had to go knock on the door! The porch was
littered with broken furniture and cardboard boxes and a smell of
something that must have died several months before hung in the air.
When we knocked, a glimmer of a face peered through the dark window
and shortly after an ancient woman answered the door. She smiled in a
friendly way and we of course announced to her that we are
missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She
then said, "yes, come in." So, a bit surprised by the response, we
did. We were led to a dimly lit living room where a woman that was
somehow even older sat shriveled up like a raisin in an armchair. I've
never seen someone that looked so old! In the scratchy voice of an
ex-smoker, the older woman said, "Who is it?"
"We're missionaries from the--"
"What??"
"We're missionaries--"
"what?? Speak louder!"
"WE'RE MISSIONARIES FROM--"
"WHAT? I can't hear you. Speak louder."
She then started yelling in gibberish (possibly casting a spell) and
the other woman said something along the lines of "maybe not right
now" and showed us out. I'm not really sure what was happened.
Anyway, we're excited to have a few investigators coming to the
broadcast of General Conference at the chapel, D* included, even
though he's worried his family will find out. J* is right and ready
to be baptized. Just needs the interview and the dunk. The gospel
principles teachers love him because he always asks good, relevant
questions, sincerely seeking to understand and learnt. He stands in
stark contrast to our investigator B*, who seems to ask questions
seeking to stir up contention.
Even though I'm excited that J* is going to be baptized, I'm worried
I'm going to get transferred right before. Transfers are the Wednesday
before his baptism. We get shock calls this Saturday and training
calls tonight. Elder Johanson and I are both hoping to stay in this
area one more cycle so we can be there for it.
Thanks again for all the love and support!
-Elder Samuel Burton

Sprain Brook Parkway

Hello everyone!
This week has been interesting. Right after I sent out emails last
week, I rolled my ankle playing basketball. It didn't seem too bad at
the time, so I just walked it off. Later that day, the spanish elders
dropped us off on Manhattan avenue, because it was our car fast day
for the week. I noticed my ankle was hurting a bit more, but didn't
think much of it. After our first appointment, I couldn't walk
anymore. And my ankle was swollen up and I couldn't put any weight on
it. With elder Johanson as a crutch, we hobbled over to the house of
our self-proclaimed godparents, Wanda and Milton. They said we could
go to them if we ever needed help with anything, and fortunately they
lived just a few houses away. Unfortunately, they weren't home. So we
hobbled to a nearby K-mart, again with elder Johanson as my crutch,
and bought an ice pack and some Advil. There is a bright side to the
story though. As we waited on a bench for the Spanish elders to pick
us up again, one of the k-mart employees came out and talked with us
for a minute, we were able to share a bit about what we believe and
what we do as missionaries. He didn't give us his address or phone
number, but said that we should come by the k-mart sometime to talk to
him again. Later that night we found crutches in a closet in our
apartment, so using those I was able to still go out and work
everyday. Now it's mostly healed and I don't need the crutches
anymore.
Other than that, things have been going well this last week. We had a
great meeting with J* just yesterday. His baptism is going to be
pushed back because of general conference, but he is still eager to be
baptized. He's becoming friends with a member named Brother Mark
Bench, the stake patriarch and apparently former mayor of Scarsdale.
J* is so eager to learn more and has so much faith. He's so great!!!
We also got to teach the CTR 7 primary class... That was quite an
experience. They talked a lot, but we managed to keep them pretty
focused. Another exciting thing that happened on Sunday: my uncle
Brandon showed up at sacrament meeting! That was a pleasant and quite
unexpected surprise. It's nice to see an old familiar face.
Also this last week I met A*, who Elder Johanson has met a few
times, but only on splits. He just sits on a crate on the sidewalk in
front of the projects all day everyday. He's a cool guy, but isn't
interested in learning about our church. We just stop to talk for a
minute when we see him. Interesting things happen in front of the
projects. During the fifteen minutes we were talking to A*, we
watched at least two drug deals, a woman vomit on the street, a fist
fight between a guy and his girlfriend (the guy lost), and we learned
that you can store meth in you cell phone battery compartment. And I'm
in one of the nicest zones in the mission! I can't wait to get to
Bronx!
I must also make a quick shout out to my mother, my friend Rose
Coshow, and everyone else that helped me learn how to cook. My
companion and the elders in my apartment are very grateful to you.
This last week a new mission rule was made: only one companionship per
dinner appointment. So now instead of both us and the sister
missionaries in our ward going to dinner with the members, only one of
us can. With half as many dinner appointments, we need to make a lot
more of our own meals.
Things are still going great. Still working hard, still loving the work!
Thanks for all the love and support!
-Elder Samuel Burton

Some run away, some come

Hello everyone!
Another p-day has arrived and things are looking up. The leaves are
just starting to change here and the weather has been nice and cool,
but I suppose seasons change here around the same time they do back
home in Utah.
I've met some fun and interesting people. We got so close to getting a
J-dub (J.W. or Jehovah's Witness) to start being taught! That never
happens! Usually they start running at the word Mormon, but I suppose
we were all in an elevator together, so he had to listen to us at
least until we reached the ground floor. He seemed somewhat
interested, but in the end his J-dub instincts own and he decided not
to learn more. They're kind of scared of us.
Anyway, another cool experience from this week happened when we were
walking down Manhattan Avenue, which is in greenburgh, not Manhattan.
We teach a lot of people on that street. So on Sunday night as we
walked, we saw the sister missionaries in our district walking not far
off. We waved to them and suddenly they started freaking out, running
towards us and telling us to come quickly. We rushed over and followed
them as they called after a guy who was walking into his building.
This man was named G* and he was a huge black guy that looked
like he could take on a bear. The sisters had apparently just barely
met him. I don't know what they said to him exactly, but they brought
him to tears. He told us how he wanted to change his life. He said
he's been going around doing all sorts of crazy things, getting drunk,
getting in fights, going in and out of jail. But when the sisters
talked to him, he said he suddenly felt an overwhelming warmth and
comfort and knew he needed to change his life. We got to just quickly
bare testimony that the things we teach--the gospel--really can change
lives. So all in one night, the sisters, G*, and us elders all
happened to come to the same place at once to lift him up. The sisters
are handing him over to us to teach from now on and I'm so excited!
We also had dinner with a family in our ward, the Mortensons (who my
dear mother had the privilege of meeting when they were in Utah
several weeks ago. Small world). We shared a quick message after
dinner and, as always, asked if there was anything we could do the
help their family or any friends they could introduce us to. Sister
Mortenson said they didn't need any help but they knew someone who
did, and immediately she marched across the street to her neighbors
house to introduce her to us. Unfortunately, the neighbor's ex-husband
answered the door, and sister Mortenson said she felt it would be
better if we came back when he wasn't there. Still, I'm glad to know
we have a ward member that is actually willing to do that! This is my
message to all you back home: follow Sister Mortenson's example. Don't
shy away from missionary work; march up to it willingly and eagerly.
The restored gospel is for everyone. If every member were like sister
Mortenson, missionary work would be a hundred times more successful
and hundred times as many people would be able to find the truth of
God's plan for them. I wish I had realized how much of an impact I
could have on other people's lives before my mission.
Anyway, the investigators we currently teach are moving along, but
very slowly. We're willing and happy to stick with them every step of
the way. New Yorkers are awesome! All the stereotypes are so true, but
so false. It's amazing how some of these people have such a hard,
callous outer shell, but you just say the right thing to them and they
open up as if they've known you for years!
In other, much less important news, I just barely saw a Lamborghini
aventador. Haha. I know my bro Seth wants me to send him some pictures
of nice cars, but they're so fast I don't have time to take a picture
before they disappear! Sorry, Seth.
Anyway, it's been a good week. I miss you all, but don't worry, not
more than is healthy. Until next time,
-Elder Samuel Burton

​Picture: Sister Mortenson and two of her kids, Sam and Elder Johanson​

When it rains...

Another week of excitement in Westchester County! The crazy homeless
population, the affluent Jewish community, and everyone in between are
still here waiting to know the truth!
It's been really rainy here. I've been out in rain so heavy I can't
see more than a few yards in front of me, and yet, the sun is still
shining. It's crazy weather! Elder Johanson tried to capture it in a
picture he took with my iPad.
Unfortunately, we had nearly every single appointment we had cancel on
us this week. But in spite of this, a lot of really great things
happened this week too!
I can't recall if I've ever mentioned a guy named R*. Awesome guy,
about my age. He came up to us in the Library and wanted to talk with
us sometime. So recently, we had our first lesson with him. We taught
him all about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. It went well.
He's fun to talk to. He's sane--which is more than can be said for
some people we teach--and he's willing to listen and act on what we
teach him. So five days after our first lesson (Make note: only five
days) he called us to tell us how things have been going. His words
were "I've been reading the book you gave me. It's changed my life."
He told us that he's been reading everyday since we gave it to him and
wants to meet again to talk about how exactly it has been changing his
life. When we ended the hung up, Elder Johanson and I danced around
our apartment for a few minutes and did some fist pumps. YES! We can't
wait to meet with him again. Only problem is he's working and
attending college and hardly has any free time to talk to us. When we
do meet with him though, he'll probably have read the whole thing at
the rate he's been going.
Another great experience happened when we had our weekly car fast. It
was on Sunday this week (along with our food fast). We managed to get
a ride to our dinner appointment in Tuckahoe after church, but we were
stuck there for the rest of the night. We don't have anyone we work
with living in tuckahoe, so we ended up tracting. We knocked a few
houses and quickly got the impression that we were not wanted in this
area. We both a strong feeling that there wasn't anyone in this
neighborhood that wanted to talk to us, but that there was someone not
to far away. We needed to leave this area and to go to a different
neighborhood, so we started walking away. We walked a while before
coming to a park. An old lady was walking her dog, so we decided to
use a helpful but dangerous tactic for street contacting: Instead of
keeping a safe distance away from the dog, we make sure to walk close
enough that it would start barking at us. Of course it did started
barking and jumping up at us and altogether acting like a certain
golden retriever I know (Lucy). While it was doing such, it was also
dragging the old lady closer to us. She laughed and said "he really
likes you." And thus the conversation began. We talked about her dog
and played with him a bit, I told her about our dog, Lucy, back home
in Utah.
"You're from Utah?"
"Why yes, I am. I came to New York to serve a mission for the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Have you heard of it? Let me
tell you all about it."
We then talked to her for over an hour just standing there in the
park! We learned that she ran into missionaries before briefly, but
around the same time she was diagnosed with lung cancer and her life
got so busy that between hospital visits for chemo therapy and working
full time she never found time to meet with them again. She just
finished a round of chemo and is now waiting for the doctors to tell
her how well it worked. We told her so much about our beliefs. She
said she's catholic, but as we taught her, she seemed to like our
beliefs about life after our life on earth. She's said she's not as
knowledgeable as most of the Catholics that she knows, but she's
always trying to learn more about Jesus Christ. So we introduced her
to the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and told her
all about it. She said it makes sense that there were prophets in the
Americas too, since God is the God of everyone, not just the
Israelites. She was eager to get information about when and where our
church services were and what they were like. We're going to introduce
her to the Sister missionaries on Sunday. I can't wait! She was so
kind and so willing to listen and talk with us!
A lot of other cool things have happened this week, but that's all I
have time to tell about now.

Until next week,

Elder Samuel Burton

Friends in High Places

Another great week in the Empire State!
I'm loving it here as much as ever. Today we gave up half our p-day
for car inspections and transfer meeting. I'm staying in Westchester,
as expected. Elder Johanson is staying with me too, as expected. We
have a new addition to our apartment though: Elder Palmer. Don't know
much about him, but he seems really nice so far.
This week I got a new father (sorry, dad). A guy named M* who
we've visited a few times has started referring to himself as our
godfather. He and his wife W* love us! He loves to sit and talk
with us. Whenever we stop by to talk with him he opens the door with a
smile and tells us how happy he is to see us and how great the work we
do is. He's a saxophone player, who seems to have done quite well in
his profession. He's played with several big names, including Stevie
Wonder, Eric Clapton, Ray Charles. He said he's met Billy Joel, but
has never played with him. He was the band manager of the Apollo
Theatre. He claims the title "the Super-N****r of Florida." He has
friends in some very high places because of his career: politicians
like Glen Beck, multi-millionaires like Donald Trump. He said he wants
to introduce us to some of them, and actually wants us to teach them
too. Haha. Besides that, he likes to give us some godfatherly advice
on how to find and teach people. He basically told us everything they
teach in the MTC. A lot of true doctrine comes out of his mouth when
he talks. In his prayer at the end of our last meeting with him, he
asked God to bless him that when he enters the kingdom, he'll be able
to watch over us and see how our lives turn out. He's such a great
guy.
Well, unfortunately that's all I have time to say today. It's been a
busy one. So much more has happened this week! Oh well.
For now, I'll just say it has been a good one, and I love the people
I've met here! Thanks for all the love and support!

-Elder Samuel Burton

Picture 1) His zone at their last conference.​
               2) The stone outside his "godfathers" house.  The way they first met his wife Wanda and him.

Alfredo Sauce

Hello everyone!
Another wonderful week has passed by in the New York New York North
Mission! Fun, crazy, exciting, and strange as ever!
Our investigator D* is getting better at not smoking and he's been
trying to convince himself to come to church even though it would make
his mom unhappy. He wanted to get baptized because he could do that on
a Saturday without his family knowing, but he says his family keeps
tabs on him on Sundays. We had a joyous moment when we thought he was
going to accept a baptismal date, but then he found out he has to come
to church first. He keeps telling us his mom will die soon, and then
he can come.
B* said he'll fast this Sunday to know the truth of the Book of
Mormon, but he still seems pretty doubtful.
J* has been taught almost everything now and is progressing nicely.
His Rottweiler doesn't try to eat is when we come over now. We're just
trying to help him come to church now.
We're now meeting with a guy named R* who is our age and really
interested in the church. He's reading the Book of Mormon and wants to
come to church on Sunday. He's fun to talk to. Raised baptist but
hasn't been involved with that church for a while. He started looking
into religion again because things weren't going  too well in his
life. Apparently since he's started meeting with us, things have
suddenly started getting better.
We're also working with an inactive member who basically joined the
church to rebel against his Jewish family. We're trying to help him
gain a testimony for himself.
In other news, a man on the street came up to us.
"Are you Latter-day Saints?"
"Yeah. We're missionaries."
"I need to talk to you."
"Sweet."
He said he had a message he wanted to share with us, which was a very
pleasant little talk about the importance of keeping commandments. We
made sure we got our two bits into the conversation as well, which
left him kind of in awe. I don't think a he realized how much we
actually knew about the gospel and we ended up teaching him a lot.
When we told about the restoration, he told us that it made perfect
sense and talked about how the Catholic Church had messed up the
gospel. We told him all about the Book of Mormon (he took a copy from
us) and so much more. We thought we had found a [strange, extremely
religious, eccentric] good investigator, but then he told us he was
moving to a different state the next day. So we were going to refer
him to the missionaries wherever he was going, but then we learned
that the state to which he was referring was Israel, and God had told
him to move there to study Judaism (even though he believes Jesus
Christ is the messiah). We asked him if he was aware of what was going
on over there. He was, but seemed to not realize why it might be
safest to stay in America to piece together his own strange religious
philosophy (or learn ours). So now we're praying for the safety of
some poor, innocent, alfredo sauce Christian ginger, no more than a
few years older than I am, who is now wandering about a war zone with
no real plan so he can study the law of Moses. Oh dear.
Also, a cop got mad at us for talking to people on the streets in
White Plains. We have our ministerial certificates, but he didn't seem
to care. We just went to a different street. I think he didn't
particularly like Mormons. I suppose we're always going to run into
those people every now and then, but for the most part people like us.
Well, other than that things have been going great! Shock calls are
this week (when they call us to tell us who is getting transferred).
Apparently the missions going have to change up quite a bit because so
many new missionaries are coming. Some are predicting the mission will
actually be split within a year.
Anyway, thanks for all the love and support!
I'm about to go to the first ever p-day district v. district
volleyball tournament!
Later.

-Elder Samuel Burton

P-Day in Manhattan!

Plantain split

Hola todos!
So we've had a lot of splits this last week. I ended up spending a
little while in the Spanish program. I ended up meeting a family that
has 17 dogs and a tiny, mouse-sized kitten that one of the dogs found
and started taking care of. I didn't understand most of the lesson
because it was in Spanish, but it was still a lot of fun. I talked to
the kids, because they spoke English and Elder Ritter (the zone leader
I was with) translated a bit. I was also introduced to Dominican and
Mexican food. There is a dish called mangu that is basically mashed
potatoes, except instead of potatoes, they use los platanos
(plantains). It was good, but very heavy and there was a lot of it. I
also had fried cheese (it is definitely as unhealthy as it sounds),
Salami and eggs, and icecream on watermelon. That's how they eat
icecream apparently.... Or they were just messing with me. Either way
it tasted good. I listened a lot, but only understood bits and pieces
of what people were saying. I was told by a Dominican woman named
G* that I am a niñito. I do understand what that means, and i'm
hoping that in Dominican culture it's not as patronizing as it is when
translated.
I did get to teach one lesson on the split in English. A man and a
woman on the street stopped Elder Ritter and I and asked us what we
were selling. We then explained that we were missionaries for the
church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They asked us about the
"weird rules" that we have, so we ended up teaching them the word of
wisdom and the law of chastity. Then their questions led the
discussion to the restoration, and then the plan of salvation. So we
taught them almost everything in one lesson on the street. They didn't
want to give us their information, but they asked for our information
so they could contact us. We're hopefully going to refer them to the
missionaries in South Bronx and Yonkers (where they were each from).
By my understanding the girl was very Bronx-esque.
We also started meeting with a man named M*. He's not Italian, he's
African American and he moved to White Plains from south Bronx, so of
course "Mario" is pronounced "May-ree-oh." He had about twenty
different bottles of pills on his table and it was easy to establish
that he was not all the way there. Every time we told or asked him
anything, he responded with something completely different and
irrelevant, but acted as though it had everything to do with what we
were talking about. Whenever we seemed confused by what he said, he'd
say, "it's the way I think." By the end of the lesson, however, I
started figuring out how to understand him. I started seeing some
sense in what he was saying. He was speaking almost entirely in
allegories. When I kept that in mind as I listened to him, I could
somewhat understand what he was saying. When we left I explained this
theory to my companion and he said he was picking up on the same
thing. We're interested to see what we can make sense of next time we
meet with him.
Oh, just for the information of those who may be interested, I am
currently emailing from Manhattan! We get to spend p-day here! I'm so
excited!!!
Well, got to go now. Things are going great! I love it here!
Until next time,

-Elder Samuel Brent Burton

Pictures!!!