Eternal Perspective

Those who have kept up with my weekly emails may recall mention of the
R* Family in Hunts Point in the Bronx. They are the sweetest
little family. When I was in the Bronx, we visited them regularly and
reactivated the mother, H*, and oldest son, T*, and baptized
the father D*. T* is actually their nephew, but was legally
adopted by H* and D* a long while ago. D* had met with
missionaries in the past, but it had never gone anywhere. Then, when
he and H* had their first biological son, W*, his whole
perspective changed. Suddenly he was geared up and focused on getting
his family to the temple to be sealed together. When we had our first
lesson with them, they made it clear that this was their goal. So as
we prepared D* for baptism, all our preparations were directed
toward that end goal of an eternal family. They saw past the gate
through to the end. So when D* was baptized last August, the family
had already determined to go to the temple and be sealed one year
later. When I left the Bronx, they were one of the strongest families
in the ward and were well on their way to making that happen. They
since moved up near Albany and then down to Harlem, which is back in
our mission.

Last Friday, President Smith sat me down and told me he had bad news.
He informed me that several days earlier H* R*, at age 32,
had a heart attack and passed away.

So most of the last week has been overshadowed by this news.
Yesterday, I attended the funeral along with every other missionary
that visited them up until the time they moved. The entire service was
focused on eternal families. At least half the people who spoke
brought up H*'s goal to be sealed to her family in the temple and
reminded D* that even though she has passed on, this goal can still
be realized. I watched H*'s sister, her returned-missionary
brother, a family friend named N*, and many others testify that their
family will be eternal. Many members from both the Olmstead 2nd Ward
in the Bronx and the Ward in Harlem were there and I saw a few
familiar faces, including good ol' Brother A*F*.

I learned at the funeral that the boys would be flying to Utah that
night with their aunt, H*'s sister, and would be living with them
in Lehi. I assume this will be the case until D* can get himself
financially and emotionally situated to raise two boys on his own. So,
if any of you know people in the area, tell them to look out for my
boy T*! He's a stud.

That's pretty much all I have to talk about this week. It's been a
terribly sad one, but I know that Jesus Christ has broken the bands of
death, so there is hope in the gospel for a resurrection to eternal
life with our families. I hope desperately that D* and his sons
will make it to the temple to be sealed together and to H*
through proxy. I hope through all this he continues to carry that same
eternal perspective he had as I taught him and prepared him for
baptism last summer.

Other than that, we've done some good office work and some good
finding to try to replenish our teaching pool, but haven't had much
success in that area yet. Thanks for all your love and support! Pray
for the R* Family.

-Elder Samuel Burton

​Picture: ​(Elder Unice, T*, Elder Tabor, and me at the Harlem Chapel)

Moving

We've had the last of our Zone Conferences, thank goodness. It's more
work than realized to put those on. Now we get to move on to just
worrying about our other duties, like mail and such.

Yesterday we spent the day delivering mail and moving furniture into a
high rise by the temple for a new senior couple we're expecting in our
mission in a few weeks. They have a super nice apartment! We also
helped a family move in our ward. In fact much of our time this last
week has been spent moving things around. We moved all the bunk beds
in the mission home so that the Smith's kids can have a room to hang
out in with their friends. Tonight we're going over to help President
Smith move some more furniture around and to take some stuff to
goodwill for him.

The weaker tis week has been unreal! For a few days, it didn't get
above 19 degrees. We woke up one morning, saw that it was eighteen
degrees outside and we were like, dang. At least it will get warmer
throughout the day. It didn't as they day went on it just got colder
and colder. We hit something like negative six by dinner. Then one
day, it started snowing. Snow piled up all morning. Then, at 7:30 at
night, it started raining instead. By the time we got home it was
something like fifty degrees, and by the next morning all the snow had
melted. I don't understand what's going on! Must be El Niño.

Unfortunately, S* and G* cancelled on us for our last
appointment and B* has kind of fallen off the face of the earth, so
we haven't been able to teach our usual investigators. We did get to
teach a lovely class of eight-year-olds in primary on Sunday though.
We taught them about Nephi crossing the ocean in a boat. Man, I don't
think I knew half as much as they do when I was eight! I almost felt
out of my league, and I'm a missionary for goodness sakes.

They also had me be the primary pianist because all the musicians in
the ward were out of town for President's Day weekend. That was scary,
but it ended up okay. I also got to speak in sacrament meeting on the
history and importance of music in the church.

Oh! I also got to go to City Island this week! It's a little island in
the Bronx that's the coolest little town on the planet! It's
technically part of New York City, but it's so removed and has a very
New England seaside town vibe. I like it there. I particularly like
that the main road has a center left turn lane going down the whole
thing like the roads back in Utah. That's not really a thing out here.
It's so useful though!

We've been so busy all week, but most of the things we do what
probably bore you all: sorting mail, transporting missionaries,
helping Sister Smith prepare meals for missionaries. Sorry for the
lack of interesting content in this email.

Thanks for the love and support you send my way. I feel like I have an
army behind me out here!
Love you all!

-Elder Samuel Burton

Photo: part of New Rochelle with the NYC skyline in the background. (I
know I've sent pictures of this view before, but it's so cool!)

​Other photos from the mission blog: Zone conference weeks.​

God is Love

Well we have just one more zone conference to go now. What a relief! Soon our schedule will calm down a bit and allow for more proselyting.

We did, however, manage to find some time to proselyte this week. We taught a couple named G* and S*. They live up in a town called Portchester in the northern part of our area near Connecticut. We taught them the restoration and it went extremely well. S* already knew most of it because apparently she went to church for a few years with her brothers (who were members) when she was younger, but was never baptized.

At the end of the lesson we just testified of how much God loves them and how much we love them. In essence, I told them that we were there sharing this message because God loves them, we love God, and God makes our love as his love so that we can stand in his place, as his representatives, and declare that love unto them. The spirit was so strong as I spoke. It wasn't until my personal study this morning that I realized my words have scriptural backing. My words were John's words: I "have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world," he being the manifestation of "the love of God toward us." And I "confess that Jesus is the Son of God, [so] God dwelleth in [me], and [I] in God." And that love dwelleth in me too, "for God is Love." "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgement: because as he is, so are wein this world." (see 1st John 4) 

I realized that throughout my mission, I've been learning charity, the pure love of God. I've had various experiences over the past 19 months (5 left? How can this be???) that led up to that lesson, in which I could stand and say I love these two people, who I had never met before Sunday, as God loves them. I can see from their family situation and appearance that they have made some less-than-godly choices in their life, but I understand the atonement now, so none of that matters. It's just evidence that they, like all humankind, are fallen, which means they chose to love God and follow his plan and he loves them so much that he provided a Savior for them when they became fallen, and he loves hem so much he led missionaries to them to testify of that Savior, and he loves me so much he let me be one of those missionaries and experience the love he has for them.

I realize I've already vomited much of my personal study all over this email, so I think I'll move on now and just invite you all to read 1st John chapter 4. Chapters 3 and 5 too if you want... maybe just read the whole book of 1st John... or the whole New Testament. I will also add, however, that both S* and G* are committed to read the Book of Mormon, ask God if it is true, and be baptized when they know that it is. We have so little time to proselyte, but when we do, it is the most rewarding experience!

Today we have a zone-wide p-day activity. I believe we're doing a photo scavenger hunt ,around southern Westchester County. Should be fun. I may send photos from it later on. For now, thanks for all the love and support you send my way. I appreciate and love each of you (and God does too).

-Elder Samuel Burton

​Pictures:

​

A few of our finds:
Selfie with a statue
Someone buried in the snow
A snow fort
Selfie with the Zimmermans

President Smith expounding the doctrine unto us

Sister Smith expounding the scriptures unto us.

​ and finally

​

Elder Tanner and I expounding Sister Morgan's Famous Chocolate Chip

Cream Cheese unto our bagels.
(These photos are from Zone Conferences. I'm in charge of
photographically documenting these meetings, so I'm supposed to be
taking photos during them, and I get a fancy camera to do so.)

...and bagels.

So the big difference between this cycle and last cycle is Zone

Conferences. Last cycle was interviews. This one is Zone Conferences.
With interviews, 

​P​

resident 

​S​

mith just goes around and meets with every
missionary in the mission. As office staff, we are largely uninvolved.
But with Z

​o​

ne Conferences, we have to wake up at 4:00, drive things
and people around, set up chairs and tables, make sure the projector
is working, organize lunch, listen to the same trainings over and over
again, and photographically document the event. We've done two so far
and we have three more over the next week. I'm about ready to collapse
from exhaustion! But we get fresh bagels from the bagel shop in
Scarsdale every single morning we do a zone conference, so it's all
worth it.

The meetings have completely shot our proselyting schedule though. I'm
still trying to figure out how to make time to deliver mail this week.
So unfortunately, no traditional proselyting stories to tell this
week. I have gotten to do some good preaching of the word though!
President Smith called on me to give a spur of the moment talk on
accountability and prayer in the middle of Zone Conference. The weird
thing is that I can do that now without even stressing. I know the
doctrine and I know it's true, so I just open my mouth and the Lord
does the rest. This really is HIS work and no one else's. Certainly
not mine. I would have messed it up by now.

So that is about the sum total of my oral preaching this week (I guess
there's district meeting training too though...). But I have had the
opportunity to share the gospel through music lately though. The
missionaries in our ward were asked to perform a musical number for
sacrament meeting, so we threw together a men's quartet for "Brightly
Beams Our Father's Mercy" with Sister Sam on the piano. Then our zone
was asked to put together a musical number for the
Westchester/Kingsbridge Zone Conference, so I also got to be in an
octet for "Abide with Me!"

We had a great baptismal service on Sunday. Not for an investigator,
but for a little boy named GM*. We've worked a little bit
with his older brother J* to help him get ready for his mission. He
left for the MTC on Monday, and will be in Philadelphia in a few
weeks, but first, he got to baptize his little brother. He's a convert
to the church, and is going to be a solid missionary there.

That's all to report for this week. Here are some pictures though!

-Elder Samuel Burton


Pictures:

1. Elder Tanner, myself, and the assistants, Elder Wulff and Elder
Jimenez at a Zone Conference (eating our lovely bagels)
2. J* and his little brother GM* right before the baptism.

​3. ​Everyone at the Westchester/Kingsbridge Zone Conference

​4. The Octet

5.The beautiful bagels!

Office Elder Days

Though belated...

...winter pounded us hard! We thought maybe she was going to leave us
alone this year, but turns out she was just taking some time off to
practice her upper cut, and dang, she just about perfected it. Ouch.

To elaborate, in case I lost you all on that analogy, we were hit by a
good size blizzard this last week. We got a good few feet of snow in
just 24 hours. Enough to make up for the lack of snow we've had up to
this point. So we spent all Saturday, Sunday, and parts of Monday and
Tuesday shoveling snow. I don't think I've every moved so much snow in
my life! And coming from my background in Burton Landscaping &
Maintenance, that's saying something. We cleared all the walkways
around the church, walkways around our building, the parking area for
our building, all around our Landlady's pizza shop, and a random
house. We also rescued a few buried cars. In most places the snow was
about two feet deep, but some snow drifts we as tall as me! When we
were told we weren't allowed to drive, we just grabbed shovels and
went walking about. It never took more a minute of walking to find
someone in need of help.

So snow removal service has taken most of our time over the last week.
The regular mail deliveries took up the rest. So that's all I have to
report this week... Sorry.

Love you all!

-Elder Samuel Burton

Double Double Dip

Wow. I completely forgot to mention that transfers were happening. So
yeah, that happened. Elder Casper is currently in the Olmstead Zone
and Elder Beardall is currently on a plane to Colorado. Guess who my
new companion is? Elder Tanner!!! ...again! "Double dipping" twice in
a row: Elder Beardall twice and Elder Tanner twice. He came straight
out of the Lincoln Square YSA Ward and has only had one companion
since I left him there. Go figure. Now we're running the mission
office together. He's awesome! This is going to be a great cycle!

We had a worldwide mission conference broadcast yesterday (thus moving
p-day to today for everyone). It was awesome! Elder Oaks threw down on
everything that missionary work is supposed to be. I realize now that
he basically threw down on every misconception I had when I first came
on a mission.

Today we were up at 3:30am to drive the returning missionaries to the
airport. We got home at 7 and had the least focused study session of
my mission. I'm soooooo tired. Today we don't get much of a p-day
because we had to drive the returning missionaries to the airport and
have to help out with something going on at the 87th Street Chapel in
Manhattan.

Good things are still going on. We manage to squeeze in a few hours in
our area in spite of the craziness of everything we do for transfers
to happen. We had a throw-down lesson with B*, who is kind of our
only investigator right now. We focused on the restoration and
receiving personal revelation about our message. We just testified so
powerfully and the spirit was with us. He was resisting it pretty
hard, but we know he felt it. And when he felt it, he immediately
started searching for a way out. I think he had a "dang, this all
might be true" kind of moment and he realized that means he has to do
something about it. So he tried to make a run for the door
(metaphorically speaking), tried to pull out some excuse. "Oh, but
what about this, what about that..."  But we blocked all the exits
with scripture and testimony. So we all just sat there wallowing in
the spirit. I know that he knows he is accountable for what the spirit
showed him that day. Now we have to see if he's going to do something
about it (for example, read and pray like we've been inviting him to).
I think next time we need to teach him more about repentance and the
atonement. I think that's what's making him squeamish. He's afraid of
the changes he knows he's going to have to make.

So that was a pretty cool lesson. I kind of had a the realization
after that "Wow, I'm a missionary." ...I know, you'd think this would
have dawned on me 18 months ago. I just realized that now I really
know how to be a missionary. I'm by no means perfect at it and I've
got lots I can work on, but I'm farther than I ever thought I'd get. I
can teach clearly, I can testify, I can discern needs and concerns, I
can be a vessel my Lord can work with. And even though I've come so
far, I find I'm learning everyday. I feel like the gospel is at work
in my life more than ever, teaching me and changing me. There is no
"plateauing."

That's all for this week. Love you all!

-Elder Samuel Burton

Pictures:
Our whole Zone right before the transfer.
Elder Beardall and me before he went home.

This is Jeff

Elder Jeffery R. Holland: Shorter than I thought he'd be, though
definitely not to be categorized as a short man. Just as intense as I
thought he'd be, but also just as loving. I think he is one of the
most genuine people on the planet. Everything he presented to us was
100% Jeff Holland: no facade, no guile, just "here I am, and I'm not
afraid to show you all!" Hardly perfect, but not trying to hide any imperfection.  Just speaking straight from his heart. He is definitely
worthy of the distinction he has among members of the church.

He started by having us all come up one by one to shake his hand and
briefly tell him our names and our hometowns. He told us that he made
sure to look everyone of us in the eye and give us a quick personal
interview with the gift of discernment from the spirit. He then based
his training off how he felt impressed as he "interviewed" each of us.
He just opened up the New Testament and expounded it to us all. He He
told President Smith afterwards that it was a very pleasant experience
for himself. He said he got to just teach the doctrine in it's purity
and he knew by the spirit that we could do the application on our own.
He also said that was the first time in 27 years as a general
authority of the church that he did not feel impressed to talk about
obedience when visiting a mission. The techie from the stake left the
speakers in the foyer on, so by the end, there was a small
congregation of members who recognized the voice of an apostle
gathered outside the chapel to gawk as he dashed into the elevator.

Some quotes from his visit:
"I am thoroughly convinced that no man has been more affected by his
mission than I was by mine. Some of the senior elders here might try
to argue and I'm ready to duke it out with them!"
"With the exception of a few keys, we are exactly the same. The
callings are nigh identical. Either you're apostolic or I'm just a
missionary!"
"If I I come across any of you in the future and find out you've left
the church..."(he grabs Elder Leishman by the throat with both hands
and shakes him--playfully of course) "I might resort to violence!"
"I'm glad the spirit has impressed me positively regarding you
missionaries. If those "interviews" had gone otherwise this would get
ugly. I'm serious! I have a reputation. I'd be off the walls! My head
would go through the ceiling! Back when Sister Holland would visit
missions with me, she'd be crawling out of the room on all fours
saying, 'I don't know him, I swear!'"
"Elders and Sisters, I'm not a stupid man. I went to a pretty notable
university just up the Long Island Sound from here. I've served as the
president of another university. I've done things with my life. I'm
not trying to aggrandize myself to you. I just want you to know, I am
no fool, and I would not give my life to a fairytale. This gospel and
this work is real; it is the work of the Lord."

The rest of our week was comparatively uneventful, though we did get
some good work done. We gave a blessing to one of the sister
missionaries' investigators who is severely ill. We also were able to
share some scriptures with her about the atonement to help her
understand how Jesus Christ took upon himself the world's infirmities.
We also helped a sister in the ward move some furniture. She is
straight out of Scotland with the traditional accent and attitude on
display for all to see. That was a lot of fun. She told us the story
of how she found the church. She asked to to teach her friend right
there about what temples are because she's going to take him to the
open house for the new Philadelphia Temple. She's awesome!

While I'm on the subject, Elder Beardall is going to the temple today
with President Smith and all the other missionaries who are about to
return home. Meanwhile we get to​ 
hang out with Elder Casela from the
Philipines, whose companion is also going to the temple. A pretty
chill p-day for us.

I love you all so much! Thanks!

-Elder Samuel Burton


Here are some pictures from our trip to the temple a while ago that I
forgot to send.

I'm Batman

Exciting news! We found out just a few days ago that Elder Jeffery R.
Holland is coming to preside over a surprise mission conference this
Saturday! AAAAAGHGHHH. I'm kind of scared. (Bruce and Becky, you've
been through this; should I be scared?). I'm sure it will be a day to
remember.

The winter weather is finally coming to the northeast! Yesterday, we
had a love -16 degrees in Westchester county (factoring in windchill).
No snow yet though.

Work in the mission office is going well. President Smith is a lot of
fun to work with. He's like a little kid sometimes... Haha. Sometimes
I'm just asking myself, "is this really my mission president or my
little brother?" It's awesome! I love it.

We got some good work done in our area finally! I met a man named B*
who we threw down on with an agency and accountability lesson. He was
having trouble progressing at all, so we just laid it out in front of
him in such a way so that he knew he either has to read the Book of
Mormon and find out if it's true (and be baptized when he does) or he
has to just tell us he doesn't want to meet with us anymore and ignore
the truth we were putting in front of him. It was a good lesson.

We also met two lovely Jamaican women named R* and K*. They let
us in when we were knocking doors in their neighborhood and were so
kind and receptive. We explained what we do as missionaries and
basically announced to them that the gospel is restored and the
kingdom of God is on the earth once more. It was probably one of the
boldest restoration lessons I've ever taught. It was amazing how
strong the spirit was in the room. They eagerly accepted copies of the
Book of Mormon and we set up an appointment with them and the sister
missionaries. They said they want the other three women that live them
to learn about it too! They were such sweet ladies! And we only had to
knock three doors to find them!

Other than that, we've been delivering mail, cleaning out "the Bat
Cave," which is the storage area in the basement of the mission office
building. We have a little cart with a Batman sticker on it which we
call "the Batmobile."
...I know right? We must be pretty cool missionaries. I'm Batman.
Elder Casper's Robin. President Smith is Alfred. I think Elder
Beardall might be Catwoman...

That's all for this week! Love you all so much! Thanks for the support!

-Elder Samuel Burton

Feeling as old as 2015

Hey everyone!!! I hope you each had a Merry Christmas! We had a lovely
Christmas with the mission president and his family. It was kind of
weird just being plugged into a different family for the holiday I'm
so used to celebrating with my own family, but it was a lot of fun.
That's the last Christmas in the mission field. In just about a week,
I will officially have six months left on my mission. And goodness
it's almost 2016! I'm feeling like a very old missionary now. In just
a few days I'll be driving Elder Johanson, my trainer, to JFK
International to send him home along with all the sister missionaries
that were in my group coming into the mission.

On Monday, as we were delivering the upstate mail, we made our stop in
Stamford, Connecticut a bit longer than usual so we could grab dinner
and I got to treat Elder Johanson and his current companion to some
mighty fine burgers. Looking back, I realize how immensely blessed I
was to have such an awesome trainer. He's one I plan to keep in touch
with for the rest of my life. Such a great guy! Elder Tyler J
Johanson, also affectionately called "Jo-Daddy."

Today we get to go to a session in the Manhattan Temple. In fact, I'm
writing this as we ride down on the two train through my old area in
the Bronx. We just past the 174th Street Stop, which is right where
Ruby B* Lives. Pretty soon we'll be passing Brother Ford's
apartment building and all the other places I'm so familiar with. I
love the Bronx! It's a hellish place, but somehow I got attached to
it. Haha. Good memories I guess. I'm glad I get to go to the temple
again! It's been so long since I've gotten to do that. So insanely
busy. Ray Smith, from Poughkeepsie will be there along with a bunch of
missionaries I know. I'm looking forward to sitting and listening and
taking some much needed time to think there. Ray will probably take us
to dinner afterwards. He's such a great guy!

Oh! And there goes my favorite pastillas cart! ...sorry, I'm getting
distracted looking out the window.

Back on track. We're looking forward to getting some more time to work
in our proselyting area now that the Christmas Office Rush is over.
We've been swamped for the last few weeks. Now things should
theoretically be slowing down.

Not much else for report. Thanks to all those who sent me Christmas
Cards and gifts! They brighten my days! I love you all!

-Elder Samuel Burton

The Wisemen

We three Elders from the office are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Upstate, Bronx, and
Manhattan Island
Driving an oversized car!

Story of my life (for the last few weeks). The office staff and Sister
Smith have started referring to us as the Wisemen. It has less of a
"commercialized-Christmas" vibe than to being called Santa's elves,
and is far less demeaning, so I accept the title. He mission office
has been overflowing with mail so we've been insanely busy sorting,
packing, driving, etc. We also had to make get everything ready for
the mission Christmas devotional twice because they added a
performance specifically for investigators and such. The only time we
had to really focus on our area at all was a few spare minutes to stop
by M* and R* and invite them to the Christmas Devotional
(which they came to and loved) and a few minutes last night to help
out Ma*, our landlady. She's the sweetest old Italian woman! She has
the coolest accent, the brightest, grandmotherly eyes. She owns a
small pizzeria in New Rochelle that serves some amazing Italian-New
York style pizza. She enlisted our help to restock the drinks and do
some other small jobs around the pizza shop. She gave us pizza and
soup for a late dinner. It was great!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I'll be up at 3:00am tomorrow morning
(1:00am Utah time) to start delivering the rest of the missionaries'
Christmas packages. We're going to be delivering both to upstate zones
and city zones. Normally that's a 6:30am-9:00pm excursion, but we want
to make it back to our area in time to have dinner with some members
I've never met before. No one signed up to feed the elders on
Christmas Day, though someone signed up for the sister missionaries in
our Ward. So we'll be sharing Christmas dinner with the Smith family
at the mission home. I think I'd prefer that anyway.

So Christmas should be pretty good this year. I look forward to seeing
some of you over Skype! Love you all! Thanks for the support!

-Elder Samuel Burton

1. The AP's and the Office Elders chillin' with our hot rides. (Elder
Jimenez, Elder Leishman, Elder Beardall, Elder Casper, and me up on
top of the van)
2. All of us in the AP's truck
3. View of the city from Elder Jimenez and Elder Leishman's apartment.

Santa's little helpers

All mail to missionaries in this mission goes through the mission
office. The Office Elders get to then take that mail to the
missionaries in every zone. Normally, mail gets delivered once a week,
but we've delivered mail three times since I got here, because there
simply is no room in the mission office to store everyone's Christmas
packages! Yesterday alone, between the mailman, UPS, and Fedex, our
mission received 88 packages, and they are expecting the daily number
to jump into the hundreds as Christmas approaches. So we get to load
up Telula, our affectionately named 12-passenger van, with as many
parcels as we can and try to haul out the mail at least as fast as
it's coming in. Rumor has it Telula drives as nice as a fat man's
sleigh with eight reindeer, and she delivers just about as many
presents at christmastime.

So mail has occupied more time than anything else over the last week,
and our other assignments on top of that have kept us very busy, but
every now and then we get to pop on over to an investigators house or
knock a few doors.

On Monday, I got to participate in one of the family traditions I
didn't think I would get to this year: decorating the Christmas tree.
Except it wasn't my family's tree... It was the tree of R* and
M* Gailor and their adopted son. R* is an episcopal priest
and a member of the local interfaith council. He and his husband are
very friendly people and amazing hosts. They had lots of fancy cheeses
and crackers and cookies and we're tell us all about the history of
New Rochelle. Not quite the same vibe as it would have been back home,
but it was still an enjoyable evening.

On Sunday we got a media referral for a man named D*. He
lives in a very nice part of the town of Pelham. The guy was so
excited to get his Bible and a copy of the Book of Mormon, he was
giving us fist bumps and asking questions. Then he asked the question
every missionary wants to here after meeting someone: "So when will
you guys be coming back to tell me more?" He seems quite promising!

This Friday is our mission's Christmas devotional. Good music, good
food, good friends. It will be great! We're going to be busy tomorrow
getting everything ready for it. We get to set up on the chairs and
tables, and haul supplies up to the chapel in Ossining from the
mission home.

Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces over Skype this
Christmas! Thanks for the love and support!

-Elder Samuel Burton

Photos: Santa (aka Brother Anderson from the Stake a high Council) and
his little helpers at the Ward Christmas party, the R* and
M*'s Christmas tree, Elder Casper taking a selfie while I drown
in the mail.