Elder Sean Burton

November 30, 2009

2009-11-30T08:37:00.002-07:00

Our week was good. We had four investigators at church. Sylvana paid tithing for the first time.
Thanksgiving at the Briscoes' was awesome. We ate dinner at the Kabels' in Apeldoorn on Saturday. I got to see lots of Apeldoorn members, that was cool.
We are going to Delft and Den Haag on Tuesday to see Folly, Sunny, Levent and Huub, then we are going to Apeldoorn on Thursday.
It rains alot here!!!!
See you in TEN days!!!!!!!!

November 24, 2009

2009-11-25T14:31:00.002-07:00

This week was pretty crazy. Yesterday we had our zone Thanksgiving dinner and turkey bowl football game. It was awesome, it was raining and we all got covered in mud and were soaking wet!
Afterward we had our Thanksgiving feast, it was really fun.
We made blankets to give to the little kids who have cancer and are staying in the hospital....that was really cool.
Thursday we are having Thanksgiving dinner with the two American families in our ward. It will be alot of fun.
Sylvana and Suni are doing well. They were sick this week, but they are still making lots of progress.

November 16, 2009

2009-11-25T14:28:00.002-07:00

My week was good! We had three investigators in church on Sunday, Slyvana, Suni and Hennie. We also had a lady call up and ask us to come teach her more about the Book of Mormon...that was neat.
On Thursday we went to Zwolle for a district meeting. Elder de Mass played the bag pipes while we contacted people in the Centrum square. It was really cool to contact people while hymns were being played in the background. It was an awesome experience.
We went to Apeldoorn and I got to see Alim, he was so excited to see me...it was really cool. The Kloosterboers from Apeldoorn came to church in Arnhem this week to see me.
We had interviews and that was also really good!

November 9, 2009

2009-11-25T14:25:00.002-07:00

This week was a good week. It went by really, really fast and it was fun. Sylvana was at church for the third time and she loved it, she's awesome.
Yesterday we went and ate Fufu with the Ghanian family in our ward and we wore our Ghana suits and they loved it, that was awesome.
It's been raining alot here and it's been fairly cold.
We are going to the temple on December 2 for zone conference.

November 2, 2009

2009-11-05T14:31:00.002-07:00

Well, life is just moving right along. Sylvana was in church again this week and she was giving incredible answers and is really positive and just loves the Church and the Book of Mormon.
My new companion, Elder Morrow, is a fun guy, he is from Washington and has been out for a year and a half.
I'm doing great, the weather is nice, we ate with Ghanians last night. I don't think ya'll are gonna recognize me when I get home.

October 26, 2009

2009-11-05T14:28:00.003-07:00

I got sick this week and that kind-of put a damper on the first part of the week. But then we went to zone conference in Amsterdam and that was pretty cool. The day before the conference we stayed in Almere and I went on an exchange in Lelystad and got to see a whole bunch of members and investigators, so that was cool. Sister Prins who had cancer is completely healed!
We have two investigators that are really positive. One is a 16 year-old girl that is half Dutch and half Argentinian named Sylvana and the other is a man from Sierra Leone named Steven and both were in church on Sunday and both loved it, it was really good!
My companions going home on Wednesday and my new companion is Elder Morrow. That will be really fun.

October 19, 2009

2009-10-24T21:29:00.002-06:00

Today we had a zone activity and played American football...I had four interceptions and five touchdowns!
Elder Ertelt is going back to the French side of the mission for his last week, so it will be just me and Elder Ottonelli...it will be fun.
This week we found seven new investigators and had a really good week!
Jason Kabel was back from the USA and came to our church in Arnhem...it was cool...I saw some of the pictures he took in SLC. He is a good guy!
I'm still doing really good...I'm happy and having fun.

October 12, 2009

2009-10-12T13:20:00.002-06:00

This week was pretty interesting. I did splits in Amersfoort. Then on Friday we went to a member's house and chopped down a huge tree and cut it into pieces and then split and chopped it into firewood. We spent ten hours doing that. For some reason I keep getting opportunities to use my wood chopping and chain sawing skills...it was alot of fun.
Then we went and played laser tag with the Young Men and Young Women Saturday night. That was really fun.
Sunday night we ate dinner with some sweet American members...it was really good. They are from Cache Valley and they come home the day after I do.

October 5, 2009

2009-10-06T17:46:00.002-06:00

I was offered a 30-day mission extension, but I knew that you want me home for Christmas, so I did not take it.
I have been all over the place the past week doing exchanges. I was in Apeldoorn and Hengelo and Zwolle and now I'm finally back in Arnhem, only to be leaving this afternoon to go to Amersfoort.
Arnhem is a cool city, there are parts that look like the Avenues in SLC.
We went to Apeldoorn to watch General Conference. It was really, really good! We watched the Saturday morning session at 6:00 pm Saturday night; then the Saturday afternoon session, Priesthood and Sunday morning sessions all on Sunday. We will watch the Sunday afternoon session next Sunday and then we can only see it in Dutch...things get lost in the translation though.

September 28, 2009

2009-09-28T12:24:00.003-06:00

This past week went by really fast and not a whole lot happened that was out of the ordinary.
We dug a trench for some people, wearing our white shirts, although we did take our ties off. You should have seen their faces when we picked up a shovel and started to help. It was really cool.
My new companions, Elder Miqueas Ottonelli (from Argentina) and Elder Micheal Ertelt (from German) are cool, they both go home in four weeks. The members of the Church here are pretty cool. There is a Ghanaian family here, we are going to make FuFu with them this week.
Yesterday we ate at an American family's house (they are from Cache Valley). They are here for the husband's job and will be going back the day after me. They are really great.
We have been playing basketball at a court next to our house with a bunch of college students. They are all our friends now and they invite us to go to salsa parties and stuff like that. They know that we are missionaries and they respect that and have a lot of questions, even the ones from Iran and Afghanistan.
I am learning French from Elder Ertelt (he transferred from the French-speaking part of our mission) and it is coming along alright. I'm trying to finish the Book of Mormon in French before I come home.

September 21, 2009

2009-09-22T14:33:00.002-06:00

Well, this week was pretty good. I'm in a companionship with a German and an Argentinian. It's fun, but I don't like this whole biking thing (gone are the good old days of having a car as a zone leader). We have a few good investigators and it will be fun.
I miss Apeldoorn and being a zone leader, but everything has to come to an end eventually. The members in Apeldoorn were really awesome helping me celebrate my 21st birthday.

September 14, 2009

2009-09-22T14:23:00.002-06:00

This past week was a crazy one. I went on an exchange in Assen and got to see Frans Philipps again and that was awesome. Then the next morning I got a call that one of my missionaries had ran away. This is the third time that this has happened to me. So we spent two days looking for him, found him and drove him to Rotterdam to have an interview with the Area President, Elder Kopischke, who was doing a zone conference there. We drove back to Apeldoorn, then drove to Den Haag the next day for our zone conference with Elder Kopischke, which was incredible and we drove to Brussels for our zone leader conference with him which was also incredible.At the zone conference he answered questions from all of us about everything and it was awesome. The the zone leader council was really cool because it was just a handful of zone leaders and Elder Kopischke and we got to ask him more questions and he taught us alot...it was really cool. Then we drove back to Apeldoorn to have a meeting with the stake president to talk about missionary work and that was cool too. In three days we drove over 2000 kilometers...that's well over 1250 miles!
Well my Apeldoorn days are over...and my zone leading days. I am being transferred to Arnhem (just south of Apeldoorn) as a mentor and I am in a threesome with German elder who is from the French-speaking side of the mission and an elder who is having some problems.
My new address is:
Elder Sean Burton
Wichard van Ponllaan
6824-GD Arnhem
Nederland
I love Apeldoorn and its members. I've made so many friends there...it felt really good to be cherished and wanted and appreciated.

September 7, 2009

2009-09-08T17:28:00.002-06:00

Hey, so this week was awesome! We started out with an awesome exchange in Brussels. We went to their district meeting and I made apple pies for everyone in the district and they all loved it and wanted the recipe, so I wrote my version down and give it to a few of them and now it has spread all over the mission and people keep asking me for the recipe or to make them a pie...it's funny!!!
Then we just had a great day. I got to work with Elder De Mass, who I lived with in Den Haag and it was just an incredible day.
On Monday night we drove down to Brussels to drop something off at the mission home for Sister Brubaker, and she and Pres. Brubaker were in their regular clothes, moving things around, so so we helped them and then got to eat dinner with them. That was cool, too.
Tuesday night one of the French-speaking elders got his bag stolen so we had to go to the police department with him and we didn't get home until way late. In the morning we went and played soccer by the Saint Contin Aire. Brussels is a really cool city. Then the rest of the week we had a blast. We set a new baptismal date with Rodrique.
We also had stake conference last weekend and a missionary had just come home from the Greece, Athens mission...he knew Mike Middleton and it was cool to hear how he was doing from one of his fellow missionaries.
And that was my week, it was awesome.

August 31, 2009

2009-08-31T08:57:00.002-06:00

Today we are headed to the mission home in Brussels, staying there for a few days, that will be fun.
This week we set a new baptismal date with Bernard from Mali, Africa. He is really cool. We asked him what he thought about 3 Nephi 11 and he said 'It is true,' then we asked if he'd be baptized and he said, 'yes.' It was really cool.
Other than that all our other appointments fell through, 25 of them to be exact.
But we had a great interviews training and we were able to build the missionaries up and help them out. I also got to give blessings to the three sister missionaries who are struggling and that was really cool. The Spirit was incredibly strong and it was really good.
We also got to do service for the bishop who lives in a pine forest. I got to chop wood and cut a large amount up. It was great!

August 24, 2009

2009-08-24T07:25:00.003-06:00

This morning I went with a member out into the forest (if you can call it that) and stalked deer and black boars. It was really cool. It felt so good to be out in the woods again. It was not the same because it was really flat and you could hear the trains and the highway noise so it was not really out in the wild, but at the same time it was in the wild part of the Netherlands, so that was cool. We got really close to the boars and saw a fair amount of deer.
This past week went by really, really fast and I do not even remember what we did! We set two new baptismal dates withe Rodrique from the Congo and Sjon who is Dutch. The work is going well here. I'm still going strong and sprinting to the end, trying to gain speed the whole time. I'm still growing and maturing.

August 17, 2009

2009-08-23T21:12:00.002-06:00

This week we were in Rotterdam to listen to Elder and Sister Russell Nelson and Elder and Sister Kieijweg and Elder Kopichske. It was incredible!! Their talks were really, really good and they are really nice people. Sister Nelson is really cool, I liked her talk! The whole mission attended the conference, the French and Dutch-speaking missionaries.
We have found tons of new investigators this week and only one of them is Dutch, the rest are African and from South America and China. I love these people, they are awesome.

2009-08-23T20:16:00.001-06:00

Elder Burton

Jimmy, Lorenzo, Robert

Elder Carter, Elder DeMass, Elder Burton in their Ghana suits

August 10, 2009

2009-08-11T17:23:00.003-06:00

I've been to Rotterdam, Brussels, Utecht, Zwolle and Arnhem. It's been pretty crazy, but also really good.
My new companion and I get along really well and we are getting the work going here. This past week we found six new investigators and hopefully we can really get the teaching pool built up before I leave on September 16. I have no idea where I'm going. I am hoping to go to Sint Niklass, but you never know where you will end up.
All my past baptisms here in Apeldoorn are doing really well and it's great to be here, but I can feel that my time here will soon be up and I'll have to move on to another city.
Yesterday I gave a talk in church, it was fun because I just did it from notes/outline and then I had to try to convert my thought train from English to Dutch, but it turned out well, so I was glad.
This upcoming week we get to go to Rotterdam again to have a meeting with Elder Russell M. Nelson, I'm really excited for that, it should be a really neat experience.

August 3, 2009

2009-08-03T08:05:00.002-06:00

Alim got baptized and it was awesome...he's such a stud. I hope that someone in the ward will sponser him so that he can go on a mission.
Right now I'm sitting in the mission office emailing. Brussels is a really cool city. We are going to see some of the sights and then eat with one of the members.
Elder Shumway is headed home to Oklahoma on Wednesday and my new companion is Elder Howell. He is from California and a new zone leader. It will be a fun transfer with him.

July 27, 2009

2009-08-02T20:59:00.003-06:00

This week went by really, really fast. I don't have alot to report, but this week we gave our interview training. It was a lot of work and it was really tiring trying to keep everybody happy and having fun and at the same time get them to learn things. It was about seven hours long, but we pulled it off and it turned out really well. 22 missionaries is alot of missionaries!
Monday we picked up Alim to take him to the Vels to eat dinner and he got into the car and said that he's done smoking weed and he'd thrown all his weed smoking stuff away and that he wants to get baptized on August 1, so pray for him that he can fight the temptation of smoking weed so that his life won't be controlled by this addiction. The Vels were awesome, they invited him to come for dinner with them on Sunday and they gave him their telephone number so if he needs someone to help him or he just needs something to do, he can call them and they'll come pick him up. Alim said afterwards that they felt like parents to him because he doesn't have any.
Alim is from Sierra Leon and he came here when he was seven and how he is nineteen. He almost died in Sierra Leon...he was a child soldier and a ton of bad things happened to him there, then he came here with nothing and was in a foster family that treated him terribly...when he was sixteen he started to live on his own. He's been through alot and he has no one, he has no family and is all alone in this crazy society. My heart breaks everytime I hear more of his story. That really goes for almost every African I meet. They all have very sad stories of the wars and the struggles in Africa. It is heart wrenching. It sure makes me grateful for the life that I have been given when I realize just how good my life has been. I've got no complaints.
We are headed for Utrecht tomorrow for Zone Conference and then the next transfer Elder Russel M. Nelson is coming and Elder Kopiska from the Area Presidency. I get to go to really personal meetings with both of them!!! Cool, eh?

July 20, 2009

2009-08-02T20:45:00.003-06:00

We had an awesome baptism on Saturday. Jeremy is from China and he's incredible. He said that after he received the gift of the Holy Ghost that it felt like fire burning in his chest and he liked it. His English isn't very good, so when he describes how he is feeling it is always with fun words and actions. But his English keeps getting better and better, especially since he read the English Book of Mormon every day. He is really cool.
Sister Aalderink, who got baptized three weeks ago, is getting her patriarchal blessing this week and she's on fire! She has read 'Our Heritage' and 'Our Search for Happiness' since she was baptized, not to mention the scriptures.
The ward is really reaching out to Jeanine and bringing her into the ward family, and also Jimmy, Robert, and Lorenzo. They're all doing really, really well. And Bram, Ronsina, Nelson and Rozita are all starting to come to church regularly. It is all just going really, really well here and I'm loving it.
Tell Addi that I'm anything but trucky...the only reason I make comments in my emails is because ya'll started complaining that I wasn't missing home and didn't want to come home, so I throw those in there to comfort you. Elder Shumway isn't trunky either, because the work would slow down a ton and it would bite trying to get his boing, but he's working hard to the end!
Neither of us have a problem focusing on the task at hand and we're just loving it. I feel so good now, I've never felt so free of burden or concern or worry. The only thing I worry about is the choices that the people make that we're working with, but I know the the Lord will take care of them, so it's not a big deal. I do my thing and do everything I can to get as much done as I can and do it His way and it just all seams to work out really well. Everything just flows smoothly and I love it.
Our whole zone is just moving along, we've got a lot of missionaries that are struggling and that we've been working with, but overall everyone is doing well, even though one of the missionaries ran away and got on an airplane and went home...still don't understand why he just didn't tell us he was done and we could have sent him home instead of having to search all over the country for him...but whatever.
Monday we had our District Leaders Council and we brought all the district leaders and mentors to our house and cooked steak, chicken, mashed potatoes, corn-on-the-cob, and apple and pumpkin pies...it was really good...that as good as the zone leaders council, but still good. And we had a good discussion on how to lead and reach out to other people to lift them up and inspire them to be their best self.

July 13, 2009

2009-07-14T17:47:00.002-06:00

Well, another week has gone and I've been all over the place. I was in Amsterdam for a meeting with the new mission president and then I was in Brussels for another meeting with him and then this morning I was in Arnhem looking for a run-away missionary who ran away last night.
We have been soooo busy, plus we have a baptism on Saturday!! It is all going by so fast and I've never felt better. I'm loving it.
I love our new mission president and his wife. They are really cool. I was in the kitchen for a long time cooking with Sister Brubaker and now we're good friends and I've had a ton of conversations with President Brubaker. They are wonderful people and it is going to be a good 4-1/2 months.
I am excited for these next few months. I've never been happier or more focused on what is important in my whole life. I continue to have huge moments of realization where I change immensely. I've a very different person now, I'm still the same Sean, but now I'm version 3.0 because I have figured out how to improve myself and get rid of the bad habits.
I love this work and I love this gospel

July 6, 2009

2009-07-07T16:37:00.003-06:00

So, the computers were messed up last week and I couldn't email...sorry.
BUT, the last two weeks have gone by really, really fast and yesterday was my five month left mark. It goes by so fast.
Yesterday at church I had a ten year-old girl ask me if I would kiss her...it was really funny. Elder Shumway and I have all the girls in the ward to choose from...they're also all under the age of 16 except one. They listen to us...it's really good and then their parents like us more and then we get more dinner appointments and then everybody is happy.
We baptized the Aalderinks last week. I baptized Gerard and Elder Shumway baptized Hilda. I confirmed Jeanine in sacrament meeting. I've now had 17 baptisms on my mission...who would have thought 19 months ago that I would have had more than one! I still have five more months to go! I got a phone yesterday that a man I found and taught in Den Haag just got baptized. It is going really good. We have another baptism scheduled for the 18th with a young man from China named Jeremy Zheng.
I have talked to the new mission president a few times and we are going to Amsterdam to meet him and his wife tomorrow and then on Thursday we're headed for Brussels for Zone Leader council...it is going to be a crazy week.
Well, I'm excited for the next five months and I'll not be coming home sooner or later than that. I've been advised to start thinking and making plans for what I'm going to do when I get home. So, I need to know when school starts at BYU in January.

June 22, 2009

2009-06-25T16:42:00.002-06:00

It is transfer day, but I am staying in Apeldoorn with Elder Shumway, which means I will be here for the next two transfers because this is Elder Shumway's last transfer, so I will have at least one more transfer period after that in Apeldoorn.
Sunny and Jeanine got baptized this past weekend. It was so awesome! The spirit was so strong and way awesome. And we've got the family Aalderink getting baptized on Friday which will be really awesome too. They love the church, they feel so at home in the church.
A couple of days ago we went out to our bishop's house to work in his yard. He lives in a little tiny town about a 45 minute bike ride from Apeldoorn (the car was in the shop) and it is in a pine forest. It was really cool. I cut and chopped about a cord of wood. I was sooooo sore afterward, I am not in as good of shape as I used to be.
Zone conference was really, really cool. President Woodland pretty much told us how to live our lives and then we said goodbye to him. It was sad to see President and Sister Woodland leave. It was really good to be in Den Haag again. We stayed the night there and I got to see Huub and Shijam. They both just received the M. Priesthood (I can't spell that).

June 15, 2009

2009-06-17T13:21:00.002-06:00

This past week went by really, really fast! We had another baptism on Sunday, Sister Linschooten, she was sooo happy and beaming with joy.
The ward here is so awesome. I love the members. All the kids from 1-9 years of age love to play with us. The girls from 10-21 years old are in love with us and we use that as an advantage to give them advice for their lives because they listen to every word we say. The boys from 10-21 years old think we're really cool and also listen to us. Then the rest just love us because we actually talk to the members here and try to help them with their problems.
I am teaching an English class every Thursday and it's really fun. We are trying to get a Family Home Evening going in the church for investigators, less-actives and new converts that will be alot of fun too.
Everything here is going fine and dandy. Today we are heading for Den Haag for Zone Conference and I'll get to see Folly and hopefully Huub.
I made an apple pie from scratch on Friday...it was really good, but now I'm out of shortening and they don't have that here.

June 8, 2009

2009-06-17T13:12:00.003-06:00

Wow, the past two weeks have been incredible! Yesterday we had three baptisms which puts me up to 13 now in total and we've got baptisms planned for the next three Sundays and hopefully more after that. We baptized Robert Hirwa, Jimmy Mutesa, and Lorenso Put. We are working with Sister Linschooten, Jeanine, Fam, Aalderink, Alim, Yaya, Yana, Nelson, Marisca, Jeremy, Tom, Kevin, Sarah, Gwen and more that are also getting close.
We also had eleven investigators in church on Sunday...it was awesome. The work is going really, really well here. I love the members here, they are so awesome. I hope that I stay the rest of my mission here. It's just going really, really well here and I'm loving it.
We are also in the ward choir and we go around singing the Prince of Egypt songs.
The members here love us and it's just a ton of fun to be around them. We have about three dinner appointments a week all with different members and some of the members we get every two to three weeks. It's awesome. I just love Apeldoorn.
So far we've been to Amsterdam and Apeldoorn and on Saturday we are going to Rotterdam and the next week to Groningen...it's fun.

June 1, 2009

2009-06-02T13:58:00.002-06:00

I had an awesome week. I got to go to The Hague Temple with Brother de Jong this week, cool, eh? I also had my last interview with President Woodland before he and his wife return to the States. It was good.
Today we had a sport day with the ward and it was really good, I'll tell you more next week.

May 25, 2009

2009-05-27T12:18:00.003-06:00

This week went by really fast. We were in Brussels for two days at a conference and it was really, really cool!!!! Sister Woodland made whole chickens for us and mashed potatoes and all sorts of good stuff. I love Zone Leaders Councils, the food is always so good.
Yesterday we had a total of ten investigators who came to church as well as a bunch of inactive members....it was really cool.
Then we also had the ward choir performance (we're part of the ward choir, even though we are terrible singers) and that was cool. Afterwards I went outside with five little kids and they decided to gang up on me and tackle me to the ground, so I spent an hour running/breaking tackles with all these little kids...it was fun and I'm a little bit out of shape, or at least compared to how I used to be...compared to all of you, however...well, let's just say that I get a very good workout every morning and I still have no fat and I'm in better shape that ya'll...but hey, not everyone can be as good as me. Ha, ha, ha.
It was a good week though, even though we had no food, but hey, we were taken care of.

May 18, 2009

2009-05-18T13:46:00.002-06:00

Sorry this is going to be so short. We spent a ton of time today further cleaning our apartment and de-junking it. I found a dryer in a closet that was broken and I fixed it and now we have a clothes dryer!
It's been a good week and it's great to be back to a normal companionship (third elder got transferred). We will be going to Brussels on Tuesday for Zone Leader thingy, so that will be pretty cool.
Frans Philips was baptized on Saturday and that was awesome!!

May 11, 2009

2009-05-18T13:23:00.001-06:00

I did not get transferred, so I'm in Apeldoorn for at least another six weeks. Talking to you all for Mother's Day was great! Love you all.

May 4, 2009

2009-05-18T13:14:00.002-06:00

Boy, do I have a story to tell you. I witnessed an assassination attempt on the royal family of Nederland!!! It was crazy. It was Queen's Day and the Queen came to Apeldoorn and so did 200,000 people to see her. It started out with the parade, celebrating the life of the Queen. The royal family was shaking hands with some people and then they got into this convertible bus and it was driving through the parade route and the royal family was just waving to everyone when all of a sudden a car burst through the barricades and ran 14 people over and just barely missed the royal bus and then ran into a cement monument. Now seven people are dead, including the driver of the car and eight are still in pretty rough condition.
Evidently the driver had lost his job and was kicked out of his house so he decided that killing the Queen and the princes/princesses would solve his problems and as a result seven people are now dead, eight physically wounded and thousands have the mental scars of seeing it happen, and I'll tell you what, it was not a good sight or sound.
The aftermath is pretty bad too. Luckily, we did not go where we were planning to stand because then we would have been right where the car came through the crowd. This little girl that saw the whole thing was just crying and it was so sad to see all of these people in such a state...it was pretty rough. The whole city is just in shock and horror and now in a state of mourning.
On the lighter side of things, my zone is doing better than it has ever done and is just exploding right now. It's awesome! The other night we were at this inactive member's house and her husband wanted nothing to do with the church or the missionaries, but he started a water fight with one of the little kids and somehow it spread and then everyone got involved and we were all soaking wet by the end and now we have a good relationship with the husband and all the family...it was cool.

April 27, 2009

2009-04-27T10:52:00.002-06:00

So of the three people that were supposed to get baptized on Saturday, only one of them did, one will have to wait a couple of weeks and the other one went crazy. Levert's baptism was really good and way spiritual. He showed up an hour and half early and was all dressed in white and just prayed for that entire time. It was really cool and his testimony at the end was way solid.
Life is going pretty good here. I don't think that I'm going to be staying in Apeldoorn next transfer, but we'll see, I've got two weeks left.
We went to the hospital to visit a member who broke her pelvic bone. It was weird to be back in a medical care place. It felt good to wheel her around the hospital on her wheelchair. I love hospitals.
One of my friends is getting married on Thursday, it's weird to get wedding invitations, especially when you can't go.

April 20, 2009

2009-04-20T08:46:00.002-06:00

This coming Saturday I will be having three baptisms, Alim, Sunny and Levert. It should be really cool. We are still driving a ton and having fun. The members here are pretty cool. We also sing in the choir...that's really funny!
Today on P-day we went to this place called Apenheul and we had monkeys climb all over us. It was pretty cool. It is getting really hot here and I am starting to get tan.

April 13, 2009

2009-04-13T15:46:00.002-06:00

I am doing 'good'. I spent alot of time in a car this week. We went to Brussels, twice to Zwolle, twice to Leeuwarden, once to Heerenveen, and then all over in Deventer and Apeldoorn. PLUS, I got to drive a big van to move things around so that we could have a table and some beds in our apartment. We didn't get to do much work in our city, but it was still fun.
The Zone Leader Council was really, really good.
The country has two Easter days, so everything is closed today(P-day), we can't go shopping and we are at a member's house right not emailing our families.

April 6, 2009

2009-04-07T12:42:00.002-06:00

So, one of the positive things about Apeldoorn is the fact that we have a car all the times now and I don't even ride a bike at all. That and we have a really big apartment, well actually we live in a house but it's not what you are thinking of as a house. It has one room downstairs that consists of the kitchen, dining room, and living room and the upstairs has three rooms in the same amount of space and they are our bedrooms and study rooms. It's big compared to other missionary/normal person living places, but compared to America, it is a tiny, tiny place to live.
Apeldoorn is really small, I've already memorized how to get to alot of places, it's pretty easy. We drove to Leeuwarden the other day and took a ton of stuff from the missionary apartment there because they are closing it, of which we got kitchen supplies, a blender, a waffle iron and a sandwich toaster, and other things for our apartment...it was cool.
We are headed for Brussels tomorrow for our Zone Leader Council. It will be alot of fun and then we have interviews and a few other things this week.

March 30, 2009

2009-04-02T17:10:00.003-06:00

WOW! I'm getting transferred to Apeldoorn as a zone leader. My new companion is Elder Shumway from Oklahoma City, he has only three more transfers before going home, so I'll either be in Apeldoorn a very short time or a very long time.
I'm really sad to leave Den Haag, everything was starting to go really, really well and now I'm going to the problem zone where nothing is happening. Plus I'm in a threesome apartment because Pres. Woodland sent a problem missionary with the two of us to try and change him around so he won't crash and burn. I'm going to be missing so many baptisms and a ton of good things that we were just getting started here in Den Haag. Maybe I'll be able to come back after a few transfers or so. I hpe so. I love Den Haag, it's the best place in the mission to be. Oh well, whatever.
My new address is:
Elder Sean Burton
Wolwevershorst 62
7328-NV Apeldoorn
Nederland

But last week was incredible!!!

March 23, 2009

2009-03-23T17:13:00.003-06:00

This week was pretty crazy. I went to Brussels, Amsterdam and Utrecht. It was a ton of driving and NO sleep! But it was a really awesome week.
I got to talk to President Oaks one-on-one for about a half hour and the zone leaders got to talk to him for a couple of hours and then we had zone conference as well. It was really good. President Oaks is a really nice guy. He loves to tell stories. I sat and talk to him during lunch at zone conference and he just told story after story. It was great. The zone leader council in Brussels was also amazing and I took tons of notes.
It was really a spiritually uplifting week and it was fun, although we did have some problems with some of the missionaries in our zone. Our ward took some huge steps towards helping us some more this week, so that was also something good.
The baptism of Folly and Shijam was really awesome. The Mule family from Fiji sung a really cool song and played the ukelale. It was really cool and spiritual. Both Folly and Shijam were glowing afterwards and they just loved it. The confirmation was really cool as well.
We have a whole bunch of baptisms coming up and and a bunch of other investigators too. We are seeing so many miracles every day. It is incredible.
There are a couple ducks that live in the canal by our apartment and we watch them out of the window. This morning four drakes flew up in front of me at about 20 yards. These ducks fly around and no one can shoot them! But it's ok...eight months and I'll be making up for it.

March 16, 2009

2009-03-16T09:58:00.002-06:00

This week went by really fast. We had interviews in Amsterdam and we gave another training and it went really well. As Zone leaders we give trainings and take numbers for the whole zone and we are called to inspire and uplift the missionaries in our zone. There are four zones in the Dutch side of the mission.
I'm also going to Brussels tomorrow to meet with President Oaks of the Seventy and Pres. Woodland (mission president), it should be really good also. We drive a ton and I'm loving it, but don't worry Mom, I'm driving safely. We are getting a new car!
We have a baptism with Folly and Shijam on Wednesday. It should be really, really good. We have baptismal dates of:
March 28--Natalie
April 11--Ama, Isatu, Kate, Affiana
April 25--Ravin, Lyde, Kastelein, Ben, Philip,
Bentura family, Teras family, Anthony family
If you would pray for these people that would be wonderful!
Elder Carter, my companion, is from Ogden and he's a duck hunter too. We get along really well and it's alot of fun to work with him. We live in a 4-man apartment with Elder De Mass (from Murray) and Elder Christensen (from Kearns). It's alot of fun and we all get along really well.
Things are going really well here and it's starting to get warm and it's getting lighter and lighter, later and later. When it starts getting darker again, then I'll be heading home really, really soon. That's weird.

March 9, 2009

2009-03-10T22:13:00.002-06:00

It's going great here and I'm loving it. In the past four days we have set eight baptismal dates. We were doing really good and then we reviewed a talk that we've read before called "The Challenging and Testifying Missionary" and now we've gone nuts. We invite people to be baptized on the streets, on their doorsteps, and every other place we can think of and we are finding people that are truly ready for the gospel. We're not just finding people who will say yes and then not follow through, but these people truly want to change their lives. It's awesome. Contacting in English is also really fun.
In regards to driving here, they don't drive on the other side of the road. Our car is a stick shift and if you have ever driven in Brussels, you know what it's like to drive offensively. You have to in Brussels, it's crazy, it's just a free-for-all. They have round-abouts that are five lanes wide and the closer to the middle you are, the more right of way you have. Everyone drives offensively defensive and it's awesome. It's like bumper cars without the bumping...most of the time. We saw some guy make use of his bumpers getting out of a parallel parking job with only three inches in front and back of him. I was impressed.
Next Ghanian food story....fish heads made into soup mixed with peppers and then a big ol' slab of FuFu to go with it...awesome, huh?
We had a Fijian farewell yesterday. I guess the people over here in Europe didn't get the memo about no farewells. But this farewell was soooo cool. They had a whole bund of Fijians and Samoans there and they sang and then after the meeting they did some Pacific Islander traditional ceremonies for departing people and then they had a huge feast with really, really good Pacific foods. It was soooo good. I ate soooo much and they just kept bringing more and more food out. It was awesome, I loved it.

March 2, 2009

2009-03-08T12:38:00.003-06:00

Ok, so this week has been crazy. Driving is awesome. I love it. Europeans are the worst drivers in the world and then you've got trains going all over the place and it's just crazy and fun. And their parking garages are like roller coasters to drive in, it's fun. Although this whole driving the speed limit is something new to me, but it's not too hard. Especially with a companion in the passenger seat.
This week I've had to drive to Alkmaar, Lelystad, Breda, Zwolle, and today we have to drive to Brussels and then next week we are going to Amsterdam and then Brussels again and then Amsterdam and a few other places, too. We are so busy.
Yesterday I got to meet Elder Oaks and talk to him for a minute, it was really cool and he gave an awesome talk.
So we counted how many languages Elder Carter and I can contact in and we ended up with close to twenty and are working on more. Right now we have: English, Dutch, Spanish, German, Twi, Portugese, Arabic, Afrikaans, Fijan, and the list goes on. We're getting pretty good, too. We have little notebooks that we write new phrases in so we can get better in all these languages. The people love it when we try to speak their languages, especially the Ghanan people.
Speaking of Ghanan people, yesterday we had "so" interesting food. It was the usual Ghanan FuFu, but it was cooked in a soup that consisted of the spine of a small dog-like creature with a little bit of meat left on it, and then some different portions of the guts, mixed with some spices and then served. You eat it with your right hand and your right hand only, grabbing a piece of FuFu (blob of goo) and using your thumb to make it into a bowl/spoon and then you put a piece of meat in and spoon some soup into it and eat it. I like the Nigerian FuFu better, but the chicken style from Ghana is really, really good.
I really can't remember what else happened this week. It has been so crazy and we are so busy. We have literally no time to stop and take a breather let alone eat!!!! But we fit it in and it's going great.

February 23, 2009

2009-02-23T08:30:00.003-07:00

I'm doing great! The ward I'm in now is huge. It has almost 250 members along with eight missionaries. We just had a baptism here, Huub Van Den Assem. I've actually taught him a few times on exchanges as well as the past week. He's such a great guy. We've got a bunch of baptisms coming up as well. We're very, very busy. I wake up at 6:00 am and then I'm constantly on the go until about 10:15 pm and then I brush my teeth and go to bed. It's crazy, but alot of fun.
I love Den Haag. A new missionary lives in our apartment (it is a four-man apartment) and he played waterpolo for Kearns...we've played against each other a couple hundred times, and with each other too.
Well, my companion from Almere decided to stay and is really starting to work hard now, so I'm really happy about that. Everything is going wonderful here.
Next week I will be meeting with Elder Oaks of the Twelve Apostles and President Oaks of the Seventy/area president...cool, huh? Being a zone leader is awesome. We get a car too, for three out of the six weeks of the transfer. We will have a new mission president in July, President Brubaker.

February 16,2009

2009-02-18T17:35:00.003-07:00

My Almere companion is going home. He just couldn't take it. I did my best and did everything I could for him, but he just doesn't have it in him to be able to do this work.
This week was really pretty good. Iris is going to be baptized along with her daughters in the next transfer period and she's way solid.
I had to replace the back tire on my bike this week. It cost 6 euros ($10) which wasn't bad at all because I got 3300 miles out of that tire before the inner tube bulged out of the side in three places. You'd be surprised how big of a difference a good back tire can make. It's been raining alot here, but it's not too bad though. It's starting to warm up and get a little better, but winter is still fighting back.
So, I got transferred. I am now the Zone leader in Den Haag (in English..The Hague, where the Temple is located) with Elder Carter from my MTC group. So that will be way fun. I'm excited...we're going to tear it up.
I am going to misss Lelystad/Almere, but Den Haag with be really cool and the work is going really well there.
My new address is:
Elder Burton
42 Benschoplaan
2546-RJ Den Haag
Nederland

February 9, 2009

2009-02-18T17:25:00.003-07:00

This week we had a ton of people really just fight against us and try to destroy our testimonies. Well, more of my companion, he doesn't know that the Church is true so it is a little rough for him right now, but I'm trying to help him gain his testimony, but the devil doesn't make it any easier, especially when you get people that tell you in English that what we're doing is a waste of time and the Church isn't true. It's not bad when they say it in Dutch because my companion doesn't understand that. I know that what I'm sharing is from God and I've been hearing these things for the past year so it really doesn't do anything for me, but for him it's really hard. So after those people get done talking and we're back at home I explain why they were wrong in what they said and I show him the parts in the Bible to prove my point and then in the Book of Mormon and D&C so taht he can see how they work together.
We went to Belgium last week for Zone Conference. It was cool to go to Antwerpen. It was a really good Zone Conference.
I've started to get alot of wedding invitations from my friends...it's really weird.

February 2, 2009

2009-02-02T12:51:00.002-07:00

My attitude has completely changed and I actually don't want to come home in ten months. I really just want to stay out here for a while longer. I love it so much. I've never been happier in my entire life. I love being out here and sharing my testimony. Not that I don't miss ya'll, but I guess I'll just have to transfer all this stuff over to home life because President Woodland already told me that I can't have an extension.
I went on a way awesome exchange the other day with Elder Craig. He was the last Assistant to the President and the best missionary, in my opinion. It was probably the best day on my mission so far. It was such an awesome day. We were just enjoying it so much because we both have come to understand how happiness comes. It was awesome. And then we had interviews with Pres. Woodland and those were also amazing. Pres. Woodland asked me to teach a new sister missionary how to find joy/happiness in the work. It was a way cool experience to teach and help someone.

January 26, 2009

2009-01-26T08:15:00.004-07:00

This past week was very different than normal. I've been in two different countries and I wasn't in Lelystad that much this week. I had to go to Brussels to renew my Belgium legality. That was pretty cool because I haven't been there for almost a year and I got to talk to alot of the French-speaking missionaries. It took us ten hours of traveling to get there and back, plus two hours down there. It was a long day, but it was still fun. We almost missed the last train for the night out of Brussels coming back to the Netherlands, that would have been bad.
The next day I had to go to a District Leaders meeting in Zoetemeer and I was there for the whole day, so I didn't get to go to Lelystad for two days in a row. But it was still a great week. We are now teaching Iris and both of her daughters and we're kind of teaching her son, but not completely. They'll be getting baptized in February. We are also teaching a lady named Saraida and her son Jamal, they were in church on Sunday, they're really positive. Oh, and we had an investigator read 30 chapters out of the Book of Mormon in between our first and second appointment with her, that was really cool.
It's been raining alot and my feet keep getting soaked because of the holes in the bottoms of my shoes, so the next day I'll wear my other shoes that are still pretty much brand-new and it won't rain at all, so I'll switch back to my more worn-out shoes and it'll rain again. But I don't care because for the first time on my mission, it doesn't matter to me anymore that everything goes wrong sometimes. I just keep going, no use in complaining about it, I can't change some things so I just forget about them. I'VE REALLY NEVER BEEN HAPPIER THAN I AM RIGHT NOW. I like where I'm at and I like the changes I'm making.

January 19, 2009

2009-01-19T11:48:00.002-07:00

I just got back from Amsterdam and I guess my shoes are just too worn out because water now leaks in through the holes in the soles. But hey, it's not cold any more. It's just really, really west because it rains none stop!!! Which is great because I just got the package with all my warm stuff that I don't need anymore because now I need a wetsuit to stay dry, or a drysuit would be better. It's actually still pretty cold, but not below freezing anymore.
By the way, the jerky you sent me expired, I figured that out about halfway through the bag, but of course, I still ate the whole bag because even stale things from America are better than fresh things from Europe. So, I eat really, really healthy now. For breakfast I eat a hug bowl of All-Bran cereal, oats, apples, yogurt, cinnamon and honey (all together). It's really good. And I eat fruits and veggies and all sorts of good stuff.
This week we set a couple of baptismal dates, two with some totally crazy people, and the others with really solid people. Iris will hopefully be one as well tonight.

Mission Pictures

2009-01-16T13:51:00.007-07:00

We just got a picture CD from Sean. Here are some of the pictures. I labeled them as Sean did.

Almere Apartment 12.29.2008

Me and Elder Lystrup 12.29.2008

Me and Elder Stringham 12.29.2008

Me and Elder Tilleman 12.29.2008

View from apartment during Market 12.24.2008

Iris's dogs 12.22.2008

Me and some random African that I contacted in Amsterdam 12.22.2008

First loaf of banana bread 11.28.2008

Last Assen District 11.25.2008

Assen Apartment 11.25.2008

Assen Apartment 11.25.2008

My bed in Assen 11.25.2008

Me and Alex 11.24.2008

Killer bloody nose 10.7.2008

"Personal Study" 11.5.2008

Jean Jacques baptism 9.20.2008

Service at member's (Lubbrinks) in Assen 8.29.2008

First Assen district 9.2.2008

Groningen Apartment 8.24.2008

View from Heerenveen Apartment 8.23.2008

Site of the first baptism in the Netherlands 7.28.2008

1st temple trip 5.28.2008

January 12, 2009

2009-01-14T20:15:00.002-07:00

I picked up my dazed companion in Den Haag on Wednesday. He's still kind of in shock, but it's getting better. I've done so much talking the past five days. I do pretty much all the talking in the lessons and on the doors and on the street because he just doesn't understand anything yet. But I try to get him to talk as much as possible so he can get some practice and start getting out of his comfort zone. Having a greenie is like having a puppy, they run around completely confused and not really sure what's going on and then they pee all over everything. It's fun to watch and rewarding to 'clean up' after them, and what I mean is to help them get back on their feet and learn from the mistakes that they made and then to go further. It's fun and enjoyable, he has learned alot already and is making huge steps.
I baptized Jue on Saturday, her real name is Maria Jaoa dos Anjos Videria de Carvalho Pio!!!!!!!! And I had to memorize it! It was really cool and the spirit was really strong. Iris and Noor came too and like it alot.

January 5, 2009

2009-01-14T20:09:00.002-07:00

I'm doing pretty good. I finally broke down and bought a new coat, a North Face and it's way warm.
I'm staying in Lelystad/Almere. I'm also training a brand-new missionary. Oh, and I'm the district leader. Ya, it'll be fun.
New Year's here was crazy. It's the only time of the year that they can buy or light fireworks and they go crazy. On the 31st it was really foggy and there were bombs and fireworks of all kinds going off around us in the fog. And then at midnight it was really crazy. Just imagine Stadium of Fire or the city's firework displays, but times 100,000 because everyone has that many fireworks and they all light them off at the same time. It was nuts, but way awesome.
I have a baptism on Saturday. She is from Portugal and her name is Jue.
The lady with the cancer bore her testimony in church and said how she was so grateful for everyone and that her treatments were actually getting easier to bear and they're actually supposed to get harder, so that was cool.
Iris and her daughter Noor are progressing still and are getting really close to baptism, and we've found a ton of new investigators.

December 29, 2008

2009-01-14T20:02:00.003-07:00

It's really cold here now. We're outside for most the day, so haveing numb feet, hands, and head are just regular daily things. The humidity and wind are what makes it really bad.
Well, I cooked fajitas for the family whose mom has cancer, as well as two loaves of banana bread. They loved it. They have four young kids under the age of eight that are sooo funny.
I have also done soooooooooooo much cleaning this week. I clean every day during lunch and then when we get home at night I clean something too. But our apartment is still not the cleanest place in the world but it's looking better and better.
Thank you everyone for the Christmas packages. The food was wonderful.
This week Iris and her daughter Noor (nine years old) came to church and absolutely loved it. They have accepted everything and will probably be baptized really soon.
I love and miss you all, but I'm having fun here and I'll see you in eleven months.

December 22, 2008

2008-12-27T22:29:00.003-07:00

Today we went to Amsterdam with about 20 missionaries and sung Christmas songs in one of the centrums there. It's actually the same centrum that 'The Best Two Years' was filmed in. There was a really big Christmas tree there so most of the missionaries stood by it and sung while I and two other Elders contacted people walking by. There were tons of people from all over. I talked to people from 15 different countries. It was cool!
This week I had a preacher from another church call me and Elder Tilleman blasphemers and some other stuff. Then we ended up praying with him in the middle of the centrum on Saturday market day, it was soooooooooo busy...But it was cool.
Thanks for the package and the party that you threw with all my friends. It was cool to read all the letters and to see the pictures of them and to hear their voices, that was really weird. But thanks.
The temple was really good and the zone conference was also really, really good.
We've got alot of cool appointments this week with members for first Christmas Day, second Christmas Day, and Christmas Eve.
On Saturday I'm going to be cooking for a family in our ward that the mother has cancer. She has five young kids and cancer. We gave her a blessing and the tumor is almost gone and she's going to have surgery to remove her collar bone where the cancer was.

December 15, 2008

2008-12-27T22:24:00.003-07:00

Well, our numbers for the past weeks are as follows: 15 total lessons the first week, 26 total lessons the second week, and 33 total lessons the third week. We just keep getting better and better.
Yesterday a guy at the door called us thieves, liars, druggies and a few other things, then it made him mad when it didn't frustrate me. I felt really bad for the guy. I honestly felt that pure charity for him that he was so lost in his life and it made me sad that his life was so bad.
But anyway, I also got hugged by a drunk guy the other day.
We have one family that is really positive...it's a mother with three children, ages 9, 14, and 15. They're pretty awesome.
Other than that I've decided that a mango a day keeps the doctor away. We buy all sorts of fruits in the market on Wed. and Sat.
Anyway, I've been really busy and haven't had a lot of time to write letter or record anything. Sorry.
Tomorrow I get to go to The Hague Temple again, the first time in seven months!!

December 8, 2008

2008-12-27T22:19:00.002-07:00

I am in Amsterdam today with a whole bunch of other Elders for our p-day.
Well, this week went by really fast. I had a couple of people yell at me and try to pick fights, but then I calmly responded to them and that would just make them even more angry. But don't worry, it's not like they would have actually done anything. Other that that this week has been fairly uneventful.
Did I tell you about standing on the dike and seeing the water level at 30 feet above the land!! That's a weird feeling. It's weird to sit on the train and see what used to be the bottom of the ocean.
Well, it's pretty cold here and very wet. It rains alot!
There was only one investigator when I got here, but we have worked really hard trying to get the city making progress again and now we have eight and it will only get better.

December 1, 2008

2008-12-27T22:13:00.002-07:00

Well I'm in my new city and it's not a very positive city. But the good news is that we have an actual church building and it's a fairly big branch that will be able to become a ward pretty soon. They just need a few more members. The Branch President seems pretty good and the ward mission leader too.
My new companion is from Los Vegas and the other two elders in the apartment are from Holladay, Ut. and Arizona. I get along really well with them.
Well, my year mark is on Friday...that's kind of weird. Time just slips away. It's really a crazy sensation. The time literally seems like it never existed. It's crazy.
I miss Elder Patrick and Assen! I loved that city. We were having so much success there and now I've got to start over.
But what's cool is that the ground that I'm walking on and living on is younger than Dad and Mom. It's land that they pulled out of the water. They put dikes all around it and then pumped the water out. We were out on the dike on Saturday and the water level was higher than the city! That makes you sleep soundly at night!!!!!!!!!! But it was pretty cool to see that.
My new apartment is pretty big and it's right in the middle of the Centrum (plaza). It actually looks over the square where they had the market on Wednesday and Saturday. And we have a little Christmas tree.

November 24, 2008

2008-12-27T22:08:00.003-07:00

Hello! I'm leaving Assen and heading for Lelystad (Lelijk-ugly, stad-city). But it sound good. My new companion has only been out three months and I've been out for one year...it should be fun. My new address is:
Stadhuisplein 13A
1315-HV Almere
Nederland

We live in Almere with those elders, so it won't be just me and my companion in the apartment. That'll be fun. Unfortunately I'll be missing Fokko's, Mr. Philips', Alex's, and Happy's baptisms. But oh well, that's life. This week we had over 30 lessons and in the past two weeks we've had 13 new investigators. I've had alot of success since I have been in Assen. Hopefully I'll have alot in Lelystad too.
The other day I was on a train and I looked out the window to see thousands of geese circling a farmer's field...you have no idea the panic attach I had...those geese were being allowed to land in that field with no one within a few thousand miles to shoot at them...

November 17, 2008

2008-12-27T22:05:00.002-07:00

I'm doing pretty good. We found five new investigators this last week and that was about the extent of it. I have to go on an exchange with Elder Jensen tomorrow and Wednesday.
So, today I ate an entire pound of pasta...and I've lost 2 kilos (4.4 pounds) in the past week, so I think my new slogan is going to be 'open mouth, insert food'.

November 10, 2008

2008-12-27T22:03:00.001-07:00

I had a drunk guy tell me that he is "in the world, but not of the world." Then he continued on by 'blessing' us which consisted of putting a hand on each of us and then bowing his head and mumbling a bunch of slurred words. It was really funny.
We had zone conference on Tuesday and it was really, really good.

November 3, 2008

2008-12-27T21:57:00.002-07:00

Got my tooth fixed today..the dentist did a terrible job as far as cosmetics goes, but I guess it will do until I get home. My tooth was broken all the way down to the nerve! Only I am capable of doing something like that with a Jolly Rancher.
So I've decided that I'm a pig...Sister Lubberink gave us a whole box of cake thingys and I ate all five of mine within ten minutes of being home...not to mention the huge box of Halloween candy that I ate in a couple of days. Oh, and the other day I cooked spaghetti for myself and I ended up eating one pound of spaghetti in 15 minutes. That's enough to feed a family. And yet, I'm still losing weight...very slowly...I am 69 kilograms (151 pounds)...It's crazy!
Speaking of crazy, I went on an exchange in Hengelo and some girl in her 20's gave me and Elder Fleming a hug...it was really weird! It's the first hug I've had from a girl in 11 months. It was weird.
So I had to look up a church building for a member that just moved from Assen to Turkey, the closest church building is on the island of Cyprus which is where Mike is, so if Mike get a Turkish lady in church, it will be the one that I sent to him...That's kinda cool.

October 27, 2008

2008-12-27T21:51:00.003-07:00

Hey, I don't have alot of time, but I'll tell you about a few of the events of the week. One, I got in a fight with a middle-age man. WELL, maybe fight is the wrong word, but he ripped my name tag off my jacket and threw it in the bushes and then said a few things that weren't very positive about me and about Jesus Christ. Then I said, "Excuse me, that's my name tag." and he got mad and started saying "You want some more, huh?" And I said, "Ya.", but he was too scared to do anything because I was completely calm and composed and not at all scared and that made him scared and he bakced down, went inside his house and slammed the door.
Then ten doors later we got let in and surrounded by four Jehovah's Witnesses. But it turned out alright. They didn't really try bashing with us, they wre just curious about our beliefs and so we explained them to them and they asked lots of good questions about how we account for certain scriptures that they say prove that our religion is wrong and we explained them and it turned out great. They were the nicest JW that I have ever met.

October 19, 2008

2008-10-19T17:55:00.003-06:00

Friends and family of Elder Burton

Sean has also sent us audio tapes which I am listening to and transcribing and will get on the blog.
Please remember to write Sean often, it really helps him knowing that people care about him.
We have finally finished building our new house and have moved into it. We'd love to have you drop by and see us. Drop us an email if you need directions (or talk to Erica!).
Time is flying by, we'll be celebrating Sean's one year mark on December 5th.

October 13, 2008

2008-10-19T17:51:00.001-06:00

How's my Book of Mormon challenge going? Have you read the article and bought a box of Books of Mormon? Better get on it, only 13-1/2 months left till I get home. You'll have to really pray hard for the opportunities to give all 20 away. But it is possible, I give 20 away every month.

October 6, 2008

2008-10-19T17:43:00.003-06:00

I'm doing pretty good except I'm sick...oh, and I broke a tooth, not just chipped, but broke a huge chunk off, so I'll have to get that fixed. Oh, and I'm STILL getting bloody noses, even with 50 gallons of snot coming out of my nose every 5 minutes and tons of rain/humidity. Anyway, enough of my medical problems.
Here's a challenge for you all. Get a box of Books of Mormon (20 books) and give them away before I come home. That's 20 Books of Mormons for each of you. In the September Ensign, Elder Cook has a great article of this on page 44. Read it and DO IT. It'll be hard, but you can all give 20 BofMs away in 14 months!
For General Conference we go to the Stake Center and all the sessions are playing there in Dutch and English. We had the Saturday morning session at 6:00 pm on Saturday night. Sunday consists of: 11:00 am Priesthood/Relief Society, then the Saturday afternoon session of Conference, then at 6:00 pm we watch the Sunday morning session. Next week at church we get the Sunday afternoon session. We had to got the Groningen for Conference.

September 29, 2008

2008-10-19T17:33:00.002-06:00

I'm doing pretty good. It's starting to get colder here. If you happen to see some changing leaves and have a camera with you, could you take lots of pictures and send them to me. That would be awesome.
Jean Jacques was confirmed in sacrament meeting yesterday, that was cool. Other than that the week was just lots and lots of angry Dutch people on the doors.

September 22, 2008

2008-10-19T17:31:00.003-06:00

I got to baptize Jean Jacques on Saturday. And I got all 7 feet of him under the water! It was pretty cool.
We have member in our branch that is from Hondurus so I've been speaking Spanish with her and I'm getting pretty good at it.

September 15, 2008

2008-10-19T17:26:00.002-06:00

Thank you so much for the birthday packages, I think that half the food items are already gone. I was hungry this morning, what can I say. But thanks so much fo everything. Unfortunately I don't have an oven to bake the cake in, but I was reading the side of the box, and it's actually healthier to eat the mix without baking it first, so I think that I'l do that.

September 8, 2008

2008-10-19T17:22:00.002-06:00

In answer to your question, NO I HAVE NOT GAINED WEIGHT I've lost a ton though.
Has anyone ever seen a case of someone dying because of cabin fever? 'Cause I think that I'm getting to the point that I'm going to die because of my cabin fever....it's soooooooooooooooooo bad!
Anyway, my new companion is very quite which isn't all that bad, so that's a plus. He has been out two transfers longer than me. He's from Springville.
The past week was long...we did tons of findind (contacting/tracting). But it wasn't all that bad. I'm going to Amsterdam tomorrow.

September 1, 2008

2008-10-19T17:19:00.002-06:00

So it is transfer time, I'm staying in Assen and I'm getting a new companion, Elder Patrick. I went on an exchange with him once before, he's very quite and hardly ever talks. But, anyway, it will be fun, I'm sure it will be.
Dina's baptism went really well, she was so happy and glowing afterwards. She is such a funny little girl. It was awesome!
Elder Monson is getting transferred out of the zone.

August 27, 2008

2008-10-19T17:13:00.002-06:00

I'm riding my bike down the street and some lady came running to us and yelled, in English, "Hey missionaries!" Turns out she's a member and she lived in New York for six years and jsut moved back to the Nederlands and wants to come back to church. She's from South America somewhere. But that was cool.
I picked up my bike tire and it only ended up costing 63 euros ($95.00) so that was way cool.
Oh, by the way, I have a baptism on Saturday, Dina is getting baptized. Oh, and my incredible investigator, Jean Jacques is getting baptized on Sept. 17. Oh, and Bibi in Den Bosch finally read the Book of Mormon and knows it's true.

August 20, 2008

2008-10-19T17:11:00.002-06:00

So my back tire on my bike decided that it's had enough and now I've got to drop 80 euros ($120.00) to get it fixed!

August 13, 2008

2008-10-19T17:05:00.002-06:00

I was in Amsterdam yesterday..that city is so crazy. I hate it, it's too busy for me, too many people, too much weed, drugs and sex too. Anyway the Zone Conference was amazing and the spirit was so strong...it was great.
We have a baptism on August 30 with Dina and Jean Jacques. Dina is a 9-year old girl whose mom is inactive and hopefully her daughter getting baptized can help to reactivate her. Jean Jacques is a 7-foot tall African fron the Congo.. He's awesome and he's almost quit smoking to. He loves the Book of Mormon and coming to church.

August 6, 2008

2008-10-19T16:49:00.004-06:00

Hey, so yesterday I installed wood flooring in our kitchen and bathroom. Then we went to the only concentration camp in the Nederlands, that was really cool. And we went houseboat contacting the other day.
My new companion, Elder Walker, is from Idaho Falls. My companion kind of has a different style of missionary work than me, but our lessons are still good. It's interesting. But we've seen alot of success since I've been in Assen. People are lettingus in their doors like crazy and we're setting baptismal dates like crazy too. It's awesome. The work is starting to take off here in Assen.
On Monday we went to Leeuwarden for District meeting and we went to the place where the first convert baptism in the Nederlands took place. It was pretty cool. In my new District there are 8 elders and a senior couple. And Elder Monson from my MTC group is in my district too.
A few days ago there was a crazy lightening storm that was literally constant, non-stop lightening for two hours. It was crazy! Just flash after flash and a constant rumble of thunder. Then yesterday we got soaked in a rainstorm that was like being in the shower on full blast. Everything was completely soaked through.
I had to get my bike fixed because I broke 9 spokes on my back tire. Really not sure how that happened, but it cost me 30 euros!

July 29, 2008

2008-10-19T16:46:00.004-06:00

Hey, how's it going? I'm doing pretty good. We have found alot of people in the last week. The new apartment is pretty good. We are on the sixth floor and it is the first of three buildings. The branch here is pretty small, only 20 people. The past week has been pretty good, but today I'm incredibly homesick. But I'll just take a nap and get back to work.

July 22, 2008

2008-10-19T16:39:00.002-06:00

Hey, so I got transferred. I'm going to Assen and my new companion is Elder Walker. Assen is an incredible city and we will be having a baptismal interview tomorrow night and a baptism either this Saturday or next. We have four baptismal dates and will be setting a few more in the next few weeks. It's gonna be an awesome new city, I don't know whole lot about my new companion, but I'm sure it will be good. I'll surely miss Den Bosch and the ward here and Elder Laursen. My new address is:

Maria in Campislaan 239
9406-JG
Assen, Nederlands

July 16, 2008

2008-10-19T16:33:00.002-06:00

So I probably have only one week left in Den Bosch. My P-day is on Tuesday and transfer are on Wednesday. I'm doing good. Bibi was supposed to be baptized this coming Monday, but I don't think it is going to happen. Oh, well, it'll happend next transfer. As for other investigators, we have Sabrina who didn't come to church and that's our only investigator. Yep, its not very fun. But it's alright.
Yesterday and Monday, I was in Utrecht for exchanges with Elder Carter...he's been out six months longer thatn me, but he lives in Draper and went to Alta. It was way fun, we know alot of the same people, places and everything.

July 8, 2008

2008-10-19T16:25:00.003-06:00

Email to Elder Burton from his mother:

Elder SEAN ROSS Burton,

We HAVE NOT received a letter from you (other than the package and the letter to Dad, which was wonderful) in FIVE weeks.
If there is not a letter arriving this Friday or Saturday--and it better be really long--I am going to email or call your Misson President.
Love you forever, Your REALLY UPSET Mom

Email reply from Elder Burton:

DO NOT CALL OR EMAIL MY MISSION PRESIDENT! I am writing you letters today and you will get them next Wed. or Thurday.

So today we went to Utrecht with the whole Zone and pretty much did the whole soapbox thing. Sabrine prayed and read and knows it's true. We have an appointment with her tomorrow. Susan won't make any appointments with us, but is in really good contact with alot of the ward members and goes to all the singles adult activities and everything, but she feels we are only here to baptize her and she wants to be friends.

July 2, 2008

2008-10-19T16:18:00.002-06:00

I went on exchanges in Rotterdam two day ago, and I visited a guy that I met on the airplane when I was coming here. He's an inactive member and he's way nice. He goes to Utah and visits friends two or three time a year. It ws pretty cool. Things are going alright here. We have a lesson tonight with a lady named Sabrina, she is so amazing and she's way nice.

JUNE UPDATES

2008-06-23T12:00:00.004-06:00

I am sorry that we have not updated Sean's blog for soooooo long. We did not receive a letter for 4 weeks, then got a 1 paper letter, then no letters for 3-1/2 weeks, and his email are generally 3-5 sentences long, so I will string them all together for the most updated info. Mom Kim

June 17: We have lost contact with Susan (investigator) and Bibi (investigator from Africa) will only be baptized in America. No other investigators. Back is getting worse, but with the pain meds it's alright.

June 10: I spent the whole day today in the hospital and the doctor told me to exercise my back and take ibprofen and then wrote me a prescription for a muscle relaxant. I'll do what he says but I don't agree with him on the diagnosis. Oh ya, one of my socks slipped into my garments laundry batch so almost all my garments are blue and it won't come out. I've tried everything. Could you send me new sets, that would be great, thanks.

June 4: I had a great experience in The Hauge Temple, it was so awesome!!!

May 21: I had my first baptism on May 17th. It was awesome! The baptism was incredible. (see picture above). He had such a glow afterward. Diederik (ward member--in the Nederlands, the ward members are encouraged to do the ordinances) baptized him and my companion and I were witnesses. Then on Sunday, the Bishop gave him the Gift of the Holy Ghost and my comp and I were in the circle, and it was incredible. We are hoping to baptize Susan and Bibi on June 7th. My new companion, Elder Lawerson, just turned 20, he is from a little town by Logan called Libly. He has been out 12 weeks longer than me and he is awesome!

May 14: I'm doing great, well, except for my back. But on the bright side, I love my new companion, we get along really well and we work well together. And we eat really good, I like food. Anyway, I'm getting really tan, but I'm getting really funny tan lines from my shirts because of the collars. It's been really hot here lately.

Apr 28: My companion got transferred!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Thanks for all the food, it's great!

March 19, 2008

2008-04-08T14:00:00.002-06:00

Here is information about our ward members.

Robert/Petra--Robert is from Nigeria, he has been a member for four years and we use him alot as a joint teacher when we teach Africans, which is very often. He is getting married to Petra in May. Petra is Dutch, and she has been a member for about three years. She is very nice and speaks really good English. Robert makes absolutely awesome food...I love African food!

Dieteric Linders--He is Dutch, served his mission in this mission, Belgium/Netherlands. His whole family is in our ward. We use him as a joint teacher alot also, and he eats with us every Tuesday night at the Fabers.

The Fabers--an older couple, Dutch. They fed us every Tuesday...they are very nice. Missionaries used to live with them.

Meinderstama family--family of four, two boys ages 3 and 5. They are very nice and they speak very good American-style English which they pick up from watching TV. They fed us every Friday.

Noot family--Dutch, lived in Utah for a long time, then moved back to the Netherlands.

Stomps family--Dutch, nice family, Feds us every once in a while..their son Dave served his mission in our Sandy Stake

There are alot more and they are all really nice. We usually always have joint teachers when we need one and we eat five times a week with members or investigators.

Bibi, our invesigator from Algeria has set his baptismal date for April 12. Kenneth is setting his baptismal date on Sunday. Yousif is from Iraq... he wants America to stay in Iraq forever...he was there during the worst parts of the war. He is very humble and will be getting baptized soon.

We taught a lesson to two Dutch guys and a New York girl who is a Jew. The spirit was so incredible! It will be a slow process, but I think all three will eventually get baptized.

March 12, 2008 Letter

2008-03-28T18:50:00.002-06:00

Hi,
Well, it looks like I'm gonna be in Den Bosch for a long while. No transfers for either of us.
But anyway, on a better note, I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time on my mission! I think that's my seventh time overall. I' m going to try to read it once a transfer and so by the end of my mission I will have read it sixteen times.
Pictures (photos) mean the world to me. Send more!

March 5, 2008 Letter

2008-03-28T18:24:00.002-06:00

Hey! How's everything going?
Last week I got to go on exchanges with the zone leaders, so I went and stayed two nights and one day in Northern Rotterdam with Elder Thomas, who is one of our zone leaders. It was so nice to get away from my companion. And we actually ate something besides sandwiches for every meal. It was so much better. I liked it alot and I talked to some really cool people on the street. It was fun.
The other day we tracted into a lady that had investigated the Church in 2001 but then stopped, but has been paying her tithing to our Church ever since. She has been paying money to a church she doesn't attend or belong to for seven years! And she let us in and we talked for a while and she fed us and it was really cool.
Then we also had zone conference last week. It was really good and I got to see some other the other guys from my MTC group. It was fun and we had good food and had training from the Mission President, the APs, and both of the zone leader companionships (we combined with Apeldorn zone.) It was good.
I have sucessfully cleaned most of our apartment. I cleaned the refrigerators, stove top, sink, dishes, table, and bathroom. It was so disgusting. It took me 2 hours just to clean the stove top!
(Sean's mom is loving this!!!) And there was food in the refrigerators that had been here longer than my companion (at least 4 months). There were apples and pears that wre already completely fermented. I could smell the alcohol in them. It was disgusting. But now it's alot cleaner.
Our ward has about 80 members that are active. They are all really nice and we eat at members houses alot. They are a great ward and have alot of RMs. ANd one even served in our Sandy ward, Elder Dave Stomps. It's cool to talk about my home area with him and look at his mission picture to see my home area.
I've realy learned alot. I've learned how to keep up with cleaning and to just DO it. I've learn how to be patient and tolerant. And I've learned how to be cooperative. That's the biggest thing. I've learned how to work with someone effectively that is difficult. I've learned to seek the good and try to look past the bad. I still don't like my companion and we are just very different people, but I've learned how to make the work easy even if I'm about to explode at him. It's difficult, but I'm getting really good at it. I've learned how much my family really means to me. Before I really didn't know how much I loved my family and how much they mean to me. I've realized how blessed I am to have grown up when I did and especially where I did. America is truly the 'promised land' and Ut is definitely 'the place'. I appreciate all that I have so much more now that I see what it's like in other places. I'm truly blessed.
So far we have biked just over 300 miles according to my bike computer! Everyone here bikes. It is the main mode of transportation. It's very expensive to get a driver's license and gas is about $10.00 a gallon. Is it safe? Not really, but no one get hurt badly if they get hit by a car because the cars aren't going very fast in the places where people could get hit. The problem is that cars are supposed to yield to bikes, but sometimes they don't. But missionaries don't get hit very often and it's never resulted in anything more than a bruise or scrape.
The summer Olympics are coming up...will you record the water polo matches and save it for me? And keep me updated on it too.
It's really cold and rainy here. I'm alway soaking wet and then the wind blows and makes it really cold and gives up a brain freeze and we can't wear hats while contacting. It's Cold!!!
Hey, will you pray for my investigators? I have five that are close to baptism. They can really use as much help as possible.
Bibi--from Algeria, he used to be Muslim/Amanuel--from Erithrea, he has been in alot of African wars, very humble/Yousif--from Iraq/Clark--from the Netherlands/Kenneth--from Nigeria. We are also teaching Henk--from the Netherlands/Mano--from Indonesia/Steven--from Guana/Stella--from Kurisou/Cliff--from Aruba/Antillies/Eddie--from Romania/Chental--from somewhere in Africa/Florence--from Nigeria.
Anyway, that's all for now.

Sean's Letter of February 27, 2008

2008-03-09T21:52:00.002-06:00

I'm doing alright. The 17-year old investigator we had told us to never come back. So much for that awesome experience.
It's been raining alot here. Sometimes we gotta stop and dump the water out of our shoes and then continue on. It sucks. I am definitely not going to live in Europe after my mission. I sure love and miss America.
We had Niel L. Anderson from the Presidency of the 70 come and speak to us. Just to our zone and the Den Haad zone. So in total 40 missionaries and I sat on the front row. He was literally one foot away from me the whole time. I shook his hand, he even used me in his talk thingy. It was so cool. He looked me in the eye like twenty times. It was so cool.
But last week we ate dinner at an investigator's house and they fed us raw chicken. It was cooked on one side, but 75% of it was RAW! I was so scared that I was going to get sick from it but I didn't.
But ya. Nothing else really this week. Oh, I gave a talk in church. In Dutch. That was fun!
By-the-way, my friends CAN email me (sean.burton@myldsmail.com) I just have to write them back, I can't email them. But anyway...I haven't received anything yet. No letters or anything.
I went to Sint Jans (Saint John's) church today. It's the oldest and biggest church in the Netherlands. It was pretty cool.
I have traveled to Rotterdam three times, Amsterdam, Goude, Utrecht, three time sto hiel, oss, and den Haag.
So far I've talked to people from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Afganistan, India, China, Indonesia, South America and tons of African nations.

February 22, 2008 letter

2008-03-02T17:49:00.002-07:00

Here is what Sean said in his email this week:

"Hey so here is the deal. You guys can all email me but i have to write you a letter back. But you guys CAN email me. So do it. But keep in mind that i cannot receive attachments.But tell everybody else that they can email me. So forward this email. And text people. And tell people. Ok? Good. I wanna hear everything that is goin on back at home. So email me.
But if you want to send me pictures or anything you have to send them to this address:
Elder Sean Burton
Belgium Brussels/Netherlands Mission
Boulevard Brand Whitlock, 87
1200-Brussels
Belgium

And that's all for now. Hope to hear from all of you soon.
Love,
Sean"

And in his letter he said:

"My area has 600,000+ people in it. I live in s'Hertogenbosch right next to the train station. You can look on GoogleEarth.com and see it.

My companion, Elder Jensen, is from Castledale, Utah which is by Price. He has been out for a year.

We don't really cook that much. Mostly we just eat easy stuff (sandwiches). We have two dinner appointments that are every week and then we usually have one to two sometimes three additional appointments. Sometime it's good food. Sometimes it's really disgusting like sourkraut, spek (a type of fatty bacon) and mashed potatoes mixed together. BLAH! I almost died it wa so bad. I was sick the rest of the night. B ut we had African food today and it was amazingly good. I liked it. And I've had Spanish, Dutch, Belgium, French, German, African, and South American food. All sorts. Some good, some not so good. But ya.

The weather is sometimes sunny, but not very often. Mostly it's so humid that it's really foggy and always cloudy. And it's cold. And always windy.

We ride our bikes alot. All over the place. We have already ridden 125+ miles. And it's not too bad. My upper legs were already in shape. And we always lock them up. Everybody rides kies here and they get stolen alot. But it's crazy. Bikes have the right-of-way. I've almost been hit by cars and buses all the time. Yesterday we saw a kid on a bike get hit by a car. It's nuts!! But it's pretty fun.

I don't have a branch (when there are not enough Church members to make a ward), it's a ward. There are about 60 members taht are active. They're all pretty nice. Sundays are regular days except for three hours of church.

We tract/contact for 15 or more hours a week. We have a few good investigators. But not really. We tracted into a couple of good ones that seem promising. One that is my favorite:
We were tracting in a place about a 30 minute bike ride from our house. We made an appointment with them for the next week. Then we went to the appointment and started to tech the lady, her son came in and sat down and then he really started to get into the lesson and was way interested and wash asking questions and we hade to make our next appointment so that he would be home because he he wanted to be there. It was awesome! Oh, and he's only 17!! It was way awesome!

I've beento Rotterdam and Den Haag already and I'm going to Amsterdam on Saturday. I haven't been to/seen the temple yet (in The Hague). But I saw a floating red light district. Pretty much the complete opposite. This place has so much sin. It's ridiculous. They have these places called "coffee shops" that are really just hooka lounges whre people go to smoke weed. People start smoking at age 10 here and pretty much everyone smokes. And alot of them smoke weed.

People are so rude to us. I get yelled at all the time. People avoid us, ignore us. People just hate us. And alot of them hate "butenlanders" which means foreigners.

Oh, and I've got another story for you. We contacted this kid on the street and then went to his house a few days later and we were talking to him and he was the only one home. And he started talking about Muslim beliefs and terrorism and shooting people in the back and all sorts of crazy stuff and his TV was on some Turkish terrorist news station that was showing dead bodies. It was nuts, and then his mom came home and we found out that his family was hardcore Muslim with the headwraps and everything. And we aren't supposed to talk to them at all, and the mom freaked out and was yelling at hime in Turkish and then she swore at us in Turkish. I was just waiting for her to pull an AK-47 out of her turban headdress thing. We left a Book of Mormon and got out of there. It was nuts.

Oh, and I don't know if I told you about our street preacher in Den Bosch. He's just a regular guy but goes in the Centrum at night and preaches and yells repentance. It's awesome. And he gives up referrals too. He's not a member, but he believes the Book of Mormon. He stands in the Centrum and yells and his voice booms and echoes throughout the Centrum. It's cool."

2008-02-23T12:14:00.002-07:00

Here is what Sean said in his last email:

"s'-Hertogenbosch and the rest of my area has about 600,000 people in it. And only two missionaries. But we don't really cook much. We just eat sandwiches and with members. My apartment has a bedroom, bathroom, and a kitchen/living area. My companion has been out a year. The members cook some wierd food. It's very common to just make mashed potatoes and then mix everything in that. Such as carrots, saur crout, spek(disgusting bacon-y stuff), etc. It's gross. But there's also some good things too. The weather is cold, extremely humid, and no rain yet except the first day. We ride our bikes alot. I have already biked 115 miles! and we always lock our bikes. They get stolen alot. We have about 60 people in our ward, we aren't a branch. Sundays consist of church and then regular missionary stuff."

It costs $.90 to mail a letter and takes 2 weeks to get there. If you would like to mail something to Sean, i.e. food, letters, etc., email my mom at knb520@hotmail.com and she can accumulate stuff and mail it together.

Elder Burton's New Address in the Netherlands

2008-02-13T11:18:00.001-07:00

Here is what Elder Burton said about his new address:
"All packages must be sent to the Mission Home address and letters can be sent there too but it will take 5-10 extra days for me to get them. My apartment address right now is Boschveldweg 27E 5211-VH 's-Hertogenbosch Nederlands. If you send packsges, use DHL, i think it's faster."

Elder Burton's going to the Netherlands!

2008-02-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

Today, Sunday February 3, will be Elder Burton's last night at the MTC! He flys out tomorrow to begin his mission. He is very excited to be headed out and begin his missionary work! The MTC has been hard, but he seems to have enjoyed being there and feeling the Spirit and learning more about the Gospel. He has been somewhat injury plagued, being the accident prone kid that he is, but thanks to a priesthood blessing, he is able to continue his service.

His email address is Sean.Burton@myldsmail.net.

Letters and Packages can be sent to:
Elder Sean Ross Burton
Belgium Brussels/Netherlands Mission
87, Blvd. Brand Whittock
B-1200 Brussels
BELGIUM

2008-01-23T13:20:00.000-07:00

Sean's last day to receive mail at the MTC is January 31st, so be sure to send your letters/packages before then. I will get his Netherlands address up as soon as he sends it to us!

2008-01-21T23:31:00.000-07:00

2008-01-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

We have received several letters from Sean now. We get letters once a week. He says he is doing well. He tells us he has one hour of personal, companion, and language study for 3 hours total. Then he has an hour and 15 minutes of MDT (missionary directed time). The rest is just classroom instruction. They have firesides on Sunday and Tuesday nights. The BYU men's chorus, Elder Lance B. Wickman, Elder David B. Dickson, and some others have spoken to them.

For Christmas Elder L. Tom Perry and his family gave a devotional. Sean says it was really great. The MTC gave them a bag with a Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD and some candy in it.

They go to the temple every week and Sean loves it.

He says that he has gained 15 pounds of muscle, but with the amount of candy that we keep sending him, we're not so sure it is muscle. He is not a big fan of the food at the MTC, so anything non-perishable that can be sent would be great.

Sean told us a joke that the MTC president told them on their first Sunday there: "You know what the difference between the MTC and prison is? In prison you get a phone call and a TV." Sean says being in the MTC is the hardest thing he has ever done, so letters would really be appreciated. He would love to know that people still remember him and are praying for him.

If you live in Provo, the UPS store on University Avenue up by the Riverwoods (it is about 1/2 a mile south of the Riverwoods in a strip mall on the East side of the road) does free same day MTC delivery. If you live along the Wasatch front, there are also several UPS stores that do same day delivery as well if you deliver the package by noon. I think this costs a little money, but I'm not sure. Go to www.mtcdelivery.com for more information.

2008-01-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

News from Elder Burton

2007-12-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

Elder Burton has been at the MTC for almost 2 weeks now and reports that "I'm doing great". He says he spends 14 hours a day in a classroom. We got his letter on Saturday, which means he wrote it on Wednesday (one week after entering the MTC). He says that he can already read, write, pray, testify, and talk for 15 minutes in Dutch. He also says, "I'm hungry. Goodies are accepted and appreciated." His companion is from Fillmore and Elder Burton says that they get along well. Elder Burton was made the senior companion when they entered the MTC. The last part of his letter says, "The MTC is hard, but wonderful. The Spirit is very strong here. I love it."

If you want to send Elder Burton a letter or package, his MTC address can be found below.

Official MTC address

2007-12-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

Elder Burton's official MTC address is:

ELDER SEAN ROSS BURTON
MTC Mailbox #103
BEL-BRU 0206
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

2007-12-06T14:52:00.000-07:00

Elder Burton with his suitcases the night before leaving.

Elder Burton at the MTC with nephew Dallin.

Elder Burton at MTC with parents.

Elder Burton getting sick of posing for Mom's pictures.

Elder Burton with sister Heather and nephew Dallin.

Elder Burton frightened by his sister Andrea.

Elder Burton pretending to be excited for this picture with his sister Andrea.

The siblings + baby.

Elder Burton entering the MTC while his family tearfully watched.

Elder Burton getting his name tag.

Mommy Burton putting Elder Burton's name tag on.

Elder Burton.

One last picture in front of the Christmas tree.

See Ya Later

2007-12-05T08:31:00.001-07:00

If you have an questions you can email my sister and she will answer them at seanoutdoors@hotmail.com

See ya in two years

MTC Address

2007-12-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

Elder Burton's MTC address is:

Elder Sean Ross Burton

Belgium Brussels/Netherlands Mission

Provo Missionary Training Center

2005 North 900 East

Provo, UT 84604

He will be there from Dec. 5 until Feb. 6

THE BEGINNING

2007-12-01T11:27:00.001-07:00

Elder Sean Burton has been called to serve in the Belgium Brussles/Netherlands mission and is to report to the MTC on Dec. 5 2007. He is in the MTC for 9 weeks and will be flying to his mission on Feb. 6 2008. If you comment on this blog, sean will not see the comments, only his family and others will.