Here Comes the Island

BUON GIORNO TUTTI!!!

So, this week we got transfer calls and I found out that I am taking a plane to the beautiful island of Sardegna and that I will be serving in the largest city on the island, Cagliari! I am so excited to go! I will have a new companion named Anziano Davids and it will be so much fun! I have heard a lot of good things about him and I am so excited for this next transfer! We are going to get to work and it will be great! Cagliari is going from 2 men to 4 men, so it will be great!

At the same time it has been really hard to say goodbye to Caserta. It has been my home for nearly 6 months of my mission and it is hard to say goodbye to my first city. As I have said goodbye to investigators and ward members it has been very hard. Especially with M* and the S* family. I will be staying in touch with both of them and some other people I have met during my time here. It is strange to be leaving. It almost feels like I am leaving on another mission all over again and that I am leaving behind family. It is so strange. I am so excited to go to Sardegna though and I have really only heard good things about it!

This week has been good as far as the missionary work goes! For the first time in a long time (probably because I was leaving) R* and G* came to Church and stayed for the first and second hours! It was great because it was a really spiritual fast and testimony meeting and it was a great spirit for them! I am so excited to hear about their future progression. On Monday evening U* had us over to a dinner at his house cooked by his mother. It was delicious, but like all Italian meals, too much. It felt like I was bursting at the end. Both M* and the S* came to the dinner also, so it was a big goodbye from my good friends in Caserta. It has also been hard having to say goodbye to Anziano Jones. I only get to train him for one transfer, but now he gets another guy named Anziano Hoover who is awesome. They will keep working hard here and do great things!

Tonight I catch one of the fast trains up to Rome from Napoli and then I stay a night in Rome and then fly to Cagliari tomorrow I think. It will be kind of stressful traveling, but it will be good overall and I am so excited to be going to a new place! It is a place of good possibilities and I have heard that the work in Sardegna is exploding, so we will go see what we can do! Also, vacations are finished in Italy and people are back in the cities, so the timing is great for me to go! I am so excited!

Well, next week I will report on how it all went! Thanks for everything!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

Un Palo di Zion

Buon Giorno Tutti!

Well, to start off this weeks email I would like to say the good news that we heard this week. In about two and a half weeks Elder M. Russell Ballard will be arriving in Rome for a Conference of about 1800 people and he will be reorganizing a stake in Rome and also organizing a new Stake in our mission. It just so happens that Caserta and the other Napoli branches will be joining this new Stake! It is really cool because we will have some branches from Rome and some branches from Sardegna also in it. We are also very excited because we believe that Caserta will become a fully functioning Ward in this new stake! With some new families coming in, we now have 15 active Melchizedek Priesthood holders and so this means that we are capable of becoming a Ward. It is a very exciting thing to be happening here and it will be a very powerful thing to be a part of a Stake. We are very excited! 

Well, this week has been pretty good. We are doing pretty well here in Caserta and Anziano Jones and I are working well together. We have been teaching some good lessons and things are looking good. We met with F* and we moved his baptismal date back to September 21st, so that will be fun to see him baptized then. When we were teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ there are a powerful spirit in the lesson and it was way cool to see him understand it. He has been busy with trying to find work recently, but he still is energetic about the Gospel. 

Our lessons with R* and G* have been a little bit frustrating lately. They still have not come to church and this is very hard. We did have G* promise us that they would come this week. We really hope that they do, because if they don't unfortunately I think that we will have to drop them for a little while and give them some space. It is a hard thing to do though. 

Our new convert S* is doing great and is awesome! She is so happy that she has been baptized and it is fun to see. Here is a picture from the baptism:

This week I did an exchange with the Zone Leader, Anziano Worthum and that went really well and I learned a lot. It was a very good experience and I was very happy at the end of it.

Well, there isn't really anything else I can think of to write at the moment. Life is good in Caserta and I am happy here! It is a great place! Next email, I will know if I am staying or going from this place. I really have no idea what will happen. I could stay and finish training Anziano Jones, or I could be gone because I have been here for a quarter of my mission. We will just have to see what happens. It is crazy that the end of the transfer has already come. It went by fast.

Well, have a good week everyone!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

Un Battesimo

Buon Giorno!

It has been a pretty good week in Caserta. I love being here and I feel really good working with the people here. Like I feel that I am meant to be teaching the investigators that we have right now. It is a cool feeling. I am able to relate well to some of them and help them out with understanding the Gospel.  We had a great baptism on Saturday and everything went really well with our investigator S*. She will make an awesome new member of the Church.This week has been a little bit harder on the number side of things. We had a lot of people not show up for lessons and it made it kind of hard. The people that did show up we were able to teach pretty good lessons with and so I was happy with that .We had a fantastic lesson with a new investigator named D* and we were able to invite him to be baptized and he accepted. He told us how when he came to this Church he knew that God was with it. It was a way powerful lesson. We now have a baptismal date with him for the 14th of September. I think that we will also be moving our investigator F*'s baptismal date back to the 14th also. They are both friends and it would be great to see them baptized together.

Things overall in Caserta are great and I really am so happy to be serving here! It is a great place! On Saturday we were able to take our investigator G* to the base for a branch activity and he loved talking with all the members! He had a really good time. Another cool thing that happened this week is that M* is back from Canada!!! It is so good to have him back because now he will be able to help us out with lessons and other things again. We are very excited for it all!

Anziano Jones is doing good and we are working hard together. It is a good transfer and I am happy being here. The work is going well, and this week the temperature has dropped to a more comfortable place. We are still more excited for  September, but August has been bearable. Sorry, this week I am not able to send pictures of the baptism, the computer I am writing on is really slow. Next week I will try to send some though. Well, until next week!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

Agosoto e' Facile

Buon Giorno Tutti!

It has been a very good week in Caserta and things are going very well! August isnt too bad right now. This week S* passed her baptismal interview and so we are looking forward to her baptism this upcoming Saturday. That will be awesome! Also, our investigator F* is progressing well toward the 31st of August and he may have a friend who could be baptized on that day also, so we are very excited right now for that. Also, this week R* and G* were able to meet with us and they are both doing well. Still working on getting to and staying at zero cigarettes. G* down to 10 right now and on Monday he goes down to 6, so that will be great! He has also helped R* out with her staying at zero, but unfortunately R* has hada few puffs, but no full cigarettes. She is trying but it is hard for her because all of her friends smoke around her and this makes it difficult. Luckily when she has a breath of smoke she begins to feel sick and cannot smoke anymore. We just need her to stop even smoking a little. Our investigator U* is doing well, he is out of town this week, but before he left we were able to teach him about Prophets and that went well but was a little hard also. He loves to think of everything really really really deep and this just makes it hard to teach him. We cannot explain things purely and simply because he has such a brilliant mind that he wants to go into every little detail of what something means. He sees everything very philisophically and stuff and this makes it difficult. He is a great guy though and has come to Church twice. 

Anziano Jones is doing great here and he is working hard and I am having a wonderful time working with him. We are working hard and are giving it our all and so we can't really complain. This week we had an awesome time finding on the street. We recieved 10 potential investigator phone numbers and we are very excited to see where all of those go. Right now the work in Caserta is going very well and we are working hard and it is fun! Italy is so hot in August, but it is beginning to cool down a little bit now luckily. Well, not a whole lot else to say this week! Another week down and things are going well! 

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

Forza Caserta!

Buon Giorno Tutti!

Another week down and it just so happens that this week I passed my six month mark in the mission. It is crazy to think that I have been gone from everything for six months. It has flown by! I am already a quarter of the way done with my mission! So crazy!

Well, this week has been good! We got a few more investigators and we are keeping ourselves pretty busy with teaching lessons in the evenings almost every day. We got a new african investigator named F* who is friends with our investigator S* and her family, K* and A*. We have already set a baptismal date with him for August 31st, so we are very excited for that! Right now for S*, she just needs to have her baptismal interview and then she can be baptized. We are working that out right now.

R* and G* unfortunately still have not come to church, but we are working on that. R* has been doing well with the quitting smoking and G* is doing well working his way down. They are progressing a little more slowly, but I have seen that they are really seeing the power of the Book of Mormon in their lives. It is really cool to see!

Another new investigator we have is a man from english course named U*. He is a brilliant guy and he thinks of everything very philosophically. We have continued to meet with him even though English course has ended for August. Last night we taught him the Plan of Salvation and I feel that it went very well. He asked really deep and good questions and we were able to answer well. He is awesome and I feel that he could have great potential. Next time we meet we are going to show him the Restoration video and then challenge him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. 

Anziano Jones and I are getting along very well and I am very happy with how things are going in this companionship! We are working hard and we are doing a lot, so it is great right now! This week I really have been pretty happy. I have been having really good personal and companionship studies and it has really helped me out in the work overall. Caserta is great! It is hot and humid, but it is also great and I love being here. An interesting fact that I figured out recently, Anziano Barone, my MTC companion, and myself have been in the Napoli zone longer than anyone currently in it. Just kind of strange. Anziano Barone is in Napoli and that is where he started off his mission. Pretty cool to think about that. The Napoli zone is the best, there is so much that makes it fun here! Well, this week has been good!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

FA CALDO...

Ciao Tutti!

Things are getting pretty stinking hot here. The humidity is crazy and I have just gotten use to feeling sweaty and gross all day. Our apartment unfortunately only has fans and no air conditioning, so it is warm and uncomfortable at night. This week has been fun though, Anziano Jones and I are doing well and we are getting along pretty well. It is fun training him and showing him the ins and outs of missionary work, but it is also pretty hard. The language has been kind of kicking me this week and it has been pretty hard being the one who understands the most. It is fun though and it is a learning experience. I am still the District Leader here but now our District includes the two companionships in Napoli, so that means we have to go into Napoli every Monday. This just means that we get to eat more pizza at Sorbillo's. Here is a picture of Anziano Jones and I:

So this week has been harder. Everything is shutting down in Italy for the month of August. Everyone picks up and goes on vacation, so it is really really hard on the work. At 6:00 PM we walk out onto the main street of Caserta, look both ways and only see like 13 people for the entire length of the street. It is only suppose to get worse in the next two weeks... We just barely shut down our English Course for the month because nobody comes anymore. It is so strange because you compare it to when I first got here in Caserta we had like 40 people coming every Tuesday and Thursday. We had a lesson with a guy from English course named P* and we asked him if we could meet with him again, and he said sure... In September. It is strange being here and all the stores are closing for the month. Everything just kind of seems dead. Truthfully it is really pretty annoying. We walk around a ghost town trying to pass our our little pass-along-cards. Fortunately for us we are still teaching people like R* and G* and they are doing quite well. R* just barely went down to zero cigarettes and G* is working slowly down from 16 a day. Our investigator S* is doing great and is still pushing on for being baptized on the 17th of August. We just need to get a baptismal interview out of the way and we are set to go with that. We also have a new investigator named U* and he is really nice. We met him from English Course and he is really really smart. Fortunately we will continue to teach him every Tuesday and Thursday and we will be able to talk more about the Gospel with him. He loves to talk about Theology with us and get into the deep questions. It will be a little difficult but luckily he speaks nearly fluent English so we can explain things better to him. We are excited for that.

Today for PDay we walked around Napoli and went inside a lot of the big Catholic churches. It was incredible to see them all! They are massive structures of art and beauty! It has been so cool walking into it and just staring up at the paintings all over the ceilings. They are incredible! 

Well, it has been a hard week, a hot week, but also a good week. I am having a good time working with Anziano Jones and I am looking forward to this transfer even though it is the roughest month of missionary work in Italy. It will be fun! Cant wait to baptize some more people!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

Sono un addestratore addesso!

Buon Giorno Tutti!

This week has been good! So, we got transfer calls and I am still in Caserta! It is good and I am excited! I am still the District Leader here and I am also going to be training someone straight out of the MTC. It is going to be so much fun! I dont even know Italian that well, but it is just gonna be great! We are gonna work so hard and have such a good time! I am excited to help someone get out on the right foot in the mission field. Anziano Faggioli and Anziano Morgan are still going to be serving in Caserta and we will have 4 men in the area. It will help the work get so big here! My Greeny and I will be teaching Sarah, Elena, Giovanni and Rosanna. It will be very fun! 

Rosanna and Giovanni are doing well but progression is a little hard. They havent come to Church yet, but we have started them on a not smoking plan, so that will be great! We are feeling that if they overcome smoking that they will be baptized and will make very strong and great members of the Church. It will be awesome! We are still moving forward very well with Sarah for being baptized on the 17th of August. She could already be baptized, but we are waiting for her sister Annita to get back from Ghana so that she can be there for the baptism.

So, a fun thing that we did this week was we went to a Carnevale with Rosanna and Giovanni, it was way cool, there was a parade with all these people dressed up with masks and things like that. It was really cool! Sorry the picture is a little blurry, but Rosanna and Giovanni are the two people on the right. That was a way cool thing to see here.

Not a whole lot else has happened this week. GianFranco is progressing well, he will continue to be taught by Anziano Faggioli and Anziano Morgan though, so that will be sad to not teach him anymore. We were talking with him about baptisms in early September. Italy is the best. It is so much fun here! The Napoli pizza is incredible and the rest of the food is amazing! The people are fantastic! This week I have kind of seen how a lot of people give so much of their heart to religion and loving God. Now we just need to introduce these faithful people to the restored Church of Jesus Christ so that they can become closer to him than ever before. It is hard to teach people here, but we are still making progress. Things always look bright here.

Until next week, Ciao!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

Ciao!

Buon Giorno Tutti!

It has been a great week! I met President and Sorella Waddoups! They are awesome and they have personalities that remind me a lot of the Kellys. During Zone Conference President Waddoups told me and all the missionaries that he had a message to deliver to us, that Jesus Christ loved us. It was really cool cause he challenged us to pray and ask if that message was true. I kinda shrugged it off until later that night, and then I got down on my knees for my evening prayer and asked it. I got a lot more powerful feeling of the true divinity of his love for everyone. It was a good and much needed powerful reminder to me. I am grateful to have him as my mission president. He will serve well and do amazing work. 

So, this next week is transfers and I am thinking that I will move out, but I guess we will see. It will be great whatever happens. Our work is going well here. We have had to move some baptismal dates back into late August and September, but things are still progressing. GF*  actually could be completely ready for baptism in 2 weeks from saturday if he quites drinking Coffee. He is a good guy. 

Today for Pday we went Golfing with some members called the S*. They are awesome! Sister S* has the most powerful testimony and it was way cool because she told us a bunch of her ideas of life and things in the gospel and how it related to her life. It was so incredible to listen to her! 

The companionship is going well, it is hard at times but overall it is going well. Anziano Faggioli and I get a long really well and that has been cool and fun! Well, I dont have a ton to write this week, so until next week!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

Che si Dice

Buon Giorno da Napoli!!!

Another week in Italy! Things here are going well! This last week we had quite a bit of success and we are pretty excited here! We have set two more baptismal dates. One with our African investigator S* for August 17th and another one with our Italian investigator GF* for July 27th. We are very excited for these and both of these investigators are progressing very well. They are keeping commitments and GF* has given us his pack of cigarettes. It is kind of unfortunate that both dates are after this transfer ends, but we will see if I am still here... Unfortunately, we havent been able to get in contact with our investigator B*, he kind of dropped off this week, but we are trying to set something up this week. Unfortunately we will have to bump the baptismal date back for him. R* and G* are doing very well also, we had a great lesson with them last night and it was R*'s birthday. We gave G* some sunflower seeds and a quit smoking program, so hopefully we will see progress with them on the Word of Wisdom soon. They are both really enthusiastic and R*   is worried that in a few weeks one of us will be transfered. 

Right now it is still kind of interesting in a threesome companionship. We get along and the work is going well. It is just different. It is strange. I havent posted any pictures recently, so here is a picture of Anziano Gunderson and I at the beginning of this transfer:

Here is picture of my newer companion Anziano Morgan:

And here is a picture of Anziano Faggioli, M*, and I Golfing a few weeks ago at Carney Park:

A bumber this week is that M* is going to Canada for a month and he left today. He is our number one help with teaching lessons in the presence of a member. We will have to start getting other members to help out with our lessons. Anyway, not a whole lot to report this week. Most everything is normal. I hope everyone has a good week this week!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

The Three-man Team

Buon Giorno Tutti!

é mercoledi di nuovo! 

I hope everything is going alright back at home! Things are still great in sunny Italy, so I cant really complain. Fortunately this last week things have been really nice and cool. It has been beautiful weather! This week things are suppose to get warm again. So this week we have a new President! His name is President Waddoups. I havent met him yet, but next Thursday we have zone conference, so I will meet him then. He will be the one to decide my fate for next transfer, so it will be interesting.

Things in Caserta are going really well! We have a jam packed week and are teaching a lot of new investigators and we have a lot of potentials right now. This last week I had the opportunity to extend a baptismal invite to our new investigator from C* named  B* T*. He is a really nice guy and he accepted and right now we have a date planned for the 20th of July. We feel that he can be prepared by then. R* and G* are doing great and continuing in their lessons. We are still trying to help them quit smoking but G* is having a harder time with it. Our investigator S* has been reading the Book of Mormon every day and she wants to be baptized at the end of this month, so probably on the same day has B*. We still need to set a date officially. An investigator we have named GF* has been reading a ton in the Book of Mormon and he is learning really fast and it is great to see him  progressing. We still need to explain some things to him though about the basics of the Gospel. One of M*'s friends has become interested in the Church and we will be going to his house soon and teaching his whole family, so we are very excited for that. The work has taken a big leap this week and we have set up our time so that we have a lot of lessons. It is really exciting. We think that we can set some more baptismal dates within the next few weeks!

I am happy to be out here right now, it is awesome! The work is progressing along and with the new Worldwide Leadership Broadcast announcements, I think that it will jumpstart missionary work again. Things will take off and it will be cool to see during my time here. This week I have continually thought of how lucky I am to be fighting the battle for the Church on the Catholic front. It is a really cool experience and it is incredible being in Italy and seeing how the Church can really change peoples lives. It is hard and everything, but every moment is worth it here. Hope everything is going well at home! Love you all!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

Ups and Downs

Buon Giorno Tutti!

So this week has had some ups and downs. Anziano Gunderson unfortunately went home because of Severe Anxiety he has been having for a long time. I took him up to Rome on Friday and then came back to Caserta to continue working. I am now in a threeman companionship and it is good but just a little different. I think I like being with just one companion rather than two. My companions are Anziano Morgan and Anziano Faggioli. It is an adjustment, but we are still working hard and getting things done. I enjoy being with them, but there is a little more room for contention and stuff, but it is alright because everything works out in the end.

This week we have continued teaching R* and G*. Rosanna is smoking only one cigarette a day and so that is great! G* is having a little bit harder time with it, but I think he will start progressing quickly soon. He has the potential to, he just needs to really give it a go. Our other investigators are doing well, but progression has been slow recently. It is a little hard but we are still working and we are trying to find others in our spare time. It is hard doing street contacting or house, so we mostly just hand out tons of pass along cards for our English Course. It is hard to find success with any contacting right now. I am enjoying being here still though! I love Caserta and cant really complain.

Yesterday we did a exchange with the Zone Leaders and that was really fun! They helped us out with our work here and we got a lot of things done. It was really good! I was with a guy named Anziano Da Ponte and he works really hard and gave us some new ideas for getting more people to our English Courses. It was good! I am not sure how much more I will be in Caserta, but I will try to do my best to help the area progress and help the people to progress. Things overally are good though. I cant complain being in Italy and being on a mission. It has been an interesting week, some ups and down, but overall it has ended alright.

Until next week!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

Ciao Ciao!

Buon Giorno Tutti!

Well, last Pday it was pretty awesome going golfing haha! 

This week has been good! Anziano Gunderson and I are working hard and we are getting along pretty well. It will always take a little bit of time to get use to how things work with new companions. We are teaching a bunch of lessons still and it is good!

This week, something cool that happened. The Thursday night after English course Anziano Faggioli and Anziano Morgan, the new greeny, were going to teach R* and G*. Prior to this Anziano Faggioli and I had split up the investigators and he had taken them for him and Anziano Morgan. So, right before the lesson, Faggioli came and told me he felt very strongly that I should be the one teaching them instead of him. So, we switched and I went in and taught them the Word of Wisdom. It went really well and the spirit was really strong! R* is really trying to follow all the Word of Wisdom now and G* is trying to cut back on coffee and cigarettes right now. It is fantastic! I am loving watching them progress! It is incredible to see them make changes in their lives. Right now the language is coming along really well. This week I have felt very confident in speaking to people and I can understand pretty well what they say back to me. It has been good! We have talked to a few people on the street this week and I have given out two Books of Mormon, so hopefully some new investigators come out of that. 

Life in Caserta is great and everything is going pretty well! I love being here! One big bummer right now though is the weather. The last 6 days have been crazy hot and crazy humid. It is so gross going out fresh feeling and coming home at lunch feeling all sticky... I hate humidity. This is just the real beginning of the hot weather though, so I need to get use to it. I cant complain too much. Just being in Italy outweighs the weather. I am enjoying things very much! District Leader isnt too hard, it feels like a lot of extra work, but it is going alright. Oh, and this last Sunday President Kelly came to our branch and talked and it was great! I will miss him a lot when he leaves next week. Our new President comes in next Friday, it is kind of crazy and I dont know exactly what to expect. Well, Life is good and the work is moving forward!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

Still Partying in Caserta

Buon Giorno Tutti!

So it turns out Anziano Faggioli and I are still in Caserta for at least another 6 weeks! It also turns out that we are both getting new companions and that Caserta is being upgraded to a four man place so that will be fun! My new companion is an Anziano Gunderson from Manti, Utah. I will be follow up training him because he came to Italy in the group just after me, so he has only been out for one transfer and I have only been out for two. I am also going to be the District Leader for the 4 Caserta missionaries and also the Senior couple here. So... This will be a pretty fun transfer! I am actually very excited! By the end of this transfer I will know how to speak Italian a whole lot better and I will be a lot more prepared to serve overall. This is going to be an awesome experience to learn and stuff! Anziano Faggiolis companion is a kid straight out of the MTC, so Caserta is going to be one of the youngest houses in the mission. Tomorrow we go to pick up our companions and I am excited! 

Everything else in Caserta is pretty much normal! We are teaching and having success. It is kind of a bumber that we have to split our investigators here. I gave Anziano Faggioli R* and G* because I really want to see them baptized and I know I cant answer all of their questions sufficiently  at the moment. It will be cool if I get to give them their baptismal interviews though. I will continue to teach S*, I*, and E*, M* mom. We have been talking with S* about being baptized at the end of June, so that is looking very promising. I* is still coming to Church and is basically a member without having been baptized. I think that this transfer will be a great opportunity to find and to grow the Caserta branch more. I love it here! I am so relieved that I get to stay here for another 6 weeks. That means that I will be here for the 4th of July when they celebrate it on the base and that will be great!

Today for PDay we are going with an American member and M* to play some Golf at the Golf Course in Pozzuoli owned by the American base. It will be really fun! It is M* first time playing even though he has watched Golf on TV for the past 3 years. Life is great and nice in Caserta! It is the best place to be serving! I am so excited for this next transfer! The language will be a little stressful, but overall it will just be a way fun transfer. With four missionaries in the house it is going to be really fun and we are gonna be having a lot of Pizza nights haha. The Pizza here is still amazing! Oh, and funny thing, in the last week I have had 3 different people say that I am gaining weight... I have been actually keeping close track to how much weight I have gained and I have gained only two pounds from the MTC... So... I dont know. Haha. Life is great here!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

Almost to next Transfer...

Buon Giorno Tutti!

I hope everything is going well back home! Everything here in Italy is fantastic right now! This week has been great! Anziano Faggioli and I are getting along really well and the work is moving forward here! I cant really complain about that! 

This week R* and G* are progressing a lot! Last night we had a really good lesson with them! We found out that R* was having a problem with her mother or something and she wasnt sure what to do. She decided to pray like we had told her to and then read in the Book of Mormon. She prayed and felt really peaceful and then she opened up the Book and found two scriptures in Alma right off the bat that answered her questions and helped her out in her life. This to her was a sign that this Book was truly from God. When she told us this story the spirit was so strong and it was just awesome to see the power that was already being shown in her life. G* said that he believes that the Book did not come from man, and thus it must be from God. He is a little bit harder to get to, but he is very accepting and very nice and I think that he could commit faster than R*. They are both progressing really fast and Anziano Faggioli and I have very high hopes for them. We will teach them the commandments next time and start working from there to baptism hopefully. They both smoke, so that will be a speed bump, but I think they both can stop. They are great and it is awesome seeing the spirit come into their lives. They both grew up Catholic but now they are seeing that this is the true church of Christ. I love it!

Everything else is going very well in Caserta! We are still meeting with I* and we are teaching her! She is still coming to church and everything! The only problem with her getting married is that if she gets officially married to this man, then they would have to be united in which church they join and he is a very set Pentecostal member. She doesnt want to force anything on him, especially the Church, but she said that she will start leaving the Book of Mormon out on the table and maybe he will pick it up and ask about it. Then she could explain. It is way cool!

We are still going through a lot of things with S* and she is learning a lot. We are just making sure that she fully understands what the Church is and everything about it. Hopefully we will set some baptismal dates this week! Life is great and I am so happy to be out here right now! It is strange, this week we get transfer calls, so we will see what happens! 

Love you all!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

La Reggia é Grande!

Hello everyone! 

Hope all is well at home! This week has been overally pretty good! A few bumbers, but overall it has been great! Anziano Faggioli and I are getting along very well and we are working very hard and it is very fun! Caserta Italy is the best place! It is so much fun!

This week we were suppose to have our baptism for I*, the African lady, but it turns out in the final interview that something came up and we have to postpone and we are not sure if she will ever be able to be baptized. We had thought that she had been single for a long time, but it turns out she has lived with a man for 8 years. In Africans eyes, this is being married, but because it is not signed on paper she cannot be baptized. She said she doesnt want to officially be married at the interview, but this next week we are going to meet with her and talk to her about it.

Today was spent at La Reggia and we went inside the actual palace for the first time. It was absolutely incredible! Every room was beautiful with paintings on the ceilings and everything was marble and really nice, it was really fun! 

This week we have also been teaching R* and G* from our English course. It is awesome because they are progressing really fast and reading the Book of Mormon a lot and they ask us really good questions about the Church! I feel really good about them progressing and everything! They are really fun! They are very intelligent and very interested in the Church. 

Life with Faggioli is great and we play chess for fun every day at lunchtime, so that is cool! We have been working a lot to find new investigators also this week, and it is really good! We have found a few really good potentials. Life is fantastic in Italy! I couldnt ask for anything better! We are working hard and things are looking positive! Also, with P* one of our eternal investigators, we have began reading the Book of Mormon with her in the park and for the first time she is really starting to read and understand it. It is cool!

Anyway, hope all is well at home!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

Sono qua ancora

Ciao Tutti! 

I am still here and it is still going really well in Italy! I am having a good time and am enjoying the work! This week for pday we hiked Vesuvio again with a less active member, Anziano Faggioli's first time! It was way cool and when we got the top a big storm came and started raining really hard. We had to take shelter under a little giftshop thing. It was fun!

The work in Caserta is still moving on, nothing really new to report this week. Things are moving ahead for the baptism on June 1st of Itohan and I am very happy with how well she understands the gospel and everything. We have gone over the baptismal questions with her and she is very prepared. Life is great and I am happy! Our investigator S* is still progressing, but we are taking a little bit more time to set another baptismal date with her. She is great but we just want to make sure that she understands everything very well before she is baptized. This week we handed out a lot of English course flyers, so hopefully that will boost the number of people we have at that. The last two people to be baptized here came from English course, so we are trying to have more success in that area. Well, not much else to report. Things are good and the work moves forward!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

I Like La Reggia

Buon Giorno Tutti!

It has been another fine week in Caserta and everything is still going pretty well! Today for our Pday we decided to stay back in Caserta and to go explore the Reggia palace a little bit more. It was incredible and we found a lot of really cool little places in the gardens. I am pretty much convinced that someday I will live in the palace... We will see. Italy is awesome and Caserta is the best place here! I have had missionaries tell me that the Reggia is tied with all of Rome for how incredible it is, so that is saying something. 

This week there isnt a whole lot else that is new to write. We are teaching quite a few lessons a week still and I* is progressing quite quickly to the June 1st Baptism. We even are having her try on a baptismal gown... She is great and everything is looking really bright for that. Our other African investigator S* is also doing alright, but we have decided to postpone setting a baptismal date for a while so that we can more fully make sure that she understands what it means to be baptized and to be a member of the restored church of Jesus Christ.

We are also still visiting and working with some less active members. This is hard but I think that we are making some progress. They are all very nice and accepting, they just have work and other things on Sunday so they say that they cant make it to church. We will continue working though. Also, this week Anziano Faggioli and I went onto Fortress America again this week to meet with a less active member briefly. It was very good and we were able to assist the Willies, the Senior couple in dropping some things off to members on the base. It was really good and we met quite a few people. We also had KFC because it was on the base... That was cool, I didnt think I would get Kentucky Fried Chicken in Italy. It felt like being back home haha. Well, I am doing well and Anziano Faggioli and I are starting to work really well together, I think that this transfer will be very successful and we should be seeing at least one, if not more baptisms coming up soon. 

I hope all is well back home! I love and miss you all! It was great talking to my family on skype last Sunday! Thanks for everything!!!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

Il Mio Nuovo Collega

Buon Giorno Tutti!

I hope all is going well back home! So this week I got a new companion Anziano Faggioli! It has been an interesting week and definitely a change. Anziano Faggioli is a great guy and a hard worker here and I feel like this new transfer we have a lot that we can accomplish. He is from Orem, Utah and we have a lot of little random things that we both like, like music, movies, and stuff like that. So that is way fun. This week has been new and a little harder than the last six weeks. Anziano Faggioli has only been out 6 months and so he is newer at the language and stuff, so it will be different learning it around him. The lessons we have taught this week have been good and everything is going pretty well with the work. It is different though because with Anziano Faggioli just barely arriving in Caserta, I have been kind of carrying lessons with investigators, because I know them more at the moment. That has been hard and kind of stressful truthfully. The mission is hard and I have found out a little more this week the kind of the physical, mental, emotional challenges it puts on you.

Well, right now our investigator I* is progressing really well and she is loving coming to church and stuff! A lot of the stuff that we teach her she agrees with and explains it back to us in a lot of depth. This week I have noticed how much people like to talk here. They just talk about random stuff and they go on forever and it is hard to get a voice in. It is interesting because Anziano Faggioli is more passive when it comes to talking with people than Anziano Badger was, so the conversations with every Italian just go on forever. Anyway, our other investigators are progressing alright. We are still working with S*, but it is just taking a little more time to fix a new baptismal date.

Well, another week down. It feels like forever more to go, but everyone says that it goes by quickly. Haha, we will see! Hope all is well on the home front! I am carrying on here! Love you all!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

So Close, Yet So Far Away

Come va tutti?

Another week down in Italy and things are really starting to get warm and a little uncomfortable... Life is good though and the work is moving forward! So yesterday Anziano Badger left for Rome. I am staying here in Napoli with the remaining Napoli Missionaries. My new companion and my continuing trainer will be Anziano Fagioli. He is an American but I guess he is half Italian also, so that will be cool. I dont really know anything else about him. We will just have to see when I meet him tomorrow. It will be fun and I get to show him around Caserta and introduce him to all of the people. I feel like my Italian is getting better, but not very quickly. It is just a slow process. He will be probably doing most of his own introducing but I will give it a try. 

So for Anziano Badgers last week we have just been meeting with everyone and saying goodbye. We went for dinner at the US Navy Base in Caserta for dinner on Monday night and that was very good! I really enjoyed it there and I had a good time. We have done a lot of walking around and visiting different families to say goodbye to investigators and members. Anziano Badger has been very good and I have loved serving with him and having him as my trainer. It has been a fantastic experience. I cant really complain. 

Well, it was kind of weird on Sunday knowing that my family was in Napoli, so close to me, but I couldnt see them. It was really cool though that they were able to come and walk where I have walked in the City. Very interesting. This week we got four new investigators and so that is fantastic. We have pushed back a couple of baptisms, but we are very confident that they will go through in May because the people here are very prepared. I feel like this transfer we will see a few baptisms and we will make a lot of progress with other investigators. When we were at the Base this week we shared a little message about every member a missionary and about how the courage of the members of our branch can be a powerful instrument in helping someone find the eternal happiness that the Gospel brings. I am excited for the next few months. The work will move forward! And so will the hot weather... Oh Well.

Well, all is well here! Hope all is well back home and for those of you who are on a cruise here right now. Love you all!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton

It is a Different Birthday

Ciao Tutti!!!

It has been another good week in Italy! I am loving it here still! Not a whole lot to report here this week though. My birthday was really good and I had a good time! We ate a pizza for lunch, had Gelato, and then ate another one for dinner, so cant really complain. We were also able to walk through the Reggia Gardens and that was incredible in Caserta! My Birthday was different but was definitely good! Today for our Pday we took the train and bus down to Positano, south of Sorrento. It is an amazing little city built on the sea side and on a mountain. It was really fun and really interesting to be there!

So, this week I had to meals with Italian people... I am so dang scared for the rest of my mission... They feed you too much and they are always saying Mangia Mangia! (Eat, Eat) I dont know if I can do it. Like they feed you soooooooo much and it just stretches out your stomach and you feel so full and it feels so unhealthy. I dont get how all the Italians just pound tons and tons of food for Lunch and Dinner. It is kind of messed up. The food is incredible, but they just bring plate after plate of it. And then desert. I dont get it. That is actually like a legitimate concern of mine right now. How do I continue on eating so much when I have a small stomach and when I dont want to get fat... Haha. I need to start running or something in the morning. Italians have a weird day, they wake up, eat a small breakfast, work for a few hours, close up shop at 1 or 2, take a nap and wake up about 4 or 5 to reopen for the eveing. Then only stay open until 8 or 9. It is kind of weird. That wouldnt really fly in America. We have to arrange our day so that we only are outside when they are also and so that we study when they are napping. I dont understand Italy yet haha. We see a lot of American tourists here and they are all kind of weird. 

Well, we have had some success with the dad of our new convert R*, he is athiest, but we had a lunch with their family and at the end he told us that he really respects us and that he might come to Church to see what it is all about. He is athiest because he saw all the corruption in the Catholic  Church. He is a really nice guy. The second Italian meal we ate was with a man named CC* who is a less active member but ever since I came he has been very active. He is a really nice guy and took us to a place to eat up on the hill next to Caserta in Casertavechia, the old city of Caserta. It was really cool, and I got some pictures of that. We went at night and it was incredible. Well, all is well in Italy! I hope all is well on the homefront!

I love this work!!!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton