There is Something Special About this Area

Well it definitely was so wonderful to be able to talk to family even though it was only for 40 minutes. I am so glad to hear that everything is going well at home. It is so weird to think that I will be home next Christmas. I am glad to hear that Chance really benefitted from the phone call. I was really hoping that it would inspire him to do everything he can to get ready for his mission. I love them so much. They sound so much older! Its pretty crazy!! It seems like everything is going great at home.

Well this week has definitely been a wonderful week. I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to take some time and reflect on the birth of our Savior and the perfect life He lived. It was definitely a Christmas to remember and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be serving our Master at this time. I was definitely touched by the slideshow of the Nativity that was shown at Zone Conference. I really loved it.

Well we continue to be blessed in the Wake Forest area. I am so grateful to be here. The members are starting to really trust us and we are trying our best to continue to help them do missionary work. We have been getting alot of referrals and it has been great. They are always actively involved in missionary work. It makes my heart sing. It is a bit hard to contact all of them in a week as you can see. We are trying out best to make sure that we are always following up with the members about the contacts we have made. I am so grateful for the spirit that I feel in every members home. There is something special about this area.

I have seen as we have taken President's challenge to keep the area book updated that my love for the members and the people of this area has increased. I can always do better in updating it more specifically but just from updating it daily I have seen the blessing of being exactly obedient. I am so grateful for my companion Elder Petersen. He is wonderful. If I don't remember something, he will. We are a good team. He is always making me laugh. This area has taught me patience but it also has taught me how to work effectively to try and get things started. In those stressful moments of being a missionary, Elder Petersen is always there with a smile on his face to make me laugh and take off the stress. I am so grateful to have him as my companion!

Well we have been working really hard with Brother Trubilla. We have been contacting him each day and have seen the blessings of daily contact. I really think this time he has been prepared to keep the his commitments and be baptized. We teach him twice a week and he was even invited over for Christmas dinner to one of our members. It was really great. We are still trying to find a really solid fellowshipper but it seems like he is ready. We pray for him so hard that he will be able to overcome his addiction. I know that through the list he has had that we will be able to focus his thoughts on the Savior and know that this covenant is between him and the Savior. He is doing great though.

We have quite a few families that we will start to be teaching once the new year comes. These people that we will be teaching are really prepared. There is a young girl named Maddie Brooks that has been coming to Church regularly for months. She came up to us a couple of weeks ago and asked us to teach her the lessons in January. We are going to be teaching her whole family in the Epps' home. We are really excited about that. We will be also teaching a family that is really good friends with Bishop McEwen. They called the sisters and since they are in our area the Bishop explained to them the situation and they are really excited to meet with us. We hope to contact all of these referrals that we have as well and hope to find some teaching opportunities that way.

We have also tried to visit every member in both the wards and give them our testimonies in a card form. We feel that it is the greatest gift that we can give to them. We have seen great success that way. We found a new part member family that way. They are newly weds and the husband isn't a member. He has been reading out of the Gospel Principles book and really likes the Church services. The ward has been really supportive to them as they are in a new ward. They love the ward and feel very comfortable. We are excited to work with them. We also had a less active ask us to start teaching him as well. It has been hard work to try and visit every member but we have almost all of the second ward visited and we have about half of the first ward. We feel that the members are very receptive in our effort to know them and we try and offer our help to them. The members are really wonderful and I love them very much.

Well I hope this finds you in good cheer. I am so grateful to have such a great family.

Love Elder Butler

White Christmas?

Christmas Conference, Cards, and Over 100 Carols

I am glad you got to see the youtube clip. It was really random. Elder Cline and I didn't get to practice at all so it wasn't as good as we would have hoped. That's ok the spirit was there and that's all that matters. I love being a missionary. I just love it. I can't express the delight I have about being one. Its so great. If I could have it my way I always want to be one. It will take alot of effort but I know that I can take the things that I have learned in my mission and apply them after words.

Well I was definitely grateful for the opportunity to have participated in the Christmas Zone Conference. That was a really enjoyable time and a very revelatory experience for me. I am so grateful for my testimony of the Savior. It was really nice to watch that nativity and reflect on my personal relationship with My Savior.

I am so grateful to be in this area. The wards are amazing. We have finally got all the paper work done for the Sisters, our ward mission leaders and our bishops. The idea of having a binder for the bishop was a great idea. Our bishops loved it. I am really excited to work here in these magnificent wards. They are truly amazing.

The members are really keen on giving us referrals. We have the trust of the members and we are definitely grateful for the love that they have for us. We are trying our best to do all that we can. It has taken a while for things to get settled here but we believe in these next couple of weeks that we will be able to get things moving in the wards. The ward mission leaders, Brothers Dixon and Larson, are wonderful. I am really blessed to be under their direction.

We met with a part member family this week that we will begin to teach. It has been a real miracle. They invited us over to dinner when we asked if we could come and visit them. Brother Wellborn is already reading the Book of Mormon. He said that he really likes the Mormon religion alot and wants to learn more about it. He has a very scientific mind and likes to ask alot of questions. It keeps us thinking. We will be meeting with them again after Christmas. It was amazing the environment the spirit made to help us have a really great conversation.

We also met with Brother Trubilla this week as well. The lesson went really good. We set a baptismal date with him for January 15. We know that he can be ready for that date but he has to have the real desire to change. We have been making sure to be keeping daily contact with him and my love has really increased for him that way. I have gained a real testimony of daily contact. We are going to get our ward mission leader to find some people that can contact him everyday so we are getting the members involved.

We also met with the Cancellierni family this week. He is so wonderful. It is another part member family. They are lazy. He did have a real desire at one point to know that the Church is true but that has left him since he has not found out the answer yet. He has been through about 30 missionaries and so knows alot of the material. We hope to help him gain that testimony of the Book of Mormon. We had a great get to know you visit and shared with him Moroni's promise. We also challenged him to make a plan that he can follow to find out if the Book of Mormon is true. He really liked that idea. So we will see how that goes!

The members are really loving to come out with us and do whatever they can to help us. We have alot of young men in the wards that are 18 and older that want to come out with us. Things are going great here. I love all of the people. I am truly blessed to be here.

I have been working alot on staying focused and not getting discouraged this week. As I have turned to the Savior and the Book of Mormon I have seen a real difference. I am so grateful for the healing power of my Savior and the comfort he gives me when I am in need.

Well I am sorry this is going to be so short but we spent most of our Preparation Day doing a service project for someone in the ward. We are trying our best to help out in the wards as much as we can to gain that trust and because we love them so much. We got to know alot of the members at the Project and hopefully by the end of the week will know them all. We are doing something really crazy. Since we are sharing two wards with the Sisters we are splitting the 2nd ward and visiting all of the members and giving them Christmas cards with our testimonies in them. Its going to be a stretch but I know that we can do it. Alot of the people that we are visiting are going to be gone so we are going to go carolling and give them all cards. There are over 50 active members in each ward so we will see how it goes. Pray for me please!!

Well know that I love y'all and will talk to you soon.

Love Elder Butler

P.S - Thanks for all the support you give me. I love yall so much!!!

Elder Cline and Elder Butler

Check out this video of us singing at the Christmas Conference

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoIB_SXObLo

The Game Plan

Well this week has been really wonderful. Now that we have the maps updated in our area it makes things easier to know where the members, part members, less actives and DNC's are. We have been more effective and loving the work here. It has been a bit difficult to know where to go but when we have relied on the spirit we have found great success.

We are grateful for the members in these wards. They are so keen on having us teach their friends. We get 2 referrals each time we have a dinner appointment with a member. It is really wonderful to see the excitement in the ward. I truly love these wards so much. The ward mission leaders of both wards are wonderful. They are excited about their callings and bringing new ideas to the plate that are really exciting. We have great ward missionaries as well that are always willing to help us.

We met with a few less active this week and a couple part member families. We set up some appointments for this week. I am really excited to meet some of these part members. There are a few of them that could really accept the gospel. We also went through our area book and found all the people that looked like they could have some potential. That will be a main focus in our finding efforts this week. We have about 40 people on those lists that we are going to try and visit this week.

We are also going to start meeting with Steve this week. We are really excited for him. He is a wonderful young man. We hope that the spirit will be able to guide us on what we have to do to help him overcome his problems. We will start to meet with him twice a week to prepare him to be baptized.

We are so grateful for the Bishops of our wards. They have made things great for us these past couple of weeks. Thank you for letting me know about PEC. We will ask if we are invited to ward council. Thank you for taking the time to help figure out the second ward boundaries for the sisters. We are very grateful for the opportunity we have to work with the sisters. We are excited for this new change.

Love Elder Butler

Wake Forest!

Well I am sure you are wondering where I have gone!!! It was a bit of a shock leaving my last ward. I love that ward so much. I put so much of my energy, time and love into that ward. It definitely was a changing point for me on my mission. I grew so much in that ward it was unbelievable! We had a really great family home evening at the Harpers with the McLeods! I am really going to miss Ian and Natasha. They wrote really touching things in my book of remembrance. I am so excited for him to be baptized on the 18th. It will definitely be great. I hope to get pictures from Elder Scott. So Elder Scotts new boy is a wrestler its really funny. I can't remember his name though but he seems to be really excited about it. So enough about everyone else right, you just want to know where I am at.

Well when we were at transfer meeting I was the 2nd last one to get called out. Everyone thought I was going to Harker's Island but nope. I got my name called out and then Elder Petersen's name got called out. That means we are whitewashing just from that. Well it gets even better. We are whitewashing/opening a new ward! Talk about terrified and paranoid. So I am now serving in the Wake Forest 1st and 2nd Ward. The second ward was just created at the beginning of November. Its pretty crazy. We are also working with Sister Missionaries as well who are serving in the Falls Lake Ward. They were covering all the area for a couple of weeks. They are also working in a bit of our area as well. They will be teaching whoever we think would be best for sister's to teach. We already have given them a referral for a single lady. The AP's have also been teaching an investigator from our ward to so we will be starting to teach him this week. Its been a really crazy time though. Definitely been really hard. The Lord has definately comforted me in my calling. I trust Him in all that I do. We spent alot of time in the apartment this past week. It was pretty terrible, but had to be done. We had to make new maps, get new directories, go through the Area Books, meet with all the auxiliaries and find time to sleep somewhere. Its been crazy. I have learned alot though. Its amazing how much you can get done with the Lord helping you.

Our wards are amazing. We had a Christmas party which was amazing. The first ward is really amazing. Our ward mission leader is so missionary oriented. It is great. He is around our age (25's) and is so excited about missionary work. He is going to set this place on fire. The first ward didn't have church on Sunday because it snowed. Can you believe that. We got maybe and inch and they cancelled. The roads were fine. The 2nd ward didn't cancel their meetings which was great. They are a great ward as well. Our ward mission leader is great there as well. I am so excited to be here.

I'm sorry this is bit short but I'm pretty tired myself from this past week so we are going to relax today.

We have been working alot on getting everything organized in the area. We have made a new map for the area since the ward boundaries have changed. We also have got new ward directories and have the Ward Mission Leaders taking the lists of Part Member and Less Active families and discussing it with their quorums so see who we can visit and if they have any information of fellowshippers. We have also met with our bishops of both wards, mission leaders and some of the ward missionaries. I am just so excited to serve in these wards. They are very missionary oriented. We even got a referral this week from our ward mission leader.

Our ward mission leaders are amazing!!! They are just so great. We had meetings with them both a couple of times this week already and they have some really great plans that they want to happen. They are both going to take a "potential investigators" sheet and get the ward missionaries and themselves and go to every active member and ask them who they know we can teach. They are also going to get the ward mission plan going as well. I am really excited for this area and all that our ward mission leaders are doing for us already. I am excited to work side by side with them. I am also grateful for our Bishops. Bishop Dispain and Bishop McEwen are great men. I know they are inspired and we are excited to help lift some of their burdens and not be a burden.

The 1st ward had a Christmas Breakfast on Saturday and it was great to meet some of the members. They invited so many of their friends that weren't members. We are hopefully going to start teaching many of them in the upcoming weeks. 1st Ward cancelled their church on Sunday which was kind of a shocker but we got to meet with the second ward. The members are wonderful. I love them so much. They are so excited to share the gospel with their friends and help us as well. I am truly blessed to be here.

I am really excited for this upcoming week. We have quite a few appointments lined up so hopefully we will be able to find that one baptism for this month. I know its cutting it close but I know that the Lord will provide a way for us if we work our hardest. We have an investigator that the Ap's have been teaching, Steven. He is a really nice guy. We are going to hopefully start teaching him this week after we get our Ward Mission Leader to go with us for an appointment. I see alot in him and he has been coming for about two years now. I hope and pray that we can find his concern and help him into the waters of baptism. We also have a couple of youth that have been coming to church regularly. The ward and us fasted for them both that their parents would soften their hearts and let them be baptized. I am really excited for the work here, The ward is excited, the bishops are excited and we are most definitely excited for this work.

I am really grateful to be here. Elder Petersen and I get along great!!! I know this was inspired and I know that there are people here in these area's that can be baptized. I know there are more than just dozens. I have been overwhelmed about this assignment but I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon. I did as Mom had suggested and started reading it at least a half an hour a day and have seen an amazing difference. The Book of Mormon truly has comforted me and told me that I can do it if I put my faith in the Lord. There is no growth without discomfort.

Love Elder Butler

North Carolina Wildlife

So We Are Excited About Them

That's so exciting to hear you got snow. I miss it so much. It's still really nice here. I heard it might get a bit worse at the end of this week. We have Thanksgiving this week which is weird. We have a lunch and a dinner that day and will be spending most of it with the other Elders. This is also the last week of the transfer. I have no idea if I am getting transferred or not. We will find out on Saturday. I really hope I stay for Christmas. I love this ward so much.

This week was really wonderful. We had a lot of people cancel our appointments but had some really great lessons with our investigators. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to study out of the scriptures daily and specifically for my investigators. The questions that investigators ask are truly inspired by the spirit. They are also for me as well. The spirit realizes that I don't understand a point of the doctrine so he whispers to our investigator that it is his concern and then in the end I realize that it is my concern as well. It's truly wonderful how the spirit is the teacher and we are just the instruments that the Savior needs to spread his gospel.

I am beginning to understand my purpose as a missionary and my purpose in this life. How wonderful it is to be a missionary serving in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission. I truly love it here so much. I love the people here and more importantly I see the Savior using me as his instrument daily. I am so grateful the he is able to use me because it teaches me so much about the Plan of Salvation and his Atonement.

Well we have been meeting with the less active member for the past week. His name is Eric Newcomb. We met with him twice this past week. It truly was wonderful. His mother, Sister Newcomb, is a very active member of the Church. She is such a great example to him. Well he has had a really crazy life. He hasn't been to Church since he was 17. He married a non member and his wife said that she would never go to his Church. Well he started getting involved in Bethal Baptist Church and thought everything was fine. He had his own business and was doing very well. He was always busy though. He would never see his family. He then one night when he got home for work he prayed to Heavenly Father and just said "Lord I don't want this anymore" Well Heavenly Father answered his prayers. He started losing clients and eventually closed down his business. He has down sized his home and has a 8-4:30 job. Its so wonderful. He also started becoming very religious and understands the bible very well. He realizes that the truth is within our Church and he prayed one night to know the truth and the next night we knocked on his door. It was wonderful. The Lord truly answers prayers. He wants his family to come to his church. His boys aren't baptized yet and his wife is having another child this week. So we let the Relief Society know and they are going to handle everything. I am so grateful for this ward. They are always willing to help out the members and non members of the area. We have been meeting with him twice a week and teaching him from the beginning. He is very intelligent and asks really great questions that most of the time we have to go home and study about. We are hopefully going to start teaching his family and getting his wife involved. He has come to the point in his life where he knows our Church is the only true Church and he told us he is going to have to start coming again in time and that his wife is just going to have to join him or not. So we are excited about him.

Elder Scott and Elder Haws met with Ian this week and said they had a really great lesson with him. I am so excited for him. He is progressing really well. He is reading the scriptures daily and praying daily, personally and as a couple. It will just be a matter of time before he gets his answer or he recognizes that he has his answer already. Elder Scott and I will be teaching him about pondering this next week since we have both felt impressed to talk to him about that before we move on to the commandments. He still hasn't accepted a baptismal date yet. He says he will when he receives his answer. He said that he would be baptized if he found out that it's all true. So we are really excited for him.

Elder Tibbitts and I had the wonderful opportunity to go on exchange this week. He is a wonderful missionary who always has his purpose in his mind. He talks to everyone and just loves everyone. I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve around him and to have been able to have had the chance to go on so many exchanges with him. He is a wonderful missionary. He is a great District Leader as well. He leads by the spirit and by example.

We had the opportunity of teaching Sister Shock and Sister Birkmire this week. I had been praying all week very hard to know what to teach them. Well when we got in there we were going to teach about the Law of Chastity but it didn't feel right. Sister Shock has some concerns about Church and about what she was learning about. We also found the concern that she was doing this for Sister Birkmire and not for herself. Elder Scott was really worried about what to say but I had a peace come over me and let the spirit do the teaching. I put my trust in the Savior knowing that he would be able to help them out and be able to teach them what they needed to know through the spirit. The lesson went great. We taught them about the Sabbath day and what the importance of it is and about the Sacrament. We also taught them about why it is important to do this for ourselves and not for others. We invited Sister Shock to pray and find out if this is something that she needed to do for herself. I am so grateful for the strength the Savior gave me. I know that as I continue to lean on Him and use Him instead of my own understanding of situations, our investigators will learn to love us more and how they can come closer to the Savior. They know that being homo-sexual is a sin but they need to find out that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet so that the spirit will be able to testify to them that they need to change their lifestyle. I am really excited for them. I know that the Lord will help them.

This past week we have done a lot of lessons with members. I love the members of Goldsboro. They really trust us with the work here in Goldsboro. Elder Scott and I have been really trying to help the members realize that we are servents of our Heavenly Father. As we have shown them that we are purpose driven missionaries they have really opened up to us. This past week we received a referral from a member. We also had a dinner with a non member who is the next door neighbor of a member. He has a lot of potential. Last night after the Mission Tour we had we received 1 referral from dinner and 3 more from a family that we participated in family home evening with. We taught them the doctrine of Christ and asked them who do they know they know that we can teach. They gave us 2 names and we said who else could use a message. Jokingly they said, isn't two enough and Elder Scott and I turned to each other and then looked back at them and said "this is the salvation of God's children!" They looked at us and thought for another moment and gave us another one. They also told us that they would continue to look for people that we can teach and do the best they could to get us referrals. They also told us that they were going to have these referrals that they gave us over for dinner and have us be there. It was truly wonderful. When the members realized that we are purpose driven missionaries they get excited for the work!! I love missionary work!!

Well Mission Tour with Allen F. Packer was amazing. I learned so much from just the spirit that was present. I learned how casual I really am and how I always need to be representing my Savior in everything I do. I have realized that I can work harder in listening and teaching what the spirit wants me to teach. I had such a great experience there. The spirit was so strong that my heart just wanted to burst. I have never felt as strong of a desire to change as I did yesterday. I am truly learning and understanding my call. My Savior makes this all possible. I am so grateful for the power of the Atonement and how we can repent and receive that gift of forgiveness from our Savior and from the ones we hurt. I am truly grateful to see the change in myself and know that with the Lords help, obedience to the commandments and a sincere desire to change I can do anything.

In personal study this morning I prayed to know if I could baptize one child of God per month with my companion? Well after studying about Abinadi in Mosiah 13 and studying King Benjamin's address I got my answer. Through the Savior's Atonement all things are possible. If you have received that revelation and vision then I know that I can do it with my companion. I feel like Nephi who desires to know what his father Lehi saw in his vision. I know that the Lord will provide a way for me to prepare the people in Goldsboro and whatever area I might be in. I can baptize one child of God per month in my companionship. It is a sacred duty the Lord has entrusted the missionaries here in North Carolina with.

Well I love y'all and hope you have a wonderful week.

Love Elder Butler

"This must be a sign that I'm supposed to meet with y'all"

Well we have had another wonderful week in Goldsboro. We had alot of appointments cancel on us but because we are trying to be always prepared we have back up plans that always turn into great teaching opportunities. I am so grateful to be serving here in the Goldboro 1st Ward. They are truly amazing. We are seeing miracles because we are being "purpose driven missionaries" and members can see the difference. We have had alot of great conversations with them members this week and have gotten a couple of referrals from them. They are really starting to get excited about missionary work. Zone Conference was definitely an answer to my prayer. I had definitely been struggling on how we can help the members but because of our new focus with the members we are seeing great results. They are always excited to talk to us about what they have done and sometimes they are so excited that it can't wait so they call us. What a joy this work brings to my heart. We are inviting the members to act and they are keeping their commitments with the Lord.

I had the opportunity to go on an exchange this week with Elders Haws. I love this missionary. He is definitely an inspiration to me. We have alot in common and it was really neat to see that between us. We had a wonderful exchange. Its amazing to see how the spirit can connect us even though we aren't companions. We had a really great time getting to know each other. Elder Haws has a very strong testimony of the gospel and has worked really hard to be out here and continues to work really hard. I sure look up to him.

We had an opportunity to meet up with Sister Shock and Sister Birkmire this week. Well lets just say it was probably the most interesting lesson that I have ever had. This was the first time we have met with them but they have been taught about the Restoration. The other Elder's did a great job of teaching them the doctrine behind it and made a great first impression with them. They really trust us as representatives of Christ. So we went over there and used the bullets from "How to Begin Teaching with them." I can testify that those bullets were put in there for the purpose of us to pattern our teaching around them. We saw how the spirit really helped them realize our purpose and also our love for them. They felt so comfortable that they told us that they were a couple. Well lets just say that shocked Elder Scott and I. We sat there for a moment waiting for the spirit to testify to us what we need to say. Well we comforted them and told them what the Church's stance is on Homosexuality and also about how we can be cleansed of sin through the Atonement of Christ. We then had a great review of the first lesson with her and the spirit was really strong there. We know our concerns and have faith that the spirit will guide us on how we can best help her come unto Christ. We have an appointment with her this week with our ward mission leader. We will be teaching her about Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance and how the Atonement works into that. We will also be teaching her about the Law of Chasity and invite her to live that law. It will be an interesting lesson I am sure but I know that the Lord will help us and help her overcome this affliction in both of their lives. They came to Church on Sunday and they both really enjoy it. The Sisters are really making them feel welcome. They are starting to participate in the class's as well. Its great to see how the spirit is slowly working on them.

Well we met with Ian McLeod this week. He is wonderful. I can't tell you how much I love him. He is doing so great. We found the perfect fellowshipper for him this past week. Brother Haymours is a less active member who served his mission in Texas that is just getting reactivated into the ward. He has and his wife have a little girl and are expecting a new child. Well Brother Haymour came out with us and it was perfect. They clicked really well. We started out the lessons by answering all of his inspired questions that he had. They are all helping him truly come unto Christ. We helped him answer his own questions by using the scriptures. He was really worried about the temple and why he had to go there. Well the spirit taught him and by the end of the lesson he wants to go to the temple with his wife. We were so excited to hear that. We finished the Plan of Salvation with him and he told us "That it all makes sense." He even told us that he believes that the Book of Mormon is true. It then really hit him that he said yes and so he started stumbling for words and started mumbling. Well we helped him realize that it was ok to say yes and that he needs to continue to read and pray and he will have that more solid testimony. We are really excited about him. We tried setting a date but he told us that he wants to be baptized but doesn't want a date. He told us he would let us know when he got his answer. Its only a matter of time before he gets an answer. He told us that he really does want to be baptized on the 18th of December. So we are shooting for that. He is so wonderful. Then at the end of the lesson he prayed again. He is volunteering to pray. Its wonderful to see. His prayers are coming along great and you can tell he has a sincere desire to know that its true. Brother Haymour then invited him and his wife over for dinner. We are really excited about the ward getting involved. He came to Church on Sunday and it was great to see him learn and really be interested in what was going on.

We met with an investigator this week that we haven't met up with for a while. We actually had a miracle happen with them. We were teaching the Albright Family when we first got here but Sister Albright started having marital problems so told us they were going to move to Ohio. Well that fell through. Sister Albright got a job at Walmart and is trying know to find a place here in Goldboro. There house is falling apart and they can't live there anymore and they want to be away from the Father. Well Elder Scott and Elder Tibbitts while on exchange went over to see them and started talking to Jessica (the daughter) and she told him all the troubles they were going through and so they set up an appointment to meet with them. Well Sister Albright had to bring back the car at her lunch time and so they saw her for a moment. Well Elder Haws got a hole in his tire so we had to go and get another tube from Walmart. Well Sister Albright was standing right there outside waiting for her ride. She used our phone to make sure they were coming and she told us how she had saw the other Elders earlier and know she sees us and she told us that this must be a sign that I need to meet with y'all. The Lord is truly blessing the lives of the people and is directing us on where we need to go and who we need to see. Well we taught them about the Atonement when we went over and they said they were going to come to Church but they cancelled on us. We have another appointment with them this week in a member home though. So were pretty excited about that.

We tried visiting with alot of members and less actives this week but alot of the appointments fell through. So we did some finding on our own. It was great to do some tracting. We really have changed the way we are tracting. We are trying to let the spirit lead our conversations. We know that ever individual that we speak to needs to be called to repentance and that they all have different situations that they are going through. We are excited to continue to work hard in this are to help the work move along in Goldsboro.

Well I love y'all and hope you have a wonderful week

Love Elder Butler

I know how important it truly is to prepare.

Well this week has been really incredible. I have felt the love of our Savior this week abundantly. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to prepare for Zone Conference. Preparing for Zone Conference this time was different from the last times I prepared for it. I went into my study with a question in mind and received some wonderful revelation. I have really learned my purpose as a missionary. I am to invite everyone to repent. I have seen a drastic change in my teaching as I have applied the Doctrine of Christ in my teaching. I am so grateful for all the revelation I received at Zone Conference from the Spirit. I now know how important it truly is to prepare.

Well this week has been truly amazing. Sariah was baptized and confirmed this weekend. It was absolutely wonderful. It was a bit hectic but the Spirit was there to testify of the truthfulness of the ordinance. The Bishop said that this Saturday was going to be good and we would do it at 3. Well he forgot about his son's wedding reception so there was a lot of running around going on in the Church while we were getting ready. On top of that the Hot water wasn't working so the water was really cold. John (Sariah's Father) showed up 20 minutes late as well so we didn't start till he got there. Well all went well. Satan was trying to make everything not work but in the end everything was wonderful. I was grateful just to be apart of the experience. The ward really took over everything. She is going to be the key to helping her whole family become members of the Church. She is the reason why they started coming to Church. They told us yesterday that Sariah told her mom the she wanted to go back to Church. Well that night we showed up. The Lord hears the prayers of the Children. "Faith like a little Child" She was Confirmed on Sunday in Sacrament Meeting. We were really worried and on the edge of our chairs because Sacrament meeting had started and they weren't there yet. Well we had the hymn and prayer and they still weren't there. Thank goodness there was a baby blessing. Right when they had finished the blessing Sariah walked in looking so brilliant as she was dressed in white. She got called right up and was confirmed a member of the Church. It was amazing to be apart of that experience. I am so excited for the members to go over and teach her the new member lessons. It is going to be wonderful. I know that the Lord will soften the hearts of the family and they will begin to take the lessons as well. Darlene started meeting with the bishop a couple of weeks ago and told us that she would be getting baptized soon. Her father will be next.

Well we had a wonderful lesson with Ian this week. HE IS ON FIRE. He is always so prepared for our lesson spiritually and mentally. He is always prepared to learn and ask us questions. It is really exciting to see his progress. We found out that his concern is about temples. He is having a hard time understanding the principle of them. We told him that his problem would be solved when he understood the Book of Mormon and understood that Joseph Smith is a true prophet. I am so grateful for the October Ensign. It has really helped me out. I have learned alot about temples and we are excited to help him understand them more and help him receive that answer of why he needs to be sealed in them. We gave him a pretty bold promise this week. We told him if he started out his study of 3 Nephi 11 with a prayer, read through it and then pondered it for 15-20 minutes and then got down and prayed to know if the book of mormon is true that he would receive his answer. The spirit guided that promise and I know it will be fulfilled. We fasted and prayed about that promise and we know that he will receive his answer. We are really excited for him. He also came to the Baptism and loved it. He said it made sense and it was very peaceful and edifying. I am so excited for him. We are going to invite him to be baptized this week for November 27. He is truly ready. He has been to Church three times!

Well Sister Rodriguez decided that she is going to be moving with her family to Fountain, North Carolina. I think it will be best for her to get a new start out there. We are going to be meeting with her one last time and moving her date so that the other Elders can help her be prepared to be baptized. I know that she knows the Church is true. We are really excited for her to be a member. It has truly been bring her family close together and hopefully will help re activate he family. I know that the Lord has a plan for her and that he will guide her and help her so that she can live with him again.

Well we were able to see Jimmy for the first time in 6 weeks. It was so wonderful to see him. The whole family has changed. They have started praying and together as a family and have started attending both the Pentecostal and LDS church. They want us to keep coming back and to help them grown as a family. They are wonderful. I really feel such a great love for them and want them to join so bad. I know that the Lord will help us overcome whatever obstacles they have and help them do the same. I am really excited to teach them again next week. We gave them a proclamation to the family to read and study before we come back!

We also got another new investigator. The other Elders taught a lady in our area because they got the referral for her. So they did a great job teaching her. Her name is Sister Shock. We are going over to meet her this week and will be able to see what she needs. She had a baptismal date forDecember 11th but by the end of the lesson there wasn't a date. So we will see what happened and help set that date with her. She came to Church yesterday and really enjoyed it. The ward was really great. We will find out more information and I will let you know next week about her.

Well I am grateful to be serving here. I love Goldsboro so much and I love the ward as well. We are starting to work even more with the ward to try and find who we can teach. We got really fired up after the role play at Zone Conference. I really needed that role play. I wasn't sure how dinner appointments were supposed to go. We have already gotten a referral from applying this new way of teaching. I am starting to really realize my purpose as a missionary.

Trying to Talk to Everyone

Well things here this week have been really good. It was definitely a weird week this week. Since Halloween was on Sunday we had the whole weekend for trick or treating so we couldn't be out after dark. So we tried to get lessons and appointments but just ended up being with members which was great. We had alot of appointments cancel which has been disappointing but I am beginning to realize that the gift of agency can be used for good and bad. I am grateful that the Lord is blessing me with patience. This week truly has been a week of miracles. We have had alot of really spiritual experiences with our investigators this week and alot of people. I am learning everyday the magnitude of my call. I am beginning to feel really bad if I don't talk to someone that I pass. I am grateful that I am on bikes so that I can stop no matter what and talk to someone. Its scary!!! For some reason I get intimidated but the Lord is answering my prayers and I have seen a difference in myself this past week. I have prayed for the strength to talk to everyone. When I would pass someone the spirit would help me turn around and go and talk to them. It has truly helped our goal of reaching those 10 QGC's everyday. It is hard but I know if I talk to everyone the Lord will trust me to teach his elect and he will put them in my path. We have seen that this week with our tracting efforts. We knocked alot of doors and didnt have much success but the Lord did bless us for our diligence. We got 4 or 5 appointments this week from just contacting people. It was really wonderful. Definitely a tender mercy from the Lord!

Well our investigators are doing pretty good.

We taught Sister Rodriguez this week on Monday. She is doing wonderful. She continues to read her scriptures, specifically out of the Book of Mormon each day. We give her a phone call, along with her sister who is a less active, everyday and they don't answer most of the time but it definitely has increased my testimony of why it is so important to have daily contact with our investigators. We had a really great lesson with her on the first part of the Plan of Salvation. She is a bit of a slow learner which is actually a blessing to me. Its helping me learn to teach slower and ask alot of inspired understanding questions. I think that I sometimes take for granted that they know what were talking about but in reality they have no idea what we are talking about. So I am learning how to teach for understanding. The spirit was so strong in our members home, the Grays( Our ward mission leader). They have been the perfect fellowshippers for her. They call her a few times a week to make sure she is doing good. She didn't come to Church yesterday and were kind of confused why she didn't but we have a lesson with her tonight so we will figure out why she didn't attend.

Ian McLeod is doing wonderful. I can't tell you how excited I am for him. I have never had any investigator come so prepared for a lesson before. Whey we got into his home we sat down and saw that he had a pad of paper full of questions. We challenged him last time to write down any questions that he had and asked his wife to help him out with that. She is less active and doesn't know the gospel so well and so every time he would ask her a question she would write it down for him. He also wrote some questions down that he had when he was reading out of the scriptures and the pamphlet. It was so exciting to see that he was prepared. We prepare all week to go over there and teach him and it was really nice to see that he did the same. I can tell that he is becoming converted to the gospel. He even offered to give the opening prayer. Elder Scott and I were just beaming that whole lesson. The spirit was there so strong. The spirit was helping us ask inspired questions but also helping Brother McLeod to ask inspired questions. He is on the road to accepting the gospel. We taught him about the Restoration. He felt that it was true when we taught it to him. He just feels good and cheerful. His countenance is changing. I am so excited that I get to be apart of this significant experience. We asked him if he found out all this was true would he be baptized? He said her would if he found out all this was true. So were praying really hard for him!!! He is definitely on the road to finding out its true!!!

We met with Sariah this week and she is so excited for her baptism. Its actually quite comical. She talks about it all the time in our lesson. We finished teaching her the commandments and at the end of the lesson she was like "is that all I need to know to be baptized?" We told her "yes" and she started clapping for joy. " Faith like a little child" is definitely evident in this situation. It is truly bringing her family together as well. Darline's countenance is changing each time we come over. She really wants to be re-baptized. John (who is a non member) has really warmed up to us. He went from not talking to us to now talking to us to the point that if we kept talking we would be late for our next appointment. Having members come with us has been really key in his "changing of heart" We already have lined up, through the Bishops direction, who is going to be teaching the New Member Lessons. We are really excited about this couple. They are ward missionaries and its going to be really great. John already has a great connection with Brother Carroll and Sister Carroll and Darline talk a lot so its going to be great.

Our new investigator for the week, Matt Turcotte, is a friend of a member in our ward. He had been taught by the missionaries about 3 years ago. We read up on his progress record and had a really great lesson with him. He goes to the Church of Christ and has for a long time. He had some really inspired questions when we talked with him. He asked alot of questions on the apostasy so were going to help him understand the apostasy a bit better in our next lesson and help him see in the bible where it talks about it. He reads the bible alot and knows it very well so teaching him is going to help me become more acquainted with the bible and helping him see where it testifies of things in the Book of Mormon. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he is really excited to read out of it. He seems like he has alot of potential. He has a big family. He has 5 kids, who are all 8 and older. I think the Oldest is 19. So there is alot of potential with that family. We only met with him because I think he wants to get a feel for it before his family hears the message as well. So we will see how that goes.

We have been trying to meet with alot of the less actives and part member families. We just updated our map and area book this week and saw that we have alot of part member families in our area. So we are definitely going to be focusing more on them and helping them come unto Christ.

It Truly Makes a Difference When the Members Testify

This week has been really wonderful. We have truly seen some miracles in our area. We met with Sister Rodriguez at the beginning of the week. She has truly been prepared for the gospel. We met in a members home and that truly made the difference. The Gray family is wonderful. We had the Waters family there as well. We had a very powerful lesson on the Restoration of the Gospel. She understood it really well. Sister Rodriguez is more of a visual learner so we watched the Restoration video. The spirit was so strong in their home. The members all went around and bore sincere testimony on the reality of Joseph Smith. It was wonderful. It truly makes a difference when the members bare testimony. Sister Rodriguez felt the spirit and we invited her to be baptized on December 4 and she accepted. It was wonderful. She is doing really great. We are really excited to continue to meet with her so often.

We met with our new investigators this week, The McLeod Family. There is a ton of potential there. Brother McLeod is really looking for the truth. At the beginning of the lesson he told us that he was doing it for his wife. They have only been married a month! You can definitely tell that they have only been married a month! We Throughout the lesson we explained how this is a very individual journey that he is on and that he needs to do it for himself. Brother Creger (our exchange) bore a powerful testimony on why he needed to do it for himself and if he does do it for that purpose he will get his answer. Brother Creger was in the same situation. He married a member and started off by doing it for her but he got his answer when he started doing it for himself. The lesson was a very powerful lesson. We started from the very beginning with Jesus Christ and helping him come to the knowledge that Jesus is the Christ. It was hard from me to teach this principle. I had never done it before. I have never taught anybody without a Christian Background before so it was definitely a really neat experience. I was grateful that the Holy Ghost was there to guide my words and thoughts. It was amazing to see the change in him throughout the lesson and how that spirit was softening his heart. He went from saying "Well I believe this...." to asking inspired questions. At the end of the lesson we invited him to pray and he gave his first prayer. It was absolutely wonderful. He is on the path to finding out if all of this is true. We are so excited for him.

We met with Sariah this week. She was really distracted this week so it was a little bit harder to teach her this week. Teaching an 8 year old is a lot of fun. They are so sincere and they know a lot. We taught her about the commandments this week and it was truly wonderful to see how excited she was to continue to keep the commandments. She is really excited about her Baptism. She gave us her invitation and everything. I love being just a part of this experience and letting the ward do the rest. That's how it should be. I know that I am just an instrument and it's more important to get the members involved so they can be truly converted to the gospel.

We had a lesson with a less active member this week, Chad Daughtry. He is really a great guy. He needs to prioritize the more important things in his life but we are helping him out with that. His whole family isn't members and he wants us to come back and teach his family. I am really excited about him. He once had a testimony of the gospel and we hope to rekindle that testimony and fire it up so he can be a great support to his family. We set up another appointment to see him this week

We met with another part member family this week, The Saulman's. There situation is very difficult. Sister Saulman hasn't been to Church for about 22 years. She was a Catholic and then was baptized into the LDS Church and then went back and is now teaching the Youth at the Catholic Church. Her husband has no intention of ever going to Church again because he went 3 times a week when he was younger and that was just too much for him. We found out some concerns that she has. She wants to have an eternal family but she knows her husband won't change and so her attitude is almost "Whats the point?" So we are going to be trying to meet her needs and help her understand the Doctrine of Christ and build her foundation on that. She says she believes that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true but if she believes those things then she would act upon them. So we are going to try and help her out. Her daughter could have a lot of potential. Apparently she reads out of the Book of Mormon regularly so we are going to see if we can start teaching her.

We had a wonderful social activity with the ward on Saturday. The Chilli Cook-off/ Fall Festival. It was amazing how many members were there. There were over 250 people there and they only planned for 100 people. There were a ton of members of other faiths there. The members brought a lot of their friends. IT WAS GREAT. We talked to so many people and had a really great time sharing the gospel. We have a few appointments with some of the people that came. Our investigators were also there. They had a wonderful time there bonding with that ward. I am grateful for the love that our ward has for missionary work. I would say there were probably at least 20 non-members there and there were about 10 less active members. It was a huge success.
We got to carve a pumpkin and a watermelon for the event. It was hilarious. I got made fun of so bad. They were like " Is that a Canadian tradition or something." It was really funny! I get made fun of so much for being Canadian but its just makes me laugh.

Well I hope yall have a great week. I love you so much and I am glad that you had such a great week. I hope that this week brings great joy.

Love Elder Butler

Just Being More Descriptive for President; Hopefully Y'all Don't Mind

So I am constantly trying new things for the email. This week I wrote my LTP and took a part of it so that I am being more descriptive for President. Hopefully you don't mind.

Well this week was a pretty good week. I really have become so grateful for this area. We got to go to leadership training for a day this week which was wonderful. I was really blessed to have gone because I am not in leadership but President asked us to come. The direction that our teaching is moving into is amazing. The Spirit truly is testifying and teaching more and that's the way it should be. That is what are training is really all about. Everything is centered on the Atonement of Christ. Then you have the Principles of the Gospel going around it: Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism (or the Sacrament for us members), Gift of the Holy Ghost and then Enduring to the End. This is the Doctrine of Christ which we have been focusing everything on. (3 Nephi 11, 3 Nephi 27, 2 Nephi 31) I love it here. I wish this experience will never end and so I am trying to make the most of it. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. Well I will tell you about our investigators and how they are doing.

Sariah is doing really well. She is progressing and is so smart. I love learning from an 8 year old Child. They know the simple answers which is all that really matters. Her favorite answer is "Choose the Right" to a lot of the questions we ask. We have started doing as you have asked and taking over a couple while we teach them. It is really exciting teaching with a couple. Darline continues to come to church and keep the commitments we are giving her. John, Darlines husband, is starting to really warm up to us. Every time we go over there our conversations get longer and longer with him. I hope someday we can figure out why he is so against the Church. It would be a miracle for that to happen but we continue to pray for it because we know "miracles have not ceased!" She is preparing to be baptized on November 6. Her family from Utah is coming to the baptism so were really excited about that. She is a wonderful young girl with a very strong testimony. It is really a humbling experience to teach her. We have to teach so simply that it really is helping me out a lot with my teaching skills. Its amazing what the Holy Ghost teaches a small and innocent child. I am grateful to be a part of her conversion.

We got a new investigator this week. His name is Ian McLeod. He just moved from Oregon with his newly wedded wife, Natasha. They are wonderful. Natasha is a member of the Church and has barely just become active. Natasha's family moved from Idaho a while back and stopped going to Church when they moved to Oregon. About 6 months ago Natasha and her mother started attending Church again. She has only been married a month to Ian. He doesn't have a spiritual background at all. He claims himself to be a Christian but doesn't have an understanding of Christ so we get to teach from the very beginning! I am really excited about them. They are wonderful. They came to Church on Sunday and we only met with them once before. Church was a great experience for him because it was the Primary Presentation. The Doctrine of Christ was taught through the mouth of Babes! The spirit was so strong and he felt it. He felt really comfortable being there! I am excited to start teaching him!!

We didn't have a chance to meet with Kelly Miller this week. We showed up for the appointment and waited a half and hour and she didn't show. We were really sad about that. Hopefully everything is going alright with her family. We invited her to invite her family to take the lessons as well and we are hoping that is not the reason why she didn't show up. She has a lot of great potential. She is a very smart individual and really feels different when we teach her. So we will hopefully be able to get up with her this next week.

We met with Sister Rodriguez this week and had a great experience with her. She came to the Church so I could help her out with a form for work or something like that and we gave her a tour of the Church. She felt the Spirit so strong. Taking our investigators for a tour of the Church is a great idea. It brought out her concerns of why she isn't coming to Church and how we can help. It was great. Her family, who is less active, is really holding her back. Its heart breaking to see. They are moving out of the house that she is living in, in the next month so that should help things. Sister Rodriguez truly has a desire to learn and feel the spirit. She is keeping all the commitments we are giving her except Church. We will hopefully resolve that concern by having her in members homes. We are really excited about doing that. We know that there is a power in having investigators in members homes.

We found another part member family that we are going to try and get reactivated and teach the husband. Sister Harmon is a less active member who says she goes to Church in Ashboro sometimes because that's where her family is from. She says that they are always travelling on weekends but they were going to slow down a bit now because of school. Her husband attends a church quite frequently. Its a Baptist Church. When we met with Sister Harmon he wasn't there but we asked if we could come by and share the message of the gospel with him and she said he has a very open mind so were really excited about that. They are a really wonderful family.

We stopped by Collettes yesterday and saw her for the first time in like 2 weeks. We have been trying to get a hold of her but she hasn't ever called us back. She is having a lot of marital problems and they aren't getting better. They are still planning to move to Ohio but are waiting to find a job up there before they go. They are going to live with her father and then eventually move out. I think that they are going to be her for a while though and they really need the gospel in their lives. They were so happy when they were meeting with us and loved Church. We told them that the adversary is working hard on them and that they need help from the Savior. We are going to meet with them in a members home this week which we are really excited about. I can't wait for that lesson.

Well that's kinda whats been happening in our area. We found out on Saturday that we are both staying here another transfer!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited to be here another transfer with Elder Scott. He is a really great missionary. We have a lot of fun together but we work hard. I am so grateful for the many blessings our Savior has been giving me. I hope that y'all have a great week

Love Elder Butler

That's All The Time I've Got

Well today was a really hectic day and I don't have much tim to write you. I will definately write a really great email on Monday. So much is happening here its wonderful. Know that I am safe and just loving the work. The Lord is truly blessing us so much and I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve out here in this wonderful mission. I am excited to write you about my last couple of weeks on Monday. Ahh chaged my mind I will write you now. I have made a goal to stop procrastinating. Its really tough but I am doing better. I will write you about my past week and then write you about this past week on monday. Things have been pretty crazy without a P-Day this week but have gone by really fast.

Well it looks like we are being kicked out of the Family History Center. Brother Twe is halrious. I love this ward.

Thats all the time ive got

Love Elder Butler

The Lord is blessing us so much

Well this week was pretty amazing. The Lord is blessing us so much out here its crazy. Its really nothing we are doing but its because the members are so diligent in their missionary work. I am very grateful to be in this wonderful ward. I love GOLDSBORO!!! This week has definately been tiring. I haven't been so tired in my whole mission. I just crash when I get home. I have been really slacking on my journal but I have recommitted myself to it and will try better to write in it. Monday was our Preparation Day and it was alot of fun. We wrote alot of letters and played some pool. The other Elders live in a mansion and it has a pool table. So we have alot of fun there. We had a lesson with Collette and Jessica. They truly love what we are saying. The spirit is so strong in the lessons even though there are alot of distractions. We set a baptismal date with Jessica that night for the same day her mother is going to be baptized. They are really excited about it. I am so excited for them both. Their lives and countenances are truly changing. The gospel is amazing. Brother Bo Waters is absolutely wonderful. He has been friendshipping them wonderfully! They had a broken chair and he got it from them and fixed it and got it back to them the next day. Things have just been going great with them.

Tuesday I went on exchanges with Elder Tibbits again. I love him so much. He is such a great missionary. We definately have alot of fun together. We had an appointment with the Armstrong family this week which is always a hard and taxing time. We really can't do anything for them because they need councilling. Their problems are out of our league. We taught them about the Atonement and the importance of scriptures study. I just hope pray that the Lord will help them out. We stopped by this family tha Elder Casper and Elder Tibbitts tracted out when they were on exchanges. They are originally from Utah and are wonderful. Katlyn's family was members but they had a problem with the Church so they stopped going. Katlyn is really open to hearing more about our message. Her husband Chris has alot of great friends that are LDS and is very open minded. Hopefully we will get to meet with them. They are so nice to us. I also go to sit in his VIPER!!! Ya it was sweet!! We did alot of stop by's that night and have some potential part member families that want us to come back.

Wednesday we had District Meeting and it was great as usual. I always learn alot from the lessons. I try to apply as much of it into my missionary work but it takes time I have noticed. We went for lunch with Brother Hull. He comes out with us once a month for a whole afternoon. Its really intense and it seems like all of our appointments always cancel on us. Thanks goodness for back up plans. Well we stopped by Brother Sewells house to just see what we were going to do on Saturday for the service project. We shared a spiritual thought with him and are going to try and meet with him regularly. He is really wonderful. He is a member but his wife is not. He got turned off from the Church because he had a terrible divorce. Hopefully we can re-kindle his testimony. We stopped by a few other people but no one was home. We stopped by a referral we had and they seem really interested in hearing about our message. Hopefully we will be able to get up with them. They wanted us to meet with their whole family. We did alot of tracting that night with no sucess. Thats ok though. We just have to always be doing our part.

Thursday is good old weekly planning day. I am trying to have a better attitude towards it. Its a long planning session but we got alot done. I am so grateful to be entrusted with these wonderful people here in our area. They are truly a blessing in my life. We we biked a long way to go tracting and to our dinner appointment. It was probably about 5 miles. I am grateful for Elder Scott and his eagerness to do whatever. We had a wonderful dinner at the Mauldins. Jimmy is a great cook. We had steak and Potatoes. After dinner Brother Aycock came and sat in on the lesson. Jimmy told us right after the prayer that he didn't want to be baptized into our church. Well that totally took us aback. He said that he has been praying about it and it just doesn't feel right. There is something else that is wrong and we are going to have to find that concern. I hope and pray that the Lord will help us find his concern. We think it has to do with his family all being Pentecostal and them rejecting him if he changes religions. So we will continue to be delicate with that situation but he still wants us to come by and keep teaching him. We saw Darline Gisbon as well tonight. We were only there for a little bit because we were late. They are doing wonderful. We directed the focus on her husband but he told us that he didn't mind us coming by but her doesn't want any part of it and he has his own beliefs. Well that is what we wanted him to tell us. Hopefully he doesn't hinder his family in being in the Church again. We are going to start teaching the lessons again with them. They are so wonderful.

Friday was great. We started out the day by revising our Faith to Invite Plan. We are making it about a 20 minute lesson. Its going to be great. I am so excited to kick it off with Bishop. We had a lesson with Shiela today and it was wonderful. The spirit was so strong their. She was smoking when we got there but we asked if she could put it out and she did. We taught her about the Restoration very simply and easy for her understanding. We then watched the Restoration video and it helped her out alot. She loved it and said she knows that it is true. We set a Baptismal date with her for October 16th. We are really excited for her. We then went over to Collette and Jessica and had a very distracting lesson. They didn't really read the Chapter we gave then and their daughter had to feed their snake and invited the whole neighborhood over. It was really awesome. They said that they both are going to be at Church on Sunday so were really excited about that. We had dinner at the Howards and it was wonderful to hear them pray for their son who is on a mission. I thought alot about my home and all the prayers that are sent my way. I am so grateful for all the prayers on my behalf. They truly help me.

Saturday was the Huge service project at Brother Sewells. It was alot of fun. We just pressure washed the house the whole time while the rest were sheet rocking. We had some great lunch provided by Brother Peele. He is an amazing cook. He made whats called Jumbalia and home made bread. SO GOOD!!! I love food though. We then went back to the apartment and studied and then tracted for a couple of hours. We met some really nice people.On the way to the place we were going to tract we saw Shiela and her grandson Greg fishing. It was so random but wonderful. We were met to see her. She was excited to be going to Church tomorrow. I think Shiela will get her family involved which will be great. I am so excited for her. We then had a crazy lesson with a guy we contacted. His name is Ugiene. He has had alot of trouble in his life and wants to turn it around. He is currently on house arrest and has served 2 years in jail. Well we had a lesson outside with him and it was great. We had to repeat things like 3 times because his family kept coming outside wanting to hear what we were talking about. We have another appointment with them on Wednesday which we are excited for.

Sunday was wonderful. I love Church so much. COLLETTE CAME TO CHURCH AND SO DID DARLINE AND SARIAH!!! Elder Scott and I were exstatic. We had smiles on our faces the whole day. We were actually really spazzy and crazy. It was wonderful. Collette really loved Church. When she thought of three hours she wasn't to excited but she loved it so much that it went by really fast. The ward loves her. They all introduced themselves to her and hugged her and the whole 9 yards. Darline was talking to alot of people she new as well which was great. It was just a wonderful day. The Waters were sure great to her. We had another great lesson that evening. We were supposed to have a lesson with Kelly but she has been blowing us off. We will continue to pray and help her realize the importance of our message. We had a dinner with the Lunna's. THEY ARE WONDERFUL. We spent a long time there but it was worth it. Sister Lunna isn't a member and she usually doesn't invite people over to their place but she felt like she needed to. They laboured for us all day preparing the food. IT WAS AMAZING. It was some tacos and some Mexican stuff. It was so good and they made my favorite pineapple cake. So great. We then talked to them about their music and family. It was great. We then shared a message out of the bible with them. They really enjoyed the message. We are going to try visiting with them more often to try and hopefully teach them. We are doing service for them on Friday. I love them so much and want them to be reactivated in the Church and for Sister Lunna to become a member! The Lord truly has been blessing us this past while. I love Elder Scott. We have alot of fun but work really hard. I have never been so tired on my mission. I am spiritually and physically exhausted each night. The Lord is really blessing this area. That was pretty much my week. I hope that yall have a great week. Know that I love yall and appreciate all the prayers that have been coming my way!!!

Love Elder Butler