We are all so blessed to have the gospel in our lives and have family!

Well my week has been really awesome. We started getting out of the apartment. I am just going to tough through it. I don't really care anymore if I'm sick or not I just want to work hard. Elder Birrell is doing really well. Our unity grows more and more as we are obedient and studying together. We have also found a liking to games. We play a game each night for a while to create unity ( like skipbo and phase ten). It's really a lot of fun!!! Well the work here has been going pretty good. We have been tracking a lot trying to find new people to teach. Our ward is starting to help us out because they are starting to implement that program that our stake back home is doing. Its going really well, we still need to work on them though. Well we go by James house quite a bit but whenever he tells us to come back at a different time he cancels or isn't there so next time were going to try just seeing if he can meet with us right then. I am still excited about him though. Haven't been able to meet up with Shae yet. Still trying to find a time that will work out for her. We got a really sad voice mail from Joyce. She decided to go back to the Catholic Church. We phoned her and we talked with her for a bit and she still believes in the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and believes everything we tell her but she feels dirty when she comes to our church because of the smoking thing. She feels like the Catholics accept her and don't look at smoking and the occasional wine as a sin, which they are but we will keep in touch with her and see how she is doing. Just have to give her time. Kelly is doing really good. We tried to clarify with her about men and women how they were equal but it was hard to. We told her she really needed to pray about it and get an answer for herself after a 45 minute conversation with her about it and scripture references. I am glad the spirit was directing us in that conversation. We said a lot of things that her husband has said over web-cam. He comes home on Tuesday so she is really excited about that. I am really excited to meet him and have him in our gospel discussions! We have found 4 new investigators this week. Antonio we tracted and he told us to come back a different day. We taught him the first lesson. He is Catholic and his wife is Christian. He is really open to religion but believes that all religion will get you to the same place. We gave him a LONER (which our mission president suggested) Book of Mormon and have another appointment with him on Friday! We met this lady named Astisia. She is from Panama. She had been taught by the missionaries there when she was 16 ( now she is about 40). We found her while going to a potential investigators house. They guy wasn't home but she had just pulled into the drive way when we were leaving the front door. She cleans their house. What a coincidence! So we asked if we could come see her. Well she accepted and we taught her on Saturday. She has two daughters, Kim and Katherine. We taught them lesson one and it went great, well we thought so. The spirit was there and was teaching us all. I recited the first vision for the first time and messed it up but the spirit was there to make sense of it. I was grateful to have the spirit with me. They seemed really interested and wanted to know more so they wanted to meet on Monday (which is tonight) so we will see how that goes!!! We are both really excited about them and have a really good feeling about them. That is pretty much my week. We have my first Zone Conference tomorrow. We have a potluck this Sunday with the ward. and then next week we get to go to the temple. I am really excited to go to the temple. I love it so much. It has been a really good week and the Lord has blessed us so much. I pray for you all continually and love you all so much. Time is going by so fast but am really loving it. It is crazy to think that i have almost been out a transfer and then in another transfer my companion goes home :(. Well lots of love!!!

Elder Butler

Weekly Update

Well this week has been really great but challenging at the same time. Elder Birrell has been pretty sick this week so alot of time was spent in the appartment. I have learned alot but there is still more to learn, lots more. I have been really studying Alma alot and also in Mosiah. What great books. I have really learned alot. I don't even no where to begin. Well our investigators have been falling through on appointments but we have been trying hard to just keep up with contacting them whenever we can and doing it DAILY. That is the key. We have seen alot of success when we have been contacting them everyday. We are trying so hard to get with this guy named James. He needs the gospel in his life especially right now. It could really bless his life. But we also know that the Lord has a right time and place and we are trying to be influenced by the spirit on what to do. So we have been trying but he hasn't been home when we have made appointments and ya its been really hard. Shae is another one of our investigators who I have yet to meet. We are trying to get with her becasue we feel that it would really bless her life as well. Joyce is an interesting investigator. I love her so much! She knows alot about religion and she wants it so bad in her life and wants to be a "Mormon" so bad but she cant give up smoking and when she tried to she fell into a depression so were trying really hard to be led by the spirit on her. Kelly Green is a really awesome lady. She has been married for like almost a year but her husband is deployed. Her husband is a member and we are trying to teach her but she is really hard on herself and has a hard time remembering names in the scriptures so she gets frustrated and doesn't want to learn anymore. Well she wants to learn again so we are teaching her and trying not to overwhelm her this time with information and take it easy. So I am really excited about her. We have really been blessed here for the investigators. We just need to work harder. I feel the spirit with me all the time. It is so wonderful. My companion is so awesome. We learn new things about eachother everyday and always have fun no matter what we do. I went golfing on Monday which was interesting. My second time only. I shot a 127 which is horrible but whatever it was alot of fun and my companion had a good time. He is really into golf. Well things are going really good here. I love it so much. The weather is getting alot better its like in the 50 and 60s so pretty awesome. Well I think that is all that has really happened this week.

It seems like the days turn into weeks. I have learned a lot this week that it's not about having the worldly things its about being worthy to go to the temple and going as much as we can. You all keep me going. Thank you for being my family and my friends and never giving up on me. You all are so great and I truly appriciate all that you do for me. I love you all so much and encourage you if you have the time to as a family to just read alittle bit out of the book of mormon each day even if it is a verse. It will help so much as i have seen it help my life. Preach my gospel is amazing as well!!!!!

I love you all so much.
You are Always in my prayers
Love Elder Butler

What an Awesome Week!!!

Well my appointment for Monday cancelled so that was kinda dissapointing but things have been going really good here. We had one day where we went knocking on doors and we knocked 20 doors and 18 people answered and were really nice and we got 4 appointments out of it so were really excited about that. My companion has been helping me alot. We work really good together and in unity. Our personalities are relatively the same which is awesome. I have been growing alot this week but I have also been sick... which has been really hard. So between my companion and I we have been sick for the past 2 weeks so we are hoping to get over that this week. I sent some mail up there like last Wedesday so hopefully it will get there and I will be sending my journal entries out this week. There have just been some amazing miracles that have happened. It has been really cold here but we have been tracking in the cold and trying our hardest to find people and we have seen the blessing come from it. I need to start being more obedient though. Bed times have been slipping a bit and that is unacceptable so this week Im going to try really hard to get to bed on time and get up on time. I dont even care if i'm sick anymore. I need to work and serve the people. The Lord will help out with the rest. Well this week looks pretty promising. We have alot of potential investigators. We are also meeting with this guy named James. He is going through a hard time but he needs the gospel in his life. We meet with him tonight. I have been reading alot in moses this past week and its been so great. Reading about the service he has had for his people. I just want to serve so bad so I'm really enjoying it out here. I havent received your package yet but hopeing it will be this week! I have an interview with the president this week and I am really excited about that! I hope everything is going awesome at home! Well I love you all so much and I am excited for what is to come. Im just going to work hard and work hard with my companion. We have started this new thing that we have been doing like between 150-300 sit ups each night and its crazy but we love it. Well know that your in my prayers and just keep remembering Christ everyday.
Love you all
Elder Butler

Ist Transfer Companionships

Elder Butler with Elder Birrell from Rancho Cucamonga, CA serving in Pinehurst
Elder Kopp Elder McMichael from West Valley City, UT Pembroke
Elder Dealba Elder Bradshaw from Ely, NV Smithfield
Elder Torres Elder North from Salt Lake City, UT Raleigh
Elder Petersen Elder Croft from San Diego, CA Smithfield
Elder Thatcher Elder Clark from Salt Lake City, UT Zebulon
Elder Hafen Elder Gann from Pleasant Grove, UT Raleigh
Elder Alexander Elder Pierre-Louis from Rupert, ID Durham
Elder Cahoon Elder Richards from Tremonton, UT Goldsboro
Elder Budgen Elder Weaver from Bothell, WA Knightdale
Elder Guinn Elder Bigelow from Price, UT Lumberton
Elder Goytia Elder Massey from Mesa, AZ Sanford
Elder Chase Elder Chupin from St. George, UT Cary
Elder Brown Elder Espinoza from Provo, UT Raeford

Greetings from NORTH CAROLINA

So this week was pretty awesome!!! I have really enjoyed being here in North Carolina. It's been a little bit cold but ok. We have the car week on week off so we have been biking. The humidity is killing me. I have gotten pretty sick this past week. My companion is really awesome. His name is Nate Birrell. He is from California but since the mission his family moved to Arizona. He is really an awesome trainer (dad). We have been working really hard this week to try and just see people. We have this Investigator couple who we have been meeting with for the past 6 weeks that hopefully will keep our commitment to read and ponder and pray this week. We see them tonight. I have been feed really well this past week. I think that we have had to cook dinner for ourselves once this week. This week to come looks like i wont have to do it at all. I went on splits this past week just becuase my companion is the District leader and had some training so we drove up to Fayetteville and I went, just for the day, tracting and teaching with Elder Brockbank. You just see the miricles that happen for the people. We went into the store so Elder Brockbank could go to the bathroom. There was a guy that asked if we were the guys that were riding bikes. We told him that we were and gave him an explaination of who we are and what we represent. We got his number and he sounded really interested.Things happen for a reason and its awesome to see the Lord work in our lives. Church on sunday was really awesome. We have a pretty awesome ward. They are all so nice to me and my companion. My companion has been really sick this week so the sleeping schedual has been a bit off. I'm not sure what to do about it though so i just get up and read and study. He is a really good teacher and trainer but just been sick this past week so hopefully we both get better for this week. I get about 115 dollars a month for food and stuff like that so its going to be awesome. My apartment is pretty sweet. I have to buy all my linnens and everything but whatever thats ok i guess. I have really enjoyed everything so far except being sick but hopefully my body will get used to it. There are alot of singers in our ward so i'm really excited about that. I really love the missionary life style.