Well this week has been amazing! I am definitely not in a rut anymore. I decided that if I was fulfilling my purpose as a missionary how could I get in a rut!? So I made some goals for myself and will be studying a lot harder and trying to be just more obedient. I am going to stop writing letters other than P-Day and focus ALL of my time on reading the Book of Mormon and studying in Preach My Gospel. Its going to be a hard goal but I am excited to take it on.
We have seen miracles the week. MIRACLES!!! Since Zone Conference I have really been trying to just put my faith in the Lord and let him do all the heavy lifting. He just asks us to be his instrument and just do it his way. I am really excited to take this approach in my missionary work. All I need to do is make sure that I am a worthy conduit of his spirit and letting him mold me into whatever kind of instrument he needs me to be. I am definitely excited about it.
We visited with Elizabeth this week and what a miracle she is. We weren't really sure what we were going to teach her but we were excited to teach her. We knew that we were going to have to bring up the Law of Chasity and The Word of Wisdom sooner or later! Well we started talking about the scriptures and how she needed to read them daily to really find out if what we were preaching was true. We went on about that and how the lord will always provide a way (1 Nephi 3:7) I have used that scripture so many times this week its not even funny! Well I asked her the question "Do you think Heavenly Father will answer your prayer?" She told me yes and I was filled with the spirit and asked her if she would offer the prayer and ask her Heavenly Father if these things were true and pray sincerely from her heart. She was hesitant at first but she agreed to do it. She had never prayed the way we have. Elder Cline showed her how to pray perfectly. She has really bad arthritis and so we asked if we could kneel down on her behalf! It was an amazing experience. The Lord answered our prayers and blessed us for having the faith to be obedient and do what we had been taught to do in Zone Conference. As missionaries you don't get to see the blessings of your hard work sometimes but getting someone to kneel before there Master and God and pray and them have their prayer answered right there was amazing! SHE GOT HER ANSWER! She was crying afterwords. Well I felt prompted to ask them straight up if they were married. They said "no" and so we talked a little bit about the Law of Chasity and told them to pray and talk about it. Steven (her Fiance and Less active member of the Church) smiled. It was a great moment. We also introduced the Word of Wisdom and Steven started to cry. We gave them a Stop Smoking Plan that the Church has come out with and it was amazing. It will be a long road with them but we set a baptismal date for June 20, 2010! I was going to change it when I found out they weren't married but the spirit constrained my tongue! It was incredible. Its the Lords work, not mine. I let my carnal self take over for just a moment but am thankful to the Lord that the spirit was there to constrain my tongue. They can be ready by that date!!!
We also had a lesson with Justice this past week as well. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he answered all of the questions like he was a member of the Church. It was truly inspiring. He is definitely elect!! We then set a baptismal date with him for June 27,2010. Hawk, his member friend that has been with us in the lessons, told us that his birthday was that day!!! Only the Lord knows these things. Hawk will be able to baptize Justice into the Church. How incredible would that be. I am grateful to our members. Really if the members aren't doing missionary work we are just tracting. It's the members who are the ones that find the Elect most of the time.
It has been a really incredible week for me. I have grown a lot and have seen the blessings of trying to be more obedient. The spirit is teaching me so much that I don't know how my brain takes it all in. I am grateful for the opportunity to be out here serving the Lord, Sharing His gospel!!! We have interview with President this week and I am very excited to see him. I love talking to him. He is such an example to me! GUESS WHAT!!!! You were right!!! Elder Bednar is coming to talk with the WHOLE mission on June 5th!!! Not only him but also Elder Snow (president of the seventy) and Elder Giddens (area seventy). I am really excited for that. It will be incredible!!! I love it here. I might find out this week if I'm getting transferred or staying her two but we will see. Transfers are on June 15.
Love Elder Butler
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Kneeling Prayers
Well this week has been a really weird week I guess. It seems like I am just getting into a rut!! But then we had Zone Conference!!! What an amazing experience. They changed up Zone Conference a bit. Instead of doing it the week 5 of the transfer they have decided to do them in week 1 and 2 of the transfer to really apply what we have learned with our new companion for the 4-5 weeks. It was absolutely an amazing Zone Conference. We did a lot of role playing and this time we were encouraged to really take it seriously. Man it was amazing. I really felt like I was Elizabeth Brown and Astevia Willet. I felt what there needs were and then we got to have a kneeling prayer for them. It was absolutely amazing. I felt the spirit so strongly. Instead of doing Zone Conference in the Chapel we set up some tables and had it more like a "conference" set up! It was really great. I have a lot to work on. I am really excited about this transfer. I am going to have to work really hard at making sure that I am doing all that I can to be a better missionary and better companion. There are so many things that I am inadequate at, but that's the wonderful things about the Atonement. Jesus Christ makes up for my weaknesses! I have a few trials to get over this next week but I am excited for the ride. I am grateful for all the weaknesses that my Heavenly Father gives me to help me grow. I love the way he is so gracious when I need help (which is always) and the way he handles me when I mess up. He truly loves me. Isn't that great to know that we have a father in heaven who loves us! I have really realized this week that we take advantage of the gospel too much. We don't realize the impact it really has on people's lives until we see someone come from not knowing to being baptized.
Kelly's baptism was amazing! I cant even tell you how it changed me. Her fire is incredible. We had one of the new member lessons with them this week and we invited the Leech's to come with us! It was really great for both of them. Kelly even wants to teach her mom the gospel. New converts have a fire about them that is really incredible.
I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Bigelow (our District Leader) this week. It was really incredible. He is a very hard worker. Even though he just has 4 weeks left he is still doing all that he can. That is something I need to work on. To really do all that I can to progress this work. He taught me how to really do door approaches better. I need to ask more questions when I am at someone's door. I need to try and make them as accountable as I can so that they will be able to feel that guilt and ask themselves "why do I feel guilty now and not before?!" The spirit testifies of truth and I need to be better at teaching at the door rather than have the attitude, oh its just another door to get slammed in my face. The Lord has suffered for that and I need to be more excited and really "gung ho" about it. While on exchanges we met with a guy named Dennis. Man what an interesting man. He is a genius but is currently unemployed. He knows a lot of things. It was so hard to teach him thought because he believes in a "Supreme Being" but not in God. He had a lot of really deep doctrinal questions he asked us. It was so reassuring to me afterwords that I know the simple answers, those primary answers about this gospel. These deep questions can be made known unto me later but it's all about having faith and learning the little things and then growing and learning the bigger things. We can't eat steak before first drinking milk.
We had a lesson with Elizabeth Sammons this week. It was a really interesting one. She likes the Bible a lot. It's really going to test me and how well I can listen to the Spirit. I don't know the Bible really at all but I do know the Book of Mormon pretty good and that's what matters. The Lord will help me teach her because I will have the Holy Ghost to testify of truth. She seems interested though. She has been meeting with the missionaries for about 15 years. It was really interesting to me how all she knew was the Joseph Smith Translated the Book of Mormon with special glasses. That's all she knew after the 15 years. She had never been invited to Church or anything like that! I hope that I am inviting everybody I meet to repentance and to Church and to read out of the Book of Mormon while I am out here. I have a lot to work on!
Justice is on fire!!! He will be baptized soon I'm sure. We are just helping him to gain faith in Jesus Christ and help him realize the importance of the decision he is going to make. We had a lesson on Baptism with him and he said "so all I have to do to be baptized is jump in a pool of water with a bunch of Mormons and have their hands on my head right?!" It was really funny! I love him so much.
The Leech's are doing really great. They are reading and praying together and having family home evening and doing everything they should. I really love that family! They are an inspiration to me! I look up to Brother Leech so much. He will be one that I keep in contact with for sure!
We haven't been teaching Lauren lately because she has been in finals. She told us to call this week so we are excited about that. Astevia and Katherine have been gone to DC for that past while because they needed a break. They have both just finished at school. Kim is still not interested. Elder Cline and Elder Moreno had a lesson with them while we were on splits. They apparently tried to set a baptismal date but it failed. I wonder why that is. I wonder why they won't make that commitment. I will definitely be praying hard about it though.
We have been having kneeling prayers with everyone we have taught and the members as well! It was really made clear in Zone Conference that we should do this. We need to be more reverent when addressing our Heavenly Father. There is such a different spirit when we do it. I love it.
We met with Elizabeth Brown last Tuesday and will be meeting with her again today. Today could be a rough lesson. I hope and pray that the spirit will be with me. We have to teach the Word of Wisdom with them and The Law of Chasity. President said "that the spirit CANNOT be present if the Law of Chasity isn't being kept. Its better that we approach this now then later!
I need to be more bold but lovingly. I need to stop protecting my teaching pool. There are the elect out there and I can find them. I can't be wasting my time if our investigators aren't progressing. They need to know the importance of our time and the importance of our message. Its going to be a really interesting week I think. I am going to be pushing my Companion more to go tracting and to find. We need to find more investigators. We have been not so good at that. I am such a weak missionary but I am trying to become what the Lord wants me to be. Mindy set me a paper with like 15 steps to having a better attitude. I am going to start reading these steps every morning and night so that I can try and have a better attitude. Its really all about our attitude!!! I really do love this gospel so much. It has really changed my life and changed other peoples lives as well. I know that what I am doing here is inspired by God. It will be taught his way.
Kelly's baptism was amazing! I cant even tell you how it changed me. Her fire is incredible. We had one of the new member lessons with them this week and we invited the Leech's to come with us! It was really great for both of them. Kelly even wants to teach her mom the gospel. New converts have a fire about them that is really incredible.
I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Bigelow (our District Leader) this week. It was really incredible. He is a very hard worker. Even though he just has 4 weeks left he is still doing all that he can. That is something I need to work on. To really do all that I can to progress this work. He taught me how to really do door approaches better. I need to ask more questions when I am at someone's door. I need to try and make them as accountable as I can so that they will be able to feel that guilt and ask themselves "why do I feel guilty now and not before?!" The spirit testifies of truth and I need to be better at teaching at the door rather than have the attitude, oh its just another door to get slammed in my face. The Lord has suffered for that and I need to be more excited and really "gung ho" about it. While on exchanges we met with a guy named Dennis. Man what an interesting man. He is a genius but is currently unemployed. He knows a lot of things. It was so hard to teach him thought because he believes in a "Supreme Being" but not in God. He had a lot of really deep doctrinal questions he asked us. It was so reassuring to me afterwords that I know the simple answers, those primary answers about this gospel. These deep questions can be made known unto me later but it's all about having faith and learning the little things and then growing and learning the bigger things. We can't eat steak before first drinking milk.
We had a lesson with Elizabeth Sammons this week. It was a really interesting one. She likes the Bible a lot. It's really going to test me and how well I can listen to the Spirit. I don't know the Bible really at all but I do know the Book of Mormon pretty good and that's what matters. The Lord will help me teach her because I will have the Holy Ghost to testify of truth. She seems interested though. She has been meeting with the missionaries for about 15 years. It was really interesting to me how all she knew was the Joseph Smith Translated the Book of Mormon with special glasses. That's all she knew after the 15 years. She had never been invited to Church or anything like that! I hope that I am inviting everybody I meet to repentance and to Church and to read out of the Book of Mormon while I am out here. I have a lot to work on!
Justice is on fire!!! He will be baptized soon I'm sure. We are just helping him to gain faith in Jesus Christ and help him realize the importance of the decision he is going to make. We had a lesson on Baptism with him and he said "so all I have to do to be baptized is jump in a pool of water with a bunch of Mormons and have their hands on my head right?!" It was really funny! I love him so much.
The Leech's are doing really great. They are reading and praying together and having family home evening and doing everything they should. I really love that family! They are an inspiration to me! I look up to Brother Leech so much. He will be one that I keep in contact with for sure!
We haven't been teaching Lauren lately because she has been in finals. She told us to call this week so we are excited about that. Astevia and Katherine have been gone to DC for that past while because they needed a break. They have both just finished at school. Kim is still not interested. Elder Cline and Elder Moreno had a lesson with them while we were on splits. They apparently tried to set a baptismal date but it failed. I wonder why that is. I wonder why they won't make that commitment. I will definitely be praying hard about it though.
We have been having kneeling prayers with everyone we have taught and the members as well! It was really made clear in Zone Conference that we should do this. We need to be more reverent when addressing our Heavenly Father. There is such a different spirit when we do it. I love it.
We met with Elizabeth Brown last Tuesday and will be meeting with her again today. Today could be a rough lesson. I hope and pray that the spirit will be with me. We have to teach the Word of Wisdom with them and The Law of Chasity. President said "that the spirit CANNOT be present if the Law of Chasity isn't being kept. Its better that we approach this now then later!
I need to be more bold but lovingly. I need to stop protecting my teaching pool. There are the elect out there and I can find them. I can't be wasting my time if our investigators aren't progressing. They need to know the importance of our time and the importance of our message. Its going to be a really interesting week I think. I am going to be pushing my Companion more to go tracting and to find. We need to find more investigators. We have been not so good at that. I am such a weak missionary but I am trying to become what the Lord wants me to be. Mindy set me a paper with like 15 steps to having a better attitude. I am going to start reading these steps every morning and night so that I can try and have a better attitude. Its really all about our attitude!!! I really do love this gospel so much. It has really changed my life and changed other peoples lives as well. I know that what I am doing here is inspired by God. It will be taught his way.
Thank you for all the support that you continually give me. Know that I love and am proud of you all. You guys keep me going sometimes. Know that you are always in my prayers.
Love Elder Butler
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Kelly Green is Getting Baptized!
Well this week has been so amazing!!! I cant even tell you how excited I am. Kelly Green is getting baptized on May 8th!!! We committed her on Tuesday to be baptized! She asked if I would be the one to baptize her. I was honored when she asked me. I wish her husband could be doing it though but he has made some decisions that are restricting him from doing so but he is on the right track. Man it was so amazing the lesson we had with her. So Kelly has always asked really hard questions and a couple of weeks ago she asked the question "why can men be sealed to more than one woman and woman can only be sealed to one man?" So I answered the question to the best of my ability saying, "that was true and I'm not sure why." Apparently after she got off the phone she was crushed. She started crying and went into a state of darkness. She was about to stop meeting with us and give the gospel up. But she prayed and asked God if this was true and she prayed to know the reason why. She told us that he had an answer clear as day. She felt that the sealing power was a sacred power and that she could be sealed to her husband for time and all eternity. She questioned her answer so she asked again and got the same overwhelming feeling again. We met with her on Tuesday and she told us all of this. When we got there we had a few ideas of what we were going to talk about but not quite sure how to go about it but the spirit prompted me to talk about the Book of Mormon and really emphasize it! I am grateful for the spirit. Apparently she hadn't been reading out of the Book of Mormon and felt bad because of it. She felt like she was wasting our time(Jake told us this when he was driving us home after the appointment). So we talked to her about the importance of reading out of the Book of Mormon and then I felt prompted to ask if we could listen to Elder Hollands talk "Safety for the Soul" What a powerful testimony. We then had silence after the talk and we committed her to read out of the Book of Mormon Daily and to pray and ask if its true. We then told her to phone us IMMEDIATELY when she got her answer because we knew it was going to be soon. We then had a long pause after that. I didn't know why and was kind of confused at the first but the spirit whispered to me "you asked the wrong question but I reworded it for you in her mind" She then said "Yes, I'm ready!!" We then gave her the baptismal commitment found in PMG and set the date for Saturday, May 8th. I am so grateful for the spirit. This is Jesus Christ's work and it will be done his way! I am grateful that the spirit made up for my inadequacy's. I am really excited for her to be baptized. She has grown so much and is really excited about the baptism!!! We have her baptismal interview tonight with the Zone Leaders and then Saturday at 12:30 is her service. We are really excited about that. We got a scare on Saturday though. President Cotterell sent out a voicemail saying there splitting up the Fayetteville Zone into 2 Zones again and the last time they did that they had the Zone Leaders in Pinehurst. So we were nervous that we both were going to be transferred out since Saturday is the day we find out but were not being transferred. I'll be in Pinehurst another 6 weeks!! Astevia and Katherine are doing great. We have been meeting with them regularly again and they are starting to be on fire. They have been reading out of the Book of Mormon a lot more and they really are excited about it. Kim has a boy friend so we haven't seen her since last month. We continue to pray for her! We have been having daily contact with our investigators and its been really great. President knows what he's talking about. We have 2 new investigators this week: Chase and Katherine Sammons. Its so weird to hear my name all the time. We are pretty excited about them. We have also been teaching a less active as well, Steven Wilson and his fiance is investigating, Elizabeth Brown. I am really excited!!!! Things are going really good here! I am excited for the new transfer. Lots to work to be done. Brother Leech is going to be helping us with the New member lessons with Kelly and Jake!!! He is on fire!! I love this gospel so much and am so grateful for the blessing to preach it. I love you all and am grateful for the support you give me.
Love Elder Butler
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