Gearing up for my 1st TRANSFER!

Well this week has been really different for me. It definitely has been the slowest week of my mission. I am grateful to be here in Pinehurst and I don't want to go. I really love it here and truly have the love of Christ for the members and non-members here. The members were so nice to me this past week. We had dinner and lunch's all week! I have gotten a lot of people to sign my remember book and they just have said so many nice things. I am really nothing without the Lord. I am so grateful to have started out here and feel the love that Christ has for me through the members of the ward. They would really do anything for me.

It was definitely hard saying goodbye to my converts. Kelly and I just both cried! Same with Elizabeth. I truly love them with all my heart and want to serve them in whatever capacity I can. Its amazing when you have love for the people it changes everything. I am definitely going to miss this ward so much. Sis Young should get there this week. I think she said Wednesday!

Well I am really excited to train and be in a new area. Its going to be really intense and I am going to have to learn fast and really rely on the spirit. I have truly been comforted by the Holy Ghost. I fasted yesterday to have the fullness of the Holy Ghost with me while I train and open up this new area! I felt the love and comfort from the Lord that this is where I am supposed to serve. I am really sad to be leaving Elder Cline. I truly love him so much and will really miss him. He is definitely a great Elder and I am excited to be training with him. We will definitely be keeping in touch throughout the mission.

Well Justice is still getting baptised this next week. We are going to be going and seeing him today for the last time. I hope! I think that he got surgery again on his face. We have been doing alot of tracting and alot of finding this week and got 4 referrals which was awesome. We were definitely grateful for that.

We got to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week which usually doesn't happen but they called President and felt like they needed to and it would be a good idea. We had alot of fun. So funny story. The Zone Leaders cover 3 wards, Fayetteville 3rd, Singles ward and the Fort Bragg ward (which is a military ward). So we had a couple of appointments on post that night so we go and check in at the gate and they asked us for our licences. Of course they looked at mine. They then asked where it was from. I told them Canada and they just looked at me. I repeated myself and then they said that they needed to see my passport!!!! Who in there right minds carries their passport around? Well needless to say they wouldn't let me on base. So funny. So I went on splits with the Elder Quorum President of the Fayetteville ward while Elder Milovich went onto post. I played with his kids and got ice cream. Definitely a great time. Well I hope that your next week is wonderful. I am sure my new email will be a bit more exciting than this one. I am so grateful to be out here. I truly love it so much and man its great. I get to go and spend the rest of today with Brother Leech!!!! I love him so much and am really going to miss him alot. Well I love you all and pray for you always.
Love Elder Butler

Training

Well sorry this email is going to be short. We went golfing on Pinehurst #6 today and it was great but took longer than we expected. We went with Bro. Wilson. He is amazing. I sure love him and his family. Its usually a 250-300 dollar course but we got on for FREE!!! BOO YA! . Well this week has definitely been a crazy one. We have had some really long days tracting and finding NO one to teach but like Mindy has said "Tracting is for us (the missionaries)" I am grateful for the opportunity to be in Pinehurst. The ward is absolutely amazing! They really love doing missionary work and that's how we get investigators that are solid.
Twain dropped us this week :( ! I was really sad to get the phone call about it. He told us that he learned alot from our Church but was Baptist his whole life and really likes his pastor. We are going to keep in touch with him because he has received an answer whether the church is true or not. It's a matter of following the spirit. Justice is doing good but man is it hard to teach teenagers. They don't want to listen ever and getting them to have a lesson with us is a nightmare. His date is still forAugust 1, 2010.
Well some exciting news. This morning Elder Cline and I got a phone call from President. We have been getting alot of Phone calls from him lately about the work here and different things but this phone call was a bit different. Elder Cline talked to him for like 10 minutes and then he handed it off to me. Well President has called me to be a TRAINER!! I am so excited. Its going to definitely be a challenge training a brand spankin new missionary. I know I was alot of work. So I am really excited about that. He then told me something else which has now got me nervous. Not only am I training but I am opening up a new area in the mission. It is definitely going to be an adventure but I know that the Lord will help me no matter what happens. I am excited to be on the same grounds as my new companion. It will be fun to learn the area together! Man I am so honored and blessed to have the opportunity to have this calling! I am excited to spend another week here. We are going on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week which is weird but I am excited. I really love our Zone Leaders. Usually its only the District Leader that goes on exchanges but we get the privilege of going on exchanges! We also have an appointment with Astevia, Kim and Katherine this week which I am excited about! We haven't been able to get up with them in a month or two. It is going to be hard to say goodbye this week to so many people that I truly love. I truly love this area so much and am grateful to have made so many deep friendships with the members. Oh ya I almost forgot. Well Elder Cline, Bro. Hurlbut, Bro. Chipman, and I sang yesterday in Church. It went really well. We sang Hymn 337 a ccapella! So Sunday morning at about 8 in the morning we got a call from our Bishop. The High Council Speaker called in sick and Bishop needed someone to speak so he asked us both if we could speak for 15 minutes A PIECE!! Well Church starts at 10 and we have meetings from 8:20 -9:40, so needless to say we had between 10-20 minutes to prepare. I was really nervous but the spirit comforted me and I said what the spirit wanted me to say. I have never felt so calm in my life giving a talk before. It was amazing and definitely a miracle that anybody learned anything from our talks! It truly is the Lords work I sure love you all so much and am grateful for all that you do for me. You are all in my prayers.
Love Elder Butler

Pushing Through the Setbacks

Well alot of people are at the Library so I guess I will just keep it short this week. Things are going really good here. I had my Interview with President this past week and he told me that I will be transferred at the end of this transfer. I am really sad to leave but I know that it will be ok. The Lord truly directs the work here and I will go where he wants me to go. I am really nervous about the transfer since it will be my first one and Pinehurst is all I know but it will be great. I love the excitement of getting to know new people. The work here in Pinehurst is going great. We have been doing alot of knocking!! Justice has pushed back his Baptism to August 1 which means I wont be here. That is totally ok though. His friend from Oklahoma is coming the end of July and Justice's parents want him to there for it. I know that I had nothing to do with his conversion at all. It has all been the spirit. I know that we will be friends forever and that's really all that matters. So it hasn't been to hard for me to grasp that I won't be here for it but we haven't told Justice yet. Twain was doing good until yesterday. We have been getting a member to pick him up for Church since he doesn't have a vehicle. So he called us Saturday night and told us that he was bringing a buddy to church so he wouldn't need a ride. That got Elder Cline and I really excited. So we went to Church and didn't see him at all. We wondered what was going on? Brother Chipman ( the member who has been picking him up and been in the lessons with him) decided that he was going to go and check up on him. So he went over to his house and he wasn't home but his father was home. Brother Chipman started asking him some questions seeing if he was living the Word of Wisdom. Well it looks like we have another problem. The father said that he "shacks with a girl alot" He also told him "that he has been drinking coffee and alcohol this week" Well that was definitely a bummer to hear about. Apparently is hes not keeping his commitments and we will have to get him to tell us about them. So needless to say, we will be moving Twain's Baptismal date back. I hope that things will start to look better in the upcoming weeks as we teach him. His dad also told Brother Chipman that he likes to lie alot so we will definitely be going by the spirit on this one like we always try to do. It saddens my heart to find out about all of these things but I hope that we can get past all of these road blocks, repent and then move on. He can do it. He truly is elect!!! On the other hand we got a phone call from Lisa Black this past week and she said that she was really excited to meet with us again and would give us a call to set up an appointment. She said that she has been reading alot and believes it to be true. The Lord truly is blessing us!! I am grateful to be in this area. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I love being a missionary. I love being able to talk to everyone and to share the gospel before I even start speaking. I love being able to wear Christ's name on my chest all the time and be a FULL-time representative for him. It is hard and I still have a long way to go and lots to learn and re learn but I know that I can do anything through the Saviors help. This past week has been a real special week for me. I finished reading through the Book of Mormon for my first time out here!! Heavenly Father truly blessed me with a feeling of comfort and peace about the book as I read and when I finished. The Book of Mormon is true. I love it with all my heart and can never deny it. It truly has brought me closer to God and will bless anyone's life who reads it. What a blessing it is to be here. I love it so much and time keeps getting faster.

Who Can Argue With Truth?

Well things here have been alot slower. This past week I have been really sick. I have been throwing up alot and have no idea why. But I am trying to keep on working. I hope to get over it. I have been reading out of the Book of Mormon alot lately. I love that Book so much. I am almost done. I should be done by the end of next week! I feel that my testimony is growing in it and that when I bear my testimony about the Book of Mormon it's more powerful and bold. We have been biking alot this past week. It has been cooler this week which has been a real blessing! We haven't had really any success in finding anybody knocking but we have had some really great conversations that have made me think about alot of things. Justice didn't get baptized this week because he went Camping with his family this weekend for the July 4th Weekend. He will for sure be baptized this week! His friend, Hawk will be baptizing him! I am really excited about it. He is a really good kid and will be a great member of the Church. We had probably one of the most spiritual experiences this past week with Twain. He is truly elect and ready to be baptized. On Sunday we had Brother Chipman pick him up for Church because he lives about 15 minutes away. He loved Church and we asked if we could teach him another lesson at about 4. Well we went over to Brother Chipmans around 4 and taught him part of the Plan of Salvation. It makes sense to him. He is so bold and stubborn in his own ways and tells ya how it is but has been really receptive and has asked alot of questions that we have been able to answer and he hasn't argued about. He told us that this was different. He said that everything that we have talked about and he has heard while he has been going to church he felt to be true and hasn't needed to argue. He knows that there is something different about this Church. We had many opportunities to just have silence and let the spirit really open his heart and teach him. We set a Baptismal Date for Him for July 25, 2010. He accepted!!! I am so excited for him. He is going to be giving up coffee and smoking. He is going to do great. The members love him and have been really trying to help him. He got some phone numbers for possible employment and I hope and pray that everything works out and he will get a job. He isn't going to Church for a job, hes going for his personal salvation! It brought me to tears to see the change in him. To see how the Lord really does answer prayers if we are obedient. I am grateful to be in Pinehurst. I truly love this area and could stay here my whole mission. I am grateful for my companion. He has truly started to step up in his leadership skills. He is starting to lead the lessons and take charge. Its hard for me but it brings me joy to see him soar. I talk too much anyways. I am learning to only say what the spirit has told me to say. Its really hard but I am trying it out. It has been really successful so far. So our week was pretty good even though I was sick. We are still trying to find people but I know that the Lord will help us and put them in our path. We have interviews with President this week and I love meeting with him. He is a great man and I sure love him.

Bikes=Miracles

Well there have been many miracles this week!!! We have had an exchange almost everyday this week to come out with us even if it is to go and stop by some former investigators or some less actives. I really love our ward so much. It is growing so big. We just had 3 new families move in this past month with 6 children each!!! I love being able to learn all of their names!!! I love our ward so much. They are really supportive of us and they want to help us out as much as they can with missionary work. We are going to start taking the young men out with us on exchanges to help them prepare for missions. Scott Whitcar is back this week so we will be phoning him alot to come out and help us. We got two new investigators this week. Twain is a miracle. He was a friend of one of the members in the ward and came to church one day and absolutely loved it. We taught him the restoration and he loved it and believed it all. He will be baptised at the end of July!! We met with a referral from Sanford whose mother was a member. She had some questions that we were able to answer and then we taught her the restoration as well. She has had some experiences with the Holy Ghost directing her and she has acted upon those promptings. The Lord is really blessing us for our diligence to bike and not complain!! He has given us investigators that are really elect and have alot of potential. I am really excited on what this week has to bring. We just had Zone Conference on Friday and man was it wonderful. I really learned how Christ feels about our investigators. He loves them so much and I got to feel that love. It brought me to tears how powerful the feeling was. I am grateful for my Heavenly Father and the small miracles he gives me each day. He is so generous and merciful. We also learned a new pattern of teaching as well. Its REALLY HARD!!! We are to ask our investigators, before we teach anything, questions that the spirit wants us to ask to figure out their concerns so we can teach them the way the Lord wants. We did some role plays with it and man was it hard. It's hard to just open you mouth and get out of the way and let the Spirit teach. I am going to try harder to do this. The spirit is the teacher I am not. If it is taught by some other way it isn't of God (D+C 50:9-22) It was definately a wonderful Zone Conference. Justice is getting Baptized this week. We are really excited about him. In our last visit with him he told us that ever since he has made the decision to be baptized he can't stop smiling. He is prepared and ready!! He will be baptized his friend Hawk who just turned 16 yesterday! Its going to be a great experience. Things have been really going great here. Elder Cline and I have been making goals to be more obedient. It has been great to see the Lord bless us for being obedient. We cannot receive blessings if we aren't being obedient (D+C 130:20) I am excited to keep on going. There are lots of people here who need the gospel!!!