Time truly flies when you are serving the Lord!

I can't believe that it is almost the end of August. Time has been flying by so quickly. I was thinking the other day about it and I have almost been out a year! Man that is a crazy thought but I will continue to press forward with faith. Well this week was a lot better! Still some improvement can be made but I am not complaining. I am just grateful to have such a wonderful Mission President who loves and cares about us individually!

So on Monday after I email y'all we went to Raleigh. We kinda got lost but made it there in pretty good time. Its about a 1 1/2 hour drive. The whole way there I tried to talk to Elder Jones but he was really quiet and didn't really want to talk. So when we got there of course President made fun of me for getting lost and then took Elder Jones into the office. He was there for almost 2 1/2 hours. I just sat in the front room for a while and wrote letters and talked to Sister Cotterell. I love her so much. She really is so wonderful and so genuine.

Well I was fasting for Elder Jones and President that they could figure this all out and I was grateful for the outcome. After President was done talking to Elder Jones he pulled me in for a few minutes and told me that he wasn't going to tell me what he had talked about with Elder Jones but that he was going to be ok. He asked if I had been fasting for them both and I told him I was. It’s amazing how fasting and prayer is noticeable if we are in-tune with the spirit. He said he could tell! I am grateful to have a mission president so in-tune with the spirit. Well we left the mission home and went and ate and then we started back for home.

Well we got lost! We pretty much drove around Raleigh on the freeway like for 2 hours and made 2 loops around the city. We then prayed and asked for directions and made it home on time. It was silly but it really was a good experience. Elder Jones was talking a lot more on the way back and it was great. Tuesday was a lot better. Elder Jones was more excited about the work and willing to work. Went on exchanges with the District Leaders. So fun!! I love Elder Casper. We had so much fun. We stayed up to late but we talked a lot. I love making so many new friends on the mission! We went and stopped by a lot of people and got a few appointments. We are trying a lot to work with the part members. There are so many of them!

On Wednesday we had a wonderful district meeting. I love our District Leader Elder Casper! He really teaches by the spirit and is very organized. I had to say goodbye to Elder Hervey! He is going home this week. He is a Spanish Elder but he was one of the first missionaries I met! I love him so much. He is such a great example to me of what kind of missionary I want to become! We went out with Brother Hull for like 6 hours after District meeting. It was wonderful. He is a great man. He likes to tell stories and its really funny! We taught Jessica this week. She is a new investigator. She doesn't really have a Church but is really interested in what we have to say. Her husband is really against religion but allows us to talk to her. She has a lot of wonderful questions that only the true gospel of Jesus Christ can answer. Studying for her has really been incredible! David has been falling off the map. He has started school again and been blowing us off. He says that he is still reading out of the Book of Mormon so we will see how that goes.

We had a wonderful Thursday. We had a lot of appointments. We went and saw Kevin who is a guy we tracted into. He is amazing. He has a family of 4 (2 daughters). We taught him the restoration and he seemed to be really interested in it. He has a lot of questions but is willing to learn from us and by the spirit. He has trouble with getting answers to him prayers but I am very excited about him. Hopefully we can teach his whole family. I have never taught a family before. We also met with Jimmy. He is doing well. He is very open to talking with us and is honest and hasn't read much. He has a lot of potential but we will have to discover how committed he really is. I am hoping that he will be able to reactivate him wife by learning and taking the lessons. He is wonderful though.

Friday was a hard day. We spent most of it at the Doctor trying to figure out what was wrong with Elder Jones. Everything is coming back negative. It is hard for me to see how all of these results are coming back negative and he is still in pain. All I can do is comfort him and encourage him to pray but we have to work. I think it has something to do with him not staying hydrated. I have been reminding him all the time to drink water but he's a little stubborn. I am learning a lot about patience and humility. I have been relying a lot on the Lord this week.

Saturday was wonderful. We had an appointment in the morning with Suzzana (Hallie's daughter - Jimmy's less active wife) Apparently Suzzana hasn't been baptized yet and she is turning 9 in December. So technically its not our responsibility but she had some questions and we made sure it was ok to see her. She is smart. I love children! She had a lot of questions on baptism and prayer. It was perfect. We brought the Harpers with us. I love the Harpers. They are both returned missionaries and are just wonderful. They loved their missions. So they have been teaching me a lot. I am going to start making a lot of visual aids for children and adults. I am really excited about doing that.

We had a wonderful Sabbath Day. We went out to Wilson (which isn't in our area) with a member to give his boss a blessing. He isn't a member and has opened his heart and truly humbled himself with all that he is going through. He has a lot of medical problems. We met up with the Wilson Elders, Elder Wilson and Elder Barbono (Spanish) and talked to him for about an hour. It was probably one of the most amazing experiences I have had out here. The power of a missionary’s testimony is incredible but when you have 4 missionaries bearing the testimony to testify of what the other missionary has said, AMAZING!!! The spirit was so strong there. I am grateful to have had that opportunity to truly feel the love of our Savior and the convincing power of the Holy Ghost. Really neat experience. Well Elder Jones kinda crashed after lunch. He was having a hard time staying awake and had no energy. We went over to the Harpers for dinner to follow up on the faith to invite plan and they are wonderful. They are trying so hard to find people and have a few names. The members here are awesome. Elder Jones ate one bite of food and that was it. I think I am gaining a bit of weight. I try and eat for the both of us! I am going to stop doing that so I don't gain weight but the food is so good. I LOVE SOUTHERN FOOD!!!

Well that was pretty much my week. I have been learning a lot and can't write it all down but am really excited about the work. It is amazing. I can't believe that I have been here almost a transfer. Time truly flies when you are serving the Lord!!! Talk to all y'all next week.

Love Elder Butler