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.