I Love the Temple!

So I am sure that you are wondering why I haven't emailed yet. Its already Friday!!! Well lets just say this week has been absolutely crazy. So our Preparation day got moved to Wednesday because we went to the temple. I am so grateful for that wonderful place. I love the temple. I felt so peaceful there as I went. I learned a lot and am so grateful the house of the Lord is upon the Earth. I wish I could go more but I know that my work is among the living. So we tried emailing on that day but there wasn't any open computers. So we tried emailing yesterday so same thing. So we are emailing today in Zebulon. Know you might ask the question "why are you emailing in Zebulon?" Well lets just say we are now covering Zebulon as well as Wake Forest 1st and 2nd. Elder VanDeren's companion went home this morning. So we are now in a threesome covering 3 wards for the next 2 and a half weeks. Its going to be really interesting. It has been a really hard week for me this week being his District Leader and seeing Elder VanDeren's companion go home. It reminded me of when Elder Jones went home. It was pretty hard for me and I know it has been pretty hard for Elder VanDeren. So these next couple of weeks are going to be really interesting. I know this is the Lord's will and we will do it his way. I have faith that everything will be alright. On top of that the Sisters are going into a threesome as well. So its been quite and adventure this week. Really has tested my faith, but been great. I love my District so much. They are such great missionaries.

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father that things are going well at home. Well I am sorry that this email is short but we have a lot of things to do today. We are having an open mic night at a coffee shop tonight. A lot of non members are coming. We are really excited about it. Then tomorrow we get to sit at the feel of an Apostle, Elder Richard G. Scott. I am really excited.

So this past week was a very great week for us. We have really seen a lot of a miracles as our faith has been increased in the Savior. This is His work so when we put our trust in Him He is able to bring forth those miracles. It has been really neat for us to see our faith increase. I am so grateful for the opportunity to study each week for District Meetings because it really helps me learn a lot. I am so grateful for the District that I have. I love them all so much. They are such great missionaries who have a lot of faith. I learn so much from their examples.

So this week we found three new investigators as we focused our thoughts on the goals that we have set. It was interesting to Elder Johnson and I how Preach My Gospel says "Set goals and make plans for...!" Well we did that this past week and saw a huge difference. It was awesome. We reached our new investigator goal. We are so thankful for that. We tried to make sure that we always had our purpose in mind.

We are starting to teach this new part member family. The wife is a member and just started coming back to Church and she just got married in November to her husband who is not a member. They are so wonderful. I am so excited to start teaching him. He has already committed to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. I really like him a lot. He is a great man. He has a lot of the same beliefs we have so I know that the Lord has prepared him. His wife, Sister Alford, is doing a great job at teaching him about the gospel. He is genuinely interested in learning more about it.

We started meeting with this lady who is wonderful. Her name is Donna Wynne. Her parents are elderly, like 89 and 90 and she comes from California and stays here for an extended period of time. Well we asked if we could start sharing the message of the gospel with her. She agreed. We had two lessons with her that week and invited her to be baptized and she said she would be baptized if she found out it was true. She loves to read and is really excited about reading the Book of Mormon. She has had some really great spiritual experiences already which have prepared her to meet with us. So we are really excited to meet with her.

We also started meeting with Aaron Lumpkin. He is a student at the Seminary. He requested a Book of Mormon and met with us. He is a really nice guy. He just got married last year and is expecting a child. He really wants to know if what he is taking in school is true. He wants to find out if what we are teaching is true as well. He said that he would read and pray about the Book of Mormon. So we will see how that goes. There is something different about him than all the other Seminary students we have talked to.

I am so grateful for these wards that I serve in. They are so great. I love the members. They have great spirits about them and are always trying to share the gospel. I am so grateful for my companion. He is so smart and teaches by the spirit. I am grateful to be a missionary. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to the temple. What a blessing it is to do work for the dead. What a blessing it is to feel a sense of peace from all the chaos that goes on in the world.

Well I hope you know that I love y'all. Thanks for the package. It was great. I was wondering... don't worry I wont burn down the house boiling water again.... if you could look through my stuff and find my black hymn book and send it to me. I gave mine away this past week to Blake Larson. He is inactive but really felt the spirit while he was singing it with us and Brother Larson. I was also wondering if at all possible you could send me a bit of cash. I had to buy some new luggage since mine was falling apart because of the airlines and I had to buy a few other things. My clothes are starting to look really bad so I have had to replace some of that. So if you could that would be great. Hope you know that I love you and am so grateful for all you do for me. Have a great week!!!

Love Elder Butler