Tornado Aftermath

Well I am sure you are wondering what happened this past weekend. Well you don't have to worry. I am doing good. So are all the missionaries in our mission. We got hit with 62 tornados this past weekend. The weather was pretty crazy. I have never seen so much rain, wind and hail in my life. We went to the Church and just hung out there until the storm calmed down. The Tornado that was by us hit only 5 miles away. A lot of the missionaries are helping with clean up. Wake Forest didn't get hit that bad but the surrounding areas got hit really bad. I hear that Pinehurst and Goldsboro got hit really bad so I have been praying a lot for those areas. It is amazing how the Church is always there to provide service to the surrounding communities. We have quorums that are going to be helping all week to help some of the people that really got affected. It was pretty crazy. Never thought I would be apart of that. It was a real blessing to us. The Lord really does bless his missionaries.

We had a great Zone Conference this past week. It was our Activity Zone Conference. We made some pretty cool t-shirts. It was alot of fun. Well at the Zone Conference we found out there we are seeing.......wait for it........ RICHARD G SCOTT!!!! He is coming for a Stake Conference in Kinsten so we are having a three hour meeting with him. I am really exctied. We will be seeing him on April 30. So I will let you know how that goes. President Scott (Temple President of the Raleigh Temple) had something to do with that.

This week has been a really great week. I have learned a lot about myself and how I can improve on my teaching. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life. I am so grateful to have Zone Conferences that motivate and inspire. I am so grateful for the spirit who teaches me daily. I know that the topic at Zone Conference was inspired. I learned a lot about prayer and the importance of it. I am so grateful for my companion Elder Johnson. He is such a great missionary. I continue to stand all amazed at the things he does and says. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father put us together. I am really learning a lot from him. He really is a very great missionary. I am grateful for the opportuninty that I have had this past week to partake of the Sacrament. I am grateful for the speakers who are inspired to speak and help us and our investigators grow. I am so grateful for the support the ward gives to our investigators. They really make them feel included and help them feel loved.

We had a lesson with Brother Wellborn this week. He really has nothing against being baptized but dropped the date the we set with him. He said he was going to be out of town but we couldn't set another date with him. We know that its just a smoke screen. We know that he wants to talk to other people. He is worried that being a member of the Church is going to completely change him. Make him not be the same person. So a member invited him over for dinner and he got invited to a family home evening to see that we are all normal. So we are really excited about that. I know that he is prepared. I know that he understands the importance of baptism. I hope that we will be able to help him into the waters of baptism and help him truly become converted to the gospel.

We have been having a lot of run ins with students in the seminary. It has really tried our faith but helped us grow a lot. We met with a couple of guys who tracted into us and wanted to meet with us. We went to the Church and gave them a mini tour of the church and asked them what their purpose was with meeting with us. We feel like one of them is prepared to hear the gospel just not at this time. He is getting sent to Salt Lake City, Utah. He feels thats where the Lord wants him to go. The Lord really does work in mysterious ways.

We also met with Brother Trubilla this week. He is doing great. I love him so much. He has truly been converted to the gospel. He is sharing the gospel left right and center. He is going to be giving two copies of the Book of Mormon to his parents and then a copy to his neighbor. We know that he has truly been converted and its because of the power of the Book of Mormon.

Well I am really excited about this next week. We have made some great goals that we feel have been lead by they spirit. We are trying some new ways to plan this week to try and make sure that the spirit is present and makes our plans instead of us making the plans. It cannot be some other way. We also had a really great weekly planning this week. I am so grateful for the time we have to prepare. Preparation is very important.

Well I hope y'all have a great week. Know that I love y'all so much. Keep up the great work and thank you for all the prayers in my behalf.

Love Elder Butler