Updates from Elder Butler

Hi All:

Things have been going great for Elder Butler.  These letters are from his emails home.  We have enjoyed hearing from him.  He has also sent 2 letters; to Kimball and Jim for birthday's and his first box arrived last week with notes informing us NOT TO OPEN UNTIL MAR 2012.  He is loving his mission and is serving his Lord as he serves the people he is with.  We are so proud of him.  He would enjoy letters or special notes from all his friends and family as the holidays are near.  

11-8

Thanks for the letters this week. Elder L and I are loving our service together, and continue to find hidden blessings as we serve the Lord. Yesterday we went back to contact a referral. The woman had been studying and researching various churches on her own, and had some deep doctrine questions about the LDS church and wanted answers. So she invited us in and we tried to help her as best we can. She had come to some conclusions on her own that were very obscure and did not have much validity. So we'd go back and forth asking questions, reading scriptures trying to help with the confusion, keep in mind that she had never read the Book of Mormon. Plus along with all of this mumbo-jumbo, I had this tremendous feeling that the adversary was in that room. I could not feel the Holy Ghost at all, and when that sort of thing happens I shut down. I could do nothing but just sit and listen to my companion and her debating about subjects that had no relevancy to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in my mind at least. And so through this whole situation I felt powerless and weak. And that's when I had a prompting to sing in my head the primary song "I Am a Child of God."  And had I only got done with the first verse when i had this sense of calmness come over me, and it made me feel sooooooo much better. Needless to say we aren't planning on going back over again anytime soon. She didn't accept any of the commitments we left her (church, baptism). But once we left the house and got back into the car, I offered a silent prayer to Heavenly Father thanking him for the Holy Ghost and the feelings I felt. I'm so happy for that special feeling i get when I'm doing what’s right. I hope I can always live to be worthy of it.

10-25

First of all I'll just tell you that my new comp is amazing. His name is Elder L. He's from Monroe Utah, and has an older sister. His parents are not members. He got baptized when he was 12 and his sister followed. His reason for becoming a member was the friends he had in Utah. They always invited him out to activities, and were always happy and welcoming to him. He is a great example of what can become of constant fellowship outside of church. I know if we can do this then the lord will bless us in our efforts of bringing his children into the fold.

Anyways, thank you guys for everything always keep the missionary work in your prayers :)

10-18

WOW!!!!! This week has had so much going on. I'll try to fit it in the email.

So 1st things 1st, I'm training. I don't know who he is yet, but I will tomorrow. Pres called me Saturday and asked me if I was up to the challenge. I told him that there were a lot better missionaries fit for the job, but I accepted. I'll email back about him next week.

This is Elder H's last week. I’ve learned a lot from him. I’ve learned how important it is to finish strong, in whatever we do. When we do, the Lord will bless us with strength to do so.

I had the privilege to listen and study a talk given to a group of LDS young adults. It was titled the Belief Window. It was given by a man named Hyrum W. Smith. Brother Smith talks about many different ideas and topics but the most important thing he states is that, the most important thing that we can have as a child of God, is our self worth. He goes on to explain a model that we can use in our lives to understand our self worth, and control how we act. I'd explain, but i don't have my notes and if i tried right now it wouldn't make sense. You should listen to it.

9-20

So this week has been pretty bland. My comp and I are building up the area here. It’s a bunch of farm land so we drive a lot. What’s weird though is that I bump into a lot of people from my last area. I'm technically I’m in a bordering area, there's just a big river between them. My Comp Elder H goes home in 5 weeks. So he's a gray hair missionary. He's very obedient; has been his whole mission. It's a big change of pace cause my first 2 companions were different. But we have fun. He graduated high school at 16, and is starting medical school when he gets home. He's very smart, and knows it. It gets hard to study some time when he starts going off on tangents about some random doctrinal topic.

We only cover 1 ward now. It's called the Elliott Lake Ward.  We are trying hard to gain the trust of the members. We have a great Bishop, and good auxiliary leaders that are willing to help. We just have to show them what missionary work is. I will keep you in touch about this situation.

9-13

Greetings from Kennewick...

So, this is a lot different than Pasco. We're in a very rural area and we drive a lot. Plus we're building up the area. We're trying hard but times get discouraging. It’s very fun though.

The first day we were there we did a lot of getting moved in. Because we got doubled in (two new missionaries transferred into the area), we did a lot of getting to know the area. Luckily we were having dinner with a really cool member because I really had the dear in the headlights thing going on. And after dinner we figured we'd go try and see some potentials the other missionaries left for us in the area book. We pull up to this trailer, and the address belongs to a R M. The name seemed familiar, but I didn't know who it could've been. So we knock the door and this little 8 year old kid answers the door. It was P, I taught his family back in Pasco. His mom was a recent convert back in 4th ward, and I guess her grandma lives in my new ward. What was even cooler was that we had taught her mom a couple times back in Pasco, so I already knew her. The missionaries before us never we're able to meet with her. I guess she was just busy or something. I was just glad to see the Lord's hand in our work. This week has been hard, but Elder H and I are going to make the best of it here.

8-30

Wow!!!!!! This Friday I will have been out 6 months. That shouldn't be happening. It's definitely true when they say "the days in the mission are long but the weeks are very short."

This last week has been full of great things. We had interviews with Pres. Greer on Thursday. During the interview Pres. asked if there was anything that He could help me with. I told Pres. that I was striving to be more humble. I felt like I needed to be more teachable to the Spirit. Pres. told me about right before I came in there were a lot of stud missionaries leaving. Pres said he was worried for the mission. So he prayed, and asked Heavenly Father for answers to his questions. Pres. said that Heavenly Father assured him that new missionaries were coming to take the place of those great missionaries from the past. He feels like I am one of them. I never saw myself as an example. But Pres. was serious. He said that  soon I will be needed.

Next week is transfers so I will get to find out if I'm staying or leaving. Everyone says I’ll leave. I’ve been here 6 months. So I’ll tell you guys next week if I'm leaving or staying.

8-23

Ups and downs...

Well first off I will tell you that L. Tom Perry is a man among boys. He is someone I wish to be like. He was very nice, enthusiastic and gentle. He really has a love for the gospel. He talked about an experience he had on his mission. He spoke about a companion he had. When they were first put together neither of them had been out for more than 2 months. He (Perry) had just come from the MTC. So they had little to no experience. But, they did know how to work. So that’s what they did. They followed the rules and they were hard working and strictly obedient. They ended up serving for 10 1/2 months and had many successes. Even after their missions they stayed together. They both had joined the marines, and were blessed to stay together. For almost 50 years they served together, and not once did they forget to have some sort of companionship study. I know when we follow what God wants us to do He will bless us. Because of this I want to re-commit myself to the work. On Saturday, when Josh was supposed to be baptized, we were informed that Josh's Dad wouldn't sign the baptism form. So Josh never got baptized. :( But, he still wants to. So He came to church the next day, and we are planning to go back over to his Dad's house and figure out his concerns. I will keep you informed on that.  

Love you all. Elder Butler