8/8/11

Hello!

So I just opened transfers and I'm staying in 6th ward for another 6 weeks. My new companion will be elder W*. I guess he's from Canada somewhere and he was trained in Antonito just like me. He was trained by Elder Jensen who lives in Long Grove. His mom is that Margo Butler that sister Geigle was telling us about. Anyways I don't really know much about him but he is a pretty new missionary and I guess he is kinda prideful so it should be an interesting transfer.

Elder McG* is going to Alamosa 3rd and is serving with Elder G*. Hes not too happy about going down to the valley. Its weird cuz Elder G* goes home at the end of this transfer and Elder McG* goes home at the end of next transfer. So I guess we'll see how things turn out. The cool thing though is that Elder H* is in my district and elder S* is coming into the district and they both came out with me. So that will be a lot of fun.

Anyways I did get postcards from A* and Kr* but I don't have Kr*'s address. So if I could get that Ill write her back or you can just have her email me cuz that would just be a lot easier.

That's sweet that you got to go to Nauvoo. I miss that place. I haven't been there in a long time. I am super excited though to go to the temple on Thursday. We'll be at the temple from like 1 til 5 or so. Then the rest of the time is talking with President Anderson and having group studies. I'm excited though cuz Ill get a chance to really get to know President Anderson. Normally we would be going to the temple around the 7th of September but the Denver Temple closes for like 2 months. Saturday is the last day its open til the beginning of October. They re replacing the heating and air conditioning. And also they're taking out the cafeteria and putting in a waiting room for marriages.

But that's pretty much it. This last week wasn't too eventful. I had a little cold and my ankle was bothering me but those have now passed and I'm doing just fine. Hope you guys are doing good as well. I miss you all!

Love Elder Butler

8/22/11

Howdy y'all!

Its good to hear from everybody. This week has been a really good one. Tuesday we were at the transfer meeting for a while and I got my new companion Elder W*. He's from British Columbia, Canada. He lives on Victoria Island. So its right there by Seattle. Hes had an interesting mission. For some reason they couldn't get his visa on time so he spent a few months in Canada. Then finally they got the visa and he went to the MTC and then has been here in Colorado for one transfer. So he's been out for about 5 months now.

Tuesday after transfer meeting We dropped off his stuff and had to bike quite a ways up to this lady's house that we were supposed to do service for but when we got there they cancelled the service cuz the young men were supposed to help out but not enough of them could come. So we went back to the house and he started to unpack a little bit. The around 3.30 we went to visit this lady who just moved into the ward just a few days ago. So we biked over there and we met her and her fiance. Their names are K* and R*. She was recently baptized like a year ago or so and her fiance isn't a member. She invited him to church so we talked to him briefly about it but then we had to leave. Just as we left Elder W* threw up all over the parking lot. So I called for a ride to pick us up. We went back to the house and he unpacked a little more and then we went to dinner. After dinner we went and met bishop and some other members of the ward.

On Wednesday we had weekly planning and then did some tracting. Nothing really noteworthy. Oh but that night we found out that they are changing the way that we record our stats. We no longer need to keep track of how long we tract for or how many people we talk to. All the stats are how many people we have baptized, how many have a baptismal date, and how many lessons we teach. And that's pretty much it. They didn't really care about how we find people anymore. They just want to know the results. So it should be really interesting. It gives us a lot more freedom to be creative in finding new investigators. So if you guys have any ideas thatd be sweet and we'll try them out.

Thursday was one of the best days. We met at the mission office at about 11. I got to see all the missionaries that I came out with. We packed up the vans with our overnight bags and stuff and then drove up to the temple. It was a ton of fun. I got to do sealings and then we did an endowment session all together. Then we drove back and had dinner. Then we all sat down together with President Anderson and got to talk about the temple for a few hours. It was a lot of fun. Then the next morning we had breakfast and talked some more about the temple and then we all went back to our areas. After I got back we went to district meeting which was good.

Saturday was packed. In the morning we went and tried to see a bunch of less actives and then in the afternoon we had this lesson with this guy named W*. It was going pretty good until his dad kinda butted into the lesson. he started asking all these questions and got us off topic and basically ruined the lesson. So that was kinda a bummer. Then after dinner we were gunna bike somewhere else but i went to put on my helmet (which is already pretty hammered) and the buckle was missing. So I couldn't ride my bike cuz I couldn't put my helmet on so we had to walk them.

Sunday was pretty good. The best part though was after dinner we went to have a lesson with Rob and explain church a little bit more. So we went over and started teaching him and we then taught a first lesson and asked him to be baptized. He accepted to be baptized on Sep 4. Were super stoked about it. The only huge concern is that they re living together and they have their wedding date planned for not this Halloween but next Halloween. So not until over a year from now. So that's something that were gunna be having to work out and see if we can either get them married within the next three weeks or have them separate until they are married.

So that's pretty much all that's going on with me. Its been a really good week and I'm looking forward to this transfer. I have been in 6th ward for like 7 months now but i still like it for the most part. Sometimes I kinda get sick of it but I have no idea when ill get transferred. So I might as well make it fun while I'm here. Cuz for all I know I could get transferred out to like Kansas or something.

Anyways I miss you all and I hope that your all doing well.

Love Elder Butler

9/6/11

Wow that's some crazy stuff that's going on over there. Where did Hersey get the money to pay for a turf field? interesting.. anyways this week was all over the place. On Monday we were playing basketball and i got tripped up and rolled my ankle. I felt it pop but I walked it off. IT felt fine the rest of the day but towards the night it started to stiffen up little. On Tuesday I was on exchanges with Elder Sc*s companion that he is training. We went out to work in the morning but he got a flat tire so we had to come back home and fix it. The it was lunch time and my ankle was starting to hurt more so we didn't get much work done that day. Wednesday was the Train the Trainers meeting so we got the new training program and they taught us all about the program and how it should be done an stuff like that. That took up most of the day and then after that we had to move a weeks worth of stuff to another members house because the people we normally live with went out of town for a week and their daughter was staying there taking care of all their birds. So Wednesday night I went on exchanges with Elder Sc* in his area. By this time my foot didn't hurt any more. Exchanges on Thursday were good. We got to teach some of their investigators and stuff so it was fun to be with him. Friday was kinda a bummer. We had district meeting which was good. Then the rest of the day was kinda all over the place crazy. We were supposed to have a lesson with R* but when we got there he was already asleep so we just had a lesson with his fiance who is a member. We talked about church and taking the sacrament. She seemed pretty solid to come to church on Sunday. Saturday we went out tracting in the morning and all these people tried to bash with us saying how the book of Mormon had been rewritten multiple times and all this crap. Then after we were done trating my back tire went flat so now i have to go and get a new tube for my bike. So the rest of the day we were on foot so that limited the amount of other stuff that we could do that day. Sunday no one came to church and afterword we had dinner with bishop and then had a new member lesson with sister Da*. Yesterday we worked because of the holiday. We actually had a pretty good day. We found two new investigators and had some good lessons. And that was pretty much it. Kinda crazy.

Ive actually been thinking about college apps. I have a few school in mind that i would like to apply to. They are BYU provo and Idaho, Utah state and UVU. I still haven't really decided if I want to go right out to school when I get home or stay home for a semester and start in January.

We do have a few couple missionaries in the mission. All the ones now are from springs. I think we have three sets of couples that work in the mission office. One couple is also in the mission presidency. But they are way cool and we get to see them every so often.

The weather has finally begun to cool down. It still get really toasty in the afternoons sometimes but its a little more bearable.

I hope you all are doing well. I miss everyone!

Love Elder Butler

9/12/11

Hey things are going good over here. I watched the video but with no sound. Both josh and max look way older and a little different. I cant believe that its already the last week of the transfer. On Sunday is when Ill find out for sure what is happening next transfer. Both me and Elder W* are supposed to be training and I've been in 6th ward for almost 9 months so ill prolly be getting transferred. I have no idea where to though. It will definitely be tough but I'm pretty excited. We've been able to find a lot of different people but then they fall off the map. We try calling them and txting them and stopping by their house but its so hard to get ahold of people. Its kinda frustrating at times. We started teaching this black lady that lives next door to our ward mission leader. She goes to the baptist church and she still wants to go there but she said that she was gunna read and pray so hopefully she actually does that. I got the tie racks. Sister Sp* who works in the office dropped it off for me. That's one bonus of living pretty close to the mission office and the people who work there. It sounds like things are pretty crazy busy back home. How is Spencer doing? When does he leave for Utah? On Saturday we got to help out with our wards service project. We (the ward) went to like 10 different houses and did yard cleanup. We (myself and elder W*) mostly trimmed bushes at this one house. The had a ton of the weed trees and stuff in their backyard and it had taken over like the whole fence. So we went with clippers and hacked them down. It actually looked pretty nice by the time we were done. Now that I've been out for over a year time seems to be going by even faster. next transfer will be 10 out of 17 and ill have been out for 13 months. Have you found out any info about college apps yet? I need to find out whether i should try and transfer my credits from Harper or just apply as a new student. But I guess before that I really need to decide whether I want to go right out to school or stay home for a little bit. Oh by the way the camera I have no is starting to fall apart. It will last a little while longer but I was thinking that either Jeff could look at amazon and see if they have any good deals cuz he could get a discount maybe or wait til black Friday and get one then. Just ideas. Anyways that's all I got for now. I miss you all!

Love Elder Butler

9/20/11

Are you ready for the big news?? So I am training a new missionary. And on top of that im getting transferred. Im now in the 8th Ward which is in the Foun. Stk. Its south of where I am now a little ways. But the good news is that I get a car!! I wont have to bike anymore for a while which I'm glad about.

This week was outta control. So on Tuesday we went out and had a really good day. We were able to contact a bunch of people that we planned to go and see. it was a pretty good day. Wednesday was psycho. We had weekly planning in the morning and then in the afternoon we planned to go out and work. We went out at it was raining pretty good. We had a lesson with this less active guy who we had been trying to contact for a long while. So we finally got in with him and were talking for a while. He said that he wants to come back to church and have home teachers and stuff. that was really awesome. I think that was the first less active person that actually wanted to come back. So it felt really good. Elder W* and his new missionary are gunna go there and teach him the lesson to help him come back and to practice. After we got out of that lesson it was pouring hardcore. We were wearing sweaters and we got soaked through those. Water was like flooding down the street. It was freezing cold. So we went back to the house and put our clothes in the wash cuz they were covered in mud from the bikes. We spent the rest of the night inside cuz it never stopped. I think it rained from like 1 in the afternoon til sometime the next day. It was super crazy.

Thursday We woke up and there was a thick fog. You could prolly only see maybe like 20 feet. And on top of that it was cold and misting. So we tried to go out and see a few people. We got calls a few days before that there were these surveys that the church wanted us to do about preach my gospel and the mormon.org commercials. So that took a little while and stuff. The rest of the week was just soggy cuz it had rained so hard for so long. Sunday We got the calls about transfers. And then we had pday today instead of Monday cuz they moved transfers a day back. So I get my new missionary tomorrow morning.

So some crazy and exciting stuff. I have a package of extra clothes and books that I want to send home. So depending on when I actually get over to the post office Ill send that off. And that's pretty much everything. I'm sorry to hear about your job mom. =[ I miss you all very much!

Love Elder Butler

9/26/11

Dear home

This week was pretty crazy. My new companions name is Elder H*. Hes from Murray Utah. Its super nice to have a car. Hopefully I get to keep it. they might take it cuz the area is pretty small and the missionary who was here before couldn't ride a bike cuz something with his knee. But anyways my area is in Security, Co which is directly south of springs. Its still basically springs. I'm right east of fort Carson. Its a pretty cool area. Its pretty ghetto though. We have a couple people that the missionaries were working with before we got to the area. One is M* and his brother just got baptized like a month ago. Hes been taught everything and has been to church a bunch of times he just doesn't think hes ready for baptism yet. I don't know why but I have a feeling that he will get baptized soon. Then there is an eternal investigator that is in the same boat. He is like 82 and his whole family are members he just wont get dunked. We picked up another guy named K* who has been taught everything but wont go to church because he has Word of wisdom problems and Law o Chastity problems. So he wants to be fully commited before he comes to church. The members are pretty nice and cool.

Tell grandma that i got her letter and I'm in the process of writing back. its kinda nice to be in an apartment again. Theres a lot more room and we can do our own thing. The only bummer is that I have to buy food now. I'm super excited for conference. Its weird that after this I only have one more left before i go home. My district leader goes home at the end of this transfer. I hope me and elder H* get to stay together for three transfers because i don't wanna have a new companion or area right before Christmas. Have you guys heard anything from Spencer yet? Do you have his address? I haven't heard from him yet so I was just curious. Umm so yeah not much else to report on. I'm doing good and having a lot of fun. I miss you all!

Love Elder Butler

PS. anything about college apps yet?

8/29/11

Hey thanks for all the pictures you guys sent. they were really cool. I don't mean this to be mean but I kinda laughed when I read about peep. It sounds like James's wedding was pretty fun. It was cool to see that Michael was in one of the pictures. I'll be sending my memory card prolly soon. I've been meaning to for a while but I keep forgetting. And I've sent pictures more than once in a year mom.

Sorry Mom that I forgot to say happy birthday last week :/ Besides peep escaping how was it? Did you do anything to celebrate it? Do you guys have any plans for labor day this weekend? We might have Pday on Tuesday next week because of that but I don't know for sure.

This week was pretty decent. We taught a whole bunch of lessons and stuff. Most of them were less actives and doorstep stuff. Unfortunately we didn't find any new investigators this week. But this morning a member introduced us to this guy who he wants us to teach so hopefully that turns out well. We still haven't been able to meet with Rob. We've been able to teach Nate but he got real busy like Friday and he said that he didn't know when he would be able to meet with us next. We didn't have anyone to show up for church.

I got an email this morning from the APs and it was titled "train the trainers meeting". so I'm not sure if that is hinting to the fact that ill be training next transfer but apparently elder Wylie counted all the names of the people invited to the meeting and its the same number of new missionaries that are coming in. So who knows what will happen but I'm not really worried about it. I don't wanna get my hopes all up and then have it turn out that it doesn't happen. But if it turns out that this meeting is for all the new trainers that means that I could be transferred cuz elder Wylie is also invited to the meeting. So I guess we'll find out in a few weeks whats going on.

There are a couple of things that I could use. One is another tie rack. I have a whole bunch of ties that can't fit on the ones I have now cuz there is no room. And some Gold Bond powder. that stuff comes in handy sometimes. Other then that I'm pretty good. Hope you guys are doing well. I miss you!

Love Elder Butler