7/11/11

I want everyone to know that I'm doing just fine. President Anderson is really cool. Hes from Kalamazoo Michigan. He seems to be a good mission president. He hasn't really made any changes yet except were not suppose to use the word "greenie" anymore. Something to do with respecting people or something. But the mission bought every companionship a portable DVD player and a copy of both the preach my gospel DVDs. So we can use those for studies and stuff in our apartments. And don't worry I'm not gunna abuse it. I'm not dumb enough to watch movies on it.

The baptism went really well on Saturday. The only hitch was that our ward mission leader (who was just released not because of this though. he was it for 3 1/2 years) didn't make programs. He thought that we were gunna make them. But we don't have a computer so I don't know how he thought we were gunna do it. But everything else worked out perfect. Then she was confirmed on Sunday and I got to confirm her which was really cool.

But not much else happened this week. We did get to give a lot of blessings this week which is always really cool but not much else. I got the package you guys sent. I liked the pictures in it. Ive been feeling a lot better. I'm not as tired as I have been lately. things have been going really good. Its nice to hear the news about everyone and stuff. Tell Amy to email me because there's people that she knew and taught that are in my area that want to hear from her. I love and miss you all!

Elder Butler

7/18/11

This week was very interesting. Tuesday was a pretty normal day. We went and tried to see some former and potential investigators. No one we tried to see was home except one guy who asked us to come back on Thursday. So that was good cuz he was a referral from Woodland Park. His daughter was recently baptized there. Wednesday we weekly planned and then tracted. Nothing too special. Thursday we went tracting with one of the youth. As we were biking to the area where we were gunna tract elder McG*'s rear derailer snapped in half. So his bike is totally out of commission. So for the past couple days we've been walking or getting rides from people. So its been hard to get things done when you have to walk everywhere. Hes hoping that he can get some money to fix it up in the next few days so that we can get back on the bikes.

So that's been the week thus far. I still take the gummy vitamins but some mornings i just forget on accident. I'm running out of stamps. I think I only have like 3 or 4 left. But other then that i think I'm pretty good. I only got to meet president Anderson that one time. We only see him like once a transfer. so not very often. That was the same way with president Pfile. We only see them at interviews and zone conference.

So what made you guys choose the KIA over the other cars? Does it get pretty good gas mileage? Whats the warranty like on it? It sounds like a pretty cool ride. Good choice on the color too. I live those dark cherry red cars. You guys need to send me some pictures of it.

As far as food and meals and stuff go. We only do breakfast and lunch for ourselves. Our members that we live with don't really cook much and their not home very often. hes the chief of staff for Colorado springs and shes now the relief society president so they stay pretty busy. But we get fed dinner pretty much every night. I think there may be like 1 or 2 nights in a month where we don't get fed but that's nice sometimes.

It sounds like everyone is doing pretty good though. Its weird to think that I'm almost half done. It hasn't felt like Ive been gone for very long. Did the package that i sent home for myself ever come? I sent it like a month or so ago. Ill prolly need to send another one home with shirts in it because I have too many t shirts and I need to get rid of stuff so I don't have so much to lug around with me. We'll be having to move out of our members house the beginning of august because they're gunna be gone pretty much all of that month and then after that their daughter and her husband are moving in with them. As far as I know that haven't found anyone for us to live with yet. So we might just be moving back into the apartments. So we'll see what happens.

That's pretty much it for me. Hope you all are doing well. I miss you!

Love Elder Butler

7/25/11

Arighty then. Where do I start. So this week we did a lot of service. Actually we just spent like a couple hours on Tuesday and Wednesday helping a lady in our ward move out. Her son came to help her and with him we had to put all the big heavy stuff into their truck. It was kinda a last minute thing because her son's wife is very pregnant and was going to have the kid any time. So we had to get it done quick and it was a huge rush. The rest of the week was pretty bland. It rained a few times and there was this really awesome rainbow that we took a picture with our phone. I didn't have my camera with me I wish i did.

Elder Mcg* hasn't gotten his bike fixed yet. he has this other bike that his mom sent him but he doesn't like it. Its a huffy like the kind you buy from target. So hes trying to sell it so he can get parts for his other bike. Most places we can walk to but sometimes he uses the other bike. His dad is a print broker, whatever that is so as far as i know hes not related to the car dealership people.

We haven't gotten to meet the referral guy. Every time we go by hes not home or answers the door. Sometimes you cant tell which. So we found out the people that were moving in with. They have like 15 parrots and the lady is quite blunt. She tells you how it is. Which doesn't put her at the top of the list of most favorable people in the ward. We are moving in next week. Transfers are like the 9th or 10th. So I may only be there for like 9 days. We will see.

As for people that said the send me letters. I haven't gotten any letters from family in quite a while. The last thing I got was the package and a letter from grandma and grandpa. An that was like 3 or 4 weeks ago. I don't have a lot of time to sit down and write letters but when people send me them I usually get one back to them. The easiest way for people to write me a letter and me write them back is to send me an email. I haven't heard from a lot of people in quite some time. Granted sometimes I forget to write back but I don't have all the time in the world. That's why I usually just do a general letter here so that everyone can read it and know whats going on.

Its crazy that every body's getting married. If Erin goes on a mission it looks like either me or Micheal will be the next ones. I think everyone else is already tied down haha. This next transfer is Elder G* last one. He goes home on the 16th of September. Its weird to see all these missionaries that I know go home. Pretty soon I'm not gunna know anybody in the mission.

Anyways I hope you guys are doing good. Hope you all have a lovely last week of July.

Love Elder Butler

8/1/11

Hi there

This week was pretty busy. We spent the weekend doing a lot of service and things like that. We helped out with Three moves on Saturday (including ourselves). That took up mostly the whole day. Friday we had to go to this bike shop so elder McG* could get parts for his bike. Were going over to a members tonight and after that the bikes should be up and running.

Something kinda weird happened. We were tracting this street and we see this papa john's pizza truck out side this house. We start walking up and we see the delivery guy lying down on the ground and money on the ground right next to him. At first I thought that he got mugged or something but I think he just tripped down the stairs. It was weird.

The family reunion sounded pretty fun. Sounds like everyone is pretty busy now. When does Andrea start school? I still haven't gotten any letter from anyone in the family. Neither Kristin or Rachel. The last time I got a letter from either one was at least 2 months ago. they must not be getting to me or something.

I got a letter this past week about my temple jubilee. That's where they take all the missionaries who are halfway through the mission and take them to the temple and stuff. So I get to go on the 11th. I'm pretty excited. Its almost been a year since Ive been so I'm looking forward to going back. We find out transfers next week so Ill let you know how that turns out.

So like I said before we started moving into our new abode. Its actually a lot better then I thought it was gunna be. The bathroom is really nice. The bedroom is kinda small but I think we'll live. They make us breakfast every morning so that's really sweet.

Yeah and that's about it. I fixed the watch myself. I just opened it up and used a que tip and got all the moisture out. The second hand fell off but it works plenty fine without it. So its all good. I would like another tie rack if I could. But that's all I can Think of. I miss everyone and I love you all.

Elder Butler

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