A Fresh View

May 18, 2020

A Fresh View

Hello Friends and Family!

Tomorrow is transfers calls and I'm so nervous! I don't wanna leave here! It's my baby! Sister Perez and I basically opened this area and worked our little bums off to get 3 people on date! I have a feeling a lot of changes will be coming though! We are going from 100 to 300 missionaries in the next few months! This summer is going to fly by!

I worked on simplifying my language this week and talking to people like a normal person, and I made 3 friends on Facebook who said they'd like to talk more with us! Hopefully we can start teaching one of those 3 people!

They told all of us to clean our apartments white wash style! Ahhhhh! President sent out emails to all the wards asking members to volunteer to house missionaries soon. After ward council it sounded like they are going to split our area and bring another set in.

Elder Matthew's and Jorgenson gave a really good discussion on Saturday about teaching to people's needs and desires. I couldn't stop thinking about it! I feel like the restoration is really good to teach people, but it's the Atonement and the Gospel of Jesus christ that will provide the healing and peace that they need. So now I'm really trying to focus on finding a need and teaching to it using the Atonement and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, if that's appropriate of course.

I read chapter one in Preach my Gospel and our purpose really is to teach the gospel! That's the most important lesson I think. That's how they are going to be able to change their lives! Like my favorite companion Sis P. once said, "the Book of Mormon isn't the restored truth. The restored truths are found IN the Book of Mormon." Just the Book of Mormon alone isn't going to change people, they need to apply the gospel that is contained in it. I am so annoyed with myself that Sister Timmerman and I tried to teach a suicidal crazy lady the restoration! She did not need that at all. She needed Jesus! Plain and simple.

Also I've been thinking about how I have so many weaknesses that are so hard to overcome. I know that through Jesus Christ's Atonement they can be made strong by humbling ourselves and relying on him. So I thought to my little self, hmmmm am I really using the Atonement of Jesus Christ to its fullest? Probably not, because I know if I was I would have the power to change for good. I think it all begins with a decision. Repentance can be instantaneous and immediate in some ways! We just have to make the decision to change and never go back. For example, once I made the decision to see myself as a daughter of god, a light switch came on, and I was suddenly confident in my abilities as a missionary!

I hope everyone is staying happy, healthy and safe out there! We are going to be inside until May 28th! It's a long time, but yesterday we got to take the sacrament for the first time in forever! I almost cried I was so happy!

Love you all!

-Sister Butler