Waited An Entire Week For This!

Without any idea when his P-Day would be, I silently waited for the first letter to arrive.  An entire week went by and at exactly his ONE WEEK MARK, on Wednesday, November 2, I got my letter!

Here it is:

JiaTing he PengYou NiHao!!  *(This means Family and Friends, How are you? - I added the translation (Mom))

Hi Everyone! I cannot believe that I am emailing you all from the MTC right now. Thank you all so much for the support and love you have already given me. This past week has been a hard one, and a whirlwind of an experience! I'll try my best to include everything.

Companions: I have TWO! Elder Thacker, Elder Anderson, and I are the only three Elders in District A. Its been cool to be able to rely on two people and two testimonies instead of just a single companion. They are fun guys, both recent high school graduates. Our district has missionaires called EVERYWHERE!, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Oakland/ San Fran (Sister Ellis and I). I love how wide-spread the Mandarin language is.They are a great group of people who are really hard working. I'm very proud to be their District Leader. Yup. Got a new calling my second day here. As if learning to be a missionary wasn't hard enough! Its been great to represent them and love them. 

Classes are challenging. Mandarin is hard. REALLY HARD! But I have learned so much already over the past few days. Our district has learned to say simple prayers, recite the Missionary purpose, and we've all already taught three lessons! That's crazy, let me tell you! Our teachers are loving and supportive, and encourage us to SYL (speak our language) meaning that we are constantly trying to use words we know and add on from there. 

We are able to do a lot here. We have a choir that I got to sing in this week. We also go on walks to the temple every Sunday, and I just got back from going to the temple with my Zone. There is also a lot of food (I'm CRAVING to make a batch of cookies right now...) and a lot of special opportunities to feel the Spirit. Just last night we had a devotional with Pres. and Sis. Nelson (Its cool to think that they are in my ward, watching everyone else freak out at the sight of him. Spoiled) He talked about how missionaries are the "Epistles of the Lord." It made me realize just how much faith and confidence my Heavenly Father has in me. 

I miss you all very much. This week has been a real test of my faith. I thank you all for the prayers and love and DearElder letters. 

I love you all. Hurray for Israel!

Elder Butters