Photos from Week 25 - A Baptism and Wood Working!

Molly tells Benjamin all about her character design classes and so he came up with one of his own to share with her this week.

The first baptism - a wondrous occasion!  My boy is serving his Father in Heaven and his mother couldn't be happier!

Hugh, a new investigator, is teaching the boys to do woodworking and to ultimately "make a box". This is where Benjamin did his "homework" of sanding his box pieces while listening to a BYU devotional one evening with Elder Smith.

*Six Months on Wednesday!!!

Week 25 (Six Months)!

NiHao!

Holy Cow! This has been a great week for us. I seriously cannot believe that April is almost over! We've had a lot of fun this week and have also witnessed many wonderful miracles!

The biggest miracle of all was that Su Jie Mei got baptized! She has been an investigator of the Sisters who serve in our branch since I've arrived in the mission. She was so well prepared, and she asked me if I would baptize her! It was such a wonderful expereince to stand in the waters of baptism with her on that very special day. The Spirit was SO strong, and the excitement from all who came was tangible (baptisms don't often happen in the Chinese program, so we were very excited!). 

We've also worked with our investigators again, who actually invited us over to dinner on Wednesday night (homemade dumplings are awesome!)! They were MORE than willing to start keeping that Sabbath Day Holy, and even came to all three hours of church. We hope that they are really feeling the Spirit, not just learning about the church just because being apart of a church will help them seem more "American," a common reason most Chinese immigrants want to meet with missionaries... We are hoping to find some new investigators this upcoming week as well. While knocking doors this week, we ran into a Anghan woman named Zerena, and I feel like she felt the love of our message. It was a tender moment for all of us. 

We also met a man named Hugh, who is a very skilled woodworker, and invited us to come build small wooden boxes with him last Monday! I now know how wood is cut at a 45 degree angle! We plan to go back later this afternoon to complete our project! 

Elder Smith has also taught me a cool game to play while we knock doors for hours on end! We think of a movie/book/TV show or something like that, and then describe the plot to our companion in the most vague way possible to see if they can guess it. It passes the time in between doors very well! Elder Smith is very smart; we were assigned to bring the game to our branch's monthly FHE which was held last Monday night, and he came up with a Gospel-themed Jeopardy! Man, Chinese people get competitive!

This week has also been full of service opportunities. We helped Elaine again, this time planting some trees in the back yard of a house in her neighborhood. It was hot and very sunny, and Elder Smith and I are now donning some very evident tanlines. That's fun... from there, we helped some dropped investigators make some preparations for their upcoming move to San Jose. Its nice to know that they feel good about calling us, even if not completely interested in our message. 

I love you all and am grateful for your support! I wish you all a fantastic week! Always remember to stay close to the Savior and know that He loves you!

Love,

Elder Butters (Bao ZhangLao)

THE FIRST BAPTISM!!

Sister Xin has been taught by the sister missionaries (including Sister Ellis who was in the MTC with Benjamin) and she asked Benjamin to baptize her today!  This mom was over joyed when I received an email from President Frandsen telling me what a great missionary son I have and how much President Frandsen loves listening to Benjamin sing a solo at nearly every mission meeting. So many tender mercies: a baptism, an amazing email, a fantastic son, learning so many things all the time, and knowing that he is singing.....that is frosting on the cake!

Photos from Week 24 - Dead things

Elder Harrison and Elder Butters do their language study while waiting for English class to start.

Breakfast and then early morning study - this boy spoke on Easter Sunday in Sacrament Meeting and enjoyed learning of the Atonement all week long in preparation.

An unpleasant sight one morning as Elder Smith and Elder Butters left the apartment for the day. At least they knew that their day was going to be better than this little guy's day had been.

Week Twenty Four and Speaking on Easter!

FuHuoJie KuaiLe, Everyone!

What an week this has been! Lots has happened and we've participated in so much!

Firstly, our investigators, Bro Wu and Sis Fang, are doing well. They had a lot of questions at our last visit about how we receive answers to our prayers, and why we are commanded to pray so much. We bore testimony of the power of prayer, and that God hears and listens to them all. I know that God listens and answers our prayers. It truly is a blessing! They've also been reading in the Book of Mormon and are already up to 1 Nephi 14! We will see how much farther they've gotten when we see them again for dinner on Wednesday. 

On Thursday, we went on exchanges with the Spanish Elders in our district. I was with Elder Harrison for the day in our area. He is from Spain and is so positive and upbeat! We got to cover the Zone Leader's service of going to a senior home and serving them lunch. Its a very coveted service in our area (Elder Smith was pretty jealous). I was lucky that I was with him that day, too; we tracted all around a neighborhood that had almost 99% Hispanic residents...blessing...

Easter was wonderful here, a little wet, but still very good! Sis. Lu and I spoke in Sacrament meeting. She spoke on the example of Jesus Christ, and I spoke on the Atonement. I prepared all week and spent a lot of time studying and immersing myself in that event, as well as the Plan of Salvation as a whole. I really benefited from that time, and my testimony in the Savior's sacrifice has grown. What a miracle it is that He died for each and every one of us PERSONALLY! It is the greatest blessing we've been given. After church and studies, we had a dinner with the Partington's, who were nice enough to buy us some Easter chocolate as well! Elder Smith and I then spent the late part of our night watching some old church movies. Man, we're so apostate! 

We're doing well here. We continue to walk and walk and walk and teach English and try to find people wherever and whenever we can. I hope and pray that you all are good as well. Happy Easter, have a fantastic week, and remember that God loves you!

Wo Ai NiMen!

Elder Butters (Bao ZhangLao)

Photos from a Busy Week!

This boy!  So love and miss this boy!

The Hayward Zone loving a little time to play together!

Knock, Knock, Who's There, We're the Missionari....SLAM

NiHao Family, Friends, and Everyone!

Yet another crazy week here in Union City has come and gone. So many things going on! 

We've been doing a lot of tracting and finding as of late, looking for new investigators and passing around pass-along cards like mad! This has led to some great moments of tracting into many potential investigators, and on the rare accidental occasion, a home of a member! Then, of course, we've had the people who are less than happy to see us. This week has brought some swearing, a lot of adamant Jewish and Catholic people, some very loving Indian people, a woman who ripped us to shreds for waking up her baby by ringing the doorbell (how the heck were we supposed to know, lady?), and a chinese man yelling at us to "get out!" Easy to say I have built up quite the journal full of memorable missionary moments this week!

We've also been teaching our new investigators recently. We taught Bro. Wu and his wife, Sis. Fang, the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation this past week. They love to talk and pick our brains for answers to their questions. Their primary question related to how they can know that what we are teaching them, particularly in relation to the Book of Mormon, is true. We were able to bare simple testimony of the power of the Holy Ghost and His role in the Godhead as a messenger and confirmer of truth. We are hoping that they act on the promptings that they tell us they are feeling soon. 

We've been doing a cool study activity assigned to us from our mission president. Pres. Frandsen has asked us all to get a fresh copy of the Book of Mormon, begin reading again, and mark every instance, quote, or attribute of Christ EVER! I am up to Second Nephi, and have thus far only ound one page out of about 50 that doesn't say anything about our Savior on it! Its proven to me that the Book of Mormon is truly "Another Testament of Jesus Chirst." I cannot understand why people wouldn't be willing to see that! Its truly a remarkable book. 

Also, in other news, Elder Smith is now our District Leader. I've been learning a lot this week about missionary leadership from watching his efforts to coordinate and train our District. We've also been having a lot of Zone activities as of late, with a barbeque last week, and a Zone dinner at an indian restarant on Saturday night. Its nice to relax for a little while with them. We have some good missionaries here.

I love you and am so grateful for the constant stream of support from you all! have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Elder Butters (Bao ZhangLao)

Week 22 Photos of Bad Cookies, Good Cookies, and A Clean Apartment

I hate when my cookies turn out flat - Benjamin wasn't impressed by his batch this week, either.  So, he "looked up" and thought positive and made a life lesson out of this mishap (see below).

Pan cookies instead.....perfect fix!!

Either way, it's cookies for the apartment - I am sure they were pleased.

Cleaned and fixed up for inspection - his grandparents would be proud!

A 5 (FIVE) cleanliness rating for the apartment!  Awesome score for a couple of awesome missionaries.  Grandparents Reynolds, all your instructions paid off!

The Branch listening to conference in Chinese together!

Elder Smith gets caught sleeping on the job!!  Love this crazy boy of mine!

Week 22 - Going Strong

NiHao Everybody!

Cannot believe another week has gone by already! There's a saying in the mission that "a day feels like a week and a week feels like a day." After the week we've just had, I couldn't agree more!

This week brought a lot of cool missionary work opportunities. On Wednesday Elder Smith and I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I spent the day with Elder Tolman in the English program. It was a very different day of missionary work compared to the one I'm used to doing, but we had a good time together. We ran into some pretty interesting people, including one man with a hole in his arm...he told us he's recovering from a procedure involving a spider bite...ouch.... We also taught a brother and sister who are recent converts which was a lot of fun. 

We also have two new investigators. Bro. Wu and Sis. Fang have previously had the missionary discussions, but didn't understand the doctrine taught very well. We were able to leave them with a copy of the Book of Mormon and a prayer. Bro. Wu said a very simple but powerful prayer, and I remember feeling the Spirit very strongly. It was a good visit. 

Then, of course, was General Conference, and it was fantastic! It was a very special weekend. Elder Smith and I were able to watch Saturday in English and Sunday in Chinese, which was very interesting. It made me realize how valuable the words of the prophets are, and how much I longed to understand them. I definitely took their counsel for granted. I'm very much looking forward to the publication of the upcoming Ensign so I can more fully understand what was taught. I'm am so grateful that we have living prophets who direct and help lead us in this time to return back to Heavenly Father. What a blessing!

Our branch made a fun afternoon of it by bringing lunch to the stake center and eating together in between sessions. Chinese people love anything to do with food! 

I love you all and think of and pray for you. Have a fantastic week and know that Heavenly Father loves you!

Love

Elder Butters (Bao ZhangLao)