Photos from Birthday Week and the Concert

An outing to the Pier 39 always brings impressive sightings of the seals!

The concert givers all together right before performing! This was a once in a lifetime experience! The Lord is watching out for this boy who loves to perform and be with people.

Happy 21St Birthday

NiMen Hao! 

This has been a memorable one, for more reasons other than that I turned 21 years old!

Our investigator Kai is progressing GREAT! We were able to meet with him twice this week. In our first visit, we primarily focused on the doctrine of Repentance as a crucial part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, it seems like before Thursday he was under the impression that he had to be "perfect" after his baptism...thank goodness that is not the case! We would all be DOOMED if it weren't for the ability we had to repent of our sins, and he was most grateful to hear that it was possible to be forgiven. He has a great desire to change. Later, on Sunday, we went through the baptism interview questions with him. He told us he feels his faith growing, and that he is beginning to see the blessings of God in his life. He has a firm conviction in Prophets already, and shows great faith. His current concern is in tithing; he wants to make sure that the money given is used in good ways. His family doesn't quite approve of the idea of "churches asking for money" either. His father was previously scammed by a church in China. We told him that he will be blessed for his obedience. Elder McKean also used his great ability to teach by the Spirit and share heartfelt testimony. We are excited to teach him again next week!

We also had the chance to meet with one of our Less-Actives this week. Bro Li was baptized a few years ago, and asked us for a blessing. We were able to give him a blessing of comfort and peace on Tuesday. He also told us of many of the trials he is currently facing in his life, both in his work and emotionally. We promised him that he would be able to find strength in the Book of Mormon and by daily reading it, his faith would be strengthened to help him to overcome his trials. 

I am very proud of my District! We have found nine new investigators this week, which is a HUGE miracle! We are hoping to continue to see results with a focus on a finding for this transfer.

I've been a little stressed out this week, but studies and talking with Elder McKean have helped me to get through it. My studies have focused on a "Why?" journal: I take each line of "Preach My Gospel" and ask "Why?" to it. For example "Why is God our Heavenly Father?" "Why does he Love us?" Why does obedience help to fulfill His Plan?" Its been fascinating, and I've found myself more invested in my studies then I've been in in a while. 

The HIGHLIGHT of my week was giving a concert at the Buena Vista Manor. Our former Stake President's wife knew of some well-known LDS singers who were in town giving a concert, and she invited me to participate. I got to sing some of my favorites from before the mission along side a Grammy-winning artist, which was a true honor. I never thought I would get the chance to do something like that as a missionary! It made for a very memorable birthday weekend.

Speaking of which, thank you to all those who wished me Happy Birthday and thought of me this past week! It meant so much to have so much love sent my way. I am so grateful for all of your support and confidence. Thank you for being my rock!

I love you all! 

Elder Butters/Bao ZhangLao

A Concert Including Elder Butters

BLOW AWAY THOSE
WINTER BLUES

CONCERT

Favorite Oldies and Melodic Arias

Buena Vista Manor

Friday January 26 2018

1:45 - 2:45 pm

Featuring

Grammy award-winning tenor Thomas Glenn,
Rock star soprano Erin McOmber,
Brilliant show-stopper pianist Amy Glenn, &
Feeling-the-spirit, young tenor Elder Butters

Letter 63 - Great Week!

NiMen Hao!

Another good week for us here on the bay. We are headed into the rainy season, so that's a lot of fun, but nothing we can't handle or walk through (literally...)

We've been up to a lot of different activities this week, most of which have involved going street contacting Downtown. We hit McLaren Park and Market Street a few times this week, and even managed to go with one of our Branch members to Chinatown. Leon Huang is a Return Missionary who served in Oregon. He is very skilled with talking to people, and gave Elder McKean and I a few tips and tricks that will help us in future trips. Leon also speaks Cantonese, which is ALWAYS nice to have when we go contacting! We also spent some time with Leon this week helping him to edit his college application essays. Helping each other with our language abilities is a good trade-off. 

A great day this week was an exchange I went on with Elder Hansen, one of our Zone Leaders. We had a great day teaching English class and studying a whole bunch. One of the things I learned from him was that pondering and asking "why?' in regards to Gospel principles will help us strengthen our own testimonies and be able to teach with more clarity and simplicity. He also was a choir kid and techie in High School, so we spent most of our night "nerding out" about theater and shows and on-stage mishaps. Its been a long time since I've been able to do that, and it felt GREAT! 

Kai is doing well! We taught him the Plan of Salvation this week, which he seemed to understand with no problem. He's been asking us all about the things that he can and cannot do once he is baptized, but we were a little nervous as to how he would react to the Commandments. We gave him a simple overview of the Word of Wisdom, the Law of Chastity, and Tithing. His response: "Wow, its going to be hard to give up beer." What awesome faith! He seems pretty willing to keep the Commandments, and we hope to continue to help him along the way this week. Also, the Recent Convert we're working with, Guan Chen, received his temple recommend this Sunday, so hopefully we will be able to go to the temple with him to do baptisms for the dead for his first time coming up. Please keep both of them in your prayers! 

My studies have been great this week! I am LOVING the Ensign, and cannnot believe I didn't see the power of the words of our prophets before my mission. A favorite talk I read this week was by Elder John C. Pingree, "I Have A Work For Thee." His words made me realize that Heavenly Father has a specific purpose for each of his children to fulfill here on Earth. I fully intend to find what mine is. In the Book of Mormon, I read Alma 60, Moroni's infamous "Hate Letter" to Pahoran. However, this time reading it, instead of reading Mormoni's comments as chastisement about Pahoran's supposed "idleness," I took it to mean that we all have a responsibility to take up our swords and save the "thousands" around us who are in need of our help. It helped me and inspired me to be more urgent in my purpose, and try to always take up my sword for what I believe in. I encourage you all to do the same.

I am so grateful for each of you. Thank you for all of the well-wished already for my birthday. I love and appreciate each and every one of you!

Wo Ai NiMen!

Elder Butters/Bao ZhangLao

Catch Up Photos of the Painted Ladies

The missionaries in Benjamin's District have not missed any opportunity to "use" his name in special ways and show their love to him at every chance they get!

Including in the grocery store!!!

A District Temple Day!

A first visit to the Painted Ladies - it has taken quite some time to get to this tourist spot and the rain made it empty just for the missionaries.  Elder McKean enjoyed it for the first time too.

Letter 62: Not feeling cold, Brother!

GeWei DiXiong JieMeiMen Hao!

This week was incredible! A lot of the miracles we've been praying for recently came to fruition!

The greatest miracle of all was with our New (and now Progressing) investigator Kai Wang. We were able to meet with him after he attended the SF YSA Ward Sports Night. We finished teaching him the Restoration, and explained to him how we receive answers to our prayers through the feelings and impressions we receive from the Holy Ghost. It was easily the most powerfully spiritual lesson I've had as a missionary. Both Elder McKean and I were able to share simple but sincere testimony, particularly related to the Book of Mormon. Finally, his commitment to be baptized on February 17th was the icing on the cake! Both Elder McKean are very excited for this new opportunity, and Kai is looking forward to learning more about what it means to be a member of the church, particularly about the commandments. Wish us luck!

We also had a cool opportunity to teach one of our Recent Converts, Bro. Guan, about baptisms for the dead, and the basic doctrine of the temple. He is a little nervous to participate in the ordinance himself (things involving the dead are a little harder for Chinese people to accept, as it is a very touchy subject), but our discussion did kindle an interest in him to begin the process necessary for him to receive his own endowment. We've been hoping to find a way to help him in his conversion and progression in the gospel, and this might just be it! We hope that he continues to feel a desire to attend the temple and receive the Melchizedek Priesthood.

We've done a lot of service this week as well, even though its been wet and cold here on the Peninsula. We were able to find a few new potentials for English areas while tracting, but we've been trying to look for some other ideas for finding. Something cool that happened along those lines, is one night I felt that we should stay in and do some intense work on the Area Book. I felt a little guilty about this at first, as it isn't the very typical "work" thing to do. We called various potentials, but managed to find one who was interested. We are still looking for a time to meet with Fay, but it was a testament to me that we should follow impressions, and also that we could find people in the most unexpected ways. 

We had a great Stake Conference this week, with Elder Kent of the Seventy in attendance. He talked about how our testimonies of the gospel are like the pieces of a puzzle, we find the corner pieces first (testimony in the Book of Mormon, the Restoration, Joseph Smith, etc.) and then the edge pieces to build the border, which he compared to our understanding of the Plan of Salvation. Once we have the border to our puzzle firmly in place, we then look and put together all the pieces in the middle, that form our testimony; all the little principles and doctrines and policies of the church. Even if we don't agree with or don't understand where one of these "pieces" fits yet, we don't throw it away. We set it aside, and continue to build our puzzle, knowing that one day the picture will be made clear, and we will have all things brought to our understanding. I thought that was very insightful. 

In addition to our work, Elder McKean and I have been having some fun. Elder McKean is a prankster, and is always tricking me and taking advantage of the extremely gullible person that I am. He's still definitely a great companion. 

Please keep Kai in your prayers and thoughts! He needs help finding his answer, and we hope he responds well to the commitments we invite him to keep in future lessons.

Love you all! Have an amazing week!

Elder Butters/Bao ZhangLao

Letter 61: An Investigator and Great Bus Rides

NiMen Hao! ZinNian KuaiLe!

This week we had some awesome experiences, not a bad way to kick start 2018! 

The best part was teaching our new investigator for the first time! Kai Wang, a headquarters referral, returned from travelling around the East Coast this week, and we were able to meet for an appointment on Saturday. This was Elder McKean's first appointment with an investigator (happened a little later than I hoped it would), and it went super well! Kai's primary reason for meeting with us it to learn a little more about the church and the doctrine we believe in. Our lesson focused on the fact that the best way to get to know Heavenly Father is to become as He is, something that I've been learning a lot about in my studies this week. We introduced Kai to the concept of God as a loving Heavenly Father, and invited him to pray to begin developing his relationship with Him. He had a lot of questions about the Godhead, but committed to pray and gave a great closing prayer (his first!). The spirit was powerful, and a great first lesson for Elder McKean AND Kai alike. We hope to continue teaching him!

We've also had a lot of cool opportunities to contact. We spend a lot of time on the bus, so much so that we've managed to start recognizing people and talking to them when we see them at stops for bus lines we use regularly. One such person is named Andrew, and we managed to have a short talk with him while heading to tract this week. We gave him a Restoration pamphlet and plan to meet up some time later this week to talk a little more about our mutual beliefs in Christ. Elder McKean led the approach, and did a great job. He's teaching me a lot about how to use the similarities between religions, instead of the differences that separate us, in contacting scenarios. I'm having fun with him!

This being the first week of the New Year, I've been thinking about my new goals that I want to set for myself. We had a good District Meeting on Goal Setting and committing ourselves to becoming more converted, but I'm still trying to find some specific goals that I would like to focus on, particularly during the remaining time I have left as a missionary. My study this week has always started with a prayer to help find answers. I've primarily been in the April 2017 Ensign, and Elder Cook and Christofferson's talks were a few of my favorites. I will continue the search. However, I want one of my goals to be to recommit myself. I have kept thinking about something that my Branch President in the MTC challenged us to do; I want to be able to sit on the plane home and feel like I did my absolute best, and feel God's assurance that that is truly the case. I try to work hard, and some days I do better at that than others. I hope by the end of my mission, I will be able to confidently say to the Lord "I did my best."

Other activities of the week have included service in Golden Gate Park (almost getting attacked by a swarm of bees), tracting, and street contacting around some beautiful parks in the area. I am grateful for this area. I love San Francisco, and I'm excited to be able to complete Elder McKean's training here. That's right, we got transfer calls a few days ago, and I will be staying on the Peninsula! Hallelujah! 

Love you all and I'm so grateful for all of your support and prayers. God loves you all! Have an amazing week! 

Elder Butters/Bao ZhangLao

Photos from Christmas to New Year

Elder McKean is a master of nerf warfare!

The shipyard that the elders are frequenting this week. A woman invited them to return later to help at a soup kitchen she runs in the community!

The gorgeous woods near the elders' home.

Elder Kotiah practices his chopstick skills.

On New Year's Day there isn't much to be done in town so the boys decided upon a nerf war - the facial welts are still visible!

Sixtieth (60) Email and Happy New Year

XinNian KuaiLe!

Wow, what a crazy week of Christmas and New Year's shenanigans we got up to! It was a very memorable last week of 2017 for me. Its cool to think that I just concluded a full calendar year of devoted service to Heavenly Father. 2017 was a year that truly changed my testimony, my views, my heart, and my life. I cannot wait to see what 2018 has in store.

We spent the last few days of 2017 experiencing some pretty cool miracles. Proselyting-wise, I got to take Elder Smith (another new missionary in my District) on his first exchange, which was a LOT of fun! He was so determined and excited to talk and get the word out about this gospel of ours! We met up with one of our Less-Actives, Bro. Li. We had lunch with him, and Elder Smith shared a great message based on his studies of the Tree of Life. Upon asking if there was anything we could do for him, He requested a Priesthood Blessing. That was a small miracle. We await his decision of a better time to do it, as his father is currently in town visiting. We also spent the afternoon in McLaren Park, a location I'd never previously been to, to do some street contacting. It was a great opportunity to talk to people and hand out some pass-along cards. We had such a positive experience together, Elder McKean and I returned later in the week to continue contacting. 

Elder McKean and I have been searching for new parts of our area to find new investigators in, and we've been going a lot lately to a little shipyard community called Hunter's Point. Whilst there one night this past week, a woman named Gayle called us over to her car that was parked on the side of the road. She explained that she was very familiar with the Bible, but only slightly with "the book that starts with a Mo-something." We managed to share with her a little about the Book of Mormon (along with clarifying the name), as well as the Plan of Salvation, which Elder McKean did a great job testifying of. We even got to pray with her! She asked if we would be willing to return Friday to help serve in a food pantry she runs for the community. We're excited to return to the southern-most point in our area this week to help out! A real blessing for us. 

Thursday night was probably my favorite night of the week. Sis. Kwok, the former Stake-President's wife, invited us to participate in a New Year's concert she gives at an old-folks home every year. I got to sign a couple solos while there, which was SUPER fun! I've missed performing since coming on my mission, so every single chance I get to sing is one I take hold of and cherish. It was a great way to ring in the New Year!

We also had a great District Meeting this week, on the role of the Spirit in Conversion. It was the first time for me as a District Leader to pick a topic for training in a District Meeting, and I was very nervous of what everyone would think. What resulted was a very motivational council about how our own conversion strengthens ourselves and those we work with and associate with as missionaries. I'm grateful for the Spirit's guidance in planning that Meeting, and the support I feel from my District.

In other news, we've rung in 2018 by eating a lot, being with members a lot, and studying a lot. Sounds like New Years! Can't wait to see what the next 10 months of my mission has to offer!

Wo Ai NiMen!

Happy New Year!

Elder Butters/Bao ZhangLao