Mother's Day Email

你们好!!!!

Hope you all had a great Mothers Day. I certainly did. Getting to talk home to my family is such a special thing for me. I miss them (and all of you) like crazy, especially during weeks like this past one, where things don't exactly go your way. 

Aris is doing great! He is travelling in the East Coast right now, but we were able to have a lesson with him on Wednesday before his departure. We talked about the importance of scripture study in our lives, how it provides the Iron Rod that we can steadily rely on. We showed him how he can "liken the scriptures to [him]self," which I think he really appreciated. The scriptures can take on new and much more significant, personal meaning when we take the time to not only read them, but also to ponder them and put the lessons we learn from our studies into our own lives. Bringing personal questions and concerns is also a huge help to making studies more meaningful. We were able to share some of these same thoughts on Sunday in Priesthood, when we were called on last minute to teach a lesson because the real teacher never showed. Love that...

We have been up to our ears in service this week! We have moved furniture at an elementary school, assisted in writing drafts of a book for our friend Oscar Pemantle, and chopped up a tree and rose bush. We filled up four green compost cans and the bed of a truck with all of the trimmings! Crazy stuff.

And, as per usual, we went finding...A LOT!!! We knocked doors and went contacting around the campus of UC Berkeley trying to talk to all of the graduates and their families. We've called people, and even went finding with our District, going on a huge Blitz to try to find all Saturday afternoon. We have been struggling as a District with finding new investigators as of late, and so we set a goal to find six this week. Even though Elder Carns and I never found anyone for our area, our District came away with finding 10 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!! It's a total miracle. I am very grateful for some great missionaries to work with and how close we all are.

Speaking on which...we received transfer calls this week, and Elder Carns will be departing Oakland (after being here for 8 months!). I will miss working with him. He has been a great example of patience, charity, selflessness, and a good friend. I will be staying here and welcoming Elder Mitchell to the Oakland Area next week, and ive heard nothing but good things about him thus far. We were both trained by the same missionary so that will be fun to experience to share memories with him.

We've made a lot of memories this past week. I stood in garbage cans, got rejected by a ton of other religious leaders (if they could only put our message to the test... I guess some day they'll learn, but their comments still make me mad...), and eating Fufu. Who would have thought I'd be eating Ghanaian delicacies in California? An experience I won't soon forget, for sure. 

I love you all. I miss you all. The Gospel is true. The more I share it and stand boldly behind it, the more I know that it is God-given truth. I am grateful for this time I have to share it with others. 

母亲节快乐!

Elder Butters/包长老