Week 26:Easter/Conference Weekend!

April 6, 2015

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy Easter! And happy Conference! I hope you were all able to listen to general conference and learn something new from it :) 

This week was really cool in some aspects! There is a 22 year old member here named Israel. Today he is swearing into the army. He's been meeting with the missionaries for a couple of months, but recently we have gotten really close and become really good friends. He has decided that he wants to get close to God now, so that he will be able to draw strength from him when he needs it, in the military. To help him get closer to God, he decided that he would take turns coming out with us and the English Elders. When I say come out with us, I mean spend the whole entire day teaching and finding with us. On Wednesday and Thursday he spent from 10:00 am until 10:00 pm with me and my companion! We taught some awesome lessons and had some great conversations with Israel! He's so awesome! 

One of the more depressing things that has happened to me so far on my mission, also happened this week. For the past couple of months, we've really only had one investigator. Alan has met with us twice a week, and also come to church, every week since I got here, early February. For some reason that we don't know, he hasn't been to church for 2 weeks in a row, and he cancelled both lessons with us this week. He said that he "would call us when he has time to meet." It's really sad to see such a strong and solid man (who has become much more of a friend than an investigator), waver on his path the Christ. We are hoping and praying that we don't lose him completely, and that we can get back into contact with him. 

Other than Alan, the work here is dead. Rumors have it that our area and the sister's areas will be combined in a couple of weeks. But those are just rumors. 

Easter for us here was kind of sad, haha. For some reason, people haven't been signing up for dinners lately, so we've had to make our own food all this last week, haha. I sound spoiled complaining about that, but life is tough with no dinner ;). Easter was no different, so when dinner rolled around yesterday, we were left to rummaging through our cupboards and freezer for food. We ended up eating quesadillas and some really old frozen chicken that we found in the freezer. It was hands down the most depressing "feast" of my life. But don't worry about us, because today we are going shopping for some real food ;)

I hope you all enjoyed Easter! Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Butterfield

Week 25: My Week

March 30,2015

Hi everyone!

        I feel like my last few weeks have been super boring and my emails have been as well, so sorry! Alan, our investigator, is still doing super well. We've had some really good lessons with him recently, and he's progressing well towards baptism :). Besides Alan, there is not much happening here in Sonoma. There are 6 missionaries here and each companion only has like 1 solid investigator.

        On Wednesday we had interviews with President Alba and Sister Alba. They were pretty uneventful, except we're pretty sure that they will be closing one of the Sonoma Spanish areas soon! We aren't sure if they will close ours or the sisters, but either way, there will be some changes soon!

        As long as I'm in Sonoma I remain in awe of all of the expensive cars we see! There was a day last week where I'm sure we saw 20 Porsches, a handful of Teslas, a Lotus, a Ferrari and countless Mustangs and Camaros. There is a lady in our ward here who owns a Tesla. If you don't know what a Tesla is, it's a fully electric car that has sooo many cool features. The new ones have an autopilot, so they can back out of your car, and set the climate control and be waiting for you at the curb, without you being in it! They can also change lanes, drive on open roads and stop and go traffic, all alone. They can identify and find open parking spots and park for you as well!

        Ok, I'll stop telling you about the Tesla, but I've decided I want one, haha.

        I'm really excited for General Conference this week and the chance that we'll have to hear from our Prophet. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and that his words are the most important things that we can study and apply in our lives. The words of a living Prophet are much more valuable to us than old prophets. So keep that in mind, and pay attention this weekend ;).

Love you all,

Elder Butterfield

PS: If you want to read something fun and that will help you feel the Spirit very strongly, read the Liahona or Ensign from this month :) Especially the article called "It isn't a sin to be weak." That's an EXCELLENT article :)