The Lord's Wise Purpose

My ward mission leaders from the CA SAN JOSE MISSION. The Bailey's.

This pic was taken after a really long, but good day. Started at 6am so we could go to the temple.

Part of the zone!

Sister O'Reilly's shoes. She wont buy new ones because she's going home soon, but I think they're pretty impressive. :)

Guest Services: where we book tours and act professional. :)

To start my letter I want to share a quote from our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson: "As we journey through mortality, let us remember from whence we came; let us be true to the trust vested in us. Let us remember who we are and what God expects us to become."

Last Saturday we had an amazing, spiritual meeting with the mission president and his wife. The Lord has been helping us achieve our yearly baptismal goal, and it looks like we are going to reach it by the end of this month. So the mission president gathered us together to discuss raising our goal. Some sisters were very hesitant about it throughout the discussion. President invited all of us to kneel down and pray personally about it right in the meeting. The most beautiful and strong Spirit was with us as we did so; it was amazing. When president asked us what our thoughts were everyone was in compliance with raising the baptismal goal. We all felt that the Lord is hastening his work and that He will prepare His children to receive His gospel and be baptized.

One way that has helped us reach our goal is by receiving something called "Referral Confirmations" in our teaching center. A referral confirmation is something we receive when someone puts in their info, or someone else's, to receive a free Bible or Book of Mormon. We call this person and confirm if they wanted a Bible or Book of Mormon. We then ask if it's okay to have missionaries deliver it and share a message about Christ, and a lot of people say yes. So this is one way that the Lord has hastened his work, and it's been so awesome to be a part of it. 

An investigator I've found from these referral confirmations has been meeting with missionaries for several months and has set a date for herself to be baptized in April. She is going through a lot with her health and family, but she loves this gospel and has a testimony of it. She is doing the best she can to live it. I told her about General Conference coming up and I'm so excited for her to watch it for the first time!

Yesterday we had our Zone Training Meeting. We learned from training's about strengthening our testimony of the restoration, what a successful missionary is, and the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. Sister O'Reilly and I gave a training on preparing for General Conference. We talked about how we want to be open and share about ourselves to the members and guests who come to Temple Square. I'm sure you have noticed when someone is open with you, you naturally feel like you can share about yourself with them. This way we can have a gospel-centered conversation--with the missionary, the Spirit, and the guest/member contributing--and we can help the member/guest learn from the Spirit what they need to do to be closer to Christ. So this is what we will be working on for this conference! I'm so excited! This is the best time of the year! 

Every 6 months, right before conference, we do a deep cleaning in our apartment. Today we spent most of the morning cleaning--though it was a challenge to actually START cleaning. 

So first, we went to Relief Society this morning. We said our prayer and left the apartment. Right when the door slammed shut (it automatically locks) I remembered I forgot the key--that's my job to keep track of in our companionship. :)  We shrugged our shoulders and decided that our roommates could let us in when we got back later. After Relief Society we headed to our apartment. First, we needed a key to get INSIDE the complex. Of course our roommates didn't answer the phone, so 10 minutes later we asked someone in our zone who was deep cleaning already to help us get inside. So we're inside and we get to our apartment. Our roommates weren't home yet. We wait another 10 minutes and then decide to go get the spare key from the mission office on the square. We get to the square and our roommates call and say they're home. Ahh. So that was a little bit of my morning. This kind of thing happens to me all the time--not losing my key, just complications when you're trying to get from point a to point b. :) But I guess the Lord was teaching me another lesson in patience, and He always has a wise purpose.

On that note, I will finish my letter. I love you and miss you all! Enjoy the Women's Conference this weekend! Woo-hoo!

xoxoxo,

Sister Butler