I love you all so much. I appreciate you all more than you can imagine. I remember things about each of you on hard days and I am grateful for your friendship and support while I am in Ghana. I mean that!
1. It does not snow here so it is very difficult to remember that it is Christmas time.
2. The special greeting for this time of year is Aficiapaa and the reply is Afinkomatriay.
3. It is very easy to run yourself into the ground doing missionary work, especially, when there is enough dust in the air to block out the sun! It feels like the ground is all around us all the time. Makes turning our white shirts into "white" again on Monday, almost impossible.
4. Internet is spotty at best that is why I could not talk last week. Looks like it might work this week. Please pray that it works on Christmas so I can talk with my family.
5. Reading through two weeks of emails in the same amount of time is nearly impossible but "keep 'em coming, folks".
6. Second Christmas out and still miss snow as much as the day I left it.
7. When you and your companion are foreigners, it is easy to get cheated on prices but when we both don't take crap it is funny to see how fast others will change. (Brings back memories of my China days and watching my parents bargain for things and my brother, Harrison, who was expert at it.)
So my discussion for this week is based on my own study during the week. This past week while teaching, I ran into a scripture chain that teaches about the Apostasy and the essential need for us to change and follow the truth that God gives to us.
It is in 2 Nephi 28 verses: 3-4,13, 21, 30, end half of 32. Now this scripture chain allows people to see the need to follow God's path, not their own. But I wanted to use it today to remind each and everyone of us of a few influential points. God's plan is first, when we know or recognize the need for a change we must act. Even when we are not the ones in the wrong or the ones causing the problem, if the problem around us or the situation we are dealing with is not aligned with God, it has to be stopped or changed in order to match God's will. We talk a lot about the need for change with our investigators. Especially one man we are teaching right now who really wants the gospel to bring him peace. We have tried to teach him the need to be committed and worthy in order for the greatest changes to come his way.
Just as King Benjamin did, he called all his people together to make sure that when he taught the, his own hands were clean from the blood of their sins but also from any offense against God. King Benjamin was an example of a teacher to bring converts to the joy of the gospel but he was also an example of what the gospel looked like in his daily life and behavior among his own people. We cannot be content in Zion, as verse 21 says. we must work to make things celestial even when difficult. Verses thirty and thirty two show us just how God will use us when we do act on what we have been given. To those who follow, more will be given. To those who say that someone else must change or someone else must improve, or someone else must do the will of God, i will just work and be content in my current knowledge and behavior, they will have even that knowledge taken from them.
In this life, fence sitting is impossible. It is not just looked down upon, but is literally impossible. In Scriptures we read Jesus Christ saying that those that are not for me are against me. We have to act at all times in favor of His law and His rule. As we follow His path we will gain far more than we can comprehend.
This Scripture chain (when presented in a good way) has really helped people see that my companion and I are not here just to teach, but we are here to guide others to change just as we try to do everyday. Too often people that we teach, even when we tell them we expect them to change and work with us and when they know what we teach is true to be baptized, somehow they still do not make the connection but when we show them that God expects a change each and every time He increases our wisdom, they seem to understand.
On that topic, it is plainly obvious that this is the way that God works. I will use a common but maybe the most influential example, Joseph Smith. A small boy, wanting one answer was then expected to act on it. If Joseph Smith was told that no Church was true but then just laid back and said one day God will do something, I can guarantee that at one point in time he would have been talked into another Church. We see this happen all the time - folks get caught up in loud prayers, shouts of praise and the peer pressure of those around them to join the larger churches here. But that is not what Joseph Smith did. When he received that answer, he acted on it, he kept turning to God and because of this he received more. His actions lead to miracles that cannot be numbered. Even in The Doctrines and Covenants we see that he did more for the world save Jesus Christ than any other man could do.
As we wait for others to act on knowledge, just remember that God gave you your insights for a reason, not to be shelved and stored until some undetermined future period but for the here and now. What we are given from God we are not just expected but commanded to use. Talents grow throughout your life so even if you have already gone to meet your obstacles and challenges with what you had, when your Lord gives you more, guess what he wants you to do..... Go back, do it again, grow a few more inches, and then come and receive more for your time. Progression is one eternal round and it will never stop. The only limit on what we can become is on how we use what we are given.
Love you all so much. Keep growing and hopefully I will do the same.
Love, Elder Butters
*This week was crazy busy! Three exchanges and two district meetings. Lots of visits to a farmer we are teaching right now and he has decided that we are trustworthy. That is great news around here. We work hard to get to that point. He spoke to us about things that are happening with his farm and that is about as personal as these farmers can get. We will help him all we can.
*I love my companion. We have become great friends! This is a very happy thing.
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