Letters for the MTC

Daniel is off to Taiwan! He was excited about leaving the MTC to finally meet the people and see the country. Although he is confident that he will be able to find his way around well enough....Edwin and I fear that he may become disoriented in a large city with millions of people and unable to read the street signs. We wish him the best!

Here are some of the things Daniel had to say about his experience in the MTC:

September 10, 2007

Companion- Elder Lewis

Language- The grammer is simple but the pronunciation is complicated. He can pray, bear his testimony, and introduce himself in Mandarin.

Choir- He joined the choir so he could sing the songs in English!Food- Let's just say he's still eating it

Fun- He is still playing soccor, but has learned that playing in his dress shoes is not so good!

October 15, 2007

He taugh his first lesson this week in Chinese. He enjoys learning but is concerned that he is gaining weight (it's okay...he can afford a few more pounds on him before he goes to Taiwan). He enjoyed conference and loves the gospel of Jesus Christ.

October 29, 2007

Daniel sounded a little overwhelmed by the things to do during his day. However, he is taking Edwin's advise and sleeping. He seems a little frustrated with his language skills. He has a great desire to know and understand everything and wants to know it all now. He is confident that with time he will learn to understand, speak, and read the language. Whenever he doesn't know what to say he opens up his scriptures. I think that is a great way for him to share what he is feeling and allowing other to understand him.

Daniel shared three scriptures with us this week.

2 Nephi 33:10 And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.

2 Nephi 9: 38 And, in fine, wo unto all those who die in their sins; for they shall return to God, and behold his face, and remain in their sins.

Mosiah 1:6-7 O my sons, I would that ye should remember that these sayings are true, and also that these records are true. And behold, also the plates of Nephi, which contain the records and the sayings of our fathers from the time they left Jerusalem until now, and they are true; and we can know of their surety because we have them before our eyes.
And now, my sons, I would that ye should remember to search them diligently, that ye may profit thereby; and I would that ye should keep the commandments of God, that ye may prosper in the land according to the promises which the Lord made unto our fathers.

November 12, 2007

Daniel is looking forward to sharing the gospel with people. Although he has appreciated the learning experiences at the MTC he feels they are no substitute for ordinary people who feel the spirit. He is currently in a threesome and it is "interesting" as he puts it. He says it will help him to grow, so I feel that it has been a bit of a struggle for him. Overall...Daniel is SUPER EXCITED to go to Taiwan!

Entering the MTC

Well yesterday Daniel entered the MTC. There was crying and smiles. I bet you can guess who the smiles were coming from, Yep thats right Daniel was smiling, and everyone else was crying. He was super nervous and also super excited. It was so good to be able to go and see him off. It is also kind of crazy for me because he is just up the street, but I can't see him. He is off to do the Lord's work and is going to be great. Mom, Dad, Rachel and Anthon, Joseph and Suzanne and Ali and Ethan, David, and I were all there. We went to breakfast at Mimis Cafe and ate super fast. Especially Daniel. He scarfed down his food. I thought he was going to be sick, and he kind of was, but that was because he was so nervous to be going on his mission. The food was great and once we were done, we headed off to the MTC. Daniel is the sixth in his family to go on a mission. He has had four brothers and one sister serve before him. So he has many great examples to look up to. We love you Daniel and know you will do awesome. Oh yeah I almost forgot his name tag is so cool. Lets see you read it!

Uncle Daniel Where are you!

Well, I just got back from my trip to Houston a little while ago! it was a really fun trip, I enjoyed it a lot! We went and saw some fine art, looked at a huge mall, went to the beach, saw some gators, had tons of fun playing with nieces and visiting family. It was great!

I leave in 2 days for the MTC, so I don't think there will be very many more posts made by me on my blog, but I did ask Jennifer to post some stuff about my mission, and I need to ask leonora to do the same! thanks everyone, I love all of you!

Elder Butler

talking and such

Well, today was the last time I went to my home ward for 2 years. I spoke in church of course, both Brent and I spoke because we are going to be leaving for 2 years on our missions! I am getting so excited to go and serve the Lord for two years, and to represent him to the people in Taiwan. It is going to be very interesting though, because most all of the people of Taiwan know nothing of God or Jesus Christ, so I will have to teach them from the very start, and in their own language, which I do not know yet. I know the Lord will bless me according to my faith though, because I am on his errand and doing his work.

I would like to thank everyone who came and supported me, there were a lot of people there in sacrament meeting. I would also like to thank everyone who would have loved to have been there, but who live to far away, or who had prior commitments. Thank you to all!

bathroom,

well, we finally finished the bathroom, here are some pictures of it all done. well, mostly done.

Fire and Rain!

Well, I didn't update last week, because I didn't have a super exciting week last week, I was getting better from having strep throat, and spent most of the week lounging around at home. I did try and fly my kite, but it wore me out in about a half hour, and I did go rock climbing, but that wore me out super fast, and I got stung by a wasp about 5 minutes after I got there. I did go to the dentist, and he fixed one of my teeth that had chipped again, it broke after he fixed it last time. I also went and bought some gym shorts, deodorant, a razor, and stuff like that too. That pretty much sums up last week, oh I did have a good Birthday, and thanks for all of the Birthday wishes, they were very nice.

Last sunday we had Elder Hales come and speak at our stake conference. It was a very neat experience having an apostle of the lord come to our stake conference and speak. Sunday morning there was a youth meeting, where all the youth in the stake were invited to come and here him and his wife speak, and then everyone got to shake his hand after the meeting. The chapel was packed for it, and stake conference was even fuller, its sad that stake conference isn't always that packed, and that people don't always show up that early for all church meetings.

Well, this last week was my first and last week working for HK. I decided to work for them so I could cash the check I get from them, and take that with me to Taiwan to buy my bike when I get there. It was an interesting week, there is a fire right by where the Job is. Monday they had the road closed and wouldn't let us come up and work. Tuesday they opened the road again and I worked up there all day, there were lots of firefighters driving up and down the road, and helicopters were dumping water on the fires. We would stop and watch the fires every so often while we were working. There were a lot of small places where it would just smolder, and then sometimes an entire tree would just go up in flames. It was pretty interesting to watch.

On Wednesday, the road was closed again, but they let us work, because there was no immediate fire danger. they were even more firefighters driving around, and the helicopters were more active. Around noon or so, the ridge across the canyon caught on fire, and there were huge flames and lots of smoke from it. It was pretty crazy. Thursday the whole job was covered in smoke, and we still had to work the whole day. Thursday night, we ordered a pizza from the employee pub at lake village. It was an interesting place, there was all kinds of graffiti on the walls, like they let whoever wanted to just write on the walls with a sharpie. We called ahead and ordered the pizza, and then went and picked it up, and promptly left. Friday we only worked till 10, because there was a heavy rainstorm that picked up, so that helped the fire die down, and they opened the road again. So we left promptly and I got home around 3 on friday afternoon.

Saturday, I made another attempt to go and hike Borah, the weather report said there was a 20% chance of rain, and we got halfway there, and the whole valley was dark gray and a pretty intense thunderstorm was taking place. so that put a damper on our plans to go and hike Borah, so I spent the day lounging around, waiting for Mom, Dad, David, Jimmy, and his wife to get home from yellowstone. When they got home we went out to eat at sizzler. It was pretty good. Then we came home, and I went and bought Fearless, and we watched that. Except I fell asleep near the end, because I had stayed up till 2 friday night, visiting a friend in blackfoot before she left for college, and then watching a movie when I got back home at 12. Then saturday I got up at 5 to go and hike Borah, and I didn't take a nap all day. So I'll have to watch the end from where I fell asleep, we listened to it in mandarin, with english subtitles, it was pretty cool.

Today at church, Dallin Jolley gave his welcome home talk, it was pretty good. He went to New Jersey for his mission. I can't wait to go and serve my mission, I leave in 2 and a half weeks! I speak next sunday, and I got my topic from Brother Landon today. I'm pretty excited for it. Its coming so close, and I'm ready to just go and leave right now! I am glad that I still have some time though, so I can visit all of my family and friends before I leave for two years! I'm getting really excited to fly down to Houston to visit Edwin, Jennifer, Grace, and Anne! It will be really fun! Well, the church is true, and it is led by an inspired man of God, a prophet who is the Lord's mouthpiece here on the Earth!

Colorado!!

Well, this week was another busy one for me, as usual. I went through the Idaho Falls Temple on Wednesday Morning, it was an awe inspiring experience. Then we went out as a family and had breakfast afterwards.

Thursday we left to go to Fort Collins, Colorado to visit my Brother Ben, his wife Shanna, and my nephew Rohan. It was a pretty uneventful drive most of the way. We drove to Boulder, Wyoming and spent the night at a campsite there. On the way, we passed through Pinedale, Wyoming. It had a sign in the town that said, "Welcome to Pinedale, all the civilization you need." I thought it was pretty funny.

Friday morning, we got up around 6, ate breakfast, packed up our wet tents, (it had rained most all day thursday, and rained off and on during the night; my new tent is pretty great at keeping me dry!) and then left to drive the rest of the way to Fort Collins, dad wanted to take the "scenic route" though. so what should have only been a 5 hour drive, ended up as a 9 hour drive through boring wyoming, and some cool parts of Colorado.

Saturday we went to Rocky Mountain National park, and went on 2 short hikes there. We drove up above the tree line for a couple of miles. It was pretty cool, driving up that far. Then Saturday night, we just hung around Ben and Shanna's place.

Sunday we went to church there in Fort Collin's. I asked Shanna to take some pictures of me, for mission pics. She's a great photographer, even though in half of the pictures I managed to have my eyes shut! Its all good! Unfortunately on Sunday morning, my throat started to hurt pretty badly. I was ok after a nap and some mint tea Shanna made for me.

Monday morning we woke up around 6 am and left to come home around 7 am. it ended up being a 9 hour drive home, and my throat was killing me the whole way home. So as soon as we got home, I went to the doctor, and he told me that I have strep throat. He said I could either take pills for 10 days, or get one shot. I opted for the shot, not knowing that it was going to be in my bum! So the nurse came back in, and stuck me in the bum and gave me my shot. My bum is still a little sore, but I'll get over it.

I am truly thankful for modern medicine that we have. Last week I just finished getting all of my immunizations that I need for my mission. My last two shots that I got were a typhoid vaccination, and one for meningococcal meningitis. It is truly amazing how we can get vaccinations to protect us from life threatening diseases, I know the men and women who came up with these vaccinations had to be inspired of the Lord.

I only have one month left until I go to the MTC to serve my Lord for two years of my life. In the grand scheme of things, two years is not a very long time to serve at all. I'm truly grateful that I am able to have the opportunity to go and serve as a representative of the Lord for two years in Taiwan. I can't wait to learn mandarin chinese and to invite my brothers and sisters who live in Taiwan and who know nothing of God or Jesus Christ to come to the true church and receive the blessings that we can get from attending the True Church. I know that we have inspired men on the earth that lead this Church how God wants them to. I know that if we follow the counsel of the prophets that everything we do in righteousness will be for our benefit. I'm anxiously awaiting the time when I can go and serve the lord by inviting them to come unto Christ, Repent, and be baptized in His name!