SHANGHAI, China -- "One big, happy family" aptly describes the Gregory and Tracey Butters family -- big as in one of the biggest families residing in the largest city in the world's most populous country, and happy to be among fellow expatriate Mormons in the People's Republic of China.

The Butterses total eight -- including Harrison, age 12; Benjamin, 11; Edison, 8; Molly, 7; Oscar, 4; and Dorothy, 2. Understandably, a number of families worldwide can top that count -- some doubling it or more.

Members of the Pudong Branch of the Shanghai China International District, the Butterses are a rarity among church members holding foreign passports and comprising the church's 11 international branches. Few LDS families -- and even fewer with such a large number of young children -- spend more than a couple of years in China before returning home.

The Butterses' China adventures began before the children arrived, with the Butterses -- both BYU law school graduates -- working in the legal profession in Southern California.

"We looked at each other across the table one day and said, 'We're not having fun'," he recalled.

Joining the BYU Kennedy Center's China Teachers Program in 1994, the Butterses -- a contrast to the workforce of individuals and couples twice their age -- went from enjoying a pair of lawyer incomes to earning $180 a month teaching English in Qingdao.