Eating Some Crazy Stuff!

Malo Soifua everyone!!!

O a mai oe!?! (I'm trying to learn Samoan from my main man Elder Patea!!) 

This week has been ridiculous! Heaps of bad stuff.. and lots of good also! A few bad visits with investigators dropping us and not finding anyone! But all good!! We're still moving forward!! Not too much to talk about today, but I'll tell you something that will hopefully give you a good laugh! 

Elder Patea has language study every night around 8:00. He reads through the Book of Mormon and we define words for him. So one night (this is horrible I'm sorry!! I hope this doesn't offend anyone!! haha) He was reading from the book of Mosiah, chapter 12 verse 5.. which says, "they shall be driven before like a dumb ass." So picture Elder Patea learning English and being so confused. "Elders... What's a dumb..... ass??" Haha it was hilarious!! So we explained it... and told him to not use it very often!! ;) 

Tonehsha Reti. Baptized!! Success!! Saturday was a great day! We had a baptism.. and it was so solid! The feed afterwards was a bonus also! (When heaps of Maori's get together for a celebration... you'd better come with an empty stomach!) But listen to this: As we were eating lunch one of our favorite members, Lisa, calls and says she wants to take us out to lunch with our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Tichborne. Lisa is from Cambodia.. so she took us to this authentic Asian food place! It was dang nice.. BUT.. we were eating some weird things. We ate heaps of chicken feet, sweet chili cow intestine, pork suii mai (mmm), prawn dumplings, and other crazy stuff. They even had shark there, but we didn't get any!! :/ But I told her that it was the most interesting lunch appointment that I've ever had since I was fed frog legs!! But I love trying new stuff!! :) 

Our investigators Daniel and Mily are the bomb!! They are just sincere as!! I absolutely love them. And Mily is making us a cake on Friday! :) She said that Cakes from Brazil are really nice. So I'm excited to get some in my stomach! :) 

That's about all for the week!! I'm playing some mean volley today (I played last week too!! Jacked my back up, but it's all good now!! :) But it was dang fun because it was all elders... so you didn't have to worry about killing anyone!) So I'm very excited!! I just love islanders!! They are the greatest people!! They are so solid at volley, and make the most wonderful food!! The Lord knew exactly where Elder Butler needed to go!! ;) 

That's all I've got for today!! So I love you all!! :) Have a wonderful week!! 

Fa soifua,

Elder Butler

"Mom...I'm eating a chicken's foot!" :)

This is what we learn upon the Isles of the sea!! ;) Lunch.... New Zealand style!! ;) 

Soon to be Eternal!! ;) Tonesha's baptism!! #theretifamily

Trio

Hello everyone!!

We had such a great week! Not much to say about it though! But first of all, we got a new companion. His name is Elder Vave Patea, from Apia, Samoa! We're training him for the first few weeks because he came early. So it's been a way fun week! He's the man! But being in a trio is weird. 

I went on two exchanges this week. One with Elder Lea'aetoa, and the other with Elder Thompson.  He is one of the APs. I didn't really know Elder Thompson before I went, but right when we started he said, "Elder Butler, I've played you in basketball a few times at Dixie State!" He played for Desert Hills. It was way cool--so we talked about ball a ton during the exchange! And the Elder Lea'aetoa exchange was the bomb too! He put me through the meanest workout ever (because he's flippin' jacked!) We had a dinner at a Samoan member's house... They told us, "Elders, you know the rules.. you can't leave until these plates are clean!" There was so much food on the table, I knew I was going to die!  Elder Lea'aetoa and I had 6 plates combined!! I was at the edge of my seat for the rest of the night! 

Our investigators from Brazil are SO awesome!  They all came to church yesterday and enjoyed it, and wanted to come next week! They are so sweet! We gave them their Books of Mormon in Portuguese and they have already started! Also at church, we had our Saudi Arabian investigator show up.  Which if you know Saudi--that was a miracle! Saudi Arabia is the Muslim capital of the world! And we had one of them in our building! Also... We ditched Priesthood class and went to the temple with him and one of our Korean investigators also! SO MEAN!!

We've been doing language study now... every single day!! Trying to teach Elder Patea English! I will tell you what though, I have gained a stronger testimony doing language study!! There's no way that Joseph Smith could have written the Book of Mormon. When Patea is reading it and doesn't understand a word... I have to whip out my dictionary also!! ;) 

Oh... I forgot. (I'm backtracking a little bit I'm sorry!) But mine and Elder Thompson's exchange was crazy!! We caught a wild bunny, then got our car stuck in the mud in the country. Luckily (30 minutes later) we found someone to tow us out. We also talked to some crazy people, got a free bag of doughnuts, and all sorts of crazy things!! It was definitely one that I'll never forget!! ;) 

That's about it for now! I will talk to you soon! I love you all!! Oh.. and we have a baptism on Saturday!! So excited! :) It's my first one in a while!

Ka kite,

Elder Butler 

This was the crew that ditched church and went to the temple! left to right... Lisa (Member from Cambodia), Jing (member from China), Jun (investigator from Korea), Omar (investigator from Saudi Arabia), Me (from the factory, motherland of Utah), Elder Patea (from Samoa), Elder Hopoate (also from Utah.. but half Tongan!! ;)  ) It was a solid trip!!

 The beautiful temple. Such a nice day yesterday! 

Experiences in "Hammy-town"

Kia Ora!!:) 

What a solid week! 

Let me start out with my investigators! This week we took our investigators Flora and the Moñoska's  to the Visitors' Center. At different times of course! They were both such wonderful experiences. Flora has only been in New Zealand for 5 months now. She moved here from China to go to University. So we watched the Testaments in Mandarin Chinese. It was so sick! The spirit was so strong, even though I had no idea what they were saying!! ;)  All I heard was 我爱教会... But all good!! :) Then after that.. one of the Senior couple missionaries pulled up facetime on her Ipad and Facetimed her son who spoke Mandarin. So he was able to share his testimony with Flora and invite her to read the Book of Mormon!! It was So sick!! (I have a picture of it.. but I left my camera at the flat!! ;( I know mom.. you're gonna kill me when I get home!!) 

The Moñoska family was the bomb too! We gave them a tour of the V.C. in Spanish! They are our investigators from Columbia. Only the kids speak English! So the whole night was in Spanish! We watched movies, listened to/looked at the Christus, and we sang "I am a Child of God" in Spanish also!! It was a little rusty.. but all good!! ;) 

Speaking of Spanish.. We have a member in our ward.. The flippin' man!! His name is Rawiri (Rah wee ree.. roll R's).  He just returned from the Tucson, Arizona Spanish speaking mission!! So we had a nice chat about the breeding territory for champions!! ;) 

My goodness... The Man!!! We found a guy while we were tracting...Golden!! His name is Seamus (Shay muss... it's Gaelic).  He's straight from Ireland!! He has a wife and 2 or 3 kids! He was keen as to have us come over!! I'm way excited about him! 

Okay.. this news is sad and awesome at the same time!! ;) During the middle of teaching Gospel Principles yesterday, one of our members starting having unreal chest pains, and couldn't breathe. We thought it was a heart attack, but it ended up being a little lower near the stomach! So we gave him a blessing and called the ambulance! They hurried and checked him out and carried him away on the stretcher. They asked him if he wanted anyone to come with him and he said, "My bros!" Which means...me and Elder Hopoate! So I was pumped as!! We were right in there in the ambulance watching all these crazy things go in him as they took him to the hospital!! Man, I was living the dream!! During this whole experience I couldn't help but think about my Patriarchal Blessing, which mentions how my mission will help lead me down an educational pathway!! Flip... I found it! Well, I confirmed it! ;) 

Back to the Visitors Center.  I walk in on Friday with the Moñoska's and there is Tom and Stella Filipo!! They had just received their Patriarchal Blessings and were at the V.C. It was so perfect!! I absolutely love them!! So lucky!! 

Last week we found people that were prepared for McKay Butler specifically!! Edmond and Jared! Edmond we found while tracting.. and Jared we found at a members home (friend of their daughter.) Both tall white guys. "So tell me about yourself man!" - Elder Butler to Edmond... "Well.. God has told me to play basketball!!" Haha they were both keen as!! They really want to learn, and at the same time, we'll get some ballin' in!! Jared is like 6'5 and looks like Ryan Andrus, just not as tall! But I sensed that he was a baller the second he walked in the room with the brand new Kobe's!! ;) Love it!! 

Speaking of Ball... I balled hard as on Monday! We played with Elder Myers and Manoa, Taufa and Fellingham. They brought some bros over from their ward! They own Gyms here in Hamilton, so they hooked us up with some Protein and they were ballers!! So much fun!! After that we played some volley!! Wow... I was in heaven!! 

That's all for now whanau! :) I love you all! :) I need some time to write others! ;) 

Laterz,

Elder Butler 

Loving Hamilton

Kia Ora everyone!! 

This week was just great! We invited 9 people to be baptized and they all accepted! We only have dates for 2 though, so we're still working on the others! But lemme tell you! One of them is a part member family. The husband is a member that was struggling with some addictions and such, and his wife really wanted him to baptize her! So he got up in Sacrament Meeting and bore the most powerful testimony. You can see a mighty change in him! He has had everyone on his side to help him.. he's the man! So he'll be baptizing Tanisha on the 25th of July!! So pumped! 

The other set we have is Carl. We found him during rescue visits for less actives. During these visits we met a less active named Kelly, and she was pumped that we came by. They're planning on coming to church next week. Carl was staying in her home. He's a relative, and we taught him and set him for the 9th of August!! So many miracles happening in Hamilton!! I love it! 

We found heaps of new investigators! Here in NZ, each district has totally different people and cultures. If you remember from my letters from Rewa, I taught mostly Samoans, Tongans, Cook Islanders, and Indians. In Taranaki I taught mostly White Kiwis, and Maoris. Here in Hamilton, we teach a lot of Africans and Asians. (Sorry, I just think this is cool, so I'm going to tell you! So don't get your panties in a bundle!) Right now we have investigators from Ghana, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia! And we are teaching a few Chinese! Man.. this Wednesday, we're going to watch the Testaments at the Visitors Center in Chinese with our investigator Flora! So pumped! She's a 20 year-old girl from China!! 

As Zone Leaders, we go on exchanges with all the District Leaders. And the District Leaders go on exchanges with all the other missionaries in their district. So this week, we went on exchanges with Elder Meyers and Manoa, both from Hawaii. I was with Elder Meyers! He's the man.. It was a good time. We woke up early and went to the chapel to play ball!! I still got it.. I still got it!! ;) We're actually going there again in a few hours to play some volley with some Islanders. If you remember Elder Taufa, my good buddy in the MTC...the amazing setter from Tonga?  He's in their district, so I'm pumped to play with him! 

Elder Hopoate is leaving in 1 1/2 transfers. Going on home! So he wants to be looking fresh when he gets there.  He's given me the assignment to get him into shape! (I was glad to do that!!) He's probably wishing he never said that to me.. because I've taken it seriously!! ;) We wake up at 6 every morning so we get a solid workout in. Every morning we've been going to the park down the road! Man... We throw down some mean as workouts there!! I'm gonna be jacked by the time I leave Hamilton!! ;) And the big fella, Elder Hopoate is lookin' good!! 

I got food poisoning the other day! We had to come in early and call it a night! Stupid Carl's Jr. But all good cause I made some mean marinated chicken the next day! Elder Hopoate and I smashed 14 things of chicken!! Delicious!!

I finally got my letter from Hanna.. and she finally got mine! We sent them in April!! So that was ridiculous! But all good!! It was way solid!! ;) 

I was reading in the Doctrine and Covenants yesterday during Sacrament Meeting! I came upon a verse that was solid.. so I wanted to share it with you!! It's found in D&C 100:1!! It gave me a lot of comfort for those who I love so much! It says "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my friends Sidney, Joseph, [and Elder Butler], your families are well; they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power." I love that scripture!! Out of all the people that could watch over my family as I'm gone, I would want it to be the Lord! He'll take care of you. He's knows that I love you!! It brings me peace reading this, and I hope it does the same for you (especially my dear mother!) ;) 

One other thing.  This is my invitation as a missionary to you!! My testimony has grown a ton out here on my mission. I've learned how important my testimony really is!! It says in D&C 76:79 (talking about the Terrestrial Kingdom,  "These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus!" Elder Cook says in his talk Choose Wisely..."In all things we should remember that being 'valiant in the testimony of Jesus' is the great dividing test between the Celestial and Terrestrial kingdoms." My Whanau... strengthen your testimonies!! PLEASE!! I want to live with you forever with nobody missing!! That is my invitation!! I love you guys!!

Arohanui,

Elder Butler 

With Elder Hopoate and Sister Thalman (After her release.)

I got to meet up with the Thalman fam during their tour of New Zealand after picking up their daughter. :)