Elder Jonsson from Sweden

Kia ora my favorite people!!! 

Man.. Tauranga (Toe-wrong-uh) is flippin' mean as! My companion is the flippin' man as well! Elder Jonsson (Yawn-son) from Sweden. We came out together 14 months ago. Good ol' MTC days! We're way pumped to work with each other, and have completely smashed it so far!

Tauranga is absolutely beautiful! Look up Mt. Maunganui (Mawng-uh-new-ee) on google...that's my area!  My ward is called Welcome Bay.. that just screams, "amazing!"

The people here are the bomb as well, and the ward is awesome! Two families are from Farmington and one is from Kaysville, so I feel like I'm right at home! It's a tough area though because it's very rich!

We're teaching a family. Their names are Timoti and Terrena. We are baptizing Timoti soon and his 2 little identical twin girls. They have 5 beautiful kids... but they are CRAZY! Their wedding is this Saturday...so I'm just way pumped! 

Now for the bad news about my new area. Right before I got here we were pushed out of our flat because another family was moving into it. So we're currently living out of our suitcases in another companionship's flat. We're living 20 minutes away from our area in Te Puke (Teh Poo-Keh).  The elders we are staying with are both Samoan, so it's been a fun stay! We're with Elder Maiava and Nikau. One day they came up to us and asked what we wanted for lunch and said they would shout. (Go pick up the food). So we asked for Subway. They come rolling back to the flat a little later with 2 footlongs, a few nice pizzas, Turkish kabobs and drinks. I love how Samoans do things...go big or go home aye? 

That's about it for now. Mom, I'm sorry I don't have very many pics yet. BUT we're going to the mount today, so next week you'll have some, I promise! Anyways, you're all the bomb! Love ya heaps!

Laterz from paradise,

Elder Butler

This is my crib, haha! 

Me and my new companion, Elder Jonsson :)

Me, Rios and the big fella.. Ray Te Kani

Alex and Tina... dinner every Wednesday!!:)

This is my good buddy Milo... reminds me EXACTLY of Riley!

The Trunky Trio

Kia ora!! 

It was a great week! 

Starting off, we went to the chapel on P-Day, played some ball, and whipped out the ping pong table! Elder Butler's still got it! ;) Ping pong champ! You would think I am Asian or something, but all good! Then on Monday night, a member took us out to eat at a buffet. Wow! It's the kind where you put all your stuff in a bowl and give it to the chef and they cook it right in front of you! Man, it was flippin' delicious! (and ridiculously expensive!) ;) 

So last week I didn't even mention that we got a new companion. His name is Elder Gemmell. He's from Hastings, New Zealand and he's waiting for his visa to go to Belgium. He's the man! My first Kiwi companion. Our zone calls us the "trunky trio," because I'm transfer-trunky, Gemmell is Belgium-trunky, and Rios is just straight up, trunky! 

Funny story about Rios this week. We were tracting one day, and Gemmell and I started talking to someone, and we noticed that Rios wasn't with us. So we looked behind us, and he's just throwing up all over the place! Haha, something gagged him and finally he just puked like 5 times!  We were cracking up! ;)

This week we took out our buddy Milo from Samoa to do some missionary work! He got stuck with me...tracting! ;) It was hilarious seeing him completely shocked to see how rude some people are to missionaries! And New Zealand is generally pretty nice, but when I tracted with Milo, not a single nice person seemed to be on the streets! ;) Then we went to his place and had some Koko Samoa, and Masipopo (I think that's how you spell it!). 

Also, Elder Gemmell! He hasn't even been to the MTC yet, so we are his "pre-MTC" trainers! He's still trying to get used to the missionary schedule. We looked over at an appointment with a less active, and he was just crashed out on the couch beside us! 

Other than that, I'm just ready to bounce out of Hamilton. I'll know where/if I'm leaving today or tomorrow most likely! I'm pretty pumped!

 *A note from Robin* During our emailing session, he sent me this message: "PRESIDENT RUDD JUST CALLED!!! WOOOOOOOOO!! I'M GOING TO TAURANGA TO CONTINUE TO BE A ZONE LEADER WITH MY BUDDY ELDER JONSSON FROM SWEDEN! HE'S IN MY INTAKE! SO FLIPPIN' EXCITED!!!" 

But overall, It was a pretty good week! We had a lot of good sit down lessons with people, and found several solid new investigators! 

So anyways, I love you all heaps and missin' you bunches! 

Arohanui,

Elder Butler

#carrides... Butler, Rios, Gemmell...aka Trunky Trio! :)

Here I am with my new pet. It decided to take a poo on my shirt, but all good! I was already used to cow poo...so bird poo was nothing! ;) 

General Conference...The Good Stuff!

Wow....

Thank you all for the amazing emails this week! That literally made my whole day! First of all... mom... You're the flippin' bomb! Still ballin' and you're 1/2 a century old! ;) Haha, I wish I could see you in action on the court so dang bad! But that's okay, I brag to my companions about how cool you are all the time.  Love you heaps mother dear! Second... Pops... you're the man!  I love you to death big guy! Keep working hard.  Next to the Savior himself, you are my greatest example! 

This week was alright. I started out the week sick as! Elder Rios caught it first, then the next day, Elder Butler smashed. :/ It was miserable! 

But lets get the good stuff down first, shall we? General Conference! Loved it! Elder Holland's talk about mothers made me trunky as! Nah.. just kidding! But it really made me appreciate my dear mother! Dad... I'm sorry. There were no talks about how cool males are.  I know how you feel! ;) But let's be honest, we're surrounded by some pretty amazing women!  I also loved President Eyring's talk during Priesthood. It answered most of my questions I came to conference with. He has definitely gone up to be one of my favorite speakers!

So, funny story:  This week we had a Mexican night to support the beautiful Butler/Rios Whakapapa! ;) We made burritos for dinner!  Haha, they were mean as! Delicious! But here's the bad part. We were at Ray Te Kani's place teaching him how to be a missionary and doing role plays, and all of the sudden my stomach is just killing me! So it was literally like, "Alright... God loves us so he has always called a prophet to.... oh my goodness... Ray we'll be back in 15 minutes!" Haha, I don't know what we did to those burritos.... 

We had an amazing lesson with one of our University student investigators. He is the man! We invited him to be baptized. He's so close! I don't know if I'll be here in Hamilton East to see that happen, but It was beautiful hearing someone finally say, "Yes, I believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet!" I almost wanted to get off my chair and start cheering, "It's about flippin' time!" But then I remembered that I've been working on patience, and that wouldn't have sounded too patient!  So I kept my cool with a smile on my face! :) 

Some other stuff quickly.... A member bought all our groceries when we were in line, so I'm loaded with money! Not really.. It was so lucky! Well... blessings!! ;)

Maria and Reece dropped us.. It was heartbreaking! too much crazy stuff going on. Satan I'm tellin' ya.. If I ever meet him... wow!

I made a hole in someone's house as we were helping them move. The lady that moved in asked them for $10,000 to fix it, and they said heck no. They ended up not having to pay it, luckily! So I am officially an expensive child--causing $10,000 problems! ;) 

Well, that's me! I do have a few pictures for you all! :) So hold up!

Love you heaps.. and then some! ;)

Arohanui,
Elder Butler 

VC Pride

#thebros #thegoal (just not together) Haha! 

Milkin' cows... Flippin' Fun As!!

WHAT THE FLIP?!

I'm not going to have any friends when I get home!  They'll all be married! So weird.

So this week was alright! We balled hard on Monday! Remember when you asked if Elder Bowman was a WOH? (Waste Of Height) Well he's completely not! He's the flippin' man! He's 6'6 and moves really well!! My mission posterity is full of ballers! ;) So much fun! 

I forgot to mention we had an open house last week. It was pretty mean. We had a nice little barbecue going on with a jumping castle!  It brought me back to the good ol' days at Classic Skating with the bouncy slides! ;) Haha we have some pics, but they're not on my camera.  I'll get them sooner or later. 

Alright... highlight of the week right here! We went on exchanges with Morrinsville. I was with Elder Temanaha, from Tahiti. Morrinsville is about an hour east of Hamilton - or something like that - and it's out in the middle of nowhere. So we went to a part-member family's home... and we milked cows for ages!  They are on a massive farm with 150-ish cows, so a decent amount!  We had to get them all together and paint their tails pink and stick the little suction cups things on them and milk them!  Flippin' fun as! I got crapped on like 10 times! We had poo all over our hands, some on my face, all over! It was the grossest job in the world, but way fun! It was a great experience! We were able to enjoy some of the milk afterwards also... beautiful! It was like straight cream!  I'm sorry I didn't take very many pics of it.  I had poo all over! But when I cleaned up a bit we got some pics...and it STILL got my camera green! :/

We also went to a fireside last night! It was very nice! It's always wonderful feeling the spirit, especially at the temple! And...my boy Wangsgard was there! Daddy himself was at the fireside! I love that guy! We talked for AGES!  He goes home this transfer. I'm so sad. 

Okay, my mom is still sending me pics of engagements from my school.  What's everyone getting married for? Wait for another 10 months so I can enjoy the party aye?  Haha, it seems unreal! 

Well... Life on the mish is still the bomb! Loving it every day, even though it is very difficult! Satan tries to smash us with different trials now and again.... and again!  But we are still working hard. So when I find myself an eternal companion, (like everyone else in the world is doing at the moment)... I can tell her I worked my dang butt off! ;) Haha, It's fun though! I mean that in all humility! ;)

I love you all!  I'm so pumped for conference next week! We get it a week later unfortunately!  So I'm way excited! :) Love ya and miss ya heaps! :)

Love,

Elder Butler 

"What pretty tails you have, pretty little cows! HEY..... don't poo on your friends face... That's not nice! See? Look what you did to your friend!" (This is the conversation I had with this cow!) They just unleash like every 2 minutes! ;)

 Me and Temanaha