Dinner with a General Authority!

Kia Ora Whanau,

That was a mean as Christmas! One of the best actually! It was so good to see your beautiful faces! ;) 

I'll just give you some quick bits of info before I get into an experience that happened yesterday.

Christmas conference was mean! We were in Tuhikaramea again, just like last year. It was way beautiful, but my allergies were horrific! :/

We went carolling with the Elders and Sisters in our ward. We saw a few investigators and less actives. It was heaps of fun! Sister Siale, The Tongan sister in our ward made me a beautiful tie for Christmas with Tongan patterns on it! 

Christmas eve we had to run around for Sister Saunders. But there was a wreck on the road, so we had to take a detour all the way to Rotorua--then found our way to Whakatane. Heaps of fun, but absolutely useless! 

We had a wonderful Christmas at the Preston's home. We pretty-much stayed there all day. We left for Breakfast at the Jamison's, and dinner at the Watene's and that's all. Other than that, we were with the Preston's. They're the bomb! It was wonderful being able to talk to and see my amazing whanau back home. You all look great! :)

Alright.. let me get to the good stuff now.

While we were at the Preston's, they told us that Elder Nielsen of the 70 would be in town on Saturday and Sunday. And that he would be staying in their home for those nights and would be coming along to church. So what do you know, bishop gives us a call at 7:30 on Saturday night telling us that we need to speak the next day! I prepared the MEANEST talk ever! We rock up to church the next day and bishop comes up to us and says, "Elder Butler, you're off the hook today!" I was so disappointed! I was so pumped to speak in front of a General Authority! But Elder Jonsson still had to speak! 

I was bummed the rest of sacrament meeting, but then it came to Priesthood. Elder Nielsen gave the most unbelievable training of all time. The things that were shared were so sacred, he made us swear to not let it leave this room. So I wish I could tell you, but just know that our eyes were opened, and that the church is true! Then he did something that, in all honesty, changed my life! It was so simple, but reassuring. He said, "Elder Jonsson, you already spoke today so Elder Butler come up here." Then he took me in his left arm and said, "Do you know that you have a Heavenly Father?"  I had to look down so nobody would see my chin trembling (the thing that happens when you're trying to fight back crying!) I said, "Yes." He then asked, "Do you believe that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet?" And I said, "Yes." He continued to ask me simple questions about my testimony in front of 20 other brethren. The whole time, I could just feel something so beautiful! The spirit spoke to me that day, just like it did with Elder Bednar, and Elder Cook! It was such an amazing experience. I'm glad Heavenly Father knows what he's doing.. because I really needed that testimony-building experience! 

After that... we had dinner with the Preston's and the Nielsen's. So I had dinner with a General Authority yesterday! It was pretty solid--and Sister Preston's cooking is phenomenal! 

So that's me this week! Wonderful spiritual experiences all week long! I pray for weeks like this...and I finally got one! 

I love you all! :)

Arohanui,

Elder Butler 

Elder Nielsen!

Christmas dinner at the Watene's.

Christmas eve at the Clarks. (part of our Christmas Eve Vacation in Whakatane). Me and Elder Johnson (to the right of me) are giving them death glares to hurry up!

Christmas Presents! I made our tree as well! :) You like?

Secret Santa with the Tauranga Zone. 

Luckily Elder Jonsson got a Lava Lava from Secret Santa...because he ripped his pants from back to front at the Christmas Conference! ;) Hilarious!

Found some OD wall art in the Mount. 

Christmas with Timoti... Dec 22. 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hey Fam!! :)

Elder Butler here with another mean week in Tauranga! 

Starting off, we went to Mt. Maunganui on Monday. But instead of going up the mount like last time, we traveled around it! It was beautiful! I don't know which one was more amazing! We got to put our legs in the water, and it was wonderful! The water felt unreal and it was clear as! We found this little island off of the mount, so we walked through the water and played on it for a bit! But I think the best part was starfish hunting. I called it hunting, but it was more like "gathering" since they don't move...but it was sweet! There were heaps of starfishies!

Elder Jonsson got a Christmas package. He said, "Oh, I'm going to wait for Christmas to open it." Psht... lies! I tempted him to open it for a few days and he finally gave in. He got heaps of Swedish candy... and it. was. absolutely. disgusting! My goodness, I don't know how he can choke that rubbish down! I had an easier time eating balut and frog legs than his candy. It consisted of the strongest black licorice I have ever tasted... and that's all...2kg's worth! Yuck!

Also, going along with Elder Jonsson-I don't know if I've told you this yet-but he is the all-time WORST snorer in the history of snoring! He beats Grandpa Butler! I have to wake him up every single night! Sometimes I beat him with my pillow until he wakes up. Other times I shake his bed by pulling the little handle on the side as hard as I can. That might be contributing to my lack of energy lately! ;) I feel bad though, because I make fun of him about it all the time! 

We volunteered for a massive event they had in the Mount the other day. It's called Christmas in the park! It was huge! So that was heaps of fun being out in the community meeting lots of people! Everyone was very grateful for our service as well which was beautiful! ;) But I got fried! We were able to wear our PDay clothes for this service, and I was all pumped to get rid of my collar tan line. I didn't use any sunscreen (how stupid), and I am so fried!! :/

So that's about it this week, but I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas! So..... MERRY CHRISTMAS!! There you go! ;) I love Christmas! I love it because I love Jesus Christ! I'm more than grateful for him! I love my family as well, and miss you heaps! I'll see your faces, (some more pretty than others... sorry pops), on Thursday or Friday though, and I'm so pumped! :) So have a wonderful week...you all deserve it!

Love ya heaps,

Elder Butler

YAU.... king of the rock!! And there's nothin' you girls can do about it! :) Name the movie! :) (It was Mulan, btw.) 

A little bay area off of the mount. 

Me and the Bros!

If anyone ever wants to join me.. there's an open space to the left! ;)

Finding Starfish.

Elder Butler trying to crack open some Kaimoana (seafood) ;) Muscles

This is my friend.. He's waving as well!! ;) #starfishhunting

Elder Jonsson's camera is waterproof,  so here is a starfishy under the water.

One of our members took this of us. We were in the MTC with their daughter, and he sent this pic to her.. and she sent it to us! ;)

Zone Meeting training. Elder Chan-Sau drew a pic for us for our training! ;)

For helping at the Christmas in the park we were given these little wooden signs..I'm pretty proud of it! ;) Haha, mean as!

Elder Butler...who happens to be in New Zealand ;)

Oh my goodness.........

Mean as week y'all! ;) The emails I received are ridiculous as well! Brett is flippin' engaged.... what??? :) So happy for you bro! You're the man! Also, BYU got spanked in basketball! That's always a positive. The Scanlans sent me an email telling me that they have moved to Redoubt, and are going through the temple in February! SO EXCITED!! Wow, don't you just love it when life is going great!? It's a wonderful thing, that's for sure! 

Of course, as well... a little shout out to someone over in Brazil! ;) Hope you have the happiest birthday ever Hanna! I hope the wonderful people over there make you some delicious alligator or something yum!! ;) 

Now...My week was pretty solid. We had transfers this week, and thankfully Jonsson and I are staying in Tauranga! I mean, you can't seperate the dream team! ;) Haha, I say that in all humility!

Our investigators are all doing well. Our zone is smashing it, and Tauranga is still beautiful! 

I was so pumped yesterday. I walked into sacrament meeting for Welcome Bay, and there was Sister Fitzgibbon! I was so excited to see her! We served together in my first area, and she died there, so it was awesome to catch up! 

Last night we got a call from the Opotiki Elders (Elder Christensen) to give a blessing at the hospital to a Maori man. It was a great experience! He was not a member, but he really respected who we were, and loved the company. He was asaulted a couple days earlier, and had to get his eye removed because of it! So we gave him a blessing and it was beautiful! He was very grateful! (He'll be baptized sooner or later!) ;) 

We had 2 awesome ward activities on Saturday! The first was with Welcome Bay and that was mean as! We played volley, dodgeball, ate heaps, and the ward is just amazing. It was at a park...on the beach!! The second was at the chapel with Mount Maunganui, and we just ate heaps and talked, so that was good as well! 

The Prestons are amazing people!  I hope you all have the chance to meet them someday! If you don't, then your life is not complete! ;) We went to get adjusted at his office the other day and he says, "I'm going to get you guys an appointment right now." So he picks up the phone and calls one of his clients. We had the meanest lesson ever with the Prestons and their two South African friends. It was beautiful! If every lesson was like that, we'd have about 100 million members of the church! 

That's about it for me this week! Things are continuing to be great! I just need to remember that God has given me all these wonderful experiences, and it's not because of my personal strength or wisdom. Because as soon as I get a little hot headed... I receive a few trials! So if you feel like my email was a little too confident, tell me and I'll try to cool myself down a bit! ;) 

Love you all heaps!!

Arohanui,

Elder Butler...who happens to be in New Zealand ;)