I'm Never Hiking Again!

Happy Easter!!!!!! 

Kia ora my favorite whanau. How the heck are ya? What a great week! 

We had a mean baptism on Saturday! His name is Tamihana. It was a really good turn out! It's always nice to throw the ol' suit on as well and look fresh for a bit! ;) We have so many investigators right now that are ready to be baptized! It's so sick! It's funny though, because they're all youth and primary! We're working a lot with members, and have scored some part member families! :) It's been really solid lately! What's cool about it though, is when I rocked up to church my first Sunday, there were no deacons at all. Now we've baptized one, and will hopefully have 4-5 more coming soon! 

My goodness... Prepare for a ridiculous story! So we went to the waterfall the other day. It's called Hunua Falls. It was pretty nice, but it had a pretty mean hike. The first hike we took said that it would take 20 minutes, and we smashed it out in 5. So we got back to the sign and it said that another hike took 3 hours. So all of us being wonderful at math, calculated out that we could get back in about an hour if we ran some of the way! ;) So we did...all 4 companionships started running up the mountain covered in heavy bush with a path through the middle. We were going for about 45 minutes when we realized we were completely lost... on the other side of the mountain. So we started running again, worrying that we wouldn't be home in time! We came to another sign about another 45 minutes later. It told us to go a different way.. and got us even more lost. So long story short, The hike ended up taking longer than 3 hours... we found a nice lake on the other side, my legs hurt from running so much, and we were late getting home! It was so stupid! I'm never hiking again! But I hope you enjoy the pics I took! (I took a funny video as well.. so I'll send it when you send my card back!) 

I received my birthday card from home! :) I totally forgot I had a birthday! Maybe because it was a whole 30+ days ago! ;) but it was awesome to hear from the good ol' famdamily! 

We had a pretty mean Easter fireside. I was asked to give my testimony on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That is the worst thing for me to bear my testimony on because i choke up with tears every blimmin' time! But all good! I'm so grateful for the Atonement though! I've studied it a lot lately, and I'm truly grateful! 

That's about it for me! Kura is the flippin' bomb! Success all over the place! My companion is the man, the missionaries in our zone are awesome, I'm learning heaps, and a lot of other wonderful things! So no worries about Elder B. 

Laterz!

Elder Butler 

Off to the waterfall we go! 

Hunua Falls... "Oh that's pretty mean.. now let's go on a hike!"

Yep that's pretty beautiful...  "Now, does anyone know where we are?" 

"Flip fellas... I think we're lost!"

"Yep Elder Bauder.. I think we're going to die here now!"

"What the flip?! Where did this blimmin' lake come from?" 

"Who knows... but since we're already here, shoot a pic of me and Zezi!" 

This is Elder Fameitau, trying the, NOT 1 gallon challenge, but the 1.5 gallon Challenge........ Idiot!

This is Fameitau..... failing the milk challenge! ;) Haha, we were all dying!

#baptism

Solid Week :)

Kia ora!

My week was pretty solid! Again, I'm sorry, not much to talk about! But I did write the fam a letter, so you'll get it sometime soon! :) 

Starting off, we have a baptism on Saturday. His name is Tamihana Kahika. He's a young fella! But it's good because our ward is lacking deacons, so it's a solid baptism! Most of the week was just preparing him, and making other preparations for the baptism itself. 

I played a ridiculously solid game of volley on Monday with the fellas here in Papakura. It was too fun! They invited their Tongan mates. I still got it... I still got it! ;) I was wondering how my jumping would be, and it was still all good! ;) 

We went to a member's home for dinner the other day. They are a Maori family named the Timu's. They had a sweet carving by the fireplace, and I asked him what it meant.  He said, "It's yours!" So I was pumped about that! It's a nice addition to my collection. ;)

That's it for now. I'm sorry it's so short! I promise I'll have more for next week! Also more pictures. We should be going to the waterfall today, so I'll shoot some there. Also, Fameitau is trying the Milk gallon challenge, so I'll get some pics of that too! :)

I love you all heaps! I'm doing just fine here, so no worries! Me and Zesiger are reaching our last few months, so we're trying to stay diligent, and it's been good! Have a great week! I'll talk to you soon!

Love,

Elder Butler 

My carving! ;) It's a hook! I'm pretty sure it's called a Hei Matau. But I'll get back to you on that one! It's wood, with Paua shells in it! 

This is our friend... his name is Cohor! He's the police helicopter that flies around our flat, pretty much every day! ;)

I Love Islanders...And Their Food!

Kia ora Everyone!!

What a week! Heaps and heaps of miracles. Me and Zesiger created this thing where the zone sends us in their miracles throughout the day. Then we send them throughout the whole zone. We started out with 0 baptism sets in the whole zone, and by the end of the week we had 6. That's heaps for one week! It was amazing! As we recognized and we were seeking for miracles, God blessed us with heaps of them! Two of those sets are ours as well! :) 

It was just a solid week though! We played the meanest game of rugby on the Waiuku Beach on Monday! We got all the Tongans over and played a mean game! It was fun as! I wish I would have taken more pictures though! 

We had an awesome ward activity. Both of our sets came! There was so much food, and heaps of dancing! It was awesome! I realized that I missed South Auckland when my stomach told me it was happy! ;) I love islanders...and their food! ;) 

One thing I didn't miss about South Auckland though was the gangs, the hood, and all that rubbish! There was a shooting by our house the other day. One person got killed, the other injured. That was disappointing--especially because everyone's related to the fella! So it's not the safest place in NZ...but it's all good! :) 

I honestly don't have too much to say this week! We worked, and worked, and worked like usual! So It was a good week, just nothing too crazy! But I'm still loving the mish life! It feels ridiculous that I come home in 5 months. When people ask about how long I've been out and I answer, "19 months," it feels like a joke! But it's legit! ;) I'm definitely excited to see the ol' whanau again! But no trunkiness involved...no worries! ;) 

So that's me this week. I love you guys! I have a few recent converts to email, and other people as well, so I have to make this one short! Love you heaps though! Laterz!

Arohanui,

Elder Butler 

#papakurarugby

#papakurabasketball (look at that weak court though! bummer!!) ;) 

HELP! Sister Drama...

Hello! :)

I had a pretty mean week! I hope you did as well! 

We started off the week by going to Hamilton to have a meeting with President. It went pretty well. I'm sure you got all the pictures from Sister Saunders. We got a mean as feed like usual as well! 

We had a solid zone meeting! We bought 20$ worth of chocolate bars for our zone that they had to find by working with members. It was pretty awesome! We've already seen a lot of blessings from working with members in our area! We received 11 referrals, with a few that we're hoping to set for baptism soon! 

The middle of this week was insane! Every Sister in our whole zone decided to go crazy! They all called us on the same day--some wanting to kill their companions! It was ridiculous! So we had to go in and interview all of them. But thank goodness for our Sister Training Leader who saved the day.. she pretty much saved our lives! I'm questioning if I ever want to get married now--sister drama is unreal! ;) ha!

Some more madness in South Auckland, along with the Sister Missionaries, happened at 4:00 in the morning one day when the gun police were outside of our house getting our investigator! So I guess you could say we dropped him! ;) We knew it was going to happen sooner or later though, so it wasn't a surprise. It was pretty crazy to watch though! A couple days later we were walking down the street, and a cop pulls over to us and says, "are you fellas lost?" We said no. He then told us how we need to be careful because we were in an unsafe area, and offered to give us a ride. ;) He obviously doesn't know who we are! Maybe his glasses weren't working properly.. they were a little too scratched to see the angels on our left and on our right! ;) haha!

Highlight of my week--Elder and Sister Saunders came to our zone meeting and talked for a bit! Then, they took me and Zesiger out to lunch! I think me and Zesiger made history because of it! Every missionary has desired being shouted by the Saunders, and we were the only ones to achieve it! so I feel pretty good! ;) 

That's about it for now! I have heaps of people to write! It was Big Ben's birthday a few days ago, so give him a nice letter as well! Thanks!

Love you all heaps! :)

Arohanui,

Elder Butler

The fellas...waiting to go interview the Stake President for our zone meeting. You can call us Elders BnZ (Butler and Zesiger) because in New Zealand there is a bank called the BNZ. So it just makes sense.. with all the cash money missionary work that we do! ;) Haha!