Sunday, June 26, 2016

Well, poo...

Hello, Hello!!!

That was honestly one of the meanest weeks of all time! It was just so good! 

Let me start out by telling you a wonderful story. We live next door to the Tongan elders, and one night, Elder Finau came over when we were in bed because he needed to grab something. So we just chilled in bed while he talked to us for a bit at the door. Then he turned off the light and said goodbye, and left (we thought). About 5 minutes later the lights turned on and we heard this horrific scream. Scared the living crap out of us.... and sadly for Johnson, it literally scared the crap out of him! Haha the fella pooped his pants on accident because he was so scared! It was absolutely hilarious! So that was my funny moment of the week! ;)

The protocols were taken away a couple of weeks ago. So we don't have as many rules, as of right now. So we've been jamming to Disney music. Talk about trunkiness... "Can... you feel... the love tonight?!" It's been pretty sweet though! ;)

We had the greatest Sunday of all time yesterday. So many investigators came to church! And I was the final speaker. It went very well! Our investigators talked to us after and said they loved church! Elder Johnson and I were so happy! It was just a wonderful day, and everything went perfectly as planned! 

The Scanlan's! Remember Lakopo Scanlan? I baptized him in Manurewa. Well, they took me and Elder Johnson out to lunch the other day! It was so amazing to see them! They're still doing so well, and they're planning out their date for the temple! They are such an amazing family!

We did service for our Bishop this week. He's moving, sadly. I flippin' love our bishop! He's the absolute man! But it was heaps of fun. He gave me HEAPS of encouragement and info about becoming a doctor! He's so sweet!

We met the nicest family of all time the other day. They're from Zimbabwe. We're giving them a Book of Mormon in the Shona language. They're so wonderful! But on the way to their house, Elder Johnson stepped right in a massive dog poo. So I started cracking up! I was dying.... and all of the sudden I looked down on my jacket, and a bird pooped on me! So you could say that it was a pretty crappy day...but it was actually all good! ;) (sorry for all the poo stories this week!) :)

That's about it for now. We're working hard as! We're having heaps of success. I love the people here. I love the ward. I love my companion. I love our zone. Everything's just going great!

I love you guys heaps!
Elder Butler  

The Scanlan's after lunch!! :) 

The fellas!! Zesiger and Tibbitts going home on Thursday! I love these fellas heaps! They've been with us the past few days, and I'm gonna miss them! Luckily we all stay pretty close though!

My cuzzie!


Monday, June 20, 2016

Pops...My Main Bro!

Kia ora!!!!!

Mean week. 

This week we had Zone Conferences with President and Sister Rudd. I love them heaps! It was hard to say goodbye, but let's be honest... I'll see them again in a month and 1/2. So it wasn't too depressing. But they have truly played a huge part in changing my life. Every time I listen to President Rudd, the Spirit is always unbelievable! I'm so glad he was my mission president for the majority of my mission! 

Last Monday we went to the Waiuku beach and played 6x6 football with the bros. It was flippin' mean as! All the sisters came as well, so it was a nice party! We were tied up at 6 touchdowns apiece, and we were playing to 7... so I walked over to line up, looked down, and there was a pool of blood around my foot! So the bros ran me over to the ocean water to clean it up. (Not the best feeling of all time!) I think I sliced it on a shell or something and it bled HEAPS!  I had to steal Elder Danhof's sock and tie my foot to make it stop bleeding. Then we got back to the flat and called Doctor Main (our bishop). So long story short, I ended up at the doctor's office for most of the night, for a little tiny cut on my foot. :/ But it was totally worth it...mean game of footie!

Honestly fam... I don't have much to tell you this week! Just know that I'm doing fine. I have heaps of pics though, and I'll talk about them. I'm excited to come home, but not too trunky yet. Hopefully I don't get trunky ever though...but all good! My companion and I get along great still. I'm hoping they'll let him kill me off. We're having success. The members seem to love us. We play ball all the time!! We work hard, and we're obedient...so life's all good! 

Also.. Pops.. my main bro! It's not Father's day here in NZ, but I heard that it is in America! So happy flippin' Father's Day my friend! You're the absolute man! I love you heaps and hope you have a great day! Because of your example, I have been able to serve a long and hard mission, and heaps of lives have been blessed! I owe that success to you dad (and mama of course!) ;) So thank you so much!

I love you all heaps!

Arohanui,
Elder Butler 

We made the bros some steak and egg burritos the other day! Mean... 

Me and the Bros. Johnson and Christensen 

Zone conference :)

We made another Title of Liberty, this time with the Gregory family. This picture is funny because we took 3 of them. And in every single picture, someone different isn't smiling. So I'm sending the one that I remembered to smile in...but sadly Alan and Faasolo forgot!! ;) 

Footie on the beach

This is my little cut that caused me so much grief!! It was a flippin' bleeder!! :/

Elder Butler wins the prize for the biggest burger. 🍔

Elder B can EAT! 





Sunday, June 12, 2016

President Rudd-One of the Greatest Men to Walk the Earth

Kia ora, Kia ora!!!

Well, it was another pretty mean week. Nothing too crazy to write about though...but it was soild!

MLC on Tuesday...Wow! I traveled down to Hamilton to have our usual meeting after transfers. It was honestly so amazing. This was president's last MLC ever in the Hamilton mission! So it was very sad, but so spiritual at the same time. He is honestly one of the greatest men to walk the earth. His testimony always blows my mind, because of how strongly the Spirit testifies to me that what he is saying is true! It was wonderful seeing all my boys again as well. Elder Lingwall, Fellingham, Fameitau, Bowman, and heaps of others.. I love them all! 

After MLC we went to the distribution center at the visitor's center by the Temple. I told the bro's I was riding with that I'd be so fast...but then I looked over, and there was triplet #1 (Sister Chudleigh). It was so awesome to catch up with her. And I can't wait to get all three trips back together! ;) So I ended up not being really fast in the distribution center like I thought! ;)

Mom??? I didn't know that you knew the style these days. I was going to ask for some nice Stance socks and Penguin ties, but you beat me to it! Those are like my two favorite things! My new ties and socks are mean as! Also, I didn't bother asking you because, you know, you being 1/2 century old, I thought you might send me some knee-high Converse socks or something on accident. I should have had more faith in you mother dear, because you nailed it! ;)  

We had another mean game of 5x5 football on Monday. My team got absolutely wrecked though, even though we had Elder Finau on our team. You remember Elder Finau? We talked a bit before the mish because we both got our calls together, same day, same place. And now I'm his Zone Leader here in Kura, and he's my next door neighbor. It's so sweet! 

Okay... Funniest thing ever happened on Saturday. Elder Johnson had a gay guy in his last area that was driving him crazy. He told me heaps of stories about him. All of the sudden we're sitting there in the car and we got a call from an unknown number. So I answered, and when this person started talking, immediately Elder Johnson said, "Oh my gosh...I know who this is." The fella flippin' got our number and asked Elder Johnson out! Haha, it was honestly so funny!

We had some pretty ridiculously mean lessons last night. We accidentally double-booked our appointments, so we had to go on trade-offs. Me and my companion at that time had a solid lesson. When we finished, we met up with the other elders and both of us invited our investigators with a baptism date, and both families said yes! It was mean as! Miracles are happening in Kura! The work is getting really hard, but we're still having success...and it's amazing! 

Well that's about it for now! I love you guys heaps!! 

Love,
Elder Butler 

If anyone is looking at buying a massive ship... I know where you can go!! ;)

Family photos!! #thebros


This is the BIG BIKKIE. It is the greatest ice cream bar on the planet! It's unbelievable. When I introduced the Bikkie to Elder Johnson for the first time, he spent around 30$ in one week...on pure Bikkies! ;) Ha!

We all wore our fat clothes on the same day... I hate this suit!! It's flippin' fat as! #slim=sexy ;) Lol! 

Mother...you should be so proud. I made French Toast. Well I tried to make it. Also, I made some steak this week, and we made these delicious steak sandwiches! Wow...it was phenomenal! ;) 



Monday, June 6, 2016

The Fruits of Our Labors


Kia ora everyone,

I can't say too much today. It's another public holiday in New Zealand, so I have to write this email on the computer, and do the rest on a member's Ipad (which is a pain in the butt). 

We had a pretty solid week though, to be honest!

We had transfers on Thursday. Elder Johnson and I are staying here. We were pretty excited to hear that. Sister Inia left though, so that was disappointing. The zone is much quieter now though without her! ;) Ha!

We had some pretty mean lessons this week. We taught a Fijian family early in the week. It was funny because the father invited us in, and made his whole family come in because he wanted all of them to hear our message. It was so awesome. We taught the restoration to six Fijians that seemed very interested in what we had to say. 

We had another mean lesson last night. We taught a Hawaiian family more about the Book of Mormon, and the father said multiple times, "I'm just so keen to learn." It was so awesome. And at the very end, as we were shooting off, they gave us a plate of food. Flippin' delicious! It was hilarious... because their little boy named Joel wanted to share his food as well, so he went into the kitchen for a bit and made me and Elder Johnson a ham sandwich with "2 hams." They're such a nice family.

I have received some great news this week. If you look back to my emails in Taranaki, you'll see in my last few photos a man named Bob, from Canada. I found him with Elder Canoy, and taught him with Elder Van Thiel. After I left, a few months later, he fell away because of bad material about the church. I was pretty disappointed until this last Thursday when I talked to Elder Christensen (from Bountiful). He told me that he was looking through the former investigators and found Bob. They started teaching him... and he's now getting baptized! 

I don't know if I told you about Nora as well. We found and taught this little old lady named Nora in Hamilton. Same situation as Bob...found anti stuff, and kind of fell away. We recently learned that she just got baptized as well by Elder Meek. It's so wonderful when you look back and see the fruits of your labors! :)

We received a pretty funny call from Elder Danhof over in Pukekohe the other day. He said, "Hey, a member called us and they want their 12 year old son to be baptized today." So we had to rush down to Pukekohe and interview this little fella and he was baptized just a few hours later. It was quite funny! ;) 

That's about it this week. Transfers took up most of the week, but for a transfer week, we smashed it! I love you all, and miss you heaps! Just a few more months and I'll be comin' on home! But until then... I love you... from the other side of the world!

Arohanui,
Elder Butler