Ballin' and Teaching the Gospel!

Kia ora!

It was such a solid week. I don't have too many things to share though. It was honestly just a normal missionary week, nothing too crazy, but it was solid! 

On Monday we played a mean game of gridiron (football) with some other elders. It was way fun! But today we're getting all the elders and playing a mean game of flag football! I'm so pumped! Here in Papakura, we have heaps of massive fields, So it'll be so sweet! I'll make sure to tell you all about it! ;) 

On Tuesday morning we got up at 5:45 with the Redhill elders and went to the Rec Center to play ball! Man, oh man... Elder Johnson is the man! We play so similar! It was probably the funnest ball I've played on my mission! We're going to start playing every Tuesday and Thursday! 

This week I had to go to Hamilton with the Manurewa Elders to MLC. It was a great meeting. Elder Haleck of the Seventy was there presiding at President's house during the meeting. Very cool experience! And of course, Sister Papell never lets me down with her amazing cooking that we get to smash after the meeting is over! Flippin' beautiful!

That's about it honestly. I don't want to say too much, and have nothing to say on my mother's day call! ;) But I love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week! 

I just got a picture of Baylee at Prom! FLIPPIN' MEAN AS!! I was honestly so pumped when I saw that picture!! That's the one Bay! 

Love ya heaps,

Elder Butler 

We decided a new career for both of us... models!! ;) #wilsonmodels

#Halensteinsmodels

Halensteins models part 2. With our boy Faasolo! 

Here's a pic from a few weeks ago when we got our gifts from Sister Tarangutu! 

KEMPS! This was honestly the most heated game of all time! Me and Johnson just couldn't put it together! I think we lost about 11 or 12 games until we finally won! And when we won... we left! ;) haha! 

Elder Johnson from Mesa, AZ!

Kia ora whanau,

Man oh man, be prepared for a massive email! I have heaps to say today! :)

Okay, I have some of the greatest news of all time! We went over to the Langi's the other night to drop off their plate. Brother Langi comes outside, and whispers to us, "We have dog."  One of their Tongan mates killed it and brought it over! I have been waiting for 21 flippin' months to eat the blimmin' Kuli (dog), And now I can say, my mission food list is officially complete! :) It was quite different honestly, it had the texture of a lamb, but had a different taste to it. We smelled like it the rest of the night. :)

Next, remember how I got a call from President last week? Well I received another one about two hours later telling me that the plans had been changed a bit! I would still be a single zone leader, but I'd be with a missionary that has been struggling a bit, and wanted to go home. So they sent me Elder Johnson, who I know really well! I was his zone leader in Tauranga, when he was in Whakatane! He's a flippin' baller! We get along great! We've had some mean success as well! He's from Mesa, Arizona! 

We played some mean volley this morning with the Langi's and heaps of others. It was honestly mean as! Our bishop, this little white fella, is the flippin' man! So much fun!

We got another set this week! I'm almost to the end of my mission, but I have a goal to get 5 more baptisms. That would put me in the 20's, which is heaps for our mission! So the success has been wonderful lately!

Seeing Zesiger go was pretty hard. He was the man! I love that fella! Before he left, Sister Tarangutu gave us a present. She handed us a bag and we opened it and found the meanest Kiribati ties ever. Her family made them back home, they're flippin' sick! I'll send pics.  

My stinking trainer got married a few weeks ago. I just got the announcement. It was typical Wangsgard honestly! ;) So funny! Talk about trunkiness as well! There is nothing more trunky on this planet than getting a wedding announcement from your trainer! :/ Speaking of weddings, one of my mates from the mish, Elder Smith rocked up to Papakura the other day and hung out for a bit with his flippin' WIFE!! :/ They're living in Farmington now, so we'll probably run into them sometime! 

We played a mean game of gridiron (football) last Monday! Sadly we lost! But it was all good! It was at a field right next to Hunua falls! Pretty solid! Also, I'm sorry I've been slack on the pics lately. Batteries cost heaps, and I didn't feel like buying any, so I didn't have a camera for two weeks! ;) 

Well, my email was shorter than I thought. I have heaps of other things to tell, but theyre for other people! ;) But yah... mean as week honestly! :) Love you all heaps!

Laterz,

Elder Butler 

Me and my new companion, Elder Johnson! 

Me and Zesiger!! @ the bus station! 

Bus station with the crazies (our sisters!) 

"Gosh dang Elder Bauder, take a good flippin' picture!!"

Bus stop selfie with Sisters Tarangutu and Marsh

My new tie!

Here's a close up of my tie, to show you what it's made out of! It's like a kind of flax! I was honestly so happy when she gave them to us! 

The Tongans brought over 5 kgs worth of food the other day! Who knows why?Johnson and I ate a few plates of it, and didn't even make a dent. They also brought over a whole pitcher of Otai! :) I love these fellas!

General Conference and a Little Horse

Hello everyone!

What a good week here in Papakura! Much better than last week, that's for sure! ;) 

First off, General Conference was the flippin' bomb! Every single talk that was given was straight-up beautiful! The spirit was amazing the whole time! 

Okay honestly, I had a mean email planned, but I can't even think now. I just got a call from President. My flippin' companion is getting transferred! I never expected that. :/ And to top it off, he's giving me a "special assignment" to be a single Zone Leader, while training a new missionary! Holy flip! So my thoughts are now all over the place. There hasn't been a single Zone Leader the whole time I've been on my mission! 

Alright, so General Conference was definitely the highlight of my week! But coming in a close second was a call we received the other day from the Redhill Elders. It was pretty late at night, probably around 8 (which is super late here). They said they had some food for us, so they came over and brought us two tin foils of nice food! Let's just say, I marked another food off of the list of things to try! This week I ate some lo'i hoosi....horse! It was so flippin' nice! It was shredded on top of cassava, drenched in coconut creme. Nice as! 

The same night they brought us horse, this little Tongan lady in our ward named Sister Fanguna spent $80 at Burgerfuel (really similar to Five Guys) on us! We were so sick after! We ate a ton. It was a wonderful night though! :)

Okay, so back to General Conference! It was mean as! I can't even say which talk was my favorite because they all were amazing! The ones that touched me the most were given by President Eyring, Sister Oscarson, Elder Stevenson, and Elder Holland. Cool story about Elder Stevenson's talk--The morning of conference I was sitting there thinking about the Priesthood, and how I could define "priesthood keys" because of a question we were asked a few days before. I was frustrated when I couldn't find a very solid definition. Then we went to Conference, and it was literally answered perfectly! It was honestly shocking how perfect it went with the questions running through my mind. Sister Oscarson killed it as well. And my goodness...how about that finish from Elder Holland!

Now it's time for my shout out to Sister Thalman for sending us some mac n' cheese and oatmeal! It hit the spot! I'm pretty sure it's almost all gone. Thank you so much! Also, mean as packing job sis!! ;) 

Now for the big fella--Dad! Happy Birthday my bro! For those of you who don't know, my pops is like my best buddy. So please treat him well on his birthday, as I am away and can't do much for him. I hope you have a great day on the 25th! Now you're almost as old as mom! You're almost 1/2 century! That's pretty impressive! ;) Love you bro! 

That's all for today! Kura is still killin' it! I'm going to miss my companion though! He's the man! So it's pretty disappointing, but good at the same time. It's going to be pretty cool having this new/unusual responsibility. I love you guys heaps!

Love,

Elder Butler

p.s. I had a horrific dream last night! I just arrived at home after my mission, and I was showing you all my souvenirs and lollies from NZ, and my blimmin' Tim Tams melted! It was horrible!   

Goodbye to Elder Zesiger... :( 

Wish we had Do-Overs This Week...

Kia ora whanau,

What a crappy week that was... to say the least.

I'll start off by saying some good things, then finish off with hell. 

We all went bowling. I thought I was good at bowling. Long story short, I got absolutely wrecked. ;) It was still fun as though! I love these fellas. 

I went on a mean exchange with Elder Tu'ipulotu. We were in the Tongan program, so I didn't understand anything the whole day. It was pretty funny, we were teaching this man in Tongan, and I just totally zoned out and fell asleep. Tu'i woke me up to say the prayer! ;) Haha! 

We were trying some potential investigators that were in our area book this week, and we came across this Samoan part-member family. So we knocked on his door, and he told us to come back in a few days to his mama's house. We got there on Saturday afternoon, and she prepared the meanest feed for us! There was luau, taro in coconut cream, chop sui, sandwiches, heaps of stuff! Mean as!

There was a full on drag race on our street the other day. That was kind of funny.  Also, our neighbor ripped off $450 worth of Raybanz from the shops...idiot! ;) What a great neighborhood we're in huh? ;) 

Okay...that's about it! Now let me tell you how the majority of my time was spent this week! I can't tell you too much since this is going on my blog, but we had to send some missionaries home this week. 2 sisters got caught up in some bad situations, wouldn't tell us the truth, and lied to us for ages. We pretty much learned that it was going on all transfer! The branch president was mad, the branch is now wondering where they're at! Gosh, it's flippin' ridiculous! So we were going all over the place trying to deal with it. The assistants had to come up too. It was honestly heartbreaking as well because of the lack of success in that area (when there is HEAPS of potential there) due to selfishness and stupidity! Very, very upsetting and disappointing!

That's all for now. 

I love you all heaps!

Elder Butler 

#bowlingchamps (well kind of). 

The big fella, Tu'ipulotu on the far right. kicked our butts the first game, then Muli in the middle, smashed us the second game! (nobody expected Muli to win because he bowled a 50 or less the first time, and was getting ridiculously lucky this time!) ;) ha 

Another Mean Week in the Kura

Hey there people on the other side of the world!

Another mean week here in the Kura. 

First off, we had a mean baptism on Saturday. His name is Alwyn. He looked mean as when he rocked up in his new suit and new hair cut. He looked like a flippin' missionary! Such a wonderful experience! BUT during baptisms, when the person getting baptized is getting dressed into their clothes again after they get dunked, the missionaries usually give a presentation. (Which is usually teaching The Restoration to all the nonmembers there.) But the Tongans had the bright idea to get up there and invite all the blimmin' missionaries up to sing "Joseph Smith's First Prayer." Right when they said that, me and Zesiger were like, "You idiots!" (That's the flippin' hardest song in the Hymn book!) So long story short... It was honestly the worst missionary presentation of all time! ;) Ha, but it made for a good laugh! 

We went to the Whare Tapu ki te Ariki on Friday! (The Sacred House of the Lord... The Temple!) It was another great experience like always! I love the temple! The peace that is felt in there is indescribable. It's always nice to be in there with 40+ missionaries as well! Also, we get the cafeteria food for free after! Wow... I filled my plate up so much--it was like a mountain! Temple food is so good.  You know, you can't get much better than that--the temple, AND free food! ;)

On Monday last week, we played volleyball at 6:00 in the morning. So we rocked up at like 5:45. All of our Tongan members were there because it was a public holiday, and they were all off work! It was mean as! A couple of days later, the sisters were talking to us and said, "Man, the Langi's can't stop talking about you playing volleyball!" Haha, they all got a kick out of the white fella smashing it better than the locals! ;) Haha, too funny! 

Missionary work is going to start getting really hard now. Especially after dinner. It was daylight savings for us yesterday, so after dinner, it's dark! And in New Zealand, when the sun goes down, everyone's in bed! So it's more dangerous. It seems useless most of the time...it's hard to do anything really. :/ But all good...it just takes better planning. :)

We went on blitz days this week as well! A blitz is when heaps of companionships smash out one specific area for a certain amount of time to try to pick it up a bit! So we took a few Tongans with us to Pukekohe, Tuakau, and Pokeno to help the Pukekohe elders and sisters. It was a great time! It was nice getting out of Auckland as well! Those areas are considered part of the Waikato! So it was nice, and beautiful! It was hard though because we were out in the country, and I'm used to the city now! Then we did a blitz in Redhill also... to help a few more missionaries. So me and Zez weren't in our area for the whole day! It was quite fun! ;) 

Last, but definitely not least! I just wanted to take the time to give my dear mama a nice little shout out! If I calculated correctly, it's her 30th birthday on Wednesday! :) I love my sweet mother more than I can say! I can't wait to see her again, and give her a big hug! Love you heaps mom! :) Have a wonderful birthday! Also.. I heard it was Grandma/Grandpa Butler's birthdays! I love you both heaps! I hope you had wonderful birthdays as well! 

Love you all! Have a wonderful week! Until we [speak] again, in one weeks time! :)

Elder Butler

p.s. I'm flippin' jealous as of all of you! We don't get to watch General Conference for another 2 weeks! We get it way late here in Papakura! :/ But all good. I know it will be worth waiting for!

 Me, Alwyn, Dylan, Odin, Elder Zesiger #baptism

Traveling through the jungle!! (I'm up front). 

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! ;)