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! ;) 

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 

I Wouldn't Trade This For Anything!

Kia ora whanau,

We had a flippin' mean as week! Definitely the usual rollercoaster though!

Starting off, we had 30 minutes to spare before we needed to head down to Pukekohe so I could do a baptism interview, so we decided to visit with some less-actives. First, we saw a Samoan family, so we were keen and went over. We walked into their home and they were in a rush, so we said we'd be really quick. Just before we were about to leave, they said, "Elders, come (pointing to the kitchen table) we will just have a quick one." So we were all good with that. We weren't hungry at all because we just ate right before we went over. So they brought out a cup of milo and some toast. So again we were like, "Oh yep, all good." Then they brought over about 8 more pieces of toast. Again we were all good! Then when we were almost done with our little feast of toast and hot milo, they brought out a whole plate of Casava (very dense, Potato type starch thing). Then we got a bit worried... 1. because we didn't have much time, and 2. we were so full. After we shoved our faces with all of that, they open the blimmin' oven and bring out a whole pig head. I honestly almost started crying. It was so terrible, but so awesome. I love how giving these people are, it's amazing! ;) 

Okay, we had the weirdest experience of all time the other day. We saw this guy that was either possessed by the devil or on some crazy drugs. We hopped in our car that we parked on the main street and looked over at this bro, just staring at the sun through this little metal nut. We were so confused! So we kept watching. After moving his head around all over the place while staring at the sun, he started moving his arms all over the place like he was trying to gather in the energy from the sun. It looked absolutely hilarious! Then after about 5 minutes of watching him, he started shooting the sky with his hand guns! Haha, it was honestly hilarious! 

Also... going along with the weird stuff that happened this week, we saw a police chase as we were tracting before lunch. We heard heaps of cops, and saw Cohor (police helicopter) in the sky. All of the sudden we saw this bro driving a car on 2 wheels, (the other 2 were popped) being chased by 12 cop cars. (yes, we counted) So we quickly ran back to the flat and hopped in our car and followed them. It was pretty mean! #crimeinvestigation 

While going to an appointment around 7:00 at night, we met this fella sitting outside of his house. We started having a pretty solid little discussion with him, just small talk and other stuff, then he said something that surprised me a bit. He said, "Man.. why are you guys wasting your 20's? These are times that you will never get back." I sat there thinking for a few seconds. The only thing I could tell him was, "Oh man, I wish you understood... I wouldn't trade this for anything!" Then he said, "Well, if you ever change your mind, come on over." In a way it was a pretty cool experience because I thought about it after. Am I honestly wasting my 20's? If only that fella knew what we had to offer, that would have never even crossed his mind. I just wish I had a better chance to explain it to him! 

We've had to deal with a lot of Anti-Mormon stuff lately. We've had some pretty devastating lessons these last few weeks--some that have brought tears of sadness to my eyes (don't worry though, I sucked them back into my eyelids so Elder Johnson couldn't see.) But it's been pretty tough! But we've had some amazing success as well! We knocked on this lady's door the other day and she was so happy to talk with us. She told us how she was friends with one the recent converts in our ward and how she would love to have us over again, and even have a lesson at this member's home! It was beautiful! Some random lady we met while tracting scheduled a member present lesson for herself--that doesn't happen every day! ;) 

Well that's about it!! I love you guys heaps! It's transfers this week! I'll honestly be so disappointed if one of us gets transferred. I want Johnson to kill me off! It has been an amazing transfer though.. but I'll find out today what's going down! :) Love ya'll heaps!

Elder Butler 

One of the Weirdest Weeks Ever!

Hello Hello!!

Mean week! 

I'll start off with the good stuff... So we had an awesome baptism on Saturday. We baptized a few Samoan boys. The oldest of the 3 brothers is a member, and the 2 younger brothers were not members. Their mom and dad, who were also members, passed away a while back, and they're now living with their auntie. They are the coolest bros ever! The baptism service went really well... it was a very hectic week though trying to prepare for it. Baptism weeks usually stink I've noticed. But it was definitely worth it! 

New Zealand has been SO HOT lately...until this week. It finally decided to become winter this week. We had some of the most ridiculous storms of all time! We had a thunderstorm that kept us awake for ages! The lightning destroyed our power, and lit up the room! It was pretty sweet. But... exchanges. Talk about the worst time in history to plan exchanges. I was with Elder Totau in the Tongan Program (with no flippin' car) on Wednesday. We got absolutely smashed with rain. Wind was blowing the trash cans over... it was unreal, and very miserable! ;) 

This was kind of weird.  We were walking back to our car one day, and we saw a couple teenage fellas near where we were going. We know them quite well, because one of the turds was the one who stole the sister's bikes. When we got up closer, we noticed that they were all high. They started talking to us while we were walking away when one of the bros pulls out a freaking gun (It looked real, but not quite sure... but wouldn't be surprised at all!) . So we hopped into the car and drove away... it didn't really hit us that we were in a bit of danger until we were driving for a few minutes. It was pretty funny, but nerve racking at the time! Luckily he wasn't too lost in space to pull the trigger on us! ;) 

Also... on Friday, we were parked on the side of the road talking to Tamihana when some drunk bro comes up to my window and starts yelling at Tami to leave. He said some other things that didn't make any sense, then he got into his van and left. So weird... It was honestly one of the weirdest weeks ever! 

We went bowling on Monday.. I got destroyed.. but I did win lunch for beating Elder Bauder! ;) 

I got the trunkiest letter ever from my mother! ;) Haha, all good! 

It rained.. and rained some more, then rained again, then it was burning hot, then rained a freezing rain, then it hailed, and now it's freezing! 

That's about it! ;) Also, we made these Mexican chicken wraps with vegetables.. it was beautiful.. But now we're in the mood for some chocolate chip pancakes.. so mother, please send us a good recipe! ;) Thanks! :) Love ya'll heaps!

Ka kite,

Elder Butler 

BAPTISM!!! If you're wondering if we're the only white people in the picture.. the answer is Yes. ;) 

We had Mexican food in Pukekohe on Tuesday, which inspired us to make Mexican food a couple days later. Our meal was much better though! ;) 

A Week of "Fighting Through It"

Hello there everyone!

Sorry to start off with a downer, but this week was probably one of the worst weeks here in Kura. We honestly could not find a single keen person! We were dropped by some of our solid investigators because of Anti-Mormon material, we got cussed out a few times, and just heaps of other things went wrong. But that's alright... Elder Johnson and I just fought through it, and we're all good! 

On a good note though, our companionship is the bomb! We work very well with each other, and we're good mates as well, so it's pretty mean! We have decided to wake up at 5 something every day besides Sunday and play ball at the Rec center. So I'm slowly getting it back. Elder Johnson has whipped me into shape! ;) 

Another up for the week was on Saturday morning. I was at the Sister's baptism and walked around the corner and saw my main man Clinton, who I baptized December 2014!! He's still smashing it! I have probably already told you, but he's the Ward Mission Leader now, and he's gone through the temple. He's going through again to get sealed to his son soon, and said that I can come. So hopefully I can get permission from President Rudd! 

We had a pretty cool lesson this week with one of our new investigators. He's an 18 year-old Tongan fella, and he's genuinely interested! We had a beautiful lesson about the Book of Mormon! It was probably the best lesson last week! It was pretty amazing how all of his questions were answered as we taught the lesson. The spirit was definitely present, and it was just a cool experience!  

Skype last Monday was so mean! I love seeing my little fam, and miss them heaps! Too bad the internet stinks here and the wifi kept disconnecting so I had to call them back 5 times! :/ But all good...I was satisfied!

We had this bro last week tell me my future. Weird. He told us that he had the power to see the future and predict things, or something along those lines. So being cheeky, I asked him to tell me about my wife! Haha, it was so weird...but almost scary how real it seemed! :/ That's why it says in the Gospel Principals manual that fortune telling is of the devil! ;) 

So overall my week wasn't too bad. It stunk because of investigators. But I'm still doing just fine. I'm happy to be here in Kura. Our zone is still smashing it. Life's good! 

That's all for now! love you all heaps!

Arohanui,

Elder Butler   

FHE. 

Another million dollars worth of Burger Fuel again. Here's (some) of our feast the other day!

PAPAKURA ZONE!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Kia ora whanau!

Today is Mother's Day back home. So first of all... Happy Mother's day to the best mama ever! She is the greatest... probably because she's the female version of myself, but all good! ;) I hope you have a wonderful day mother dear! We sang the best song ever yesterday during sacrament for mother's day as well. We just happened to sing my mama's favorite song, "Each Life That Touches Our's For Good." I loved it! :) 

I had the flippin' meanest week ever. It was just pure success! Honestly, new investigators were coming out of nowhere! We were blessed heaps! We set 2 new people for baptism, found 20 new investigators, and just heaps of other stuff! Great week to be a missionary! 

I'm reaching the final months of my mission, and Satan obviously knows that as well! I've had the trunkiest dreams of all time lately! I don't know what's up! :/ Oh well...

We played a mean game of 5 on 5 Gridiron on Monday, and it was so fun! Elder Sialaoa landed on my leg though, and it was swollen like a flippin' golf ball! It's now bruised from my knee to my ankle almost! It's pretty sweet! 

I went on Exchanges twice last week. Once with Elder Holmes and the other with Elder Anhder. They were both full of success! So many miracles! 

Alright, let me tell you a story that happened the other day. I don't know if it was legit, or just a coincidence, but it was unreal! So we were teaching this really nice Tongan fella outside of his house. He was obviously keen as, judging by his questions and the amount of attention he was giving us. It was relatively quiet most of the lesson, until we began talking about the restoration. Elder Johnson was in the middle of talking about the prophet Joseph Smith when someone pulls into their driveway and totally interrupted the lesson. Then when she finally left, he continued until he was reciting the first vision. He got through about two sentences, when a very loud airplane flew right over our heads, forcing him to pause until it was far enough away. After we could hear again, he continued. And all of the sudden, this dumb fella on the street decides to have a blimmin' drag race around the block with the car that you can probably hear all the way in Australia. It was unbelievable.. Satan was trying to stop that lesson! When we finally finished, and made our way back to the car, we laughed about it for a bit, both knowing that our testimonies were strengthened that day! ;) 

Well that's about it for now fam! I love you heaps! Again.. mama I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day! And all the other mothers out there, and even Jaycee and Baylee.. Happy Mother's Day! :) 

Arohanui,

Elder Butler 

Mother's Day skype sesh! 

Me and Elder Johnson at a Mother's Day breakfast we had on Saturday morning. 

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!