Week 27 - And a Happy New Year!

Hey hey hey everyone, New Years eve is tonight, looking forward to listening to fireworks until like 3 in the morning! New Years and Christmas eve here is nuts in Honduras, I'm pretty sure people just spend all the money they have and use it to buy fireworks! A big tradition here is that people like to make mannequin people and dress them up in clothes, and then blow them up to smitherines. . I donated some money for some people to blow up a mannequin of the president of Honduras because the whole country hates him because he rigged the elections, so that was cool! 

So I don't have any pics today because I lent my Camera out to one of my Converts, Hermano Moreno. He was the guy who got baptized a few weeks back. Basically his mom is like 95 and is sick, and he wanted to be able to take a video of her before she passes away, but is super poor and has no camera, so I loaned him my camera and am working on getting another memory for him to store the video on. I know my Mom is probably thinking "why did you let someone have your camera, what if it gets stolen??" but I just thought what would Jesus do, and that God will probably keep it protected, so I'm not worried!

Christmas was so fun, Got to talk with the family on video call, That was awesome! Honestly it has been only 6 months, so when I talked to them, it didn't seem like it had been that long. The only person I really actually miss is basically Reggie cause hes just a little scruff. Wish I could've talked with more people, but hey maybe this May on mothers day when I get to call!

This week was a slower week. Well it started out good, but it ended kinda sucky. One thing I have noticed and have been praying for is to just Love the people. I have been in my area for 6 months, and just about everyone in this small pueblo knows me (popular right?? ;)), but I have really grown to love and care for the people I teach. That's why when I get lied to or them don't follow through with their commitments, it just chipped away at me. Its part of the mission, and its part of life. When I'm down, I turn myself to Christ's example. He was perfect. Taught his gospel with the spirit perfectly, healed the blind and sick, raised the dead, calmed storms, walked on waters. People still spit on him, rejected him, cursed him. What did he do after? Loved them unconditionally, suffered and died for all of us. WE are spirit children of our Heavenly Father, and we continually let him down everyday, but he continues to love and help us. 

My invitation this season is to go out and love everyone. Don't hold grudges, get mad, just love. If you serve others you can be a lot happier! Love you guys, that's all I got for now! Hit me up with an email if you love me

Peace, 

Elder Butler

Christmas Day Video Call - December 25, 2018

Christmas Day Video call from Elder Steven 

Video Call with Ryan too in Texas!

Enjoying his call at Grandpa & Grandma Sharon's House!

Week 26 - Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animals!

Well guys, the time has come and Christmas is finally here! I'm actually really excited for tonight because people here basically celebrate with getting drunk and doing fireworks all night basically... okay I'm not excited for the drunk part haha lol, but for some reason the drunk people always love to talk to us in the street, so its entertaining sometimes! Also everyone has been making all of these mannequin dummy people and apparently they load them up with fireworks and just blow them to smithereens, so that's exciting news for all of the missionaries!

This week we had a Christmas party for all the missionaries! It was pretty fun, in the morning we just played sports, futbol, volleyball, and basketball, but all the gringos were playing basketball haha! Found a couple of really good guys, im already making plans for my intramural team in 18 months haha! Then we ate, but the meal was absolutely horrible. Usually the lady that caters for us makes really good food, but something must've gone wrong with the beef, because it was sour and no one ate it.. LOL Honduras Christmas, not even surprised nor am i mad because it was fun to see everyone! I have a pic with a guy named elder Childs, and hes soo chill! The dude looks like Buzz Lightyear, I attached a pic of him! HAHA I hope one day I can have someone look at me like I did in that pic! Also took a pic with a bunch of the newbie gringos, most of them don't know a lick of Spanish, but its okay because the gringos are taking over the mission!

Hey Also found a dude wearing a 7on7 Woodlands Highlander jersey, so naturally I had to take a pic!

I am pumped to talk with the fam tomorrow on Skype! Also thank to all who sent me a little something in my package! I took a video of me opening it, but it was like 15 minutes, so I couldn't attach it lol! Oh well!

Hey, Tomorrow will be my 6 month bday in the mish, por fin! Time flys out here for real, I've really grown to love being out here with these people. Being totally honest, the mission is one of the hardest things I've ever been through. Full of all the disappointment, long sleepless days, days where you basically give all that you have and nothing comes out of it. But the mission is also full of Happiness and Joy. I get to grow my light in Christ and share it with the world. I am so grateful this Christmas season for Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. Because of him, we can be happy with our families this year. Because of him, we can live with our families together forever. That is our purpose, to bring people and families unto Christ. This year is my first Christmas without my family, but I'm more than okay with it because I have a lifetime and eternity to be with my family forever, for right now I am just helping others reach that goal as well!!

Love you all, and if you love me, send me a little somethin somethin for Christmas (an email;) ) Have a wonderful Christmas!

Week 25 - Jesus Take the Wheel

Hey everyone, well I'm here for another change, and well with another gringo. 

New Companion! ;) Hes form Georgia, a good old southern white boy. Hes pretty cool, but just barely turned 18 so there is definitely an age difference in maturity haha... but hes cool! Poor kid doesn't know a lick of Spanish either, so I've been teaching him and helping him learn how to teach because his trainer in the mission was gringo and didn't ever wanna talk in Spanish when they were together so he learned nothing. My trainer in the mission forced me to talk only Spanish my first 10 weeks, so it was a lot easier adjustment for me! Oh well!

I've decided to officially make my motto these next 5 weeks "Jesus Take the Wheel", because I'm just out here. I'm with a gringo that has 2 months less than me, but knows no Spanish, and they put me up as leader of my district as well, which is a little stressful right now because the last change our district had horrible numbers except my area. There is a lot of pressure from my leaders to get things up and running, and make a ton of phone calls and plans to get things going. The Hermanas in my district are a little bit of a handful, whenever they feel the slightest amount of discomfort they just decide to go in for the day and not work, which is not something we are supposed to do. It would be alright if it were like one day, but they do it almost everyday, sooooo yeah we are working really hard to motivate them! Doing phone calls every night for an hour is pretty stressful too, but I have felt like the Lord put me here in this position to help me learn for sure. I've learned patience, and I have felt the lord help me a bunch in guiding me on what I can do to better myself and everyone I am in charge of. 

To be honest, when I was told I was gonna be leader, I felt a little inadequate because I have such little time out here, and I didn't know if I could do well. One thing I have learned is that alone, its true, we are inadequate. This life is full of lefts, rights, 180 literal U-turns. When we feel like we dont know which direction is which, we have to put our trust in our guide. GOD! 

Hey but ill write more next  week and send tons of pics, love you all I ran out of time! peace!

Elder Butler

Week 24 - Baptism!

Hey guys, so this week was a super chill week! Also as of yesterday I only have 18 months left in the mission which is pretty dope! Time flys! I don't wanna just blab about everything because I don't have a ton of time, but ill give a brief review of what went down this week!

Moreno was baptized, POR FIN!

The baptism service was super spiritual. Moreno had the opportunity to share his testimony, which was so cool for me to see his change since my first day in the field. His testimony in Christ strengthens mine for sure!

Some other cool stuff happened this week. We had to watch a stake meeting broadcast Saturday night in our church this week, but for the first hour the audio didn't work (lol, Honduras for ya), so we were kinda just messin around with this members cowboy hat, so hope you guys get a kick outta that pic. Also the little kid on my lap is named Ian, one of the funniest little kids I have ever found. His parents are full on Latino, and his siblings look Latino, but this little guy basically has the gringo genetics lol, and everyone in the church was saying he was my son haha, too funny.

Well today we were told what the changes were going to be. This whole time I was sure that I was finally gonna leave my area that ive been in for 5 months, BUT during the week I had a dream that President Mejia told me that I'm going to stay in my area again. Was just a dream, but today they told me that my comp is leaving to become Zone Leader in a different area and I'M STAYING. Looks like dreams really do come true, you right Disney. They also told me that I'm getting moved up to District Leader which is a huge shock because I don't have a ton of time in the mish, and I've only ever been the companion of the District Leader. Honestly I feel a little inadequate, but I know that God put me in the position for some reason and I don't know why, but I why trust in God and do what he wants. I'm just gonna close my eyes and let Jesus take the Wheeeeeeel Carrie U style.

Hey well I can't think of other stuff to write about, but hope you guys liked the pics! Love ya'll!

Elder Butler

Week 23 - The Bus

Hey everyone! Crazy week, por fin some interesting stuff happened! We had a multi zone conference and listened to one of the 70, had a huge service project with the whole mission, saw someone desecrate in the street, the bus I was on got robbed, all that jazz! But Ill get to all that!


Christmas season in Honduras is one of the most Jolly and dangerous times of the year! The traditional Christmas food here is actually not very good. About every house you go to, people give you what they call "Torrejas". It's made with bread dipped in eggs, but then they decide to put the bread in boiling sugary water for about 30 minutes. Basically just REALLY soggy bread. Its sad because its so close to being french toast, and then it takes a 180 turn in the opposite direction. Just imagine eating some really soggy bread, or like when in the deacons have to defrost the frozen bread 2 minutes before sacrament. Pretty much the same thing. Not looking forward to  eating that at every persons house this month.


So they told us this month to be very careful when riding on buses early in the morning because people have been robbing buses. One reason is because it's Christmas season and people carry money with them to the city to buy things, and at night they come back with stuff, so the gangs have been targeting the buses from my area especially. Well we had to be in the city really early on Thursday morning, so we decided to go have a sleepover with some of the Missionaries in the city. We just did it precautionary, but it was cool. 


On Saturday we had to go to the city AGAIN for a big service project, but this time we decided to just sleep in our house and head out early in the morning. What are the chances that we would be on a bus that got robbed. Pretty high apparently, because it happened. I was in the back of the bus, sitting next to a member in my area who I am friends with talking. All of a sudden I saw his eyes get big and he threw his phone and wallet on the ground. I looked up and saw two guys with pistols robbing the bus. I had a Book of Mormon in one hand, and about 13 lempiras in the other hand. (My backpack was on my lap with my wallet, camera, and cards) I decided to think fast and saw that everyone was just putting money in the air, so I just put up my 13 lemps calmly (50 cents lol) and he took it and dueced. They robbed the whole bus in about 30 seconds, pretty crazy 30 seconds. I can say i got robbed at gunpoint, and i only lost 50 cents, THOSE FOOLS! Haha, pretty nuts though.



We had a huge Service Project in the mission for Ilumna el Mundo, which is Light the World for this Christmas season to share the message and love of Jesus Christ. It was really cool being with the whole mission together, really funny too. We all wore the same red shirts and dueced to the city to clean up the trash around the city, while other people handed out pamphlets! There's a guy in my mish named Elder Paramane, he's in all those pics. That guy is crazy, but so funny. He was one of the top recruits in the country for lacrosse, so that's his plan after the mish, he goes home in 2 weeks. Haha well we found a drunk lady in the street, and she started talking to some other missionaries, and stole one of the brooms and started cleaning. It was really funny, she was definitely in later town. I don't know exactly what went down, but at one point she dropped a squat in the middle of a busy road and decided to take a #2 right then and there. I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go!

All and all pretty funny week! No one worry about me, soy perro Hondureano, so ill be all good and safe! If you love me and want to do something for me this Christmas, send me a quick email! Love y'all

Elder Butler

Week 22 - Happy Cyber Monday

Hey Everyone, hope everyone had a good thanksgiving and a better black Friday. Assuming a ton of girls are online right now for cyber Monday, I know my Sister McCall wont be doing basically anything but that today Lol. Thanksgiving doesn't exist in Honduras, I actually forgot about it until it was Friday. Being in Honduras just makes me thankful for everything I have, so i guess thanksgiving is everyday here for me!

Last week we got to go to Denny's, and after went to play soccer with a different zone on a mini turf field which was dope. Our president came and played with us too, it was a fun time! Peep the pics of me looking like a bum on a sidewalk bench with my leftover desert form Denny's haha!

This week was actually a pretty progressive one. I feel like I have become a lot more motivated from the example from others. The mish is a super hard experience, but I am a person that is happier when im having success, so I've been working on that!

Crazy experience this week with a representative on the gang MS 18 this week. Just was a teenage kid who we were talking to, and started making signs and stuff and so we just got out of the situation. Went and talked to a few of the Members of the church, because we didn't know if we were actually in danger or not, and one of the members used to be in MS 18, and has contact with all of them let us know that that kid is just a follower, not a member, and that the gang doesn't and wont do anything to people who are proselyting, they have a deal with the church with is a relief. No worries people, Honestly if you are a missionary out here and aren't doing anything wrong, there is no danger in Honduras! I just wanted to share a gang experience, not meant to make anyone worry! Haha its kinda like on Napoleon Dynamite when Pedros cousins offer their protection, the gangs kinda got our back lol!

We have an investigator who is going to be baptized this week. His name is Eldwin Moreno. This person is very special to me, and very dear to my heart because the first night I arrived to my area and I didn't know a lick of Spanish, we went to his house to teach him. I've been teaching him since my first day I was in Honduras. He has one of the strongest testimonies of God and the church than I have ever seen. He lives a very humble life, at the age of 63 years old. Even though I have been teaching him, I have learned a lot from him about love and the light of Christ and Faith as well. He has been through some hard hard trials in his life, but never has forgotten to remember God. Almost 25 years ago this man was drinking 15-20 beers a day (I know, kinda insane actually), and a pack of cigarettes. He had a big accident and near death experience that turned him towards God, and has been searching for the right church to go to for most of his life. His only problem has been stopping drinking coffee, which he has been drinking since he was 2 years old. This week he finally stopped completely, and will be getting baptized this next week I hope! I'm soo happy about it!


I find a lot of happiness in my mission by seeing other people being happy. I have had my own struggles throughout my life. Trials are given to us to strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Father, and help us to learn to rely on him more throughout our lives, because honestly sometimes we think we will be fine on our own. I have thought that in my own life, and I can testify that every time I have thought I could do something without God, he has made sure to let me know that I CANNOT. Without Christ, we are nothing. Simple as that.


Love you all, stay safe. If you love me, send me an email or chat with me on google hangouts on Monday! There are a ton of you that I haven't heard form in a minute, so write me a short update on y'alls life! Love you all, God bless,



Elder Butler

Week 21 - Short Email

Hey everyone, I don't have much time to write today, so this isn't gonna be very long. We are going as a zone to Denny's and then to play soccer on a field we rented, so should be fun. Rockets and the Texans are killing it,

so Im pretty satisfied on that aspect. I'm pretty focused on the work but I will have to be honest, I miss watching sports all the time, so I love hearing about it all!


Update on this last week: The work has been good, its moving. There is a group of return missionaries in our ward that have their own soccer team that's in a league, and there are people who aren't members too, so we made a deal

to play with them if we could teach both teams afterwards,  We got like 5 new investigators from that! We played in uniforms and everything, was sooo cool haha, and apparently I shut it down on Defense, Ill send pics!


One of the reasons I am making this letter short this week is because I received some bad news that one of my dear friends and Rugby teammate passed away this week.

I am very preoccupied and devastated for this tragic news. I don't ask for prayers for me, but if everyone who reads this could take some time out of there day to send prayers to the family of my friend, It would make me happy.


I know that My Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ lives. I have only been in the mission for 5 months, but my relationship with God and Testimony of the Atonement of Christ has grown so much. I am so thankful for his sacrifice. Christ suffered and died for us, 

that we may be forgiven through repentance and belief in him. He was resurrected, and through that action the pain and bitter taste of death is swallowed up in him. 

There is a live after this, we have a purpose, and if we choose to follow our path to Christ, we can find happiness in this life and the next. I send all my love out to everyone here. God be with you all.


Elder Butler

Week 20 - Soy Perro Hondureno

Hey everyone! This week had some cooler stories that I can share so buckle up. This week has been pretty good health wise, thank you for all the prayers sent out, they helped! I would like to inform everyone that I in fact, do not have a parasitic tapeworm inside of me, despite rumors you may have heard from someone (my mom ;) )  So that's all good and dandy!

I want to give a shout out to my cousins Nicole and Mark and the Strong Family for sending me a package of candy, I have enjoyed it greatly this week!

Okay well I'm just gonna write about some events of this week! On Wednesday we went to the Sisters area to help them move. They already lived in one of the biggest houses in the mission, 2 floors, as big as the house I grew up in. There were 2 more sisters who split the area, so 4 of them were living in the house. Apparently, they said they felt bad spirits in the house, heard noises, etc, and wanted one of the Elders to re bless and dedicate the house. After they still felt scared so they asked another elder to come do it again. Apparently they called the mission office, and asked if they could move houses. This kinda annoyed me when I heard about all of this, because first of all, they just had paranoia. They just didn't have faith in the blessing the first time, so obviously it didn't work! Jesus told his own disciples that they lacked faith when they couldn't heal someone. Well there is my little rant, but we helped them move into AN EVEN NICER HOUSE. Girls get the better stuff I guess.

Anyway, I did interchanges with my buddy Elder Murrillo this week again! He came with me to Honduras from the CCM, so it was fun being with him! 

We have been getting really creative with how we contact. Almost never do we knock doors, LIKE NEVER. I hate it, the people hate it, and its just super inefficient. Like I try to put myself in the shoes of other people that I'm trying to teach. If I was at home laying on the couch, watching TV, taking a nap, making food, etc. and some random person or "salesman", comes to my door to try to sell me something or talk to me, the only thing I'm going to be thinking about is "man I wanna get rid of this guy and go nap, get back to my show, yada yada yada". If that's how I would think, what makes these people any different?

I've been studying a lot in the New Testament about the apostles, and it teaches that when Peter taught the Jews, he became a jew, when he taught the Greeks, he became a Greek, when he taught the outlaws, he became an outlaw (while keeping the commandments of course). If I want to teach the people of Honduras, I need to become a Honduran DOG. For that reason, if a group of people are kicking and juggling a soccer ball in a circle on the field, I casually join in and start chatting with them, gain there trust and show them I'm a normal dude, and then they are way more open to listening to us. 


In the street with the little kids, I just sit down on the ground with them, tell jokes, tell them I'm from Germany and pretend to speak in German, stuff like that so they like me, then we teach them. Occasionally my comp and I play basketball in order to teach people. Another thing that I do all the time is I walk up to random people pretending like Im looking for someone but don't know where they live. I ask they if they know a *random name* that lives around here? And the answer is always no, and I say " Shoot, we talked to them the other day about Jesus, and they told us they lived around here but I'm horrible at remembering. Oh well, what is your name? have you talked with missionaries before?" and I just go from there, but we always contact in the street and have had a ton of success these past 4 weeks. Don't work hard, work smart.

Right now we are teaching a Family of 15 people, the head of the household being a blind man. His name is Ancelmo, and after 3 visits I finally go down the names of everyone in the family. Its so cool teaching someone who is blind, because everything is their life is based of of FAITH, Believing in things he cant see. Has really been a blessing in my life teaching this family, and seeing their testimonies grow!

I love this work, this week I don't have pictures, but ill send some next week! I love you all, feel free to write me always!


Elder Butler

Week 19 - New Comp, Pranked, and Currently Dead

Hey there everyone who reads this email!

Well this week was pretty cool! For those of you who read my emails, last week I talked about how me and my comp were both leaving our area. Well later in the night last Monday before changes and after I packed my suitcases all up, My zone leaders called me and told me they were just joking, and that I was staying in my area. HA HA. Kinda funny and relieving but also sucked because I had to unpack and I was stressing about it all day lol. Oh well, the guys in this mission are all goons, never serious haha!

Entonces, I got a new comp! Hes a Gringo named Elder Sullivan from St. George Utah! He pretty much looks like every other kid from Utah haha, but he has 15 months in the mission! Hes super chill, and we get along super well.

We both had a ton of success this last week with 18 new investigators, which our goal was 15 so that was sweet. Most I have had in one week. It is going to be a real hard challenge getting baptisms this month because we have lost a ton of investigators, but working none the less.

On Friday I was pretty much bed ridden dead. I spent like 14 hours straight just throwing up and going to the bathroom, and I have continued to have a sensitive stomach all weekend. Freaking Gringos, apparently gringos always get sick easier at the beginning, but I'm not a baby about it. I still went out and worked almost all Saturday and Sunday despite feeling like I was going to die. But currently as of now I feel a little better, we will see how I handle the food the next couple of days.

I am currently teaching a professional soccer player that plays for the Number 1 team in Honduras named Olympia! We bet him to a game and basketball and against him and his brother, and almost lost lol. Its surprising because Hondurans kinda suck at basketball, but my comp played in high school so we did good. After we drank some coke and taught them a little. Way cool guy and way fun way to teach people.

Well I don't have anything else that I feel is sufficient to share with y'all today, but ill throw on some pics! Thanks to all the friends and family who have sent me packages, I received all of them this week! So cool! And hey if you want to be my friend, feel free to write me sometime! Love y'all!!

Elder Stevo

Week 18 - Pictures of Honduras

Hey guys!

I want to tell you guys about a ton of excited things this week, but nothing too crazy has happened, so this email is gonna be a little shorter and I am just gonna send a few emails with more pictures because i got a ton of good ones that I want to share!

Tomorrow my comp and I are BOTH LEAVING OUR AREA! really crazy, we were so surprised. What normally happens is every 6 weeks one companion in an area leaves to a different area, and one person that knows the people in the area stays to teach the new companion the people and run the area. Well, we are both leaving so I don't know whats gonna happen now, they call it Whitewashing an area. Usually because there are people who planch or there is no area, but we work hard and are having success, so revelation I guess. My area isn't easy, so I am not devastated to leave, but I am really sad that I am leaving some of the people that I have grown to love here. I knew it was gonna happen, just in like 6-12 more weeks is all! Oh well! Also we found a dead body on the road today in our tiny town, with people just starring at it. Looked like a motorcycle crash, and wasn't wearing a helmet. The thing is, the roads are so bad in the town that you cant go faster than 8 miles per hour, and there are absolutely no cars so we aren't really sure what happened. Really sad though.

Being in Honduras is such a weird and crazy unique experience. Sometimes I need to stop and remind myself that I'm in one of the most impoverished place in the world! And not only that, but I get to serve the people, feel their love, and share the Light of Christ with the world. Never is easy, always tired, but I have more happiness inside myself than I would have if I were doing anything else! 

Felt like I should share my testimony on something this week just about life in general. A lot of times, this life is HARD. You pass through hard things, fail an exam that you studied all week for, lose loved ones, don't get success in something you have worked so long for. Even if you are the most positive person in the world, its hard not to get down on yourself. We just keep waiting and waiting for things to get easier, for the tides to turn. The thing is, this life will never be easy. It is a constant battle, a continuous struggle to find our ideal "happiness" that we imagine in our head. I have thought a lot about this, what happiness really is. I don't know everything, in fact I have excepted the fact that I know very little, but one thing I have realized is I have never found happiness after doing something that was "easy". I never was super happy after beating a team in football 50-0. Never felt accomplished after walking a mile, but going to Philmont and backpacking through the mountains for over 100 miles was what gave me the sense of accomplishment. We pass through trials and tribulations, because without them, we cant find the happiness we have been searching for. This is the plan God made for us. Sometimes we just have to learn to rely on him, trust in his plan for us, and JUST KEEP SWIMMING. 

That's my little motivational thought that has helped me a bunch by being here! I know God has a plan for us and I know he loves each and every one of us. Christ suffered every Pain, trial, sin that we could possibly ever experience in this life because he loves us. If we ever are hurting and feel alone, we need to turn to the one and only person who could fully understand us, and that is Jesus! 

Love you guys, here are some pics! 

Elder Butler

Week 17 - Chillin Out Ballin

Hey there guys, not anything super interesting this week unfortunately. :/  Just been out here working. Texas is #6 which made my week, so Hook EM'! My foot has been hurting me, but I'm not a baby so I just tough it out and take Advil haha!

This week we have been kinda at ground zero with our work because a ton of investigators dropped, so we have been trying to get creative with how we work now. Contacting and knocking doors sucks and is super inefficient, and we try to work smart, not hard. We've been focusing a lot of our attention to trying to play basketball or soccer to find people to teach. On Friday in out white shirts and ties we played 2 Latino guys. We saw them and bet them a coke if they won, but if we won we got to teach them for 5 minutes about Christ. I know its bad to gamble, but its for a good cause, and we usually always beat Latinos in basketball here, so it was a for sure thing. WELL, these two guys played basketball for the university, so they actually weren't bad. We barely won 15-13, but it was close. We play younger kids and have been trying to teach their families too so that's good!

Just want to share a short testimony about how I love my mission. It is hands down one of the hardest things I have ever done. I am constantly exhausted, walking up mountains to peoples houses only for them to tell us to come back tomorrow, then lie to us the next day. People that are progressing so well just get blessed and drop. But this experience has already been one of the most rewarding experiences I have had in my life too. I have felt so much love and happiness here. I have witnessed people who have changed their lives a whole 180 degrees and have seen how much happiness we can get when we come unto Christ. Its just so awesome. Sometimes I get so caught up in working, that I have to stop and take a second that I am just out here in a 3rd world country, in one of the poorest missions in the world, in the mountains, speaking a foreign language and living like its normal! So COOL!

I don't have much this week, I just wanted to share a short message! Love you guys!

Elder Stevo

Week 16 - Rain, Beans, Sopa de Mondongo

    Yo whats good everyone, its Elder Steven Butler here coming to you live from Honduras, where the beans are just alright, trash is burned in the streets, and dogs are multiplying on every street corner! ;)

       So basically its been raining every evening here this week, and to make it better, I lost my umbrella on a bus too. I have a rain jacket though so that helps. To keep out backpacks and scriptures from getting soaked, we just put our backpacks on our chests, and zip up our backpacks over them. Its a pretty clever idea if I must say myself, but we look like pregnant goons walking around in the streets, and my area is filled with gangsters so people probably think "What are those freaking Gringo locos doing?".  Might bring down the Rep, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

      This week we got to go to the Temple as a Zone (Peep the photos)! Such an awesome experience. The Honduras Temple is one of the most beautiful things I have seen, its on top of a hill overlooking the city. Such an amazing experience, you can feel the spirit very strongly all around the temple grounds. Such an awesome experience!

      This week was pretty just okay. Almost every appointment for like 3 days straight fell through. People here in Honduras tell you things and make commitments with you, but half the time never keep them. Its just the culture here, its not because they are bad people, but this really frustrates me sometimes when people say they are gonna do something and then don't do it. Its always been a pet peeve of mine my whole life. Even when My friends would bail, always frustrated me. Just a test of patience I guess, I'm trying to love the people more, even if they curse at us in English or ask us if we want coffee in the streets. Usually works better if you joke back at them haha. I'm liking this place though, and love the language.

       Had another Baptism this week with a Kid named Ever, so that's some sweet news! We had to VROOM VROOM down to another church building in a different area with a baptismal font because here in Babylon, nothing works. Our Baptism font has a ton of leaks in it, so when we try to fill it up it gets to about 1.5 feet of water, and then starts to lose water faster than it enters. We were determined, so we got permission from the parents, And hoped on a bus to Zambrano where the Sister Missionaries live. When we got there, it started pouring. We ran like a mile in the pouring rain and showed up to the church dripping head to toe, so thats why we look wet in the picture before the baptism.

Okay so last night I had my most interesting meal yet. Its a native Honduran soup called "Sopa de Mondongo". Mondongo is the Stomach lining of a cow. Tested just how you would imagine the slimey inner lining of a cow stomach  would taste, with the texture of chewing gum. Haha Frodsham has always wanted to try it, so he had been asking every member and person if they knew how to make it, until one member told us they would buy it for us. Pretty nice of them because its a delicacy here I guess. Pretty funny experience.

Don't have much else this week, but here are pics! Love you all, write and send pics if you love me too!

      

    

Week 15 - There's a snake in my boot!

Hey guys, you'll never guess what happened this week!!!

      I did not have a snake in my boot. BUT last week I got to go to Dennys!! Sounds pretty bland, but if you've been eating beans and rice and tortillas for literally every single meal, (not an exaggeration btw), then you guys would understand that this was the greatest meal in the mish so far. Sorry mom, I spent 300 limperas, which low key is really only 12-13 bucks haha. I ordered two meals knowing I couldn't eat all of it because I couldn't choose between what to get. It was sooooooo good! We don't usually have permission to leave our area to go eat somewhere, but a guy in our district had his bday, so president gave us permission so that's cool!

        UT WON BABY! To all of my OU friends, I can ship you guys some kleanex if you want, straight from Honduras (Especially Matt Mills). I saw the highlights, Kyler murray is raw I will say. All Im saying is since 2011, I have been saying that Texas wins a national championship in 2019, so vamos a ver.

      And hey, The wife of my mission president had her baby which is pretty cool! Apparently a little premature, but I believe is healthy! So that's cool! 

       I have 3 weeks left in this change with Elder Frodsham, then most likely he is leaving the area and I am staying. There are 17 new missionaries coming in this change, so I have been told that more than likely I will be training someone. A little nervous in all honestly because at times I feel inadequate, but this last week has helped a ton because the Lord has blessed and reassured me that I know this language. I am proud to say that I am at the point where I understand basically 100% and am pretty confident in my speaking, solo necessito aprender mas palabras a veces, pero bueno! I don't like to write these emails in Spanish that much because I know it can be annoying if you don't understand haha. Today, I am going to write a more spiritual message, but invite all to read!

       This week was a busy week. We didn't get to spend a lot of time in our own area, which kinda sucked, because we were spending time helping people in other areas! We also did a big service project for a person with a ton of missionaries! We basically build stairs in front of this persons house, which my experience with concrete came in handy which is always good! As a missionary, I{ love to serve the people here. Yeah, we are here to teach people, but we are also always searching for opportunities to serve anyone we can. Sometimes people don't want to hear our message, but ask if we can mop and sweep their floors, and so we just go ahead and do it. Its amazing to see how someones attitude can change when you serve them. It is such a great feeling. 

        There is no one that has served me personally more in my life than my mom, but I am going to have to say that the greatest example of service I have seen in my life is from my dad. I spent a lot of my childhood accompanying him to service projects, visiting old people in retirement homes to help them, helping someone move out or move into their house. I want to say I was always super enthusiastic about these experiences, but honestly a lot of the time I would have rather have been hanging out with friends or something like that. Sometimes I even opted out of it and my dad would go without me. A lot of the time, he would be the only to show up to help someone in need. It always bugged me when I was younger that "why did my dad always have to be the one to volunteer for everything, why couldn't someone else take a turn?". Sounds a little selfish, but it was something that a young 15 year old version of me asked from time to time. 

       As I have been on my journey growing closer to my heavenly Father and learning, studying, and teaching about the Savior, Jesus Christ, I have seen one pattern that he showed us. Charity, Love, Service. As we look at his life, Christ spent his time serving the poor, sick, needy. Healed the sick, performed miracles, suffered for our sins , and died on the cross, and was resurrected so that one day we can be too. 

        I have gained a testimony of Jesus Christ through the example of my dad. His example is why I am here today, serving the people of Honduras. I have found more happiness in hardships when I have been serving someone. My invitation to everyone, is that if you are struggling, down, exhausted, depressed, try and find a way to serve someone. It doesn't have to be big. Buy someone food. Help someone with their homework. Mow the lawn for your dad. Things like that. I know that Charity and Service is the true love of Christ, and as we strive to do this more we are becoming more like Him. And that's the goal right? If you believe in Jesus, then you believe he was the one perfect person to ever walk the Earth, the LITERAL son of God. He put an example for us, a perfect example and path for us to follow. And it all starts with love,charity, and service. Go out there and serve someone!

      Okay guys, a little more spiritual message today, I promise I am still normal Steve though! Missionaries are actually not what you would expect, they are normal people. Behind the scenes, we are basically always gooning around, doing hoodrat stuff haha, its actually so fun. I am loving Honduras, this place is a straight jungle. Getting a little tired of 50-60 year olds breastfeeding their grandchildren in front of me all the time. Doesn't matter if your in church, Eating, teaching them, in a bus.   I have had a few gagging experiences lol. My advice to all the young moms out there with babies, please use a blanket or something. I say this out of love, but also am very serious. 

      Survived working in a tropical storm for 3 days, low key kinda sucked because I was soaked 24/7, but we workin out here. Also conference was awesome, 2 hour church! I saw it coming! Watched most of it in Spanish, but I understood perfectly! Go watch the talk by Rasband if ya'll have the chance!

That's my message for the week!! Love you guys, hit me up if you get the chance!

Elder Butler

Week 14 - Nothing New, BUT BAPTISM

Hey guys, its ya boy Steve!

This week was a pretty good one actually! We have a new gringo in the district, and hes from HTOWNNNNN!! Honestly was so pumped when I heard that! There are 4 guys in the mission now from Houston, so we are out here reppin guys!!

2 Sundays ago I forgot to tell you guys, but I gave my first talk in Spanish. Didn't know until the morning of, so I had like 20 minutes to try to prepare something. Basically, I had to go up on the stand in church and give a 12 minute message to the members in Spanish. Now I am perfectly comfortable speaking in Spanish by now, but 12 minutes is a long freaking time. SOooo yeah pretty nervous experience. I felt like I walked off the stand and asked myself "Did I just say anything correctly??", haha but people told me I did good sooo yeah!

We had another baptism as you can see in the picture! This will be my fourth one here, but October we are trying ot have more than 3 so vamos a ver! We baptized a 32 year old man named Alan. This guy is one of the most faithful people I have met. We found him about a month ago because he contacted US!! Crazy, like he literally walked up to us and said "can you guys prepare me to be baptized in your church??" like literally that's how it went. 

The adversary is definitely trying to work haha. This week before his baptism, we went to his house and a group of Jehovah Witnesses went into the house and tried to convince him not to be baptized. He told us he stood his ground because he has a testimony that the things we taught him are true. Scared the poop out of us low key. Its funny, almost every time without fail, when we teach someone about Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon for the First time, firecrackers go off, or a baby starts crying in the other room, a bus honks its horn for a minute straight, just things like that. Obviously if what we teach is good, then the opposition is gonna try and stop us. But This is literally Gods work, and if the people have faith, The Devil cant do nuthin!! HAHA!

I have felt the spirit so strong being out here, and I am still the same person with the same personality, but I have such a strong testimony of Jesus Christ. I have always believed in Christ, but being out here, relying on God 24/7 with prayer because its so hard, I have come to know Christ personally, and I know he knows me too. I testify that he lived on this earth, suffered for our sins, died on the cross. I also testify that He Lives. He was resurrected, and for that, we have the opportunity to live with God, with Chirst, and with our families for forever. His sacrifice was the greatest act of love ever shown to the world, and for that I am out here in a foreign country because I want to share that love of Chirst with everyone. I love you guys.

Hey I'm cutting the email short because I wanna reply to more people! I'm trying y'all, love you guys!! I always appreciate your emails, they make my week! Keep it real my dudes!

Elder Butler