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