Well everyone, I am here in Honduras. Words do not describe the culture shock that I have experienced. I have been in Honduras for a week now, I am sorry I could not write last week, they didn't give us the opportunity. I honestly don't know how I am even going to fit everything I want to say in one email, but I will try my best haha.
I am not really gonna talk much about my last week at the MTC because it was like the last week of high school, we just wanted to get out of that place. After arriving here, Guatemala City is honestly very nice. there are poor parts obviously, but here is also very very VERY nice parts. We had to leave for the airport at 2 AM last Tuesday, and our flight wasn't until 10 AM lol, don't ask me why.
After arriving here, just looking out of the plane, Honduras is a whole other world. It is very very Mountainous, more so than Utah because everything is in the mountains. (There are about 3 million people in the city of Tegucigalpa and about 6 million stray puppers lol).
I have experienced some very humbling experiences here in Honduras. It is the Second most Impoverished area in all of Central America. I know that Most of you guys are from the woodlands, So am I. I love the Woodlands, and honestly we have all been so blessed to have lived there. If you are ever sad about not having enough, just remember how many blessings you have been given in your life. This whole country is Favelas. Like I am saying even the inner city isn't nice. I have been in the Homes of people that are the size of most of yall's bathrooms. It is absolutely crazy, but I love it here!
Alright the next part I am going to write about is riding in Buses and Taxis, lol. The First couple of days we were staying in the APs house which is actually decently large. We had to take taxis a lot of the church for meetings, and its probably the funniest and most near death experiences I have had here lol. There are no rules, no speed limits, cars don't give a crap if your in the road, everyone cuts everyone off, its honestly very entertaining. Walking around in the city is so fun because its basically a real life game of Frogger. You have a Busy street or highway in front of you? Doesn't matter, you just cross your fingers, point a finger up to Heavenly father, and just let Jesus take the wheel, hoping that the people will dodge you. Don't walk slower or speed up cause you'll die lol. Its awesome.
Everything is super duper cheap here. A Bolsa (bag of water) costs about 2 limps, which is roughly around 8 cents in america (The exchange rate is $1:24 Limps lol) 3 Liters of Coke is about a dollar, so my dad would love that lol.
My First Companion here is a Gringo named Elder Frodsham from Dallas Texas! whats even cooler is he is the same age as me, but was born in Sugarland, and lived in the Woodlands for the first 4 years of his life, which is honestly so crazy. He is my trainer out here in the mission. Entonces, he is called my "DAD" and I am his son lol. Hes such a cool guy. He played baseball at a big university in the North East in Penn or something, but I cannot remember which one haha.
Our first area is called Ciudad Espana, which translates into Spain City. I will be honestly with you all, and I don't wanna worry you mom, but the Nickname to this area is "Babylonia" because its pretty much the most gang populated area in the mission lol. But dont worry because honestly you can barely tell. No one really messes with us because we are missionaries and we have placks. So we are safe dont worry.
The kids in Ciudad Espana are honestly my favorite. We can be walking and a group of them just run up and hug our legs, they love to talk with us. We are some really great members in our area too, most of the time we have a member with us in our lessons. Its a relatively small area, so there are no cars at all, besides the buses that go to the city. It is a ton of walking, but I love it. The Kids are very humbling to me because I see how little they have, b ut you would never even know because they are all so happy. Its really a joy to witness, so always count your blessings!
The food here is alright, sometimes its great, sometimes you just gotta down it haha. People basically don't ever use forks, so its either use a tortilla, or use your fingers haha. Our house doesn't have running water, so for the Next 3 months or more I will be doing bucket showers which is okay because we have a little water heater that plugs into the wall. No one in Honduras has air conditioning, but luckily its not "I wanna die" Texas Hot, at least not in my area right now. The toilets only flush when they want to, so you have to be patient.
My companion and I speak Spanish 24/7. I am not allowed to speak English ever unless its to ask about a word. So basically I am a baby that doesn't know how to swim, and my Dad just tied a brick to my foot and has thrown me in the deep end hoping that I can save myself. Its hard, but honestly my grammar has improved tremendously. The hardest part is trying to focus when people are having conversations and keeping up with how fast they talk. I have gotten pretty good for the most part, poco a poco haha. The hardest people to understand are the Old people here in Honduras, because most of them don't have teeth, and mumble everything together, but my Companion can understand so I have faith that I will get there eventually.
There is a lot of Apostasy in Cuidad Espana. Church is kind of crazy, everyone talks and we don't have a microphone so that's hard. Sunday morning we had to go to a bunch of the younger kids who are investigators in the morning before church and wake them up to come. But the work is definitely moving. We have a baptism next Saturday, and our goal is 3 a month, but this month will be hard. My faith and Testimony has grown leaps and bounds. I have witnessed literal miracles occur that I cant even describe. This is the true church, I am exactly where God has put me, I owe everything to him. God is Good people!
Elder Butler
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