Week 30 - Gringos, gringos, gringos

Hey guys, looks like I'm staying in my area! Im super happy about it, I feel a peace about it and we are working hard! Today we are gonna have a baptism for Kevin, and we have 5 more planned this weekend. So work wise, we are doing pretty good! 

Also some good news... As of right now I am weighing 168 lbs, which is crazy cause I was about 190ish when I left. Senior year I was about 180ish, so I guess if you eat Chickfila and Tbell daily, you gain some weight. Well I'm back to weighing the same amount as I did when I was like 15, so that's cool! I actually just realized in like 5 months I will be turning 21, and trust me it doesn't feel like it one bit. I am pretty sure I will just stick with 18 the rest of my life, and keep working towards my goal of being a really cool uncle when I grow up.

This week was a super crazy week! I worked super hard this week, not knowing if I was going to leave or stay. We put like 6 more baptism dates with people this week, and all are positive and progressing. It brings me indescribable joy to see people follow the light of Christ. 

Well we heard this week that there were a bunch of gringos here in my area serving a mission trip, doctors and dentists, to help the poor people that cant afford dentist, medicine, doctors, all of that jazz. They were set up at the Big Green Methodist church (right next to ours lol), and we just walked on in and started talking. A lot of Latino people from the church gave us the eye, but I got to talking to a couple of ladies and they were so impressed with us, that they took us to the head guy, "Jim", who is the architect of the church and the head of the organization for this mission trip! It was a huge opperation, and was so cool to meet some many people who gave up their time and money to come help the people here in Honduras. You could feel their love! Well we got to talking to Jim, we shared our story about why we are here, and he shared his story about how he started these mission trips. Hes 82 years old, and such an awesome guy, I'll share the name of their Facebook page later. We got to talking and one cool thing he told us is "I don't know why, but there is something about you guys and your church, I just feel it right now. You guys are literal angels here." Bout nearly broke my lil heart. But for real it was really cool. He told me how  he had been feeling pressure from the leaders of this church here that he created, and called them "modern day pharisees". He began to cry and asked me to say a prayer. So here we are, in another church in Honduras, with a group of gringos, and I'm saying a prayer. You have to remember that I am pretty out of practice on my prayers in English, but I gave a prayer. The spirit was for sure there, and Jim told me afterwards that he felt at peace. Way cool experience for sure! 

One of the investigators and friends that is going to be baptized is named Elvin, but his nickname is "Choki". I have known this guys for months. occasionally played against him in basketball on Pday, and joked around with him a lot, but never really thought anything of it. I didn't know why, but one day I felt an impression to talk to this kid, and share just something small with him. Now remember, First time I met him I tried sharing something with him but he kinda resisted, so I figured yeah whatever ill just move on. But this one day a couple of weeks ago I had this impression just to talk with him one more time. Wasn't anything long, or incredible, I just simply told him that God loves him, and that if he prays he can feel that love that he has for him. Then one day we were actually on the way to visit Moreno, and we ran into Choki again. I asked him if he prayed, and he said yes he did. A little surprised, but blinded by my scheduled mind, and only thinking in the things I had to do, I told him, "hey man we have an appointment right now, but well talk later or another day more". And walked up to Moreno's door. I entered, my comp entered, then I looked behind me and Choki entered too. I was shook. He came and sat down next to us. I didn't have anything in particular planned to talk about with Moreno, but I decided just to share a short message. I asked him to come to church, and he came. Asked when he could go again, we talk to him daily, and he always wants to come with us to visits during the day.

 A couple of days ago, he came to us a little quiet than usual. I asked him if everything was okay, and he just shrugged. I felt impressed to just ask why he even listened to us. A 17 year old kid, family is super evangelical, and his brother is a pastor but hasn't gone to a church in 5 years. I wanted to know why he decided to listen to us. His response was that it was because he has known so many people talk about Christ, but never had anyone taken such attention and interest about him personally and his progression before. I cant recall my exact response, but I asked him why he felt that way, and assured him that It was because Christ loves him and because what we are teaching is the truth. He began to cry and told me that hes done with walking in things of the world, and said he would like to serve a mission too. My heart was filled with indescribable happiness.

I know for a fact that the usual 17 year old kid is thinking about having fun, things of the world. This is why I am here. Things of the world can bring us pleasure and temporal happiness, but if we seek Christ we can find true joy in him. I know that Christ lives, and that through the restored Gospel, we can live in his light. I love you all, To all the friends out there, if you ever have some free time, hit me up with an update and some pics, it would make my week! love ya'll!


Elder Butler