Week 52 - Birfdayyyy

Hey people de los Yunai, that's how people here spell united based on their pronunciation lol. Well I would just want to wish all the people who sent me a happy birthday a big ole thanks! y'all are the realest, and truly made my day! I've been spending most of the day responding to just about everyone, so I am super happy! Ill be taking off the people who didn't send me an email, you are dead to me. JK love you all, thanks for making my 21 birthday awesome!

I love my area, and have grown to love many of the members here! There are changes in two weeks and I hope I can stay, I'm gonna ask permission to stay this week in interviews with my mission president. Tomorrow we are gonna celebrate my 21 at the house of some members, we are gonna grill meat, drink coke and have fun talking haha, gonna be 21 fun in the mission :) The tradition here is on someones bday, they cover the person in eggs and flour, which I really hope these people don't do because it will be a pain to walk around in. My comp tells me they are gonna do it, but we'll see. Also tomorrow I will be burning my 1 year White shirt, Ill take a video

*I had a bunch of pics to send, but for some reason it wont attach so sorry kids, next week

Well I haven't had a ton of time to write today so this wont be jammed with a ton of fun stuff, but we had another Baptism!!! Her name is Julia, and we found her a few months back and baptized her grandson. 2 of her kids are members, all of her grand kids, and her sister are all members, and she went all these years kinda heard hearted, but we got to help her be converted in her testimony of Christ and his Gospel! She bore her testimony and her baptism, and I felt real joy and happiness knowing that God could touch her life!

Her son was the first to be baptized about 17 years ago, but went inactive. We have helped reactivate him, but also we have been teaching his daughter and the mother of his daughter the Gospel as well. They were "hardcore Catholics" and we were told they would never listen to us. Well we decided to share with them the book of Mormon. They were both a little skeptical at first, but decided they would read and write down their questions from it. The daughter, Diana, is the smartest 11 year old i have ever met. She wold share her favorite parts, and explained how she loves that Christ could come to the Americas too, and explains and tells us every chapter she has read. We had a very strong lesson last Friday on the Restoration of the Gospel. It was raining, and the roofs of houses here are aluminum, sooo we had to basically yell to communicate. Normally when we teach the Restoration, every time we talk about the first vision, there is always some kind of big interruption, sound, baby crying, truck honking, music blaring, almost always this happens. But not this time. This time, as we started to talk about the boy who went to the woods to pray to God and ask which of all the churches was true, The rain stopped. There was silence, and the spirit entered into the room almost stronger than I have ever felt it. It was undeniable that the things we were teaching were not true. We bore our testimony of its truthfulness, and with tears in their eyes, they both responded that they felt it was true as well. They will be married as a family and baptized the end of July.

I would like to bear my testimony on the divinity of the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Christ. I would like to stand in front of each and every one of you shameless to say I put my entire reputation and testimony in saying that there is no other book on the Earth that can help us to become closer to Christ and teach us his full gospel, while helping us to understand the Bible and that the Word of God is that same whether it was given on the Asia Continent or the american Continent. The Book of Mormon is a record of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and their communication with God. I know without a doubt it is the truth because I have read it, prayed and received an answer. No one could convince me otherwise, and for that reason I am out here in one of the four corners in the world, declaring the truth. Left everything in the past for 2 years because I know the book of Mormon is true. Simple as that. If you have questions, shoot me em. Love y'all!

Keep it fresh.

Elder Butler

Week 51 - Half Way Done

Guys I'm halfway done with the mish and its crazy as all heck! HeckinHEckHeck! Still going strong though! Man the time does fly, but I have definitely cherishing the moments because although its hard, I will never get these moments and experiences of sharing the gospel and helping people find peace and love in there life back, at least not in the same way ever again.

WELL Gonnaa be honest, this wont be a super fun letter, nor long because this week was a little boring and I also don't have a ton of time! But I will go for a few quick things that happened:

ALSO, I am turning 21 in a week. It wont be a super celebration or anything, Ill burn my one year shirt and all, but really the one thing that would make me happier than anything in the world to be a message or email from any of you guys catching me up on your life. You don't even have to wish me anything, I just wanna know whats new cause believe it or not, if your reading this I love YOU!! *If you read this and don't send me a message, then I will formally unfriend you in my life. Be friends with me or not, the choice is yours. ;)

First, I am back in my normal area, which was a relief because the kid I was with was a little hard to handle.. Great kid, new with a lot of energy, but a little prideful and a little racist towards gringos, BUT something great is for the first time in my life I feel like I was super patient! I just decided to let him be in his ways because I wouldn't be there forever, and kept my mouth shut. SOOO basically the good thing that happened is that I've gotten BETTER (not perfect) in the aspect of patience.

I was talking today with an old friend and catching up, and he told me that I seem different "in a good  kinda way" . Then asked me if I hoped I would be the same when I get back_ I thought about it for a second, and then responded, "I hope I'm not the same person when I get back". 100 percent the truth. Of course the personality will always be the same, but I have seem and felt little changes in my life and priorities. One of my best friends and examples of being a missionary gave me some advice as I first went out of the mission, this is what he wrote me:

"I want to tell you to not worry about trying to stay the person you were before your mission. You went out to represent Christ so take this once in a life time chance to emulate him the best that you can. Let him turn you into something that you are incapable of becoming without him. I’m telling you this because this was a mistake that I made. I tried so hard to hold on to little bits of old Nick that I thought made me important and unique, but the truth was that it kept me from fully taking advantage of the mission experience. I could be 50x the man that I am now if I gave up the controls completely then. I love you bro. Do the right thing. "

I have taken this advice to its fullest. I left out a confused kid, and hope to come back a better man, and representative of Christ. Love this Church, but also I know without a single doubt that it is the true church. I promise you I would not be here after a year if I thought for even a moment that what I was teaching wasn't true. I know that it is led by Jesus Christ himself, and that through his Everlasting atoning sacrifice, we can come unto him and be happy. Im just out here trying to spread happiness to the world ! Love you all, and I invite you to pray to know for yourself as well.

Love you all, hit me up!

Elder Butler

Week 50 - The Food of Honduras, and the Jungle of Mangoes

Hello people of the United States. Yesterday while I was writing the power shut off, consequently turning off the WiFi where I was at and erasing all I had written, sooooooo I have received time today to briefly send a letter.

This week was a pretty cool one, kinda like a vacation for a week and a half in another area, got to know some really great people, and learn how to work with a different companion. The kid is new, so I got to turn up my motivation to be a good example of how to work hard, and I think it really helped me a lot. Not gonna lie, kinda strange kid, but I dig it. I didn't want to come here in the beginning, but HEY, God knew it would help me! There are NO COINCIDENCES.

I just realized that I never really talk about the food I eat here, and I feel like you basically know a culture by its food. Not going to lie, there are a lot of beans, rice, and tortillas involved in the food here. For my first 8 months that's about all I ate lol. Well to drink, there is a ton of coke, and natural juices, coconut water, and all the normal sodas, not including Dr. Pepper. Although I drink a lot more coke here, I think it tastes better in the US, and the carbonation here lasts like 10 minutes after opening. The natural juices are sooo good, and VERY sugary. These people are crazy, I watch them pour like a pound of sugar in a 2 liter vase, and I immediately develop diabetes just by watching. The popular ones are Raspberry, Strawberry, Watermelon, Pineapple, and one called Tamarindo, but that last one taste like poop. There are many more, because here they make juices for just about any fruit, and here there are a million different kinds that we don't have in the USA. Well for food, the most famous thing of Honduras are the Baleadas, which are kinda like breakfast tacos, but completely different at the same time. Its a tortilla with beans, eggs, dry cheese, and cream butter. Sometimes you can put meat or avocado as well. The part that truly makes or breaks it, is if the person makes good flour tortillas or not. The people here are also obsessed with fried chicken, and I have no clue why. On about every corner there is a fried chicken shack with a glass box filled with chicken that you know has been sitting there for about a week and a half, that is heated by a light bulb. If that doesn't say Honduras, I don't know what does. Soups are pretty common here too, although not my favorite. Bean soup is usually alright, but most soups they have here are just water, soaked with bones of meat, without actually having any meat. How Stupid is that??! Basically if you eat meat here, you just gotta be ready at any moment to bite into a big piece of bone, which is not something we are used to in the states, unless eating wings or t bone steak lol. Also sometimes I'm convinced that the chicken here is actually dog, yay GO  HONDURAS! (don't show Reggie this part please). The last thing about the food is the fish. I've eaten big fish, and small little perch with absolutely no meat. All fish is cooked with the heads on, which doesn't bother me, but a lot of people eat the fish eyes and that when I stop haha, but I have learned to eat fish with only my hands, and basically most food with only using a tortilla to grab my food because that's the culture here, forks do not exist. Welp, that's enough about food, I hope you enjoyed.

Today, in exactly one year I will be in my house watching Avengers Endgame with my puppers, cant wait.

On Sunday I got to go visit old members that lived really far away in the mountains. We took a bus wayy up high to the top of a big mountain in the forest, and then descended from there on trails FULL of Mango trees. It was one of the most beautiful hikes of my mission, and got to meet really cool people and eat like 10 different kinds of mangoes, all with a different taste. We don't have mangoes in the states that grow naturally, at least I don't think, but we do have mango flavored dum dum lollipops, so Im gonna enjoy the real thing while I here. I'll post some pics of the 5 hour walk in the jungle.

Sorry I don't have much spiritual to say right now, but just want every one of y'all to know that God loves you, and I do too. Miss just about everyone, sorry if I'm not always the best at responding to every single person, but I want the people and family to know that I truly do appreciate the letters and encouraging messages y'all send me! If you ever feel like updating me on life, or have questions, feel free! I love you all!

Elder Butler

Week 49 - Jesus da Calor

Many change of events this week, and pleasant surprises!
Well I continued to be sick throughout this week, and just this week I have gotten to a normal state. Its been some rough rides, but I think I had it coming because of karma. Before leaving to Honduras for my mission, I prided myself of being very sick prone, and claimed this feat from allowing bacteria sometimes to enter my body, to create more antibodies, ultimately making me stronger. I figured that the bacteria here in Honduras is probably the strongest, most potent substance that could attack the human body. So if I allowed myself to be a little sick here in Honduras, and created the Honduran antibodies in my system, I could possibly overcome any sickness, making me a superhuman. Well recently, Honduras has been winning this battle, and has knocked me in the butt, literally and figuratively. I have learned my lesson for sure. But I took some strong stuff the other day the medic told me to get, and I think Im all fixed up.

This week I got moved to a new area named Jesus de Otoro, or otherwise known as Jesus de calor, and its hot as Satan here and ill explain why:

There's an area in my zone, and a new guy came in to be district leader named Elder Pollock. Well what happened is that his comp, that he just got done training, has a colon problem and cant drink coke or eat greasy foods. The last night before he had changes, he drank coke even though his trainer, elder Pollock, told him not too do it because he would get sick. Well the idiot did it anyways, and the next day the kid was in the hospital, and has been for like 4 days. The problem is, the new person that arrived in place of Pollock is a new missionary, and doesn't know the investigators nor the area or how to be a missionary, and the other kid had like 2 or 3 surgeries and might have to go home, so this elder Pollock kid had to go back to his old area. they sent me here to be Zone leader and District leader, and sent a so so missionary with elder Austin in my area because they don't trust him to be district leader apparently, so ill be in a new area for a week or 2, they ill return back. Fun and super interesting, I know.

This week a member in our Branch that I am in here, a 35 year old single mother of 3, passed away from a heart attack. This was a family I was very close with, and it was very unexpected. I was in this new area, but when I heard I took a bus back to go to the viewing that same day. The heartache I felt for these three innocent children who had just lost their mother. As missionaries, we teach that God has a plan for each and every one of us, and that this life is not the end. Before this life we existed as God spirit children, and all of us chose to come to this earth, gain a body, and choose between good and bad, as well as experience it. But we know as we all pass on through death, that it is not the end. As Christ has already paid the price and been resurrected, not talking on the matter of our eternal happiness, but we shall all also be resurrected as well. What does this mean? We will see our loved ones again. All I wanted to do was comfort the pains of these kids, the same pains I have too felt, but I thought to an example of Christ. The story of Lazarus, which contains the shortest verse in all of scripture. "Jesus wept." When Christ was told that Lazarus had died, and his sister mourning knowing that had he arrived days earlier, Christ could have saved him. Now Jesus knew the plan of God and Salvation better than any man on earth, and knew very well that Lazarus was not truly dead, nor would be with his help. What we see in Christ's example of perfect love in this story, was he didn't try telling them everything was okay, but he comforted them and understood their pains, and mourned and cried with them. Where am I going with this? When we pass for these unexpected and unwanted trials and losses, sometimes we have no place to turn, and feel just lost. I have felt that way myself. But when we feel like no one could understand our pain, we have one purpose who does. Its Christ. Turning my life more towards Christ has helped me become a stronger person, and more loving as well. Because of him my wounds can be healed, and I can continue on here in Honduras helping other come unto him as well. Christ loves each and every one of us, and he lives, I have no doubt about it. I love you all.

Elder Butler