Week 67 - The Son of Man passed under them all, are we greater than he?

Whats up guys, dudes, and everyone else,

This week was another dope one, full of crazy people, weird experiences, ups and downs, but especially more ups! And like every week, full of lots of beans and tortillas.

I got a new comp, named Elder Ramirez from Guatemala, who is 24 and has 9 months in the Mish. Hes a pretty cool guy, and we get along great. Only being 24, he was orphaned as a teenager, losing both of his parents, and the guy basically raised his little sister with no support from anyone. He got baptized at 20, and now is my comp, so we are hittin' the road running!

Conference was great, I think personally Saturday Morning session was my fav, but it was all good. (For those who don't know, we believe in a living God who continues to reveal his Gospel through Prophets and Apostles, and that in today's time we have living prophets and revelation from our Heavenly Father!) Pretty cool how there was a huge emphasis on what our Focus should be: Christ, and Joy. They are two things intertwined. Its something that I've been able to witness personally in my time here in Honduras. Through learning how to love as Christ loved, and putting him in the center of our lives can help up find real and true joy in our lives, even through trial, tribulation, and suffering.

This week was a little stressful. I had someone in my Zone who was mad at me or offended in some way, and threw many efforts of buying him food, and apologizing, still felt like I failed to gain his pardon. Another opportunity came where I got the chance and opportunity to exercise my patience and listen to someone rant for an hour an a half about how every person in her life had offended her in some way, and how the world owed her so much. I just sat and listened, and apologized, but it wasn't sufficient for her. That same day while teaching a recently married couples, 2 young missionaries with zero marriage experience, we were put in the situation to try and counsel their problems that have happened in their relationship. Our answer was Christ, but half of the party didn't want to accept. All of this negative commotion really had me down on a rainy day. I decided to pray. Heavenly Father, I know the happiness this gospel brings, but why do I feel like my efforts are wasted, why wont anyone listen. Then I prayed for strength to carry on. I have come to realize that in life, and through studying and listening to conference, that in life we all pass for difficulties, tragedies, most of the time being no fault of our own. Why does God allow bad things to happen to his children if he loves us? The answer is that we do not see ourselves through Gods eyes, and how he is shaping up and forming us to be the people he wants us to be. Experience is required for us to progress and grow. Our body does not grow without much pain, exercise, falling down. Its a process, we dont see what our potential is looking in the mirror BEFORE we do all the exercise and soreness. The same is with our Spirit. We pass for these things to grow, and the perfect thing is that if we trust in Christ, he can lift the weights and cargo with us every step, "making our burdens light and easy".

I know these things are true personally. God has shown me. In my hard moments in the mission, we were blessed with a guy named Junior who prayed, and has decided with surety that he would like to be baptized this month. Pretty dope.

Love you all, sorry for the short letters, Ill try and share more experiences next week!

Elder Butler