Email mix-up

Hey mom!

Don't worry about last week. It was just a random mix up. No worries.

The Christmas activity was great. Going to the temple was great. After the temple, we went and painted a school, had lunch, played b-ball, had a devotional, then had dinner. It was really fun.

Hey, I got the package! Thanks a ton for all the gifts. I love the mini-preach my gospel. I love it how you know exactly what i need. The gospel art book I had got wet and ruined, so the new one was definitely an answered prayer. Socks are always great, especially since the hermana that does our laundry usually mixes up our stuff. Loved the food! The goldfish were gone within 2 days. Loufas and shower gel were perfect. Thanks a ton for the cd's! now all i need to do is get a stereo or music player of some sort. Thanks a ton for all the presents once again! Tell Mrs. S. thanks for the delicious candy. My comp loved them! (don't worry, we shared LOL)

Well Elder R left yesterday for Chile. He's a great guy. When I come back to Guatemala we have a giant list of things to do, including watch wrestlemania and go to Peten.  

Well, we just started up a new challenge in the mission. We're reading the BoM as a mission. We're going to finish it by Easter. I'm loving it a lot. It's hard to realize that I've been in the mission for almost 8 months. It's crazy how fast time flies. This week is going to be crazy. Valle de las Flores, a town just outside of Palin, will be a new area tomorrow! We're going to have 3 sets of missionaries here in Palin. It's awesome to see how the work of the Lord simply can't be stopped. Literally, its the stone cut out of the mountain.

I think we get to email again the 24th, so i'll give you more details. If for some reason we can't get a hold of you before then. Call us at 11 in the morning. It's going to be our P-Day, so we'll be in the house for most of the day. If you can't get a hold of us at that time, just keep calling! lol

So what happened with this shooting. I heard it was super tragic. We didn't get a lot of details about it, only that it was children that died. So horrible. God will send the Spirit to comfort them.

Well hope you guys enjoy the photos! Elder R. loved the tie and all the other things. Thanks for all of your love and support. Coming on the mission has been the best decision of my life. I don't know what i would do or where i would be without you guys. Love you guys with all my heart.

Con Amor Eterno,

Elder Butler 

Happy Thanksgiving

Hey mom!

Time is just flying. I remembered the other day that it was the day after 

Thanksgiving last year when i got my mission call! man it's just crazy how fast time flies. We'll my comp's knee is pretty bad. He's going to have to have an operation. I'll probably have a new companion this week. I feel bad for him. I don't know if he's going home or if he'll rest at the CCM in zona 15. I just wish the best for him. Hey, baptized J R  last week, we're baptizing another family this week and a family member of one a member family, and another family next week! Hopefully we'll have more by the end of the change. We had the best numbers last week in this area since earlier this year because we're working with the members. 


Well i took a funny picture of my thanksgiving feast. I even made a cornucopia. I just forgot to bring my camera this week. i'll send the pic next week. 

This mission has changed me, and will continue to do so. Man, I'm so blessed. Well, President told me I'm going to be in Palin awhile. 

Well it's starting to get a little cold here. There's a lot of heavy winds at night, but it's nothing terrible. It would be considered great weather in Ohio. 

Glad you guys are learning a lot from the scriptures  I'm in the end of Mosiah, and i love reading the different struggles that the different groups had, and how they repented an overcame their situations by depending in God. Once i finish Alma, i will have read the BOM completely in Spanish. Que Bendicion!

Well I love you guys a ton. Tell R  to keep working hard on her nursing and J to love life. Send my love to the Brimhalls, Aunt Suzy, Uncle Mike, and all of my beloved friends and family. Love you guys so much.

Con Amor Eterno, 
Elder Butler

New companion

Hey mom!

 

¡Santa vaca!, escucha como ustedes tuvieron un buena conferencia de estaca. Really remember the words that all of them spoke. Even if it's just peeping at the notes you took, it will help you leaps and bounds. I'm so glad that you guys had the opportunity to hear all those great servants of the Lord! 

I'm the senior companion. It's definitely hard work. Our ward has had over 100 converts in the last year.  I'm really trying to step up my game here and really rise up to the challenge. 

Thanks for all that you do mom. I hope I'll have some more crazy experiences to share with you guys in the coming months. I still have to send an email to R. Tell W that i hope he's loving the work! Tell J that I know he truly is growing up right now, and taking more responsibility and being a man. Sorry if my English is really bad. Love you guys with all my heart and wish the best for every single one of you.

 

Con Amor Eterno,

Elder Butler

Shaking up the work

Hey Hey Hey,

I imagine you're all wondering what's going on with the earthquake. I was studying my scriptures, when all of the sudden the room started to shake! it only lasted for about 10 seconds, but it was nuts! It's sad that the people died, but if they haven't heard the gospel yet, que suerte tienen ellos.

Well my hair's steadily coming back. My scalp got burnt really bad the first 2 days but now it's fine lol.

As for transfers, I'm staying and Elder Sanchez is leaving. I have an interview tomorrow, which means i'm going to be Sr. Companion! I never thought i would be progressing that quick, but i know i've got work to do. I've only been able to help 4 people make covenants with God during my first months here, but i think it's time to change that. This area has been blessed tremendously, and i'm ready to get to work.

At the end of the changes, we always have time to reflect on how the past 6 weeks have gone. As i've been reflecting on it, I realized that i lost sight of my goals. To be honest, i really didn't focus on any of my goals. This next change, I have to set goals for myself and for our companionship, or we simply just won't progress.

All we have to do as saints, is continue to be active in our communities, and remember the sacred covenants that we made. You sure are right about the blessing it is to have prophets and apostles on the earth again. These happenings just aren't mere coincidences, and we know why. It's important for us to be prepared and serve others. 

We had a stake mission work meeting Sunday. It was really great. President B  was there, and we really learned about the importance of having the members in the work. Did you know that they just made it a rule in Mexico that the elders can't contact or knock doors?  President told us that we have to have more lessons in the houses of members, and he gave us a challenge to have 1 every day. Challenge accepted. But you could really feel the Spirit during the meeting. I received some important promptings about how we can have the work progress in our area. I just hope we can do better this change.

Glad to here everyone is doing well. I'm so glad you guys get to hear from Russell M. Nelson. I really hope you guys get a lot of spiritual strength from the conference. Make sure you discuss as a family what you learned. I've been reading in Mosiah lately the King Benjamin chapters are powerful. There's so many plain and precious truths in those chapters. You just can't deny the Book or Mormon. 

Thanks for helping me with the drivers license documents. I scheduled a visit with the optometrist here, and he speaks English. It's gonna be 400q, or around 50 bucks. I already took the money out to be ready, but i'm running low right now. Just a heads up. Sorry, I hate talking about money on the mission.

Love you guys with all my heart. i hope you guys enjoy stake conference. Keep doing the simple things as a family, and i can promise you that many blessing will come. Love you guys, and i pray for you everyday. Hasta luego!

Con Amor Eterno, 

Elder Butler

Life is good...

Querido Mama,

ay yi yi!!!! estaba casi a preguntarles como estan las elecciones.  podan moverse aqui en Las Victorias! The area we live in is really nice. Gated community, swimming pools, basketball courts, tiendas (shops) that deliver to your house! you would love it here. Yes, none of the houses have ventilation because they're made out of concrete, but they're pretty nice, and we have other gringo families that live in the ward! (there's a big project in santa lucia and there's various mormon families that came here to work). But i understand the dilemma. I loved following the elections. The scriptures have the blueprint on how to have a succesful people. They fight for freedom, families, and protection. If someone is going to be running our country in a way that's against these teachings, say amen to him and his authority! 

thanks for sending that information! I talked with the nurse yesterday and there's an optometrist i can visit for 150q that speaks engish. WIN

Well we had stake conference this week. We got to here from 2 70's, Elder Cesar Gonzalez y Elder Carlos Amado. I love listening to General Authorities speak. The new stake was organized in Frutal, so now we have 10 zones. We're working hard to baptize families this month. We've got plenty of people to work with, and the Lord will bless us if we're obedient and diligent.

Well changes are next week. who knows what's going to happen with Elder S. and I. This change has gone by really quick. It seems like yesterday i was in Peronia packing my bags. That's just mission time. everything flies! 

So what's this I've been hearing about New York being flooded? 

thanks for sending all those things for me. I know i'm high maintenance, but you've just gotta love me!

I've been reading Jesus the Christ a lot. I can now see why you like to study Jewish society and history so much. I just read about the classes of the Jews, the Pharisees and Sadducee  It's interesting to see how them putting more emphasis in the law than it's meaning is really interesting. I would love to study more about it when i get home! Funny story. Some of the footnotes that James E. Talmadge uses are from the Apocrypha. I tried looking for the book of the Maccabees in the Bible, but couldn't find it anywhere. It was driving me nuts trying to find that book, until i realized that the apocrypha isn't in the bible. I felt like a real dweeb lol. That's another book i would like to read when i get home from the mission. 

So i decided to save some money and develop a new talent. I bought a set of clippers yesterday and cut my own hair. Although my intentions were good, the results were disastrous  I didn't blend the top of my hair very well (actually, i just didn't blend it at all), and i shaved it on a 2. I screwed up the back of my hairline, which is now crooked. My comp couldn't help because he's really sick, so i was left to my lonesome. It's not horrible or distracting, but it's definitely not barbershop quality. 

Please pray for my comp. He's not doing so well right now, health wise. It's hard for him to work and teach. Your prayers were definitely answered last week. we had a better week, and we're really trying to push the work along here. 

Glad to hear everything's going well at home. November is always the difficult month for lawn/house work. How's Ellie doing? i just realized she'll be 9 or 10 when i get home. I just hope she can stick it out until then.

W. forwarded me an email that i didn't understand. Nonetheless, i'm still proud of him and the progress he's made.

J. is always going to be an awesome guy. I can't believe he's as tall as R, now! Stop feeding that kid!

I'm sending an email to R. after this.

How's the B. clan doing?

Well I always hate ending these emails because there's always a looming sense that i forgot something or that i didn't include enough. Forgive me for being boring with my emails. I promise we'll have may stories to share when i get home. I'll save that one for next week. Well i love you guys a ton, and your examples have played such an important role in my life. I hope that someday i can payback everything you guys have done for me. Love you guys with all my heart. Hasta la proxima semana!

Con Amor Eterno, 

Elder Butler

P.S. How are the Buckeyes and the Eagles doing

Weather's fine

Well, we had a baptism last week!  I remembered how in the scriptures how it says how great your joy will be if you can just bring one soul unto repentance and baptism and it's true.  

I can't believe it's already snowing in Ohio! that's just crazy. Ohio's always going to be really random with the weather. The weather here is perfect. Not too hot, and it only rains once or twice a week. There's two sets of Elders here in Palin. The other pair run the other side of town that heads in to Escuintla, and we take everything else. My zone leader from Escuintla is the district leader here. Elder V. is awesome! I had divisions with him a couple times and I learned a lot. He's probably going to train a new Elder the next change to end his mission here. His companion, Elder H., is awesome! He's got 1 change less than me, and he's speaks good Spanish. He's had a ton of baptisms and he's only been in the mission for a little bit. I've learned a lot from him about the simplicity of the gospel, and the importance of diligence. We've got a strong ward here. The bishop is a good guy, and our ward mission leader helps us at the drop of a hat.

I don't know if i told you or not, but they're opening a new stake this week. Estaca Frutal. It's going to be crazy, and I'm pretty sure we're going to be opening a lot of new areas. I'm almost positive we'll be receiving a lot of new missionaries too. This mission just keeps getting better and better. It's great to see and hear how good of a job Pres. B. has done, and continues to do here in the mission. 

How's W. liking his new life in Utah? Does he like actually doing PT work?! How's Reilly doing? Is her health getting better? How's work and school going? 

What's John been up to? Does he like the 6th grade? Is he playing basketball yet? 

Hey, I hate to bring this up but there are some things I forgot to ask for......my wind up alarm clock broke, and I've been using my watch, which isn't exactly the loudest thing in the world. I haven't seen any in the stores here, so if you could send a cheap one it would be great. I would also love to have a family calender for the next year! I would love to have all of you guys in the calender!

Thanks for sending all of the paperwork to renew my license. I got the forwarded email from the office with the copy of my social security card. Once it gets here I'll get right on it! thank you so much for doing that. Tell the rest of the family i'm sorry for not sending emails. It's just a little difficult to keep all my thoughts together. I told Will last week (in spanish...hehehehe) that really, there's SO MUCH that i want to tell you guys about Guatemala, but the problem is i just don't have time and I don't know where to start. I'll try sending some letters home, and we'll have plenty of time to catch up in 17 months! i can't believe that this month we'll be starting November. My English is getting worse and my Spanish is getting better, still loving every minute of what I do here, and learning more and more every day about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Love you guys with all my heart, and i know without a doubt that we're going to be together forever. Dios les bendiga!

Con Amor Eterno,

Elder Butler 

Six months out, where did the time go.....

Hola Madre!

Si, ya he recibido la carta de Obispo Williams. Eran cargas de todo de su familia! Los ninos le gusta a jugar con John mucho. Me alegra escuchar que John es bien divertido con todos las personas. Lo siento por no respondiendo! Tengo un gran debilidad con mis correros, pero como lo dice in Eter 4 27, Dios nos da debilidades para humillarnos, y si realmente lo hacemos. podemos convertirlos debilidades a fuerzas!

Hey, the ability to play music is different in every area. There was a CD player in one of my areas. You can send CD's,  or put them on a USB memory stick. There are different types of players here where you just plug in the USB and play from there. 

Well, I, am in shock that I've been out for this long. I'm already half way through the change here and it seems like yesterday I was leaving Peronia. We have some big goals for the mission and  we've got our work cut out for us, but i welcome it with arms wide open.  I love the challenge.

I didn't have an opportunity to upload photos this week, but be prepared to see some "monkey business" ç

B. will be a great missionary. I just want every youth in that ward to think about all the sacrifices Bishop W. makes for them, and afterwards think about the Savior. If they would truly do that they would see how much of a blessing it is to serve. It's crazy to reflect on how much I've grown, not just in Spanish, but spiritually. When i started my mission, I really didn't know the scriptures very well. Now I've memorized more than a few in English and Spanish. I truly know how to follow spiritual impressions to help our investigators. I've learned to teach people, not just lessons. I could write until the end of time about all the things I've been learning. We had zone conference last week, and i'm still blown away by how spiritually strong President B. is. I guarantee we're going to see him in General Conference in the future. 

Well send my love to everyone in the family. I'm going to try to have some letters to send home for Christmas  We haven't had any time during our P days because we've had various activities and what not.  Love to hear about how things are and what you learn spiritually. Sorry i'm lame sometimes and don't really know what to write, but know that reading your emails really make me glad and want to serve more wholeheartedly. Love you guys with all my heart, and I'm always praying for you.

Con Amor Eterno,

Elder Butler