sorry about the blog josh's new address is
Australia Perth Mission
p.o. box 185
Tuart Hill, WA 6939
Australia

Dear Blog:
Everything is great since I have gotten to Australia. The plane flight was kinda crazy. I took the first 2 connecting flights to Los Angeles and when I arrived, I found out that my flight got cancelled. I went over to the desk to figure things out and they told me I could either take a flight to Oakland, CA and connect the flight to Melbourne and then to Perth, or wait till the next night and there would be a direct flight to Sydney. I decided to take their offer to stay in a hotel and wait till the next night. I went to the desk in the second terminal to get my arrangements and be taken to the hotel and after making the arrangements, the agent told me that there was a flight leaving right then if I wanted to get on it. I didn't really want to wait an extra day, so I had him book me on that flight and I ran to the terminal to get there just in time. After the flights I arrived in Perth not knowing what to expect. I got off the plane and felt like the missionary in Other Side of Heaven when I found that nobody knew I was coming. I was sitting there in the airport alone and with no money(it was only american so they wouldn't take it) and all I had was a desire to figure out what to do. After about an hour or two of wandering back and forth in the airport hoping that maybe someone would show up, I decided to sit at a coffee table and say a little prayer. Not a minute after I prayed, I had the idea pop into my head that I had a paper that the mission president had previously sent me and I pulled it out to find the phone number to the mission office on it. I was so relieved and immediately called the number and the mission presidents picked me up telling me they were expecting me the next night. It was such a builder of my belief in the power of prayer and the tender mercies of the lord. The next week at transfers, I felt famous because everyone who talked to me knew me as "the missionary who made his own flight plans"

Since then I have been serving in Kwinana which is about an hour south of Perth. It is so beautiful here. Contrary to popular belief, there are very few kangaroos here. In fact, I hadn't seen any. But missionaries have told me that there are a few in the more outlying outskirt areas so I will probably see them eventually. I am still working hard and it is great seeing the lords hand in the progress of people we meet. It is sad when so many people reject the message though because it would make their lives so much better.

Elder Butts

p.s. I had octopus for the first time today

This week has been very fun. The best part was on Friday night. It was about 10:29 when we got a call from the mission president telling me that I recieved my Visa! I was told I would be leaving on Monday, August 18th to Australia. I will be on a plane for a duration of 27 hours traveling across the entire world. My experiences here in Tuskegee were great and I am very anxious to find out what it will be like in Australia. It will also be pretty nice to get away from the humidity. The kingdom is growing quickly in Alabama and I hope to also help it grow quickly in Perth.

josh leaves for australia on monday the 15 of august and is very excited!

sorry about the blog josh's new address is
Australia Perth Mission
p.o. box 185
Tuart Hill, WA 6939
Australia

district: this is the district I am serving in currently(Montgomery)

this is Cameron Mills brother-in-law aka my companion

I am filling up.

This week has went by so fast. We have been working with less actives a lot and been trying to get them to understand the importance of coming to church. It is so fulfilling when you commit someone to do something and they actually keep the commitment. Earlier this week we did splits with the young men in the branch so I went with my companion, and my other companion split with the priest. Elder Cullimore and I biked a few miles out of town where there are few houses. We started tracting out a few and ran into a preacher. We chatted for a minute and got the same "the church is in our hearts" story. We decided that he wasn't going to listen but offered him a card. He told us that he didn't believe in the Internet or computers so the card was probably useless but we decided to ask if we could have a closing prayer just to leave on good terms. He stood up and grabbed our hands which took me off guard. I went with it understanding that in some religions, this is common. My companion said the prayer and the preacher would say "yes" after every phrase added into the prayer. Though something like this was not unheard of to me, it was the first time I did it on my mission and I just laughed. It sounded like my companion was praying to the preacher almost because the preacher would almost accept everything my companion said. I wondered if the preacher would say "NO" if my companion said something the preacher didn't want prayed for. I just laughed especially after the same thing happened with the next house(but that was the last time it happened for that day).

We had something happen that was pretty cool earlier this week. We were finishing up companion study in the morning and someone called who lived in the area. We didn't recognize the number but he gave this huge story about how he was on his death bed and prayed to be healed and know what to do. Apparently he had gotten the answer that he needed to join the church. He called us and wanted to be baptised. In the past the missionaries in the area had taught him but he dropped the discussions and never contacted them again until just recently. I hope that we can get him baptised before I leave to Australia.

These are my two companions currently. The one on the left is Elder Cullimore(he is realted to aunt Karen through Cameron Mills or something like that(he is adopted)) the one on the right is Elder Miller.

We were out tracting and this sickly kitten followed us for about 1/2 a mile.

Dear Blog,

This last week has been so awesome! I love serving in Tuskegee. We have quite a few investigators one of which seems like a forever investigator. His name is Ken. He seems pretty well educated and looks a black mixed with Jamaican. He had been being taught and fellowshipped for the last year by missionaries and has only recently decided he was willing to be baptised but the main elder who was teaching him got transferred to a different area after having served here for 10 months of his mission. Ken told us he would be baptised but won't unless it is by that missionary, so the missionary is going to be transferred back here for the last part of his mission to baptise Ken. The first time we talked was very entertaining for both of us. He asked some of the things I liked to do and photography, art, music, and especially hunting wasn't gonna cut it. He made it very well known to me that I needed to "get some culture". He could not believe that I never play video games or anime stuff. I guess I wasn't exactly up to par when it comes to governmental issues either, but I guess that it is a good thing that while I am out here the only thing I have to know is the gospel, and I think I am doing pretty good in that area.

Tuskegee has been tracted over time and time again. So we are just gonna keep doing it a couple more times. The people here are great and we are trying as hard as we can to get them to understand the concept of "there is only one true church". A lot of people think the true church is in your heart. It is so evident and easy to tell the people who just want to bash rather than learn. I love all these people and thoroughly enjoy it here.