July 29

Dear Friends and Family, It has been an alright week. We had lost contact with Kelvin after he left for Perth last week, but we finally were able to call him on saturday which was a major blessing. He didn't make it to church though which worries us a bit. I hope we will be able to get him to start meeting with the missionaries down there because we don't want to have to push him baptismal date back. The rest of the people we are working with are doing quite well. We were able to get Toni's kids to church on sunday. Toni is the less active member and she has the sons Jordan(18), and Preston and Jamella who are both about 10. The two younger boys and Toni came to church last week and yesterday we were actually able to get Jordan to come which we were quite excited about. Teancum(one of the prospective missionaries in the branch) even knew Jordan from school so they made a bit of a connection there. Preston and Jamella want to be baptised so we are working with them and hopefully we will be able to get the date for them within the next week or two. At least they are enjoying church. Preston even came to the baptism we had on friday for Keddibanna(The son of a recent convert) and Preston really seemed to like it. Toni said he couldn't stop talking about it the rest of the night. I am so thankful that the lord is blessing us with people here to be teaching and I hope you are all still seeing the lords hand in you daily lives. I love you all. Elder Joshua Butts

July 22

Dear Friends and Family, It has been amazing seeing the progression in the work here in Karratha. We have recently gotten ANOTHER baptismal date with Ella, Torres Strait woman who has been taught for a while. Also there is a less active Aussie woman named Tony who we saw recently and she said her 10 and 11 year old boys will be super excited to get to start coming to church. When we saw them at church yesterday the two boys expressed interest in being baptised. We are hopefully going to be able to set two more baptismal dates this week with them which would give us 4 total(not to mention we are baptising a recent converts son this Friday because he just turned 8). Here are potentially the baptismal dates that we could have next week. Bunna(He will be baptised this Friday July 27) Ella(August 10th) Kelvin(August 25th) Preston and Jamelan (the two young Aussie boys), Hopefully sometime in august. maybe the 25th. This is very exciting for Elder Case and myself, especially since Karratha is not an area well known for having much missionary work happening. It has completely changed since we have both been put together. We are not sure how everything has been going with Kelvin. He has gone down to Perth(but is in Busselton for the weekends where he said he would be attending church). We called the missionaries and they told us that he was not at church on sunday which was a bit of a disappointment because he told us so surely that he would be there. We are hoping that it was just a case of unusual circumstances. We are praying for him that he will meet with the missionaries down there and prepare himself for his baptismal date. We also had a pretty interesting experience with Rowand(Row- Wand). He is Muslim but very open. He showed us this HUGE manuscript he wrote comparing the Qua'ran and the Bible. He wants to find out the differences and similarities between the two and pick the one that is the best. He said he is seeking the truth and we believe he is, but I think this is gonna be a while. We gave him the book "Jesus the Christ" because many of his questions would be answered if he read that. Well that is a little bit about what is going on here in Australia. Hope you are all having a wonderful week!! Love Elder Joshua Butts

July 15

Dear Friends and Family, What an amazing week it has been. There were probably two big highlights to the week. The first one was about Kelvin, our recent investigator. We only met him on Friday, the week before last. He is the friend to Toesso(a kiwi member) and they met at work. He has Black hair and has some piercings but he doesn't drink much or smoke. He came to church that first Sunday with encouragement from Toesso though, and we had a great lesson on the sacrament. This past Wednesday we had a lesson with him at Toesso's home and it went so well(although that is a bit of an understatement). He said he was looking for answers and has been praying that if there is anything that he needs to sacrifice that he isn't already he wants to know so he can make those extra sacrifices. We taught him a bit of the restoration and asked him if he would be baptised. He gladly accepted and we set a date for the 25th of August. That is the fastest I have ever set a baptismal date with someone before and you can bet that we had a pretty crazy night. On friday he came to volleyball again with Toesso and he even brought some food for the BBQ. Another member brought a non-member which Kelvin saw and immediately started fellow shipping. It was like they became instant best friends. We were just so excited, so we invited Kelvin to the Branch Presidents home saturday evening for dinner and to meet the mission president. This time, he came by himself which really showed initiative. Sunday, we taught about the Sabbath and how to keep it holy. He shared the experience about how he made breakfast and his roommates told him that he had to clean up the house and he wasn't going anywhere. He told them he had to go to church though which they really weren't planning on accepting as an answer. He then realized that this was Satan trying to get into the way and he was going to keep his commitment to Heavenly Father. He said again that he would clean later and that church was the most important thing to be doing on Sunday. He did this by himself and didn't have anyone to encourage him when the time came. It was such an incredible expression of his commitment and we are SOO excited to get to baptise him next month. The other highlight to the day was meeting the mission president. He told us a little bit about what it was like working for the news and how he was so glad that we are working hard in karratha. We also talked a lot with Robby, His son. He plays the saxophone just like me so it was pretty sweet to be able to relate to him in that way. So it has been a week full of blessing from the lord and I am so grateful to be apart of it. Hopefully you are all seeing miracles like this often too. Have a wonderful week! I love you all! Elder Joshua Butts

July 9

Dear Friends and Family, It has been a good week. We have been working hard. We got a new investigator at the sports night we have on friday evenings that a member brought along. His name is Kelvin. He works at the mines with the member. He also came to church on sunday and we taught the gospel principals class on the Sacrament. He seemed to understand quite a bit and we are excited to go and teach him again this wednesday. We also volunteer at a Vinnies thrift shop on friday mornings. Yesderday we were tracting and felt prompted to tract a particular street because we felt that there would be a certain woman on the street who would listen to us. When we got near the end of the street, we knocked on a house that the manager of vinnies lived in. It was a miracle and I believe that the spirit led us there. They invited us in and we had a good long chat with them. We are going to be having our new mission president visit us in karratha this next weekend to do interviews and meet the people in the branch. I think it will be fun and I hope you are all having heaps of fun.Love you all Elder Joshua Butts

July 1

Dear Friends and Family, There was not too much that happened this week because I had a sinus infection, but I am all better now. I spent pretty much every day in bed so that was a little inconvenient. At least my companion and I got to do a lot of bonding and reading of ensigns, new era's and the scriptures. On Saturday we helped the branch do a car wash. It was a lot of fun and we got lots of people who wanted their cars washed. The coolest part was that one guy who pulled up was a less active member. He was with his partner and she is from Macedonia. They ended up staying at the branch presidents house in the front yard that night and they both came to church. I am sure they felt the spirit, especially in our lesson that we taught in "Gospel Principals" on Gifts of the Spirit. We also have some other referrals that we are going to be given by some members soon so we are SOO excited to start teaching some people. Keep doing you best and finding opportunities to serve others. I love you all! Elder Butts