August 19

Dear Family, We got to do some pretty awesome activities this week. Jamella who does BMX got in a bad bike crash on thursday. He actually ended up in crutches but they decided because so many people are crashing their bikes they need to pave the BMX course. We offered to help so the majority of the morning on saturday they trucked in about 20 tons of hot blacktop and since you cant use a steam roller on the BMX tract, we had these poles with a roller on the end of them which we would roll back and forth on top of the pavement to set it. We would have to spray the roller with diesel fuel every now and then so it didn't stick to the rocks and tar. It was probably the most fun service project I have done since being in Karratha. We also got to meet a few new people there and Toni and her family were there. On one day this week we were getting back to our apartment for lunch and saw our neighbors relative outside putting together a trampoline. Colleen lives out on the other side of our area and we had never met her before but we started helping her put it together anyway. She told us that she knew Noretta, one of our Torres Strait recent converts. Colleen said she goes to the JW church sometimes because they tracted into her but she actually was baptised as a mormon ages ago. We told her about the church while we were helping and she became interested in the book of mormon again. We ran in and got one for her so hopefully she is reading it now and will come to church sometime. Those were the fun stories for this week. I hope you are all having a wonderful time! Love Elder Joshua Butts

PICTURE: Norettas kids. We baptised Keddie-Bunna a month ago.

August 12

Dear friends and family, It has been a pretty eventful week! I got in a pretty bad bike crash on Wednesday. My hands got pretty messed up but nothing else too serious happened. I am healing up pretty good by now. We have been teaching heaps of people. On Thursday, we went over to Dilia(Less active member) and Clint's house. They are both aboriginals and he took us out Kangaroo hunting. He had never been very receptive but they both allowed us to teach Dilia's children. We planned to teach them the plan of salvation by having elder case teach while I drew it out on a piece of paper like a pathway through life. They loved being able to picture it and Clint was very attentive. During part of it he said that what we taught is how it should be and he agrees with it. We told them to read Alma 40 about the spirit would and that we would ask them questions about it next time to make sure they read. The whole family seemed to like the idea and we really felt the spirit. We are going to see them again this week, so hopefully they kept their commitments. We also have great news about Toni and her kids. We finally got Toni's records in the branch yesterday so she officially was sustained as a member of the branch. Preston and Jamella were pretty excited about going to church yesterday. They even got new suits just to wear at church and it is pretty cool watching them participate so much. The primary teachers have even told us that they participate more than some of the other kids who are members. I am so glad they fit in so well. We were able to teach their family about temples this past week and we retaught "Gospel of Jesus Christ" to them on Saturday after helping them move a giant trailer from their backyard to the street. It was quite a task, especially because it was too big to fit through the car port so they had to drain most of the air out of the tires. I bet it was at less than 15psi because the rims were almost touching the ground. Their friend DJ also came to church the first time yesterday. He is so cool. He always was alright for a quick chat when we went around to see Toni and her kids but yesterday he actually came to church. I think it's because he finally has a week off work due to having had a BMX bike handlebar put through his stomach. While in priesthood meeting he really expressed interest in learning more and excited accepted a book of Mormon when we gave him one. I hope we can start teaching him soon. We haven't seen Rawand lately. He is still following Ramadan so it is pretty much useless until it's over because he can't read any other books aside from the Qua'ran. We will be teaching him next Sunday though because I think he finishes Ramadan this week sometime. Kelvin has been doing well in Perth I think. We haven't been able to get a hold of him this past week and he still hasn't gone to church since he's been down there but the First Counselor in our branch took him to see the temple grounds while he was down in perth for work this past weekend. It was such a relief to hear that yesterday. I am excited for all the blessing that the lord is giving us here in Karratha. It is a place full of great people who have great potential. I love you all so much! Elder Joshua Butts

August 5

Dear Friends and Family, The week has been pretty good even though we have gotten fewer lessons that usual. Kelvin(who is currently down in Perth) decided that he wasn't super excited about visiting with the missionaries there. He said he just likes us better. I am glad that he likes us so much but at the same time, I am disappointed because we are trying to get him to know and trust in the savior, not us. We have been working with the missionaries by phone to try to help him out but we feel that it might just end up waiting till he comes back up here to Karratha and we will likely have to push his baptismal date back. We aren't too worried about it though. I know kelvin still has a super strong testimony and it will not likely be pushed back very much. Preston and Jamella and also progressing still. We weren't able to talk to them the past week because Jamella was in Perth getting an operation. We gave him a blessing before he left and we called them over the weekend and he was fine. They didn't come to church though because Toni, their mom, was sick. We will be seeing them this week to continue teaching them. There is also Great news about Pracilla, our investigator who is half aboriginal and half Torres Strait. Since her baptismal date had to be dropped because of various reasons, we got a call from President Lindsay and he said he can interview her on skype after we have taught her everything. We have been having a lesson a week with her and everything is going awesome. I am so excited for these people. We are still on schedule to have these 4 baptisms before the end of the year(and likely even within the next month or two) I am so thankful for all of you and your prayers for me and the people in this area. Please keep doing whats right and you will never go wrong. Love you all! Elder Joshua Butts