October 21

Dear Family, It has been such a great week! Prestons baptism was friday and it was such an amazing experience. There were even a few non-members who showed up and we were able to give one of them a book of mormon. I was given the privilege of confirming Preston on sunday. It was a very spiritual experience. I believe that he will be such a great member of the church. We have had lots of success this week with investigators and lessons. Alberto has a neighbor that works in the school system with him. She is in her mid 20's and her name is Caitlin. We were finally able to teach her at his house on Wednesday. We taught her the plan of salvation and she was really intrigued by it. She said she'd read the book of mormon, so we are going to follow up with her the next time we are able to meet with her. We have gotten 3 more baptismal dates with other investigators this week too which has been so rewarding. We are teaching Te-Whenua and Jay-Jay. They are both children of Regan. He is an active member and is getting married to another member in November. He told us that he wanted us to start teaching his kids a while back and we finally got to teach them on wednesday. Since they already come to church, they are pretty clued on and know a lot. The lesson was a breeze and we asked about them being baptised. We were able to set it up for November 1st. I am very excited. We are going to have to compact the lessons a bit, but I'm sure they will be able to handle them. Kelvin is also doing really well. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he loved it. He has a brother who died a few months ago because of bad decisions but Kelvin was very comforted to know he will see his brother again. He even called us yesterday and told us that he was telling his mom about the plan of salvation and she had a lot of questions. He had no idea how to answer them and asked for help. We are going to try to find a way to get missionaries in Busselton(where she lives) to be able to visit her. I am very excited about the progress. Kelvin is scheduled to be baptised on November 10th. All our hard work is starting to pay off. I will have been blessed to participate in 5 baptisms since being in Karratha. I know the Lord has really been in the work here. We also have a lot of other potential investigators who are coming to church and schedules appointments with us. A month ago we were tracting and met a family who had been to church before. The mothers name is Joanne. they are aboriginal. They are all non-members but used to go to church quite regularly about 2 years ago, but just stopped. We invited them to church a few weeks ago but they never showed up and when we went over to their house, they didn't seem too excited to see us. Surprisingly, when we were in sacrament meeting yesterday, they just showed up. It was quite a shocker for me. When I was talking to her after church, she said her little boy had to go to the hospital during the week and it must have caused her to start thinking. She said she did want to start meeting with us again. I am so excited for our appointment this week. It will be good if we can teach them and eventually help them to get baptised. It is hard with aboriginals because of their culture but hopefully that won't stop this family and hopefully they will be active. That's a little bit about whats in Karratha right now. have a wonderful week everyone! Elder Joshua Butts