Faith in Jesus Christ

President and Sister Lopez (Brooks' mission president and wife) paid a special visit to the mountains for Elder Peralta's last Sunday! What a tender time it must have been! (And the reason we have these great pictures!~K)

Teaching the youth during Sunday school. So beautiful!

President and Sister Lopez are on the left.

Hello Family!

This last week has been another very packed and exhausting week, but I think that I can quite easily say that it has been one of the most successful weeks of my entire mission when it comes to finding and teaching people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It was the last week before transfer day, and also the last week before Elder Peralta goes home, so we decided to have him go out with a bang and set our goals higher then we would have thought possible. We then knelt in prayer and acknowledged to Heavenly Father and to the Lord that we could only accomplish the things that we had planned through Him and His power, and we asked in faith, believing and know that we would receive, that we would be supported in our righteous desires.

We then went to work.

The days that followed were somewhat of a whirlwind...We saw little miracles everyday and I feel like to document it all would take far too long and perhaps defeat the point that I am trying to get across from all of this, but after putting all of our trust in Jesus Christ and working as hard as we could, and after teaching or trying to teach what feels like the entire population of our area, we finished out this week having taught 150 lessons to investigators and having found 168 new investigators, coupled with the baptism of Sister T, the first in her family to be baptized.

I think it is sufficient to say that Elder Peralta and I know and have talked with and taught/sang for so many people this week that I feel like I've lived in Colonia for  half my life.

Now I have the monumental task of following up and beginning the harvesting process for many of the prepared people that we found.

I just want to share this as a testament that I KNOW that my power as a missionary does not come from my talents and abilities, but it comes from my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I would compare this week to the experience of the brother of Jared, where after he saw the finger of the Lord his faith became unshakable, and after I have seen this week I know that all things are possible to those that believe.

Granted I am very far from claiming perfect knowledge.

We were also rejected quite a bit more than we were the last time we found a large amount of new investigators, but I feel like every time someone said no it only made me more excited and happy for the next person that said yes.

We even started to see the fruits of our work in the area as we feel like the whole attitude of our area has changed and there are now many people that call out to us and say hi, and all of the false rumors about the church no longer stand since so many people have talked with us and had a spiritual experience with us.

In response to Mom and Dad, the "jungle" where Elder Peralta and I taught about the Atonement is actually where we teach the youth class during Sunday school hour.  And the reason why Elder Peralta and I have our heads above the beams is because we are just on our toes, those beams are actually only about 5 and a half feet high and I bump my head on them all  the time. I'll meet my new companion probably tomorrow or on Wednesday, so next week I let you know.

Saying goodbye to Elder Peralta was as Mom said, bitter sweet. I have some big shoes to fill and I will miss his dedication. He will have a hard time taking of the tag, but it will have to come, and I don't feel too far behind him. The day I go to Bacolod for the last time will be an extremely bitter sweet day for me.

I love you all!

No pictures since my camera is acting up and I don't have another to borrow for the moment.

Halong!

Elder Butler

Stay in the Light

Hello Family!

This week has been a bit of a refiners fire for me to say the least, but it has also been teaching me a lot about the power of prayer and the need for Christ-like attributes if we are to make it back to our Heavenly Father and to be truly happy in this life.

I'll start by giving an update about the family of the former branch president that went less active and then had the experience of coming in contact with not so friendly influences from the other side of the veil. In good news, they've started coming back to church these last two weeks and the wife was able to resolve some of her concerns about why they had stopped in the first place. In not so good news, things hadn't gotten much better at their home. They said that they had been experiencing strange things in their home and their 18 year old son has been acting out in a very extreme way, doing things as if he were under a bad influence (throwing scriptures into a pond, talking about Satan a lot, and doing and saying very very hurtful things to his parents). I don't want to dwell on all the bad things, but I just wanted to share what I felt while visiting this family and doing our best to help them.

The main thing that I thought of was how it is so much better to have never left the light in the first place than it is to have to pay the price to come back. I know that through Christ all things are possible and forgiveness is always available, but that doesn't change all of the harm that you could have prevented by simply just continuing forward instead of letting pride pull you off the path and have to pay the price to get back on to the path and keep moving forward.

Things will now start to improve, and when you gain faith again you always have a new hope, even when the path to return may have some recompense to be had. But in the end the promise of complete forgiveness still stands for all those who submit themselves fully to the Fathers will.

That's all I have for today,

I love you all!

~Elder Butler

This is It

I don't really know how to start this email. I'm still waiting for the reality of me going home to set in, but it still hasn't yet. To me it just feels like another transfer, another area, another assignment. I keep trying to tell myself that I'm done but my heart still keeps telling me I'm not.

I suppose that for me I don't think I'll ever be "done" doing the things that I have done as a missionary, touching lives, feeling God's love for myself and for others, following divine guidance, and stretching and growing myself as I keep exercising faith in Jesus Christ.

I may not be able to be an official representative of Jesus Christ, but I will always be His disciple.

Saying goodbye to Colonia was hard, and to add to it president decided to pull a fast one on us and transferred Elder Celebrado this last Thursday giving me three and a half days to orient the new Elder, Elder Eyo, to the area as he prepares to train a new missionary this transfer.

President has said that he likes to send his missionaries home exhausted, and he sure lives up to his word.

I took a lot of pictures with the people and then I turned the area over to Elder Eyo. He is a good missionary and I know that the people will be in good hands.

How do I write my last email? I want to tell you all about the people that have been baptized and all of the miracles that I am seeing, but I know I'll be able to tell you it all when I get home.

I think that all that I can say is that this has been the experience of a lifetime. There is NOTHING that I could have done with my life that would have helped me more to achieve my potential like serving a full time mission has. I don't regret a single moment that I have spent in this field, and I will be forever changed because of the faith I have been able to gain through and in Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father, my Savior, and my Friend.

I love these people so much, and I will always have a piece of my heart that will belong to Negros. I have been able to teach these people the gospel, but they have taught me how to be happy, and I will forever be indebted to this island for that.

The Elder Butler that entered the MTC October 31st 2012 a boy went to the Philippines and got lost somewhere among the sugar cane fields of Negros and the Elder Butler that came out is different now. He's used to cold bucket showers, no running water, and rice three meals a day. But he loves the Lord, he loves to work, and he knows where he's going.

I want you all to know how much I love you, and I am so excited to see you again and be with our wonderful family.

I have been blessed beyond measure in my life, and I know that my service does not stop here. I may not know the future, but I know the Lord has a plan for me and that's the plan I'm going to follow.

This is Elder Butler signing off for the last time.

Hasta makita'ay ta liwat, halong kamo pirme!

Palangga ta kamo,

~Elder Butler

The Future is as Bright as Your Faith!

Well done thou good and faithful servants...

Sunset

Reflections

God does wonderful things in the skies of Colonia.

Before we teach a lesson...

...and after the lesson

Oct. 27, 2014

Hello Family!

This email may not be super long this time again since I ended up talking to/teaching the cafe owner and his wife again. You're never off duty as a missionary. :)

All I can say is wow. It’s almost hard to comprehend how close I am to being home right now. I don't really know how to handle it to be honest. I feel like it's just proselyting as usual, just another P day, another week of missionary work, but really this is my last week I have as a missionary to proselyte full time. And I plan on making the most of it.

This week was a great week with having I think the best attendance at church of both investigators and general church attendance that I've had yet in Colonia. We had 120 people attend sacrament meeting in Colonia Divina, and that without having the Alimatok and Siwahon groups attending (including them our total attendance for Colonia Divina branch was 184), out of which 35 of those attending Colonia were investigators (all non member ages 8 and above, not counting all of the kids of the investigator families younger than 8 that attended).

To say that church was crowded would be an understatement. I spent most of sacrament meeting out on the porch trying to keep all of the little kids under control and not too loud while the meeting was going on inside.

Most of the reason for the great turn out was that investigators from the three further areas that we've recently starting visiting more, since we haven't been going to Siwahon, all decided to come to church for the first time yesterday! And they are almost all on the path of being baptized within the next month or so. Needless to say Elder Celebrado and his new companion are going to have plenty of work to keep them busy for a while.

I am just so excited for the future of this branch! I know that it will still see it's challenges, but I know that the Lord has a special plan for these mountains and there are many more people prepared to receive His gospel here. The future is as bright as your faith! And I see a bright future for the wonderful people here in Colonia Divina because of their faith that they show.

Also there was the baptism of Sister A. this week! And to me it's a big step for the progress of this branch since her family is one of the more affluent families here in Colonia and part of the founders here. All lot of our investigators have received a lot more courage to come to church after they heard that she was being baptized since her family has a high reputation here.

Of course Sister A. has been receiving a lot of opposition from other people in the town for joining the church, but she knows what is right and she thinks for herself and she has been a shining example of standing for what is true no matter what the popular beliefs may be. Her baptism I think will be a big step in opening the door for many more people to gain the courage to join the church, including her husband, mother, sister, and those that she employs. And Christian is already making his plans about serving a mission, as well as his cousin B.J. who is being baptized this week.

There are just so many good things to say about what is happening in my area that I can't even begin to list them all.

This is all the time I have for today, and my next email is going to be my last before I go home.

I love this work, and my heart is resisting the idea of not being a full time missionary anymore. But change is the name of the game in this life, and this week I plan on giving every last drop I have to give to the Lord and this work.

I love you all so much and look forward to our happy reunion! 

We'll see how the next email turns out.

Halong kamo!

~Elder Butler

There is Still a Work To Do

Oct. 20, 2014
 
Hello Family!

Today I actually get a regular P day! So that means this email and the last email are only going to be a few days apart, so this may be brief since I may not have as much to report today as I usually do.

But the happy news is that the baptism of Sister Mary Joy and her daughter and two other young women went through and all had a great experience! [Picture above]

Other great news is that this morning one of what we call "our most active investigators" came to our house and announced while leaping into the air "MY DAD IS LETTING ME GET BAPTIZED!!!" (English translation).

Jeylou, the person mentioned above, is nine years old and has been coming to church ever since I have been here and even before I've arrived here, which makes about 9 months, and is the nephew of our branch president. His sister was baptized a little over a year ago, and for the last six months he's been wanting to be baptized as well, but his parents did not. His parents are wonderful people and have great family values but their father's family, like our branch president, came from the person who started this "Divine Colony" and church so they felt pretty obligated to stay with it, especially the father who was the main one who didn't want Jeylou to be baptized.

The other week we came by and brought it up with his parents about how he has been asking us if we could baptize him and if they would be OK with it and eventually they said that they wanted to wait until he was older and more accountable before he makes that kind of commitment, like his sister who they allowed to be baptized, because they don't believe in forcing their kids in what they believe. So the verdict came that he needed to be 15 before he was baptized, and of course we respect the parents and didn't feel prompted at the time that we should push so we left it at that. 

Jeylou afterwards talked to me and asked me to convince his dad to let him be baptized, to which I told him that if he really wanted to be baptized he needed to show his parents his desire and commitment to it even in his young age (while he is young he acts much older than he actually is).

So the next Sunday after church he had another talk with his parents and even cried when he told them how much he wanted to be baptized, and his father finally said yes. 

This baptism has been a long time coming, and I know for certain that this child is going to be a future missionary and a future leader of the Church here in Colonia Divina. Just more blessings that I am being privileged to see.

Also Sister Andong was interviewed this Sunday for her baptism and is really going full steam ahead with her conversion, asking us questions about the temple and such and really wants her husband to be taught. Heads up to mom for a facebook request from Sister Andong :)

And in closing, the reason why this is kind of rushed is because I was able to talk to the owners of this computer cafe and restaurant for a few hours about the church and the Book of Mormon. The husband is from Holland and the wife is from here and they've known the missionaries for 10 years. In fact the reason their restaurant started was because of missionaries seeing her husband eating a hamburger he made himself and asked him to make them one too, since good hamburgers are hard to find here, and thus a business was born.

But after having a long talk with the wife on Saturday when we were down for conference I found out in the ten years they've known the missionaries they've never tried going to church, so I invited them to try out church in Sagay the following Sunday and they did!

Today I just followed up with them and talked about things from eternal families, to obedience, to prophets, to the Book of Mormon and so on. They said they are willing to keep trying going to church so we'll see where that goes.

Anyways, I love you all! And sorry this email was kind of straight rambling, but I hope you get something good from it. :)

Next week I'll be emailing on Tuesday night for me here instead of Monday since we have zone conference here next week on Tuesday.

Take care!

~Elder Butler

Members Work Miracles

Hello Family!

My emailing schedule is getting so mixed up now that I have a hard time remembering what I have written to you all and what has happened since the last time I emailed.

For some reason typing in English feels weird for me today. Perhaps that's a sign that I've been using too much Ilonggo and not enough English this last week with Elder Celebrado (I try to speak to him as much as I can in English so he can practice understanding and speaking fluently).

I'll tell you one thing though, I am going to miss speaking Ilonggo a lot. It has really become a sacred language to me now, and I've felt the spirit teach me so many things during lessons while I've taught in Ilonggo, and it can be such a friendly and care free language which sometimes almost feels like you're singing it part of the time and the other part is just soft and easy going.

I’m so excited for this upcoming Sunday which will be the combined baptisms of Christian's mother and Dalia, along with Sister Mary Joy and her daughter and her nephew George (the eldest son of the Riblora family that wasn't baptized with them because of illness)! All of these people and their families have such bright futures and I wish I could stay to see it all, but I know they are in the Lord's hands and He will take care of them.

We had a fun experience yesterday with teaching half of our lessons on the porch of our apartment.

A youth and her friend who is being baptized the week after next like to come by sometimes during their lunch break during school and be taught or just read with us from the Book of Mormon, but yesterday they came back four times! Each time bringing a different batch of their friends to be taught by us, until the final batch where our entire porch was full of teenage girls being taught about the restoration. What a great example of members doing the finding and missionaries doing the teaching! We literally just sat on our porch and the members brought the investigators to us to be taught.

We also had two of the members work with us two days in a row going with us on both days to our farthest areas in Balabag and a new progressing area that we found called Pinamungahan (say that 10x fast), both of which take more or less an hour to get to and require walking over hills and across rivers and streams, and we didn't hear one complaint from them. They are both preparing to serve missions and they are really helping out with fellowshipping our investigators and making them feel more comfortable coming to church. Another great example of members working with the missionaries to get things hastening!

In all, I am just thankful for the support we've been receiving from the members in the time I've been serving in Colonia Divina. They show with their works where their hearts are and it makes all the difference in the growth of the church and the spreading of the good news here in the mountains. I know a lot of it comes with their great trust in the missionaries and I hope and pray that it will continue to be such for many more missionaries that have the privilege to come and serve here.

No pictures today, but I'll hopefully have some more baptism photos for you all next week. :)

I love you all so much!

Halong kamo perme!

~Elder Butler

The Final Stretch

The Riblora family baptism photo.

The Manila Temple

[This photo from Pres. Lopez facebook posting. Brooks and his companion on the left, President Lopez on the right. ~K]

[The original group of elder's Brooks started out with at the Provo, MTC in front of the temple. ~K]

This was an adventure in Balabag. We took another way to get home and crossed a fun hanging bridge. One of the sisters working with us decided she would rather ford the river than chance the bridge. :)

Looking back.

This is what you call "baby on board". As you can see Katie, I get to see a lot of carabaos... it's the main mode of transportation in my area.

[It's so different to see a missionary in the water, but this is a regular occurrence in the Philippine mountains, with the need to ford rivers! ~K]

[Notice the boy climbing up the coconut tree! ~K]

[These are "young coconuts"! We sometimes buy them here at Asian markets or health food stores but all the green is cut off and they are just white. So fun to see! ~K]

 

 

Oct 08, 2014

Hello Family!

Well here we are. My fellow batch mate (arrived at the same time in the MTC) Elder Cannon reminded me the other day when we went to Manila how we only have 4 more emails home to family before the big D day comes.

That made things a little more real for me for some reason. I think mainly because of how fast email time seems to come around every week.

So I guess I just have to make the most out of these last few emails that I have left to send you while I'm a full time missionary in the field! I'll give it my best shot.

The work in our area is still progressing as ever. I've been spending some time reflecting on my mission lately and I figured out that I will have baptized more in this last area of mine in Colonia Divina than I have in all of my other areas in my mission combined, which fills me with so much gratitude to the Lord for allowing me to have this kind of experience here, and especially letting it be the note that I will leave my mission on. The Lord is truly mindful of His servants and I know He's been more than kind and merciful in sending me here to this very special place.

On the other hand I've been considering how much of a change it's going to be for me to have to come down off the mountain and then step right into first world America again, with running water, cars, super markets etc., and how out of place that all seems to me now.

I got a little taste of that on my little excursion to Manila this last week with the rest of my foreign departing batch. It all just seemed BIG to me. Big roads, big buildings, big cars and so on. Granted we only went two places in Manila, first to the immigration center to get some finger printing thing done, then straight to the temple. I think I may or may not have been inside PJ's mission [Brooks' cousin who is serving now also].

I absolutely LOVED going to the temple again after so long. I feel like I just got a huge spiritual boost that I really needed. As soon as the doors to the temple opened and I walked inside the spirit of the temple just hit me like a wall and it built so much to my testimony that the temple is truly the house of the Lord. I didn't however get to see the new video though since there was an Indonesian in the session and they don't have that translated in the new, but the temple was still the temple nonetheless. I received so much comfort and revelation while inside that I think I came out walking on air once we came out onto the temple grounds again. Looking over the white planes I felt like just starting my mission all over again and taking another two years right then and there in Manila, or quite honestly basically anywhere as long as I could just keep serving the Lord.

But of course we had to get back in the van and be rushed back to the airport to make our flight back to Bacolod. It was nice to be back in a place where I spoke the language of the people again. Then coming back to Colonia felt like I was coming home again. Can you tell that I'm getting a little too adjusted to the mountains?

Oh! And I have some wonderful news about Christian's mom! [The Field is White letter tells about Christian.] She started coming to church the week before last and brought her youngest son Yohan and her house helper who is a high school student that she is sponsoring, and she really enjoyed it! She had been slow in progressing, especially in seeing why our church is different than others, so we had just been reading with her and Christian in the Book of Mormon and helping them apply it to their lives, and after this last Sunday when she came to church again we visited their home and Christian's mother just "go it". She came out with a whole slew of questions of things we had taught her before but never really sank in until then. And after we reviewed the restoration and baptism with her she accepted and is now preparing to be baptized at the end of the month!

It was so fulfilling to see the change in her countenance, and showing all of the signs of the true seeds of conversion, such as asking Christian to pray that we will be able to teach her husband so he can be baptized too, and then giving us referrals, completely unprompted, of three families in Colonia that she knows that she said need the gospel. Also telling Christian half jokingly, on the topic of when I go home, "You better not be going to church just because you think Elder Butler is gwapo (handsome/good looking)! I better not find you missing church because there are different Elders! You go to church so you can worship the Lord!"
Just more tender mercies of the Lord. Sister Andong (Christian's mom) also invited her house help, the high school student who she is sponsoring, to listen in on the lessons as well and she is also planning on being baptized with Sister Andong.
Patient and loving persistence pays off! :)

I attached the baptismal pictures of the Riblora family. We held their baptism at the river that runs around their farm (which we have to cross every time we go to them) and it was a great experience. Our branch president and several other members walked with us to get to Balabag, where the Riblora family lives, from Colonia which is an hour walk which takes you up and down several big hills and across streams and rivers, and the whole Riblora family makes that walk every Sunday to come to church!

That's all I'm going to write today. I feel like I kind of just went for it today and this is what came out.

I love you all! What wonderful news about the Carney family! I actually still remember quite clearly that first visit that I had with them. I am truly happy and excited for them.

Take care always,
(Halong kamo pirme)

Elder Butler