Monday, February 25, 2013


hey bob!

great to hear from you!

lead kindly light is definitely one of my favorite hymns. it has been on my mind this last week. on Wednesday i finally got a dictionary out so i can understand the whole song. look at you! second counselor in the rs! that is sad you have to leave your beams. i remember when we had that calling together. oh. so fun :)

hey. saggy birthday scott! nice job with that. its hard to imagine that kainen is growing. i kinda thought he would be the same when i get home.

man! isnt time going by faster in the last almost 4 months than it ever has?? wowie!!

ok. ok. ok. so this week was great. first item of business. i redeemed my self with the whole dog thing. on tuesday we were walking up this big gravel drive way. when we were half way up, a huge dog came at us. like the size of a saint bernard. i dont know what kind of dog it was. he was barking lots and he was at full speed in our direction. also another dog was coming up even faster behind him. this dog looked like a sheep dog. i slowed down a little but kept walking in their direction as they sprinted in mine. when they came up to me, they sniffed for about 1.3 seconds and then we were instantly friends. that big dog was practically knocking me over just from rubbing up on my legs. they really liked us. the dogs that is. i was filthy for the rest of the day.

also this week good things happened with the dejesus family (carolina's family). carolina told us about some of her spiritual gifts and we talked about the spirit and its influence. the spirit was very strong. all 3 of us cried. now she wants to get baptized. that evening with her was definitely the most powerful experience i have had since being out here. that lady is amazing!

we taught her family later in the week, which went well! ivan (9 years) and oscany (15) want to be baptized! that family is so cute. ivan cant get enough of us and church! he is so great. oscany cant stop smiling when ever we bring up church and the young womens program. i love that girl.

yesterday there was a storm and we had to stay within five miles of our apartment. all of our plans fell through and our backups were further than five miles of our apartment. we still had quite some time before the end of the day. we were struggling to find what it was that we were supposed to be doing. it came to the point where we were going to see 'that one person that we found in our records who met missionaries one time years ago and i think she might live in this apartment but actually i think she just works for someone in this apartment..' sigh.. so we went to the apartment building. this building had 3 floors with 9 apartments on each floor. as we opened the door to the building, we were greeted by a woman with a huge smile on her face and her arms wide open. (this was not the 'one person' we were going to look for.) she immediately grabbed both of our hands and put them around her! she then started talking in a language that we later found out was albanian as she marched us happily down the hall to her apartment. (good thing we werent going to an appointment because we definitely had no choice in this matter.) she brought us in and sat us down, introduced us to her husband and just could not stop talking! hahaha :) she was so happy to see us. i had no idea who this woman was and neither did sister caffall. we had never seen her before. once she settled down a little she started talking slowly in broken english. she if from albania, they moved here in november to live with her daughter who moved here like 12 years ago. they told us about their 2 daughters and how much they love them. the other lives in italy. the womans name is violeta. her husband is ladi. the daughter they live with is named ermira. when we got a book of mormon out they told us that elders taught them a little when they lived in albania. ladi told us that he likes the bom. when ermira got home she told us that she has met with missionaries in the past, that her kids love missionaries and church and that she was happy to see us! by the end of our visit, we set up a time to come back an teach them english and the gospel. violeta hugged and kissed us a few times and sent us lovingly out the door. WOW! i still dont understand how any of that happened. why did violeta know.. did she know.. i dont think... but she.. why was she??? how was she...? oh i just get exhausted when i try to figure it out. it just makes no sense and it is just great. i think the bottom line is that the lord knows them and loves them and we needed to find them and i dont know how we would have if he wasnt aware.

we also found a lady while tracting who was baptized into the church as a kid but has drifted as her parents did. she is VERY spiritual and so sweet. we are so excited to teach her! she isnt even on our ward roster. its a miracle!

how is everything going? good i hope! i love you very much and wish i could tell you more!

i love you
sister lani buxton

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