August 5, 2013

dear bob and family and stuff,

hey! thanks for the email and the letters and all that. i still havent gotten the box yet, but i am going to bedford tomorrow, so if they still have it, i can get it from them then. thank you for remembering me. s herrick told me that her parents told her they werent going to write her letters and they have stuck to their word, even though she is in the states. they still email and send pictures and all that, but no letters for her. but she is cool. she deals with things pretty well. i feel the same way you do about the cookbook. whatever you can come up with will be great, i am sure :) my poor bum. i hope things are getting better. i want pictures! are there pictures of the cheeks? if you dont mind, i want to see pictures :)and yes i am glad you are picking up on the new england vocab. 'wicked amazing' is correct :) hahaha

i am happy that my nephew remembers me :) i love that kid.

this week has been a good one :)

do you remember me talking about kelly walter? she was one of my investigators from bedford 2. well she just moved to concord!! this week i was able to give her a visit! it was so good to see her. she introduced herself to my companions as "the investigator that has been trying to be baptized for 2 years, but cant stop smoking and drinking wine" hahaha is was rich. i love that woman. we had an awesome talk about what she wants to do and where she wants to be. she is still onboard to live the word of wisdom, and she thinks that this new place and basically her new life is going to be very key. she was just under a lot of stress and in a bad situation, so i am glad she is out of there. the bad news is that she isnt actually in my area. she is in the elders area in the concord ward. (i am in the canterbury ward, which meets in the same building as the concord ward.) i was afraid she might not want elders because i know in the past she has requested sisters. (in bedford she wasnt in my area but we still taught her) but good news!!! she does want to be taught by the elders!! so elder crockett and elder porter are going to be teaching her. let me tell you about those two elders- elder crockett is from arizona. he was in the mtc at the same time as me, but not in the same district. we met when we came out to new hammy together. (well- along with like 9 other missionaries) i was the travel whoever whatever, so i was "responsible" for him. our seats were next to each other. it was great. now, he is my district leader. he is great! he is very good at keeping everything spiritual and making sure everyone is happy and feels welcome. alright. elder porter. do you remember my friend named lisa from jr. high? she loved spider man and you searched the world twice to find a spider man costume for her for halloween. remember? well elder porter is her little brother! luke porter that is. i think he knew sam just a little bit. so yeah, that is pretty cool :) so those two will teach kelly.

oh man :) so bishop has been asking us to visit certain people in the ward. (which is great!) he asked us to visit a woman named debbie adams. turns out she is not the debra adams we thought we had on the records. her name is the same and her address is accurate. but date of birth is not the same, nor is location of birth. but for several years she has been receiving visiting teaching letters in the mail! haha :) when we went to see her this week, she invited us right in, gave us a surprise lunch, let us pull her weeds and share a message. man it was great :) the lord surely does work in mysterious ways. he sure is clever too! i just hope the other debra adams is still in full faith and all that. hopefully she hasnt gotten lost in all this.

another member that bishop asked us to visit was named sharon mcgehee. we have tried for a couple weeks and finally this week- SUCCESS! we were a pleasant surprise for her. she invited us right in and we had a lovely chat with her and her cat. she is a wonderful woman from arizona who moved out here all alone last september. she is solid! her testimony and desire is definitely there. it was so great to see. she came to church this sunday! after sacrament, i asked her if she was planning on staying longer. she told me she would stay for second hour, but first! she wanted to meet the bishop! well yes ma'am! i am sure he would love that :) it is just to cool to see someone with so much confidence. i am happy we were able to meet her.

oh man. another sister the bishop asked us to visit (when we first got here) is named sister cathy creed. she is a HOOT! oh i just love her. for the last month she has had us over every sunday for dinner and a lesson. her daughter, cynthia, has scooted by a couple times, but doesnt seem too interested in hanging out or sticking around. she is 24 and reminds me a little of pre mission me. well recently, she has slowly started coming around more often and for longer periods of time. this week we stopped by their place to go to an appointment with sister creed. she forgot, wasnt there, and the investigator cancelled. but cynthia was there and she invited us in! so we talked for a little while. you know, the usual- spongebob, cats, etc.. she opened up a little bit about her personal life and we were able to listen. before we left we shared a scripture, which she really enjoyed. i asked her what kind of message she would like us to share with them on sunday (assuming she would stick around for the lesson :)) she thought for a minute and then asked for a message about taking time to relax take care of yourself. they all work so much and cynthia really worries about her mom not taking any time for herself. well sunday came around. sister creek came to sacrament meeting :):):):):):):):) and after church, we went there for dinner. cynthia was rushing out the door and couldnt stay. that was a little sad, but it was ok. sister creed explained after cynthia left that she asked her to take notes during the lesson because she was sad to miss it!! half way though dinner, cynthia rushed home, ate with us and enjoyed the lesson :) they were so cute! they chose to read out of the same book instead of two. they complimented each other and expressed gratitude and a desire to help each other more. oh it was the sweetest thing!!! ah! i just love missionary work!!

thank you for so much love and support and love. i really do appreciate all of you :) thank you for helping me to prepare to be a missionary!

i love you! keep the stories coming!

love, sister lani buxton