December 16, 2013

dear bob, oh and the rest o' ya's

yes i do get to skype. no i dont know where i will go for that. yes i am sure i will find a place. no i am not sure what time of day it will be. :)

so. s beus. she really is wonderful. i love her! she is so sweet and so cool! she is so pretty and sweet and fun and all that good stuff. she is very shy, but she is doing so well. already she is coming out of her shell and blossoming. on saturday night we had a ward chrsitmas party with the methodist church. it was so much fun! i will talk more about it later. what i am getting at is that s beus taught a man the restoration all by herself!! in the middle of the cultural hall with people talking and shuffling and eating all around her, she stood with a methodist man and taught him the restoration in a respectful, loving way. he even accepted a book of momon and our phone number! while she was talking to him, an elder in our district came up to me. he was in the mtc with her, so he has been along side her for the whole ride (somewhat). he said "look at your companion go!" she has been so amazing since i have been here. bottom line is s beus is wonderful.

the beach really is wonderful. i got to see snow on the beach this week! and i got to watch the snow fall on the water and all that. it was beautiful. it isnt cloudy alla time. its... maybe like it is in utah in the winter? it gets real cloudy and then it snows and it is a clear beautiful day the next day. we regularly get sun. regularly get clouds. its all good :) its all beautiful. :)

this week. this WEEK! so good.

this week there were a few things that made me feel... old as a missionary. and stuff. i usually dont talk about this kind of stuff but maybe i will share a few examples this week.
on tuesday i went to a missionary leadership training. that is when all the leaders go to a big ol meeting. can you believe my whole flight group minus one was there!? gee whiz! it was amazing to see. there were 11 of us that came out together and there were 10 of us there. it is so crazy to me! 
this week i realized that i am the oldest age wise (i think i might be 2-4 years older than everyone in my district, but i dont want to find out for sure)
i am the oldest mission age wise in my district.
there is only 1 sister in the mission that is older mission age wise than me.
this week i found out that president stoker decided sister korman (my mtc companion) and i are the 2 "go-to" sisters of the mission. we dont have a title or anything, but i guess... we... might be getting more phone calls?? i dont even know what it means! ahhhhhh!!!!

this week i got to do an activity with the missionaries at zone interviews. we played "down by the banks of the hankie pankie" you know that game? know what i am talking about? we played that and at the end i related it to being obedient (because that is what zone interviews were all about ). i showed them that if even one person doesnt do their part of slapping the next person's hand, the game stops because they ruined it. it is like the rules that god gives us. the rules of the mission. if we neglect one or dont obey one, then there is the chance that blessings will stop, revelation will stop and miracles will stop. i dont know if this is making sense, but it made sense when i explained it. and it was really fun :) oh man i loved it. everyone was laughing and having a good time :)
ok. enough of that.

so the christmas party this weekend. it was fun. we got to help make the food and serve it, so that was great. the methodist people were so gracious and kind to us. we all loved it. it was a music program and dessert after. there was one man who played a really cool chopin piece. dad must learn it! it was so cool. i will figure out what it is called so that you can perfect it by the time i get home. me, s beus and sister good-simpson sang go tell it on the mountain. it was so much fun :) we were all quite nervous and i think everyone quickly found out that singing probs isnt any of our strong points, but it was fun and i think some people liked it. it was just so perfect to have the missionaries and a black woman sing "go tell it on the mountain"!

i must tell you a story!!
so we had a nice storm this weekend. bishop cancelled church and everything!  it wasnt huge, but it was still a good one. i think s beus was a little hesitant about going out, but she was willing! i shared with her a few stories from last winter that got her faith going. it was fun. so she shoveled and shoveled and shoveled. we were tired and hurting but happy. a woman gave us warm brownies and we got some good potential investigators. towards 4:30 the spirit gently guided us down a certain street. we found a home with a van and lots and lots of untouched snow. they were definitely stuck. we started shoveling. oh man. i thought it would take hours because of how much there was in that drive way. after a few minutes, 2 cute little girls came out of the house. the way they made their way over to us was pretty much what it is like to try to get your way through a foam pit. they were so cute and little and the snow was so deep for them. they were so happy to see us! their mom sent them out to give us fudge! haha :) so cute. luckily a guy with a plow on his truck saw us and helped us. so then we just had to dig out the car and make a path to the side door and to the front door. it still took a while but we were so happy! the girls kept us company and then invited us in! when we went inside, their mom had two chairs by the fire along with some hot chocolate waiting for consumption. she was in her robe and so was her son. we immediately felt like family. not only because of those things, but the way the mom interacted with us. she was so kind and warm and causal. it was amazing. the kids made us christmas cards, we held the bunny, we told stories! we all told our own story of how we found god. ah it was beautiful! she told us that her husband hasnt found god yet but that she knows he will. i could tell she was very patient and loving towards him. towards the end, we all decided we needed to come back sometime. i said we would share a christmas message. she said she would make dinner. the son said we should play a game!! and thats all it took! we set it up and it will happen on friday. sounds like family home evening to me!! the kids kept trying to find excuses for us to stay. it was so adorable! after we left, we were practically floating!! it was such an amazing night! the kind of night you read about! how can missionary life get any better!? oh i am just so happy :)

i am afraid i must be on my way now.

thank you for the love and the goodness and the way you brought me up. thank you for the kindness and all that other good stuff. i love you all! thank you thank you!!


love, sister buxton!

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