July 22, 2013

family,

first off, thank you, bum for not dying. i think it will be a while before i can joke about the accident. but i am so thankful that everything is ok and that heavenly father is blessing our family.

i feel like i am kinda at a loss for words right now. i know there was a lot to say, so i will just keep typing.

this last tuesday i had the blessing of teaching other missionaries. it was scary. and i was looking forward to learning from it, but definitely scared to actually learn. it was for zone interviews. i taught for about an hour total, to my zone. but really it was more of a discussion. i know that i learn much better with a discussion setting and where i feel comfortable giving input, so i did that the best i could. we learned about the holy ghost in missionary work. it sure was great. i felt really happy after.

 i also went on two exchanges this week, which were great. remember carolina and oscany? i got to see them!! it was so good to see them. we were all happy and hugging and all that good stuff. we taught oscany about the atonement and earth life. at the end, she said the most wonderful prayer. you know how in the scriptures they talk about talking to god as if they are talking to a friend? that is how she prayed. it was like she was talking to a good friend. she expressed in her prayer that she felt the spirit during our visit. she was so sweet. man i just love that family. unfortunately, carolina isnt investigating anymore. i am not sure what scared her away or distracted her, but she is not interested. it is sad because it makes it that much harder for oscany.

i really love my companions and the sisters i am responsible for. being in a trio definitely has its pros and cons. its really fun. its also a challenge for me. please keep praying for me and my companions.

one of our investigators... she is a struggle for us. the elders were teaching her for a while before we got here. she wanted to be baptized in june. after asking some comprehension questions, we quickly realized that things werent clicking for her. but hey, maybe thinking that the apostles are reincarnated peter, james, john, etc... isnt so bad. sadly she is an alcoholic who refuses to keep any commitments and as of recently, she has been quite intoxicated every time we see her. i am pretty worried about her. i am afraid she is going to get herself into trouble. i hope nothing too bad happens.

remember ron? the recovering alcoholic? in the last 12 days he has only drank once!!! i am so proud of him. he really wants to change his life. he really wants to be acceptable to the lord. he is so wonderful.

we met with sister lexi and bonnie this week! they are so great. they are such a cute family. sister lexi painted our nails for us. she sure is great. we get to see them again tonight, which all of us are happy about of course. they are planning on coming to church this week, and we are hoping they (along with all of our other investigators) come to a baptism that is going on this weekend. the elders in the neighboring ward are baptizing a couple! isnt that cute?! man i just think that is the coolest thing.

did i tell you that i got to meet 4 generations of LAMANITES? well i did! it was so cool! that was a couple weeks ago. this last week we went back to see them. we got to meet the husband of one of the women. it was so cool! he was all about respecting women and making sure they can voice their thoughts and beliefs.  he was so interested to know how the gospel has affected us individually. he seemed pretty happy about everything we talked about and he was also looking forward to reading the bom on his own. we are STOKED to go back to see him. what a cool man! i love it when the lord guides me.

thank you for the letter bob. i really enjoyed it. thank you for everything, family :) i love you all.

bum, careful with those cheeks!

love, sister buxton :)

July 15, 2013

bob,

man oh man are you funny!! your email today was crackin me up so bad! i love telling people about you. my comps always say things like "your mom sounds cool" and "your mom sounds funny" well she is! haha! thank you for always telling me funny stories. i am sure a missionary's sense of humor gets more and more sensitive as time goes on, but lets be honest, in never took too much to get me going anyway. the other day we were talking to an investigator outside when SOMEONE let out a huge FART! all of us heard it besides the investigator, so i felt really bad as i was basically crying because i was unsuccessfully holding back laughter. gosh it was hilarious. i was still laughing about it hours later. it was just so funny!!

ok. big big news that i am pretty sure i forgot to tell you! man its embarrassing that i forgot. ok. ok. so as of this last transfer (yes a month ago) sister cloward and sister berg are COMPANIONS! can you believe that? and sister caffall is their sister training leader! man it is so cool. i just love it. i hope they all have funny stories about me that they can entertain each other with. hopefully nothing too embarrassing. and i hope they all love me! but gosh its just so good that they are companions. so funny!

so ron- we had another lesson with him and he was so so sad that he relapsed. he was so ice to us and we brought a member with us that was able to help him out so much and relate to him big time. at one point, the member was talking and ron just cut him off and asked "will you take me to church on sunday?" oh it was great :) he really wants to come! he didnt end up coming this week though because he quit drinking again! he told us that after we left he didnt drink and he is going for it! so my main point is that he didnt come to church because he will be going through the withdrawals again and also he will be on medication for that business. but we are so proud of him and he so sincerely wants to stop. s mayle committed him to pray and he told us that he has been and that he feels lots and lots better. oh it just warms my heart. he is a great man, soon to be even better.

so rilla ron- not really any news, just that his friends are really happy to have the memorial service. they still need to pick a day and all that, but they are really happy about it.

yes i am still in a trio. poor s herrick is still in the dark with her visa. i hope she gets it soon. she has been very patient, but i dont know how much longer she will be patient. but it is good. this week we got to milk a cow! the woman that owns the cow and the farm is from brazil, so they got to talk a little bit in portuguese, so i think that made s herrick happy.

with music, p wilkey's music policy was that we could only listen to music that was by lds artists and also it had to be predominantly hymns. i only had like one or two albums on my ipod that fit that. but its ok, i sent it to dave a while back because i know he has a pretty nice library that fits under that category. so i have not been musicless. but i think the new president is going to change the policy to be just what the white handbook says and no other restrictions.

oh there is a couple in my ward and they wanted me to tell you "thank you" from them. their names are the tinkers.

oh man one more story. we got two new investigators this week. lexi, who is 13 and her mom bonnie. they are so cute and sweet. they are very spiritually aware and kind. we taught them this week about being daughters of god and what god is like. we shared experiences with how the gospel blesses families. they are so cute! at the end of the lesson, we were asking lexi what she likes to go by. she was pretty whatever about it. then we offered to call her sister lexi. oh she lit up and nodded her head! we are so happy to have sister lexi and bonnie in our lives!

thank you again for all the love! i have one random request. can you send me a small dictionary? i just want one is all. also. i really want more rhuberry jam. i had to leave the other one in augusta. :) please and thank you. these things can just be early birthday presents. i love you family!

hey when is erin going to have her baby anyway?

have a lovely week :)

love, sister lani buxton

July 8, 2013

well hello!

thank you of course for the email, it put a smile on my face for the whole duration of my reading. i love the stories and i can just picture lunk growling on your lap while you take pictures of the racoons. MAN i want to see them! do you remember that they are one of my favorite animals? ah! so great! i wish you could tame them and then all could be happy and friendly. how do the outside kitties like them? i hope they keep their distance.

i am so happy that my bum went to efy. i hope he had a lovely time. efy  is always good :) 

and bob i cant tell you how happy it made me to read about you being a regular on good things utah!! mom!!!!!! this (not specifically) has been something i have been praying for. isnt it amazing the way the lord answers prayers? i am just so happy for you! ah!! is that the same place i went with you before my mission and we saw franie muniz? dont know if thats how he spells his name..

so yes, s herrick is still my companion. did i tell you she was in a trio last transfer also? (her first transfer as a missionary) so she was already used to it. but it has been good. you wouldnt believe how amazing s mayle is. i have never known anyone who understands the atonement so well, or someone who has applied it so well. she has opportunities quite often to empathize with people because of the loss of their loved ones. she doesnt keep it back. she always uses her story as a way to connect with people when it is necessary. and you know what? she also never cries!! i dont get it. she just talks about it! it is rather inspiring, really. she is so great. she invited someone to be baptized on her first day (while i was in the  meeting hahaha) and she participated in a lesson that evening with me and i didnt even have to push her and poke her. i didnt even have to threaten her with sleeping outside! it was great. but anyway, s herrick still doesnt know when she will be leaving or anything like that. although, a few weeks ago she wrote on her calendar that she would get her visa today, so we will have to check the mail when we go home after emailing. :) i hope she gets it, but i also really enjoy being her companion. she is a wonderful sister. it is wonderful to see how dedicated she is even though she could be leaving at any point.

this week was fun though. we got to meet up with s mayle on tuesday evening. she was cute and happy and she told parker christensen hi for me :) what a blast. before we met her i would always say to s herrick- "i want to see s mayle. i wonder what she looks like." and her response was always "yellow". well guess who was wearing yellow on tuesday!!!! hahaha it must have been revelation or something because s mayle was indeed wearing it. haha :)

side note- the only cd we had before s mayle got here was book of mormon scripture mastery, and she brought some cds so it has been fun to listen to her cds. BUT. while i was at the meeting on tuesday our new mission president (who reminds me quite a bit of uncle brent) basically told us that the new music policy will soon be simply what is stated in the white handbook which is much more free than what i have had for the last little while. so that will be cool :) i hope he implies that soon. 

there hav been some pretty sad events with some of our other investigators. ray is in the hospital. they dont know what is wrong with him. we found him by a miracle and he was rather surprised to see us walk in to his room. he sure is a sweetie- he let us read to him while he sat in his cute little hospital gown. 

i have told you about terrence wigglesworth right? well he rocks. there is a sweet view of big fireworks from the church property, so we invited him to go to it. when we met up, he had brought his friend "rilla ron" the rapper. we had met him a time or two. they brought their music and terrence had his superman cape. it was so good to see them and to talk with them while on church property. a member of the ward we have been teaching was there, too. his name is george sartorelli. he has to be one of the coolest old men out there. turns out he is friends with terrence and rilla ron!! it was so much fun! all six of us went on a short church tour and had a good time with it, too. i even got to play a little basketball with them in the cultural hall. they had fun and so did we :) bro sartorelli agreed to take them both to church on sunday, too! sunday came and bro sartorelli was there, but not terrence or rilla ron. it was a little disappointing. later that day we walked over to their house. terrence and his friends were outside an they politely came up to us and shook our hands, but something was wrong. everything was different. i asked him what was wrong. he told us that rilla ron had gone the way of all the earth. he drowned in the river that weekend. it was so heartbreaking. we tried to comfort them a little bit. i think the best thing we can to at this point is to not forget about them and also we are going to try to organize a service for them. his family lives in ny, so they will probs have the funeral there, but we want to have a little service for the friends that live here. i have ever done that before, but it will be good. sure is sad though.

bittersweet news- we have an investigator named ron, who i hope i told you about last week because he is amazing. s herrick found him while street contacting. he wants to change his life and be a better person. he said he feels like god is calling him back. he wants to quit drinking and smoking. ok so the news is that he cancelled our appointment this week. the sweet part of it is that he cancelled because he was on day 3 of being sober, which is the worst with withdrawals. wow!! i am just so proud of him!! gosh :)

thank you again for everything. sorry this email was a little heavy, but i hope you know i am still happy and everything is good over here! i love you!!

love, sister wanay buxton

July 1, 2013

hey family!!!

sure is a fun time for all eh? eh eh??

sure is :)

thank you for the email, sure is nice to hear from you.

it really is a small world with the whole sister mayle and parker and all that. its fun. sister mayle got to nh at about 3:30 today but i wont get to see her until tomorrow morning when i will go to a meeting and she will get to spend the day in beford (my baby!!!!!) with sister herrick, the bedford sisters and another sister. yea. have you ever heard of 5 sisters being in a companionship for the day? i sure havent!! hahaha

sure is a blast. you say i have been prepared for her... oh i sure hope so. i truly truly hope so. i hope i am not just another trial for her in this trying time for her.

this week has been another great one. we are finding people to teach! we went on an exchange on tuesday. it was sister herrick's first time being senior companion. she was worried sick! but i knew it would be fine. while i was away, she found an amazing man who has been looking for religion and he wants to change his life! he doesnt want to just confess sins and then go do it again. he wants to change and he wants it to mean something. he told us that he feels the lord is calling him back. when we went back to teach him we taught the restoration together for the first time. it was amazing! sister herrick recited the first vision for the first time to a real person! oh she was amazing. and i was so quickened by the spirit! it was so wonderful to teach a preach my gospel lesson again. i havent taught the restoration since i was in bedford. so that was a truly delightful hour for me. at the end of the lesson, we asked him to pray about the bom to see if it is true. he explained that he felt he didnt need to because he believes it! wow it was great!!  after we taught him we met a boy on the street. his name is terrence wigglesworth. he sure is great. he seems to be a guy of his word. he happily accepted a bom and he said he is going to meditate about it.

the ward here is also fantastic! the bishop is such a sweet, humble, amazing man. i cant tell you how relieved and thankful i am to be serving to close to him and also our ward mission leader. this ward knocks me off my feet with their generosity and kindness. the lord is definitely answering our prayers though them. they have no idea how influential they are to us and also to the work

.

this week, on another exchange, i was humbled by one of the sister missionaries. she has found out since coming on her mission that she has a.d.d., anxiety and depression. i think it might be rooted in her childhood. the way her parents treated her sure made me thankful for you, mom and dad. thank you for bringing me up right and building my confidence. i sure love you and am thankful for you. it seems like there are a lot of sisters who have health problems-mental and physical. why does that happen? i just dont get it.

thank you very much for the prayers. they are definitely reaching me and i am sure they are reaching sister mayle. please keep praying for her. i am sure she will need the strength that comes from others prayers.

i love you all very much. keep telling me about home :) i always love hearing it!

with lots of love, sister lani buxton!

June 24, 2013

oh bob!

when i didnt have an email from you last week, my first, final and only thought was "poor mom, she is going to think i think he forgot me. but really i know she will probs send the email bout when i get off. she wouldnt neglect me, even over the internet!"

i love the stories. i cant believe my nephews are now 9 months (right?) 2 years and 3 years. i really hope they still remember me! at least a little bit!

those nephews sure sound cute! i love them!!

this week has been rather eventful for me. so i told you i was being transferred to be in a regular, non training companionship with a sister who has already been in the area that i was going to. right? yeah. thats what i was told. so off s cloward and i go to the transfer meeting. when they get around to announcing where everyone is going and who is training who, they always announce all the trainers and trainees first. the chapel was packed! half way through the announcement of trainers and such, president calls my name, asks me to come up. i was confused. i was not training... they didnt tell me i was training.. they didnt ask me to go to the trainers meeting.. they didnt give me a training packet.. so i say "do you want me to come up there?" he says "yes". then his assistants pull on his sleeve and start whispering to him and pointing to papers and all that. everyone was looking around and i was confused and nervous. then after some heart pounding moments, he tells me "oh ok sister buxton you will be sister herricks companion." then tells me i am opening a new area- canterbury 2. on my. this was definitely news for me. so turns out i am opening a new area and finishing the second half of training for sister herrick, who is a visa waiter for brazil. so i am training! upon further investigation and talking to the elders who are splitting the area with us, it is more like we are shotgunning an area. so.. call it what you will. also. during lunch at transfer meeting, president wilkey whisks me and s herrick into a room and sits us down. he then proceeds to tell me that on july 1st we will be receiving another sister into the mission. her name is sister mayle. i will be training her, also.

side note- i dont know if you have heard about a boy who was hiking and fell off a cliff. i think it happened in provo canyon and this was like.. a couple weeks ago. he was missing for a few days and then they found his body. pretty heart breaking. well. sister mayle is his sister. she is coming out late because they found his body the day she went in to the mtc, so the poor girl went home for the funeral and all that kind of stuff. so. this poor sister is going to have to be trained by me. and be in a trio.

oh. also i am a sister training leader again. this time over 3 companionships. this means i will need to plan and go on 6 exchanges this transfer. needless to say, i have been relying heavily on the lord this week. it has been scary, but fun. it is definitely helping me build my faith. and hey, i have had a pretty easy life, so i spose its bout time heavenly father asks me to do something that i cant figure out how to do logically figure out. dear impossible, here i come!!

also this week i was granted my third brand-spankin new car! wow! this one also had less than 50 miles on it. 

this week has been such a treat. this ward is so happy to have us and we are happy to be here. sister herrick is an awesome sister and it is inspiring to see how much her heart is in the work, even though she could be leaving at any point to go to brazil. oh, before i forget, so that you can face book stalk them, their names are whitney herrick and haley mayle. or haily. i dont know. i havent met her yet.

also my address is

21 park street

boscawin, nh
03303

on our first day in our lovely area (it truly is beautiful!) we met a man named jaimy. he rocks! we talked to him a couple days later. that night he was working on his motorcycle with his super old, tattooed, long haired, sleeveless friend named snake. he was SO cool :) we had a wonderful chat, prayer and snake committed to read out of the bom. also jaimy invited us to his daughters wedding. we went and boy was it wonderful! . it was outside. the colors were white and yellow. sunflowers were everywhere and after the bride's maids and all them walked down the flower-petalled walk way, we all heard an engine start up and rev. then down the walk way came jaimy with his lovely daughter on the very motorcycle he was working on when we talked to him a couple days prior. oh it was co grand. everything was so cute and fun and happy. me, s herrick and jaimy all cried during it. what fun :)

well i have to get off soon, but i will have you know that this area is wonderful, i have had so many wonderful experiences in this short week, and the lord has been here for me the whole time. i love you and i thank you so much for your love and support and kindness. thank you so much family! i love you all! oh! please please please pray for sister mayle. i cant tell you much about her, but i love her so much and i am worried about her. 

i love you!

love, sister WANAY!! (buxton)

June 17, 2013

well hello family! how is everyone doing?

i sure am thankful for all that you do for me and all the love and support that i feel every day. thank you for that.

this week was, of course, grand. i got two wonderful hats from a sweet old woman in the ward i am serving. i am sending one home this week so that i dont have to cart it around. i want to send the other one home soon, too but i dont know how to yet. it is a sun hat so i need to figure out how to send it home. thank you so much bob for the envelope of pictures and the letter. it always makes me happy to hear from you. thank you so much. i love the pictures. they bring back some good memories for sure. and s cloward really likes them. i dont know why, she just thought it was the craziest thing when she found out i used to wear bandanas alla time. now that i am in missionary attire every day i feel like i look very... normal i spose you could say. so perhaps that is why. every morning i put on my "a skylit drive" t shirt for our work out time. it is black and it has some skulls on it. she always tells me how scary it is and what was i thinking bringing it on a mission. hahaha :) she is a treat.

we went to the doc again this week. again they found nothing, but they want her to come back this week for another proceedure. that poor sister. i am ready for her to not be sick any more. a few days ago sister wilkey texted us and told me some things i need to do when we go see the doctor for s cloward this week. we smiled and figured that meant we were staying together for the next transfer :)

due to circumstances, i went on two exchanges this week. it was rather fun, if i say so myself. it is so amazing to see these sisters grow so much and be so faithful and strong. i have loved being an stl. the one sister i went on exchange with, named sister sowards, has been out for 6 weeks now and she will be training as of tomorrow! wow! i am so proud of her. i have no doubt she will be a splendid trainer and she will love and be loved by her trainee. the senior companion from the other companionship i am over is named sister deters. she was in the mtc with me. we were in the same room and the same district. she is so amazing. i found out last night that she will be transferred (for the first time!!) and she will also be an stl, AND she will be training!! ahhh! crazy crazy! i am so proud of her. and get this get this. sister deters and sister sowards companions from this last transfer are going to be companions! ah! does this make sense? oh it is just great. while i was on the second exchange, i got a call from sister wilkey. she was asking me all these questions about the sisters i am over and transfers and all this stuff. man. i didnt even know they asked so many questions to the leadership within the mission. it was a surprise! also she let me know that we are also welcoming in 2 visa waiters from the mtc. that means this transfer, we are recieving 20 new sisters!!!! aaaaaaahhhh!!! and only 7 elders! hahahaha isnt that just a hoot? i love it.

ok ok i will tell you about how transfers effects me this time :) thankfully, it is not nearly as dramatic as last time. so i am getting tranferred out of this area into a new area to meet my companion. they told me that i will be senior, but not traning. also i am staying as an stl. whew. i was so relieved. with 20 new sisters and they are opening 8 new areas, i thought for sure i was doomed. but me and s cloward are sad to be leaving each other. and i am also quite sad that i will be leaving big guy. its a sad day, but a good day. i thought for sure no one would mind that i was leaving since i just got here. a lot of times people just view missionaries as missionaries, not as individuals. and from my point of view, that is ok and i dont expect too much outside of that from ward members. but oh my goodness. i couldnt believe the tears and the hugs and the kind words that were directed at me. it was very touching. i definitely have a different view on members where i serve now. they even announced it in sacrament meeting. i was just very surprised i spose

 we have been working with a less acitive woman named shelby johnson. she got baptized a couple years ago. her husband left her when she made the choice to be baptized. since the first time i met her i have just felt so much love and admiration for her. her 9 year old daughter mo quickly became an investigator and i have loved her just as much as i love her mother. they both came to church yesterday. they stayed for the first two hours (rs, primary and sunday school) and then sweetly sat down in sacrament meeting. when they made the announcement about me leaving, mo told her mom that she was sick and her mom said she also needed to leave. we visited them later that day. they cried on my shoulder and told me how sad they were to see me leave. they asked me to write in their scriptures and mark some of my favorite verses. it was such a touching and humbling experience. i love those two so much and i am so thankful i was able to be a small part of their beautiful lives.

well family this is all for this week, but we will talk again soon! thank you so much again! i love you! i really do!!

love, your big stinky sister buxton!!

Monday, June 10, 2013

bob and family,

well today has been wonderful. it started with 200 lunges. then i pondered atlanta gergia while i took a shower. a bit later i ate macadamia craizin granola cereal while big guy cuddled me. he also stayed for my book of mormon study. then i slipped my brand new shoes on and walked out into the clear, perfect day :) it really is eprfect today! wowie!!

and bob, thank you so much for the box. i really loved the contents. s cloward and i have been so excited for the jam. she didnt know what rhubarb was until a couple weeks ago when a ward member ripped it up with her bare hands and fed it to us. it was great. we both love the jam :) thank you so much. also i love the cereal and the shoes. you sure are cute and you are very good at listening to shoes. they really are perfect and go with many of my outfits! the chips are great. they took my taste buds on a ride. did you know that people out here dont understand spicy? they dont know real mexican food either. so thank you!

the note was great and you did a great job of driving me crazy with the anticipation of jades call! ah! i am  just so happy for her. i am so happy she really is going to serve. it is such a grand experience. its just too bad she isnt going to the greatest and most lovely mission on the globe. my mission president calls it "god's country" and for good reason.

speaking of my president. i dont know if you know this, but he is leaving in a couple months. his mission is almost over. i will miss him and his wife. i told you how i feel about him when i first came out and i still feel the same way; he is the closest man to christ i have ever met. i want you to invite him over for dinner or something when he is home. he will be living in lehi so i really hope you do :) i know he and his wife would love it.

i am curious who the girl is that has been doing reflexology. i hope she is getting better and all that. s cloward is doing alright. she hasnt been throwing up every day, so i think she is improving. but we do have a lot of down time. it isnt the funnest thing but it is ok. i know i can give her the benefit of the doubt, so i am never put out if we need to go home or if she has a request of some sort. she really is a wonderful sister. she is very supportive and encouraging. and everyone needs that.

hey did you know that sister c sent me a strawberry days box? wow! that woman! she is so sweet. i was shocked to get it and it really was a perfect missionary box. you know what that means? i got TWO perfect missionary boxes this week. but really would you tell her that i truly appreciate it? she sure is sweet. this week i actually thought of her when someone showed us a conveniently placed nest with some teeny tiny birds in it! oh they were so cute. i could hear the mother near by, yelling at us. that consequently led me to dream that night that i was being chased by a wroth mother duck. i was on a dirt bike of course, and even that couldtnt outspeed that angry duck. it was scary.

anyway, i should let you know that transfers are this next week. with 18 sister coming out, there is a chance i will have a change of address again. if i do, i will get the call this saturday and i will move the following tuesday. its crazy out here!

thank you for the love and support and the letters. i really love hearing from you all!

thank you thank you and congrats to jade. i really cant tell you how happy i am for her :)

i love you :)

love, sister lani buxton

p.s. bob you are so silly! remember how you would always mix up jade and sage's names? you did it in the letter you sent this week! hahahah :)

i love you!

this week sure was great. we had zone interviews and i was supposed to do a 5-10 minute training about planners. not too bad, but i have never had to teach anyone older than 7 before so it was a little intimidating for me. i just dont feel i am cut out for that kind of business. but hey, prepared and willing is what i am striving to be. then, the day before the big meeting, i was told that i was also supposed to prepare a 45 minute sisters meeting. sigh. good news was that i was supposed to prepare is with sister korman (my mtc companion!!!!!). the bad news is, she is not my companion, she found out the same time i did, aaaand she didnt have any time to talk until 9:30 that night. so needless to say i was nervous about it. but the day came, we followed the spirit, and it went well. there were even tears! (caused by the spirit, of course.)

after the meeting, we went to visit a recent convert. we have been trying to get in contact with her since we got here, but we have been unsuccessful. the ward has been really trying to reach out to her, but she went though some rough times and she has really been shutting everyone out. no one has heard anything from her and no one has seen her for a while. it is a sad situation and the ward has been very hopeful that we could help. her brother has even been in contact with us trying to find a way for us to meet her.

with that said, we went to knock on her door once more. one knock.. ..       ..  .....   she opened the door. we had no idea what to expect.. smiles? rage? tears? ...... she stepped outside and closed the door.. SMILES!! we all introduced ourselves and we just started talking. we only talked for a few minutes, but in that time, we laughed, set up a return appointment, hugged and she even told us that she loves us and that we are cool! i am cool mom! did you hear that! oh i cant tell you the relief and the joy and the excitement that filled s cloward and i. 

we pranced back to the car, and reported to the people we knew would be knocked out of their seats with our news. first, heavenly father, second, the elders-they are the ones that taught and baptized her. then some other people like the ward mission leader and her brother. but my goodness are we happy about it. wow! it is just so wonderful.