January 6, 2014

bob!! oh yeah, and the rest a yas,

yes it is a bit chilly here these days. this week we had a nice storm that grounded us. we had a drift in our driveway that we had to shovel. part of it was about 5 feet high. luckily that wasnt the part we had to shovel. the highest part was like up to our hips. it was a fun time. it was quite chilly on a couple of the days. i dont actually know what the temperature was, but it was bone chilling!!!!!!! ah! and there was wind!! at one point, i took my hand out of my glove to take a picture and my hand instantly went completely freezing! i put it back in my glove, but until we got in the house, it didnt make a difference at all. oh man it was cold! but it was also quite fun. i love it! my boots and my coat are doing me wonders. i really love them and they treat me well.

hahahah bob!!! your story about the APF is so funny! you rib tickler!! hahahahah i love it even though it is a frustrating story.

.

hahaha oh bob you really are so funny. you always get me and the other missionaries laughing. i am glad you are cooking at telos. those boys love you and i am sure it is a fun time for you.

yes i hope i stay this transfer. i really do. i hope i get to be with s beus for another transfer. i really like her. we like each other. we get along really well.

i do love being here. i love the ward. i love the people. i love the location.

i am sure you would like an update on our lovely african golden investigator. this week when we taught him, s beus invited him to be baptized. he told us that he is not sure because he does not want to do it for us. he wants to do it for god. he has already been baptized before. he told us that it is easy to serve god, but it is harder to figure out exactly where god wants you to be serving, and that he needs to figure that out before he makes a commitment.  we supported him %100 on that one! of course! so the next day, 9:30 he called us and told us that he would like to be baptized! wowie!! it is just so exciting for us! oh he is just so great! he came to church on sunday and he contributed and everything.

so this week we have been teaching repentance because of the jew years. eh hem i mean new years.. and. well. it was wonderful. we have been using helaman 13:6,7. the glad tidings are that because of christ, we can repent! it is so cool that new years is right after christmas. because christ was born, we can return to god. christ made it possible for us to gain exaltation. he made it possible for us to receive forgiveness for anything we are willing to repent of. how appropriate that the next week we celebrate and decide how we are going to change so that we can be worthy of forgiveness and so that we can become more fit for the kingdom of heaven! i just love it! so in the bible dictionary it says that repentance is forming a "fresh view about god, about oneself, and about the world" when we understand god better, when we understand ourselves, when we learn to love ourselves, when we see ourselves the way christ does, we are repenting. yesterday i was able to teach a 12 year old girl (she was a member, dont get too excited) that reading her scriptures, which she does faithfully, is a form of repentance. she told me that when she reads, she always sees something in life that parallels to the scriptures she read. she said it helps her understand the world. i helped her see that that is forming a fresh view of the world, which is what the bible dictionary says repentance is. she thought that was pretty great. i think i thought it was even greater. i got to teach her! it was a lovely time. i love the ward!

thank you so much family! your pictures are all around the mirror i use to get ready. i love all of you! thank you thank you thank you!! i love your faces, your words, and the prayers you say for me. thank you!! i love you!!

love, aunt sister wanay buxton!

December 30, 2013

dear jew,

how are jew?

eh eh :)

yes yes skyping really was a joy. i did have fun and i love all of you! it was a blast! everyone looked good and cute and handsome and pretty and all that. thank you so much for gathering the mass of family so that i could see and talk to you. thank you thank you thank you!! i love you!

o the kitties. i have not heard of thai until now. what a silly story. this isnt mayonnaise is it? i am guessing not. crazy lunk. does she know we saved her from a ferocious fiendish wild life? gee whizz! hahaha oh bob you are so loving to all creatures. i laughed though the whole paragraph about the cats. you are so funny!

i am so happy to hear about cousin walker coming home from the philippines. i feel like i have never really known him, so i am excited to re-meet him someday. he sounds great :)

hahahah oh you snikkety tippety mother of mine with the theater tickets and the bonus beverage at every performance. you silly woman! you crack me so!

poop

that poop was from elder jessee.. haha

i am so happy to hear about the wedding. i am glad that boy got married. bob, you are just such a wonderful woman always giving and caring and doing and lifting. thank you!

thank you for thinking of me so much. i love being loved by all of you.

the gifts you sent me are so wonderful. i am SO HAPPY to have one of those blasted dog toothbrushes! they are the best source of scrubbing teeth. i love it! the tights are perfect and SO cool! the sweater is top notch! i feel like i am totally fab now.  the skirt i really like a lot. it is a little short for the mission though, so i am not totally sure what to do about it because i like it.

the hats are great! s beus wears her hat nearly daily. you are so talented bob! thank you so much! thank you thank you! all the gifts are wonderful. the scarfs erin made are really cool, too!

well i have had a marvelous week. christmas really was wonderful. the members are good to us and we are happy and working hard. the africans dont all speak english. we teach some of them english and sometimes we have someone translate for us. i dont know how they get here. they all so wonderful though.

so i have a wonderful story for you. so erry once in a while missionaries get a referral from media headquarters. it is exciting when we get one, but there is always a chance that it is a prank. so we got one recently. we called and sure enough, the person wanted an appointment! so we set it up. we had to meet in the library because he lives in a group home and we couldnt meet there because of confidential issues or something. he is a wonderful man! he is probs in his late teens. he told us that his grandparents are members, his parents arent. it sounded like his family is perhaps a little broken. good thing the gospel fixes broken things. his dad doesnt approve of the church. he said he decided to seek out and study for himself. he was so kind and so sincere. he looked me right in the eyes when i talked to him. he listened to everything. he wanted to have a book of mormon. he wanted to read. he wanted to pray. he wanted to know!! at the end of the appointment, he prayed!! right in front of us! it was so wonderful!! then he said he had one more question before we left. he asked if we could meet up again sometime! what!! ah! it was just such an excellent time. ah! i am just so happy! so happy for him! he even said we could call him brother :)

i love you and thank you so much! i am a very very happy missionary!

love, sister lani buxton

December 23, 2013

ok more stuff.

hahahaha thank you for all the silly updates. paige had better not get married before i get home!! gah!

we get to skype!! i think i will be calling or perhaps you need to call me (i dont know this stuff) at 6:45-7:00 eastern time. that is when i am planning to call or whatever. i hope that works. i really do.

ok. this week has been so good! so good!

i will start with a lovely story from wednesday. there is a woman from africa that was baptized a short time ago. she speaks some english but she really wants to get better. so we teach her on a weekly basis. when we went over this week, there was a man at her apt that i had never seen. initially i didnt think much of it because everyone is new to me because i am new in the area. plus the africans have lots of friends and it is hard for me to keep track of who is who and all that. he asked me what my name was and what organization i am from and if it is a good organization. turns out he went from africa to ny 4 months ago and he just got to maine the day before! he knows the people we were visiting through mutual friends. they are letting him stay with them until he gets things figured out. s beus started teaching english and i sat with the new friend. he told me that he had a rough past and he used to be a not so great man. but one day he woke up and knew that what he was doing was wrong, that he needed to change, and so he did. it was like an alma the younger story. he kept saying things like 'i am not a good man, only god is good' and 'god has chosen me do be like this' all these great things. he started telling me all these great things about the nature of god and prophets and how god works the same yesterday today and forever. i taught him the restoration. i told him that god came to joseph smith just like he had done with other prophets. i had barely brought it up and showed him the picture in the resto pamphlet when he snatched it out of my hands, held it up in the air and showed the other people in the room. he started telling THEM that god works the same always just like with "this man" (joseph smith). it was so cool! he just ate it all up! he loved the message of the restoration. he committed to reading the bom, praying to know, and coming to church. and sure enough, he came with our recent converts to church on sunday. he even had a brand new hard cover journal with him and he took notes all though church. it was amazing to see. i am so excited for that man. such good things are going to happen. ah!

one more good story. the other day our appointment with someone fell through and our back-up plans didnt work. then, by a stoke of inspiration on s beus' part, we stopped by a warm member who we didnt know and didnt know anything about. when we knocked on the door, he was happy to see us. he was also shocked. he said he really wants to come back to church! he grew up in wyoming. missionaries found his family when he was 8. he stayed active for most his life, but hasnt been active for the last few years, even though he really loves the values of the church. he has a girlfriend and wants to get her involved in the church. he is so stoked to come back to church, he said he wants to attend before the new year comes. he was so shocked to see us! ah! so good!

ok. i have WICKED GOOD story for you on christmas! you will love it.

man. the more i study the gospel and live the gospel, the more i know it is true. its not only true, it is so worth it! its so real and so good. its also unexplainable. like in helaman 5:44. so good!!

i love you family and i cant wait to talk to you. thank you for your love and the good things you send to me electronically, usps-ly, and energy of the universe-ly :) i love you! talk to you soon!

love, sister wanay buxton

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!

December 9, 2013

hey!

My new address is

14 a pearl st.

scarborough, maine
04074

:)

the living nativity you went to sounds so cool. i have never heard of such a thing until you.

so i am living in a beach house. think i am kidding? i wouldnt be surprised if you thought i was. i am still totally shocked. we live just up the street from the beach. we run on the beach in the morning. i listen to and watch the waves in the morning as the sun lights my face so that i can put on make up. wowie!!! can you believe it? i truly am so blessed!

my companion is named s beus. she is like our friend hillary. she even has the same singing voice!! oh it is wonderful and i love her so much. we have much in common and i am just so happy. her last companion was her trainer. i really love her and i hope i do things right with her.

the ward here is wonderful. i love it so much already and i know it will be a holly jolly christmas.

it is a pretty interesting area. there are a lot of african refugees here, so they fill a lot of the teaching pool of the other missionaries. our area was opened 4 months ago, and it is still in the.... tilling stage. it needs a lot of care at this point. but hey, it will be good and if we are obedient, we will see blessings. if we are striving for exact obedience, we will see miracles. so bring it on!

the lord has been so good to me. i can see that i am going to be doing a lot of growing this transfer. i am going to be an amazing missionary someday!!  the africans are really fun to be with. they are sweet and fun and silly and loving. if i can get enough sass and soul in my voice, i will be able to sing with one of them and s beus this weekend at the christmas party. i hope i can do it... then again, i am pretty dang white. 

 it really was sad to leave the old area. i love the people there and i loved being there. the good thing is that it wasnt a surprise and luckily the lord has asked me to be in this new area, so that softens the blow. but really, missionary work is the best.

bob! you know how i am always telling you that you need to meet s creed? ok. listen here. she did something you would do. so on sunday we were at s creeds house. i finally told her that i was being transferred. she flipped. she didnt want it to happen. she convinced us to come back the next day. when we went, she bought a tree so that we could help her and cynthia decorate it. when i walked in the door, she said "oh look! santa came!" she got a stocking for me and she loaded it good. she gave me to much good stuff. it was a joy and it was so sweet. well, i mean, santa did. it was so sweet. it was like you, bob.

well. i will write more next week. i love you all! i hope you got the boxes i sent home.

love you!!

love, sister lani buxton!

December 2, 2013

ahoy-a-hoy!

hello wonderful family!

so i am sending home 2 boxes this week. one is my stuff that i dont need as a missionary, but still want it. so sorry that one will be boring for you. but the other one should be fun for you. it is for the family so i hope you all like it.

ok. yes i got a transfer call.

yes i am being transferred.

in my mission they dont tell you where you are going until transfer meeting, which is on tuesday morning. 

that means i dont know where i am going.

they told me i am going to stay senior and stl.
they told me i am not opening a new area and that the companion i will have will have already been there.

considering last time, that might not be the case! haha nah it probs is.

my prediction is that i will go to exeter, new hampshire. that is where s caffall is, and she is going home this week :(

s mayle is staying and receiving a new companion.

s vanderhoef, who is a sister that i was over this last transfer, is the new sister training leader of the zone.

thanksgibbing was great! i got to see like 30 live, in the wild, happy turkeys on the thankful day, so i was happy.

i was with with many people i love. we went to 4 members homes, but luckily we only had one dinner, and the rest were dessert. so it was lovely. we really had lots of fun :)

i think i am "all set" with winter stuff. i am cool ya know? if i get sent to northern maine, i might change my mind, but i dont really know! we will see :) thank you for loving me and caring about me :)

i am so glad matt james hung out with sam! he really is a great friend. i tried to email him a few times on my mission, but i must have guessed the wrong address every time. tell him i say hi :)

the living nativity sounds great!

this week our friend kevin and his mom cheryl and kevins son connor took us to the joseph smith memorial to see the sights, which included a live nativity. it was real good :) i was so so SO happy that night! i loved being with those three and i loved being there. kevin and his family are so cool. i just want to take them home with me. they would love our family and they would be so happy.  i got to see some old missionary friends including sister berg!!!!! oh my goodness! it was so good! i was not expecting to see her there because i didnt know where she was serving. we screamed and hugged each other so tight and i cried. it was silly but so sweet and wonderful. ah. it was so grand. truly a top notch day. i love these people!

this week was a good one. it was sad to find out that i am leaving, really sad to tell everyone. this ward has been so good to me. i am glad i served here for so long. sigh.

hey did i ever tell you i met a scott buxton in this area? i saw a mailbox that said buxton so i stopped and talked to the guy. that was him. he wasnt too impressed that we were probs related and wasnt too interested, but he will get there eventually. :)

this morning s mayle and i were studying the sprit. we studied the holy ghost in the bible dictionary. it was wonderful, really. then we went to study "the light of christ" in the bible dictionary. as we were about to read it i thought to myself "ya know, the light of christ is great, but i still get it mixed up with the spirit sometimes and it seems like it would be a little easier if it was all just the spirit." then i thought "hey, sounds like you need to appreciate the light of christ a little more!" so i really studied and opened my heart and my mind. as we read it, it said the light of christ is "the law by which all things are governed" i thought that was great. it reminded me that einstein said something to the effect that there is something, some kind of force that is motivating all life to grow and to live. i cant remember the real quote but it was something like that. so i flipped to one of my favorite scriptures- d&c 88 41-45 as i read that, i noticed that it also said "he hath given a law unto all things, by which they move in their times and their seasons" wow! it hit me right then that this scripture is talking about what einstein said. i mean, i know i have a motivation to live. as in my gut drops when i almost get hit by a car or i feel like i am about to get hurt and i like to avoid things like starvation and hypothermia. but what about my reproducing cells? what about my liver? what about the glands that make my eyes wet so that my eyes dont dry up? what is motivating them? because i sure dont decide to make more white bood cells and digest my food. what about the plants outside? what about the photosynthesis? what is motivating them? its the light of christ! the light of christ "comprehendeth all things. and all things are before him and all things are round about him and he is above all things and in all things and is thought all things and is round about all things and all things are by him and of him even god, forever and ever" d&c 88:41. christ gave all living things a law to do what is needed for them to grow and for the earth to continue to have life on it. what is the light of christ? among other things, it is a law to LIVE! what are the commandments? they are laws to be happy and to live! to live not just right now, but to live eternally! when god gives commandments, he is commanding us to have eternal life! i love the gospel and i love living!!

in the name of jesus christ, i love all of you! amen!

gotta go! much love!
love, sister buxton

November 25, 2013

dear humans, and people, too,

i am so happy that s mayle and i could help you with your lesson without even trying. i do have an experience about prayer that i would love to share with you.

when i was about 6 months out on my mission, i was troubled by a certain something. it seemed like the people i met, the companion i had, the situations around me kept reminding me of the troubling thought. i got the thought during a sacrament meeting that i should read my patriarchal blessing. i thought"yeah ok, when i get home though, because i dont have it with me". later that day i forgot and i went to bed. over the next couple of days, similar promptings followed with forgetfulness followed. finally one night, my companion went to bed early. as i sat on my bed and worried about the certain something, i had the prompting again to read my blessing. i got it out, but decided to pray first. i decided i would pray that i would have my thoughts on the specific matter resolved. as i knelt down and started my prayer, i was led by the spirit not to ask for an answer to my specific problem, but to be thankful for my ability to receive revelation at all,  and ask for humility to learn whatever it is i need to learn while reading my blessing. when i was done i sat back down on my bed and read. prayers and questions that i had never offered, but that were inside of me were answered. they were answered with so much clarity that i felt like joseph smith "i knew it, and i knew that god knew it, and i could not deny it." i felt it hard to breathe as the spirit filled every part of my body. i had never felt that way before, and i have not felt quite that way since. it was the most powerful and clear spiritual experience that heavenly father has blessed me with. i said another prayer of gratitude and went to bed feeling better than ever. the original question that i had was not answered, i still didnt know what to do. but my question was only the tip of the iceberg. heavenly father knew what the whole iceberg was and he helped with the whole iceberg, not just what was showing, or what i was paying attention to. if i hadnt allowed the spirit to guide me with what to do AND what to pray for, i would have had no answer. i know he loves me and he wants me to be happy. if i can trust him the way i did that night, he will guide me to his kingdom.

i hope that made sense.

so yes, i do have a place to go for thanksgibbing. actually i think we have like 5 places. since we have been here for nearly 6 months, the people love us and all that good stuff. it is so wonderful. we have a favorite member family that invited us to come over for thanksgibbing. but we had to cancel on them because non members and less actives are our priority, and we have been invited. and i am totally fine with that :) our new mission president lets us have as many member meals as we want/the members want. with no effort of ours, we get fed very frequently. i hope i dont gain any. i think i may have gained 5-10 lbs on my mission so far and i am not happy about that. but i hear it is going to be a snowy winter (how would anyone know anyway?) an i hope it is. then i can work it off. but anyway it is so nice to be loved. speaking of which, thank you for loving me :) i thought you might have forgotten about me by now ;) i still get so happy when i get an email or a letter or anything like it :)

oh my goodness oh my goodness. so. it is a rare occasion that a tear of joy seeps out of my face. but it happened on saturday night. so all the missionaries got invited to the adult session of stake conference. can you believe there were 39 of us there?! 39 missionaries. wow it was good stuff. but thats not why the joy tear came. well its part of it. but listen listen! the bedford ward was there! i was so happy to see them! plus missionaries i love!! plus nancy the investigator from bedford! plus 3 of our investigators came to it! i got to sit by ray, the old man we are teaching. oh it was a joy! so much goodness in one room! and get a load of this- ALL the talks were on missionary work. it was amazing! wow it was good stuff! i cant even explain it.

there is a woman in our ward who is a sweet old woman. we helped her move a few weeks ago. she is so cool and fun and independent. an a little lonely. her husband is in a nursing home. he has alzheimers. we went to visit him for the first time this week, just s mayle and i. he was pretty confused who we were and why we were visiting him. once we got past that, he looked me right in the eye and asked  "do you believe the things they say i did?" i hadnt heard anything, so i said "i dont know, what are they saying?" i dont even know who "they "are. he explained that the reason he is in prison is because he got falsely accused of stealing and killing in the process. wait, wait, whaaaat? poor guy thought he was in prison, but he was really in a nursing home. we tried to tell him the truth, but apparently s mayle and i have very limited experience with this kind of stuff, so we ended up just going along with it. it was so sad. but i think it would be fun to go back and if he is still thinking that silly stuff, we will just tell him the bad guys got caught and that he is free! that would be fun. i would like that. but it sure made me thankful to have my mind (as far as i know). even if i have lost my mind, i still feel pretty happy, so its ok! at least i'm safe inside my head..

isnt the gospel great? its like its true or something? sigh. just had to throw that in there.

have fun this week! eat stuff! be happy, be thankful and remember that we are all eternally indebted!!

i love you! i really do!

love, sister buxton :)