Monday, March 11, 2013

bob and family,

isnt brother earnshaw the greatest? man. he makes me laugh erry time i see him. without fail. i am so happy that he went and visited you! i am sure it was a grand time with him. i was at his house saturday morning and he told me a bit about the visit and it sounded like a delight! i got to see pictures of you and that was really fun! i am so glad you got to meet him. what a treat!

jackie set another baptismal date. hahaha :) this time i think it might actually happen. we sat with her while she called people to get it all lined up within the family and all that jazz. she is so sweet. she really is eager to get baptized, she just doesnt see how other people's plans and the like can interfere. she is a sweety. i told her about you (bob) and she said she wants to meet you. maybe she will some day. that girl is wonderful.

carolina is doing a little better. she has just been so stressed recently but i think she is finding that working out and listening to the scriptures and the like are helping her lift her spirits and get her through these trying times.

we have been teaching a beautiful black family. actually mostly just the mom. her name is joyce. this sunday they finally made it to church for the first time! it was so grand. i think they all loved it. she has a baby named gloria, a 3 year old boy named matt, and a girl that is... 8? named nancy. matt has decided that my name is elizabeth and for some reason that kid just loves me! we laugh and laugh when we are around each other and he was beaming when we saw each other at church. i let him draw all over the pages of my planner, which i will cherish. when it was time to go to primary, he was scared and he fought it until i offered to take him. then he took my hand and was happy to go :) gosh. he definitely made my day. that family is so lovely. joyce is a definite truth seeker. i hope they continue to progress and love the scriptures. :)

why is being a missionary so great?? i just love it!

thank you for all that you do. i really love you! i cant tell you how excited i was to hear about you from my mission leader! i miss you ok? it just doesnt hurt the way i thought it would :)

please be happy my family!  ether 12:18

i love you!

love, sister lani buxton :) 

Monday, March 4, 2013

hey bob :)

thank you for the email

yes we have had a zone conference, it was good. not a ton to report on. it was at the joseph smith birthplace. the thing is, we didnt really get to do anything there. we just went into a church building and learned missionary things, then we went home. didnt get to tour the joseph smith birthplace or memorial or anything. didnt even really talk about him. just had a conference and then left.. 

but it was good.

my mission president really is the best. he leaves this summer, which no one is looking forward to. but its ok. i am glad i got to have him as my leader for a bit.

we have been trying for a while to get in contact with the grump. last night we finally caught him again on his steps. we talked for a pretty short time. then he warned us to leave. he wasnt very happy with us. i think we shouldnt go back for... some time. :(

jackie went to Massachusetts over a week ago to spend some time with her cousins (lds) and she forgot get phone and also about the baptism.. jackie! stop acting.... 15.. hahaha :) its ok though. she really acts pretty mature for a 15 year old. she is just... forgetful :) hahah. but last night she sent us a text which read: "sisters! i'm back! i miss you guys! i know you guys are sleeping so i'm sorry but i had an AMAZING time giving my testimony to the young women and men!"

so that was rather exciting :) silly jackie. we will be visiting her tonight.

also. her mom is letting us come over again to teach her, so that is really great :)

jeremy was busy when we went to our appointment with him. silly boy. his mom said we should give up on him but i told her that as a representative of jesus christ, i cannot!

caleb, the little boy is doing ok. his mom really likes us, but she has been cancelling appointments recently. hopefully we get to see them again soon. teaching them can be tricky at times because its a crazy house over there.

carolina is going though some really trying times right now. it is really sad, but she seems to recognize that the adversary is coming at her because she is following the lord more and more. it is so sad to see her cry and struggle. she is such an amazing woman and we love her so much. i just hope i am doing my part right and i hope she continues to try and try and not give up. that family sure is wonderful. her little girl fell asleep while i was brushing her hair last night. it was so cute!

robin and becca are doing well. still not coming to church, but they like us and they are even starting to invite people over while we are there, so that is really cool :) i love those girls.

oh! so this week i found out that i am a born again christian! we were talking to a man named bob who is a born again. it was great! he has met with missionaries a lot and has had some incredible spiritual experiences! it was really great to talk with him. but he explained that a born again christian is just a person who commits themselves and their lives to christ and is "born of the spirit" like it says in the bible. ( now we just need to help him understand that scripture even more.) but anyway its not actually a denomination. its just an inner commitment! well hey! thats me! :) this is great :)

did i ever tell you about brother earnshaw? oh man! he is so great. he is my mission leader in the ward i am serving. what a hilarious man. he is sister caffalls x boyfriend's (who she still loves and he loves her) dad!! haha isnt that funny? we see him and his family like.. 3 times a week. and he feeds us waffles every saturday! oh its a hoot. that guy is great. i always tell s caffall to marry her x so that she can have brother earnshaw as a father in law for eternity. that right there would be worth it!

i cant tell you how flattered i am that bum wants my art in his room! wowie!! thank you so much bum! go for it! i know that mom will help and you two will make sure they are safe, so go for it! thank you! i love you bum!

well the mission is going great and i truly love being a missionary. people say its a huge sacrifice, but really its a huge privilege! this transfer we are in is being cut short to only 5 weeks instead of 6. then we are getting 12 new sisters, which is more than sisters we have available to train!!!!!!........ ahh! so this means i am pretty much guaranteed to be training as of march 26.

sigh.

i hope i do well.

i love you all and i am very thankful for the letters, emails, love, support, packages, and thoughts.

i am not thankful for due dates before i get home.

i love you!!

love, sister, daughter, whatever whatever buxton!

:)

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