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.

Monday, June 3, 2013

family,

well hey and thank you for the letters! i am so excited for jade!!!! oh man i just cant wait to hear where she is going!! wowie!!!! i am just so happy for her.

i definitely enjoyed the story of the wild whinings. crazy animals! the other night there arose such a clatter, i got out of my bed to see what was the matter. i opened the window and i yelled at some cats who were fighting. poor "big guy". he was involved, but he didnt get hurt. he is a great cat. he is always waiting for us when we come home and he loves to sit on me or by me while i study. he is a good cat. and i think s cloward is warming up to the idea too. she has never had a cat, so she is usually pretty confused by him. you know how cats rub the side of their faces on stuff? well this morning during companionship study, big guy was sitting on my lap and rubbing his face on my desk. s cloward; "what is he- oh! he! he's rubbing his tooth on the desk! why is he doing that?!" hahahahaha oh she is so funny. she cracks me up big time.

speaking of s cloward, she is still sick. we still dont know what is wrong with her but her surgeon who took out her gallbladder 2 years ago said he thinks it is sphincter vodi (ghahaha!). so hopefully giong to a g.i. specialist will help.

this week was good though. i cant remember if i told you about ken, but we found him street contacting a couple weeks ago. he was a treat. we found him working away in his garage. he was very kind and happy to receive a bom. this week we had an appointment to see him again. we couldnt go cuz s cloward was really just.. having a difficult time. so we sent the elders over there for us (how convenient!). they reported with the following; ken read.... THE ENTIRE BOOK OF MORMON!  in less than a week! my goodness! we couldnt believe it. wowIE!! so needless to say, we have another appointment for this wednesday and we are STOKED to go see him again. goodie goodie gumdrops!!

oh! there is a woman in our ward who specializes in reflexology. do you know what that is? well i sure didnt. its like weird voodoo stuff! its great! well anyway, basically the Lord directed her to s cloward and now they are trying to cure her through that. oh but reflexology is essentially healing your body through a foot massage. it is superb. so s cloward has had many a body healing and bad energy elimination via strange breathing techniques, air bending and foot massages. its awesome. we are excited to see if it will cure her.

after we visited with her on saturday night, we were walking out her apartment building. we opened the door to find a very tan, bald man. the first thing he said to us was "its a miracle!" haha we were very happy to run into a person who recognized the divinity of our calling. he was very happy to see us and insisted that we allowed him to give us ice cream. so we happily agreed (even though we were given so much dessert that day. i dont know why people just instantly think they need to give us sugar, but it is great!). he ran inside, got our ice cream, and we all enjoyed it outside. turns out this man is jewish (by birth maybe? maybe he is an x jew?) but he told us that he loved meditating and that he is Buddhist. it was great. we talked about space and agreed that we needed to meet up again. i shared alma 30:44 and we went on our way. that guy sure was cool. i am very happy we met him and that we will continue to meet with him. what a fun week it has been.

man! i cant tell you how happy and excited i am for jade!!

ok anyway, i have some birthday wishes. i know my birthday isnt for a few months but i want you to post this on the blog and i want people to have plenty of time to do it-

my birthday wish!

i want for my birthday people to do something for someone and then write me what it was and how you felt about it. here are some ideas!

go do some temple work!

family history work!

missionary experiences! (they dont have to be big)

make a meal for someone, or take someone out to eat!

help lift a burden!

change a diaper! (doesnt just have to be a baby!)

use a talent you have to benefit someone else!

go crazy! do whatever you want, but just remember- mosiah 2:17   :)

thank you! i hope to hear about your experiences!

well family. thank you for being so great. i love you all very much. keep being wonderful and i will talk to you later.

love you!

love, sister wanay

Monday, May 27, 2013

ok. first item of business- today on my way to email, I saw a bald eagle!!

oh it sure was majestic. quite the sight to see.

ok. thank you for the email and the support. it is good to hear the positive and supportive things that you say. I am happy that you were able to meet e nelson. I knew he would get along with sam and I was so thankful when he told me he would go visit you. I am so happy that you appreciate him and his amazing story. the time about the hike is that s berg and I went to email and shop and she forgot the phone an the elders wanted to go on the hike when we were emailing but we didn't know cuz we didn't have the phone. so it was our fault that we forgot the phone but it was an honest mistake. they ended up going somewhere else and we ended up hiking without them. so it was just lack of communication.

this week has been a joy. I went on another exchange this week. I was with one of the sisters from my mtc district. it was so wonderful to be with her. we also shared a room and she was always a wonderful silent example of faith and humility. it was so much fun to spend a day together and help each other learn.

the rest of this week was great. a brief summary goes as follows; in one week we found 5 new investigators, got an ultrasound of s clowards entire mid section, went on an exchange, spent 6 hours in the emergency room, and met with the bishop. it was a lovely week.

s cloward is just not feeling well. we still don't know why, but hopefully there will be answers soon. that poor sister.

our new investigators are pretty great. Dwight is definitely one of the most interesting men I have ever met. he is probs in his 60's. he lives in  a trailer by the creek, he has a motorcycle. he is a pro roller skater- he started when he was 3. he is going to restore his boat that is one of 3 in the united states. he is also going to let us help him with it :) he has a one man band. we haven't seen him in action but he told us that he plays guitar, drums, sings and maybe some other things all at once. I don't know how it works, but I want to witness it! he is so funny. I am so glad we met him. he told us over and over that he "likes to raise heck!" hahahaha that silly man.

well once again this week was a great testimony that this area has been prepared for us and that we have been prepared for this area. there are a lot of people that s cloward and I can relate to and there are just so many people that are happy to receive us. we have made multiple people cry just by being in their presence. it is so humbling.

so to answer your question- we have an hour and a half to email and we can email pretty much anyone outside of our mission. i usually still feel rushed at the end of it just because i have to report things to the president and because it is the only time to use the internet all week. but it is good and it is more time than we used to have and i am thankful for it.

i am so proud of my family. i am not even surprised that everyone is so successful in what they are doing. my only request is that everyone please recognize that the lord is giving the strength and the talents. continue to  thank him so that your flow of blessings doesn't stop! thank you for being great examples to me with what you do.

i laughed at the stories of my nephews. oh those boys are cute. i am so happy that erin is going to have a girl. i knew she will be so cute. i don't remember erin as a little girl but i know pictures and she was just so cute! especially when dad would contort her face with his hands. hhaha :) what a good dad and a good grandpa.

well i must go now. thank you for all that you do and all that you help me with. i love you all and i am thankful to be a part of the family. please don't let the nephews forget about me. i love you!

love, sister wanay buxton!!

Monday, May 20, 2013

dear people,

thank you for the emails. i always love hearing them. i am so happy about bum graduating.

all the mission calls are so wonderful to hear! i am glad you got to meet a couple of my rm friends. i worked with both scott and spencer, although you might know that by now. i think the spencer that you were thinking of is spencer donaldson. he is in arizona and he just left in... august i think.

dad, thank you for the wonderful experiences you shared with me. i think about a garden, or you know, vineyard, and i think about all the work that goes into it. there are so many stages that go into gardening. you have to clear a place for it, prepare the dirt for it, plant the seeds, water, sunshine, weed, wait, wait, water, etc.. then there is the harvest. it all takes time, but i know that no matter what part the lord calls me to do, i will magnify it with a thankful heart. i am blessed to do any part of his work and i am honored that he would trust me with any of it. with reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures- alma 28:14.

thank you bob for the fun updates and stories! so fun to read.

so this week i went on my first exchange as a sister training leader! i have never been out of my own area for an exchange before so it was fun :) i went to brunswick, maine. the sister i was with has only been out for 7 weeks and she is training already! wow! what an amazing sister. i really enjoyed my time with her. we both learned a lot and grew to love each other more. one of the people we stopped by was a sweet old woman named juanita :) she is a returning member of the church who has her eye set on going to the temple with her husband someday. oh she was cute. we read some of the book of mormon with her. she told us about her husbands new diet and that she was stuggling to accomodate. it was so sweet. i told her that i am a vegetarian and she said "you are? what do you make to eat!?" hahahah it was so cute and funny. i definitely felt impressed to tell her your contact info. i am so glad that she used it. she has a sweet spirit. thank you so much for helping her. i know she appreciates it.

so while i was on the exchange, sister cloward had to go to the doctor to get tested for appendicitis! ah! is that how that is spelled? that poor sister. she woke up 2 different nights with the worst pain. (and this girl knows pain.. she has a serious history in that department) she was all curled up and crying and oh, it was just so sad. but she is feeling good right now. we are just waiting to hear back from the doctor. poor sister.

so when i got back from the exchange, i had a box waiting for me! sister cloward saw the 30 meals in one day sticker and she was excited for it to be food! hahaha :) "just imagine.. 30 meals in one day!" hahaha she is great.

i really could not believe same sent me a box of presents for HIS birthday! my goodness! what a sweetie! hahah :) the presents really are wonderful. i love the snowboarding pass. that silly boy. i dont know what the blue round thing with the sticky feet and the number is though. :) but i do love the presents and it is a perfect gift :) thank you so much bum. i am very thankful for you :)

the rest of this week was great. we are having so much fun together and so many gerat times lay ahead of us. we get along so well. you wouldnt believe how spiritual and prepared s cloward is. she is great.

ok i have to tell you a story. so last week at the library there was this man probs in his 50's that we kept bumping into. he is maybe 2 inches taller than me. he had pot belly, fisherman hat, and glasses with the sunglasses attached that can open up horizontally. is this making sense? he was friendly and stuff. i didnt do anything missionary-like with him. didnt even give him a pass along card. silly sister buxton. i regretted that for the rest of the week. well. this week when i came in, i saw him again. so i went over to him to talk to him. we talked for a few minutes and i could see that the conversation wasnt going too much of anywhere; he is pretty wrapped up in incorrect details.. he was talking pretty loud. people were looking at us. the librarian finally came over and asked if he was bothering me. i told him we could talk later. he gave me is contact info and left. bout 10 minutes later he came and sat by me. possibly 5 inches too close. he grabbed a piece of paper and stared writing. the librarian came over again and asked if he was bothering me. he got all offended and stuff. it was silly. i told her it was ok. i told him that she was just looking out for me. sheesh. she left. he gave me a paper that said- "are you interested in morotcycles? would you like to got for a ride sometime?" hahahahahhaha oh my heavens what a silly man! oh gosh. so. so. so funny.

oh. sister cloward really really wants pictures of me wearing bandannas and also of my mohawk. i know we have some of the bandannas. i truly fear that there are none of my mohawk. please send them if they exist :) thank you

well family, i can tell you are praying for me because i am happy, loving the work, and i can feel the lord strengthening me. alma 26:12.

let me know if there anything i can do to better serve you or be a better daughter, sister, aunt, missionary. i love you all very much!

thank you!

love, sister wanay buxton!

Monday, May 13, 2013

hello all! 

i will proceed to answer questions.

in my district there are 4 companionships.

s cloward and i are the only sisters in our district.

one comp split their area with us. one comp serves in gardner. one comp serves in winthrop.

our apartment was completely stocked with desks, dishes, knives, blender, broom, etc..

the bishop and a man in our ward found the apartment. the man in the ward owns the apartment.

there was no food, we went shopping on tuesday night.

my comp stays in our area during exchanges and she has one sister stay with her. i go to that sisters area and am companions with her companion. hope that made sense. we just switch comps.

if she goes brand new with brand new, then they will have a great learning experience. that happened to me and s berg two times. they used over 70 miles the first time. remember?

my area is the east side of augusta (divided by the river), chelsea and windsor.

i am at the library using the computers here.

the elders told me about the library.

we have zone conference at our chapel here in hallowell.

i dont know how to explain how big my zone is.

"i'm all set" is a very common term here. they also drop "r"s if they are at the end of a word and they add an "r" at the end of words that end with "a". for example- door= "dooah" pizza="pizzer" spatula="spatuler" yard="yahd" they have other things they say like "wicked" exaple- "oh yeah the ward is wicked excited to have you!" 

"i have a wicked bad sickness, so i will be at sacrament unless i am in the emergency room"

everyone caters kindly to my food preferences.

i truly love my companion. she is so wonderful. we are very, very compatible. i dont think she is too overwhelmed. she has been sick and there has been a lot of paperwork and talking to get things sorted out, so we have had a lot of down time. i am not too overwhelmed. i have just been relying on the lord. i know that when i do, things work out and he helps me do what is expected and what is needed.

maine really is amazing. it is covered in life. there is life everywhere! it rains lots and is just so beautiful. outside my apartment door is a green field. behind the field is forest. behind the forest is a big river. oh. so wonderful. the other day s cloward took like a two hour nap because of her sickness. i let the cat in and cuddled with him while watching a movie about temples. it sure was splendid.

maine is also the welfare state of the states, so there are places we arent allowed to go and many people that are struggling physically and mentally. its pretty hear breaking. good thing this life isnt forever.

the flower job sounds great. i tried to find a flower delivery girl job while i was going to usu. i just think that would be lovely. i hope you dont have to spend too many days hiding in the car or under the wagon because of rain.

good news about sam! my bum will climb the peaks of life and sound a trump at the top. i just know it.

it sure was good to hear all your voices. i feel like i did most of the talking and i didnt hear from you people too much! i hope you could understand me over the phone and i hope you liked the stories i had to tell. i hope you all know  how much i love this work and love being out here. i love that my family loves me! i love that the more i learn about the gospel, the more i find positive reinforcement to become better and stronger!

i love you all!

bye!!

love, sister wanay!!

Monday, May 6, 2013

well hello!

thank you for all the news. california sounds fun and i am happy to hear some stories. i am glad my nephews are growing up to be such great kids!

so is erin having a boy or a girl? and when is she due?

are you ready for mothers day calls? i am thinking maybe i will get to call next sunday around 8:00 here. (6:00 your time, right?) i hope that works for you. i hope that is what i end up doing.

well a lot of great things happened this week. an eventful week for sure. first off, i found some roller blades. i found them just before we were going to walk home to retire for the night. it was perfect. on our way home, i saw pete! the christmas miracle man. so i stopped and talked to him. he was nice this time and even shook my hand. he did tell me that i am an idiot. but he was really nice :) but those roller blades are so cool! i found them outside robin's house. they were in a big pile of free stuff. i have been using them for exercise in the morning. it has been a blast!

so s berg has to do this defensive driving thing because she got in a bad accident before her mission. she was watching it the other day and all the sudden she comes over to me saying "oh my gosh! tell me this guy doesnt look like stanley from the office!" it was him! hahaha it really was him! what is he doing in the missionary driving dvds? hahahaha oh it was great. we had a good laugh.

so there is an elder in my district named elder nelson. he is going home this week. i guess he is going home early because of health issues. i dont really know what they are because i feel bad asking. but he is a great elder. and guess where home is for him!! orem utah! i asked him to go say hi to you (especially sam cuz i think they would get along). he said he would! i wasnt going to tell you just in case he forgot or if he thought it was weird or something. but he called me a couple days ago and told me to email you and give you a heads up that he is coming! great huh! i am so happy for you to meet him. he is a fun elder. oh and he requested that i tell you that he is NOT apostate. he is only going home early for medical reasons. so look forward to that :)

so last monday night i got a call from the assistants telling me that i was expected to be at the very first missionary leadership counsel (or something like that) which is replacing zone leader counsel. the meeting was going on the very next day.. (those BLASTED elders always tell us everything last minute!) so that night during planning we rearranged our tuesday and stuff. then we hear some trudging up the stairs... sister caffall and sister jensen burst through the door!!  man oh man what a surprise!! they were staying at our appartment for the night so that they could go to the meeting too! (those BLASTED elders always forget to tell us things!!) but. it was fun to be there and it was interesting. i think they just invited me because out of all the sisters, i live the closest to the building they were having the meeting at. but sister berg didnt go. she went on a mini exchange!

so on sunday the elders had a baptism! they have been teaching a couple and they got baptized at the same service. it was wonderful to see.

alright alright its time for the new of transfers. i did get a call on saturday night. it was president wilkey who called (that means it was a special call). he told s berg that she would be staying in bedford and receiving a new senior companion.  he then told me that he wants to extend the call to me to.... train again. and "basically open a new area." and also.... be a "sister training leader". crazy huh?! my goodness. this mission has never had one before so i dont really know what that means. we talked about it at the meeting on tuesday but it is just so foreign that we were pretty much all confused to some degree (president too). when we were talking over the phone on tuesday he told me that i would basically be zone leader, but different. good thing i know what that is supposed to mean.. not! hahha so hopefully things go well and hopefully they all keep in mind that i... might need a little help..  but i just try to remember d&c 112 :10 and also jeremiah 17:5-8. those scriptures help lots. so this means that i will be moving of course. i dont know where. they will tell me at the end of the transfer meeting tomorrow. :)  so that means i dont know my address. but the mission office address works just as well.

i was just fine after the phone call. i was just fine during church. i mean. i was nervous and all that but i didnt even cry or anything! then sister earnshaw found out i was leaving. she was so sad! oh it just broke my heart. she hugged me and then looked me in the eyes and told me all these sweet things and it just made me cry. gosh. it was kinda embarrassing but it was tender ya know? that family has done so much just in the short time i was in this ward. they are so kind to everyone and they are very missionary minded. i love that family! after s berg took pictures of me with them, brother earnshaw snuck me a hug! hahahaha that silly man! it was a sneaky side hug and then he walked away saying that he would never hug a sister missionary because he knows its not allowed. hahaha oh that man is great. i would be surprised if any of my future ward mission leaders are as great as him. he sure is wonderful.

it was difficult to say goodbye to some people but i have mostly kept it on the dl because i dont like goodbyes and all that. but it was a good week and sister earnshaw remains the only one who has made me cry over transfers. although i spose there is a chance i will cry when i have to leave s berg. i really love that sister and we have had such a great time together. president always tells us that companionships usually go through 3 stages- the rah rah rah stage where they are all excited to go and do. then the red hair stage where everything about their companion bugs them.. even their... red hair!! ah! then the last stage is charity where they just come to grips with each other and love each other. i feel like s berg and i went straight to the last stage. it has been a wonderful transfer! 

well i really have to go now. thank you for everything! sorry i dont know my new address!

talk to you on sunday!! i love you!

love, sister lani buxton :)

Monday, April 29, 2013

oooooOOOOooo.. mom has an iphone?! hahaha this is news to me. look at how fancy you are bob!

i am happy to hear that my bum now has a degree in science. what a smart bum. i love the pictures you sent me. hahaha :) it sounds like you are having fun out there!

i am glad you enjoyed your presents, dad. enjoy those authentic bleach flour buns.

this week was a joy. we did yard work twice this week in our skirts and flats. it was so much fun. i miss doing that kind of stuff. plus my arms got their first kiss of sun.

so on wednesday we were walking down the street and we passed a man. i didnt get to talk to him; there were too many other people around him and it would have been awkward. (you would think i would be over the whole awkward thing because i am a missionary, but apparently i am not.) well. bout two hours later we saw him again. i just knew we needed to talk. so i stopped him. we talked for a couple minutes, and the conversation led to having a personal relationship with christ. he was so happy. he said he has been reading the bible and that he loves christ. i asked him if he would like to strengthen his relationship with him and he eagerly said yes. we then introduced the bom to him. he thought it was great! he thankfully accepted it and gave us his address. he then volunteered the information that he just stopped smoking and drinking! he seemed so happy!

man. this was just so cool. i feel like i hear stories like that alla time about missionaries that meet such prepared people. people that dont even need to be told what they should do to be more spiritually receptive. that is one thing i have really learned on my mission. i have heard before that there are no temporal laws, only spiritual. i never really understood that, because of things like the word of wisdom. but the word of wisdom really is a spiritual law. it is spiritual because the promptings of the spirit are so soft and quiet that you really have to be still and listening closely.

like in helaman 5:30- (go read that so i dont have to type it please :)) there is a quote in pmg that really helped me understand that the wow is a spiritual law. it says something to the effect of "no wonder the word of wisdom was revealed, for how could the drunkard or the addict hear such a voice?" i think it is on page 97. i cant remember for sure. but that really helped me understand. but anyway. i am so excited to go back and visit that guy. missionary work is so much fun :)

remember sister constantine? well! she came to church yesterday! she stayed for the whole 3 hours and still wanted us to come over that night. she loved church so much. she was happy to tell us about her reading from the bom. we had a member come with us (betty butler that is! the snappiest, funniest, bitter old 4' 11'' 87 year old woman around!) she brought some old temple magazines. right when s constantine saw them she asked if she could borrow them. that woman is so sweet and wonderful. i am so glad she is coming to church and benefiting from the gospel. i wish everyone could see that the only reason god gives us the gospel is to benefit us. i mean, thats his "work and [his] glory" - that is- to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." the cool thing is that eternal life is essentially just us reaching a whole new capacity for joy! heavenly father is so cool!

ok yesterday something funny happened. the elders have been teaching a couple named julie and allen carrier. they are going to be baptized next week. so the funny thing is that under strange circumstances, we ended up teaching them (without the elders) at a members house yesterday. we basically found out right before we got in the car to drive over there. so we had to make a last minute lesson plan for people we had never taught before. so we decided to go with a really cool lesson that dave told me about. we had them draw the fortifications that captain moroni put into action in alma 50:1-6. then we related that to how we can protect ourselves using the gospel. it was cooler than i am making it sound! so that night, the elders called us and told us that the carriers loved it so much! they said it was the highlight of their day! what a bunch of cuties! thank you dave for the lesson plan! it was great :)

we have been meeting with leah, an investigator. when we went to visit her last night, she was so excited to see us! she welcomed us in and immediately started talking about what she read in the bom. she was so excited. she had even been sharing what she read with her friends. she opened up her bom and started telling us how amazing god is and that she has so much peace and hope in her life. she can finally forgive herself for past sins because she knows that god will forgive her too. she was filled with so much love and motivation to do good and become what god wants her to be! we asked her if she would be baptized. she got up and marked on the calendar a date to stop smoking and drinking and also a date to be baptized. a miracle indeed!

well i really have to go now! thank you for the love and support. have fun in california! bum, dont get sandy cheeks!

i love you all!

love, sister wanay buxton!

Monday, April 22, 2013

hey,

thank you dad for explaining the whole stone thing. i am glad you know stuff. you can write me as little or as often as you would like. i will not complain and i will still be thankful for every letter/email you DO write. thank you for all the support and all that. i know i couldnt get out here without you and i know that is due to your generosity and also the way you brought me up. so thank you.

happy birthday!! or should i say, saggy. yes. saggy birthday. i am sending you a birthday package this week. i have had it all taped up in our apartment for a couple weeks now. it is just hard to find time to send it! but it is coming your way. dont be too excited though. some of the stuff in there is actually for me :) hahaha. just stuff i dont need to be carrying around and stuff like that. i figured you would be ok with receiving presents for me when it is your birthday and anniversary :) oh yea, happy anniversary mom and dad! keep on loving each other!!

this week was a nice week. carolina set a baptismal date of june 14, with her daughter. that means we now have 4 baptismal dates in our area! this is so exciting!

jackie scott went on a church tour this last tuesday which was great. that lady is so funny! she is in her 70's. she shows up to the church and as she is about to walk into the building, 2 five dollar bills spill out from inside of her sweater.  so i go to pick them up for her and like 7 more five dillar bills come flying out from her sweater! hahaha that silly lady. a woman from our ward came to the church tour. her name is also jackie. they connected so well and had a lovely time, i think! jackie is so cute! she is praying about baptism now. it is so much fun to see her relationship with god grow. i think she has always wanted it and wanted it to be positive. so when we got back to the apartment, we got a text from the elders, who were at the church at the time of our tour. the text said- "hey did your investigator drop a 5 dollar bill at the church?" hahahahaha oh silly jackie! we have retrieved it and it will be... not so safe inside her sweater again soon! hahaha :)

remember robin handlin? when we went to our appointment with her this last week, she was so excited to tell us all about what she studied in the bom. she had read way more than we asked her to. she came to the lesson with questions and cool things she wanted to share with us. at the end of the lesson, she whipped out her sticky notes and asked us what we wanted her to read this week. wow! it is so amazing to see her progress so much and really just want more and more! i hope she stays strong and always wants more of the gospel in her life.

a miracle from this week- sister constantine is a less active. she is sweet but bitter. she smokes, drinks, and doesnt want to come to church because of a bad experience in the past. the day of our appointment, she called us to cancel because she was in a bad mood. we asked if we could come over sooner and just read to her. she agreed. when we got there, she was just having a bad day. too many things all coming at her at once. we let her just sit down and relax as we read some chapters out of the bom to her. by the time we were done, she was feeling so much better. we have never brought up her wow issues. this time she did. she told us that she is giving or throwing all her wow problems away and that she wants us to find someone to fix her dress so that she can come to church. WOWIE! what a miracle indeed!

this week has been great and this work is truly moving along! i love being a missionary and i love all of you!

until next week!

love, sister lani buxton!

Monday, April 15, 2013

thank you for the email. it is fun to read about lunk and kee kee and them and just imagine how the house is these days. its nice to imagine looking out the window at the snowy spring that always happens :) hahaha

thank you again for taking care of fotis. dont let him get too fat. i know i did. i had to cut back his food cuz he gained too much weight. remember if he is too much, you can still put him online and find a good home for him. i trust you.

so about the family tree- i think i mostly just want stuff like- me, parents, grandparents, and so on. as far as you would like to go. it doesnt need to be too extravagant.

well lots of good things happened this week. have i ever told you about kirby? well she is great :) we have been trying to teach her while the elders teach her husband. for some reason she likes us more and andrew, her husband, likes the elders more. they are going through some trying times right now. their money sources have been less and less available. its so sad. things have gotten worse and worse. they are getting evicted. kirby and the kids are going to stay at her mom's house but andrew doesnt have a place to stay. i think he will be couch surfing, which is sad.

we went by on tuesday to see if we could help or have a lesson or something. when we got there, kirby could hardly open the door because there was so much stuff everywhere. she invited us in and explained that she has 2 days to be out and she doesnt know how she can accomplish what needs to be done. her pants didnt fit her anymore because stress has made her lose weight and all that stuff. she cried a little out of desperation. i told her to sit down and relax for a few minutes while s berg and I went into the other room and started getting things organized and cleaned up. in just an hour or 2 we found the surfaces of the table, counters and the floor. we had all the trash taken out. we had all the cupboards cleaned out. the floor was swept. everything just needed to be wiped down and all that, which i guess her friend was coming to do.

kirby felt so much better after that. she hugged us both and thanked us many times. it was so great to not think about myself and to be able to help such a wonderful friend. that girl is so amazing. she is allowing the missionaries visit her when she moves. i will miss her. i hope things start turning around for her.

in other news- remember oscany? well. she is progressing so much! she came to church on sunday even though none of her family came. that girl is so cool! s berg extended her first baptismal date to oscany, which she... ACCEPTED! whohoo! so exciting! when she said yes, she got this grin on her face that she couldnt get rid of. it was so cute!!

so for easter dinner we were at a members home. the mom invited us over. she is the only active member in her family. they all converted a while back. that night we met brother cloutier for the first time. we had an easter message with them which they all seemed to like. at the end of the lesson, i asked bro cloutier if we could teach him all of the lessons from the beginning. he said... YES! I dont know much about this family or their situation, so my faith in him is thankfully untainted by the past. everyone else is surprised that we are teaching him at all- including the mission leader, bishop, and brother cloutiers wife.

yesterday was the first lesson! we asked him lots of questions at the beginning of the lesson and i came to realize he really is just nervous about priesthood and he doesnt understand why this church is different from other churches. wow! he is less active because he doesnt understand some basic things? well thats easy to fix. we taught the restoration simply and asked lots of questions throughout. by the end, he was perfectly willing to read the bom and pray about it. also by the end of the lesson, him and his wife were holding hands and she was beaming! so cute!

so something strange came to my attention recently. in my district, i have been there the longest. wierd! also, i was talking to a new sister missionary  on tuesday. she asked how long i have been out. i told her 5 months. she immediately replied "oh you are one of the older sisters." hahaha wow! i had no idea! i am now one of the older sisters. the more i think about it, the less chance i have of ever being a jr. companion ever again. oh boy! this is going to be an interesting mission for me.

well thank you again for the email. and the love and the support.

this is all for this weeks letter. 

love you!

bye!

love, sister horrible daughter lani buxton

Monday, April 8, 2013

hi :)

i enjoyed your email. made me laugh out loud a couple of times :) my nephews are so cute! thank you for the fun updates and the silly stories.

i have been thinking a lot and i think i don’t want you to tell me if any of the pets die. i just don’t want to think about that while i am out here. thank you :)

did i thank you for the st. patties package? well thank you ver much :) that was a very cute package and i really enjoy the contents! those alligator socks are wonderful! they look nice on my feet and also in my drawer with my animal print socks and my sweater tights.

the easter package is also a delight! we love the m&ms and all that. the silly putty was an answer to a prayer i hadn’t actually said yet; sometimes there are kids in lessons that just need to be distracted or played with. i take play dough when i know we will need it but sometimes i just don’t know ahead of time. and the thing of play dough is just too big to be in my purse all the time just in case. but the little egg of silly putty is great! so thank you very much!

the belt is also cute! i wore it with my black dress the other day and it looked great. good find bob :)

so. being a trainer. its great :) i really have enjoyed it. it hasn’t been nearly as stressful as i thought. plus s. berg is great. i was definitely worried when i heard she went to byu. but no worries on that one :) she wears her byu shirt around our quarters, but other than that, she is a gem.

so for training we have a program that takes 12 weeks to complete. we have been instructed to complete it in 6. by the end of the training program, you are supposed to be ready to train if needs be. so yes. there is a chance that one or both of us will be training after 6 weeks. It’s crazy. we do a lot of studying. last i heard (which was 2 or 3 weeks ago) we have 10 more sisters coming out next transfer and 19 the transfer after that. crazy! our mission is going from 16 sisters to 52 in less than.. 4 months! we are in the middle of it now. sure is fun!

so last monday night we got a call telling me that i was expected to be at the missionary leadership training meeting the next day. i had never heard of such a meeting. apparently it’s for leadership (who would have guessed?) . sisters don't have leadership positions. why then, do you ask, was i there? well. straighten up your tie and comb your hair because you are reading a letter from the soon to be first sister assistant to the president this world has ever seen!

haha :)

just kidding. but i was asked to come to the meeting. i guess they are going to assign some leadership positions to sisters soon. they just asked me to go because i live close to the church that they were having the meeting at. but it was fun. i enjoyed being there. i had to demonstrate to everyone how they should tell a missionary of the opposite gender if they are crossing the line or something. it was so funny. one elder referred to the surge of sisters as a pandemic and one of the sisters immediately rebuked him in front of everyone and told him that that was offensive. hahahaha :) so funny :)

the meeting was fun, but i was just worried about my poor companion! she was left to be senior companion with a sister that came out at the same time she did! plus our gps broke!~ gah! that poor sister. she was a little bit of a lost puppy that day. but they taught 2 lessons while i was in the meeting! hooray!

something cool happened last night! we went to teach a less active; sister constantine. she is old and bitter because she has had a really tough life. she converted in the 90's ( i think) and fell away i dont know how long ago. i dont know many details, but apparently it is a miracle that we are even teaching her. at the beginning of our lesson last night she said 'there was another young sister who came that insisted that there was a man who saw god and another guy... i just sincerely believe that no one has ever seen god!' we were a bit nervous because we realized she was talking about joseph smith, and we were planning on teaching the restoration. but we asked some inspired (inspired indeed!) questions. then we taught the lesson of the restoration. by the end, the spirit was strong, she said it all made sense, and she had a renewed respect for the book of mormon and also a desire to read it. amazing miracle!

i did get to watch conference and i really really loved it. it was too bad that i couldn’t crochet on the couch but it was a very wonderful time. our only rules for conference were that we could only watch it at the church. i sure loved it:) it seemed to be all about family! it reminded me of.. you! get it? because you are my family. :) i can’t wait to get the ensign so i can read through the talks again!

hey do you think you could do me a huge favor? i am wondering if you could send me a little family tree of some sort. i dont need much. maybe just a paper i can fold up and put in my scriptures so i can show people every so often. i have a new found love for family history. i am sending a really cool story to the g parents this week. you will have to convince them to let you read it or something.

well i am going to be off now! i love you very  much family! i am so blessed to have been raised by you bob and dad!

i love you!

love,

sister lani buxton

Monday, April 1, 2013

hello!

yes yes it’s all true its soo true. i am training. but get this get this. there are 3 sisters that came out 5 weeks ago that are also training! can you believe that?! man. that would be so crazy to train that fast. so anyway. the sister i am training is named sister lindsey berg. she is really great :) i lucked out big time with this because this sister is cool! she has gotten used to the missionary lifestyle really fast and she is just very chill and willing to work. i really like her.

training is fun though :) you must have been praying for me :) i haven’t freaked out and i am getting just as much sleep as i was when i was a jr. comp. so this is good :)

yes yes jackie DID get baptized! oh it is so exciting :) i love that girl. her mom is letting us teach her, now we just have to do it! haha sometimes it is easier said than done. it would be great if her whole fam got baptized. i am sure they will. i just dont know when that would be. it might have to be plenty of time after i have left, but hey! i will accept a miracle if it comes my way.

bob francis, the born again christian. sigh.. we talked to him on the phone and he cancelled the appointment. he is just stuck right now. he is very worried about rocking the boat right now with his wife and all that. i think he wants to take steps in the direction of the lds church, but he is just scared. when he cancelled the appointment he thanked us for coming and he said he really enjoyed it. but then he kept saying  "i cant.... i.. i just.. i cant.." over and over. it was really heart breaking. but the good news is that he met a member of the church with not just similarities, it was like they were the same person! man it was amazing. so we will make sure he still has connections with the church and all that. and we will visit him again eventually. that guy sure is great.

so the r.s. activity. it was a celebration of the r.s. birthday. so the theme was birthday and also polka-dots. the invites, decorations, etc.. polka-dots. in the cultural hall is where the actual party took place. we had dinner and dessert and all that. on the wall they put butcher paper like 6 feet high and like... 15 feet across with a bow so that it looked like a big present. then we all thought of something we would be willing to do for someone else (iron some clothes, make spaghetti, paint nails, pick out your lice.." and we all wrote what it was and our contact info on our own individual polka-dot that was like.. 6 inches in diameter. they then decorated the present with the polka-dots of service. everyone that gave a dot got to then at the end, pick a dot. i gave "family home evening to your non member friend" (hahaha :) and i picked "sewing alterations and repair" so that worked out pretty well.

s caffall was wearing my skirt when it ripped. i dont really know how it happened. i think it got caught on a door or something but really i just dont know.

but s caffall sure is sweet! i told her not to worry about it and all that. on my first night of being a trainer i picked up my pillow and what did i find underneath... one of her skirts with a note to me (it was for "sister BUTxton" hahaha! oh i love that sister.) it was my favorite skirt of hers! wow. she sure is sweet to me. i really like that skirt! so that's that.

well in other news. this week has been great! robin handlin has been praying lots and she loves it :) now that she is reading and praying, she is motivated to be better! and isnt that what the gospel is supposed to do for us? motivate us to improve? she asked us on friday "so if i am not doing anything bad, what else do i need to DO? what else should i be doing??" wow! so good! then she happily committed to be baptized! what a wonderful lady :) 

that same day, we met with kelly, who has been investigating for a long time and she is practically mormon. she got pumped about the restoration and she also committed to being baptized :)

this mission is so much fun and this area is on fire! we are supposed to train in 12 weeks but because there are so many missionaries coming out, i am supposed to train in 6 weeks now! our area is really catching fire. we are having a hard time finding time to eat, let alone get through the whole training program! wow! how exciting!

hey it sure is good to hear about things back home! my nephews sound so cute!

thank you for the emails, letters and love!

much love,

sister wanay buxton!