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 :)