April 7, 2014

my main peeps,

(not maine peeps)

hi :) tis, tis indeed transfer week. i am glad to say that i will be staying in yarmouth for this next transfer :)

speaking of yarmouth. the other day  i was at a missionary meeting. during lunch, while i was eating carrots, a fellow missionary asked me "how's yarmouth?" i replied "its good. full of carrots." he didnt get it. he didnt even realize i was making a joke. i asked s davis about it later and she didnt get it until i explained it. man. i thought it was more obvious than that. i hope YOU get it. my fellow funny family. oh. but dont get me wrong. s davis is hilarious! she is so fun and funny and she also thinks i am funny, which.. could be a bad thing but it sure keeps us sane and happy :)

i got the box! thank you thank you. you always send the perfect thing. the perfect amount and the perfect missionary pick me up :) i love it. thank you. and s davis does, too :) oh. get this. her dad's name is david! its funny. and then you realize his name is david davis. then its even funnier! i always tell my companions that the boxes you send are for both of us, but i dont know if they really believe it, ya know?

hahaha! sadie!!!! that family is just so funny. unfortunately, i got some bad news. they are not moving to utah anymore. they are moving in quite a different direction. the reason being monika has a crazy x and he found out she was moving to utah and was making it.. unpleasant/unsafe for her. so sad. :(

i truly loved conference. oh my goodness it really is like christmas for missionaries. and hey, it really was jesus' birthday! how appropriate. we had to watch it at the church. it is a mission rule for us. but i brought a blanket and i was happy and comfortable. it is nice to watch conference  without a care or distraction in the world.

sorry about the milk. i am so relieved the letters and all that made it safe. i hope nothing else broke or anything. the things in the box are really special to me. i will have to explain stuff later. thank you for taking care of it. i hope the shirt isnt stained.

i do want to hike the places you are planning! count me in!

it really is going well over here. i am enjoying every day. i am realizing that i have refined my dog whispering skills as a missionary. you see, most people have pets. it is really great. but it is sometimes crucial that the dogs behave themselves so that the spirit is not interrupted by barks, gags, sniffed bums and begs for attention. i was able to demonstrate my whisperings very well recently. we were knocking on a door and there was a big, ferocious dog tied to a chain that was barking, yanking on the chain and his hackles were up. he was a good guard dog. i barked back at him of course and we talked for a while. after a few minutes of this, followed with some ignoring on my part, i turned to the still barking dog and asked him if he wanted to be friends. he immediately stopped barking. i asked him again. he wagged his tail. i started to walk towards him. he layed down on the ground- still not a peep! i approached him, he stiffed my hand, and we became instant friends. it was a joy. what a good dog.

back to the business of salvation as it relates to people. we are teaching a man who has been investigating for years. he says he knows the church is true, he is just taking his time. he is basically a member. he has his own scriptures with the tabs and all. he comes to church on his own accord every week. he has a calling. he is really great. it is a blessing to know him. this week we had a wonderful meeting. we talked about how he wants to quit smoking but that it is very difficult for him to stop, especially with the time he has on his hands, as he is on disability right now. he told us about some things he wants to start doing more so that he can occupy his hands and such. i kept on thinking about crocheting and how that kept be from being bored and getting into trouble, and i also accomplished something, but i kept pushing it out of my mind. c'mon sister buxton, this is a full grown man! we need to get... a chainsaw in his hands! but i decided to just ask if he has ever considered it. he smiled real big and said "yeah!! i have actually been thinking about that! but i dont know how to do it." so. we will be teaching him. :)

so good. never delay a prompting. even if you dont know its a prompting.

we talked about ways heavenly father answers prayers. he shared some really great experiences. i am so thankful that he trusts us. we talked about how general conference is a great time to receive answers. its so true. i mean, these are the lords servants. they would just be wasting our time if they werent speaking for him. so this weekend i went to conference with a prayerful question in mind. wouldnt you know it was answered. i hope your prayers have been answered this weekend. i love conference so much. it is just unfathomable how much we have to be thankful for.

thank you for all you do for me. i love you all so much! i hope you know that!

love, sister lani buxton :)

March 31, 2014

ahhh... :) how is everyone? i hope all is well in the hood.

i am glad sam ended it with the girl. i know i dont really know what is going on and what has been going on, but i just want him to be free. it is so interesting that words can have such an affect on people. it is so important with anything to focus on how it makes you feel. we all have the light of christ in us. if we have a bad, confused, angry or negative feeling, it is either from the devil, or we dont understand it. even if things make sense, if it gives us a bad feeling, we need to not just take it. that goes for  information, relationships, situations, anything really. we just have to be careful and only let in what motivates us and helps us to be better.

things are going pretty well over here.

this week was a crazy one. in a good way, ya know? on monday right when pday was over, i spent the rest of the evening traveling so that we could go on exchanges. then more traveling the next night. wednesday night we traveled again to go on exchanges with..... AUGUSTA!! oh it was such a delight, i cant even tell you. i got to see wonderful people, i got to sleep in my old bed, it was all just great stuff. thursday night we traveled to bethel, maine and slept there with some sisters. the next day one of the sisters and i traveled to cumberland. saturday morning.. more traveling so that i could get my companion back!! sigh... it was a crazy crazy week. it was fun though. we enjoyed it and hopefully the sisters involved enjoyed it too. they are all pretty much lovable and great.

something really cool happened this week. we have been working slowly with a less active man. bro c. also we have picked up a family that is investigating. the v fam. we had an appointment to see the v fam. so we went. they were just about to eat, so we said we would be back in an hour. during that hour, we visited bro c. he taught us how to play the ukelele. we mosly talked about music, i sang with him as he played and sang a beatles song. (dont tell the mission president!) haha :) he briefly talked about how he used to go out with the missionaries when he was younger and that it was fun. he very quietly mentioned that he wants to come back to church. then he quickly moved on to other topics, as to say he didnt want to talk about it. we respected that. after we visited with him, we went back to the v fam. they asked what we did for an hour. we told them we learned how to play the uke. the dad started shooting lots of questions. told him it was his neighbor down the street, that he is awesome, in a band and he is a member. "so he goes to your church?" "no, not right now, but he doesnt mind the church." "well maybe he just needs a ride! we can carpool!" we-he-heh-elll! dont mind if i do! so we talked about that stuff. oh, the v fam are all rockers. they have guages and piercings and the grandma (who we have not met) and the dad and the son all play the drums. i think they are afraid of not fitting in, but they still want it, its just unknown and a little scary. but i agreed to get bro c over there and they can jam, we can pray and everything will be lovely. and i really hope they carpool!! that would be the coolest thing!!

i am just so happy about everything that is going on over here. missionary work is just so great. called to know the richness of his blessings. so. true.

well. i love you all! have a happy week!

love, sister aunt wanay buxton!!