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