Monday, November 29, 2010

Snowy Scotland

Dear Family,
Guess what? As you could see from the pictures that I sent home, it snowed here in Scotland starting last Wednesday and it hasn't stopped since really. As of now we have about a foot of snow everywhere and the worst part is that we drive a car not really fit for the snow. In fact almost everyone's car isn't fit for the snow. Most people drive cars and there are very few trucks and SUVs. Plus, people aren't really used to snow in Elgin. Last year was the first time they really had several weeks of snow. Usually it doesn't. So it was a surprise to everyone that it snowed. So it has been interesting the past couple of days. We have been very limited as to where we can go and we are hoping though that we can use this weather to our advantage for example so people can have sympathy on us and let us in. It hasn't really worked so far, but we will really try it out this week. So to be blunt, this week has been quite hard as we continue to try and help those investigators that we have. We still haven't been able to meet with Sister Thomas, although we are hoping that we can have family home evening at a members house with them this evening. We haven't met with Brother Nain either. His daughter is till ill and he is busy comforting her along with his busy work schedule. We really hope that she gets better soon. They are going back to the hospital tomorrow and hopefully they will soon find out why she is so ill. Brother Waterson seems to be doing better. We still have difficulty having him quit drinking tea and smoking cigars, but I hope that he stops soon. On the other hand he seems to be reading much more and yesterday we gave him a baptismal calender and went through some qualifications to be baptized that are found on page 204 of PMG that you could look up, but I think we took a step in the right direction as he is now praying to know that he should be baptized on December 11. I just really hope that he is willing to act on the answer that he receives. The good thing about him though is that as soon as he promises that he will be baptized, he will go through with it. I just hope that he gets that spiritual witness and determination to be baptized.
We had a great meeting in Edinburgh on Thursday. We left on Wednesday to go to Aberdeen and it took us 2 1/2 hours to get there. Mind you it's only 60 miles away, but will all the snow that came down. We had to travel there very slowly. Then we got up at 4 on Thursday and left about 5:30 to go to Edinburgh. The roads were still bad until we got to about Dundee, then we got there on time, thankfully(the meeting started at 9). Then we had to travel back to Elgin afterwards. We left about 5 and got back at about a quarter to 10. It was a long day. Nonetheless, i enjoyed the meeting and we really start applying it this week and we are really going to be trying a lot harder. The things we talked about were the Book of Mormon, Prayer, and some other things. Nonetheless, these two elements are our very best tools in conversion along with the Spirit of course.
In other things that happened, on Tuesday we met with a man named Henry. He's in his 20s and to give some background, he studied theology and teaches religious education in the schools. So he was quite knowledgeable in all things religion wise, but it was still an amazing lesson where we taught the Plan of Salvation to him. It was amazing how many idea came into my head in how to explain different parts of it and we both felt like he understood it and is now aware of our views. I just hope that he earnestly about the Book of Mormon to know that is true. Yesterday we planned on going out to President Johson's for lunch. Oh yeah, because of all the snow, church was canceled (1st time ever in my life that has happened). Know President Johnson lives in the mountains near Glenlivet. So this would be like driving up to Mount Charleston in a mild snow storm when the roads weren't really plowed in a put-put car. We eventually decided not to go for fear that we would likely, very likely, get stuck somewhere. We were glad that we didn't go because it continue to snow yesterday.
So we continue to treck on and hope that through our efforts that we bring people closer to Christ. I hope that everyone is staying warm and now enjoying the Christmas Season. Oh and I did receive a Thanksgiving lunch on Thursday at Zone Conference. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, yorkshire puddings, veg, and apple pie. It was good and later we had McDonalds. Pretty good hugh? Hopefully i can find something good to send home to you. I hope everyting goes well for everyone and that Michelle and Matt have a wonderful time preparting for finals that are coming up quickly.

Love,
Elder Buxton

Lady Hill Monument in Elgin at night

Lady Hill Monument


Bridge on the way to Edinburgh

Elgin at night

Snow in Elgin

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