Monday, January 17, 2011

Warmer Weather

Dear Family,
The weather is getting warmer for the time being. The past couple of days it has gotten up to about 10 degrees C (50 degrees F). So that has been wonderful to enjoy the good weather. We are really excited as that Antonio and Martha are getting close to their baptisms. They both passed their interviews on Friday! Now if they continue to stay worthy everything will be fine for their baptism. In branch council on Tuesday we were discussing about their baptisms and also holding a Burn's Supper (to celebrate the famous Scottish poet and eat haggis) and we decided to hold the baptisms on Sunday morning and a Burn's Supper on the Friday. Also they are changing the order of church back to the way it was about a year ago with Sacrament Meeting last starting on the 30th. We are excited for this so that more people can potentially come who need to take public transportation since they can't get there on time if they take a bus. This means that more people will be able to attend sacrament meeting. Even though I like having sacrament first, I like it this way for the missionary aspect so that if investigators don't show up the 1st hour, you can call and see where they are and if they are coming and maybe even get someone to go and pick them up.
So, Martha Thomas and Antonio D'alioia are doing quite well and continuing to progress in the gospel. Also the other good news is that Chris Thomas is going to baptize them both which will be a great experience for him. On Tuesday we had a lesson with Martha and Chris and we had built up throughout the week that we were going to be giving her a surprise on this day. So what we did was we got some chocolate since she really like chocolate and said that if she danced around for 10 seconds that she could get the surprise (now she didn't know what it was, only that it would be really good). So she did and we gave her the box and she was really pleased. Then we related this to baptism how in just a simple act we can receive great blessings. So then we uncovered the font. If you noticed from Google Earth or Maps or whatever, you'll notice that the building isn't very big and that the chapel is a multipurpose room used for sacrament meeting, priesthood, and relief society and other activities throughout the week. It also holds the baptismal font which is in the floor covered by pieces of wood with carpet on top. So we covered that and showed it to her and then demonstrated how we are baptized. This took some of the pressure off and she realized how simple it really is. She actually thought we would be swimming around in a swimming pool! The only thing really holding her back now is that she wants to call her sister in Mexico and tell her and her family that she is getting baptized and nothing they say can make her change.
There really isn't much to say about Antonio other than he is doing quite well. He is planning on inviting some of his relatives who live in Lossiemouth to come and he has even set aside money for his tithing that he really can't wait to pay on the 30th when he is baptized.
I'm really glad that my package finally arrived and I hope that you enjoy the gifts in them. Next year I'll have to send it much earlier to make sure that it gets there. The funny thing is that I'm still getting Christmas cards sent a month ago so it's both ways that were delayed. I'm really glad that Zach got his mission call. Did you know though that I'm at a higher latitude than Moscow? Fun fact for ya. That's really all for this week folks, but have you thought about the kilt from Brother King yet? Maybe we could just get it when you come to pick me up. I'm sure that we'd probably be traveling through Aberdeen plus I think there is great discount for returned missionaries (I think I would fall under that). Well, have a good week and talk to you later.

Love,
Elder Buxton

No comments:

Post a Comment