Hello

Dear Family,

We are doing well. We had some real blessings and some real challenges as well. I guess I'll start off with the good. The best thing that happened was that if you remember Rakesh that we went by last Sunday. Well he came to church and felt the Spirit and wants to come back the next week. Then came some real challenges. Jimmy was doing fine until Saturday when we couldn't get a hold on him at all. He didn't come to church either. That was tough. Also on Saturday we were walking back from tracting to the bus stop so we could fix ourselves some dinner and as we were walking past this gas station, this guy honked his horn, so we went up to his car and he asked if we needed a lift somewhere. It turns that this guy met with missionaries before. He considered himself a born again christian and I really won't go into many specifics, but there were many doctrines that he just couldn't believe like the premortal life. So after that was over we went on to try to see Jimmy, but he didn't answer. Sunday, a challenge happened, but it was more of a neat moment as we were walking on the sidewalk, a car came down the road and threw a milkshake at Elder Ihalmo, but like Samuel the Lamanite, it didn't hit him. So onto more blessings and enough of challenges, we met with Thomas again and he has really been studying the things that we have given him like pamphlets and the Book of Mormon. At the end of the pamphlets we have, there a section for additional study that has some questions and scriptural references. Normally people don't do it, but he did and it has helped him to learn a lot. He couldn't make it to church this week since he was out of town, but looks forward to coming next week. Another neat experience happened as we were walking down the street and stopped a lady. She told us that she stopped coming to church about 20 years and how her life was doing so well. Elder Ihalmo then bore testimony of the plan of salvation and then we asked if we could come by and share more about why life has its challenges and she accepted our invitation.

Where is Mitch going on his mission? I am really glad that the Trout twins made it out of the MTC and are now in the field. As far as Pioneer Day is concerned, we didn't do anything. They did though broadcast the thing from Salt Lake to the Stake Centre. Early this month though I suggested in Ward Council that we could have a Pioneer Day activity, but the Bishop turned it down. I was also wondering if you could send me recipes for the following: Peanut Butter Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Skillet Macaroni, and any others that could be made in less than an hour. That would be great if you could do that. They can be emailed or regular mailed. I love you all. Families are Forever.

Love,

Elder Buxton

Moves Week

Dear Family,

How are you all doing? We are doing really well. Lately we have been having quite a bit of success. First to report though on what happened moves week wise. Monday and Tuesday we stayed in. I wrote some letters, had a nap, read some of the conference Ensign, and enjoyed the last moments as Elder Burgess's companion before he was transferred to Antrim. Wednesday I met my companion, Elder Ihalmo, in the morning, and we spent the day together with Elder Burgess and another missionary Elder Costley who was waiting to travel down to Limerick. We went to the Haddocks so that Elder Burgess could say goodbye and then onto the Ward Party. Jimmy was there and we had a good time playing badmitton, volleyball and eating the food that was brought. By the way, the picture of the man that is standing between Elder Burgess and I is Jimmy. He really enjoyed himself. So yeah, I am the new district leader this moves for the Cavehill district which consists of Cavehill North and South. In Cavehill South is a new missionary named Elder Fakkel from Dallas. So as part of being the new district leader, I was sent to Edinburgh on Friday for training. The neat thing is that I was flown over there! So yes, I got to fly on an airplane. It was a long day as I woke up at 4:20, was picked up by 5:20, and flying on an airplane by 7. The morning was spent training and in the afternoon as we were waiting for our flight back we did some proselyting in Edinburgh. So it was fun and I really learned a lot. It was especially focused on Love and example--that leaders serve best when they show an example for others to live by.

In way of good things that happened. On Wednesday and Thursday we had a little time left before we were to go into our flat so we were trying to street contact those still out which wasn't much. On Wednesday a young man named Elijah approached us and wondered if we were preachers. He said that he had only been a christian for 7 months and was looking for a church. So we set up a church tour the next day. On Thursday a man approached us and said that he really respected our church. I asked if we could come around to his home and he accepted the invitation. The next day, Elder Burgess and Elder Ihalmo went over there since I was in Edinburgh and taught him and he accepted what they taught and is looking forward to coming to church this Sunday. Jimmy is doing great. He came to church on Sunday and really liked it. He is reading a lot of stuff like Gospel Principles, the conference Ensign, the Book of Mormon, and other things that he got at the church library. He is hoping that on August 6 that he can be baptized. We are working really hard to help him achieve that. Also on Sunday we went by this man in our area book named Rakesh. He let us in. He is from India, but he's a christian. He also wants to join our church so we'll prepare him for that. He also has a daughter that lives with him named Sam. So good stuff is happening.

In response to questions recently posed by family: I really don't know where those books went. I probably saw no need for them and gave them to DI. That's really neat that Michelle saw coach Moore. Does he teach at your school? Also, I didn't have any ice cream on Sunday. My companion's English is fine. Sometimes he can't remember a word, but other than that it's fine. I'm glad that the card made it to you on time. As far as trouble in the city, I don't really know. We live in a predominately Catholic area, so everything was fine. All we could see were bomb fires in the distance. Well that's all for this week. I hope you all have a very good week.

 

Love,

Elder Buxton

 

 

Moves Week

Dear Family,

How are you? I am doing well. We had an up and down week. First thing though is that as part of moves, I am staying here and Elder Burgess is moving. My new companion is Elder Ihalmo (e-hal-mo) from Finland. He is coming from Londonderry which isn't too far away. Next moves, I will be district leader. Elder Burgess is going with his new companion fresh into Antrim which is north of Belfast to a small branch. So I am excited to be serving with my new companion. He'll be my 2nd non-native English speaking companion, but i have met him a zone conference and his English is fine. So this will all take place on Wednesday.

You may have heard, but we have to stay in our flat the next two days because of a national holiday on the 12th. It celebrates when Prince William of Orange (King Billy, the protestant king) defeated King James (catholic king) at the battle of boyne in 1690. So to celebrate they have marches all around Northern Ireland especially in Belfast. They also make enormous bomb fires in the predominate protestant areas and light those off tonight. So to be safe and out of trouble, we are staying in, except for the time now that we have been given to email. So I believe after all of this is over, things will return back to normal and the work can go forward.

As far as things that occurred, we started struggling this week. Jimmy was fine up until Friday when we lost contact, but we just barely received a text from him so we shall see how that goes. He wants to prepare himself to be baptized, but he gets a lot of temptations from his friends who want him to drink and gamble. He wants to stop and is trying to stay strong, but things just keep popping up. It is really time that we made some serious preparations so that this won't happen again.

Also during this week we went by a former investigator, but come to find out, he moved and the lady that lives there now was a bit depressed so we taught her and she seemed interested, but she wasn't there for her return appointment. We dropped Alan since he was too hard to teach and not accepting key doctrines. So that's really been our week.

So funny story time. We went to the YSA centre in south Belfast to teach our recent convert, Steven. Our appointment was for 7, right before institute. So we got there fine and we taught him and everything was good. We went to the bus stop, but as we were waiting, no buses were showing up so we went to a different one-nothing either. By this time, we decided to go back to the YSA centre and see if we could get a lift since institute was over by this time. We did and someone took us home. It turns out that there was some pre-12th march in city centre that altered the bus routes. Simply we just weren't at the right place at the right time.

 

i love you all and hope that your adventures are grand in Portland and that you arrive home safely. That's interesting that there are so many bishop changes there and finally Brother Ireland is bishop after serving so many years on bishoprics. Many of the wards here have changed bishops as well. Some say that it's brought new life to the wards, hopefully it will for you as well. Happy Birthday to Mom. I sent you something in the mail last week and hopefully it arrives in time.

 

Love,

Elder Buxton

A Couple of Miracles

Dear Family,

We had a much better week and a couple of miracles that happened. The first happened as we decided to go to a different bus stop to catch a bus. We decided to go to this one because we thought buses would be more frequent. In retrospect a bus came earlier at the original bus stop that we were at then a the one we went. Anyways, we were there and this man was jogging up the street and he saw Elder Burgess and stopped and said hello to him. It turns out that he met him about a month ago, but for some reason couldn't meet with him. He told us that earlier that day at 5, he was actually thinking about us. It truly was a miracle that we were led to that spot. So he gave us his number and we called him the next day and set up an appointment. He is very open minded and willing to listen to our message. He already has a good view of the church from a pen pal from Oregon that he has kept in touch with since he was about 13. So we shall see how that goes. The second came as we were walking along Antrim Road, the main street in our area, and guess who we ran into! Jimmy! He has had a hard time with a lot of opposition, but wants to get on track to being baptized once again. So we met with him the next day and he was glad to have us over again. What we want to do is to get him some really good friends in the church so that he can have some support. So we are glad to be able to be teaching him again. Alan is doing alright. He is going to take some time and some doctrinal points he has a hard time accepting, but he is willing to read the Book of Mormon. He came to church on Sunday which was an amazing feat. We gave him a Gospel Principles Book so that should help as he studies that.

Today as being Independence Day, we went with a member to see Andrew Jackson's parent's home just north of Belfast. His parents lived in this home and then decided to move to America where little Andrew was born and then became president. In fact many U.S. presidents' heritage comes from Northern Ireland like William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. So it was this little cottage that I took pictures of. Also you'll see some pictures of Carrickfergus castle. Today we also got a haircut and did some gardening for an elderly sister in the ward. So it was a good day.

It seems like you are sure keeping busy back at home with all of your traveling and such. my crown has been fine so far as i have been really careful in not eating anything too hard and I even slice up apples before I eat them. Hopefully I can keep it intact until I get home.

Also on Saturday we attended a baptism in Portadown of a lady who is dating an excommunicated member in Cavehill (he is working on getting re-baptized). She was originally taught by Elder Burgess and his companion, but since she lives in the Portadown Ward, she was baptized there. Elder Burgess was asked to speak so we went down with her boyfriend. They are planning on getting married in November.

I hope all goes well for everyone. I appreciate all of those who sent me post this past week as it really brightened up my day.

 

Love,

Elder Buxton

Steadily Improving

Dear Family,

I hope all is well as you continue to be in New Mexico and as you make you way back tomorrow. We are doing fine here as things are picking, slowly. On Saturday we started teaching a man named Alan and he actually fed us dinner yesterday of some hash and pork chops, Irish style, yum. He really wants to read from the Book of Mormon study it out along side the Bible. We really hope that as he prays about it that he can find that it is true. That's it for our teaching pool, but we want to meet with this man named Peter who is interested in their being a prophet on the earth again. We still have received no word from Jimmy, but we plan on contacting him again this week.

As far as other things that happened. On Friday we went with the Zone Leaders because they needed me to drive them from one airport to the other to pick and drop off people going on exchanges because I was the only one nearby that could drive them around since I was in the Republic of Ireland not to long ago making my year reset. So we went with them and it was good to be able to drive again. During this adventure one of the zone leaders is from my mtc group so we celebrated our year mark by going to TESCO and getting a cake and eating before we had to pick up one of the assistants. So that's what the cake is for. It really is strange that I have been out for that long now. Then the next day as we were waiting in the airport again, there was a game with the claw-thingy that you maneuver and try to win a stuffed-animal, but this one had £5 notes on them so Elder Burgess decided to try. Needless to say, he failed because the machine was jipped. So we lost 50p.  Also another thing that happened was that one of my crowns on my front teeth broke off as I was eating a crispy pizza crust. So I went to the dentist nearby and got it put on. Then on Saturday we had an Elder's Quorum activity where we played volleyball. That was fun and good to play again. It was also funny how they played-not very well. Anyways, afterwards we had some frozen pizzas and as I bit into a thin crust pizza that was a little done, I broke it off again. So today I got it fixed again. Hopefully it won't fall off.  I hope that doesn't have to happen and that it stays on.

Well I hope that everything goes well at home.  I love you all.

Love,

Elder Buxton