Sick

Dear Family,
So you know how you said on skype that I was looking really healthy. Well the next day I was at the Rostas families' house and started feeling really cold and ill, so I called Sister Giffiths afterwards and told her that I had chills and didn't feel good so I went in. Later Brother Flygare came over and he and Elder Manwaring gave us a blessing. The next day my fever broke which was a good sign, but my stomach still wasn't feeling very good and I had diarrhea. I tried to go out, but felt ill and miserable. So we stayed in Wednesday and part of Thursday as well. Sometimes it was very boring and I could tell that Elder Manwaring was going crazy and really wanted to get out and do something. Luckily I felt well enough to go to zone conference in Dublin with Elder Packer. He spoke about conversion and the 5 steps: Hear, remember, apply, understand, and become. It was really good. As far as our investigators go, we saw Emmanuel once and taught him tithing and he asked, "Is it alright for me to pray to earn more money so that I can pay more tithing?" We said that was appropriate. He is so good. Unfortunately, he didn't come to church on Sunday so we will have to push his baptism back a week. I so hope that he can come next Sunday so that he can be baptized. Not much else happened other than we were finally invited out to see President O'Toole and his family for dinner on Sunday. He lives out in the country and I really don't know how to get there (he drove). Oh and 1 more thing is that there is this new family that just moved into the branch from Atlanta. They are the Perrys. He is originally from Provo and served a mission in the Ukraine. He came last Wednesday and found a place to stay and she will be coming on Saturday. He is here doing some research with the University here on web search. He is a good member.
As far as things happening at home, no I'm not jealous that you're shredding because I'm in Ireland which totally beats that. And about that comic, that reminds me of people who would sit next to me hopping that something might rub off on them. Congrats Matt on getting a job and a new calling. Keep up the good work. I got my package and everything was fine in it. Thanks for sending that stuff. Well I hope that you all have a good week and do some missionary work.

Love,
Elder Buxton

Post Mother's Day Letter

Dear Family,
How are and and I hope that Mother's day was fabulous. It sounds like mom got some good bits of stuff. 

I think this email will be quite short since not much happened after I stopped talking to you. I'll just share one story with you though. On Saturday we went by this less-active named Johnson who hasn't come to church for years. Missionaries have tried countless times to get him back to church. Johnson is from Nigeria and speaks originally Yoruba, but his English is alright as well. In Dublin about a month ago I picked up a Book of Mormon in Yoruba and decided to bring it with. So we go and show him it and he was shouting for joy. We read some (now that I think about it, I shared with you this yesterday, but oh well. I've come this far so I'm not stopping) and asked if he wanted to come to church. He declined saying that bus fares were expensive. We then offered to work out a lift for him and his five year old son. After talking to his wife he agreed. Yesterday he came and he really enjoyed it and even fellowshipped one of our investigators.
For those of you who weren't blessed in hearing my voice yesterday. I'll just make one other comment in that Emmanuel came to church yesterday which puts him on track for being baptized next Saturday. We are thinking of baptizing  him in the River Corrib. That would be neat wouldn't it? Well that's it for now. One other thing is that this Friday we are having a zone conference with Elder Packer of the Seventy. He's President Packer's son. I hope all goes well and that my room gets cleaned in a timely manner.

Love,
Elder Buxton

Amazing Week

Dear Family,
I would first like to say, Happy May! You know the common saying that April showers bring May flowers, but I am not sure what happens if there aren't many showers in April what happens in May. We have been having gorgeous weather. The sun has been shining really non-stop. I don't really remember it raining at all last week. It might be different this week. Today is a little cloudy. So I guess I'll begin by letting you know about Mother's Day. We haven't really made definite plans yet, but I'll get back to you on Friday. If you could though, send me the user name or email address you'll be using to call so that I can have that come mother's day and let the people we are doing it with know. I'll probably call in the morning between 8 and 11. I'm looking forward to talking to you. Thank you also for sending back my package. Hopefully i can get it a week from Tuesday when I go to Limerick for District Meeting.
Speaking of the Royal wedding, I was actually shocked that so many people watched it here in Ireland. It was all over and we were allowed to watch it, but couldn't think of anyone we could go watch it with. No matter though, it was only a civil wedding at the heart of it. Thankfully we have the temple. Many of the members were speaking about that in their testimonies since they just barely had the temple trip.
Now onto more important things. All of our investigators are doing really well. Emmanuel came to church and loved it. He got up and bore his testimony and held up the Book of Mormon and said, "This book is true." We were amazed that he did that. Rada and her family came as well and are looking forward to being baptized at the end of the month. We are working on getting skype set up with this missionary in scotland who speaks romanian. Also on Thursday we were walking around and it was quite hot and I was thirsty so I decided to go buy a water bottle, but as I was looking in my change bag, we heard someone behind us call our names and looked and it was this man who we met a couple of weeks ago and he invited us over to his house right there and fed us a little bit and is really interested in learning about our church. I'll tell you more about him next Sunday. Hopefully there will more exciting things to tell.
So I was also wondering if you could email me some recipes for casseroles and lasagna. Thanks a ton if you can do that. Well, that's all the time I have for today.

Love,
Elder Buxton

Easter Week

Dear Family,
How are you all doing? I am doing well. We had an interesting week with ups and downs, but we continue to press forward and seek the blessings of the Lord. This week was quite interesting and challenging especially since it was the district temple trip so most of the members were over in London (by the way, I so wish that I could attend temple). Nonetheless we pressed forward. Immanuel is doing quite well as he continues to read and pray. He is so solid. So funny thing that happened with him is that on Friday when we met with him he gave us some malt brew which is basically beer without any alcohol. So if you want to know what beer tastes likes, try this stuff . . . you'll never want to drink it again. With that past statement, you can see that it really wasn't all that good. So to be nice I started drinking it and got a little ways and by the end of the lesson it was still half full so I was planning on taking it with me and then pouring it out somewhere, but they insisted that I had to finish it before I left so then I chugged the thing. You would think that I would have died, but it actually wasn't that bad. The worse part actually is the aftertaste. The moral of this story is if given malt brew, don't drink it, unless you want to be nice.
Moving on though, Rada and her family (Rostas is their last name). Are still doing well. Her and and her kids came to church and I think continued to enjoy it. The language barrier is still there, but we have a plan to first give Diamond (her 12 year old son that speaks and reads the best English) a Book of Mormon reader (tells simplified Book of Mormon stories) so that he can read and understand the stories. We're also going to bring and member named Stefan Kocko who's from the Czech Republic because the Rostas family speaks the Gypsy dialect of Romanian and Stefan can speak it as well. We also want to set up skype with Romanian missionaries and to clear up some things for us. So now we move onto funny story #2. One time while we were trying to teach them how to pray especially Diamond since he speaks the most English. While we were doing this, Bousha, his 16 year old brother leaves the room. So Diamond tries to say a prayer and couldn't really get past "Dear Heavenly Father." So his uncle named Mordo asks if he could give it a try. Now before this, Mordo was telling how he got a Irish girlfriend, but he had been trying to call her, but she wouldn't answer. So he prays, "Dear God. Please have my girlfriend call me. In the name of Jesus. Amen." Two minutes later he gets a call from a private (restricted) number. So he runs out of the room. We were just dying laughing because I honestly thought it wouldn't happen this soon. Then he comes back into the room and exclaims that it was Bousha. So then we almost die laughing.
On Saturday we had a zone conference in Dublin and Elder Kerr and Elder Donaldson of the seventy came and spoke to us. It was really good and I receive counsel and revelation to help us in the area.
As far as Easter goes. I must explain about the culture of it here in Ireland. So they call it Easter Week. The schools are off for two weeks starting last Monday and get this week off as well. On Good Friday, most places shut down and if you're a devout Catholic you abide by some strict code of eating like not eating meat except for fish. As far as Easter goes, I don't really have much more on that other than most people go to Mass. Then today is a bank holiday and most of the city is shut down and quiet. I think everything will return to normal tomorrow. Our Easter included going to church. I must say that it didn't really feel much like Easter. The talks were on that, but in Sunday School we talked about the Jesus being the Lord of the Sabbath and in Priesthood about Elder Oaks talk on the 2 lines of communication from last conference. Later we had some appointments and we ate dinner with the Jensens. We did get an Easter egg from the Rostas family and Peter gave us a chocolate egg and a chocolate bar. Really it didn't fell much like Easter. I think that falls more on me and really I should have studied more on the atonement yesterday.
The Church is true though. I live by faith. I don't need to know everything and I am glad I don't. Life would be too boring that way. There would be no adventure if I knew what would happen next. Press forward with faith.

Love,
Elder Buxton

Good Good before Moves and Easter

Dear Family,



We had quite a good week this week as we really applied ourselves and were diligent even when sometimes we couldn't be bothered. On Tuesday we had two appointments with some people we had just met and both fell through so we decided to continue tracting a street we had started on Sunday. We weren't having much success at all until we knocked on this man's door and did our door approach and he immediately let us in and got out some juice and water for us to drink. We told a bit about us and our message especially about the Book of Mormon. We read some passages to answer some of the questions that he had. Afterwards he said, "This is a lovely book!" His name is Immanuel and he's from Togo which is next to Ghana in West Africa. He met with him again on Wednesday and taught him the restoration and he said at the end, "I've been attending church all my life and I've learned more in the past two days than all my times and church." He is a wonderful man. We taught him again on Friday and the day before he had a friend come over and for five hours they read from the Book of Mormon and got to Mosiah! He is really great and he couldn't come to church this week because it his duty to set up chairs in his current church, but he's going to go and say that it's his last week and that they need to find someone else because he is planning on coming to ours from now on. We are so blessed so to able to teach him. We continue to teach Rada and her family. They are doing well and came to church this week and enjoyed it. Sometimes it is still a struggle to communicate, but thankfully we have things in Romanian, the Spirit, and our calling to do this and if we maximize the use of all of these things, we can see them all baptized. We continue to teach Peter and we hope that with the lesson we had with him last night that he can really have the determination to quit smoking.


As far as moves go . . . . . . . . . Da Da Da Da! Elder Manwaring and I are staying together for another move which will take us into June where I'll almost be out a year. Crazy to think that time has flown by. We are excited and hope that we can do much good and be able to baptize someone this next moves. We have a lot of potential and hope that we can endure well and help these people keep the Spirit and be baptized. As far as other missionaries moving. Elder Martin, my district leader is becoming zone leader in Dublin with Elder Stewart who I served with in Elgin. Elder Heilder, his trainee is staying in Tralee. His new companion and our district leader is Elder Swainson. He sounds like a fun guy. Elder Gardner who is from my mtc group is becoming my new zone leader. That's about all I know. You might not really care about what I just said, but just nod your head and move along.


Also, my shoes are starting to fall apart especially one of them and you can tell that they are all starting to fall apart on the heel. I'm sending you some pictures of it. I know that they have a 2 year warranty and was wondering what I should do or what the warranty covers.


In response to Michelle taking over my room: I don't really care because I'm on my mission and have my own bedroom now (even though I share it with my companion). I would just like to warn you that if you thrown away anything important you shall be worthy of death or something like unto it. Don't make me come there in my wrath! (In 14 months that is). Anyways I hope that you all have a good day and treat Dad nicely now that tax season ends today. I send you my love and hope that you can have a nice break tomorrow.


Love,
Elder Buxton


P.S. Thank you for sending back my package. and everyone remember that I live in #204.

Good Week

Dear Family,
I am pleased to hear that the package I sent got there so soon compared to the one I sent at Christmas. I was really pleased that I was able to find something as I went around town looking for something. As far as things go this week, it hasn't rained as much as you think. In fact most days we go without a jacket pretty much all day without any fear really of it raining on us. This is really a rare occurrence and we need to be on our heels because you really never know when it will turn for the worst. The best part is that trees, bushes, and other plant organisms are bearing leaves now and it really is turning green and keeping with its description of 40 shades of green.
As far as other things go, we continue to teach our Romanian family who we had some ups and downs with. Up until recently they thought that we were Catholic, which we resolved. We also weren't sure how much of our English they understood, but we have realized that they understand us quite well. 8 of them came to church on Sunday which was great. I have never had so many at church before. The members were great as well helping out as much as they could with coloring books, crayons, and snacks. I really think that they felt at home and loved by the members. Simply they are doing well. We also continue to see Peter who still struggles with smoking and didn't come to church for a reason that we don't know.
Yes I want both sides of the family so that I can have a more complete record rather than just names. Also if you could send me my line of authority please as well. Also I would like to inform everyone that next Sunday I am receiving my moves call and if you send any mail, please send it to the mission home. Also have a family called the Wares contacted you yet? They are from Elgin and were supposed to go to America and watch conference there and then go to Las Vegas the following week. I gave them our address and phone number. They are a nice family and fed me a few times and had us over for New Year's Day. I don't really have much else to tell you other than I love and appreciate all that you do for me while on my mission.

Love,
Elder Buxton

General Conference

Dear Family,
I am doing well. Things are picking up as we continue to find and teach people. I really enjoyed general conference, the parts that I heard I should say. I watch the Saturday sessions (which we watched at the Flygares) and the priesthood session (in Limerick), but as we went over to the Jensen's to watch the Sunday morning session, their Internet kept freezing as we were trying to play it, so we decided that we come over today and watch it with them for family home evening. So that's conference and what we did. To me the counsel that I got is that I need to honor my priesthood better and be willing to sacrifice, not to give things up, but to get greater things in return. Also, I echo what has been said in that Matt and Michelle need to kick it into high gear and get married.
As far as other things go. Peter is doing well and is scheduled to be baptized this weekend. He is still struggling with smoking, but with faith, will soon come off of it. He is reading the Book of Mormon like crazy though. On Friday he read the first 3 chapters of 1 Nephi. By Saturday he read the next 12 and by Sunday he had finished 1 Nephi. Truly amazing and we continue to hope and pray that everything will work out for his baptism this Saturday. We also started teaching this Romanian family of 9 people. They want to come to church and be baptized which is good, but we aren't really sure how much they are getting from our lessons. We will see though. Also on Friday we went to this member's home outside Westport named Brother Walker. He lives in a 200 year old cottage and recently built another house that he wants to put missionaries in. He is working on getting some people interested and really desires to have missionaries up there in Westport and Castlebar which are fair sized cities. I must say that his house that he built is really nice.
As far as my mail goes, I got all my mail. Thankfully they had been saving it so soon I'll be replying to it. Don't be surprised if it takes awhile. Unfortunately, the package that you sent for my birthday. I didn't retrieve it from the post office in time and it is being sent back to you. So if you want to resend it, go ahead. And if not, that's fine with me. I did get a rain coat though. It's nice and light and works well. Also, could you send me my priesthood line of authority? I never brought that with me. Also if you could, send me a more complete pedigree chart with dates of births, death, etc. My only has names. Thanks if you can. I hope that everything continues to go well back at home. I hope that Dad continues to endure well through taxes. Michelle, you endure well too and finish out well student teaching.

Love,
Elder Buxton