Dear Family,As you already know, this is the last and final email that I will be sending as a missionary. It has been really good to serve the Lord and declare His Gospel. By His Grace, I have learned so much and know that my mission was the best two years for my life. Last week had its challenges and miracles. On Tuesday I went on exchanges to Elgin. It was really weird to work in my old area. The best part of our day was that we went street contacting in the city centre and we were going around it and went down this one alleyway and these two young guys were coming towards us and we stopped and spoke to them. One of them was especially interested. His name was Matty. He believed in God, but a couple of nights before he was praying to God to find some sort of assurance that He was still there. Then we spoke to him on the street. He had a strong belief in God, but was wondering what God wanted him to do next. I am really so glad that we were able to meet him and his friend Harris who the Elgin missionaries taught later that week and they both want to be baptized. Later we went to the Stobbarts and I confirmed with them that we are going there for dinner on Monday. The Elgin missionaries will be there as well. While in Aberdeen, Elder Heidler was able to meet with this less-active and his girlfriend, Don and Kimmy. We have been working with them and Don knows the Church is true and really just wants a little push in the right direction. Kimmy is his girlfriend and has been getting more and more interested. She has read all of 1 Nephi and wants to learn more. In the lesson, Elder Heidler asked them about coming church. They thought about it and Kimmy said that this week would be the best for her to come and Don agreed to come as well. On Saturday we phoned Kimmy and she said that she was still planning on coming as long as Don was feeling well. Then on Sunday we were waiting for Church to start and they walked into the Church. I was so amazed and happy that they were there. I really hope that they can continue to progress. On Wednesday we were able to see Edna again. She is doing well and really likes learning about the gospel. On Friday we helped an elderly sister in her back yard lay a path. She had these concrete slabs (which many people use to make footpaths in their yards) laying around and wanted a path made. So we dug up some grass and dirt and laid these slabs down. It was a lot of fun and at the end of it, it looked very professionally done. I wish that I brought a camera along to take a picture of it. Also on Sunday we helped out in the primary. Elder Heidler played the piano and I sat and sang. We also sat in the Relief Society because Sister Ware was giving out a challenge based on President Hull's challenge during Stake Conference. The challenge was 3 parts: 1. pray for the missionaries and missionary opportunities 2. having meaningful contact with the missionaries once a month 3. help convert or reactivate someone in 2012. So she wanted us there so the sisters could know who the missionaries were. I really hope that the sisters take on board this challenge. Later on Sunday we went by a referral from the other Aberdeen missionaries. He let us in. His name is George and he is from Turkey. He wants to read the Book of Mormon and we plan on getting him one in Arabic for him to read. Other than that, Elizabeth continues to do well. Jonathan is making a bit of progress. He went to young men's on Tuesday and played some softball. He continues to come to church. He wants to play me in basketball when I come back with you. If you're not aware, much of the country continues to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. There are many festivities throughout the UK. The ward had a jubilee party on Saturday.I'm all packed and will be traveling down to the mission home today on a train. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. You might be able to see Elder Heidler on Wednesday as well. Thank you for all that you.Love,Elder Buxton
Dear Family,How are you? It sounds like you are doing well and that your trip to see grandma and grandpa went well. We are doing well here and had a pretty good week. Then best thing that happened was that on Wednesday we had an appointment with a man who wasn't there so we decided to knock a few doors in the area. As we were approaching the first door, Elder Heidler said, "Look who it is." I turned around and saw Edna who we taught a few weeks ago, but had been at her daughters helping to care for her and her grandchildren. We caught up a bit and set up an appointment for the next day. We brought Brother Sullivan along and we spoke about the first part of the plan of salvation, then as we were about to go, I asked her what she thought about being baptized. She said that she would still like to and had been thinking about it when she was at her daughter's. Then Brother Sullivan said that it would be important for her to set a date. Edna liked the idea and said that that it was she normally does when she sets a goal. We then asked her what date she would want to set. She then thought and said that her birthday would be good which was in July. Brother Sullivan than commented that that was too far away and that the adversary would try and tempt and get her away from this and that she should set it sooner. So she thought for a moment and asked what today was. We said that it was the 24th of May. She then said that why don't set it for a month from now. It was truly amazing to see how the Spirit works when we are unified. Also what was interesting was that we planned to invite her to be baptized on June 24, but weren't really planning on doing it right of way, but I felt inspired to ask just so we can see if we were going anywhere. Then on Sunday while we were at church, I was sitting next to Elizabeth after sacrament meeting and Brother Sullivan and Edna came around and Brother Sullivan was asking Elizabeth how long ago she was baptized. Then Edna said "I'm getting done on the 24th." It was so good to hear that.Other things that happened were that I went to on exchanges to Buchan which is the ward north of Aberdeen. We went to places like Peterhead and Fraserburgh. Also on Wednesday we helped Brother Anupum take down an old shed in his back yard. That was fun to just use a sledge hammer and take it apart. We also started teaching this man named Frank who is from Africa. He really wants to know which of all the churches are true because many testify that theirs is the one, but we hope as we teach him more that he can pray for himself and see. Also on Sunday night we were in an area and we were going by some people that said we could come back. None really wanted to us in though. So we saw this lady out in her front yard eating a chippie with her children. We then learned that she is a member of the church and was baptized when she was 12 and now wants to get back into it again. It just goes to show that the Lord places people in your path.This past week, the weather has been really good and some call it a heat wave even though the temperatures are only between 62 and 77 degrees. It's hot for them, but definitely not for me. I hope that the weather continues, but knowing Scotland, it probably won't. Have a good week and safe travels,Love,Elder Buxton
Dear Family,
I am doing well here. Things have slowed down a bit. Like the missionaries in our ward, we only had 5 lessons to investigators this past week as well. It seems that the things we are doing aren't working and the people we were working with can't meet with us yet (or might not want to at all). Jonathan is doing alright and is still reading the Book of Mormon on his own and finding answers in there. His sister came back from University in Switzerland on Saturday. Hopefully she won't hinder any progress we are making with them. From what we have heard about her, she is a nice girl. Other than that, we taught a few people her and there, but nothing much. Last night we were supposed to see this guy named Kingsley, but he wasn't there so we decided to go and knock a few doors before the end of the night. So we decided to go wherever the Spirit would prompt us to go, so we went to this area and knocked on three doors. Nothing happened, then a man came out of one door that we knocked on. Elder Heilder called after him and he said that he had already spoken to us a couple of times, but we got talking and we were able to answer some of the questions that he had. It was a good conversation we had and he became quite interested to read from the Book of Mormon that he was given earlier.
Other things that we did were go to zone conference which was all about the Book of Mormon we were also given a new dvd that we can pass out that gives an introduction and has Elder Holland's testimony that he gave of it a few conferences ago along with the conversion story of a Bishop in London. We look forward to giving it out to people. There I also saw Elder James and my "grandson" Elder Park who Elder James is training. There is a picture of it that I sent already. On Sunday, the other missionaries had a baptism of a man named Paul. He is the husband of a member. The great thing is that he started investigating mainly because he saw how well his wife was taken care of by the Relief Society. His investigation has also helped him wife be more active now as well. It is so great when a family comes together.
Looks like things are moving on at home. It will be sad to see that the suburban won't be there, but to be honest, I never liked to drive it. Are you planning on getting replacing it?
We will probably having dinner at the Stobbarts when we go on Monday evening.
Does Dad ever go out with the missionaries as he is a ward missionary?
I hope that everything goes well at home.
Love,
Elder Buxton
Dear Family,
I hope that you are all doing well after I last saw you. I really enjoyed to speaking to you and getting some answers to some things that I was pondering about. Thanks once again. So I looked up how long it would take to from Aberdeen to Loch Ness and other things and figured that it would take about 7 hours to do it all. So if that can fit in with the plane ride to London, I would love to see these things.
So on to missionary work though. Elizabeth is still doing well. Jonathan has made some progress though. He has been getting some answers as he continues to read from the Book of Mormon. Sometimes he flips to random pages and reads what it says and many times it answers his questions. We also promised him that if he came to church yesterday-which he did-that he would do well on his Chemistry exam that he has tomorrow. Now I hope and pray that he will. Other than that, many of our investigators haven't been able to meet with us for various reasons. We thought we found a very solid lady from a less-active referral, but she canceled, but still wants to meet sometime. We found a less-active street contacting and she was willing to meet with us and gain her faith back, but she wouldn't return our calls nor could we find her address. However we were able to meet with this man named Kingsley who after watching the Restoration dvd, and discussing it, wanted to meet again. So we hope that as he reads from the Book of Mormon, that he'll see the need to join the Church. We hope though that this week will be better especially since Edna is coming back from her daughter's this week, Sam is feeling better now, and we have a few appointments this week. Also we have started doing this Book of Mormon loan program where we lend out copies of the Book of Mormon for about a week and then go by and see what people think. This first two we gave them to, gave them back, and one other lady nearly gave it back, but after talking a bit more, we found out that one of her grandsons wants to know where it came from so we set up an appointment and gave the book back as a special gift from us to her. We hope that we can teach many of her family.
Thanks for all that you do.
Love,
Elder Buxton
Dear Family,
I am doing very well. We had a good week capped off by the confirmation of Elizabeth on Sunday. She asked me to do it so I did. It was quite the experience and I was glad to be worthy to do it. She is so excited to be a member of the Church now. She tells just about everyone. I hope now that she can be an example to her family and friends. She went to a relief society activity as well and enjoyed herself there.
We talk a lady named Sam a couple of times. She seems good and wants to be baptized and read from the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, she came down with a throat infection at the end of the week and hasn't been that well. We also started teaching this man named Gary who has come out of a rough patch in his life and wants to turn to God again. He looks forward to meeting with us, but unfortunately he has to look after his father because he isn't doing that well. We have seen Elizabeth and her son Jonathan. Jonathan is making progress, but probably wont' be baptized soon as he struggles gaining a testimony along with studying for school exams. We gave him a For the Strength of Youth pamphlet to read and apply in his life. Hopefully he can gain a testimony that way. We were able to do quite a bit of service as well. We helped one lady move stuff out of her attic and into her new flat. We helped Brother Anupum in his garden putting down some rocks and making it look nice. We helped the Wares in their garden as well to pull some weeds and mow the lawn.
Last Thursday on Preparation Day, we went and played mini golf which was fun. Elder Heidler won and I came 2nd. About phoning home. I will be skyping at the Wares and will probably arrange it for 11:30 a.m. your time. I know this means that you'll have to miss part of church, but it's the latest time that would work. The only questions that I have are of the schedule of our tour around the mission.
Yesterday we had a zone meeting and took the picture that I sent. We also played basketball afterward which was quite fun.
It seems like things are going well at home and I hope that Dad mans up and gets over his soreness.
Love,
Elder Buxton
Dear family,
I am doing really well. We have had some really, really good experiences or in other words miracles happen the past week. When we first looked at our week ahead, it seemed that it wasn't going to be as good as the last week since not much was planned. On Tuesday I went on a exchange with Elder Dixon in Bridge of Don. He is from London, but his parents are from Jamaica. It was a good exchange and he has some good pointers to work on for the next while. While on that exchange we were walking to an appointment when we reached this intersection and waited to cross. As we were somebody hocked. I didn't think much of it because you know it happens often. But then I saw this car and recognized it as Elizabeth's and then I saw Elizabeth waving to us. The light then turned green and she motioned that she was going to turn around. She then pulled over and got out. We caught up a bit and learned a bit more about her situation and set up an appointment for Thursday. In that appointment on Thursday we brought the Wares and had a lesson about the tree of life. It was good and we felt the Spirit. We then gave her a blessing because she had been going through a lot. We then went to her home and gave her son, Jonathan, a blessing as well because he has been getting stressed with the upcoming exams that he is taking. The next day we were sitting in a dinner appointment waiting for the food to be ready, just talking to some of the family members when I received a text from Jonathan asking me to call them. So I didafter asking the members if that was okay.. He explained that all of our efforts and prays had not been in vain. They were driving around at the moment and found a parking spot. Then he passed the phone over to his mom. She then asked, "Elder Buxton, do you think it's too quick to be baptized on Sunday?" I said that I didn't know, but that I would check with the Bishop. Later I did and he was okay with it as long as we could fit it in with a munch and mingle that was being held for Elder and Sister Keith (the senior couple that Sister Layton gave the package to). Later with the help of Brother Ware we were able to get a program set up. Friday night we got the district leader, Elder Little, to perform an interview. The service went pretty well. We had nice speakers and a testimony by Sister Ware. Then came the baptism. I forgot to mention though that Elder Hales came down from Elgin to baptize her. So she had to be baptized twice because her hand wasn't submerged. That was fine and then they went back into the dressing rooms and that font then drained. I then went back to the chapel to set up TV for a DVD that we were going to watch while they got dressed. I was sitting there for awhile and wondered why nobody was coming in. I went back to the font and found out that Elizabeth didn't tell Elder Hales her whole name (if you remember we gave her a blessing and found out her whole name then which was quite lengthy). So she needed to be baptized again. Unfortunately the water was half gone or more. So we filled up buckets of water to throw in. That didn't make much of a difference. So they decided that she would sit down and then lay back to be baptized with her whole name. So she did. It was a bit embarrassing, but she humbled herself and did it. We then finished the service and went back to our flat. So of the baptisms that I have been involved in, only Patrick Noonan's baptism went completely smooth. However, I am not bragging here, but of the people I personally stood in the water and baptized, they only had to be done once.
Other things that happened this week were that on Thursday we tried by this less-active named Don and his girlfriend Kimmy. They let us in. They weren't feeling that great, but they told us some amazing things. Earlier that week that both got blessings from Don's father. Afterwards, their health improved. This is when Kimmy really realized that God is there and there must be some power in the Church. We hope now that we can see them more regularly help them come to church and live the gospel. On Friday afternoon I had a phone call from Greg, a less-active I have mention earlier. We spoke for 37 minutes because he was looking to get work off so that he could come to church, but we hadn't heard from him all that week. In this phone call he was expressing some of his same doubts and how he thinks impossible for him to pray. By the end out of no really persuasion of my own, but what I know was definitely the Spirit working on him, he committed himself to reading the Book of Mormon and praying and even fasting that Saturday to receive an answer of what he should do. Really both Elder Heidler and I were amazed. He will take some more work if he is still willing, but hopefully he gives this the thought that it deserves. On Sunday after the baptism we went by a referral from the other Aberdeen missionaries named Jonah. He let us in and one of the first things that he asked us was where the church was and how to get to it. We told him where and he said that he would be there the next Sunday. We had a good lesson with him and he is going to reading from the Book of Mormon this week. Later we went by this other referral from the Bridge of Don Sisters. We were supposed to see her on Friday, but she wasn't there. So we went by and she was there and she let us in. We were able to teach her (or really just listen to her tell us about the death of her husband and how this started a desire to know more about God). Her name is Sam. The great thing is that she lives just across from the Church. We were also able to see her today and she is so prepared and believes many of the doctrines already. We hope that the gospel will give her hope and fill a void in her life.
I know Elder Matthew Martin. He was my district leader in Galway. He is really good and I like him a lot. In fact he trained Elder Heidler. Yes you were right that I would not be in that picture because I didn't go back to Pratt's Hill until August. And yes he goes home on Wednesday. Other noteworthy things of the transfer are that Elder Heidler and I are staying together. Also Elder James whom I trained is training now in a place called Dalkeith which is near Edinburgh. We also have 4 brand new missionaries coming into our zone which is excited. I love new missionaries. Also you might be wondering why I am emailing so late. It is because we spent most of the day working out travel plans for the zone. It sometimes takes awhile because you have to coordinate with other zone leaders. Well I hope that all goes well. I am pretty sure that we will still be able to skype and I'll let you know what time next week. What time is Church at though?
Love,
Elder Buxton
Dear family,
I am doing well here in Aberdeen. Just for your information. Next week is moves week so have all mail sent to the mission home just in case. Also I learned this morning that Bro King phoned and said that the material will come in 1 week earlier so this means that we can get the kilt now. He probably had a few words with the suppliers so that he can keep this sale. On Monday I received a call from the Keiths, the YSA senior couple here and they said that they had a surprise for me. I thought it would just be something for our flat because they did this earlier. They came to our flat that night and dropped off the package. I was really shocked to hear that Sister Layton had brought it all the way from Las Vegas and that there was someone that I knew all the way over here. You're probably aware that visits from friends and family while I am here are against church policy and up till then I thought I would never have a problem with it because all friends and family were thousands of miles away. So thank you for sending me those treats. They have good so far. About the time will be in Aberdeen.
As far as the work goes. We are teaching more lessons than in the past few weeks. Elder L. Tom Perry promised that if we teach 20 lessons a week that we can double our baptisms and reactiviations. So this week we tried really hard to teach 20 lessons and we did. Elizabeth is doing alright. She feels rushed into baptism and did not come to church yesterday. Hopefully we can help her resolve them, but we are quite certain that she won't be baptized next week. We started teaching a new lady that we are excited about named Edna. She is really good and came to church and loved it. Bro Sullivan who we brought along the first time has a good feeling about her. We hope that she can be baptized in the middle of next month. She is a sweet lady who lives much of the gospel already and has a strong belief in Jesus Christ and is ready to learn and live the gospel. We also started teaching a man named James from Nigeria. He is interested, but I don't really know how much effort he is really going to put into this. It was a fun lesson that we had with him and I hope that he just reads from the Book of Mormon. On Friday I was on exchanges with Elder Little who is in Aberdeen 2. As we were walking through the city centre on our way to the Library to type some things up, we took a wrong turn and when we realized that, we turned around and started walking back up the street we just came down. Elder Little then stopped a man who stopped and talked. We spoke about the Book of Mormon and how modern prophets can give us guidance today for our lives. He was quite interested and we asked when we could come and see him. He then invited us over to his flat right then and there so we went with him. It was a good lesson and this man, Collin, wants to gain trust and belief in God again. It was marvelous to see how the Lord carries your feet to those that are prepared to receive you.
On Tuesday I went on exchanges with Elder Parsons in Inverness and it was wierd to be in an area from early on in my mission. The pictures are of when we went running on Wednesay morning. I wanted to say that I went running in the highlands, so now I can.
The funny thing about the card that I sent Matt was that I went to the card section at ASDA and picked the first funny one that I found because we didn't have much time. I suppose that I just have a knack for finding funny cards. I heard that Matt is staying south of campus as well. How close will we be to each other?
Well I hope that everything is going well.
Love,
Elder Buxton
