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

Week of Success

Dear Family,
I am doing grand here in Galway. The past week we had really good weather and much success as we applied ourselves. The week started off well when we tracted in a predominately student estate and got into a young man's house. We briefly taught him and left him a Book of Mormon. We also began teaching this man named Dennis. So we were walking out of the Church's estate and we were walking past these two men when one looked at Elder Manwaring's badge and read it and asked, "Are you Jehovah's?" We replied that we weren't and then began talking about the restoration and the Book of Mormon with him. We gave him one in English, but his native language is French so we set up a time to see him later in the week. He also asked if that's all and God has revealed and we said no, but we also have the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. He wanted those as well to read in French, so we need to get that as well. He is really good and prepared. Later we met with a lady named Edith who was wanting to see us. The lesson went well as we talked about the restoration until she said that she doesn't want to follow Joseph Smith. She can see that he could be a prophet, but she didn't want to follow him mainly because he isn't mentioned in the Bible. So after talking with her for a time, the member we brought with us, Sister Hagan finally convinced her that if she wanted to know if she should, that should read from the Book of Mormon. She agreed. I am so thankful that she came with us and was able to provide that support. We had tried a couple times previously to see her with other members, but she for various reasons couldn't make it, but when we had Sister Hagan come, she was the only person that probably could have convinced her to read. I am so grateful for the great wisdom that God has.
In other things that have happened. Peter is still doing well. He is still working on quitting smoking. He's excited to watch conference and has really seen the change that the gospel brings. We are really looking forward to him being baptized soon.

Also, this probably doesn't come as much of a surprise to anyone, but I sent home my wrong address and never realized it until now. I misread what Elder Ellett wrote down in my planner. So my actual address is:

204 Dun na Coiribe
Headford Road
Galway
Ireland

I apologize to anyone that sent a letter to the other address, I'll be going over to that house soon to see if they kept any of my letters. Hopefully they did and I can get them.

As far as spring is concerned. The weather was good last week, but I think this week it's returning to normal which means rain and more rain. There are some bushes and trees blossoming, but for the most part, things are still dormant. We hope that the rain still won't put a damper on any of our plans though. It's good to hear that everyone is doing well and I hope that Dad can once again survive another tax season. Oh and another good story so we were walking around talking to people when we approached this man and he asked, "Do you guys know anything about the Mormon Church?" We said yes and then he told us that he was a member here on business. He's from California and his name is Dale Glenn. I don't know if you have heard of a band called Neon Trees, but his son is the lead singer in that band. Anyways, we told him where the church was and he came and yesterday we had dinner with him. It's funny to think how God puts us in the right places at the right times to bless his children. Well that's all the news that I have. One other thing is that for conference we are going to be watching over the Internet at member's homes. I believe that we are going to go down to Limerick though to watch the priesthood session. I hope all goes well with everyone and Happy April Fool's Day!

Love,
Elder Buxton

Spring Time

Dear Family,
How is everyone? I am doing great. We had some good things happen to us this past week. First though I'll begin with what happened with transfers. On Tuesday we drove to Dublin and stayed the night with the Zone Leaders. The next day those that were going to Scotland left early in the morning to catch a train to Belfast. Thankfully I was able to sleep in to 6:30. Then it was really a normal preparation day where I went shopping with some elders in Lucan, east some subway and really just hung around Dublin. That evening with had dinner with a missionary couple, who are over the seminary and institute programs for all of Ireland. It was nice and then we did some tracting and that was our night. The next day, St. Patrick's Day, I finally met my companion, Elder Manwaring. He is from Laguna Niguel, California which is near Laguna Beach. He is great. He's been out for 6 months now. Previous to coming here he was in Bridge of Don in Aberdeen and before that in Kilmarnok, and before that in Sterling. This is his first time in Ireland and he really likes it. He says that the people here are nicer which is true than in Scotland. Anyways so I picked him up and we drove to Galway. Unfortunately and this doesn't come much of a surprise, we got lost even though you really only have to take one motorway that goes from Dublin straight to Galway. You see what happened was that the motorway split with one going to Galway and the other going to a place called Sligo and we were headed to Sligo. Eventually we realized that this wasn't the way to go so we turned around and found a nice scenic country road leading back to the motorway. For those of you who don't know, the motorway is like the interstates in America. Nonetheless it was a nice drive to see the countryside of Ireland. Then we just had a normal day of missionary work. We ate dinner with the Jensen's, a member family. It wasn't anything special for St. Patrick's Day. We had some pork, potatoes, green beans and other veg and some yorkshire puddings with gravy on it all. Simply, for St. Patrick's Day in Ireland. It's a national holiday that most people get off. In many cities and towns they have a parade. Then it's just a relaxing day. Then most people drink at night. Some people wear green, but nobody pinches you if you don't (I didn't wear green). Many people said that the parade wasn't all that great, but they say that the one in Dublin is always the best and that it is similar to parades that we have in the United States.
So things that happened this week. We will start with the best things. Peter came to church on Sunday. He was having some trouble sleeping too much because of a medication that he is taking. So we asked if we could knock on his window in the morning and he agreed. So we did and he got up and went to church. He's doing quite well and he is scheduled to be baptized on the 9th of April. We are really excited for this. The next thing is that Elder Manwaring and I were tracting last Friday and got into a young couple's home named Paul and Stephanie. They have two young kids. They let us in and just asked us question after question and we answered them and they seemed quite interested. We gave them a Book of Mormon and a Family proclamation. So we are excited to teach them again. Lastly, we received this referral from the office about this lady that was moving here from Spain about a month ago. We were told that she lives in a place called Loughrea on Barrack Street in a house on a lake. We thought this was quite vague and thought the locals would know where this is. So we went there when we first got it and couldn't find where she lived. Her phone number didn't work either and none of the local knew of this place. So we went home and later decided that we would tract the street to find where she lived. Finally we went yesterday and tracted it and weren't getting much success in that. We looked around and couldn't see anywhere that could be it. We were about to leave and on the end of the road there was this building that when I was first there looked like an office building or something, but when we went by we saw a car and soccer and goal and we both said to each other that that was a house and could potentially be it. I forgot to mention that this lady is a housemaid so we were looking for a large enough house that could potentially look like one that needed one. So we went up to the gate of the house and pushed the call button. This lady answered and we asked for the person we were looking for. She said that she wasnt' there nor did she live there, but that she was the maid. So we told who we were and left our phone number and now were are waiting for us to call her. We are so thankful that we were led there and now know where she works.
As far as answering your questions, what do you want for graduation Michelle, a pint of Guinness? a pot of gold (these are hard to come by)? a tin whistle? a handwritten note that says, "Congratulations!"? Tell me soon, or I won't get you anything. As far as mail goes. I still haven't received my package. On that note I would just like to remind everyone to send packages to this address:

Elder or Sister xxxxx

Scotland/Ireland Mission

c/o The Golf Department

Unit 1 Castletroy Shopping Centre

Castletroy, Limerick

Ireland

I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to hearing from you next week.

Love,

Elder Buxton

St. Patrick's Day

Dear Family,
How are you all? I am doing well. We are getting things going once again, nonetheless, we still have our setbacks. This weeks is moves week. Normally we email on Wednesday, but President Giffiths wanted us to read his email today so that we stay focused. Yesterday we got a call and Elder Ellett got moved to Falkirk which is near Edinburgh. I am staying here and getting a new companion named Elder Manwarrying. I don't anything about him. So I'll let you know more next week. He's coming from the Bridge of Don Ward which is in Aberdeen. I'm excited for the new adventure of getting a new companion. The only trouble is that I really don't know Galway very well. It's a big area and there are some places that I really don't know how to get to. This is really a baptism of fire, but I'll get to know really well these next few weeks. So don't worry, I'll figure things out. It'll be great.
So as far as Irish culture goes. All that I know that they do on St. Patrick's Day is have parades in the morning and then they drink at night. For many it's just an excuse to drink and get wasted. That's there culture though. I don't know what they eat other than I know that many will be drinking Guinness. I don't really know what we will be doing on that day. I just hope and pray that we stay out precarious situations.
As far as things this week. We weren't able to teach Keith this week since he was working out of town. We still haven't been in contact with him. Peter has been a struggle. He wants to quit smoking, but when we did the stop smoking program with him, you're to have them crush a pack of cigarettes in front of us to show that you're over the cigarettes, but no matter how much we tried, he wouldn't do it. He also said that he would come to church, but didn't. On to brighter news though. We are now teaching this lady named Noreen. She's a young mother with a baby of 4 months. She seemed interested and willing to investiagate. We are excited to teach her. Also we had quite of few visitors from America at church on Sunday. They were all from Utah. It's always good to have visitors. One asked for your number to call you just to let you know that I'm still alive. Also this past week we tracting into a lady named Cyrth (she pronounced it Cynthia, don't ask why). She let us in and thought we were going to tell her Bible stories. She loves the Bible and reads it everyday. However it seems she is quite involved in her own church so we don't know.
I am doing well. It is funny to hear that Elder Doxey is losing weight which is the opposite of here where everyone gains weight. I got the sweatshirt in Elgin from  ASDA about 2 months ago. I haven't gotten the package yet. Nor have I gotten thing you sent for valentine's Day. Hopefully it will come before I end my mission. 

I love you all,
Elder Buxton