He's home!

As you all know, Cody made it home safely on Tuesday morning. He looks great and is still glowing. It seems to be a harder adjustment than any of us could have expected but we understand that it is normal. Thanks so much to everyone for your prayers, love and support for him and our family for the past two years. What a blessing it has been for each of us to have him serve and I know he will be greatly missed by the people of Argentina who dearly love him.
He will be speaking in our ward this Sunday , December 22 at 11:00 am. We would love to have all of you there to hear his amazing testimony.  It is kind of sad to be posting my last post but I love having him home and seeing his amazing growth. We are so blessed at this Christmas season. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to each of you!

Last email...

Hola Familia!!

Finally I got logged in after 40 minutes.... but wow. So I feel very humble to be writing you guys my very last email of my mission. That seems so very strange to me.. I really dont know where all the time went. I feel.... I cant describe it. Its the most bitter sweet strange crazy feeling ever. So this last week we had interviews with president which went good but they were very short. We talked just for a sec and then he said "well elder buxton I dont have anything else so I'll see you in 2 weeks and we will talk about lots of stuff." hahaha referring to my final end of mission interview of course. I'm excited for it :) So I wont lie this last week was very very hard. For lots of reasons.. We really struggled with finding this week. We didnt find any solid investigators. We worked with melisa and jessica a bunch and yesterday melisa couldnt come.. But jessica finally did! Which was great! We will talk with her tomorrow to see how it all went and everything. Besides that on wednesday I did divisions with elder garrett in his area since I hadnt ever done that before. That also went pretty good. We ate ice cream after saving souls :) yesterday church was just super good. Not sure why but I just really felt peace and it didnt leave. In the second hour the bishop pulled us out of class and told us the font overflowed into the primary room and in the hall so we hurried and did what we could to clean that up fast. But nobody had a baptism so we dont know who turned it on.. it was weird. Then sunday after church was just not the best.. At lunch a girl was playing with my camera and she was trying to delete some pics of her that I blocked so she couldnt and she accdientally erased all the rest of the pics on that memory card.... which included all the pics from the boca stadium and making tacos with flia moron and all that stuff. About 100 pics or a little more. So I'm sorry you guys wont get to see those.. :( hopefully I'll be able to get some from my comp and stuff. We will see. but yeah.. also all week my arm was not doing the best. Its still bruised half way up my arm. Hermana moron whos a nurse said that she didnt just stick me wrong but she like ruptured or broke the vain or something also. So thats not fun... but anyway. We still try to stay happy and focused and the lord helps us so thats always good. This week is going to much better! I hope! I think thursday we might have a lider capacitacion for trainers or something. And then friday we get to go to the temple!! :) stoked to see the new movie!! Then on saturday we get to do a little bit of last packing. Then on sunday I have a talk in church and then my despedida in san fernando that evening :) Then on monday we go to the mission home by ourselves and have our last interviews with president and eat and chill with president and then we go to the airport and fly out that night. So it sounds like its gonna be a good and crazy week! This last week has also been really hot and sunny and the past couple days just super super humid. Today we are in once and I'm with elder walker and I think elder alder is coming and we are gonna buy stuff and take pics and everything. Should be fun! Its just going to be so hard to say bye to these people and this country... :( not looking forward to that at all. I'm so very grateful for all these members and the love and support they have given and shown to me these past 2 years. Obviously I'll tell you guys all about my mission and my testimony and everything when I get back in a week but just everyone know that coming on the mission was the best decision I have ever made and I will never regret it. I dont know who I would be today if I didnt come out here. I know that I would not be even close to the person my heavenly father wants me to be. We gotta have faith and trust in god. Its something I learn so much every single day and hope to keep learning. Thanks so much to all of you for your emails and love and support. You guys are the ones that helped so much to keep me happy and with the desire to keep going and never give up. I love you all so much and I'll see you all next week :)

the despedida is just the testimonies of the missionaries that are going home. And some other stuff but yeah just our testimony. Then we get like an hour to say bye and talk to all the members and missionaries that come :) I'm excited to see some old members and friends! Well thats about it. I'm excited to see and spend time with all of you next week. It will definitley be hard to adjust so just know everyone that I probably wont be all that "normal" when I get home haha and yes mom the time change will definiltey affect me. les amo todos con todo mi corazon! gracias por todo! nos vemos la semana que viene!! :)

Elder Buxton

p.s. its going to be so hard to take the plack (name tag) off... :(

Happy December!

Hola Familia,
Fuah! I cant believe its already december!! It doesnt feel like christmas time at all here because of the heat... but anyway so this last week was a pretty difficult week but as missionaries somehow we always make it good! We really struggled to find new investigators this week which made it hard.. but wednesday we had zone meeting which is always good and we put new goals and learned about loving your mission or just like getting through your mission. Its a very key this as missionaries. If we dont love the mission then we arent going to do gods will. But if we do, thats when we become instruments and help gods children come to him. So we found out that valentina and gabriel were moving... :( they moved on saturday but were going to come to church cause valentina hasnt received the holy ghost but we dont know what happened but they didnt show up.. it was sad to see them go and know that I might not ever see them again. I'll miss them alot :( we continued teaching melisa the 13 year old girl that lives in the same house as they did whose mom doesnt like us a whole ton but she is a freakin capa and always reads and prays and the last couple days she really had some good questions so that was really good. We finally talked to her mom on saturday and she said she couldnt come to church but we asked if melisa could come with us and she was doubting until I said that we would come get her with other girls like her age and stuff. Then she accepted. So on saturday night we called a way cool girl named wanda that just turned 14 and it took like 20 min on the phone to convince her but we finally did and so we went and picked her up early sundry morning and then went and got anabela and gabi (diferent gabi) and then went and got melisa and then some other people. So she was finally able to come to church :) It was great and she was with the young women the whole time so she really liked it. We just gotta work on her mom now. She has yet to come sit down and listen to our message.. so yeah we worked a little with jessica last week too but she didnt come to church.. and she is now living in melisas house but a different room with her boyfriend.. so yeah she isnt really reading either so we are basically dropping her. We had to drop quite a few investigators this last week so that has left us with very little.. on thursday it was hermana luisas (the lady that lives in the insane hospital) birthday so she took us to a restaurant for lunch and stuff and we ate ice cream and all that good stuff. So on saturday we donated blood!! It was a mormon helping hands activity and this time they wanted all the missionaries that wanted to in capital to donate. I wanted to but was not very excited.. never donated before. And lets just say it wasnt the best experience haha. I got super light headed and en cima the lady stuck me wrong! So it hurt in the beginning and then got a little bit better but still hurt when I would clench my fist but I didnt want to say anything cause I didnt want her to stick me again.. so yeah that wasnt the funnest.. and because of her sticking me wrong my whole arm killed to move the whole day and today it is still bruised pretty bad and I cant extend it completely.. but I'm alive! Yesterday was my last fast and testimony meeting in argentina.. so I bore my testimony. I was the last one haha it was funny. But it was good. Then we had ward counsel again and kept planning the ward end of year dinner. It was fun and funny again like last time haha and it was fun to just put random input in since I wont be there anyway :) haha. I had fun. After the meeting the bishop asked me what day I'm leaving and I told him and so now I have a talk on the 15th haha that should be fun. A talk on the 15th, my despedida later that evening and then another talk on the 22nd.. weird! 2 in spanish and 1 in english. oh man my one in english is going to be a disaster.. haha. Also after that they called about 6 new ward missionaries. They called basically most of the priests and a couple laurels. So now we have a missionary team/army here in constitucion :) It's sick! um besides that tomorrow we finally have interviews with president which will be good. Even though mine will be 5 seconds long cause he'll just tell me that we will talk in my last interview before I leave haha. So yeah thats pretty much it for now that I can think of. Today we are going to play soccer and basketball and stuff as a zone at the church and then we are going to the boca stadium :) should be way fun!


Next week is my last p day and pretty sure last day to email. So weird this is my 2nd to last email! I talked to elder harrison at the blood thing and he knew some stuff I didnt so he said that we might be going to the temple not this week but the next week. I hope so cause I wanna see the new temple video. And then he said the monday that we leave is when we will have our last interviews and then the rest of the afternoon I have no idea what we are going to be doing before the airport. but I highly doubt we will email. So nobody send me emails after the 9th!! When do you all finish school? Well I guess thats it for this week. I feel very weird and different that I will only email you guys one last time.. kinda sad and crazy. These last couple weeks will definitely very very crazy and stressful haha but I've got the lord on my side :) les amo mucho!!


Elder Buxton

Happy Thanksgiving

Hola familia!
So this last week was all pretty good until the weekend.. it definitely was not my weekend or day today. But anyway. So first of all Happy Thanksgiving this week everyone! I hope its a good one! :) cause it doesnt exist here... so last week me and elder cruz did divisions on tuesday which went really good. He is definitely my favorite mexican on this planet :) besides that we worked really hard to teach jessica and melisa along with valentina and gabi to help them progress and come to church and to get valentina confirmed on sunday. We did everything. We made plans with them and everything but then after the cita on saturday with them everything was good and then they went and talked to their parents and they came back and told us they couldnt go cause they were leaving sunday morning as a family and friends.. I wont lie I was very very frustrated and stressed.. We spent a lot of time there doing everything to get them to come and in they end they didnt.. :( so yesterday we didnt bring anyone to church except anabela. Oh if you didnt know we go to the villa every sunday morning to look for everyone. All our investigators and a bunch of recent converts and stuff. Most of them know each other and stuff but every sunday its a different result of who comes with us. Only anabela whos 17 and her baby pilar came with us this time.. :( and in the morning on sunday we had a meeting with the stake. The stake president and pres ayre and the bishops and everything like last time. That was really good like always. Then after church we had ward councel. Thats something that like I would have hated to go to before the mission, like meetings like that. But I have learned in the mish to love meetings and stuff like that. Its super weird. But I love being there and listening in and throwing in comments and its always funny and we laugh quite a bit. The whole time they were just planning the end of the year dinner which I wont be here for :( but it was fun to laugh and help out. Then we went with enzo and edu and javier (the bishops son) to go visit the kid I told you guys about who is an investigator but cant get baptised named benjamin. He is in the hostpital so we went to go visit him but we got there too late.. the visiting hours finished so we couldnt go.. so with enzo and edu we went and tried to work. We went to the villa and just everywhere we went everything failed us... and the past few days its been super super hot and humid. We just live and work in sweat all the time pretty much. But I like the heat right now cause I'm sick of the winter and the cold.. and of course today it started out raining. Its not raining much right now but its cloudy and ugly and super super humid.. so yeah this last weekend and today was just not the best. But we still keep the good attitude and the faith that this week will be better :) so yeah um so so much happened but I cant think of it all.. today we are gonna play some soccer (like always) but with some elders from another zone. I'm hoping one is elder arostica :) I got to see him yesterday so that was good! Last week we went and played soccer and some basketball in the church at 6 in the morning which was fun. Its hard to sleep and study and then stay awake with this heat.. our air conditioning isnt working right so I didnt sleep much last night. But the bishop is coming to fix it tomorrow so that will be good! umm I think thats it. My mind always goes blank on mondays.. jaja and as a missionary thats training, DL, and finishing his mission I have way way way too much stuff on my mind. Its pretty ridiculous.. haha I always thought the end of my mission would be so much easier! Boy was I wrong... this week will be better though. I know it! :) this week we have lunch with the lady that lives in a mental hospital (just like we do every week) and she is obsessed with gringos! haha its funny but we are eating with her in a restaurant the day before her birthday. So that will be interesting.


Wow thats super sick that kyler won state! Tell him congradulations!! I am so glad that grandmas biopsy went good and that she is okay :) I guess thats pretty much it for this week. I dunno why I cant remember or think of anything today.. weird. bueno les amo!! hasta la semana que viene! :)


Elder Buxton

How was this week?

Hola Familia,
So this last week was a good week :) so on tuesday we had a liders meeting in san fernando which went pretty good and it was cool to see all my friends and stuff. Then on wednesday we had to get up at like 5 and be in san fernando at 8 to do tramites (visa stuff) for my companion. We had to do some stuff and then we had an appointment to do another part a couple train stations away so we went and we were like 2 hours early... so us and the 4 other elders with us decided to go contact in a park haha It was kinda cool. We didnt talk to a ton of people but me and my comp talked to a group of americans that were there for a conference later that night. They are from boston. So that was pretty cool. And then we talked to a group of high school kids. But yeah so that was that. umm I feel like so much happened this last week.. on saturday we had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to go to a different church and take a big 2 story bus to the church in the west mission for the conference with elder holland. So about the conference.. I dont even know where to start! elder gonzalez who is the area president and his wife spoke. Then elder soares from the seventy, who spoke in the last general conference, and his wife spoke. And then elder hollands wife and elder holland spoke. We were the 3 buenos aires missions and the MTC here also. It was super fun cause I was sitting with elder walker and elder whitsitt the whole time and hanging out with elder whitsitt and arostica on our bus :) and all the talks were so freakin good!! elder hollands talk was amazing!! He talked about so many different things so I dont even know how to explain what he talked about. Those are literally the most notes I've ever taken on one talk in my whole life! literally!! It was just so awesome to be there and feel the spirit that was there as he spoke to us. At some points he was actually like yelling like he does in most of his talks but its sooo much different when your actually there. So so powerful. A couple points real quick (but remember this was less than half his talk) was he talked about how much he loves us and how us as missionaries are the most prayed for people in the world. literally. and how we for 2 years are apostolic. He explained to us how what he does and what we do are the same thing. Us and him each day from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep is spent acting and thinking about how we can save souls. And he also talked a quite a bit about how who we are is much much more important than what we say in a lesson. and also about why they chose the words "preach my gospel" for the manual preach my gospel and what each of the 3 words mean. tI was crazy good! I'll explain a lot more in a few weeks dont worry! but yeah then yesterday we didnt end up getting people to church.. :( well any investigators I mean. They all fodged.. but we took like 6 recent converts haha. and gabi got confirmed! I ended up confirming him. valentina was super sick so she couldnt come.. and we also have started teaching another girl named melisa whos 13 and lives in the same house but different room as gabi and valentina. Besides that it was hard to find escogidos last week. We found some investigators but they arent escogidos. Yesterday after church we had a kid named enzo whos just a capo (his brother edu who is waiting for his papers is also a straight up capo) come with us and in one of our visits we were teaching a recent convert and her mom whos not a member but we dont focus on her cause she doesnt want to be baptised or anything. But before the lesson we saw the recent converts, isabel, grandson named emmanuel. so we asked them if they wanted to invite him and isabels mom said no emmanuel wont want anything. So we invited him and we taught him for a while and he in the beginning didnt really believe in much and stuff but in the end accepted a book of mormon and a baptismal date for the 8th of dec :) it was awesome to see the change in him as we explained why we focus so much on jesus christ cause he doesnt really believe much in jesus christ. So we taught that and led it into joseph smith and the book of mormon and we really saw a change in him and it was perfect to have a really good kid like enzo with us :) so we will see what happens with that this week. that was kinda some of the stuff that happened. It's impossible to explain everything that happens.. oh and the other day we went to go contact a referal who was enzos old friend and he gave us the referal. So we went and talked to him and his dad and they are athiest.. but we asked for another referal and showed us a door and told us a name so we went and knocked, first door no one. second door no one. third door no one. I decided to go one more just to ask where this kid lived and have an excuse to contact the person that answers and to show elder johnson what its like to contact and the guy answer and in the middle of the sentence we got the door slammed in our face. It was awesome! ;) haha sorry if you were all waiting for a cool miracle happy ending with that story. Just thought I would tell you cause we dont get the door slammed in our face very much at all here cause we dont ever knock doors. But I guess it had to happen sooner or later :) it wasnt the first time but one of the first times haha.


Oh and elder christofferson wasnt there cause he was in mar del plata. Different part of buenos aires. wow snow already? thats so weird to me.. last week most of the days it was super super hot and humid. I like it though! I'm sick of cold and winter. I want summer! :) even if that means its a billion degrees here haha. Thats crazy with all the farewells and everything! and thats crazy about grandma! :( I hope everything is okay and she can still have a good birthday. Tell her happy birthday for me! cause I dont know if she reads my emails home.. well thats it for this week. les amo mucho! :)


Elder Buxton

5 weeks left....

Hola Familia,

haha okay first of all mom your not supposed to put the subject of your email how little time I have left.. hahaha. So this week was a pretty crazy! So basically as you all know I'm a dad :) my hijito is elder johnson which is really funny cause hes from provo and went to provo high haha. So monday was super fun we played soccer and just chilled and everything and then we went to the mission home and we just waited in the backyard on the tramp and stuff until the newbies were done inside doing whatever they were doing. We were like 25 trainers. It was kinda crazy. But then we all walked into the house in the living room in a line singing called to serve super loud cause they didnt even know we were there. And then president read off one by one each new missionaries name and then their trainer and everyone like cheered and everything haha and it was just super fun and funny. I was chillin with my friend elder kaimicaua. Don't know how to spell his name. Hes from hawaii. But yeah so the wait wasnt that bad. But then we ate some pizza and stuff and went back to our areas in a remis which is like a taxi. So yeah its been super weird to have a comp that doesnt just automatically know how to do things here in argentina and in the field. But yeah so me and elder johnson get along pretty good so I am greatful for that :) He struggles with spanish but he is improving every day so thats good. So besides that we had gabriel and valentinas baptism! :) It went super good! I totally spaced everything during the week.. not sure if its from being a trainer or what but I had forgotten to get the signature and when we went to get gabi y vale the mom was super sick so she couldnt come and the paper to sign was in the church. So finally we convinced the step dad to just come at 12 for a sec to sign and so he did and then he left. Then after stake conference I forgot completely about baptismal clothing so we were scramblin around looking for that and yeah it was just nuts. But it turned out good in the end :) Today is valentinas birthday so we are going to go see her today also. What a birthday present :) And their friend nestor came with us too. But he left before the baptism.. dont know why. So yeah stake conference was super good! The saturday session was good and then sunday was super super packed! So many people there! We barely found seats. And the whole stake conference was just completely about missionary work and the work of salvation. It was super cool! The last song was called to serve and we as missionaries all walked up in a line during the song and sang the rest of it in a line in front of everyone. It was super cool! So yeah um friday night we had our talent show again which turned out pretty good this time. umm besides that we are still working on not just finding new investigator but finding the escogidos. umm yeah I will explain all the details and everything when I get home so dont worry. Sorry if I'm being brief and not explaining much. I gotta take advantage of my last p days to make sure I get everything done that I need to. Oh and justin bieber was here the last weekend. He was staying at a hotel maybe like 10 min in bus from our area. We heard that he had parties and his fans were so loud that he got kicked out and had to go to tigre which is close to the mission offices. haha super funny. Tomorrow we get to go to a capacitación de lideres so that should be fun. Oh and so elder holland and elder christoferson are coming down here this week. So.... saturday we are having a special meeting with them! :) So sick!!! So yeah thats pretty much all for now. I'm leaving so much out but I can explain better later.

At stake conference the temple president and his wife were there. And obviously pres ayre. Its been like cold hot. Its super weird weather. When its cloudy its super humid and then cools off sometimes at night or with rain. But yeah its weird. Yeah so my zone is now us and elder cruz and elder garrett and the zone leaders. Everyone in the zone got a new companion except elder cruz and elder garrett but yeah. Oh and last friday we went at 6 in the morrning to play soccer us 8 missionaries and then we listened in to the last 10 min of seminary and then ate cake and breakfast with them since it was the last seminary for the year. that was fun! Wow thats terrible about osmerh! :( his mom that lives in mexico? I'll for sure be praying for them! Wait how do you know what day is elder whitsitts homecoming? and what day is kirstens farewell? and what day is mine?? haha. and landons? yeah thanks for the pics mom! :) les amo mucho! hasta la semana que viene!

Elder Buxton

Last Transfer!

Hola Familia!

So I bet your anxious to know whats going to be happening with this new transfer. So a few days ago I was pretty sure that we would just stay together me and elder cutipa. And then on saturday we got a text inviting us to a meeting on monday morning for people that can possibly be trainers. And so then we had no idea what to think.. so whats happening is elder cutipa left.. he went up to district leader which he was pretty happy about. He went far away though so that was kinda sad. And I am now going to be a dad :) haha for my last transfer I am training a newbie. So went came to san fernando this morning for transfers and I just stay here all day with the other trainers and then we go to the mission house at 6:30 tonight to pick up our new missionaries. Elder brown stayed in his area here in san fernando so he is with some of us right now writing home and then we are going to go play some soccer in church clothes since us trainers didnt bring clothes to play in. haha should be a lot of fun. I honestly didnt think I would train so I was very surprised. But when I heard elder cutipa was leaving I was pretty scared and nervous cause I didnt just want some other companion. So yeah next week I will let you know who it is and if hes a latin or gringo. So last week was a pretty good week. On friday we had zone meeting which went really good and then it literally literally rained all day. We were pretty wet and it was hard to have lessons with members present but thats okay it all worked out in the end. halloween on thursday was just a normal day haha but a bunch of little kids did dress up and did some stuff with candy and stuff in the villa so that was kinda cool to see. It didnt make me homesick at all so it was okay ;) on sunday gabriel and valentina who are getting baptised came to church with us! The parents didnt but thats okay. Also benjamin and his mom came again also. And all weekend we were looking for someone to take to the despedida and it wasnt looking to good.. but in the end benjamin and his mom came and it was great! There were so many people there and I got to see so many friends and I saw karina and them from flia cubilla in savio and I got to see yamila. Also jared and antonela came and yeah I will send pics next week. It was so weird to be at my last despedida not being up on the stand.. cause next time it will be us up there speaking. So weird! So yeah I'm starting my last transfer. Weirdest feeling ever! But I'm not very homesick or anything. I just have the desire to work hard and finish my mission strong :) so I'm greatful that heavenly father has blessed me with that desire. Elder cruz and elder garrett are staying so thats really good. There are alot of changes in the zone and the district will be completely different so we will see what happens. This morning before we went to san fernando we went and ate breakfast with eduardo moron, an 18 year old kid waiting his mission call whos just a straight up capo and his little bro enzo whos I think 16 whos also a capo so that was fun. fuah so much has happened I dont know how to tell all of it. This sunday we have stake conference :) so I will see elder arostica and some other friends and right after will be gabi and valentinas baptism :) also from now on the missionaries are supposed to go to the adult session on saturday so we will go to that too. Oh and I dont know if you guys remember that a long time ago I told you about a kid that wrote me cause he found my blog before the mish and wrote me and told me that it like inspired him or whatever. yeah well I met him today! He's with me right now he talked to me and told me he was the one that wrote me. And a couple weeks ago an hermana missionary came and told me she found my blog and everything. They are all very impressed with how up to date you keep it mom ;) good work and thank you! Well I guess thats it for now. I'm excited to find out who my son will be :) It wont be easy being a trainer but it will be good and I'll learn alot. So yeah and tomorrow is the last day that we will go to seminary at 6 in the morning to help the kids learn (not sure if i mentioned that we do that..) And there will now be hermanas in the boca so we will be 10 missionaries in seminary tomorrow. Should be fun! Even more fun cause tomorrow will be the 4th day in a row that I have got up early. oh and like last night I went to bed at like 12:30 cause my comp was packing and sunday night we got home from the despedida at 11 haha. It was a lot of fun! definitely the best despedida by far! :)

This last transfer about like 8 or 10 left I think. Not very many. So yes many new areas opened up today and a new zone too. osmerh lives with us now?? what the thing... haha. thats cool! Why is that though exactly? Wheres daniel living now? Well I guess thats it for this week. So much work to do, things to buy, things to see, people to save, and not enough time! This is going to be a crazy 6 weeks!! les amo mucho! :)

Elder Buxton

Happy Halloween!

Hola Familia,
First of all Happy Halloween everyone!! Hope its a good one! Cause they don't do anything here... haha. So this last week was pretty good and crazy like always. FINALLY isabel got baptised!! :) We had her baptism on thursday and it went really good. We talked a lot with her dad mario and in the end we put his baptism on sunday but then we went and had a lesson with him on saturday and found out that he smokes. So we put his goal for his baptism on the 10th. We also gave him a blessing to be able to quit also. I know he can do it! So we found some new investigators this last week which were good but in the end the only one that came was paulina who has 2 kids and she lives with her.. marido... man? (don't know how to say that in english. They aren't married) and they don't get a long very good but are together for the kids so we are gonna try to help them get separated to get baptised. Her man smokes and is into drugs and drinking and stuff but paulina listens and likes what we teach so that's good. On sunday in sacrament meeting it was kinda a disaster cause her kids are kinda terrible and we kinda gotta talk to paulina also about being reverent and stuff. But it was good that she came! She has a baptismal date for the 10th also. valentina and gabriel and their parents (the family from paraguay) didnt come.. so we had to reput their dates for the 10th. So we have 4 baptisms set up for the 10th right now. So the other day I did divisions and went over to la boca to do a few baptismal interviews. I was with elder moran from ecuador. It went pretty good and I did 2 interviews on friday and then 1 on saturday morning. So real quick the one on saturday morning was with a girl named yamila who is 19 and lives alone. They already told me that she had a couple problems with question 4 so I already knew I'd have to call president and stuff. And I knew that if it was okay with president that he would basically put the decision of her repentance and baptism on me. So I prayed a lot before the interview to have the spirit with me to know if she was ready. So it was hard cause there wasnt service in her house so I went outside on the other side of a different house (this is nothing like I'm explaining it cause its a villa. you guys cant even imagine how these villas are) but yeah so I was standing on wooden boards which were basically the porch and pathway of a house that was suspended about 10 off the ground above a river. haha it was the most dangerous looking thing ever. It was sweet though! Then president wanted to talk to her so I had her come out and she talked and we went back in and finished the interview. After talking to president though when I was talking to and teaching her I could really feel the love that heavenly father has for her. It was awesome to be able to feel that and I hope that she could feel that love from God through me. In the end she got baptised yesterday which was great. So yesterday morning we had a meeting with the bishops, stake president, mission president, and all the missionaries in the stake (apparently we have this meeting every 4th sunday of the month). It was really good and I got to see elder arostica so it was great! :) then we went to the villa to look for investigators before church. The meeting was at 7 in the morning. After church we had lunch with an awesome family. familia shaffauser. The dad looks a lot like pres eyring haha but yeah they invited us 4 and the missionary couple. So I was the translator for lunch haha it was fun though. Also each week we eat with familia chavez and the dad is temporarily the ward mission leader (hes really the ward secretary) because ours is inactive.. but yeah they have a kid thats 18 a girl thats 17 that are active and way chill and then 2 other girls that are like 20 and another boy thats like 20 whos not active. They are really fun to be with too. They are a family of many talents. Also the sweetest thing happened yesterday! After church me and my comp did divisions with a member so he could go give a blessing and teach a lesson and I could be with paulina a bit while we ate refreshments (there was some food cause an hermana is moving from the ward this week). So I was with the elder cruz and garrett and we ran downstairs and I ran into jared from my area in liniers!! antonela and his sister were out in the car and they went to church in a different ward to see an elder and then came here to see elder ferreiros in la boca and he didnt know I was here. We then went outside and talked with all them for a while. It was so great!! :) but yeah today I think we are gonna go eat at a buffet and then go play soccer cause jared and some friends are gonna come back up and play. Should be sick! oh and yesterday we had a really good lesson with a girl named jessica that we found last week. We taught her the restoration and she understood really well and wants to know if the book of mormon is true. Then at the end some drunk guy came up and started to mess with us and was talking about who knows what a ton. He was basically talking to me the whole time cause I'm from the united states but it was alright in the end. He got a little too close to jessica at one point and I was ready to do whatever but anyway. Stuff like that happens all the time. Its what makes being a missionary fun! ;) I guess thats it for this week. Wow this is long. It was pretty cold here all week long. kinda wierd. Very strange temperature changes. oh oh and also we had 2 miracle investigators show up at church yesterday. A lady and her son. And they live in our area :) we are gonna visit them tonight. and today is jessicas birthday. She turns 17. We asked if we could come on tuesday and then she told us its her birthday today and said she wants us to come. Pretty cool! oh this is so nuts cause this is already the last week of the transfer! We cant believe it... it went by so fast. I really really hope that us 4 stay together here in the ward. I want to stay with elder cutipa so he can kill me. We will see what happens and I will email you guys again next tuesday.


Austins gonna play kickball against the girls volleyball team at UVU? haha what the... okay yeah just let me know what UVU says. Did I meet with an advisor last time? and what classes and times are you signing me up for? and yes in this mission we focus a lot alot on lessons with member present lessons. We are supposed to get, with a lot of work and diligence, 20 lessons with member present a week. In lots of areas its hard to get. 2 weeks ago we had 20 and last week we had 24. very awesome cause this ward hasnt had that in a while. We are really seeing real growth here in the ward and some members are getting more excited about the work. It's great to see :) we try to never have other lessons. Which is lessons with just us and an investigator. haha thats cool you talked to elder garretts mom. haha yep I'm just so nice huh? ;) and yes I plan on leaving lots of stuff. yeah we are getting like 26 misisonaries tomorrow and like 28 next week. so crazy!! The work of salvations is hastening!! :) does that make sense in english? hmm who knows.. you guys understand me! You put money in my account for elder whitsitt? I dont ever see him though... so I dunno how that is gonna work... austin is a primary teacher?? haha thats awesome!! :) bueno les amo a todos!


Elder Buxton

How are you?

Hola Familia,

This last week was definitely crazy and hard in many ways. But first of all yesterday was mothers day so Happy Mothers Day Mom!!! I love you!!!! your the best!!! :) so this week we had pretty good numbers again which was very good. We had the most lessons with a member present last week than we have the whole transfer so that was good. In this mission we focus a lot a lot on member present lessons. we try not to teach any "other lessons" which is just us and an investigator. we focus on teaching with members to investigators and to other member, mainly recent converts and less actives. So that is going pretty good so far. So isabel didnt get baptised this last weekend.. apparently she couldn't get wet.. for girl reasons.. but she finally finally came to church with us!! It was great! So her and hopefully her dad and little brother too will get baptised this thursday. Hopefully everything turns out good! mirian and alcides and their family didnt come to church.. they were all sleeping.. but we had a lesson with them last night and reput the fechas with valentina and gabriel for the 3rd of november. On friday we did divisions so I stayed in my area with elder cruz and that went pretty good. He is such a cacahuate! ;) We get a long really well so thats good. Hes such a good kid and elder. oh and on tuesday we had district meeting for half an hour and then the hermanas left and we were going to watch the priesthood session but it didnt work.. so we watched it as a zone at a members house on friday morning. It was very good I liked it a lot! I'm excited to listen to and read the talks again. Then on friday night we had our first ward family night/ talent show. We are going to do this every 2 weeks and each time we take turns as organizations. Friday was la obra misional. So it wasnt a very good turn out in the beginning so I shared a spiritual thought and then us 4 missionaries in the ward did a couple little skits that we didn't plan out hardly at all cause of loss of time during the week but it all turned out good and we had some really good laughs. And then a few kids in the ward break dance so they danced at the end and thats when like a bunch more people showed up.. thats kinda how it works her in argentina. We say that something starts at 7:30 and everyone shows up at 9:15... its really frustrating but its okay. Wo then on saturday morning me and elder cruz went to la boca to do some interviews and then we met up with the zone leaders and did divisons again. I went with elder ferreiros for the day and did their 3 interviews taht night and then we switched back. It went really good. elder ferreiros is a capo! hes from argentina and hes way cool so yeah. Those were basically some of the highlights of the week. Hopefully we can keep the numbers up this week and find more escogidos (chosen) ((people that are prepared)). We found a couple people last week but we will see how they progress first and then I'll tell you about them ;) so yeah I think thats it for the week. oh and next sunday we got invited the 6 of us for lunch. us 4 missionaries and the couple missionaries to have lunch with a member. It should be way good and I think the hermana missionary is gonna make a dessert from the states and bring it! :) I sure hope so!

elder whitsitt just told me that president gave him a break haha I'm not really sure why. It happens every once in a while. As district leaders we really don't get much free time haha always calling or texting people or verifying things and stuff like that. It can be crazy sometimes. I don't have my drivers license with me mom. I'm in argentina remember? ;) haha. you cant really carry things around with you that your afraid to lose haha.  Thats great to hear that ashlee is getting so much better so fast. I'm very glad! :) whos farewell did austin go to? wow thast crazy about cass! I'm glad that she is okay and that nothing serious happened. It is still very weird to me that she is old enough to drive.. that just blows my mind. I cant picture it. Well thats it for this week. keep praying everyone and dont stop keeping the commandments! God has so many blessings he just cant wait to give us! les amo a todos!

Elder Buxton

Fall is here....

Hola Familia,

So this last week was pretty crazy and good. So on tuesday we went to temaiken! It was so sick! The coolest zoo I've ever been too. And it was so great to see elder arostica and elder whitsitt and all them and hang out a little bit. But yeah it was a lot of fun. We got home that night at like 8:15 I think haha it was nuts. So on thursday we went to go contact an old investigator and she had moved but a man and lady answered and so we asked if we could share a message with them. It was a good lesson and they are way way awesome! They are called mirian y alcides. They arent married but they are just so great! On saturday we went back and we met 2 of their kids who are actually just mirians kids. They are all from paraguay and they are just like such happy people especially the mom mirian. They have a lot of faith in god and we put baptismal dates with the 2 kids for the 27th and they accepted and the whole family came to church!! :) We went to the villa sunday morning to go get them and Ana (shes a recent convert along with her sisters that we have been working with a lot lately). Ana is 17 with her twin sister but ana has a kid and she got her baby blessing yesterdy too so that was good. We went to go get isabel who was supposed to get baptised on saturday but didnt cause we met her dad and brother and so we are hoping that we can baptise them all together this coming saturday. Isabel is anas way good friend but now at the moment they arent on very good terms.. long story. But so yeah that might be a problem since we would always teach her in anas house. But yeah so isabel wasnt home so we just went with the family from paraguay and ana. It was just awesome to see them in church and see the members helping them to feel comfortable. We also explained to them that they need to get married first before getting baptised and she already knew that so we are gonna help them do that. Mirian has got baptised in a bunch of different churches and just loves stuff about God. So we are gonna really help her to understand that there is only one true church and not everything that has to do about God and Jesus are correct. But we are very happy to have found them :) last weekend I did a couple more interviews and one of them was the first time that I had to call president in the middle of it cause he had a problem with question 4. If you dont know what that means just ask a returned missionary. For you mom ask matt. But yeah it was cool though that he was able to pass anyway. And then a little bit later I felt the need to get some help with stuff from president so I called him back later and can I just say how much I love my mission president. Hes just such a baller! :) one of the best mission dads ever :) he has helped me so much with stuff and I have really felt his love from us. Also on sunday morning, since we were fasting cause it was fast sunday, we got a text from the mission saying that pres ayre got an email from pres gulbrandsen saying that hermana gulbrandsen has cancer and will have an operation this thursday.. :( it was really sad news.. it wasnt that hard on my comp or elder cruz or garrett cause they didnt know her. My comp met them but not very much. But yeah its super crazy. So please keep her and her family in your prayers! So yeah thats pretty much it. Today we are gonna go eat with the patriarch again and watch the priesthood session of conference :) and then finally play some soccer! And then tomorrow we meet as a zone to watch the priesthood session again haha that'll be fun. I want you to all know how much I love this church and how eternally grateful for the atonement. I have such a strong testimony of it and repentance and have no doubt that we can all be forgiven of all our sins.

I'm so glad ashlee is getting so much better! That makes me very happy! :) I pray for her every day so its definitely from all of our prayers. And yes the weather is getting kinda warmer here. Its been pretty random the weather. Cloudy and then sunny and then a little rainy but we somehow adjust. It's usually just always humid no matter what. Especially if its cloudy. But we manage :) Wait why wasnt austin training with the team? Yeah I hope you all are reading your scrips and praying everyday! Tell cass to have tons of fun this weekend!! And to tell me all about it. And send me pics. I hope you can get caught up on your school work mom. Good luck as well! Well I guess thats it for this week. les amo!

Elder Buxton

Another great week!

Hola Familia!

wow okay so much has happened this last week! okay first of all so I'm sure today is just a normal day for all of you but for us its not. so this morning we got up kinda early and had a leader training meeting in san fernando which was great and I got to talk to everyone from my district since we are all leaders and a bunch of other friends which was awesome. and then we came back in bus and train and ate lunch with the stake patriarch whos in our ward and now we have time to email home and then work. In other words today is kinda a normal work day (apart from the meeting) because we just get to write and then work today and we will have p day tomorrow. we will be going to temaiken (a big zoo in escobar like 10 min away from maschwitz) as a mission!! :) its gonna be so sick!! we gotta get up early and then have a meeting in the chapel there and then we go to the zoo. its kinda a gift from president and now that we are 240 missionaries instead of 170 when pres ayre got here he kinda wants us to be able to meet everyone. I'm so excited to be able to hang out with everyone and see everyone I didnt see today. mainly elder whitsitt (since he isnt a district leader anymore) and elder arostica. but yeah thatll be way way fun. okay so general conference was great!! :) I hope that you were all able to learn and understand as much if not more stuff than I did. I really felt the spirit strong during the conference most of the time. sunday morning was kinda rough for reasons but besides that it was awesome. we are so blessed to have prophets seers and revelators in our day :) oh and our little greengo room was great like always with cookies and snacks and the spirit :) during the week we had the zone meeting which was really good and we were able to set goals as a district and zone. I also did like 3 baptismal interviews which went good too. with one of them I was able to do divisions with one of the zone leaders for a few hours and learned alot about how they work and are having success. its cool to know that even though I am the oldest (in mission time) in the zone that I can still learn so much from everyone else. humility is such a huge attribute! so besides that isabel was supposed to get baptised on sunday. she passed her interview and everything during the week and then wasnt able to come on sunday.. it was sad that she couldnt enter into the waters of baptism just yet or see the conference but she will get baptised this saturday. so besides that we had 3 baptisms as a district and we should have at least a few more this weekend. I really like it here in capital and the work I feel is so much more fast paced up here in this zone and in my district which is helping me to do better and be better faster which I'm greatful for! and its actually starting to get a bit warmer which I'm happy about :) so thats about it for my week.

oh dont worry mom last monday I downloaded the relief society session talks and listened to them during the week :) they were great. and supposedly we are gonna watch the priesthood session as a zone soon and we might watch it next week with the patriarch too :) so we are set haha. elder garrett speaks a little bit but doesnt understand like anything haha we help him though. yeah his trainer is a really really good trainer and person and he speaks way good english so thats good too. and the new senior couple is from I think they said spanish fork? I think so. I'm so glad ashlee is finally coming home!! :) I know she will heal in no time! mom thats awesome you got accepted!! I'm very happy and proud of you!! :) congrats!! I really loved elder hollands talk about depression too. It was great. well I guess thats it for this week. I think me and my district from the mtc tomorrow are gonna plan what to do for our last p day since we can go anywhere we want we want to hang out and do something together. cant wait! :) les amo mucho!! :)

Elder Buxton

How is the capital?

Hola Familia,

So the first week here in constitucion was pretty good :) right now me and my comp elder cutipa get along pretty good so I'm glad about that! We lived with elder cruz from mexico and elder garret from kaysville who just barely got into the mission field and is being trained with elder cruz. They are way awesome. They are in constitucion 2. We eat lunch together every day and last week until saturday we lived all 4 of us but we just barely on saturday moved to a new pench so now we have a brand new pench so we get to buy a whole bunch of new stuff :) thatll be fun. We lived on the 7th floor of a big building. And the best part is that in our pench we have air conditioning!! Which is amazing cause not many penches in the mish have that and since I will be here for the beginning of the heat I'm gonna need it :) also there are only 2 district leaders in the zone again so now I have half the zone again haha constitucion 1, 2 and boca 1, 2. The zone leaders are in my district too haha so its weird being the oldest elder (in mission time) in my district. So besides that it was really good to start to get to know the ward. We had a very low attendance yesterday in church cause it rained so yeah but it'll get better next week. Also we have part of the villa 21. So we work there quite a bit. We have an investigator there right now. Shes called Isabel and she turns 18 on thursday and will be baptised on saturday after general conference I think it will be. Besides that I can tell that the ward has a lot of motivations and animo to work in the work of salvation so I'm grateful for that and I'm excited to keep getting to know everyone and to work hard :) umm what else what else. I love capital :) and there are a lot of cool places to go and buy things so I should be set to get everything I want before I finish. And I'm super super stoked for general conference this weekend!! :) I cant wait!! It's my last one in the mish so it should be the best yet!! Well I think thats it for now that I can remember. Oh and this morning we had to wake up early to go to tramites in capital for my companion so when I was in the mission office I was able to pick up my package that was there. Thanks mom!! your the best!! :) and I got to hang out with elder brown a little bit and I met an elder hamilton whos from riverton and we hung out the whole train ride and stuff. It was cool. Hes way chill!

Right now we are 4 missionaries in the ward and just yesterday we got a new senior couple missionaries that will be in our ward but he is the new area doctor so we will only see him on sundays but still pretty cool. My companion doesnt speak any english. But yeah sometimes it can be hard to speak and understand here for anyone cause argentina is all about slang and stuff but yeah its sweet! I love the slang :) yeah I heard elder martinez finished finally. And tell yamila I miss her too and the rest of them over there! This change was good though and I needed it so its not as hard as it normally should be to miss everyone back in maschwitz. I'm so glad to hear that ashlee is continuing to get better! :) Keep it up ash! ronnie is working with elder mattingley? Its funny cause he was in this area so people know him and its cool to tell people that he was my companion. I'm very glad austin went to church and that you guys could learn more about member missionary work. We need more enthusiams in that field everywhere in the world. 

I wish you all luck family with things at home and school and work. I pray for you all everyday. Just keep hanging in there! Especially you mom. ha Well I guess thats it for this week. les amo! :)

Elder Buxton

2nd to last transfer.....

Hola Familia,

Wow so I feel like so much has happened since the last time I wrote you guys.. so Im guessing your wanting to know about transfers first. Well in the end I got transfered! and my prayers were answered and I'm back in capital :) I am now in constitucion 1 in the congreso stake. I am now with elder cutipa who is from peru and has about 6 months in his mission. So basically I am doing to die (in the mission) here in capital which I'm happy about :) and elder cutipa only has 1 transfer in our area so he could actually kill me (in the mission) if he stays another transfer. And something awesome is that right next to our area and right now as I speak we are like a block away from the boca stadium!! :) You guys dont know how stoked I am to go there one of these p days! Right now we are with elder franco who finishes his mission tomorrow and then it will just be me and elder cutipa. We live with 4 of us right now in a pench that is 10 times better than mine in maschwitz but we are supposedly moving this week to our own pench which has air conditioning so we dont die during the summer! I'm so lucky! elders pray hard here to have a pench with air conditioning during the summer but there are very few. Okay so last week was a really really crazy week. On wednesday we had a mission tour and elder viñas of the seventy came and spoke to us. He is one of the counselers of the area presidency and used to be in the first quorum of the seventy. It was awesome and I'll talk a little more about that at the end. Also that same day I did divisions with elder walker and he came with me so that we could go eat the 4 of us at cubillas house which we did and it was great. We also ate there last night too like always :) all week we had lunch and dinners and I had a list of things to do before I left which I think I got most of them done which is really good. On saturday it was elder goodwins birthday and there was a complication and so on accident we had 2 lunches.. we were sitting at yamilas house after eating for the second time for like 30 min just on the edge of vomitting. And then dinner at night too.. it was nuts! We were so sick.. haha. Sunday we didnt go to the despedida cause we couldnt get anyone and I wanted to stay and see people anyway. Yesterday was really hard saying bye to everyone.. :( I had a whole list of people to see and at what times. It was pretty crazy! Then I was up til 3 in the morning talking to members, elder arostica, and packing. It was hard, crazy, sad, and happy all at the same time. yamila cried a lot... that was hard. But I know she will be okay. Most of them will be coming to my despedida in december soon anyway so that helped to know that. Man I feel like so much happened last week but its just too much to tell.. elder arostica left too and is now in pompeya 2. That used to be part of this zone but they split the zone 2 transfers ago and now we arent in the same zone.. :( we were sad about that and talked for hours last night while we packed. Besides that it was a very very hard start of the week with monday raining hard all day and we couldnt do anything for pday and then stuff at home and here and just the beginning of the week was not good and the end was crazy and kinda sad. But thats what I loved about the mission tour cause elder viñas talked a lot about the atonement and how it has helped us in our mission. That meeting helped me to realize that why I was able to bear up all the things that were happening at the beginning of the week actually with ease too was because of the atonement. I honestly felt the power work in me and I knew that I should have been way way worse but because of that power I was able to carry my burdens with ease. I actually kinda realized that cause when I got more casual during the end of the week I felt that power go away and it was harder to lift up the burden. I learned a very good lesson though. So yeah thats a tiny sum of some of the stuff that I can think about right now haha. I'm going to miss all the people in maschwitz a ton... :( but I'm very excited with my new area and to get to know new people and to finish in capital and I feel like I have a pretty good companion. I guess we will find out!

I'm glad you guys are all doing good and keeping busy. And I'm so glad to hear that ashlee is getting better! :) tell her to keep it up :) yes I'm getting very excited for my last general conference in argentina :) I'm stoked! It's gonna be great! haha cow heart isnt that common here I dont think. cow stomach is pretty common though but I dont like it very much.. well I guess thats it for now hopefully it continues to warm up here cause I'm tired of the cold. les amo a todos! :) chau!

Elder Buxton

I'm still DL and I know one of my zone leaders.We will see. He's pretty cool so far. 

Another Week...

Hola Familia,
So this last week was a very interesting week. We didnt have much luck in finding new investigators.. we worked hard at the beginning of the week and we pretty much wiped our area. In the sense that we dropped all investigators that arent progressing and we are starting from 0. Its not easy but I'm sure we will find more success this week. On friday I went to savio and did divisions with elder arostica :) best friends forever!! It was a lot of fun. We were supposed to do an interview for someone in their area but she didnt end up getting baptised. Hopefully this weekend though I guess we will see. It was very very hot and humid monday tuesday and wednesday. Then on thursday it got cold and has been cold and cloudy and rainy ever since and today too.. until like wednesday I think. I have a really funny story to tell about divisions with elder arostica that happened on divisions. But I wont explain in much detail for times sake. An hermana paraguaya gave us whats called reviro to try and she gave us a really big plate and we just wanted to try it and we were waiting for her to say like if you dont want anymore dont eat anymore but she didnt and so it was super awkward cause we were already full and didnt want to eat anymore.. so whenever she would go back inside we would throw some to the dog haha and then when elder arostica looked away I put half my plate on his haha and so in the end I ate all the rest of mine and he still had a bunch cause of me so since its a dry food (its like eggs, salt, and flour is all) he put the rest in his pocket by spoonfuls hahaha it was so funny!! That was a fun day! We have so much fun together.. its gonna be sad to get split up in a week.. :( and this week is my last week in maschwitz :( we have dinners and lunch set up quite a bit cause of me leaving and cause its elder goodwins birthday on saturday so it should be a good week. And we have a gira de la mision (mission tour) meeting on wednesday so we will be in san fernando with a general authority which will be cool! Oh and the other day eating dinner at peñalozas house we ate cow heart. Its super good!! :) besides that we really gotta find new investigators right now.. we dont really have any but we will see what we can do this week. Oh and remember I will email tuesday next week since its the end of the transfer. We will hopefully go to the despedida this sunday if there is one.


Elder arostica is from chile. He goes home with elder goodwin the beginning of 2015 haha. Being DL I learn stuff everyday and learn about loving and serving others. Its great! I'm getting used to it now though. Wow I'm so happy to hear that ashlee is getting better!! :) I prayed very hard for her all week and I fasted for her too. I continue to pray that she will have a quick recovery. I know she will be okay! I havent got to look at the pics yet but I will in just a sec. I'm sure they are just gorgeous!! Yell cass to write me and tell me how it went! I guess thats it for this week. les amo!


Elder Buxton

How are you?

Hola Familia,

So this last week was a really long week. I think mainly because of elder solum leaving. We were all waiting for it but not excited for it. Well my mind has kinda gone blank from reading just part of your email mom... um well last week I did divisions with the zone leaders. Elder goodwin was with elder walker in my area and it went pretty good. But the pench in garin is really small for 5 of them to live there. I was greatful to get back to mine cause we actually have a good shower and no cockroaches :) On friday we had lunch at yamilas house and dinner at diosques house for elder solum leaving and it was really good and fun. And I did another baptimal interview for them. I had like 10 seconds to hug elder solum goodbye on friday night cause they came and got him but at that moment it wasnt so hard. But we got back to our pench and planned and stuff and then I called savio and basically me elder arostica and elder caballero were all kinda crying. It was really sad. it wasnt as hard for me though cause I know me and elder solum will hang out in like 4 months :) so thats good. But yeah so familia cubilla and ponce got sealed on saturday!! Me and elder arostica wanted to be there so so bad... we were able to go to the beginning of the reception party thing in the church that night but just for a little bit cause we had to go. On sunday we ate the 4 of us with a family that elder arostica and elder solum activated and baptised their kids. We had an asado :) they are the ones that have all the friends that elder arostica and solum have been baptising so everytime we visit them or I do an interview we always play a little soccer game on their little field. Its fun :) I'll send a pic of the field today if I can. So its weird without elder solum but me and elder arostica are really sad cause at interviews over a week ago president basically told us both individually that we are leaving cause we both have 7 months together in savio.. :( We really dont want to leave.. and we really dont want to have to go through these next 2 weeks of saying goodbye.. its gonna be hard. The members here are so great and we have so many friends here and everyone wants us to say.. haha its kinda funny but its sad. So we will see how that goes. Besides that facundos confirmation went good on sunday so I'm happy about that. Now we just gotta find new investigators. I know we are gonna find some this week! Today we are gonna play soccer with everyone so I'm stoked :) Thats about it. 

Okay umm.. I'm not really sure what to say... :( I hope ashlee is doing okay and that she will get better quickly! I will being praying and fasting for her of course! Why wont she eat though? mom tell me everything that the doctor tells you and stuff! Its kinda nice with just 2 since I'm more organized and its more peaceful but I really miss being with elder arostica.. we really are best friends!! Me and him have been together here in savio longer than either of us have been with anyone else. Its warm right now but on saturday it rained hard and all day long.. its hard when it does that here in provincia cause everything is so muddy. and I mean everything! And then in capital their sewage system is terrible so everything floods. Like cars literally float and stuff. Who did cassidee get asked by? bueno les amo a todos! que sigan fuertes en el evangelio! es la unica manera por la que podemos ser bendecidos y recibir la ayuda que necesitamos diariamente! 

Elder Buxton

Happy September

Hola Familia,

Wow its weird that its already september.. time flies when your helping others :) So this week was very very crazy and good! First of all us as a district we had 4 baptisms this weekend :) It was great! they were all stretches and miracles but it was awesome. So basically on wednesday we had interviews which went really good. I was worried cause the night before I woke up with an aching body and everything else and was not doing so good. So I got a blessing from elder solum and them and I was able to be okay for interviews. It was really great to be able to talk to president for a while. Hes so awesome!! I love him!! He talked to all of us about our goals. We had to answer him 4 questions. What we want to have accomplished by the end of our mission, in 5 years, in 10 years, and in 20 years. It was really good. After that we went and ate lots of stuff at yamilas for her birthday. I didnt eat too much cause I wasnt feeling so good at that point. So pretty much I got out of bed on thursday at about 4 o clock in the afternoon. I was just hurting everywhere and felt like I had a fever and just everything else. It wasnt fun.. so then we had basically a day to teach facundo the commandments cause saturday would have to be his interview and so we did that and on friday I did divisions with elder solum. Oh and friday morning we moved back to maschwitz. We werent excited about that but its a good thing in many ways so its okay. So with elder solum we went to matheu to do an interview for the hermanas and they had their baptism on saturday. Saturday was just nuts.. We went to go do savios baptisms interview but also we needed the zone leaders to do facundos and we had to get baptismal clothes from another ward since we didnt have any and we wanted to make it back for our asado with flia cubilla. So it was nuts. We came up with a good plan and it all worked out in the end. Elder solum and my comp elder goodwin went and met the zone leaders and did facundos interview and I went and did savios interview and then it was a huge thing about knowing who the legal guardian of the kid was so it was very confusing and I had to talk to president and everything and it was just nuts. And then we went and met matheu in escobar (just pretend that you guys knows all the places I'm saying) and get baptimal clothing and then we went to cubillas.. and this whole time I was deciding what to do about the legal guardian thing cause president said he trusts my judgment so he basically gave all the authority to me to make the decision. It was crazy. We prayed and everything and we decided to wait it out. Sunday came and facundo showed up with his aunt at the end of sacrament meeting and the kid with the issue (osmar) showed up by himself halfway through and so I decided that it was ok for him to get baptised with the grandpas signature that we got the day before. Then during the priesthood meeting elder solum and elder arostica and elder caballero had a lesson with their investigator that also had a baptismal date for yesterday but was too scared and everything and in the end she decided to so right before the baptism I did her interview and we had 3 baptisms :) then we had lunch with peñaloza and leila and a lesson with another family and dinner with flia huerta and leila again haha and yeah it was a beautiful day :) I'm sure some of that did not make sense to some of you but you just had to be there ;) well now we gotta find new investigators. Thats always been one of my problems.. we baptise faster than we find.. haha. 

Yes it has been warmer lately and its so great! I'm so sick of winter. So glad its almost over! :)  dang I wanted to meet the sanders... miquell tingey had a baby??? what the thing.... thats weird!! thats awesome kyler is a priest! and thats great austin went to sacrament meeting!!! :) sounds like you guys are all keeping busy since school has started. Thats good! Oh and yes mom thanks for the package! :) les amo a todos!

Elder Buxton

How was this week?

hola familia! 
como estan todos? espero que esten bien! So this week was pretty good. I did divisions last week with elder peacock who is in my group (meaning he came and goes home with me) and we went to a less active members house and we found out that their recently turned 9 cousin lives with them and that the less active parents are his legal guardians now and so basically he can get baptised easily. He already has 2 asistencia and so he has a fecha for this sunday. He wasnt able to come to church yesterday since the less active moms brother takes him for the weekends so we will arrange that so he can come and get baptised this sunday. On friday I was gonna do divisions with the zone leaders but my companion was pretty sick and then elder solum wasnt feeling to great either so they stayed inside and I went out with elder caballero and arostica. Also yesterday my comp wasnt feeling too great so we didnt get a whole lot of work done yesterday either. He is still hangin in there but we will see how he does this week. Right now we are still living in savio. We were going to leave last week and go back to the other pench but my comp got sick so we didnt. Then on saturday I did a baptismal interview for savio who got baptised on sunday. Its a 13 year old kid who on sunday paid his tithing! what a capo!! I had a good interview with him and I could see and feel his desires to be better and get baptised. Also yesterday in church there was an area 70 who came and he gave a talk which I really loved. He talked about how a lot of us as members we have done pretty much all the ordinances like baptism and recieve the holy ghost and the things in the temple and everything and so we just kinda think we are done and thats it. So he kinda asked us what ordinance we have left besides doing family history. He said "the next ordinance is what we just partook of and do partake of every sunday." I liked that a lot and it helped strengethen my testimony of the importance of the sacrament and how badly we need it. We cant afford to not go to church and not partake of it.. besides that its been pretty cold this week and with lots of wind which is pretty killer but were still alive! Well most of us.. I think I might be getting a tiny bit sick too. thats not good. This week I think we have our first interviews with president so that will be fun! Also this wednesday is yamilas birthday and she invited the 5 of us over for lunch and she is making a ton of food and treats and stuff. It will be great :)

When we play soccer here we usually play with the young men cause they are cool and like to come play. But we play with missioanries too obvisously. We are gonna play again today and I think the hermanas and the other elders in my district are goona come so that will be fun :) like when someone goes up to DL they are usually just in charge of their own area and another area (2 other elders) just to start out so they arent in charge of a lot of areas and have to do more. But they put me in charge of my area (obvisouly) and 3 other areas. So yeah. Sandy I guess isnt going cause she likes a return missionary. I know there are other reasons too but I wont explain on here. haha sounds like a fun week with the tiring walk to the temple and everything ;) mom now you can comprehend a little bit more of just one day here in the mish when all our appointments fail us and we are just walking around all day long.. those arent the funnest days. But we find ways to stay happy and have encouragement (man its so hard to think of these words in english!) wow thats awesome for brother dickson! He was definitely one of my favorite leaders and I do miss him a lot. And thats awesome about caitlin. So weird that shes going on a mish. Where is she going again? mom sounds like your missing me and my ability to fix things without having any idea what I'm doing ;) dont worry I will fix it all for ya soon. les amo mucho! todos vayan a la capilla! necesitamos la santa cena en nuestras vidas!! :)

Elder Buxton

How are you?

Hola Familia,

So this last week has been very interesting. The first half was really good and then the last few days has been pretty rough but I keep moving forward :) so things with my comp are going pretty good. He was kinda sick last week but he is feeling a lot better. And its so much more fun and happy with 5 of us in a pench instead of 2 so I'm not really looking forward to moving back when we do. And being leader is going pretty good too. It's pretty crazy since I don't get much time to do stuff at night when we get home cause I have to plan and then I have to call my district and then the zone leaders and all that fun stuff. But yeah so they split the zone so now its a little bit smaller but there is only 2 district leaders in our zone now so pretty much I have half the zone in my district. I am over (including my comp) 8 missionaries. 2 hermanas and 6 elders. Normally when someone goes up to DL they get 2 missionaries in their district. I guess I just got lucky or something haha. Well we had zone meeting last week which was good to get to know the zone and my district a little bit and we learned a bit and put some goals as a district and as a zone. We struggled this week with finding new investigators so we are kinda short on those and really trying to find through the members and stuff. Something really sad that happened this week was that now sandy isnt going on a mission... :( I still havent talked to her in detail since we didnt have time in church but I told her we need to talk so we will see the reasons why. Pretty much besides that hopefully we can find those people that are prepared to find the gospel this week cause I have no doubt that they are there.

yeah as DL I have to talk to my district everyday and I have to do the baptismal interviews and divisions and I do district meetings (which my first one will be tomorrow so that should be interesting). And yeah my toe was pretty bruised and stuff last week but I'm still alive and I'm still going to play soccer today no matter what :) elder solum was supposed to go home last week but is staying for the sealing of flia cubilla cause he helped baptised them. Thats on sep 7th. What projects did you want to get done before I got home? My comp is from utah and he likes sports. He can at least speak a little bit but he still struggles especially with the people that talk fast so I help him out quite a bit. Its going much much better with him than with my last companions :) oh austin... tell him to get his butt to church!! And you never update me on ward things. I always have to read them from georgias dads email to him haha. But I'm very glad mom that you learned from all your experiences and that you are a better person because of them. Thats what heavenly father wants :) real quick some scrips that I love that I will probably talk about in district meeting tomorrow. jacob 5:70-75. les amo a todos! :)
Elder Buxton