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