A better week.....

Man this week was so much better. I love you all so much! I realize now how much everything meant to me at home! Yesterday we got to go to the temple dedication just at a stake center with our zone but president uchtdorf and elder holland came so it was amazing! That helped me a ton. They don't know any spanish so it was all in english and someone translated. We didn't get to go to the cultural event though. President said no. But my comp and I got to see some of it in a replay last night. No I don't do my own laundry, yet. Our neighbor does everything but garments, then a member does the garments. We played soccer last p day with our district but today we are going to play with the whole zone. I absolutely love my zone so that should be fun. I love my district leader too. He is amazing. He reminds me exactly of mckay steggell. Except mexican haha. We had one baptism last week and she asked me to do it so I did. It was awesome. My first baptism. I sent a picture so hopefully you get it. The other picture is me and a friend in the mtc that I loved. His neighbor is the prophet. Oh the first day I met an elder named elder colledge and he said he knows ashlee.. hmm. ha I am feeling a lot better though. I just cant wait to be done training. Its annoying. I don't remember if I told you but my first day I was going around meeting members and the last one she needed a blessing so of course my companion made me do it. In spanish. That was scary but I survived. I cant think of what else. Oh mom!! dearelder works here. My friend got 3 of them the other day and it took 5 days to get here. Thats nothing. So tell people to write me when they can. And when you want to send me talks, do it through there mom. Also write me through there so I can get your advice faster. 

We have one baptism this weekend. Then 5 baptismal dates in april so far. We are working hard! I cant wait to be done with training because everyone says it flies by after that. I live in Zambrano. My next transfer is the end of May

If you all are going to send me a package soon then please send me peanut butter m&ms and some pushup bars. Big m&m bag but the pushup bars just simple ones. 

Elder Buxton

Honduras!!!!

Finally I get to write. Its so hard here. They honestly have nothing. Our house is nicer than all of the members and everyone. Its only me and my companion living in our house. His name is elder Herrera and is from mexico. So I have to speak Spanish all day which is good for me. They speak so fast but I am getting used to it and can understand most of it. There were 32 new missionaries the same day as me. That's the most there has ever been. I miss all of you guys so much. This week was the hardest week of my life. But we have 2 baptisms set for this Friday. Both of them didn't want to get baptized but then when I came they both said yes. I don't know why. Its nothing that I did. I have no idea. But that's good. I live 40 minutes outside of Tegucigalpa. I don't like living in a pueblo. I want to live in the city. My district thinks I will be training a new missionary in 11 weeks but I don't. We'll see. I don't know what to say other than this is so much harder than I expected. We have a huge area so we walk a ton. In 5 weeks we get two more missionaries in our area so that's less work for us which is good. The members are great. I love them. Not gonna lie, I hated church yesterday. It didn't even feel like church. Its so different. I am going to have to give a talk soon. Oh and the reason why this is so scattered is because our president only allows 30 minutes of email. We don't know why but that's his rule. Also we cant drink coke. No clue why. I don't know what else to say. Except this is so hard.

LATER IN THE DAY:

President changed the rule and now we get 50 minutes so I have 10 extra minutes to be on. My companion is going to give me a blessing when we get back to the house. 

EVERYONE...PLEASE REMEMBER AUSTIN IN YOUR PRAYERS. HE IS HAVING A HARDER TIME ADJUSTING THAN HE EXPECTED OR THAN EVEN I EXPECTED. I KNOW THAT IF HE CAN FEEL SOME COMFORT THEN HE WILL BE ABLE TO ADJUST QUICKLY AND NOT THINK ABOUT HOME. HE ALSO DOESN'T HAVE MUCH TIME TO EMAIL AS YOU CAN SEE. THE EMAIL RULE WAS CHANGED TODAY BY THE CHURCH AND ALLOWS THEM TO NOW EMAIL THEIR FRIENDS AND PRIESTHOOD LEADERS AND ASKS THAT THE MISSION PRESIDENTS ALLOW ENOUGH TIME FOR THEM TO DO THAT. MAYBE HE WILL GET EVEN MORE TIME NEXT WEEK AS I JUST HEARD THIS NEW INFORMATION SO LIKELY MANY OF THE MISSIONARIES HAVE NOT HEARD ABOUT IT YET. LETTERS WOULD BE VERY APPRECIATED WITH LOTS OF ENCOURAGING INFORMATION IN THEM! IT IS FREE ON WWW.DEARELDER.COM AND A LARGE POUCH OF LETTERS IS SENT EVERY TUESDAY FROM THE CHURCH HEADQUARTERS. THE DEADLINE IS SUNDAY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT FOR IT TO GET MAILED THAT TUESDAY. THANKS FOR YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT.

Happy P Day

Alright I dont have much to say since the weeks here are repetitive. I would just keep telling you the same things happened over and over. So we had room inspection this week and we did absolutely horrible. You know me Mom and I like my room organized. So my part was organized and my roomates side wasnt so we did terrible. I thought it was funny though. Doesn't really matter. We have gotten SOO many new missionaries! It's crazy. Wednesdays are so crazy. Wednesday at dinner all of the new missionaries have the same dinner time as us so it is packed to the max! Its crazy. We are getting another bunk bed in our room soon for 2 new missionaries to room with us next wednesday. But I get to escort new missionaries on Wednesday!! Im so excited. I think Steve Hansen is coming in. Not sure of anyone else but I am so excited. I'm sure it'll be so fun. I keep forgetting to tell you, this girl in my zone is named Hermana Thomas. She is in our stake. Cody saw her in the picture and reminded me. I remembered that she was in our stake and we talk about it all of the time but I just keep forgetting to tell you. She graduated with Cody. Um yeah I got both of your packages this week. Thank you so much!! One of the martinelli's broke in the package and it got all over. Luckily my camera still works. Everything is fine though. So you know I told you about our teacher went to the same mission as cody's and he tells us stories all of the time. His stories are amazing. He spent most of his mission in the southern part of Argentina where it is next to Antarctica. Crazy. But he had us watch this talk by Elder Bednar called Recognizing the Spirit. It helped me so much. You can only access it in the MTC cause he gave it here at a devotional. We also watched an Elder Holland talk and it was amazing. You can only access them in the MTC though so you can't see it. Lets see... We got a new investigator and she is suicidal so we are working on her. It's just our teacher but she is acting as someone that she found on her mission. It caught us by surprise though cause we weren't expecting her to be suicidal. I honestly love it here! My district has become way close and I feel like family with them. I love it. It's so much fun. Oh yeah, so this morning we were instructed to build bunk beds at 6:30 so we had to skip the temple at 5:30 and then they told us it got cancelled. It was a mess and we were so mad we skipped the temple for nothing. But most of us just went back to bed and we woke up at like 9. it was so nice! Anyways, I'll answer your  questions now. I definitely can feel a change. I have already grown so much and have really come to know the importance of the gospel. I dont think a lot of kids in high school actually know the importance of it. I love personal study. I have really gotten into the scriptures so I think that is my favorite part besides gym. Most of our day is just with our district. About 6 hours a day we are with our teachers. Our district leader only leads our devotionals, goes to meetings, and gets mail. So he doesnt really lead us. We get a new DL tomorrow though. I dont have time to read codys email but copy and paste it into dearelder and send it to me for sure! Yes I got the bishop's letter. I haven't met missionaries going to my mission yet. I met and Elder Youngblood (sweet last name) going to Honduras but not my mission. I think about being in the field constantly. I am so excited. I can't wait. I dont know what oil she gave me but it was disgusting. haha I hated it but it worked.  We have only had people from the 70. No general authorities yet. But maybe soon! Anyways, send me cody's email. I love you mom! You all are in my prayers! Thank you for everything you do!

Elder Buxton

How was this week?

Alright so this week was different than any other in the MTC. It was absolutely amazing. But first we had to say goodbye to some close friends in our zone that I have become really close to. I have pictures with them and stuff but can't send them from here. Hopefully I can once I get into the field. So on Tuesday night we have devotionals and I just so happened to get 5th row front and center. We had no idea who was speaking until they walked in and guess who it was?? Elder M. Russell Ballard!!! I am so lucky! I was like 10 feet from him. It was an amazing experience. We always sing a prelude before the devotionals and as we were singing he walked in and everyone stood up and kept singing. It was awesome! I am so glad I got to experience that the week before I leave. Then on wednesday we got to host again! It was awesome because I got to host Connor and I got to see Mason the week before I leave. It made me so happy. Connor's dad recorded me and said he'll show you it next time he sees you so hopefully soon. Then while I was hosting Connor I was taking him to his room and he just so happened to be 3 doors down from me so we hang out at nights. It's pretty sweet. I'm not really sure why he's on our floor because we were all spanish speaking but now we have some Portugese speaking. But it's awesome! Other than those things, my week was pretty similar. I had to say goodbye to one of the teachers that helped us yesterday. Um, my last gym day is tomorrow. I hate not having gym. The Thursday or Friday before you leave the MTC we have an In-Field Orientation from 8am until 6pm. It was really good and helped me a lot. I am so glad they do that. One of the Elders from the District came and stuff. It was sweet. I don't really know what else to say other than I am so excited to get out! So I was looking up facts about the Tegucigalpa Temple and it's in my mission! It was announced like 7 years ago and it just so happens to be dedicated 2 weeks after I arrive there on my mission. That hit me hard because the Lord really needs me for something there. I am not sure what yet but I will find out. I am hoping I get to go to the dedication or help out or something. I don't want to get my hopes up though because then if I dont get to go then I will be sad. Tomorrow is my last day with one of my teachers so I will have to say goodbye to her. Oh yeah I ran into a mission president who is training here who is going to be the new mission president in the old San Pedro Honduras mission. That was pretty cool. He told us the story of how he got to be a mission president. Pretty crazy.

Now to answer your questions. No new missionaries in our room! I am so glad. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures that Connor's family took. Carson told me that Connor was coming in so I was looking for him. My district has talked to the missionaries I am flying with but I wasnt there so I have yet to meet them. I doubt I will until we are leaving. I am so excited to get to call you guys! I am sure you will be the only one to wake up Mom hahah. My companion is great. He leaves Monday morning and he is the first to leave. So he has to say goodbye to everyone earlier. My companion and I arent teaching that girl anymore, my teacher wanted to give others a chance so different people are teaching her each week. I have gotten 2 emails from my Mission president while I am here but one of them I haven't read yet. I will after this. I am sure the pants will work. I haven't tried them on yet but they look like they will work. I am going to send one or two packages home before I leave so be aware. Can you include like a hoodie in the package tomorrow so that I have something at nights? The mail room closes on Saturday's at 2 so you'll have to hurry that package so I can get it. I think I am going to start packing today some after I go do laundry. Crazy! I heard about osmerh that's awesome! And jeremy already has his call?? WOW! That's awesome! I love you Mom!! Hope you had a great birthday!

Love, Elder Buxton 

How are you?

P day already! Man this week flew for me! The weeks are repetitive but this week was different for me. You'll see why. So last Friday night we had TRC which is where we teach a volunteer who is usually just a member. But my companions and I taught our teacher's sister that came straight from Guatemala and speaks no English. That was a good experience. Also, she's inactive so my teacher chose us to try and help her committ to change. It was awesome. We had a district leave this week and it was really hard. They were my best friends here besides my district. Two of them are in the Provo, Utah mission so I told them to look for you guys! I gave one of them Bishop's number and said if you ever need anything, call him and tell him that you know me and he will help you with whatever. Then my other friend went to New York south on Monday. It's sad to see them leave. It's definitely bitter sweet. So then Saturday night one of my companions wasn't feeling good so we went to the front desk and they sent him and my other companion to the emergency room. They said both of us didn't need to go so our branch president just escorted  me back to my room. He has bad anxiety and always tells himself that he is sick so his body actually gets sick. It's sad. He started feeling like that again one other night this week so we brought him back and he asked for a priesthood blessing. I offered to do the anointing and my comp was gonna do the blessing but then the sick comp said "No, Elder Buxton I really feel like you need to give me the blessing" It was a shock. But of course I did it. It was my first actual blessing. It's amazing to feel the spirit guide your thoughts and your words. So when we hosted Jake Miles and I sat and waited for friends so we could host them. Jake hosted Steve Hansen and I hosted Zach Jensen (a friend from work). It was way fun. Normally you escort like 3-4 different Elders but I just wanted to escort my friends so I waited haha. I finally saw Trennon Leavitt and talk to him for a sec. I think I have seen everybody. Mitch Fowler and Steve somehow got lucky and are in the same zone. They are in the classrooms right above me so I bump into them a lot. I walked into my building, went up the stairs, and looked in the first classroom and there was Sister Papenfuss teaching someone. So that's when I said hi. It was good to see someone I know. That's so sad about Annie's dad. I felt horrible the rest of the night after I read that. I got a letter about it from you and Jacob the Tuesday after it happened. So sad. But that day I focused my studies on a question a lot of people have and thats Why do bad things happen to good people? It sure helped when I came across your letters about it. Last, I GOT MY FLIGHT PLANS!!! We got them last night. I will report to the Travel Office here at 8:30pm March 4th. My flight leaves at 12:59am our time. Then I land in Atlanta about 4:30 our time (6:30 their time). Then I have about a 3 hour layover in Atlanta and leave from there at like 10 their time which would be 8 our time. I am not exactly sure when I will call you but it might be at 5:00 in the morning. Maybe midnight? I'm not sure. I am the second to leave from my district. Which I am glad so I dont have to say goodbye a bunch. I am so excited though! It's crazy to think I only have one week left here.

Now to answer your questions. I am feeling great! I know I am influenced by the spirit constantly which helps me stay focused and not get homesick. My spanish is pretty good I guess. It's tough but I know it'll come to me eventually! I got that package yesterday. Thank you! I love the garments! and I am wearin the pants. They fit perfect. I will try to think of stuff I need before I leave. I am taking the vitamins and probiotics almost everyday. I havent heard about the water but they gave all of us going foreign a water bottle with a filter. So I'll be fine. I see carson all of the time. He's doing great! I did get Cass's and Ash's letters yesterday. I will write them back and mail them today. We got a bunk bed but we haven't got mattresses for them yet so we still have the same room. Maybe this coming week we'll get two new missionaries though. I am getting a long with my companions great. We got a new DL and his name is Elder Long. He's our 2nd. We only get 2 different ones. I don't have my call with me and never did. Hopefully it's at home somewhere. I love you mom! Thanks for all you do! And Happy Birthday on Monday!!!!! how old? 74? ;) I love you all!!

Love, Elder Buxton 

I forgot to add. I haven't met anyone going to my mission yet. But my roomates have met a couple going to my mission. It's weird that they have and I haven't. I don't know of anyone I am flying with but I know there are 8 people on my flight. I bet it's a whole district going and they are all beginner spanish. My comp hosted a couple kids this week that are going to my mission but since they came in this week that means they are going to get to honduras like april 1st. Which means they will miss the temple dedication. I am so glad I left when I did. Definitely a blessing.

Pictures

I received Austin's camera today so that I could take pictures off of it for him since he can't do that in the MTC and I really wanted to see some pics! So, I thought I would post some here....

How is the MTC....

I cant believe its P day already! It's flying by now. So this last week was way good except for a few things. This email is going to be so unorganized because I just write things down on a paper throughout the week that I decide I want to say or else I wont have enough time. So first I kept getting these upset stomachs randomly so this girl in my district named Hermana Boseman gave me this essential oil stuff that tasted like crap but worked! Hermana Boseman reminds me exactly of you mom. She is pretty much my mom here. She's 21. Oh I got a new companion this week just so different than everyone else. Our lessons have been good though. I am sending my camera home so you can take the pictures off. This past sunday was fast Sunday and it was miserable not eating and pretty much studying for over 6 hours. But I did it with a purpose which helped a ton. So our old zone leaders give everyone a "spirit animal". It's pretty much just a character from a movie and mine is Diego from Ice Age. I don't really see it but they all do. I am so happy I get tons of letters and packages! I love my friends and family! Everyone gets mad at me cause I get like 2-3 letters a day. I have gotten like 7-8 packages! Crazy. I love it. I have talked to Elder Richards a lot. I see him all of the time. It's way nice. I saw Elder Fowler as soon as he got here and his class is in the same building as mine so I should see him a lot but have yet to see him since Wednesday. We do a service project on tuesday mornings which I like cause we get to sleep in until 6:45! I love it. Our assigned temple time is 6:30am on P days so we have to wake up at like 5:30. So as soon as I am done emailing then I am going to take a nap. Probably my favorite kid in our zone is Elder Hobbins. He always is so happy and complimenting everyone. He is emailing his sister today to bring me and him Costa Vida so we will see if that happens. Right when I saw John I gave him a hug and he told me that a lot of people told him to give me a hug for them. I sat and talked to him for like 30 minutes while he unpacked but that's all we have really talked. Guess what?! Mak Keenan that was on my Rangers team is on my floor in our dorms. That means I see him all of the time and we have gym together. So we play basketball together. He is going to Mexico so that's why he's on my floor. Oh one of my roomates had an MS bracelet on and I saw it so I asked him about it and he knows someone who has it. Then he told me that he has another one so I keep that MS bracelet in my suit coat pocket at all times. Yesterday during gym I got hit in the face and I bit my tongue pretty bad. I was spitting blood for like 30 minutes. I'm fine though. Last night we talked our "investigator" Maria, she is actually just our teacher, and I honestly felt the spirit so much. I haven't felt it that much in any of our lessons. So we taught the lesson and then afterwards she told me that she could tell that the spirit was guiding me what to say. I guess her and our other teacher talked about me and agreed that I always seem to say exactly what they need to hear. That was definitely comforting to hear. But anyways, I feel great! Tired.... but great! The spanish is coming along pretty well. We don't even focus much on language. They tell us not to worry but that it will come. We play basketball one hour everyday except P day and Sunday. It's way fun. So two of my roomates are going to New York, New York North. Then its me and my companion that is going to Texas Houston East. The New York ones leave one day after me and my companion. Wednesday dinners are crazy! All of the new missionaries get here and its not spread out at all so it's impossible to move around in the cafeteria. We have a branch presidency. Two speak spanish and one doesn't. But sacrament meetings are all in spanish. But I am sending a package home today so hopefully you get it! It'll have my camera in it too. I love you guys! thanks for everything!

-Elder Buxton

Interesting Information

I received another letter from Austin today that had some interesting things in it that I wanted to share with everyone:

He said that they are suppose to get 1,000 new missionaries this next Wednesday and that in July they are going to start having their devotionals in the Marriott Center because of how many missionaries will be coming to the MTC. He also said that he has already gained about 7 or 8 pounds! It is amazing to me how this happens...the same thing happened to Cody. I guess they feed them better at the MTC than I do at home?!
Thanks to everyone for your love and prayers...I know that your many prayers are being heard and that Austin is truly being blessed by them!

How are you?

I finally get to email!!! This is weird. I had about 15 emails when I got on. My companion is from Brigham City.  I love my roomates though so its all good! One of my roomates is President Monson's neighbor which is cool. He tells us stories about President Monson you would never know. None of those in my district are in same mission. I know there are other missionaries here going to my mission but I have yet to meet them. Everyone in my district and zone are intermediate spanish so we are all about the same level which is good. We bore our testimonies and prayed in spanish the second day. It's easy though. I have seen SOO many people I know. From soccer and school. I saw elder Adams and elder Miles the first day. I saw elder Richards the first hour after he got here which was cool. My spanish really has come back to me for the most part. I can speak just fine now. We taught a lesson our third day and every day since then we have taught the same "investigator". I don't remember how to spell some things in english which is really weird. I was writing in my journal the other night and wasn't thinking and just happened to switch languages mid sentence. Also, I dreamed in spanish like the 2nd night! I have heard that is the turning point, and mine was early. The food is pretty good. I think my expectations were set too high from others saying it was so dang good. But I like it. My zone is really good at basketball so it makes it so much fun. I love gym time. One of my zone leaders was a back up running back for a D1 school so he's really athletic. He's also black so he's way good at basketball. I will for sure be here all 6 weeks. I am leaving on March 4th. I know that wont change because you dont need a visa to get into Honduras so there wont be any problems there. My teachers are amazing! I love them. One is from Guatemala so she knows spanish really well. The other is from Ephraim, Utah but he speaks really well. He went to Buenos Aires north just like Cody. The change from home to the MTC is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done. Once I got to Sunday, I started to love it here. It's way fun now. I love my district. We have 4 hermanas and 6 elderes. Which is a big district. But I love them all. Tell everyone thanks for me for writing me! Tell brother Tingey thanks and that yes I did see Nate. One elder in my district is named Elder Jensen and he is from Oklahoma. He reminds me of Georgia because they talk the same! It's weird. I called from the first day that he would be our district leader and I was right. I know that he was put into my district for a reason. He always brings a good attitude to everything we do and that is exactly what I have needed. I guess that's it for now. We only have 30 minutes to email here which sucks. But Mom can you send me like 8 more hangers? That would be so useful. I sent a letter yesterday saying everything that I would like you to send me but I forgot hangers. Thanks Mom! Tell everyone I love them!

Elder Buxton

I forgot another thing. We got to go to the temple today which was a relief. I also got my haircut... you would not believe how short it is. the shortest it has ever been. They would only use a 4 on the buzzer thing. Oh and for those of you who know Elder Dastrup, he has been here for 10 weeks waiting for his visa and I got to talk to him for a bit.

Also, go on LDS.org and look up the Honduras temple! It's absolutely gorgeous!!!

P Day is Friday

I received another letter from Austin today. He is very homesick and learning that this is much harder than he expected. Please continue to pray for him to find the peace and comfort that he needs to be strong. He can't read  emails or email us back until Friday since that is his P day. His departure date from the MTC is set for March 4th but he doesn't know more than that and it could actually be a little earlier, depending on his Spanish since he is starting in the Intermediate class.
He is loving letters and if you type them on www.dearelder.com then he receives them the next day if you do it after 12:00 noon and the same day if it is done before noon...so if you have time, he would love to receive letters from all of us!
Thanks again for your love and support!

Letter today

We received a short letter from Austin today. He is doing well and says that the MTC is hard but that he knows it is where he is suppose to be. He has seen many people from school and soccer that he knows as well. He says that he doesn't love the MTC yet but feels that he will after he gets past Sunday ( it seems to get better for all missionaries once they get through the first weekend). He says that you don't realize what you have until it is gone and he misses us all so much. His companion is Elder Fryer and he really likes him and he is 'way chill'. He said even the first day is hard as they drop you right into classes when you get there. He ends with 'I can't say I love you enough'!

He didn't say when his P day is so I am not sure when we will get an actual email. Here is the picture from 'the last supper' (inside joke for some of us).

Off to the MTC

We got Austin to the MTC safe and sound. Thanks so much for your prayers and support. He had a rough night last night but he was feeling much better today so I know that the power of your prayers were a great help. Please continue to pray for him through this initial adjustment. This week has been much harder than we expected but we are so proud of him and his desire to serve. We have watched him grow so much the past few months and his testimony strengthen. Thanks again to all of you for all that you do for him and for us. We are truly blessed!