Week 94 - April 25, 2016

 Our ward cooking competition was a success!

So this week was super busy with the activity. Getting people to commit to bring desserts for the organizations was really stressful, but the result turned out to be so much more than I thought it would be! We had a solid 17 non-members and a bunch of less active members there. It was by far the best activity that I’ve ever planned in my mission. It was really great to see the ward get together to set up everything and eat and talk together. I have never seen so many people in that chapel the whole time I’ve been here. We also got a couple of referrals (the first since I’ve been here may I add hahaha) and it was so worth all the stress! Now we will just see what happens. So the work is progressing a bit, we just have a lot of following up to do now! 

And for more big news: I started my very last transfer in the field TODAY :)

Love you all! Tchau!

Elder Buck

Week 93 - April 18, 2016

Hey y’all so lets see where to begin....

So this week flew by super fast as me and Morales have been preparing for an activity this week. It’s an activity I’ve done in my past areas and it worked super well! It’s a dessert competition where all the organizations (Elders Quorum, Relief Society, Primary, etc) will all be bringing in desserts to be judged. The judges are the non-member friends and family that the members bring with them. We’ve been planning it for a whole month so that this activity can help the ward here grow a little bit! It’s been kind of nuts trying to get people excited for it! We’ll see how things go...

As for investigators...It’s been super tough getting anyone to really progress and seek for their own testimony. But we have some investigators that committed to go to the dessert competition so we'll see if they come! We do a lot of tracking and a lot of knocking doors, and a lot of walking. I don’t think I have ever felt so tired in my entire life. All I want to do these days is sleep hahaha. But Morales and me are going hard in the paint here and really doing this area good! It seems like a lot of the areas I’ve been sent to in my mission are ones that were struggling, but I have to say I wouldn’t have had it any other way because I have seriously learned so much from it! From organizational skills, patience, diligence, following up with people, etc... I’ve definitely taken so much away from it all for sure! I just hope I will be able to apply it when I get home.

Have a great week y’all!

Tchau!
Elder Buck

Week 92 - April 11, 2016

This week was pretty uneventful, we have walked a lot and been working hard at getting the members involved here a bit more. The work is MEGA SLOW but we have been planning activities to give the members more opportunities to do missionary work. The biggest problem we face is that the members sometimes have the idea that missionaries just knock doors and stuff, when in reality that is the MOST INEFFECTIVE working tactic that exists! Hahaha Work with the missionaries y’all, they need help!

As for investigators, we have found it super hard to find anyone that wants to really progress. We have 4 pretty solid investigators (meaning investigators that we consistently visit but are not necessarily...progressing). We consistently find a lot of people to teach but we get cut quite a bit... but its all part of the work I guess. The most we can really do at the moment is trust that God will help us to "find the pearl in the mud”. On the bright side we are learning to have a lot of patience!

And exciting news: I dry-cleaned my suit coat for the first time in my entire mission this week!

Have a great week y’all, till next time.

Tchau!
Elder Buck

Week 91 - April 4, 2016

Well this week was great with conference and everything. We honestly only had about 2 whole days of work and the rest of the week we were in the areas of other missionaries for zone meetings and general conference broadcasting, so I don’t have anything very special or interesting to report. We went to the stake center in Chapecó to watch conference and it is a 2 ½ hour bus ride (not too ridiculous). We slept in the same place with 10 other elders... it's awful! The mattresses are so nasty too! hahaha I’m definitely happy to know I will be sleeping in my own bed tonight (sort of...)!

One of my favorite quotes though from conference was, "The best leaders are the best followers..."

I made my very last planner and I think it’s a beauty! But there are still 3 more weeks before I can even use it...

Have a good week everyone! Tchau

Elder Buck