Hey Y'all!
So this week went really well in our efforts to try to get the members here visiting the less actives and stuff. We have our new ward mission leader and he has already done so much for us, he is really magnifying his calling super well! I think the work is hard right now but we are trying really hard to get the members involved and helping us out a bit. We are finding some people to teach and families to converse with, but the problem is that they are all SUPER hard to find at home and can be pretty flaky... we just need more people to teach and the branch needs to learn how to retain their members. It’s going to work out!
So in our area here there are SO MANY less active members and we had a good week of visits and trying to get some of them going back to church. Many have problems with addictions, with other members in the church, and with keeping commitments. But it is really incredible to see how everyone has a testimony of the things we believe. They all fell away from the church for not doing the simple things every day. I know it is something we hear all of the time - but seriously if we will read our scriptures, pray, have family home evening, go to church, fast, go to the temple, serve, MAKE COVANANTS and work everyday to build our testimonies, WHEN Satan comes to try and lead us away from the straight and narrow path, he wont be able to! (See Helaman 5:12)
Dad, it is very comforting for me to know that my parents are still serving, still going to church and trying to do what is right. I’ve seen too often on my mission families falling apart for a lack of true priesthood leadership in the home. It is SO important! And it helps me bear a stronger testimony on how the gospel truly blesses families and strengthens them. I am literally a personal witness of that principle! Continue always doing these things and it will be so worth it! And mom I love you so much and hope everything is going well over there, and thank you so much for everything you are doing to help me and support me, I’m so lucky to have you as a mother!
This church is so true!
Elder Buck
p.s. Sorry no pictures today!!
Monday, November 9, 2015
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Week 69 - November 3, 2015
Hey Everyone!
So this week went really really well and we got a little flame started in this tiny branch here in São Francisco do Sul. We have really been emphasizing the principle of fasting and we have seen so many blessings come from it. It is one thing to learn a principle and it is another to COMPREHEND a principle. We have had to exercise a lot of faith this week and we are really seeing a lot of results. I don’t know why I haven’t done this with more frequency at the beginning of my mission. It just brings so many blessings (see "Is this not the Fast I have Chosen" by Henry B. Erying).
As for progressing investigators...this week has been tough, but we are working really hard with the reactivation thing and getting people to church. So that has been working out pretty well! Fortunately my Portuguese has gotten a lot better because I am training an American, and it is pretty funny because I have been fooling so many people this week!
I hope everyone is doing good there at home! I don’t have time to email everyone (anyone really) today but thank you all for the emails and support I really loved hearing from y’all! Just know I love this work and I not want to be anywhere else! Tchau!
Elder Buck
Monday, October 26, 2015
Week 68 - October 26, 2015
Me, Peterson, and his raincoat walking in the rain!
Hey Fam and Friends!
So this week I don’t have a lot to report because we are having some difficulty finding more people to teach, but the week went by fast and we worked hard. My comp is learning the ropes and he is doing really well. As for this area, it has been tough, but fortunately the members have helped us out a lot here. Yesterday in church we counted 35 people (members) and on the branch/ward list there are a total of 306 … so I think we have a good idea of what our priority is in this area.
We are planning on dedicating our house today because we finally got EVERYTHING cleaned/washed. It is good to know that I’m breathing in mold particle-free air hahaha!
But things are going super well here and hope you all have a fantastic week!
Tchau!
Elder Buck
Monday, October 19, 2015
Week 67 - October 19, 2015
Just a selfie for the world
Our apartment
My CTR ring suffered an upgrade (thank you bleach)...
One of the neighborhoods that is part of our area
A view of our area
So this week was pretty similar to last week. We did a whole lot of contacting and knocking on doors. We did find some new people to start teaching and the work is getting a little better. It has been fun and interesting getting to train and open this area. I’ve sure learned a lot and stretched myself to new lengths.
The members here have helped us out a ton and we are super stoked to be here in this area. Our cell phone is STILL broken so that it making it very difficult to call investigators, members, the President, etc. So that is something that I’ve had to exercise a lot of patience with for sure!
I did make some microwave chocolate cake this week and it turned out SO GOOD! You’d be proud of me mom! I have definitely explored some of my unknown talents these days haha!
My new comp, Elder Peterson, is doing awesome too. He is practically fluent (considering he took five years of Spanish and has the gift of tongues)!
That is all for now I guess! Tchau!
Elder Buck
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Week 66 - October 13, 2015
Monday: I don’t even remember what happened to be quite honest.
Tuesday: So I traveled to Florianópolis to pick up the new Elder that I would be training. It was super weird to pass by all of my old areas again after so long. It was a super cool day. So we got there, we ate lunch, and afterward found out who we would be training. So it looks like I’ll be training Elder Peterson from Boon Iowa! I was actually really hoping to train an American since I’ve only had one for my entire mission. He seems super cool and is ready to do some work.
Picking up the new Elder...
Saying goodbye to Elders Coelho and Elder William
Thursday: So since our phone hasn’t been working to call anyone, we had to find a member that lived by us to help us find our lunch appointment. He took us to the lunch appointment and Elder Peterson got to test and eat cow liver for the first time! Hahaha He says he liked it so I’ll take his work for it. After that we did contacts. We entered one for the whole day.
Friday: So Friday was interesting because we have to travel like an hour to get to our district meetings every week so we had to find the bus station, travel to another city and meet up with the district. The district leader happens to be my old companion Elder Cordeiro, so that’s pretty cool. We returned home, did a bunch of knocking on doors and after we visited a less active family who happened to make us dinner!
Saturday: By this day I had been wanting to hurt somebody because our phone hasn’t been working to call people, but we got to our lunch appointment fine because the member came and gave us a ride again saving us a little stress...haha After that we knocked on doors and then went to the chapel to meet some member who were throwing a ward party. We got to know the branch Branch President a little better (who is awesome I might add) as well as a lot of other people. The Spirit is so much stronger in this branch than the ward that I was previously serving in. It is really awesome here. After that we visited less active members.
Sunday: WAS BUSY…trying to mark appointments, schedule lunches, print off new ward lists, ward council meetings, getting numbers, etc. I have never been so frantic about Sunday meetings in my entire life, but this branch is super awesome and helping us out a lot! We had a lot of success Sunday, knocking doors, and found some cool people to teach. Sunday night I died!
BUT that’s it for this week! Tchau!
Me and Elder Peterson
Monday, October 5, 2015
Week 65 - October 5, 2015
Transfer Week!
There will not be a large email today as Elder Buck is being transferred to a new area called São Fransisco do Sul. It is a beautiful city just across the water from Joinville. He served in Joinville for almost 6 months and will miss everyone there - but he is excited for a new adventure!
There will not be a large email today as Elder Buck is being transferred to a new area called São Fransisco do Sul. It is a beautiful city just across the water from Joinville. He served in Joinville for almost 6 months and will miss everyone there - but he is excited for a new adventure!
New tie swag! Thanks to Elder William and his drawing skills!
Monday, September 28, 2015
Week 64 - September 28, 2015
The district
I missed my glasses!
Cookies I made...
Cinnamon Rolls...#talentsineverknewihad
Monday: Totally made bomb cinnamon rolls…and peanut butter cookies! I almost cried! We made one visit to a less active family in the dark and then it started raining super hard so we went home! #itscoldouthere
Tuesday: So a big problem we have been having in our area is retaining investigators and finding people at home when we go back for the second visit. So Tuesday we literally knocked doors the entire day looking for someone to start teaching. When we got to the end of one of the very last streets there was a house all closed up, so looking at the house my brain automatically thought that nobody was home. So I started walking in the other direction when my companion, who obviously hears the Spirit better than me, told me to turn back around and go knock on the last door. So we did and we found a woman to teach! She has a husband and two little girls. And she received us well (outside of her house because we aren’t allowed to go in). We taught her about the Church of Jesus Christ. It was a super good lesson and she prayed at the end! Rare.
Wednesday: We did a split with the other elders in our area so that they could help us with the group of people we have in this one neighborhood, which was cool. We did some damage :)
Thursday: We went back to the same area we were in on Tuesday (trying to open up a solid teaching group there) and we returned to the house of the one woman (Rosineide) and finished up the lesson on the restoration. The cool news is that she remembered where I’m from! And my name! So that was way cool. And she’s making and keeping commitments, which is cool too! We visited Raul as well and he’s doing a lot better with things. Looks like something we have been doing is working! (Finally)
Friday: The amount of contacting and knocking doors we do is ridiculous.
Saturday: It was relatively slow which was a bummer, but we were able to make a visit to Valdomiro, who is doing well. We also visited Leonir who has been making a ton of progress with the reading of the Book of Mormon. We just got to get him to church!
Sunday: Raul went to church again! And we had one of the best lunches ever. Meetings. Rain. Yeah!
Love and miss you all!
Elder Buck
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