Email, Monday, May 25, 2015

hey yall! 

i hope you all are doing great! cause i am! :) okay to start, i had a tender mercy from the lord when last Monday during soccer I collided with a bigger guy and his knee hit the side of my leg, so that was hurting and i couldn't bend my leg very well, but i still worked hard durning the week and it is all better now! yay! i felt like it could have been easily worse.  also this week we had the missionary activity night, it was a talent show, not too many people came but it was good for those who came. (that was another worry from the leg thing, that I wouldn't be able to do the act we had) and then yesterday we had the "missionary day" so i got to speak on missionary work, and it was my first "just quotes and bullets" talk given in Spanish, it went well. our Spanish (as a district) is improving, due to our 'Spanish week' so we can only speak Spanish to each other, which is helping me a lot to better my Spanish.  so our investigator Derek had his baptism interview and passed! he will be getting wet next Sunday, we hope by his father but it is up to him :) the work is good! we had a slow week but all in all it was awesome! we do alot of Less active work so i am getting ready for home ;) we have about five less actives that we are working with right now, they all are awesome! Oh! we had Zone Conference this week and my companionship was asked to give a workshop on Bold Invitations and it went really well.  ummm i think that is it :) today we are at a Mets Game! Woooo! the NYMets vs. the Phillies! :) (Jonathan I apologize but NY will have it in the bag :) )

i believe that is all for now, i will place some pictures now and end but i want yall to know that the Lord is loving, and we also have a loving heavenly father, so no matter what, you aint alone ;) i love yall!

Elder Bufi

Email, Monday, May 11, 2015

hey yall,

we had a amazing experience that i will forever hold close to my heart, we are teaching a less active member that is here working to help his family in his home country, he currently works at a hookah bar (i know its weird to think that is a thing here :P) and hasn't paid tithing in a long while, we taught the eternal perspective of life, (with 100' of rope and a little string) after we taught him about it we talked about his position and where he wants to be after this life, we were very bold, i felt like the sons of Mosiah in the 28th chapter of Mosiah verse three 

"3 Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble."

we testified and asked truly inspired questions, we helped him realize that he wanted his family more than anything else, just like other lessons, but then we witnessed his heart soften, and the spirit was able testify to him, we offered to give him a blessing to help him to quit his job, he asked me to preform the blessing, after ward, i could tell he was crying, he offered to pray, we knelt before the lord and he offered the most beautiful and humble prayer i have possibly ever heard, i will never forget it either.  

i know it was a short story but i cant get it out of my head. but even that isn't all that happened this week... 

we had zone conference at the mission home, super good... i learned, i believe, how to truly pray, i dont know, but i have always prayed, but something lacked... and thanks to a workshop given there, and some personal studies, i now think i know, and they have changed, and responses have changed too, my relationship with our perfect father in heaven has improved, and its just mmm awesome!

but all in all, this has been an amazing week, it was super fun talking to mom about old times, and i hope to see everyone soon ;) (hinting that yall should extend the family reunion to the following week, ending in SC ;) ) but i miss yall, keep the faith, we belong to the only church that houses the true and everlasting gospel.  and i can promise yall, that i am here to stay, i have truly converted with my heart, and that alows me to help others! #ForeverChanged

Elder Daniel Buffington

hey look! pictures!

1) pano of Manhattan, 

2) the district in the mission home

3) president and sister Calderwood and i

4) pano of Coney Island

5) this is what happens when a missionary happens to be on a empty subway car

6) pano of the mothers day party

Email, Monday, May 4, 2015

may the fourth be with you! #StarWarsDayNY2015

hey yall!
its start of week two and i am in my new area! a lovely place in
Brooklyn called Dyker Heights! a lot of Chinese people, but equally as
many spanish peeps! so im super excited, i feel... different, from
other areas, maybe its hitting me that I'm leaving in a matter of
weeks, i have worked hard my entire mission, but this feels different,
i don't want to leave with regrets i guess, i love these people, and i
can hardly remember their names, (yeah the struggle is real :D) but
this is my final sprint i guess, and to be honest, if president
calderwood asked me to stay, i would say yes, the mission is just
getting good, i can speak the language, i know the material, but that
is just how the cookie crumbles.. these are so far the best two years,
and i know this is just preparing me for my own family, to be the best
father, husband, and son i can possibly be.  than yall for the support
yall have graciously given me!
now, to respond to some questions,
i am not a district leader anymore, but president calderwood has told
me that i was a leader for a long time before the calling, and im in
the area to help this district out.
my companions name is elder Oaks, (some how related to the apostle I
believe its great uncle?)

pictures
1) panorama of a view point where we like to fearless families
2) service place, mom! looks like your kind of department (att dept of aging)
3) us saying goodbye to families
4) us catching a ride with our bishop!

yall are amazing!
till next week ;) stay chill!

Email, Monday, April 27, 2015

im being transferred... to a new area, i have a very young district,
ill be training the district leader, all of my district members will
be very new, and need a "mature" example, I'm getting nervous :) but i
don't think i will have to worry about moving after this next area,
where ever it is, i just hope there will be enough Spanish people to
better my Spanish.
this week was great, we set the area up for success, for the next
people, i am glad i followed the promptings of the spirit and had
everyone update there visions goals and plans for all there people,
because along with me, both sisters, my companion and one other
missionary from a six member district are being transferred.  hard
stuff. but it will be okay! ill go where you want me to go dear lord!

i love you all!
Elder Daniel Buffington

Sent from my iPad
#Memories,
the first is a family i have taught sense i have come to Midwood,

the second is a group picture of a few missionaries and a member family

the last is a classic car i found to be quite attractive;)

Email, Monday, April 21, 2015

hello! this week was really good! The sisters had a investigator who
was baptized Sunday! and i got the surprise when they asked me to
baptize her! and i completed my first interview! it was really cool!
she had been well prepared from the lord, and i am blessed to have
been a instrument in his hands, and even more of a blessing that we
had was and investigator that i have taught for a while, in fact he
has been investigating for years, was there, and loved it! he might be
baptized soon!
there is beautiful weather right around the corner! love yall!
thats the highlight of the week!
stay safe!
elder Daniel Buffington


Pictures!
1)baptism partay!

2) spring is here

Email, Monday, April 13, 2015

hello there,
this week was pretty pleasant, from a great lesson with a less active
family, to stake conference!
we are teaching a beautiful family that have been trying to return to
activity, they want to be sealed but they must wait till the father
has a interview for the bishop so he can hold the higher priesthood,
and some minor stuff, but we will always have a lesson Monday nights,
so that is great! they are trying for the end of June, so fingers
crossed for them, also we had stake conference, super good, translated
for the first time, super hard, found out my mind doesn't work that
easily to translate but it was only for one person, and i got to
paraphrase a lot, still the people that translate are awesome!
we got some good pictures, i love Brooklyn,
and we found a lot of cool stickers, like like these two, (because i
am terrible at journal writing i have started making sticker pages
from the back and working to the front, hoping to fill the book by the
end of the mission... i have 6.5 front and back pages of stickers that
i have found in Brooklyn, its pretty funny cause we were pealing a
sticker off of a stop sign when a random guy was telling us that
vandalism is against the law, but we reassured him that we were taking
the stickers off the sign, and he told us that was a good thing and
that vandalism is bad haha :)
the preceding pictures are from downtown Brooklyn, by the Marriott by
the Brooklyn bridge, which Marriott is owned by a mormon, so in every
room is a copy of the book of mormon :)
but the last one is from the priesthood and adult sessions of stake
conference after it all we had dinner as a zone wooo! plus a lady that
the english sisters are teaching

well that is all i got for yall, we are going to see the Statue of
Liberty so i hope to get a picture or two for that for yall, i am
thinking about yall! cause i love yall, (that is a lot of yalls even
for me) i know that christ lives! he leads and guides the church in
these last days!

have a blessed week!
Elder Daniel Buffington

Email, Monday, April 6, 2015

well this week flew by! we had some funny times, so during this week
we have been having a competition to see who could share the video "he
lives" more, so each view is for each person who saw the video, so
yesterday was the last day for it, we went to the park because it was
a BEAUTIFUL evening after conference, we got 7 by the time we got into
the park, and the other elders haven't had luck but they had went up
ahead because we were talking to a (now) potential investigator couple
that are golden (in fact we will be having a lesson with them Sunday
evening)! when we finished talking to them we set out to see how the
others were doing when we saw a big crowd of people, we counted 8
people watching the other set of elders video and we had figures that
they shared it more, so we saw a couple of skaters, we shared it with
them and had a awesome discussion on the side walk, (score now 10-~8)
so we weren't about to lose ;) so as we were walking we saw a HUGE
family, i looked at my companion, as he told me "they look Spanish" i
replied, "should i?" he responded "yeah!" so we went and they agreed
to watch the video, but before i started i asked if the rest of the
family would like to see, so they gathered everyone around my mini
iPad and watched the video, (score now 30-~8) it was a family of 20
and there were more that didn't watch the video! the other elders were
flipping out because they saw the group we fearlessed! xD
Humberto came to conference! he loved it! but he didn't hear President
Monsons talk so he is excited to hear and learn more about those
talks!

so pictures are of Conference and haircuts earlier this week!

i love you all! y'all are on my mind oft, i have a firm testimony that
families are meant to be eternal! that God loves us, and knows us
better than we know ourselves, He has a plan for us, and that plan has
been revealed to us by a Prophet. i know that we have a prophet on the
earth today that is leading us.  for those with doubts, doubt them,
the fullness of the gospel is housed in the church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints!

with love,
Elder Daniel Buffington

 look the district Easter Pic!