Email, Monday, June 29, 2015

T Minus 3 weeks and counting

hey yall!

we had a cool week!

monday we went to the Brooklyn bridge to take some pictures, following we went to Rego Park to visit a member that i taught back when i was there, super fun, then that night we had a noche de hogar with the second councilor and his family! (Sister Galindo has a lot of respect for you and how many children you had :D ) 

Tuesday we had a lesson with a less active but he couldn't have us over so we were stuck at the church building for a couple of moments when a tender mercy happened, a couple walked in to the building that wanted to learn more, she speaks broken English, Spanish, but speaks good Portuguese and her native language is french. he is from Mexico and only speaks Spanish, but they are good friends, and he wanted to learn about the church cause he wants to change, we taught them and they accepted the baptism invitation! yay!

Wednesday we taught a less active that doesn't want to act on his faith but with the lessons we have been having, we are hoping to soften his heart. and after that another member invited us over, they are an amazing family and they told me that i have a place to stay when i come to visit! :) 

Thursday we taught the Castro family! they are such a great family and have such faith! even while the husband works Hermana Castro and her son still come to church! they plan on going to the english building because trains are out of service and they would take 2 hours to travel to church while the english building is a couple blocks away! they understand english but are more comfortable in Spanish but they will do great! 

Friday my companion was sick and i went with the other elders on splits so we could be doing work. That night we were at the church and we helped with youth night, there were s'mores... i miss camping... but we were asked to help with another activity the following morning.

Saturday we had the youth activity thing where we did this Zumba beginner thing, did scripture study, and following was a awesome breakfast.  then a testimony segment where i got to share the story of my mission then after all that, we went to play soccer! woooo! we also taught english class, then went to the pad so Elder Carrero could sleep some, then we ate and went to ward correlation meeting.

Sunday we had CHURCH!!! a member introduced us to a friend of his and she wants to take the lessons because she loved sacrament meeting! super cool! we went home for some study time, came back to the church for a lesson and he didn't show up, so we talked with the member that wanted to help us about Midwood and what is needed there because he is part of some youth presidency or something like that so he will be visiting there soon.

just a sick week in NY time is picking up quickly so i am working even harder now, to make the most of the time that i have.  the work is great! i love the mission, i am finally comfortable with how much time i have, i am past the denial stage and now I'm comfortable :) i just wanted to say thank you for making a difference in my life.  if you are reading this, you obviously care about me (or your a stranger snooping over my shoulder doubt it) and so i know that you have helped me in my pursuit of trying to become better :) 

so i hope you know i pray for you! 

Elder Daniel Buffington

pic one.. so i gave him medicine... it wasn't the day time kind

pic two. Bridge. tower of freedom. me :P

Email, Monday, June 22, 2015

Happy Fathers Day!!!!!!!

hey yall, 

Satan has been working hard! but we have been working harder, we are at the verge of Big Changes! this week is all goes well we will go from 0 investigators to 7!!! Three beautiful families, the first family actually found the Chinese missionaries, and the father has been less active sense he was thirteen and he wants to come back, he has a wife and kids now! the second we found for a while but every Sunday when he doesn't have work something has come up (darn satan leave them alone) its a husband and wife that used to have the missionaries over in their country all the time, super cool family, and the final family is a less active that the son is 11 and isn't baptized so we want to work with him ^_^!

so we had some good stuff happen, last Monday we visited flushing to a old family that we visited, committed them to go get sealed by the end of the year, and they agreed and are working for it, i miss and love that family, and it turns out that they knew the Martinez family and there kids played together! the crazy things that happen when you go back to a old area finally being able to speak the language and understand whats going on.  

my companion and i are getting along well and are doing better at speaking Spanish all the time! every day is a new adventure! i feel like this has been a hard working transfer, and we are starting week three :( 

some fun stuff is happening, that yall get to see! 

-we start the next round of online pros! which brigs me to the next topic, rules... please keep messages to email ONLY :) this is a tool to teach, inspire, and friendship people here in my mission (NYNYS) 

-4 weeks!

-thats all i can remember... #ADDProbs

now i just wanted to take a moment to dedicate a second to dad... Hi! Love you.. okay now im good, no just kidding, dad i love you so much and hope you had a splendid fathers day! i would have made crapes or something for breakfast but yeah... im many miles away from yall :)  but thanks for everything! let me know if you want anything from NY.

well thats all folks, love you all! keep the faith! yall the best! 

elder daniel buffington

Email, Monday, June 8, 2015

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN DOO DOO DOO DOOOO

hey yall!

this week was busy, we deep cleaned so our apartment is super clean, we did alot of finding and nocking, we have two potential lessons with people we found this week.  ummm oh! we started soccer on Saturdays, super fun! and former missionaries came back this week to see people and for transfer meeting, this will be the Calderwoods last one before they go home.  this last transfer ill be working really hard, 

pic 1) district pic! 

pic 2) ummm so the train was going realllllllllly fast!

pic 3) elder oaks and i next to some graffiti 

Email, Monday, June 1, 2015

hey y'all! 

another week down in the amazing Brooklyn NY and we are reaping the rewards, yesterday a child of god started his road to return to live with our loving father in heaven, and i had the honor of baptizing Derek, he is a awesome kid, and an ever more amazing family.  our next step with this family is getting them sealed together forever! yay! i love families!

also a couple from my last area were married and sealed in the temple, and hey had there party-thingy-after-the-wedding- that-i-dont-know-what-to-call-it.... here in Dyker Heights! so it was awesome to see my extended family! 

i also got ahold of a old family in Flushing that i used to teach and i set a p day to go and visit them, they were there when i only spoke Portuguese, so on the 14 i will be visiting them! yay! 

this week my companion got sick, so we stayed inside and I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more, (the pad was gross when i got here) i scrubbed the floor with a nail brush, i rearranged my part of the pad.  wrote a letter to mom.  learned a new song i want to play and send y'all a recording of. so yeah, i almost lost my insanity.. 

we have a new Ward coordinator here and he has a good fire with him, so we are supper excited! 

i believe that is it for the week, i hope all is well at home with yall! know that i love yall so much! 

Elder Daniel Buffington 

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!