Email, Monday, January 26, 2015

Well, i know i am blessed
I have amazing friends,
I have a amazing family, both there at home and here on the mission,
I have a amazing and merciful father in heaven,
I have a testimony of this,

Yesterday (Sunday morning) we had a sweet experience, we had a
potential lesson to go to, and when we got there, he wasn't home, so
we called him up, he wasn't home but at the park two seconds away, so
we sat with him for a hour before church and just talked to him, found
out more about him, and how pure in heart he is! The only road block,
his wife, she is catholic and doesn't want to change, yet, he is
trying his hardest to convince her to try the church, but she isn't
wanting to budge, (might teach her the Ten Commandments and pointing
out to not worship any graven image, or do not put any god before the
father :) hahah it worked before, with Olga! He didn't go to church,
he had to take care of his twin three year old daughters, they are so
adorable!

So i got the treats! Thank you! The moon pies brought back sweet
memories ( haha pun) :) and the orange, we are enjoying it :) got
jasmines letter, a's and b's?! Wooohoooo! And Spanish CP?! These might
be grounds for una Dádiva! But when i will give it to you I'm not
sure, maybe in my next package, but i will let you know, any
preferences? Mom? You have any ideas? Haha

Every week is a new adventure! I love y'all! So excited to see y'all!
Less than 6 months left, I'm excited but I'm scared, i don't want to
come home cause i love New York, i love the people here, i love
Spanish people, i am thinking about attending the Spanish branch when
i get home, we will see,

Your bestest best missionary in the whole wide world! (That is serving
during "The hastening of His work"
-Elder Bufí (Buffington)-

Email, Monday, January 19, 2015

Hello!

This has been a awesome week! We had two exchanges, one with the district leader and one with the zone leaders, both went well,  had super cool moments and good food, :) 

Ya know, i wish i had faith like alma and amulek and the ability to follow the spirit so perfectly like chapter 14 of Alma, one of my top favorite scriptures, they go teach the people, they start to believe, and then the villains bind alma and amulek and force them to watch as the wives and children of the believers are burned by fire, here is the prophet he has the power of god, and yet he does nothing, but gives a sweet promise to amulek, that they will be recieved by their loving father in heaven in glory, which reminds me of a scripture, in Matthew chapter 10 verse 39, it says (something to the effect of) whosoever shall lose his live for my sake, the same shall find it.  

Oh! Did i tell yall i am finally doing my studies in Spanish now? Its funny, i never expected knowing Spanish to feel like this, like its like a home like feeling, to be able to understand Spanish is crazy, i have been blessed with the change, but yeah! Did yall hear about google translate? You can use the camera option and point it at a Spanish word or sentence, anything of the sort really, and it translates it right there on the screen! Pretty crazy! It isnt perfect but its progress! How was yalls week? I got a letter from Jeff and Lindsay and their family, and all i have to say is STOP GROWWINGGGGGGGG and thank you so much! :) how old is everyone now? 

Oh and my secret santa is not finished yet, but it will be definitely worth the wait! I had som new ideas to add to it :) so random recipient prepare yourself :)

I love yall! Stay classy, stay yourselfs, god made you to be you! 

Elder Daniel Buffington ;)

Pic 1) they new google translate feature! (Not perfect but definitely progress!

Pic 2) we have a attention issue haha weekly planning for the win!

Pic 3) some Po-Tay-Toes ya know, boil em mash em stick em in a stew? And pork :)

Email, Monday, January 12, 2015

Week four completed and i cant believe its already week five now, the
days are hard and long, but crazy fast weeks, we are already in the
middle of the month, but last week seems like FOREVER ago,
This week was crazy too! We are defiantly blessed! We have been bold
with even more love than before, and we are seeing the blessings from
it! The walls of a very long time less active committed to coming to
church, peoples hearts softening to accept a challenge to be baptized
by someone who holds the authority of God! And speaking of authority,
we found out the name of the new mission president, Gary Reynolds, and
he enters 21 days before i see y'all again ;) the lord has blessed me
with the spirit of comfort because i was worried about the fact that
he wouldn't know me and would know my struggles and strengths, but im
confident that he is a called servant of our loving Heavenly Father.
It will be sad to see President Calderwood leave, but he has done so
much for us, and we have been the cause of his grey hairs xD (little
joke of ours)

I am doing well! My spanish is doing well :) surprisingly, (looking at
my spanish beofre the mission, i was hopeless to say the least) (gift
of toungs is real) im blessed everyday!

Your missionary,
Elder Buffington

Ps
I have two more pictures for yall so stay tuned ;)

Mira! Mira! Mira! Fotos!
Ok, foto uno! We found my dream car :))))))))) mmmmmmmmm

Foto dos! It was MAD BRICK (super cold in the New York language) in
our pad, so, studies in warmth :)

Foto tres! Using the ketchup! :) i had to "crissen" the bottle :)

Ladies and gentlemen,
I introduce you to the best challenge ever! Its the nugget challenge,
50 nuggets, large drink, 20 minutes

Email, Monday, January 5, 2015

Well its a whole new year! And it feels like it was last year that i
wrote! Whewww! Thats forever ago! (Dry humor?) this week has been a
roller coster! But so awesome! So for new years elder cottle and i got
two pizzas and two martinellies! And then we played monopoly over
FaceTime... Fun stuff, we never "won" but we quite the game, and my
companion and i were very comfortable, and the zone leaders were
catching the struggle bus, but anywho! Saturday was a día milagrísimo!
We started out day early with a lesson at 10 am, with a guy they have
only had doorstep lessons with, we got in and taught about the
restoration of the gosple of Jesus Christ i bore my testimony about
how our father in heaven loves us, and immediately i saw the spirit
touch him, in a way i could see it in his eyes, then we showed him the
restoration video, then my companion and i testified of the validity
of joseph smith, and then committed him to be baptized on the 1st of
February, he stood there shaking his head up and down, slightly dazed,
and agreed, agreed more quickly and with more confidence than i have
ever heard of before, #MiraclesForDays!

I can happily share that i know we have a loving heavenly father, and
that because he loves us, he called another prophet to usher in the
final dispensation, and that we have a prophet on the earth today! I
know Jesus Christ came to the earth to teach his gospel and to preform
the atonement, i also know and firmly believe that the only chance we
have to live together as a family, is to follow his gospel, through
faith in him, repenting of the big things as well as the small things,
being baptized by someone that holds the authority of god, then weekly
partaking of the sacrament, to renew the covenants we make at baptism,
to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and to Endure to the end, this
cycle is a way of life that helps us to be truly happy, its like a
upward spiral, with every full rotation of this cycle, our hearts
begin to change and we are elevated closer to God, and Jesus Christ.
This change of heart, or true conversion is essential to returning to
Him. This is the gospel restored in its fullness and glory, along with
many other important things pertaining to the kingdom of God, was
revealed to the prophet Joseph Smith, people try their hardest to
bash, and to find fault, and to discredit his name, but we have
evidence of this, the Book of Mormon, the inspired writings of
revelations and the histories of the ancient inhabitants of the
americas, written by prophets then, it isnt written by Joseph Smith,
but he in fact translated this book of scripture from golden plates by
the power of God, and if any of you have doubts in this, i plead with
you, just to pray to know wether this is true, or a well made lie, i
have done it, over and over, i have seen this gospel change lives.
This is the one true church on the earth today, this is the same
church Christ established when he lived upon the earth! I soberly and
solemnly bare my witness of this in the name of our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ, amen.

For those who have tried to tear at my faith, thank you, because of
those attacks, i have an even more firm of a testimony of what i do, i
am a servant of The Most High, a fellow vineyard worker, a messenger
of light and hope, i am blessed in my calling as a missionary, that is
why i can speak comfortably in another language that i had little to
no experience in before, in less than a year, for those that have
strived and worked so hard to bring my testimony closer to christ, i
thank you all also, i love each and every one of you, i am who i am
because of you!

Your friend, brother, and son,
Elder Daniel Buffington


Okay picture one! Hahahahaha get it? Tennis ct? Hhahahaha

Picture two and three :) we have a sleeper! Hahaha i love these guys!

Email, Monday, December 29, 2014

Well this week seemed like it dragged on forever, but it flew by, its weird.... Christmas week was amazing, singing carols on the the trains, sharing He Is The Gift, utilizing every phrase, or word in other languages that i have learned over the years to talk to people, in return they try to teach me a new phrase in their language, which is always fun! I thought it would be weird sharing The Gift after our christmas, but in actuality its easy, cause one, Spanish people celebrate three kings day, which to some is celebrated bigger than christmas, and Russians have a different calendar so they celebrate Christmas January 7 this year. And i can pick out Russians and Latinos quite easily now :) plus they are almost always on their phone, which is in their language, or they are reading a book in Cyrillic or Spanish, which makes it easier or approach them or start a conversation, which I ALWAYS kick myself for not learning Russian, i could have benefited from it :) but oh well, 

We have been seeing miracles this week, from less actives that we haven't been able to get in contact with for a while calling us out of the blue asking when church is and coming, and participating, to investors gaining permission to be baptized! 

#ILoveChristmasTime

Im still working on my secret santa, so i am sorry recipient of the secret santa! 

I love yall, thanks for the plethora of packages, 

Pictures!

Pic 1) 2.71 get off my gas prices! ;) #NYC

Pic 2) okay waking up at 4 to go to plainview for christmas concert was not on my bucket list haha

Pic 3) yes thats my companion, and yes he does have a alligator hat on, and yeah he made the face...

Email, Monday, December 15, 2014

Hey! How is everyone doing?!

The big apple is doing great! Some cool stuff is going down :) 

Okay so this week was transfer calls I'm getting yet another companion, Elder Cottle, he is in the other pool so i only have to move my stuff 20 to 30 minutes walking distance, not to shabby considering my two hour train ride bringing my stuff here, at lease i know where i will be for Christmas, so we got a sweet referral from Utah, a lady got her patriarchal blessing, felt strongly to send missionaries to her father, told the patriarch, who told his grand daughter which is a sister in our mission, who called us, and explained how the patriarch felt that we should take the plan of salvation, so we did just that, the first time we wanted to just show up, we didn't know it was a hour bus ride, this would be after after a 20 minuet train ride.  So we go out, and he wasn't home, but we talked to his son, he was super cool, so we called the second time, last night, and asked if we could come over, he agreed, so we traveled again for a good distance, and met him, super cool guy, he is a Dominican, he has a raspy voice, and needless to say we both had a hard time understanding him, we taught him about the plan of salvation, where he was super excited for his resurrected body, cause he has diabetes, and has a prosthetic leg, and he doesn't think he will live very much longer, we committed him to be baptized on the 11th of January, i think he will be ready the week before! The spirit was so strong, we promised him that he has the chance to live with his entire family forever after this life, and he loved that idea, super good lesson

Also next Sunday will be beautiful! I got permission to return to Rego to view the baptism of Olga!  She has asked if i would baptize her! 

Well i love you all, i will get to talk to some of yall next week, via Skype, 

Hope im making Yall proud! 

Your elder in the field!

Elder Daniel Buffington 

Pictures!

1)Elder Hellewell after a bad storm, his umbrella died :( 

2) okay so this is a ninja turtle! So during dinner they said somthing about a turtle that i didnt catch, so we sit down for the lesson and im looking around like, where is the box for the turtle?? They have a dog, maybe they were making fun of it, so about two minuets into the lesson something catches my eye, this little guy was chilling in the middle of the floor, all hidden in its shell, like it was the there the entire time! (I couldn't resist making the joke of how we use turtles in South Carolina to make soup)

3) only in New York do you find mobil billboards, TVs, and display cases! Hahaha

Email, Monday, December 1, 2014

Hey there!
This week has been a crazy fun week, like every other week, monday we
plaied football in preperation for turkey bowl, and met Elianny for
the first time, she is the ten year old that was taught in the area
next to us and needed to be baptized here, met the family, all
dominicans, way cool people!
Turkey bowl was Thursday, and my zone did better than my last years
team, we won the first game and lost in the next game (they ended up
getting second place, and they had a zone more than twice our size and
we could only sub out two elders and a sister) but not complaining
haha after that we ended up playing rugby, so it was fun! We ate at a
members house for thanksgiving and met and mingled with there family,
most of which are nonmembers.. But we taught this sweet less active
family Friday, (due to work) and they fed us chile rellenos which is
the stuffed chilies, oh my goodness, it was awesome, picture one is
the first one, which wasn't as pica, spicy, but the second they said
was very spicy, but is wasnt bad, but so much better, super smokey,
mmmmmmmmm then a fruit salad, but it was chopped fruit and sweeted
condenced milk, super good! Then Sunday we had church where i gave a
talk, which i found out about the night before, so it was short, but
to the point, and then we had the baptism! Super fun! I made rice
crispys which everyone loved,

But that be my week!
I love yall!
Remember who you are,
;)
Elder Daniel Buffington