Letter from December 28, 2015

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>  Dec 28 at 10:20 AM

To       

Hi, everyone!

This has been a pretty good week! On Tuesday we had a multi-zone Christmas Devotional up in the bush, so we had to get a tro tro and drive for a while to get there. I saw baboons on the side of the road on the way there!! That was pretty awesome :D Haha, but it was a fun activity. Our zone all sang Mary's Lullaby, and Elder Saunders and I sang the alternate descant part together which was pretty cool. They also fed us a ton there, and we had chocolate frosted chocolate cake! Ah, I miss cake, haha.

Christmas was awesome. We woke up and opened our various packages we received from our families, which was way awesome. Then we went out, taught a lesson to some investigators, and came back and got to call home! Ah, it was so good to hear my family's voices again. It was so much fun. It was hard to say bye, though. After I said bye, I was feeling a little homesick when we went out. Our plans fell through, so we weren't able to teach a lesson, and we didn't know what to do. We were going to head back to the apartment, but we realized the spirit was telling us we shouldn't go home yet. We didn't know what to do, so we kind of stopped and stood there with our bikes trying to figure out what to do when a recent convert came up to us! It wasn't at the place he normally stays at, so we were surprised to see him! We chatted for a bit, and I asked him if he had anyone he knew that we could teach. He said he knew someone across the road we should meet with, so he starts leading us there, and he says to me, "I was about to go home, but something told me I should wait small." This lady he led us to is awesome! That evening we gave her a Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet, and the very next day she called us and told us she read it and had some questions about it! She told me, "Elder Buchanan, I love Jesus," and that she didn't want to sin anymore and that she wants to be baptized! AND SHE WAS THE FIRST INVESTIGATOR I HAD THAT ACTUALLY CAME TO CHURCH. I was so pumped! Although she told the taxi driver where to go, but he dropped her off at the wrong junction, but even then, she walked all the way to our rented church building (which was a pretty lengthy walk, I must say), and it was so awesome! So that was a nice Christmas treat that cheered me up.

You know, I was thinking about the work in our area and why we haven't been having as much success as we've hoped for. I was reading in the Book of Mormon the other day, and I was reading the account of Ammon and Aaron and the other sons of Mosiah and their missionary experiences. Ammon had immense success and was able to convert King Lamoni and his people, but Aaron and his brothers weren't well-received at all. I came across Alma 20: 30 which says, "And, as it happened, it was their lot to have fallen into the hands of a more hardened and a more stiffnecked people; therefore they would not hearken unto their words, and they had cast them out, and had smitten them, and had driven them from house to house, and from place to place, even until they had arrived in the land of Middoni; and there they were taken and cast into prison, and bound with strong cords, and kept in prison for many days, and were delivered by Lamoni and Ammon." And that gave me a little perspective. That's not to say I'm just accepting that fact and thinking that no one here will ever change, but it helped me to realize that even the great missionaries in the Book of Mormon weren't always received so well. I'm comparing myself to them and I've only been out for three months! So I realized I need to be more patient with myself and realize that despite my best efforts, sometimes people won't listen and that it's their own choice. Regardless, I'll always do my best to press forward with faith in the power of Christ. With it, I know the Lord's work will come to pass, and miracles can and will occur for His children and lives can and will be changed for the better.

I appreciate all of the love and support you all give me. I want to hear about how Christmas was for all of you! I hope you had a fun and amazing time, but that you were also able to remember the Savior Jesus Christ and that He's the real reason we celebrate Christmas.

With love,

Elder Daniel Buchanan :)

P.S. Once again, I'm so sorry I couldn't send pictures this week. I have a bunch of pictures I've been wanting to send, but I haven't been able to, sadly.

The photos below are all from the multi-zone Christmas devotional that they had on Thursday, December 24, 2015.