Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>12/05/16
at 9:51 AM
Hi, everyone!
This week was really good and productive and enjoyable.
-This week we finally had our Thanksgiving dinner on
December 1st (wrong month, I know, but we couldn't just skip Thanksgiving
dinner, haha). Comparatively, it was small, but still fantastic. We had
stuffing, mashed potatoes, no turkey, but we had goat instead, and cheesecake.
It was fantastic. My companion took pictures on his camera, but for some reason
this computer won't read his card, so unfortunately I can't send them. Just
know it was fantastic.
-Also, this week, for the first time ever we were fed for
three times in a row... The first time we were given fried yams and plantain
with stew. It was actually pretty nice. Then we had banku at another place.
I've gotten to where I can appreciate nice, fresh banku, but when it's cold and
hardened it's still just nasty. This was cold, hard banku, and the stew they
gave us ran out before I finished, so I was eating just straight banku, which
is even nastier. Then after that, someone else gave us banku! Although it was
at a member's home, and we got there right as heavy rain was coming down, so
they invited us into their small home, and so we sat down on their bed and they
put two benches in front of us and gave us the banku. One time I laid back on
the bed while we were chatting, and then when I sat up, I accidentally kicked
the benches with the banku over... I can't say I was complaining about the
banku since I was already stuffed, but I did feel really bad because it was
prepared just for us. Luckily, they weren't mad and were really forgiving and
just kind of laughed, so that was exciting.
-This week we had a cool teaching experience. There's one
investigator we have who has been taught for a little while, and from what I've
observed, is happy and willing to have missionaries come and teach, but hasn't
been too serious about the message in the past. This week, we saw here and it
was awesome. We were teaching her about the importance of baptism and doing it
by the proper authority from God, and as we were teaching her, I felt the
spirit so strongly. During the lesson, I could see tears welling up in her
eyes. She commited to be baptized on December 25th! We'll see if things go
through, but the Lord indeed can and does work miracles all the time, so I'm
hopeful things will work out.
-I love the gospel so much. This week in my studies, I was
reading in the Bible in John. I really love John 13: 34-35. "34 A new
commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another." What really stuck out to me is the first
phrase in v. 35, that if we love one another, all men will know that we are
disciples of the Savior Jesus Christ. When you meet someone who genuinely loves
the people around you, you can just tell that there's something different about
them. You can see a certain light in their eyes. You may not always readily
recognize what it is, but you can see it in them that they love the people
around them. I love that the gospel changes us into better people, and we can
help to uplift those around us by showing love towards them. In the world, you
see a lot of contention around us. The Savior commanded us to love others as He
has loved us. That doesn't mean we approve of everything everyone does, but to
love someone or to have charity is to have a desire to help them. We may not
agree with someone's views regarding something, but that shouldn't prevent us
from expressing Christ-like love towards them and doing what we can to make
their lives a little bit better.
I love all of you so much. I hope you're all doing really
well. It's always great hearing from you and I hope to hear from you all again
soon!
With love,
Elder Buchanan
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| The other was one day we visited someone, and there was a little boy there, and we were walking somewhere with this member and her son was lagging behind, so I did as well to watch him, and he just grabbed my finger and would not let go. It was kind of cute, so I couldn't pass up the photo opportunity. |
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| This is from a ward party. It wasn't too much, just a little get together to enjoy some food and socialize. There were some kids around and we played piano and danced together and it was fun. |
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