¡Hola!
What a wonderful week! We had a special conference with Elder Caussé of the Seventy. He is in the area presidency for Europe. It was an amazing conference. I learned so much! I think the most important lesson I learned was about faith. Siempre we need to add to our faith. Towards the beginning of my mission I did not have the faith that I could baptize every month. But then through repentance, I grew and developed the faith to baptize every month. And since June, I have been. I have been quite content with myself, thinking, "I have changed so much. Now, I have the faith to baptize once a month!" But what I learned from Elder Caussé is: it is good that I developed the faith to baptize every month. But it is not enough. I need to continually improve and develop the faith to baptize two, three, four, 300 people a month. This is afterall how we arrive at salvation and perfection, by continually improving each day.
Elder Caussé taught us so much and gave us so many new ideas. He also promised us that in every area of the mission there are at least 300 people ready to listen to the Gospel and be baptized! How great is that!!
I gave another talk on Sunday during Sacrament meeting. I think it went a lot better than my recent past talks.
(Miracle story) There is an antigua investigator, named Julisa, who the missionaries before us were teaching. Although we are not currently teaching her, she always stops us in the street to tell us that she is coming to church on Sunday. Well, she never comes. This past week, we decided to take action. When she told us she was coming, we said, "Oh wonderful! When can we come by to pick you up?" We set up a time to pass by. However when we went to pick her up, she was still sleeping. We honestly did not think she would come. But she did! She came a little late with one of her sons. Afterwards she thanked us greatly for waking her up. Then she asked us for a visit, telling us that this time she is serious and wants to help her two sons get baptized!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
FelizNavidad.BonNadal.MerryChristmas!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
The Lord Always Provides
¡Hola!
Recently I have learned a lot about patience. And also that God really does provide for our needs. I have had several neat experiences but I will share only two. One day Elder González and I were passing by the pisos of some antiguo investigators. We hadn´t eaten much that day and were quite hungry. We passed a kebab place that looked tasty and it had a great deal for kebabs. We were quite tempted, but decided to keep working. We decided to wait patiently until we returned to piso that night. Well a few minutes later a member called us offering to buy us kebabs and to help us out with visits afterwards!
The second story: About a month ago I noticed that Zara still had some suits on sale. And I have lost so much weight that really my black suit from missionary mall is a bit ridiculously large. It was really tempting to buy a new one. But I thought, "no. i can wait for a cheaper one during rebajas in january. and i need to ask Dad´s advice." So I decided to wait. Well last week we were visiting our convert, Edwin. The boss of one of his roommates was going to throw away a bunch of new Mossimo Dutti (super pijo brand) suits. Thus Edwin´s roommate brought them home instead. And offered me one!! It is still large on me. But because it is the European style, it looks more fitted and less ridiculous. Patience pays off. And the Lord knows our needs. If we are keeping his commandments and living righteously, he ALWAYS provides for us.
The miracle story this week comes from church. In our ward, the ward counsel meets very rarely. Thus we had gotten a little lazy with the informes. Finally last week we got tired of waiting for consejo. For the first time in a while we did an informe with pictures and informative paragraphs about our investigators. During church we handed out the informes to all the leaders. The miracle this week came from the leaders in the ward. Usually we have trouble getting members to talk to investigators, etc. But this week when one of the families from the informe came, the leaders of the ward practically swarmed them in excitement. I am not sure if I have ever seen such a warm welcome from an entire ward. It reminded me that the SMALL things, like better informes, really do make a BIG difference.
BonNadal.FelizNavidad.MerryChristmas!!!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Recently I have learned a lot about patience. And also that God really does provide for our needs. I have had several neat experiences but I will share only two. One day Elder González and I were passing by the pisos of some antiguo investigators. We hadn´t eaten much that day and were quite hungry. We passed a kebab place that looked tasty and it had a great deal for kebabs. We were quite tempted, but decided to keep working. We decided to wait patiently until we returned to piso that night. Well a few minutes later a member called us offering to buy us kebabs and to help us out with visits afterwards!
The second story: About a month ago I noticed that Zara still had some suits on sale. And I have lost so much weight that really my black suit from missionary mall is a bit ridiculously large. It was really tempting to buy a new one. But I thought, "no. i can wait for a cheaper one during rebajas in january. and i need to ask Dad´s advice." So I decided to wait. Well last week we were visiting our convert, Edwin. The boss of one of his roommates was going to throw away a bunch of new Mossimo Dutti (super pijo brand) suits. Thus Edwin´s roommate brought them home instead. And offered me one!! It is still large on me. But because it is the European style, it looks more fitted and less ridiculous. Patience pays off. And the Lord knows our needs. If we are keeping his commandments and living righteously, he ALWAYS provides for us.
The miracle story this week comes from church. In our ward, the ward counsel meets very rarely. Thus we had gotten a little lazy with the informes. Finally last week we got tired of waiting for consejo. For the first time in a while we did an informe with pictures and informative paragraphs about our investigators. During church we handed out the informes to all the leaders. The miracle this week came from the leaders in the ward. Usually we have trouble getting members to talk to investigators, etc. But this week when one of the families from the informe came, the leaders of the ward practically swarmed them in excitement. I am not sure if I have ever seen such a warm welcome from an entire ward. It reminded me that the SMALL things, like better informes, really do make a BIG difference.
BonNadal.FelizNavidad.MerryChristmas!!!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Dia de Gracias
¡Hola!
We celebrated Thanksgiving with Gianmarco. He is the ward mission leader. He is half-American and half-Italian. He loves the United States so much. And we are teaching his mother-in-law. Thus, he invited us for a Thanksgiving meal. He and his Hondurian wife did a really good job. Their oven is too small for a full turkey so we only had turkey breast. But the food was really good. Even the stuffing was delicious! It was really nice, especially since I did not have Thanksgiving last year.
I am really excited for Christmas! We set up the tree last preparation day!!
Well my favorite miracle from this week really strengthened my testimony on using conversion plans (plans we prayerfully make to help people who have planned baptismal goals/dates). When Yaneya accepted the baptismal invitation, it was a super weak commitment. We feared that she only accepted because her two siblings were excited. Thus when we created the conversion plan, we prayerfully searched scriptures that would especially help her. The day following the invitation, we presented the conversion plan. On Tuesday (about a week after giving them the plan) we had a visit. When we arrived, Yaneya was ready with her Book of Mormon and was super animated during the entire visit, answering more questions than normal. What caused this great change of heart? She started following the conversion plan and completed the reading assignments! I have no doubt that reading the Book Mormon invites the Spirit to testify of the truth. The Book of Mormon has the power to change your heart. All we have to do is create a simple plan to help our investigators get started!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
BonNadal.FelizNavidad.MerryChristmas!!!!!!!
We celebrated Thanksgiving with Gianmarco. He is the ward mission leader. He is half-American and half-Italian. He loves the United States so much. And we are teaching his mother-in-law. Thus, he invited us for a Thanksgiving meal. He and his Hondurian wife did a really good job. Their oven is too small for a full turkey so we only had turkey breast. But the food was really good. Even the stuffing was delicious! It was really nice, especially since I did not have Thanksgiving last year.
I am really excited for Christmas! We set up the tree last preparation day!!
Well my favorite miracle from this week really strengthened my testimony on using conversion plans (plans we prayerfully make to help people who have planned baptismal goals/dates). When Yaneya accepted the baptismal invitation, it was a super weak commitment. We feared that she only accepted because her two siblings were excited. Thus when we created the conversion plan, we prayerfully searched scriptures that would especially help her. The day following the invitation, we presented the conversion plan. On Tuesday (about a week after giving them the plan) we had a visit. When we arrived, Yaneya was ready with her Book of Mormon and was super animated during the entire visit, answering more questions than normal. What caused this great change of heart? She started following the conversion plan and completed the reading assignments! I have no doubt that reading the Book Mormon invites the Spirit to testify of the truth. The Book of Mormon has the power to change your heart. All we have to do is create a simple plan to help our investigators get started!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
BonNadal.FelizNavidad.MerryChristmas!!!!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving
¡Hola!
This week was a pretty average, normal week for a missionary. I can not think of anything interesting to report. I am really sick of rain. haha. Elder González is amazing and learning quite rapidly. We have been working really hard with a Bolivian family that I just absolutely love. The kids should finally get baptized soon!
A miracle from this week has been with the members. We have been working fervently to better our relationship with the members. We are finally starting to note differences. For example before we thought that the members did not have any friends because we never met any. But this past week we have met several friends of members. And the members are willing to let us teach them! Also the hombres jovenes are excited to help us in visits. The greatest miracle has been with the Obispo (our relationship with him has been rocky). He seems more excited to see us/talk to us now. Also he used to never invite the missionaries over his house. Now, he keeps inviting us over in the evening. With the new refocus (rule) on eating/visiting with differing members, if he invites us again we are going to have to decline!
Happy Thanksgiving. I am grateful for.....EVERYTHING!! No really I am. Everything I have is a blessing from my Father in Heaven. I am also grateful for milagros. We see so many miracles every day!!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
This week was a pretty average, normal week for a missionary. I can not think of anything interesting to report. I am really sick of rain. haha. Elder González is amazing and learning quite rapidly. We have been working really hard with a Bolivian family that I just absolutely love. The kids should finally get baptized soon!
A miracle from this week has been with the members. We have been working fervently to better our relationship with the members. We are finally starting to note differences. For example before we thought that the members did not have any friends because we never met any. But this past week we have met several friends of members. And the members are willing to let us teach them! Also the hombres jovenes are excited to help us in visits. The greatest miracle has been with the Obispo (our relationship with him has been rocky). He seems more excited to see us/talk to us now. Also he used to never invite the missionaries over his house. Now, he keeps inviting us over in the evening. With the new refocus (rule) on eating/visiting with differing members, if he invites us again we are going to have to decline!
Happy Thanksgiving. I am grateful for.....EVERYTHING!! No really I am. Everything I have is a blessing from my Father in Heaven. I am also grateful for milagros. We see so many miracles every day!!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Saturday, November 19, 2011
South American Remedy
¡Hola!
Well last Monday i woke up with a sty. I just love those!! (sarcasm). Anyway, Martín, a member from Paraguay gave me some advice on how to get rid of it quickly. He told me that in the morning when I go pee all i have to do is wet my finger with the pee and rub it on the sty. I figured I had nothing to lose so I tried it. Three days after i first got the sty, it was gone! (that is rather quick for my sties.) I am not sure if it was the pee or the medicine i was using. But something worked. haha!
The conversion story of Edwin is quite wonderful. Elder Ellis and I decided to start teaching English class soon after I arrived in Granollers. A few days before the first class, a man (Edwin) stopped us on the street to ask us if we were starting English classes soon. We happily informed him that yes we were starting that very week. Edwin came to class a half an hour late but stayed for the spiritual thought afterwards. Elder Ellis noted that Edwin seemed really interested during the spiritual thought. During the week between classes, we saw Edwin almost everyday in differing, random parts of the city. We took this as a sign that we needed to start teaching him. Thus, we decided to talk to him after the next class about learning the gospel. However, Edwin did not come to class. So we called him to tell him that we missed him in class. And, we ended up setting up a visit for the next week before English class. We were a little disappointed that we would have to wait a week to start teaching him. However much to our surprise, he called us the next morning (Sunday) to ask about church. This particular week was Stake Conference, but fortunately there was extra space for him in a members´ car. We invited him to come with us that very day to Stake Conference. And he accepted! And it so happened that the members who took Edwin are also from Venezuela. Thus, they instantly become friends with him. Later that night we visited with Edwin in the house of another member. Edwin accepted to be baptized in that first visit. And from that day he began progressing rapidly, accepting everything we taught him with ease. Three weeks after Stake Conference, Edwin was baptized by that same member who drove him there. After that first class Edwin never did come back to English class. But, from half hour of English, he found something so much greater, the restored gospel!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Well last Monday i woke up with a sty. I just love those!! (sarcasm). Anyway, Martín, a member from Paraguay gave me some advice on how to get rid of it quickly. He told me that in the morning when I go pee all i have to do is wet my finger with the pee and rub it on the sty. I figured I had nothing to lose so I tried it. Three days after i first got the sty, it was gone! (that is rather quick for my sties.) I am not sure if it was the pee or the medicine i was using. But something worked. haha!
The conversion story of Edwin is quite wonderful. Elder Ellis and I decided to start teaching English class soon after I arrived in Granollers. A few days before the first class, a man (Edwin) stopped us on the street to ask us if we were starting English classes soon. We happily informed him that yes we were starting that very week. Edwin came to class a half an hour late but stayed for the spiritual thought afterwards. Elder Ellis noted that Edwin seemed really interested during the spiritual thought. During the week between classes, we saw Edwin almost everyday in differing, random parts of the city. We took this as a sign that we needed to start teaching him. Thus, we decided to talk to him after the next class about learning the gospel. However, Edwin did not come to class. So we called him to tell him that we missed him in class. And, we ended up setting up a visit for the next week before English class. We were a little disappointed that we would have to wait a week to start teaching him. However much to our surprise, he called us the next morning (Sunday) to ask about church. This particular week was Stake Conference, but fortunately there was extra space for him in a members´ car. We invited him to come with us that very day to Stake Conference. And he accepted! And it so happened that the members who took Edwin are also from Venezuela. Thus, they instantly become friends with him. Later that night we visited with Edwin in the house of another member. Edwin accepted to be baptized in that first visit. And from that day he began progressing rapidly, accepting everything we taught him with ease. Three weeks after Stake Conference, Edwin was baptized by that same member who drove him there. After that first class Edwin never did come back to English class. But, from half hour of English, he found something so much greater, the restored gospel!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Baptismal Interviews
¡Hola!
Training is way more fun that I thought. I am learning so much from my new companion. Élder González is amazing! You can feel the Spirit quite strongly with him. He already teaches really well and always has wonderful insight during companionship study. At times I honestly feel like he is training me, not vice versa. He will be a great missionary. This week I am going to focus on helping him make more contacts. The ward already loves him, and with more contacts in the street we will have a flood of new investigators from members and our own efforts....all thanks to Élder González!!! Also with the new 12 week in field training program, we have 2 hours of companionship study instead of one. it is AMAZING.
On Saturday I gave my first two baptismal interviews. Our district leader had two baptims yesterday. However the zone leaders could not come up to perform the interviews. Thus President authorized me to do them. It was a new experience for me. I enjoyed this opportunity a lot.
Prayer never seems to fail me. On Thursday we had a visit with one of the families we have been teaching. I absolutely love teaching this family. They are wonderful (and Bolivian)! However sadly, they are progressing quite slowly. During the visit they weakly committed to attending church. And afterwards, we felt that sadly we would have to stop visiting this family as often. Thus for fast Sunday, I fasted specifically for them. And Saturday night before bed, I pleaded with Heavenly Father to help them come to church. The prayer was answered. The dad and two of the children came to church!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Training is way more fun that I thought. I am learning so much from my new companion. Élder González is amazing! You can feel the Spirit quite strongly with him. He already teaches really well and always has wonderful insight during companionship study. At times I honestly feel like he is training me, not vice versa. He will be a great missionary. This week I am going to focus on helping him make more contacts. The ward already loves him, and with more contacts in the street we will have a flood of new investigators from members and our own efforts....all thanks to Élder González!!! Also with the new 12 week in field training program, we have 2 hours of companionship study instead of one. it is AMAZING.
On Saturday I gave my first two baptismal interviews. Our district leader had two baptims yesterday. However the zone leaders could not come up to perform the interviews. Thus President authorized me to do them. It was a new experience for me. I enjoyed this opportunity a lot.
Prayer never seems to fail me. On Thursday we had a visit with one of the families we have been teaching. I absolutely love teaching this family. They are wonderful (and Bolivian)! However sadly, they are progressing quite slowly. During the visit they weakly committed to attending church. And afterwards, we felt that sadly we would have to stop visiting this family as often. Thus for fast Sunday, I fasted specifically for them. And Saturday night before bed, I pleaded with Heavenly Father to help them come to church. The prayer was answered. The dad and two of the children came to church!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Halloween Baby
¡Hola!
I am so excited! One of the part member families we are working with (Greicy and Alberto) had a baby this week!!! The new baby was born yesterday evening on Halloween!!! How fun!!!! They are a great Bolivian family!
Well speaking of births.....there will be another birth in Granollers tomorrow....well in missionary jargon. Today is transfers. Sadly my dear friend and companion from north of the border, Elder Ellis, is leaving me after only one transfer. He is heading to Zaragoza to reopen an area with my other friend and former companion, Elder Plaskett! And I will be a "dad"!! Yep, I am going to train. I am super nervous and excited at the same time. I will pick up my "son" tomorrow in a new missionary conference. There is a pretty good chance that he will be a nativo. That would be even more exciting! I love Spaniards/south americans!
Whenever new elders enter the mission field there are always a ton of miracles. My new companion isn´t even here yet and the miracles are already starting. Last night a man stopped us on the street and asked us to help him. He took us to his piso and broke down crying. He girlfriend and daughter had just left him. He wants to change his life so that his family will come back, and he recognizes that God is the best way to do so. We have a visit set up with him for Wednesday. I have no doubt that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can help this man change is bad habits and be a loving husband (after he gets married) and father.
Well we are going to go visit Greicy in the hospital so that Elder Ellis can say goodbye. Have a great week!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
I am so excited! One of the part member families we are working with (Greicy and Alberto) had a baby this week!!! The new baby was born yesterday evening on Halloween!!! How fun!!!! They are a great Bolivian family!
Well speaking of births.....there will be another birth in Granollers tomorrow....well in missionary jargon. Today is transfers. Sadly my dear friend and companion from north of the border, Elder Ellis, is leaving me after only one transfer. He is heading to Zaragoza to reopen an area with my other friend and former companion, Elder Plaskett! And I will be a "dad"!! Yep, I am going to train. I am super nervous and excited at the same time. I will pick up my "son" tomorrow in a new missionary conference. There is a pretty good chance that he will be a nativo. That would be even more exciting! I love Spaniards/south americans!
Whenever new elders enter the mission field there are always a ton of miracles. My new companion isn´t even here yet and the miracles are already starting. Last night a man stopped us on the street and asked us to help him. He took us to his piso and broke down crying. He girlfriend and daughter had just left him. He wants to change his life so that his family will come back, and he recognizes that God is the best way to do so. We have a visit set up with him for Wednesday. I have no doubt that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can help this man change is bad habits and be a loving husband (after he gets married) and father.
Well we are going to go visit Greicy in the hospital so that Elder Ellis can say goodbye. Have a great week!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
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