Hello everyone,

I got your letter mom, and one from Grandpa too, it made my day, since I sent all of my letters and journals home I haven't felt like I had a connection to anything that I knew so I am grateful that you sent one, it made me feel connected to people again! 

 

I'll be honest with you, Change is hard, especially when you are going through change by yourself. New area, new companion, new ward, new everything, and the companion is only 6 weeks old and doesn't really know the area herself, so needless to say...it's been a pretty trying week for me! But there are always good things every day, so here are some of the good things that happened this week. 

Tues: we met the Gimmeson's, they are a transplant from Washington, and they miss the west just as much as I do! :) 

Wed: District meeting. I love getting to know other missionaries, and one of my favorite missionaries Sis. Osborne is in my district! I love her, she is just awesome !:) so I am glad to have a few familiar faces. We also got to go to dinner with the Russles. Mom you would love Bro. Russel, he's so funny, we joked around a lot about how he said that he's going to be the next prophet, and how he's going to make a bunch of changes in the church, I told him that you and him would be great friends because of how we joke about you being an "oppressed Mormon woman...etc." and he said that when he's prophet you get to be the patriarch! :) He's so funny! :) We're budds!:) I really like them! :) 

Thursday: We worked our way through some differences in our personalities/companionship.  We were able to meet our Bishop and some other members in the ward, and we got invited to a bon fire, and to dinner on Sunday! I really love bishop, he's awesome! he's really funny and has a goofy laugh. 

Friday: We had a meeting with the elders in our ward to set goals and a vision for the ward, I thought it went well, but Sis. Little....not so much, but that's ok. Then we had weekly planning, and got ourselves one new investigator! Tiffany! She's golden! 

Saturday: Met some more members at the church, We went to a place called Commercial Point and tracted around there, it was freezing, and I swear it was about to snow! Plus we were tracting during pre game of the buckeyes game, DON"T EVER DO THAT!!! Bad idea, no body likes you during that time! :) Then we went to the bonfire with Bishop and his family! :) It was really fun! We met a bunch of the ward members and get to know them better, also we got a referral so that was awesome too! 

Sunday: Ward Conference, so amazing! Everything was about missionary work, Bishop and The stake pres. talked and really get everyone pumped up to find people for us to teach, it was awesome! Pres. Welling is getting released and so he issued a challenge in the next three weeks that everyone in the ward needs to find someone to teach the gospel too, to teach them in your home with the missionaries, to fellowship investigators and to prepare for missions! It was so great! 

We were able to finally set up dinners and stuff with our ward members and get that going again, we haven't been getting fed, so I fixed that ! :) Then we ate at bishops house, and it was awesome!:) 

I'm running short on time so I hope that I can answer your questions, I've literally got 5 minutes and the computer shuts off on me, so here we go!

1. I did get the garments and I love them, if you could order me at least 2 more pair that would be awesome! they are the right size and everything. 

 

Will you please send my pink coat, and my white and pink tuk hat , and also some gloves, Also my boots, as soon as you can! I really need some winter stuff because it's getting cold! :) Thank you so much! :

I love you and miss you every day! 

Sis. Buhler

So for starters You will be receiving a letter from me, probably Wednesday saying that you won't be getting an email today because it is not p-day today...disregard that letter I lied....not intentionally, the information we were given was false. SO because you received this email today proves that it is p-day today! We didn't know until last night that it would be p-day, and so we have been dreading this week with out it all week, it was a blessed occasions filled with dancing and maybe a little bit of squealing...

We get to go to the temple on Friday! I am so excited! Thank you for telling grandpa to send those names! I really appreciate that a lot! I have not been through the temple for anyone but my family before and I don't want that streak to stop now! words can't express how excited I am to go! :)

Last week sounded like a pretty crazy week for you, winning doughnuts, power outages and Scott Horan drinking whisky at the ward party! Man what's going on in Coltman??? It's almost as bad as the time when we did karaoke at the church...you know what I'm talking about! :)

It was Jared's Birthday last tuesday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED!! :) 

It was also Kyle's birthday on Saturday! I thought about him all day, I felt him with me! It was really awesome! :)    

This week has been quite the week for us! We have been working really hard to get Steve on track for baptism and to do all we can to help him stop drinking coffee and feel ready for baptism! We had a few miracles with him this week! at his lesson on Tuesday we were following up on a commitment to pray for 3 specific things in his prayers and then to listen to what heavenly father had to say. He did that and one of the questions he asked was if Heavenly Father loved him. he said that this answer was "a warm fuzzy feeling inside" we were so happy that he finally got an answer to a prayer! Another miracle was that on Thursday we went to his house for a short lesson, we made a goal for our selves that we weren't leaving Steve's house until we got his coffee pot. We had been praying all week for him to let us take it and be done with coffee. WE talked about how we know and that heavenly father knows that he's ready, and we blessified him with the Word of Wisdom. Sis. garner asked if he would give us his coffee pot, and he said "well I guess it's not going to make a big difference if there's no coffee in the house, so if it will make you feel better than yes you can have it!" MIRACLE OF MIRACLES :) so we took it home and the next morning threw it in the dumpster and celebrated the victory! :)  Since then he has not drank coffee at all at home or at work, and he watched all 4 sessions of conference took a question with him that he had prayed about and I am thinking he got an answer, but he said he wouldn't tell us until our lesson on Tuesday! :) He is on track for baptism on Saturday! I am so excited! 

As far as our relationship as a companionship is going, sometimes it's a bit stressed,Other than that things are going pretty well. She is really good at teaching simply and I still have a hard time with over explaining things and so she has been helping us role play keeping it simple, using her strengths to help us. That is something I appreciate about her. Sis. garner is adjusting very well, she still had her moments where she struggles, but we work through it together and we get out and work until it goes away! She really is great! I am so proud of how far she has come! :) 

With transfers coming up I will be honest with you and say that a change of venue would be nice for me too, but at the same time I don't want to leave where I have known all my mission. Sometimes I feel like I have done all I can here, but then I feel like there is still more. So that's where I am at on staying or going at transfers! 

Transfers will be on tuesday this time, so p-day is the same. so stay tuned to see what happens in the good ole land of zanesville !:)  

Conference was amazing, it was a new experience watching it at a church, I had never done that before, it was awesome, both mike and Steve were there to watch it with us! It was just what I needed. There are so many crazy bold things that were said that I wonder what the world is going to think when they read it. All the counsel on mans laws not being god's laws and stuff like that. It's going to be interesting! I loved all the emphasis on missionary work this conference as well, how many times did they say that the members and the missionaries need to be equally yolked together. So my question to you is: WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HASTEN THE WORK? not yelling, just emphasizing! :) This goes to all who read this email, not just you mom! :) I would also encourage everyone to go buy the book The Everyday Missionary by Clayton Christensen. It is revolutionary on how members can do missionary work for themselves! Please buy it! It's only 8 dollars! I promise that as you read and implement the things in that book that you will be able to feel God's love for you and bless you more than you could ever imagine! :)

To answer your questions 

1. My contacts are Holding out just great! I just barely opened my last box that has 6 in it! I think I'll be good for at least 6 more months, maybe even a year. probably until I get home I think. Each of them last me 2 months! so I should be good. I'll let you know when I get down to 2 pairs! 

2.I just texted Sis. Nilsen we'll see if she responds! This Just in: The name of the page is: (drum role please) The Great Ohio Columbus Mission