Weeks 85 and 86 - What I am Grateful for...

This last week I have had a pretty persistent cold, which has kept me in bed for the past two days. Two birthdays in a row haha... so I have had time to think. Here is what my email is.

What I am grateful for:

I am grateful for my family. I am grateful for my father who would take me out on walks in the hills and would teach me how to tell time with looking at the sun, who would take me on camping trips and stay up late with me and play video games or watch movies with me. He would pick me up from friends’ houses at unreasonable hours. I am grateful for him loving me unconditionally even when I made mistakes. He had so much patience with me when I honestly deserved a good smacking. He would hold me when I cried, and would come to all my sporting games. He above all is a good dad, who never ever wanted the spotlight, but always pushed it on me. He taught me to love God, and all will work out who trusted me enough to watch me walk away from beliefs I held dear to the point where I came back and went on a mission. 

I am grateful for my mom, who literally sacrificed every waking moment of her adult life into bettering my life, and my sibling’s lives and others. She would come up with the most extravagant birthdays imaginable. She would sleep outside of Walmart in the cold, so her stupid son could get an xbox 360 for Christmas. She would push me to my limits, so I could know my limits, but also know that I can push for higher limits, that my best could be better. She taught me that honesty is better than promotion. She taught me if I gave it my all, then I could be happy with that. She taught me that truth and everything good is better than what ever pleasure the other side could offer me. She taught me that racial barriers and whatever stood in my way were nothing. She would hold me when I was a little kid, and who I could always count on to champion my cause. I am grateful for my mom for the things I know she has done for me and things I don't know she has done for me.

I am grateful for my siblings. They as a whole have been my pride and joy of my life. Jacob has always been there in the sense of presence and on my mind. He has always been my little brother and my inspiration. He has been the guy who brings me down to earth, and in a sense, he has always been my go to play mate. Cassie for her humor, for her criticisms and her skepticisms, and everything that God has endowed to her. She has always been the humor that I needed when I least expected it. She is braver than I ever was.  I am grateful for her riding the roller coasters with me, for doing everything. Jared for being my mini me, for being strong in hard times when he didn’t want to be strong. He always, without fail, emailing me and just being the bear of the family. For Caitlin, ah man she is the princess, and always reminds me I need to be more well behaved. I thank her for also being brave. I could write a page about what I am grateful for with my siblings, but I can't, because I don't have time. 

I am grateful for my friends. All of them. I can't name everyone, but I will name off a few. Mckay, Miles, Troy , Jalon, Andrew and Pickles, etc. every one of my friends has held me to the highest standard in all my conduct. They have been there for me in my darkest moments, and each one has influenced me into what I am today. I am grateful for their families. I am grateful for everything they give me, and how they have let me into their homes against their better judgment in there gut. I am grateful for that very much. 

I am grateful for heroes, who ever they may be in my eyes. Brandon Curtis, Cody Towse, Veterans, Firefighters, Neil Armstrong, Albert Einstein, JFK, Abraham Lincoln, my mom and dad and whoever else might be a hero to me. Heroes inspire me. 

I am grateful for this church even though I don’t have the best testimony, and at times I want to leave, because I dislike the rules, or something else. I find that if people live the gospel, they are happy. I am grateful the hope it offers mankind in general. I am grateful for the leaders, who have inspired me, who have always been there for me. Bret Nelson, Chivers Cutler, Grasseley. There are a lot of people who have been there for me. I am grateful for what Joseph Smith claimed to have seen, and what he did. I am grateful for the idea of God.

I am grateful for my doubts. I am grateful for my ever questioning mind. As weird as that may sound, it keeps me sane. I am grateful that I have these fears, and have this longing to figure out everything, because if I didn't, I would be an awful human being. I am grateful for my mission president who though even with all my short comings loves me. 

I am grateful for challenges that we have because it gives us chances to overcome them.

Elder Buhler

Week #84 Elder Buhler is Doing Fine

Elder Buhler didn't have time to write this week.  He is doing fine, he has just been to busy to write.  He would love you to email him: joshua.buhler@myldsmail.net

Week #83 No Time

This week, Josh didn't have enough time to write an email to share. We are excited to hear more from him next week.

Week #82 Crazy Mission Week

Well Fam Bam, it has been a crazy ride to start off everything. We had a kid show up at the church and say he ran away from home and is suicidal. S,o we sat him down and started talking to him and just tried to calm him down. I called my superiors, who then called a social worker who then came. Over 3 hours later the social worker was like he is fine and leaves. Then this kid says he has a bomb and ah man all this crazy stuff so finally we let him go, and then bam he came back five min later, saying he was joking the entire time and so that wasted our entire day. Turns out the kid is mentally crazy, and ya. Super duper annoying, and I was mad to say the least... that was it in a nut shell...

Then we saw Kuahhu. He is the blind Hawaiian guy who plays the piano super duper well. He was pretty cool dude. Got a picture with him.

So, we are not supposed to talk about what happened to the 2 missionaries. I do not know much. I knew one of the Elders. He went to Springville, and was a really nice and quiet kid. It is crazy how stuff like this happens.  One thing I have come to realize is that I can search for all the logic I want on the existence of God, or for Atheism, but in the end, both sides need faith. You can't through logic prove anything you need faith. Food for thought.

Bear cat.

Good luck Jacob.

Elder Buhler

Week #81 Good Luck to all the new Missionaries

Well, you are all looking at the brand spanking new district leader... ghaha. Before all my RM friends roll their eyes, ahahah it’s a big deal for me, because I get to do DTM the way it was supposed to be...but it will be interesting. Anyways, this week has been an interesting week... I have found that I have preached with way to much fire, and I need to be less blunt.... a couple of members who I would say are dear friend have gone less active, and man I feel like it’s because of me. Sometimes I am way to blunt. I have found that part of being a missionary or a representative of Christ is that sometimes you have to say something even when you obviously do not want to say that. But you have too because it’s what you believe.

Well, my little brother is going on a mission... I am super proud of him I will miss him like crazy but I know he is going to be the best missionary ever. He has all the skills and talents and he is stubborn like me so he won't give up. He is an awesome kid. Elder Noll and I were talking last night and we both believe that the hardest part of all of this is watching both our younger brothers walk off on this huge adventure, and we won't see them for a total of 3 and half to 4 years... I know that Ryan and Zach know how we feel, but we feel that they are going to do amazing. We are both super proud of Jessi and Jacob. Go forth to serve.

This week in a nutshell… was insane. One thing that is hard about Taiwan, is that there is pornography everywhere!!! It’s ridiculous, and no one even cares ... It’s really sad.

The other elders had an investigator drop out this week, which was really sad because he was super ready ... I had the font filled and everything.... I actually almost flooded the chapel which is pretty funny! ahahha

I found out that I am staying in Gangshen, and I might be able to finish my mission here!!! I only have about 4 months left. It’s crazy to think. I am glad I am here. It’s a wonderful place, and I love it.

My new comp is awesome

One thing that I have found to be a blessing is a site called fairmormon.org. If anyone has any problems or questions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) or the Book of Mormon, I beg you go to this site. It will answer a lot of the questions you may have. When people here about anti-mormon stuff, they assume the church ignores it. Oh no they don’t! The church has some very, very smart people on their side and they answer all the questions. It’s a really cool thing.

Good luck to all the new missionaries! You are all awesome, and will do so well!!!

Elder Buhler

Week #80 No One is Perfect

This week, ah man, has been interesting!!! It has been a trying week of realizing I am not as in shape as I think and getting rejected all day.... So, we have this thing called NO COMPANIONSHIP LEFT BEHIND, which sounds a lot like President George W. Bush’s no child left behind, and while it sounds like a good idea, I hate it, and I am sure my Grandpa John doesn’t like it. Ahahha! It’s just a lot of work for a purpose I do not know why, but hey! That’s part of being a missionary. Sometimes you don't know why you do it, but in the end it all works out. Well, the AP's decided to text me 20 min before they suprised us for an exchange, and all I could text back was why is this happening!!!! Anyways, it was fun! Elder Vandi and I took the seats off our bikes so that we would not be tempted to sit down and rest. So that’s pretty you Banfa. Anyways, we also had to drop an investigator after an hour long argument of the logical answer with the Church, and Joseph Smith, and Commandments and all that I knew that I could not win over logic, because the Book of Mormon while it has logical evidence is a faith based thing. Ya. So I just bore my testimony. Sam, I could sit hear all day and I could tell you logically why the BOM or Joseph Smith is a true prophet. I could sit here and tell you how imperfect I am. I could argue through science why this seems to be right, but what it all comes down to is reading and praying. You have done neither and you laugh now, but I promise you Sam, in the near future, you will be brought to your knees, and I hope by then you will read this. I can't say I know if this is all true. No one can really know. But I can promise you that I believe, and I try. I have been through trials like you. I have seen friends die, said good bye to loved ones, and so on, but Sam, I promise you, in the name of Jesus Christ, that if you read and pray sincerely, this can help you". Sadly, he needed to be dropped. So that was rough. Elder Vandiford came down as you know, and we took the seats off our bikes, because we do not have time to sit down. I have always dreaded going on exchanges with him, but always walked away feeling more enlightened about myself. He is an awesome guy. I feel he really helped me with finding out there are really people who get answers to things. I relate to how he talks to go as a quarterback with a mike in his helmet and God is the coach. God calls the plays he runs them. Touchdown! Me on the other hand.. I didn't study the plays, so when God gives me the sign, I can't read it, and just run my own play. Not always a Touchdown. Something that I read is about Ammon, about how he asks the king about God, and he answers and says, Ya know, I don't really know a lot about said God, but I am willing to believe in him, and exact obedience. Sometimes, it’s like football the coach, through a lot of experience, calls a play, and the new time QB has no idea why he is calling the play, and he actually feels that the coach is making the wrong decisions. A lot of times the coach’s choice pays off. That’s an example. I am really working on respecting authority.

That’s a copy and paste version of it all. Well, I feel impressed to tell you about Sunday nights. No matter how bad the week is, no matter what, without fail, Sunday nights bring us back.  Good things always help us and if we spend the entire week wondering what the hell we are doing and why the hell we are here, Sunday night’s show us. It’s a magical thing. We had a member lesson and, ah man, I love this family. They are way too good to us, and just hearing there conversion story. It was nice hearing it. The father said that all his life he was looking for the meaning of life, and Buddhism, Daoism, and the Christian churches spread out, couldn't really give him the whole picture, but when he heard the plan of salvation, it clicked and was like cake to him. Pretty cool thing.

I also after reading Elder Krieger's email feel impressed to say that part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is loving and forgiving. It’s sad, but true. The most judgmental ones are ourselves inside of Utah. That’s part of the reason I went inactive, is just the judging. That’s the biggest reason for inactivity here, judging. I think we should all realize that none of us are perfect, so we have no right talking about so and so who did this. I am by no means perfect. Sometimes I swear, even when I try not to. Sometimes, I want to punch the Taiwanese Mafia guys in the face. Sometimes, I don't have the best thoughts. But, I am trying to be better. So, I invite everyone to be less judgmental.

Elder Buhler

Week #79 Basketball Contacting Works!

Hey fam bam! Its me, Elder Buhler!!!! 

Well, this week's will be kinda short. This weekend we contacted a lot and I feel we have seen some fruits from the labors....look at me with my scripture vocab. Allan, the homeless man, has progressed and this week I gave him my white shirt and a cool tie so he can look like a stud. He gave a 7 min prayer for the people effected by the Gaoxiong explosion. At the end, he was in tears. Ah man made me really think of how awful of human being I am and how awesome he is. Well he is progressing. I feel I forget that Jesus said in the gospel of Luke that the gospel is preached to the poor and all that and I really forget that. We went on exchanges this week and well it was interesting. I was sitting in class and this dude walks in and asks if this is a church and I was like ya who are you and he was driving home when he saw the sign so he came to check it out... Golden. So I sat him down taught him and gave home a goal... the funny part is he is the other elders' investigator cause he is in their area.... so that sad but whatever.  I am happy for him. Ya, that explosion was crazy. Its in our city.  I was nowhere near it so no worries.  Oh someone tell Mama Garfield that I made spam masubis all by myself!!! 

I got the care package and oh man it was good.  I realized that I compare myself too much and try to be the best but obviously i can't be the best. Um well I also feel that the mission has really changed me a lot.  I am trying to think of a super spiritual thought but i can't. Um oh I picked up 2 new investigators from basketball!!!  I gave one a goal... so any one ever tell you that bball proselyting is a waste you tell them that Elder Buhler did it and has 2 RC's from it. I want to let you all know I love you and if I have ever wronged you in the slightest please contact me and let me know so I can make amends for it. I love you all. 

Elder Buhler