JACE - Reporting In From Elk River

April 21, 2025

Hey Everyone! 

Sorry! I've been so forgetful in writing my emails. The day just gets away so fast on a P-Day. I'll try to update on the important stuff, though.

I got transferred! Obviously, that's the title, but I got moved from Rochester over to Elk River. I love Rochester, but spending 5 transfers of my whole mission in that city was a little rough. My new comp is Elder Rowe. It's nice because we've served around each other before and we have pretty well matching personalities. We cover 2 wards here, being Elk River and Otsego. They just had a ward split last month when Elder Gimenez was here. So it's been interesting trying to figure out missionary things while working with the new wards.

We don't have a lot of consistency with the friends we're teaching here at the moment. We did find a guy named Aaron in the first week I was here, but we haven't been able to have consistent contact. But, we did set one of our friends on date for baptism! Jasper is a cool kid and his parents are already members. We set the date for the 3rd, so please pray that we can meet with him and his family so we can finish teaching the necessary things that he needs to know.

One of the funnest things we've been able to do so far is join the Otsego ward on Thursday nights for some soccer! Ita a fun way to end that day, and I get the cardio that I really need. Last time, I was kinda on fire! I scored like 3 or 4 goals! A couple were on Elder Rowe, which were hilarious! One of them I totally faked him out on accident, and the other, I made him score his own goal. I glad we have the opportunity to have some cool members around here.

That's pretty much all the big things! This area's been great so far! Just a lot of stopbys and calls for the work, but we'll get something good! Again, sorry it's been so long for an email! I'll try to be more consistent!

Don't forget to look for and be a ray of light for others! You never know what will happen when you do!

Love y'all!

Sincerely,

Elder Buchanan

JACE - Marching Towards The End of The Month

March 24, 2025

Hey Everyone!

I hope things are going well for all of you guys! We're staying pretty busy here. My companion is really good at talking to people on the street, so we get a lot of numbers and set up lessons. Unfortunately, the majority don't pick up when we call. But, it's the effort that counts!

We had Zone conference a couple of weeks ago, and we had a general authority join us. Elder Gimenez taught a lot from Preach My Gospel and the standards. The thing that stuck out most to me was judging for ourselves whether we are being successful missionaries. Of course, he directed us to PMG, which really defines being a successful one as the desire, not the numbers or baptisms. That's something really important to remember, so I really liked it!

One of my favorite things that happened recently was we got to join our ward mission leader in taking some young men  to give the Sacrament to Brother Weiss. He's only been a member less than 2 years, but he hasn't been able to make it to church because his health is poor enough to not be able to leave the assisted living center he's in. He lit up as we walked in and found him, and, as one of the young men read the prayers, there was such a sweet spirit there. It reminded me of doing that for Brother Noble and the Binnings back in Pinedale so long ago. I was very thankful to be able to be there.

That's the cool things that have happened! Sorry it's not too much, even though it's been a bit since I've written an email. But things are going well, and we're making it through! Don't forget to look for and be miracles for others! You never know what you'll find!

Love Y'All!

Sincerely, 

Elder Buchanan

JACE - Sorry, Been A Little Busy

 March 3, 2025

Hey Everyone!

Hope y'all have been doing well! Sorry for the no emails the last few weeks. It was a mix of being busy on P-Day and not really having much to report. It is a new transfer, though. I'm still in Rochester! and most of my district from last transfer stayed. I got a new companion, Elder Fackrell. We are quite different in the ways that we both view and do the work, so prayers would be appreciated as we move into this transfer! He's a master at talking to people in public. He's gotten a bunch of numbers from people in restaurants and stores. Pretty cool to see. I'll try to pick up a thing or two from him on that front. We found a whopping 12 people last week from his efforts. Some didn't answer for the follow up or things fell through, but it's impressive to see his love for the work. I also got to spend last Monday afternoon and Tuesday in Sauk Rapids. It was a fun time. Elder Miller is a pretty cool guy, and at the end of Tuesday, we went and used the sauna in their apartment building for a bit. It felt very nice to do that. 

If y'all have seen my Facebook post, you know that I'm doing a March madness challenge of reading through the whole Book of Mormon again! It was super cool to see the whole story blend together last year, but this time I'm looking for instances of God's love. I'm up to 1 Nephi 9 already, and while reading Lehi's vision, the part where he was walking in darkness really stuck out to me. It's interesting how he followed "a man... dressed in white" into what seemed like darkness. He must've been confused and felt super lost. It was at that moment, he prayed to find direction. And then he was shown such marvelous things like the Tree of Life! Sometimes it may feel like following what God and Jesus want us to do may seem like they make no sense, but as we ask them to make the reasons known to us, they will. It may not be all at once, but they will.

Have a great week everyone! Don't forget to look for and be rays of light!

Love Y'All!

Sincerely,

Elder Buchanan

JACE - January Has Blown Away

February 3, 2025

Hey Everyone!

Again, not much has happened. We were able to have some great lessons with a couple of our friends. Most notably we had a great follow up lesson with our friend Ethan. We taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he took it very well. Unfortunately, his wife wasn't there, but that just means we'll have to cover it again. We were also able to have another lesson with Monica. When we first found her, she had just gotten home that day from the hospital with a newborn. We were surprised that she even let us in. But we were able to have a good discussion and this time her older son Steven was there. I don't know if he was fully listening, but he said he was. The unfortunate news of the week is that we lost who we thought was our most progressing person. In our last lesson with Sheritha, we had a member join us and he was amazing and bold about the fact of being baptized under that proper authority. Unfortunately, she didn't take it the right way. She instead made it sound like we had said her deceased family members were in trouble because they weren't baptized the right way, even though we had explained baptisms for the dead as well. But, we also figured out that she was n't looking at the Book of Mormon as scripture, but as a nice little book that references the HOLY Bible (she kept emphasizing that). So we just had to double down and make sure she knew that the Book of Mormon is scripture, and that she needs to read it for herself and pray to know about its truth. Hopefully, she'll come back around, but we'll just have to see.

Just a little spiritual thought. This last Sunday, we had fast and testimony meeting. There was kinda a theme that I picked up through all the testimonies. God will answer and lead you to the right place, thing or time for something to happen. He knows what we all need, and it might not be what we think. It's still a great ray of light in my pillar that He knew and wanted me to come on a mission. This also combines with something that was brought up in Sunday School. Don't pray frantically for an answer. When you pray, you can lay out what you think you need, but there needs to be the side of, "I'll take whatever you think is best." That's definitely something I'll be trying to do from now on.

Don't forget to be a ray of light for someone. And for your own rays of light! They are everywhere!

Love Y'All!!!

Sincerely,

Elder Buchanan  

JACE - Bottom of the 9th!

January 13, 2025

Hey Everyone!

It's been a pretty good couple weeks. We've been able to find a few people and have a couple good lessons, too! Not gonna lie, though, with it getting colder here and people not wanting to really talk with us, it's been pretty hard. But our most progressing friend, Sheritha, is doing great. Her biggest hang up is the true authority we have to baptize. To be fair to her, she grew up in a different religion, so it's still a struggle to realize that some things need to be done right. So please pray for her to gain that witness. She luckily already seems to love everything else about the church, but she just needs that last push.

In the member meals, I've been the one primarily sharing the message at the end, and I have a message based on the talk Pillars and Rays by Elder Dushku from last April. In it, I always give the challenge to be a ray of light for others. That's why I always ask y'all to look for and be rays of light. So don't forget to do it!

Love y'all!

Sincerely,

Elder Buchanan

JACE - And A Happy New Year!

December 31, 2025

Hey Everyone!

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas! Did y'all get anything cool? I sure hope so! Christmas out here was ok. Not anything too grand or nothing. We got to spend Christmas Eve and Day with some members. Not gonna lie, it kinda hurt a little to see grown siblings messing around and laughing with each other. But at least it's the last one I have to miss. Not much else happened this week. We did find 3 people on Saturday and 2 people came to church. One of which was a total surprise. All in all, things are going well. Still weird to think that by this time next year, I'll have been home for a little bit.

Don't forget to be miracles for others! It'll bring some your way, too! Make it a New Year's Resolution that you don't quit!

Love Y'all!

Sincerely,

Elder Buchanan

JACE - Christmas Time Is Here!!!

December 24, 2024

Hey Everyone!

Merry Christmas to all! It's so interesting to think that Christmas is the first in the rest of the holidays I have left out here on the mission. It's an interesting thing to think on. Not gonna lie, though, the only big thing that happened this week was Christmas Zone Conference. We had a good time and we even watched the Christ Child video that the church put out a few years ago. The same one that I watched with my MTC district last year! It's such a great video to remember and think on the birth of our Saviour! In case you don't know where to find it, here's the link: The Christ Child

I've thought about the Christmas season, and I know we all see the New Year as a time to reset and restart. But I had a little realization the other day. Christmas and Christ's birth was kind of a reset for Him. He came to this world where he had to learn the things of the world and how to overcome them. Of course, He had heavenly help. But if we think about it, we have that help, too! I'm so thankful that this tie has been given for us to grow, and especially this time of year to remember the Saviour! I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Look for and be miracles for others! You never know who needs cheering up!

Love Y'All!!!

Sincerely,

Elder Buchanan