JACE - Getting Used To The City

May 20, 2024

Hey, Everyone!

Rochester is such a party! It's so weird being sent from a huge, spread out branch to a super close city where you see at least one other set of missionaries every day. But Elder Timothy and I have been a bunch of fun. It's still hard for me to talk to random people on the street, but now I have to worry about talking to people in malls!!! It's genuinely terrifying to me, but hopefully I can get over that. 

We haven't been able to do a lot of teaching because we haven't been able to get in contact with any of the people the last Elders were teaching. But, we found one new person whose name is Taylor. We had a good restoration lesson with her, and she said she had even been to our church before. She even straight up said she believes Joseph Smith is a prophet. She says her family is having a lot of different issues of health and monetary means, so if you guys could pray for her that'd be awesome. 

Now, the best part of the Rochester 2nd Ward is the fact that we've been getting fed every night so far! It's crazy. There's a lot of fun families here, so it's been fun trying to learn names of the little kids in different families that have us over. There is always a sweet spirit when we get to share the little message with them at the end, and the kids actually want to listen and participate. I pray that my kids can be like that someday, but I won't hold my breath. 

You guys have an amazing week! I'll keep grinding and I'll hopefully bring some better news next week! 

Love y'all!

Sincerely, 

Elder Buchanan

JACE - Hello, From And--- I Mean Rochester!!!

May 13, 2024

Hey Everyone! 

Sooo, they sent the "Wong" T-Boards the week before. More people got their visas and some people went home that weren't planning for the week before. So the guy who was supposed to be in the Rochester 2nd ward went home, so I got moved from the trio into a companionship with my MTC COMPANION!!! I was so excited when the new T-Boards dropped, because I kept getting told from everybody that they never got to even serve around their MTC comps. So Fun!

We had our late Zone Conference with Elder Wong, and it was so different from what I was expecting. Pretty much as soon as he walked in, he was cracking jokes left and right. Most of the subject matter of the meeting was working with members and how powerful they are in helping people come unto Christ. Remember, it's not just the missionaries that are called to do it, find ways to help them succeed!

My last week in Ashland was great and sad at the same time. After ZC on Wednesday, we headed to the Rust's house one last time. We hung out there and he made the birthday steaks I had asked him for. It was a fun visit, and I got my hugs from Brother Rust. Definitely coming back to see him after I'm done. Then Thursday, we head out to Ironwood for my last day in Michigan. The main purpose for going out there was to go and see John. But we got a message that morning from him that said he wouldn't be able to do a video call because their RV and garage had burned down. Gave me a bit of a scare, but luckily they're fine. Can't wait to see how he progresses. Then Friday was the real sad day. The main thing was seeing Charmaine and the kids one last time. She is still struggling so hard with her choice of moving into town and being part of the church. I gave her a blessing and a journal edition of the Book of Mormon with my testimony written in it. Please keep praying for her, because she needs it. 

New area and new life. It'll be an interesting time, but I know Heavenly Father has sent me here for a reason. Keep looking for ways that He is influencing your life. He is always sending rays of light to guide and strengthen us.

Love y'all!

Sincerely

Elder Buchanan

 

JACE - I Would Have Been Disqualified

May 6, 2024

Hey Everyone!

In case y'all didn't know, it's my birthday today! Hard to believe I've already spent almost 4 and a half months in the mission field. I've been able to meet so many cool and awesome people, and I'm excited to keep it going. As a gift to myself, I asked my mother if I could go golfing for my birthday. I ended up buying cheap tees, cheap balls, and a few clubs from goodwill. It was a fun time, and the course was full of hills. Definitely got my work out there.

 

We have zone conference this week, so they dropped transfer boards last Thursday, and I will be officially moving out of Ashland. I'm going to Andover, Minnesota which is about an hour north of the cities. I'm also going to be trio-ing for the first half of the transfer before one of the Elders goes home. It'll be an interesting time being in a more busy area and being able to see missionaries a whole heck of a lot more. 

Gotta be honest, there's only a couple of things worth mentioning for the last week. The first is when we decided to try and go to the college for our comp study one day. We were heading to the library, but it was somehow closed, so we just walked around the campus talking about what we needed to. But because of that, we ran into Ben and we were able to have a small conversation and get his number. We got to have a restoration lesson with him later, so hopefully he stays interested. We also decided to get frisbees and play around at the college that has some disc golf things, and a dude named Max came out and threw around with us. As we were throwing, we were able to have a beliefs talk and a restoration lesson. He was so cool to talk to, and we were able to give him a Book of Mormon, too! Funny how changing one small thing makes something big happen.

So here's my invite to y'all. Look for those small things you can do different that could turn into big miracles. You never know who you could help or what you can find that helps you come closer to Christ and Heavenly Father. 

Have a great week everyone! Love y'all!

Sincerely,

Elder Buchanan

JACE - Two Weeks Gone, But There Was The Temple!

 April 29, 2024

Hey, Everyone!

It's been a little while! They changed our P-Day last week to match up with our day at the temple! So, I didn't really have a lot of time to write last week's email. This week's gonna be a little shorter, so sorry about that. But Ashland's been a good time. I love the area, but I'm definitely ready for something new. Definitely where I'm planning to visit after I'm done. But the best part of the last 2 weeks was the Endowment session we were able to do! I definitely needed a it, since I hadn't gone since January. It was such a powerful reminder of the love and remembrance God and Jesus Christ has for us. I challenge everyone to go to the temple this week, in some way. I can promise that the temple will strengthen you.

Love you guys!

Sincerely,

Elder Buchanan

JACE - Here We Are Again

April 15, 2024

Hey Everyone! 

Another week is gone again. It's kinda crazy, I've noticed that sometimes the days feel so long, and then it's p-day again. Not too much happened this week, but I'll do the quick overview.

Last Monday, we were in Duluth for P-Day with the district. It's so much fun to be able to do that this transfer. We're here today, too. But that's not important right now. After P-Day, we headed to the Rusts again. I was wanting a haircut, and had remembered Sister Rust said that she used to do that. So I asked while we were at their place for conference last weekend. But we end up being there for me than just me, because Brother Rust asked us for a blessing. I gave it, and this time felt much more guided than the few others I've done. It felt really cool. Definitely lined up for that to happen.

Tuesday wasn't really much of anything. We did our normal finding methods, but we weren't able to really find anyone. We did do some service that evening for an older lady moving into a semi-assisted living place. We luckily had help from the Crowe's boy and another high schooler. They did a majority of the heavy lifting, to be fair.

Wednesday was kinda a mess. We had District Council, which is still depressing when everyone else is together and we can't. But afterwards we tried to do the job they gave us of helping to moderate the mission Facebook page. Pretty much just messaging every person that interacts with the page in any capacity. But we weren't exactly sure we remembered how to do it, so we waited for the social media Elders to help us, and that took forever! But later we had dinner with the Mikas. Our main objective was getting John's temple recommend sign, but we also got to have dinner with Charmaine and her kids. We shared a good message based on Elder Dushku's talk from Conference. Please pray for her, because she is really having a hard time spiritually. Both her, and her kids.

Thursday we got to have exchanges with the Carlton Elders. I took Elder McFarland with me to Ashland and even out to Ironwood. We did some stopbys, got John his recommend (WOOO!), and met up with our little miracle for the week. Earlier in the week, an inactive member, who is inactive because of medical and travel reasons, reached out to us saying that they were talking with someone about the church and she wanted to meet with missionaries. We were so hyped about the situation! We gave her a Book of Mormon, taught her a Restoration lesson and testified of the power of asking Heavenly Father to confirm the Book of Mormon. She seemed to be really receptive to it, so we hope she'll be a strong friend to teach!

Friday was a bit more of the usual, but we had some success in setting up lessons for the next week and had a lesson set up for the evening. But our friend William forgot about the lesson! It's all good, because we'll just set up another one with him this week!

Now Saturday was the fun day!!! We got to go to the temple with John and the branch! It's such a great experience. I was able to baptize John for his dad and his grandpa! He said he loved it. I now understand why Brother Cousineau had some trouble baptizing John. I kinda had to catch him fully because his knees don't bend so well. But I was super surprised by the size of the temple. I didn't know temple could be that small, but that makes me excited to go there for endowments next week. They're letting us go before the temple closes for 6 months, so I'm excited! Especially with the huge emphasis on temples in General Conference!

Sunday, as always, was great! Fast and testimony meeting is always a time for the Spirit to flow. I kinda always make it a point to try and bear my testimony. I bore mine based on some conversations I had in the last week with people, that say they can't/don't believe in God because of the bad stuff that happens in the world. To respond to those people, I looked in Ether 12 since it has the scriptures about "Trial of your faith" and "I give unto men weakness". But I found a new favorite scripture, being Ether 12:4, which says, "Whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world." It's a great response to people like that, and it's just a great reminder to people that we should always look forward to a better world because of God.

That's pretty much it for the week! Hopefully you guys are all having fun and the weather heats up a bit for y'all! Have fun and stay safe! Love y'all!

Sincerely,

Elder Buchanan

P.S. I wrote another song. You can tell me what you think.

JACE - Did Y'all Watch?

April 8, 2024

Hey Everyone!

This week was probably one of the weirdest weeks so far for the work, but General Conference was so good! I hope you all watched it and found something to take into each of your lives!

We started the week off with some good old Mika service. It seems to have become a weekly tradition where President Mika calls and asks if we're planning on coming out there to help with something. It's usually just been cutting up and stacking wood boards. Nothing to bad, but this week we ended up doing it in a little snowstorm. It wasn't snowing before we got there, but as soon as we got to work, it started and didn't show any sign of stopping. But it ended with some of Sister Mika's delicious cooking. Always worth the work.

Wednesday we decided to head to a part of the area Elder Parkin and I never got the chance to hit. We headed to Mellen, which is about 20 miles south of Ashland. It was a pretty good idea, since there was some stopbys and knocking that hadn't been done in forever. But the snowstorm from Tuesday was still hanging around down there. But we had already used the miles to get there, so kinda tracting through a little blizzard. Then we ended up with dinner with Sister Schave, so it was pretty good.

Thursday we headed out to Ironwood for the day. We had a couple lessons and stopped by a bunch of people. We had a lesson with John in which we helped him set up the beginning of his family tree. He said he's gonna work with his sister and get really into it. We also helped him get the names of his parents and grandparents to take to the temple for baptisms. It's gonna be a fun trip and I'm so glad we get to go with the branch! Then we met up for a lesson with someone we've known about for a little bit, but she's been hard to get a hold of. We ended up having the lesson in a laundromat, and when we gave her the Book of Mormon at the end she was so excited! Hopefully she reads it and feels the power that comes from it.

Friday we had a lesson with Charmaine. But we decided to go out there an hour before and tract a little bit around the rez. We found this dude named William and he seemed pretty interested. He said he had seen missionaries hanging out in the coffee house, so I guess it must've been enough to take a little interest in what we got to say, so pray for him to keep that interest.

Now the big thing! General Conference was sooooo good! My personal favorite talk was Elder Dushku's. His whole thing about looking for and catching the rays of enlightenment was such an amazing idea! Also, the fact that not everyone should be looking for a pillar of light, but those little rays can be put together to make our pillar of light. Also, Elder Renlund's talk about just keep paddling and trying was such a testament to how we must keep nourishing our spiritual side and our testimony. But I hope I wasn't the only one who felt the whole overarcing message of the power of the temple! That is one of the things I most miss being out here. You know as soon as I get home I'm going at least once a week. So go to the temple for me!

Ok, everyone! Have an amazing week! Love y'all!

Sincerely,

Elder Buchanan

P.S. I've also dived back into writing songs a bit. Imma attach one to this. Give me your feedback!  

JACE - Transfer #3, Baby!

April 1, 2024 

Hey Everyone!

Can't believe I've made it to the third transfer. Time is flying and Easter has come and gone. I was so thankful to be able to be where I'm at and to reflect on the Resurrection as much as I could. It was a wonderful day, and an interesting week with transfers and everything. I have a new friend here with me in Ashland. Elder Morgan is a pretty cool guy so far, and i definitely will do my best so it will stay that way.

This week was unfortunately kind of a "meh" week, as far the work was concerned. Starting out the week with a nice snowstorm that continued into Tuesday wasn't the best start. We pretty much weren't able to do much that day. 

Wednesday we decided that we would make our way to Washburn, and then we decided to go to Bayfield for the first time since we had been here. We met a couple of ladies who are unable to come to church because of mobility reasons. Sister Potter and Sister McCabe were super nice and enjoyed being able to have a little Easter message. Elder Parkin had gotten the ZL call from President Gochnour, so we started letting people know that he would be the one leaving. We had a video call lesson with John and when we told him, he was glad that he still gets to mess around with me while I'm here.

Thursday we had our last exchange of the transfer with the Virginia Elders. I brought Elder Shakespear to Ashland with me for the day. We didn't super know what to do, but we had planned to do some stopbys. We almost didn't do them because I didn't really know where to go and to who to try and see, but then I saw the little star on our map for a recent Convert named Shane that we hadn't talked to or seen in a while. So, I decided to head to his place and see him. We pulled up right as he was coming to grab his truck for a garbage run at his duplex he is renovating. So we got to join him and have time to talk about Easter, Gethsemane and the importance of the week. We also talked a little about temples and the importance of doing the ordinances for the dead. It was awesome, and it was definitely led by the Spirit because we almost didn't do it.

Friday had some service, but mostly it was spent sitting around and reading the Book of Mormon to finish March Madness. Pretty much because one of us was packing and the other had nothing better to do since we weren't going anywhere.

Then we had transfers on Saturday. Lots of driving, but it was a fun time being able to catch up with other missionaries who got moved out of our district or just see new faces. Picking up Elder Morgan was great and we got permission from Sister Gochnour that, as long as we could get a ride, we could join the branch and our converts for their planned temple trip! So excited!

That's pretty much all I've got for y'all! Stay safe and read your scriptures! Love ya!

Sincerely

Elder Buchanan