Life Lessons from Wesley

level 1 - Faith.
It's hoping for things which are not seen, which are true.
Faith is a desire to believe. It's putting enough trust in God and opening your heart with enough room to plant a seed that the spirit can work on. (Alma 32)

level 2 - Testimony
A testimony is knowledge, not faith. It's knowing with a sureness that Christ knows you, loves you, suffered for you and can help you through your pains and afflictions and sins. It's knowing that only by Him can you be successful or happy
Testimony is a level-up from faith. The seed of faith has begun to grow and the experiment has proven good because the roots burn in your bosom. The roots manifest goodness to your soul.

(Alma 32)

level 3 - Conversion
Now for conversion. The only way good fruit will spring from your new tree is if you live the principles you know are true and be baptized and renew your covenants continually through sacrament. You must be baptized and given the gift of the Holy Ghost, and you must have faith and repentance continually with ENDURANCE TO THE END.
Bednar promises that you cannot fall away if you are truly converted through these principles and through charity.
(2Ne 31)

These are the three-levels of becoming a saint in the eyes of our Lord. (2ne 31:21) Nephi says, "there is none other way... whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God".

Think of my talk... study those two chapters and pray about it.... and then ponder as to why we need missionaries.

It's flippin awesome!!!!!

anyway. Love you all

-Elder Buckwalter

Mass Email Imnida!! - Oct. 25th.

It's funny because my first p-day I was like... I'm so sad, everybody has letters but me, woe is me!
Then after that email last week, everybody emailed me and I have more people writing me then all the other Elders in my district. You're letters are awesome. It makes me feel like I'm still here in Utah even if it is like some sort of Celestial property... I'm still an American and I'm still in my hometown Utah!!! I have to remind myself that haha.

You eat, you study, you speak Korean, you study, you participate in some member of the seventy's devotional, you study, you go to meetings, you study, and then you go to bed and get like 7 and a half hours of sleep and start over again... you walk and walk and walk and walk and study and study and study and study. I'm exhausted all the time and I have to remind myself that I'm on the Lord's errand so I can't afford to be exhausted, I need to continue to smile and show the light of Christ in my countenance and GET THE WORK DONE!

despite how I feel and who I want to be here.... I really am still imperfect wesley who needs to work on a lot of things. I need more diligence and reverence and focus and I pray for me to establish these christ-like attributes because i don't feel comfortable making this mission about me.
Before... my life was Wesley-centered.... and now, Being selfish.... is like not rewarding at all... it sucks. Being on a mission only makes you feel good if you serve and if you turn outward like Christ did and have charity. Everytime I make something about me.... it isn't fulfilling. I'm trying to need less and less and give more and more. It's hard for me. But that's all I do all day long every day. I still have 8 more weeks to get really really good at it. Hopefully I end up like someone a person would trust and listen to and love. 

Our district goal this week is reverence. It's our "Christ-like attribute" for last week.
All of you imagine me for a bit. I'm energetic, I love to sing and beat-box. I love to talk a lot. I am usually happy about a lot of things, ect.
Now imagine if all of 12 people in a district were exactly the same way. We got like 4 beat-boxers here. Everyone sings! We all talk so much (hence the goal for reverence). You can see why we were all called to seoul Korea. God wants that similar flavor for those people I guess.

There is little time for me to write, and i can only email on p-days.... every letter and package reminds me that I'm still a Utahn with people who know me as me and not as "Elder Buckwalter"
.... wait what? you're name is Wesley???.....
ya. Thanks for all the things that remind me of who I am. I love you guys.

First Letter from the MTC. P-Day is Friday!

Subject: What!? you guys haven't written me yet?

Date: October 18, 2013 11:49:08 AM MDT

So I came in the first day and I didn't have a companion!~

I've been in a three-some since Wednesday and supposedly "Elder Bishop" from England is coming today, but I haven't met him yet.

When I arrived my teacher would avoid English at all costs. His name is Christensen Hyung jei neim (Brother 형제님). He's been off his mission 10 months and is teaching us heavily so as to prepare us for a practice investigator tomorrow. I admit that I am ahead of everyone else in Korean, yet I've seen everyone participate in the gift of tongues and focus heavily on the language. I know that those Elders and Sisters in my district were called of the Lord and are prepared with the gifts they will need to be successful as missionaries in Korea. They are all remarkable and are armed with firm testimonies. 

One of the Elder's in my district is a red-head who beat-boxes just as good as me. We basically hang out with our district all the time: lunch, class, district meetings, fake investigator practice, ect.

I've absorbed an intense amount of information in these my first 3 days. Mostly I've learned that despite all that is expected of us and among all the things we have to do, the most important thing to have on your mind is your purpose which is to invite others to come unto Christ. We're not learning Korean to know the language, we are learning Korean so that we can be better tools in the Lord's hands for engaging in his work. If the foremost thing in my mind is to keep the Holy Ghost as my companion and guide, super hard things are then possible. 

I'm grateful for the spirit here in the MTC. I've never felt anything safer, more worthy, or more focused then this environment at the  MTC. There is no time for sin or distractions. Everywhere we go is planned out and everything we do we do in the name of Christ. You can feel the Holy Ghost as if it were a silent member of your party, just walking with you and brushing you and your companions shoulders constantly. My heart is always warm. The only problems we think of are, how to prioritize our time, or how to make it better fir the investigator, things like that.

I recommend figuring out how Dear Elder, the website, works.
http://www.dearelder.com/

Most of the Elder's in my residence hall use that. If you write through that website, I'll get the letter in the mail the same day you submit it to their site. Mail-day is every day... and hearing my district leader say, "Mail's here Elders!" doesn't follow with that skipping heart reaction from me as it does all the other Elder's. I feel a little down that I won't be able to hear from you until on Fridays / P-days by checking this mail as I am doing now.

I love you guys, and I'm working hard. The spirit is strong and I have so much to do to prepare... everyday is full.  Thanks for your prayers.

Elder Buckwalter

Elder Buckwalter Enters the MTC today.

The Official start of Elder Buckwalter's Mission begins here!   October 16, 2013

MTC in Provo, UT


Now it's "Speak Your Language"!  

한국어

     한국말 합시다! 

 Let's Speak Korean!

Wesley at the Logan Temple before entering the MTC.

Last weekend Wesley entered the temple for the first time.  He chose the Logan Temple and it was a very wonderful experience for Wesley and his family.  

Elder Wesley Buckwalter is ready to start his mission.

I must really love my son wesley....because I got a gmail account especially to read up on his blog....Welcome his Mom to the digital age!

First Post

This is Elder Wesley Buckwalter's blog. It will be run and maintained by his sister and father from emails and photos and such. Just in case you want to follow.

PS. Trust me, eventually it will look so much cooler.