New Companion, new city, new groove

Whats up friends and family?! so here's the story. elder Pickup and i were chillin' friday night when the Assistants to the President called and said there were 2 missionaries flying in tomorrow and we were gonna be their companions. So after 3 weeks together, Elder Pickup and I were split up. Elder Pickup is training a new missionary straight out of the "at home MTC" that got reassigned here while he waits to go to Poland or somewhere crazy like that. They stayed in the area, the El Camino ward which I loved and would have been a great ward to get to know. 

The Lord called me another way though, to the Coronado ward/area which is 30 mins south of the El Camino ward/area. My companion served in the Philippines for 17 months, was home for 3 months, and is now here for 4 months to finish his mission off. So we were whitewashed (not exactly sure what this means, but if it means what I think it means then its the correct term to use) into the area and we're honestly excited to get to work. We're working with the members first and then will probably just branch out from there. My companion's name is Elder Johnson and that's my grandma's maiden name and she married a Buckwalter so I've been saying it was meant to be - haha. We found out we're 11th cousins which isn't that close, but still cool. Harrison (Elder) Kinney is in my new zone as well so I'm so excited. I'll see him probably once a week now. He's a friend from Herriman who got reassigned here after a year or so in Brazil. Anyone who knows Harrison knows how hilarious he is! This is a fat paragraph so I'll make a new one. 

Corona-hair, basketball & meeting the members

How it be? Me, personally, I'm doing mighty fine. i just absolutely inhaled some In-n-Out. Also, a Sister in my zone gave me a much needed haircut!! My hair was looking like an afro and even had my dad calling me "The Hawaiian Hobbit" for whatever reason. 

Activities:

We have finally been able to eat dinner with some local members of our congregation which has been awesome!! After one of these member meals, they wanted us to go give some leftovers to their neighbor named Art. Man, Art was a character. This old black guy from the South in the classic grandpa outfit with some glasses. For whatever reason this man brought me so much joy, haha! He even asked us to water his almond tree, haha, which we did. 

We have also been volunteering at a Methodist church putting together boxes of food for the homeless; they come pick them up every day. It's been a cool opportunity!

We play basketball all day on our day off, which is Mondays.

We had a mission wide devotional with an Olympian which was cool. His name is Peter Vidmar and he's besties with my mission President. He's a member and actually just finished up serving as mission President in the Australia Melbourne mission. so G'day mate i guess. He told us he would train 6 hours a day, 6 days a week for the Olympics which is actually insane if you think about it. 

i'll leave y'all with my testimony that we have a loving Heavenly Father who is God who wants us to return to Him to live with Him and our families forever. In order for that to happen, we have to be PERFECT. Because of Jesus Christ we can be perfect!! Isn'tJesus Christ the man?! Because of Him, we will live again after we die as well as be forgiven of our sins and mistakes if we repent of them and ultimately be able to live with Him, God, and our families after this life for all time and eternity. I'm not sure if any of that made sense, but just know that I'm immensely grateful for the divine mission of Jesus Christ. 

much love, y'all stay classy!

-Minty, Wig, Bucky, Nick, luckily the Tongan sister that called me "elder waterbottle" got transferred out..

Cobut most importantly...ELDER BUCKWALTER, a set apart representative of Jesus Christ! 

New companion: Elder Pickup & new nicknames

In terms of how I'm doing, how the mission is, its been great. I got a new companion this past week. His name is Elder Pickup and he's from Idaho. He was previously serving up in Panaca, Nevada which sounds like a super cool place from what he's told me about it. He really loved it up there and was sad to leave. 

If you mix our names, you'll get Buckup or Pickwalter so take your pick. Both are pretty epic. We've also started calling each other the first letter of our last names and then adding "ink" on the end and its been funny. For example, I'm Elder Bink and my companion's name is Elder Pink and we live with Elder Clink (Clark) and Elder Gink (Goins). We've had some great laughs with it. 

Jjust know i love you all, i love being a missionary, truly grateful for the book of Mormon and its power and peace it so blissfully provides. 

Plenty of miracles and tender mercies in the past weeks. Congrats to my dawg T-Pug getting called to Salta, Argentina. He is gonna be THE BEST missionary. Love that dude. Alright deuces team. Love y'all.  If you include the MTC, I have been out for 3 months now so that's cool. Only 21 left! Gonna make the most of them no matter where I'm at.

Elder Bink
1 Nephi 11:2

Letter from 6/8/2020: Nose dilemma & debacle

Howdy y'all. Bear with me for a minute. it was this past week a year ago that I was having the time of my life with my 3 best friends in Mexico; however, also at the time i was on an acne treatment that makes your skin very very sensitive to the sun. As you can imagine a week in the Mexican sun did not go over so well. In fact it ended up destroying my nose. A daily sunburn on my nose for a week straight while on a very powerful acne medication that strictly advises limited exposure to the sun made my nose blister and burn really badly. 

Even wore a hat the whole time! and sunblock

June 2019

To this day my nose is red because of this. Many of you are aware of my nose being abnormally red, but probably few of you knew the actual origin story. Now you know. so yeah quite literally 1 year later my nose is still red. i frequently get weird looks or questions about it. I've been off the acne medication for almost a year as well, yet my nose still gets destroyed each time I'm in the sun. And its just gonna get worse. I've even nicknamed myself Rudolph. 

Mexico Dec 2019, still sunburnt nose!

Why do I tell you this? Well because that's not all though folks. To make matters worse, this past week I was laying on the grass at the park one night fiddling with a frisbee when I accidentally dropped it smack dab on my nose. And now a section of my red nose is now purple! Don't you just absolutely love to see it?! I'm seriously considering plastic surgery. May even have to contact my uncle who is a dermatologist who actually lives down here in Vegas. 

With all that being said...THE CHURCH IS STILL IS TRUE. The Lord knows about my nose, yet, He still called me to the Aloha State and reassigned me to the furnace of a city being Las Vegas, 2 of the hottest, sunniest places in the U.S., knowing that even though I've been off the treatment for almost a year my nose is still sensitive to the sun.

HOWEVER, Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." I don't know why my nose is still red from a trip 365 days ago. I don't know why God and Jesus Christ full well knowing about my precious, tender, sensitive nose called me to some of the most sunniest places in the US, BUT I roll with the punches. I go forth with faith. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ truly do have higher ways and higher thoughts like the scripture in Isaiah says.

And I do full-heartedly trust them, love them, and serve them even if I do have a multi colored nose and am frequently patronized for it. Truth be told, I am slightly worried about my nose just because of the sunny climates in both Vegas and Hawaii, but we'll take care of it when I get home from the mission. It's all good. Luckily in the resurrection, our bodies are perfected so that's a WIN fosho. Makes me think of Joseph and the multi colored dream coat or whatever it is, but in this case its Minty and the multi colored dream nose. To conclude this venting/ranting session...as John Bytheway says, "but I'm not bitter." 

Our home 2020