Before I share a message from Mom I wanted to share a new picture of Elder Buyers. We asked him to send us a good picture of him in his suit and I couldn't have been happier with the picture we got.
I was one very proud big sister when I saw this. Not only does he have the city of Kigali Rwanda behind him but if you look close you'll notice he has a flag pin for his home country {USA} and the two countries that he has come to love over the last year {Uganda & Rwanda}.
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The Buyers family has once again been so blessed by our loving Heavenly Father.
Just after Easter this past April, we received a text of a picture of Elder Buyers with Bre, another “Rigbyite”. She is in Rwanda working with the Peace Cor.
Well, we were blessed to have Bre and her family over Monday night for dinner and talk about Rwanda and Elder Buyers. Bre is home for a month and will be going back for one more year. I was informed by Elder Buyers and Bre that she was bring me something from Elder Buyers. After our hello’s when the Fitzgerald family got to our house, Bre asked me if I remembered that she was bringing me something from Elder Buyer, I replied “Yes”. Then, she gave me a big, big hug. She said that the hug was from Elder Buyers. Not just his saying to give me a hug from him, it was literally a passed on hug. After all the tears, I said “Wait, Eric isn’t supposed to be hugging girls.” Bre laughed and said, “You are right”. So, here is how she got my hug. Bre is engaged to a Rwandan, so, Elder Buyers hugged Bre’s fiancé and he hugged Bre. The hug was so big from Elder Buyers, that when Bre’s fiancé passed her the hug, his glasses broke.
That was the best gift a mom could ever get from her son thousands of miles away. Eric knows how to put a smile on his moms face and warm my heart.
What a wonderful
visit we had, learning about the area Elder Buyers is serving in and the people
he has grown to love.
We asked Bre to tell us about the missionary Elder Buyers that she works with. She told us what a wonderful sense of humor he has and with tears in her eyes, she said, “It’s amazing the amount of patience he has. He has a great love of the people in Africa and loves to serve them. He has a very strong testimony of the Gospel. You can just feel it when he speaks. Sometimes he doesn’t say much, but when he does, it is worth listening to.”
Bre filled our evening with all the joys and trials that she and the missionaries see and feel daily serving the Rwanda people. This visit really helped us understand and feel a little closer to Elder Buyers and the work he is doing.
One trial that the missionaries have is communication. Elder Buyers continues to learn the language and the Rwandans like to hear him and Bre speak English. The missionaries also struggle with getting the member to church on time. We tease here in the U.S. about the members running on “Mormon Standard Time” of 15 minutes late, well, try hours late. On Sundays, the missionaries will be at the church waiting for hours for the members to show up. But they are patient and just wait. That’s not all, when the three hour block of church services are over and members are leaving, here come other members to church. Wow, that defiantly would take patients. Of course, the missionaries take the time to teach them.
Elder Buyers and
the other missionaries usually will teach all three hours, because a lot of the
leaders and teachers of the auxiliaries won’t show up for church. He will give talks at the last minute in
Sacrament and help with the sacrament itself, then step in to teach in Sunday
school, Primary and Priesthood. He has
even taught in Relief Society. He is not
that shy little boy any more.
With the church being so new still in Rwanda, the members still have so much to learn. I know in time, with the missionary’s diligence and example, the members in Rwanda will be great.
Because of Bre’s kindness, Elder Buyers will be receiving some long overdue shoes along with chili, spices for his food and shoe insoles.
What a great blessing Bre has been to us and Elder Buyers. The Lord does hear and answer prayers.
-JoAnn Buyers {Mom}
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