HO HO HO

Season's Greetings

Happy Thanksgiving from California

all work + some play

Elder Ekmans 6th Month Mark...and well, I didnt burn one at my 6 month so I decided to burn one for my NINTH.

Elder Cronk > the Best QB in the Mission, its too bad I'm not going to be catching any more of his beautiful passes for awhile due to him going Zone Leader.

We only start to fail when we give up.

A Baptism and Football. Life is Good.

Above: Beto y Nos - His Uncle was able to dunk him. Below: Just being bored with a flat football I cut up. Well, come to find out its a nice hat that makes me look Arabic. We have been playing some football every morning which has been alot of fun.

My district: from left to right Hna. Perdomo and amazing person on outbound from Temple Square, Hna. Hobbs also an amazing person who has been in this ward for well, a really long time, My Comp. Elder Ekman, My Trainer now ZL Elder Nelson Other ZL Elder Esplinand & ME

Elder Ekman and I doing the old half a thumbs up!

"What happen's to us, happens for us."

Well alot of crazy things have happened here in this area of San Diego I have tons of story's but if I shared them now, We wouldnt have anything to talk about when I get home ( you have alot of good story's to look forward too ) And im sure there will be more.... Since elder pope left things have really changed... from going senior to district leader I know the lord is trying to teach me something and I know ill look back one day and figure out just what that was that he wanted me to learn.... "What happens to us, Happens for Us." Im not sure who said it but its so true it was actually quoted by Pres. Donaldson and some thing else he said that was awesome and totally true was " As long as we do what we are supposed to do in this life we will find our selves in good circumstances." "Miracles will happen." Everything is going fine I just hope Myself and Everyone who reads this can do the things we need to, to receive the blessings. I would like to also share my favorite scripture Alma 56:48 ( I do not doubt my mom knows it ) it says it alittle different in the scripture but thats the way i like to say it, you all know im a mammas boy and thats got me out here on a mission my Mothers faith and teachings and im still here cause well the Lord asked me to be. Elder Chance B. Buck
(just above)the new thumbs up is just a half a thumb if you didnt already know lol (upper left)just my p-day morning clothes, doing laundry,elder cronk liked it so i took a picture see if yall liked it to

elder pope and i decided to do an 80's theme for getting mail on monday but i guess no one else got the memo cause we were the only two that showed up with out a white shirt and tie but what ever, i love my shirt it matchs my bike.



my new best friend in the mission - Lila, her seats alittle hard but shes fast and smooth on the road, the good thing is i cant jump curbs and do other stupid stuff anymore or else ill break her. She is pretty fast i like it alot, Lila is lilac in spanish one of moms favorite flowers.



elder pope looking good in his new hair, precisely cut by elder buck the barber it actually looked pretty good, not bad for my second time lol i dont think dad like my first one.

We were riding home one night from 7eleven and elder pope had his double gulp in one hand and his other hand on his handle bars, well i decided to try a little stunt and as i slammed on my front breaks to do a stall on the front tire he ran into the back of me lol he spilt soda all over me and he cut his finger pretty bad and got a huge blood blister as seen in the photo lol it was pur-t funny but he wasnt laughing at first lol its a good thing he still loves me ( I Think )

June 16, 2008

i hope everything is going good at home mom thanks for the really old newspaper clippings they were pretty old but i still enjoyed them and for the pictures of my three beautiful sisters well not much is going on here the missionary sisters had a baptism yesterday it was pretty cool it really made me want to have one we as in four elders and the two sisters sang Joseph Smiths first pray to come thou fount it was pretty cool i decided i want to or something to sing it for my home coming but anyway bike is getting better i havent jumped it to high yet or got in a wreck so thats good me and elder pope have alot of fun i probably have said this before but i wish he wasnt going home at the end of this transfer but hes pretty excited to go home so thats cool our investigators kinda suck we need to do a better job of finding good ones so hopefully i have a miracle to tell you next week the church is still true and it gets more and more true when i think about it so thats pretty cool well i love you all i hope to hear from you next week elder buck

(me and my bike & the pool at our apartment)

June 9, 2008

well another week has passed everything is going good here i guess im really liking my companion elder pope we have alot of laughs together lol it sucks that this is his last transfer but yeah hes from utah but hes different i think thats why i like him hes really cool but anyway we dont have many people progressing in the gospel though they havent baptized anyone in this area for along time so im pretty much looking at brick wall and wondering how to get over it, they had me talk in church yesterday cause im the new guy i guess and yeah i did okay i guess lol i asked elder pope how i did and he said quote ( i dont know i wasnt paying atention) lol i was like good i hope no one else was either but yeah spanish is coming little by little i do get pretty frustrated some time cause i cant understand or say what i want to but yeah the bike is getting better i hope it makes it lol maybe yall should start praying for the bike instead of me lol maybe i should stop jumping curmbs i dont know lol jk i only do that some times Well thanks again for all your love and support and all they great B-day gifts I love you all so much

elder chance bennington buck

(Elder Peterson and myself)

June 2, 2008

Well im here in San Diego apart of town called City Heights its pretty cool i guess our church building is awesome im going to have to take some pics of it to send home the chapel is really cool im getting used to the bike my legs are still really sore and stuff and my bike pretty much sucks but whatever lol elder pope aka papa en espanol does wheels for like blocks at a time and im just right there behind him chuging alot trying not to die its pretty fun weaving through cars and stuff and its really nice going down hills and at nights its really nice to ride elder pope is way cool this is his last transfer which means ill be here for the next one so im a little stressed about knowing the area and the language and just everything but i guess when it comes ill just have to do it today is my 5 month mark a little wierd i think but i like it i miss you all very much so and cant wait to see yall again i really cant wait to meet this maddax character and teach him some bad words in spanish lol im just kidding but anyway im sorry i dont have any pictures to send you this week but ill be sure and get some for next week promise well i dont got much more sorry lol its will be monday again before you know it so yeah I love you all very much take it easy

May 28, 2008 - Transferred to City Heights

well its hump day and my new comp decided to take me to the library to email so here iam! im in San Diego a part of town called "City Heights" with Elder Pope hes from Utah hes pretty cool but yeah were on bike and it sucks and its only really been the first day so hopefully i get used to it soon it seems like im going to be here for awhile so yeah im going to have to learn the area quick and the people and Spanish so Crap i dont know what im going to do but everything was great in national city Montoya’s got confirmed and everything looks good so yeah Oh Mom i sent a package well not me i guess i had elder Nelson so hopefully he did it today so it gets there some time but it should be on its way, Our Apartment here is way nice though ill have to send some pics its way better then the last one by far so yeah any who i dont really have much to say than my bike sucks and i hope i dont die but i know im going to be losing some weight and my legs are going to get buff but anyway ill elmail yall on Monday PAZ!!!!

May 19, 2008 and in White!

well first the bad news i dont think were going to email next week cause memorial day and i might get transfered:( well thats the bad news now the good news this week was really pretty good okay it was awesome Gustabo and Veronica got married on saturday and Veronica and Vivian got baptized yesterday :) i baptized the mom and elder nelson baptized the little girl it was really biter sweet that it finally happend it was really awesome im so excited for there family and hopefully i can be here for when they go through the temple if they keep doing what they need to and also Javier and Fernando got the arronic priestood yesterday and are going to go do baptizms for the dead on tuesday which is awesome Fernando says he wants to go on a mission so we going to get him going with Preach my Gospel well everything else was the same ol same ol its been another week already they go by so fast and slow at the same time Thanks Haley for your disire to make me a cd that would be awesome and Ky Pontiac G6 holy moli thats a sweet car i like them alot Ashley im sorry the little girl stole your flowers lol i thought it was pretty funny tough its hard to be forgiving and loving isnt it? well im going to send a box home with some crap and i flash drive with pictures on it and stuff but if you could send me like one with 4 gig memory i could send all of them but anyway i hope everyone keeps on keeping on i cant wait to here from you again im sorry my emails are pretty short ill send some pictures in another one k LOVE YA ALL elder buck

May 12, 2008

well it was so great to talk to yall yesterday i wish i could have had more time with each of you and got to talk to you jer but will catch ya on the next go around well it was really great and it just made me want to work harder so i can get home faster and be with all of you again Mom i hope your Mothers day was great and yours also ash thats so awesome i cant wait to meet maddax lol thank you so much for all of your love and support everything here is going really good we got a family to church yesterday and they are awesome were really excited for them we have a goal of 6 baptizms this month which is a big goal to set and try to accomplish it but we will see there is alot of possiblity with faith oh i for got your going to have to write this down for dad i told him wrong (No me salga con que achuchita bolsieron) and who ever else wants to say it to a mexican when they are making up excuses for something :) and haley i forgot to ask a favor i wanted to know if you could or kylee i guess could do it to but i know shes busy but make me a cd of the josph smith nashville tribute thingy majig and those other church cds we have that would be awsome we cant use mp3 players so i still have it but maybe the new mish pres will allow it so im waiting before i send it home but i can use cds lol there is alot i forgot to say yesterday but it just shows how time is really going i was looking forward to mothers day than i was like its here where did it come from and now its already gone but anyway i hope everything is just peachy at home still and continues to be i love you all so very much i cant wait to here from yall next week i send yall my love elder chance bennington buck

Cinco De Mayo

That was so awesome to here that haley you are doing so awesome in Golf and everything just dont ever be satisfied, take all the records :) well im pretty excited to talk to yall on sunday but I cant call at 1:30 cause we have church so i guess its going to have to be in the morning at like 7:30 or 8 i hope thats okay with everyone it sounds like maddax's blessing was good kinda ironic i got to do a couple blessing also on sunday but in spanish of course lol i was crapping my pants Javier and Fernando asked me to confirm them and yeah i was so honored but i had no idea how i alone was going to do it so of course i prayed alot and fasted for alot of help and everything went good everyone said it was good so i was content with it but i know for sure the lord helped me it was really cool. everything else is going pretty good were pretty excited for some people but unfortunately Gustabo and Veronica are still not married so were going to try and turn it around its hard not to get frustrated with alot of people but any way i dont know ill probly call seth the white hand book says perferably 30 to 40 mins its not like a commandment to only speak for that long so if its like under an hour or less i think it will be ok for sure but yeah we are in alittle of a hurry so I will Talk to ya in person on Sunday I love you allelder buck or macho

This is My Study, What is yours Like?

April 28, 2008

Hey everybody!!!whats going on :) haley before i forget yeah Elder Waites from Moses Lake i met him the week before he went home it was pretty cool to see someone from home but like you were saying about what he said it is kinda stressful to figure out everything you have to do but we just do it some how i guess Im pretty sure its not us just Heavenly Father working through us. Well this week was pretty good except we didnt get Gustabo and Veronica married but they say this week so we will see but i have some other news thats great :) we baptized to guys last night it was pretty awesome they are great the older guy Javier and friend Fernando it was pretty awesome my comp baptized them both it was really cool to finally have a baptizm that i had something to actually do with havent the opportunity to acutally teach them and have them baptized from your prayers and efforts Javier quit smoking in like 2 days to be baptized it was a miracle and Fernando wasnt sure if he wanted to but after church he said he was it was great ay Awesome Mom yes your emails are big and purple :) I cant wait to talk to you in a couple weeks its going to suck cause we only have 40 min mas o menos so your going to have to work out a game plan or something i wish i could call kelli or just have her go over to the house :) your choices lol this week ill have been here for 2 months thats pretty crazy time goes fast but not fast enough i wish i could just wake up and speak spanish perfect but thats not the way it works but it would be awesome if it happend like that i just need to work harder and pray for i guess and it will come my sentence structure when i speak pretty much sucks so yeah something i need to figure out we had zone conference this week and it was pretty awesome i talked on diligencia and it went pretty good our mission president is Awesome he has some stupid little rules but lol i just follow them cause i have to if i want the spirit to be with me and thats the most important thing so yeah i hope the next pres we get in july i think is as great as he is i guess we will see well well ashley lol i loved your pics of the snake and golf balls but were was the little note like i love you keep it up or something lol im jk thanks for everything and the one picture of maddax i love i put it up and laugh everytime i look at it hes in the car seat i think and hes making a funny face like his tongue is out its awesome Yall need to send pictures of you thought cause i havent seen yall in a while i have a hundred of maddax, kelli i hope everything goes great with the park and everything i hope its not to hot like it is here WERE BURNING UP!!!! mom i hope your letter gets here this week :) let me know about the phone call and everything ill talk to ya in my letter and next week I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! Haley tell me about golf? Seth/Jer sports please? Kylee just anything about anything? everyone else is doing great!!! love you Elder Macho(spanish/english dictionary buck=macho)and some other stuff but i like macho :) javier is taller, fernando shorter) the picture of the kid that looks like me was in the church news paper.

April 21, 2008

Well there goes another week i didnt get transferred and neither did my trainer so thats good but elder hull did and that pretty much sucks i spent 3 and half months with the kid you would think i was ready to get rid of him but nope we just got closer and closer as time went on so it was pretty sad to see him leave but we got a greeny hes from Meridian, ID hes a pretty big kid and likes football so hes okay with me, We took bishop over to talk with Gustabo and he committed to get married for sure after we condemned him a little lol but there going to do we are hoping for this week so they can be baptized but We got a member referral for this guy named Javier and he is awesome hes going to be baptized this Sunday and i actually got to teach him some principles and i didnt suck to bad so thats good i can say i had a little part in his conversion well it was awesome to get all of your emails lol yall had alot to say mainly haley trying to make up for lost time lol and the song is "come thou fount" lol not come unto him lol but its okay they took it out of the hymn book in 85 so yeah That pic of maddax and the fish is awesome lol i loved it ash Haley just keep on keeping on some times its hard to be consistent with your scores( like me for example) lol 104 to get to state than at state i was 5 over par on the front 9 then totally blew it on the back 9 i might have made it to the next day but nope its just the way it goes sometimes thats why you got to practice as if it mattered, Carol-Ann why you having dreams about me? lol :) j/k thats pretty funny lol (now you have to tell everyone about your dream) HAHA you better tell them the truth! no making up crap well i hope everything is going wonderful for everyone I love you all con todo mi corazon!i will add some pics in another email Ill talk to ya next week you will all be in my prayers

April 14, 2008

K we have to go give a blessing so i have to make this fast sorry im actually going to anoint in Spanish so we will see how that goes but anyway this week has been pretty good yester day today transfers dont think im moving so im still here in National city well thats my area we live just a few blocks in San Diego but our area yeah National city we can see down town and everything but any who Gustabo and Veronica well we got the marriage license so thats the first step we tried to get them married and baptized this weekend but it didnt happen Gustabo is a member but really is the one who needs the converting he was baptized young but lost contact with the church but this week for sure ME and Elder Hull went on splits the other morning it was pretty fun to greenies trying to convert people it was awesome we had a luch appointment with a member and she fed us tacos de lengua aka (cow tongue) we didnt know intell like 5 but it was way good i never knew a tongue could taste that good i have also eaten catus thats not that good its okay it kinda slimy so i didnt really like it and the shrimp cotail i had was the spicyest thing i have every eaten it was awww but i ate itAsh thanks for the pics of maddax i cant wait to meet him tell me how the new method of reading the BoM is going i just finished the Whole thing this Morning for the first time and i cant wait to start again it used to be really boring but now its not i dont know how that works but its awesome Sorry to ash i cant watch the movie thing too i only have limited time to just email and stuff i still need to talk to pres about going to your blog Well the weather the last few days have been really hot 99 i thing on saturday so yeah perfect weather san diego my but maybe on the beach in the shade lol but its all good Mom i think i got the package i think the other elder grabed it so ill check ill let you know next week or in my letter home i guess ill tell you so you know by friday so how is GOLF? haley you need to let me know! im glad you got to feed the missionary’s thats awesome :) i know when i get home im going to help them out as much as i can its an eye opener well i dont know what else to say i probly forgot alot but just know im doing good and I LOVE YOU ALL ill talk to ya next week Love your elder buck

April 7, 2008

LOL i love saying Como Estar to like members and stuff and they correct me its pretty funny but anyway everything is going pretty good i already got the mail for this week early this morning it was nice but it sounds like there is more coming but i remind you i only get mail every Monday but anyway The work is going we have met some cool people that we are excited about but Gustabo still is not sure and we had a time that we could go get the license but she had to work and ya ya ya Satan is real!!!! we are praying for this week baptism or bust Pres. Packer is amazing too!!!! he said if they arnt going to do it this week call me and ill go get it for them lol hes awesome but yeah The Book of Mormon is awesome if you are having trouble reading it everyday or just focusing at all here is something we do and at first i was like this is stupid i have my own way of doing it but Pres. Said to do it and now i love it take a orange, blue, green, yellow colored pencil it doesn’t really matter what colors you use but this is what you do as you read mark scriptures words what every that refer to - the words of Christ or God - Christ attributes - doctrine or principles of the gospel - reference to Christ so if you dont understand ask ill try to help but its in PMG i believe yeah but anyway Kylee whats your email? Ash im not supposed to go on other web sites so i cant go to your blog but ill ask pres. next time i see him k It sounds like maddax is doing awesome thats good oh something funny happened lol I GOT BIT BY THE DUCK well he bit my shoe but it was pretty funny its a protective duck lol im sorry im so random but i think about so many different things all the time but i just want to tell you how grateful I am for my many blessing in this life especially for you my family and the way i was brought up with the roof over my head we actually met a guy on the street and he wanted us to talk with him and his friend so we walked with him to what i thought was going to be his house as we got near he stopped at a van and knocked on the door and called for his friend it was a really humbling experience his friend came out and we ventured past some houses in the back wear there he lived in a shed only a little building with only ply wood for walls and no electricity or running water HOW LUCKY WE ARE! im running out time but i just want to let you know again how grateful for all of you, I love you all ill talk to ya next week my letters will be in the mail tomorrow and headed your way k lol well for some of you :) for everyone else i hope this is sufficient oh wait a secondConference was amazing!the new apostle actually talked to us in the mtc so that was cool and alot of the 70 that spoke we saw in the mtc and we saw a teacher in my zone at the mtc in the byu choir in the second session Saturday night so that was cool my and elder hull still cant remember his name though but all the talks were really good and Pres. Monson’s talk in the last session was hilarious i hope yall got to see it and if you didnt go on line and watch it and the one he gave in priesthood session was hilarious to i hope seth, dad, jer you guys got to see it k its past time ill talk to ya later hope i didnt forget anything probably did though - LOVE YOU

March 24, 2008

Im not sure if everyone got my email last week i dont know if i did something wrong or what but im sure it will work this time at least i hope so i still miss you all alot but im getting more comfortable here i still suck at spanish so keep on praying with me i need some more faith i think but everyone helps the ward is really great alot of interesting people but our mission pres is amazing it to bad he will be done this June and we will get a new one i dont know how he will fill the shoes of pres packer but we will see we did get Veronica and Gustabo married this week so she wasnt able to be baptized which sucked but this week its going to happen for sure we also met another really cool guy that pretty much golden there is no such thing but if there was he would be it his name is Ramon and hes way excited so thats awesome were going to commit him tonight if we have the opportunity to do so the weather has still been really nice im getting alittle bit of a tan even tough im in a car we still walk a little so thats nice the other elders ride the bus and walk everywhere so yeah im going to buy a bike one of these days they gave us this thing to get the bikes from this guy for like 300 bucks and i was like no way your crazy so im just going to go get a nice one at walmart for a hundred bucks i found a hundred dollar bill the other day i stashed away so it works perfect mom you wanted to know where we do email and we come to the city library so it works out perfect thanks for sending a package we do laundry in the morning then study then come email then go get the mail for the week then go grocery shopping we only get 120 month then we go do home and pretty much have very little time till its time to go out and start working again but thanks for the wrestling info i like hearing about that but i still dont know who took state for basketball? i hope your back feels better mom and you can enjoy maddax i hope the Easter party was great as always i didnt realize it was Easter until yesterday morning so HAPPY EASTER!!!! Im excited to here what your plans are for this new car lol i would like a New Toyota Tacoma 4 door just a thought :) Well i only have a few minutes left so i just want to say I LOVE YOU! I hope everything is going good, later, Love You

March 17, 2008

Well everything is going pretty good, me and my companion are trying to marry some people right now so the lady can get baptized lol were going to try and get them to decide to do it tonight so they can get married and she can get baptized by Sunday so we will see what happens we also committed a guy last night to be baptized on our second visit it was pretty awesome when he said yes THE CHURCH IS TRUE! so everything is going pretty good now other than i can hardly speak and i can’t understand a darn thing so your prayers are much needed im in National City if you want to google earth me and see where im working at the weather is pretty nice except on Saturday i saw the hardest and biggest rain i have ever seen and that night i was awaken to the loudest thunder i have ever heard your it was pretty awesome car alarms went off i also got chased last night by an animal and it wasnt a dog it was a DUCK lol it was pretty funny my companion said he had been bitten by it before lol so it was pretty funny well thats really awesome that Maddax has finally arrived so ash you dont have to be miserable anymore he looks pretty cute you will have to send me some pics in the mail well im hoping to here from everyone next week k you better all have something to say I LOVE EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU SO MUCH YOU MEAN THE WOLRD TO ME!

March 3, 2008

Watch Out San Diego, Here I Come! National City to be Exact.

January 9, 2008

The MTC

Brother Athey

Elder Harris

Elder Watson

My Comp. Elder Hull

Elder Cooper

Me, Elder Peck & Boulter

The District

hey, i am short on time we only have 30 mins a week on this so yeah everything is going pretty good the first couple of days i wanted to go home so bad but im still here so that’s good we keep really busy so i haven’t been able to write you a letter but what i want you to do is to go to dearelder.com and write by letters so i can get them that same day that would be awesome, there is so much i could tell you but like there is no time but if you could go to that dear elder thing and tell you love me and stuff like that and include like the families emails and stuff and tell everyone my email ebuck38@myldsmail.net and about dearelder.com I love you,

Love Elder Buck