Elder Bushman and Elder Fergus
Don't know who the first 3 Elders are - but then we have E. Wadsworth (dad) and E. Green (son)
Couldn't pass up a picture with Elder Bass!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Merry Christmas - part 2
Dear Family, Wow! It was so good to hear from all of you. This week we had our Mission Christmas Devotional and we got the package with all the letters in it. It was so wonderful to finally hear from everyone! haha I laughed so hard at some of the things that were in there. It sounds like Lane and Heber are quite the show to behold. I loved all the stories Hillary so don't feel like you wrote too much and the video was hilarious as well but I couldn't hear it so hopefully I will get a way to hear it next week. Thank you as well for all the comments on the blog, I didn't know so many people actually read it, but I guess it's not too bad. Well this last six weeks has gone by crazy fast, I can't believe that it is already almost Christmas and I'll be talking to you all next week. However, I am getting transferred....I guess I didn't do a good enough job as President expected so he is shipping me somewhere else, hopefully not too far away. I also got called to be a zone leader this morning, so that probably has something to do with it. I'm not quite as nervous as I was when I got called a district leader for some reason, in fact I’m kind of excited, it should be a great experience and I know I’ll learn a lot as well.
This week was a little slower because all of the stuff that was going on, we basically only got to teach S this week, and he is going to get baptized! We don't know when yet because he is still praying about a day, he also wants his sister to come down and see it. It was kind of funny because on Wednesday he told us how his sister had asked him if we had set a date with him yet and he asked her what that meant. She told him a baptismal day....well he told his sister how he wanted to take things slow, but of course we were prepared because we were teaching the doctrine of Christ that day, you know: Faith, repentance, BAPTISM, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. Well by the end of the lesson he told us that he wasn't so sure if he wanted to take it slow anymore, in fact he wanted to get baptized sooner haha so all we are waiting for basically is a good time for his sister to come down. So I'm hoping I don't get transferred too far away so I can come back for the baptism.
Like I said, on Thursday we had our Mission Christmas Devotional and it was amazing! There was a talent show and let me tell you there was a ton of talent in our mission. I didn't do anything because the only talents I have are throwing a baseball a long ways and I couldn't really do that in a gym so I elected to not participate but there was a lot of cool stuff and I'm going to send you a lot of pictures and videos with this email.
I really don't have a whole lot else to talk about since I'll be talking to you all on Sunday so I'll just let the pictures and the movies do the rest of the typing for me, I think you'll like those better anyway. Have a Merry Merry Christmas and I love you all! Love, Elder Bushman
Merry Christmas everyone......
I found these pictures on Facebook today...... Garrett's comment: "No matter where I go, tradition follows". I'm assuming he's talking about the tradition of sitting on Santa's lap on Christmas eve!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
I'm ready for the Tabernacle Choir......
Dear Family, Well it sure sounds like you all had a crazy week, I can't believe all the storms and stuff that are going on, it blows my mind. I wish I could see all the damage, that would be pretty cool but oh well. I love hearing that the ward was really working together and that there was a lot of involvement with other people in the neighborhood, I think that's something I'm going to do better on when I get home is getting myself out there to other people, it really is so important. I remember when we would try to go fellowship W.P. every week after church and how I never wanted to do it, but now I think I would jump for the opportunity. Anyway to answer your question Mom, yes we can do skype and yes I think I would like to do that, I think it would be fun and we already have someone set up that will let us do it, so I'll inform you more later. And before I start talking about my week I would like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY dad, another year older and hopefully a little bit wiser too haha Love you!
Well a lot of interesting stuff has gone on this week and it's been a pretty interesting one. Just like you all, Elder F and I have been doing a lot of service. This week we did some service for K, our investigator. We went over there on Wednesday and Thursday and helped paint his house for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun and it felt good to do something that required some physical exertion other than biking. K was very grateful as well and we have really won his heart over this past week with all that we have done for him and Sister G so hopefully we can just get to really teaching him soon, we have an appointment with them tonight so that should be good. Oh something else that was funny is that we didn't have a ride over to there house on Thursday so we had to ride our bikes for 4 miles with just regular clothes on and that was really weird, we weren't getting weird looks at us or nobody yelling at us, I didn't like it haha
On Tuesday we had zone meeting and it went really good, we learned a lot and I got to give a training as well. I gave my training on becoming more powerful as a missionary and my training was very similar to my last post on my blog so I don't have to tell you much about it. There was also a great training on mormon.org, oh by the way have any of you created your profile yet? I'm just curious because you know it is your duty as a member to do it haha I'm must messin but I would like to see your profiles up soon, anyone over 13 years old can make one and it is really easy. If you already have an lds.org account then you just sign in with that and away you go. Then when you create them post it on your wall on Facebook so everyone can see, media truly is a wonderful tool that God has given us if we use it correctly.
Alright since I already told you about Wednesday and Thursday I guess I'll jump to Friday. On Friday we did some more service for a member, we helped move some things out of his house and then right after that we went to a lesson with S. He wasn't able to meet with us earlier in the week because he has been passing out, so he wanted us to come over and give him a blessing. Before we gave him the blessing, we taught him about the priesthood and told him why it’s important and he agreed with all of it. Then we gave him a blessing and it was so powerful! The spirit was so strong, and afterwards he just sat there and looked at the ground with tears in his eyes. He told us that as soon as we touched him he could feel the spirit and he almost cried, it was such a wonderful experience. That was basically the highlight of our day on Friday, nothing really happened after that.
On Saturday we had a super long day until about 5 o’clock when we finally just decided to go to a members house because we had been riding our bikes for about 4 hours straight basically because nobody would let us in or talk to us. We went to a member family called the M and they fed us dinner, which was really good because we were starving. Afterwards they referred us over to one of their friends’ homes to go visit and gave us a whole lot of information about them. Missionaries had visited them before and they had let them in so when we went over there, they were so excited to see us and let us in right away. They're names are the P and they have a son with muscular dystrophy and they had been wondering where the missionaries had been. So we set up an appointment to see them next Monday because they were going out of town for this week. We are excited about them; I think they have a lot of potential. After that we rode our bikes over to see the G and unfortunately K was drunk but we helped them again by moving some stuff in their garage. Afterwards, Sister G and I started singing Christmas carols haha it was a lot of fun and she liked it a lot. She is less-active and she is French but anyway it was a great way to get her excited about church again because she loves the music. So she sang in French and I sang in English, it sounded terrible, but it was a lot of fun and she came to church on Sunday!
On Sunday, of course we went to church and only S showed up, so that was good. Elder F and I gave talks and for the first time in my life I felt comfortable giving a talk, it was great! I've found that it is a whole lot easier when you actually know what you are talking about. The rest of the day went well, we had dinner at a member’s home and he fed us deer meat. It was really good, I really enjoyed it and I think that was the first time I had ever eaten deer before. Then we went on a power trade with the zone leaders and Elder C and I went to go see this less active named Brother W. We had, had a great lesson with him on Monday and committed him to read the Book of Mormon again and he said he would. Brother W went less-active like 30 years ago or something and he had been a bishop and everything. He has a few doctrinal issues and he's a mason so he has a hard time believing Joseph was a prophet. But we just bore powerful testimony and I think kind of spiritually rebuked him a little bit for even getting into all of that anti stuff and he agreed to reading the Book of Mormon again. So last night we just asked him how the reading was going and he said he had read some but he hadn't prayed yet, but at least he is reading! I feel confident that we will get him back to church. But anyway that was my week.
By the way I had some ideas for Lane's hunting expeditions. What you got to do is film it and make it like a hunting video and after he tracks down the deer and kills it, have him go grab Jake by the ears or something and then interview him afterwards and ask him how the hunt went. hahaha That would be hilarious! But anyway I have to go but I hope you all have a wonderful week and talk to you later! Love, Elder Bushman
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Winds....the Gift of Tongues.... or not....
Dear Family, Well it sounds like you all had a crazy week with the wind and everything, I can't believe there are so strong of winds I've never even heard of something like that happening in Farmington
So the guy that was a referral from my old ward hasn't been able to contact him yet and neither have we so it's kind of up in the air at the moment. But S.J. the referral from the middleburg Sisters is doing wonderful! We were able to teach him once this week on Friday and the lesson went really well. We finished the Plan of Salvation and it made a lot of sense to him and we invited him to pray about it. He also showed up to church on Sunday, we had a member pick him up and he absolutely loved it! Even though it was a fast and testimony meeting...luckily nobody said anything too off the wall and so it ended up really good. He really liked the Family aspect of it because that's what he really wants for his family, and he wants to set that example for them. Throughout his whole life he's been helping people financially and by other means and so it's weird for him to finally be helping himself, but what we helped him realize is that by helping himself spiritually he really is helping others. In fact he is helping his family better this way, by learning the Gospel and being an example to them, then by any other way basically and he really liked that.
No we haven't been able to meet with R.A. He has kind of fallen off the map, we don't know what happened. Maybe he didn't approve of one of my posts on my blog or something, who knows. We did find someone new this week, his name is D, and yes he is a man. He has visited with missionaries in the past but they never really taught him anything, so we went over there and taught about the importance of the Book of Mormon and he told us that he was going to read it everyday. Well we called him today and asked if we could come by soon and he said that he was leaving town for two weeks and that we will have to meet with him when he gets back, so that kind of stinks, but oh well.
Well I think I answered all of your questions so I guess now onto the things that happened throughout the week. Well we are still teaching K and he is actually progressing a lot better than we originally thought, it miraculous what the Lord can do. K and Sister K got married on Monday and then we went over on Tuesday with a member and we explained the Book of Mormon more in depth. He had thought church was kind of weird on Sunday because he felt like all we talked about was the Book of Mormon, so we explained why we refer to it so much and that we do actually use the Bible. By the end of the lesson he was really excited to read the Book of Mormon. Later in the week we came back and read the first chapter of Nephi with him and then the next day read the last chapter of Moroni
We also got yelled at by a bunch of high school kids this week. They were in a truck and they drove into this neighborhood that we were coming out of and asked us what we were doing there in a sarcastic way and then swore at us and told us to leave, and they eventually drove by us several more times as we were biking along and did similar antics, it was really annoying. I don't know why teenagers think that it's cool to swear and make themselves look like idiots it makes no sense to me. The Nerve! haha But I know I was immature too and still am a little bit… but I don't know that stuff just irritates me. Let's see what else happened this week?? Well I went on a trade off with one of the Spanish Elders this week and that was really interesting because the whole time I had no idea what was going on. I was trying to have enough faith the whole time so that I could acquire the gift of tongues or at least the interpretation of tongues, but it wasn't working.
Oh by the way wasn't the Christmas Devotional just amazing last night?! I loved it, that movie was so wonderful I couldn't believe it and the talks were fantastic and the music was great, Oh man I just have a whole new perspective on Christmas than I have before. I love listening to the Prophet and the Apostles and just having them bring it all back to Christ. Sometimes even as a missionary it's crazy how the world can get to you and pull you down but with the inspired words of the prophets, it just lifts you up and keeps you going, I love it!
Well that's about all I have for this week, but mom could you let me know how Jordan is doing in Paraguay
Monday, November 28, 2011
Bald is a beautiful????
Dear Family, Well it is good to hear that all is going well and you are staying busy. That is pretty crazy that you all are all ready starting to go skiing, I remember last year at this time when I came back from Iowa over Thanksgiving break and Hunter, Dad, Steven, and I went up skiing and it was 15 below, man was that cold and boy was that fun! Dad, I had no Idea that you had bought some twin tipped skis, that's insane and yeah I'm glad I wasn't there to witness the fall, not because I would have been embarrassed, but because I would have felt bad because I would have been laughing too hard haha It's good to hear that you all had a good Thanksgiving, it's so weird to me that it has already been a year since last Thanksgiving.
Well we had a really good week and it started off really well with getting a new investigator named S. He was a media referral from church headquarters and he wanted to learn more about the church. When I called him last week I asked him if he had anything in particular that he wanted to learn about and he just said "start from the beginning." Well that was easy enough haha I guess his mother was LDS and she just recently passed away and so he wants to know what she believed and he also wants to make a change in his life and also his sons. When we went over he was just super sincere and humble and he just talked for the longest time telling us his story. Well we decided to teach him the importance of the Book of Mormon and by the end he was really excited to read it and was ready to set up a return appointment as well. So we went back to see him on Friday and taught part of the Plan of Salvation, he is really talkative so it's hard to get anywhere, but it went really well and it all mad sense to him and he told us he would come to church not this past Sunday but this upcoming one.
Also this week I had a pretty embarrassing experience as well. So I think it was Tuesday night I decided that my hair was getting too long and I wanted to cut it short, really short. Well I get to cutting it with my trimmers and I start off with a 3 on the top which I thought was just perfect. Then I did a 2 on the sides and after I got done I looked at it and thought well it could probably go just a little shorter and how much shorter could a 1 be then a two. I look at the one clip and think to myself, well that looks kind of short but I’m going to go for it anyway. So I start with the sideburns and just chopped them off what seemed like completely, there was nothing but white underneath! I freaked out! I had just totally buzzed the side of my head and there was no going back now, so I had to finish it, so my hair is extremely short now haha I actually kind of like it though, I was sick of the long hair, you all will see a picture it's not too bad.
Anyway so we had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It started off with football in the morning, we went and played in a turkey bowl in the morning with the wards and boy was that fun! I love football, the only problem is that I didn't have any cleats so I was slipping and sliding all over the place but I was still able to move pretty quick. We played for about 2 and a half hours and by the end I don't think I have ever been so sore in my life, we ran so much, in fact I’m still sore from the experience. After that we went back and got cleaned up and then went to dinner over at the M's, a member. It was amazing food and I ate way too much, which wasn't very good because we had a second meal lined up as well. So right after the M's we went to the B's and had dinner over there as well. The dinner over there was nice because his Granddaughter was there and she is a non-member and we actually got to teach her a little bit because she was asking a lot of questions, we even gave her a Book of Mormon. It was kind of scary though because Brother B has just recently been reactivated and so he was throwing a lot of non-important doctrine at her which we had to try and clean up haha So I'm telling you all now, first of all don't go less-active in the first place, and second of all when you share the gospel only share the things that are simple and that pertain to our salvation because that's all they need to know. In other words, read Preach my Gospel. Later in the evening we went over to the D's and had more dessert. We had sweet potato pie, which I never have had before, and it was amazing! Ten times better than pumpkin, in my opinion anyway.
Oh so another funny experience, we had Sister K call us this week, she is the one that is getting married to our investigator K, the panties on the head guy. Anyway well she called us and asked me if I could marry them haha well I told her that I couldn't but the Stake President could and so we have been trying to get that all set up, in fact K even came to church this week which was really cool and they both love Elder F and I, so we are hoping we can get her reactivated and him baptized. In case you are wondering we don't have a bishop at the moment that's why I said the stake president.
On Sunday we had the baptism and it went really well. I was able to give a talk on baptism which was wonderful, I don't really mind giving talks anymore. Then we got to witness the baptism and Brother D did such a wonderful job at baptizing his wife, it was a beautiful scene. I love baptisms, they are so powerful and so spiritual hopefully we will have another one coming up soon.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Dear Family, Well first off I would just like to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I hope this weekend will be one of thanks and gratitude as we remember the wonderful things that God has done for us in giving us our families, this world and nation to live in, our friends, our homes, our jobs, the gospel, the scriptures, and most Importantly our Savior Jesus Christ. There are so many wonderful things to be grateful for even in these trying times because we truly are blessed in every aspect. I know I am so grateful for all that the Lord has provided for me, I can't ask for a better family, I have wonderful friends, and I'm serving the Lord, can it get any better than that?! It all reminds me of a scripture in the Book of Mormon, It is part of King Benjamin's address and I can't think of a better scripture that makes me feel grateful.
18 Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?
19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.
24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast. Mosiah 2:18-24
I love this scripture so much, because it not only says how we need to be grateful, but we also need to be humbles because with out being humble and realizing that the Lord has already given us everything, we cannot be grateful. So anyway I'll talk about my week now. Well I think first off I'll address Dad's letter pertaining to the sister missionaries. I'd like to say that no I do not have the same point of view on sister missionaries as Austin and Jake, in fact I very much enjoy having them in my district. They are very hard workers and have a lot of success and they can sing which is very nice because none of the Elders can. So far I haven't ever had any drama with Sisters except for in a zone meeting a long time ago. One of the Sisters in my district was actually in my district in the MTC as well so it's nice kind of already having the loyalty of her and they are doing a fabulous job in Middleburg.
Mom, it is true that we are in a "Mormon Moment." We had a leadership training meeting this past week and that was something we talked a lot about. It's incredible the kind of publicity the church is getting at this time, there has been no better time for missionary work in the United States as at this time now. With the two members of the church running for the Republican candidacy and also the Book of Mormon Broadway musical, which is the number one play on Broadway at this time, more people are wanting to know about the church than ever! Right now the Church is making a big push for their media campaign, Mormon.org. There are more and more commercials that are being made and by the end of the month there should be over 100 video profiles on mormon.org. It is such a wonderful tool, absolutely incredible! So if anybody that receives this letter doesn't have a profile yet on mormon.org well I would strongly encourage you to make one. 80% of people that go to mormon.org and chat with online missionaries are baptized! It truly is inspired and one of the best missionary resources that we have.
Ok so we had a wonderful week, we were able to teach a lot of lessons, especially with our baptismal date, J. She is so solid and such a wonderful person. We watched prophet of the Restoration on Wednesday with her and afterwards she was like "you could have told me that I was going to cry" haha the spirit was so strong and we were able to answer a lot of her questions that she had that night and she just soaked it all up. We also have this man R.who I think I told you about, well we never got to see him this week, but I added him on Facebook and I guess he has been looking at my blog and he told me he has a lot of questions. How exciting is that?! We have an appointment tonight with him and I'm thinking that he is going to be really solid and his family as well.
We also had a couple of lessons with this guy named K.this week. He was a referral from a member and he is actually dating a less-active member. Well we set up a time last week to go see them on Friday and when we went to the less-actives house, she wasn't home yet, but he was there so we went and knocked on the door. Well he came to the door with no shirt on and what looked like a shower cap on his head. Well we soon found out that it was a pair of this less-active ladies panties on his head and he thought that we were her. Talk about awkward hilarious situations....yeah that was one of them! hahaha Well he was a little tipsy, but by the end he said he wanted to come to church with her. Well they didn't show up at church and we went and saw them last night, luckily there were no panties on his head and he was more sober haha We watched the restoration with him and it was really powerful, the spirit was working with him and we gave him a lot to think about. We committed him and the less-active to read together but we'll see how well that goes.
I also went on a trade-off this week with Elder G, one of our zone-leaders, we had a great time and worked really well together, it was a blast! It's kind of ironic because Elder C is one of the other zone leaders and he was actually my first district leader in B, so it's fun working with him again. Oh and Elder B is in my zone again haha I love Elder B, he is the best, I really hope I get to serve with him sometime. This week is going to be crazy though because of everything going on. My district alone has 4 baptisms coming up this weekend, so I get to do 3 interviews tomorrow which is exciting. So there is a lot of work to be done and a lot to be accomplished, and that's what I love about the Gospel is that it continues to roll onward.
Well I don't think I really have much else to talk about, so thank you for all that you all do, I love you, I'm grateful for you and I hope you all remember what the Lord has done for you this week. Have a wonderful week! Love, Elder Bushman
p.s. Mom thank you for the sweatshirt and I think that should be good enough for the cold times lying ahead, I have gloves.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Here in the OP.....
Dear Family, Well I guess I'll start by answering all the questions since supposedly I still have a few to answer. By the way dad I never got your letter until the Monday after I had done email so I wasn't able to answer but don't worry I will do so now. President B came out with us just because he has been trying to go on trade offs with all of the missionaries or just the leadership, one of the two. So no I wasn't in trouble or disobedient, it was just because President B is the best and he wants to get to know his missionaries better. Yes I am still a District Leader, I am now over the OP district which has 4 sets of missionaries: Us, Middleburg, and then 3 sets of Missionaries in OP. Two sets are sisters and one set is Elders and also I have the zone leaders in my district. I can't seem to get rid of the zone leaders haha No I don't have any bed bugs which is oh so very nice, I'm so glad that we don't have anymore.
My new area is very small, we can cover it pretty easily, that's why we are on bike some of the time, we are in a car share with the other Elders that live with us. My ward is called the FI 2nd ward and it is like half the size of my last ward so it was very weird on Sunday going from so big to so small. The area is much the same as my last one, it's pretty rich but we also have part of the area that isn't so rich, which is so nice, we have been getting a lot of work done in there and finding a lot of people this week.
Well Wednesday was my first day in the area and it went really well, I came in and we already have a baptismal date for the 27th, so I am so excited! Her name is J and she is a part member, I didn't get to meet her till Sunday but she is super solid. I also told you about the miracle we had with J and L, they were the two ladies that we started talking to in their garage, wow that was an incredible experience! We have just been seeing miracles ever since I got here. We really don't have a lot of investigators so we've been doing a lot of finding and boy has the Lord been blessing us. As of right now we have 4 appointments for this upcoming week for people that we have found and we probably gave out 8 Books of Mormon this week! Oh I love it! It's so much fun when you are seeing so much success and I know it’s all the Lord just blessing us, so I hope He continues to do so in this upcoming week.
What's really cool as well is that I got a referral from Brother F. in my last ward to send to the Elders in FI a week ago, so when I got here on Wednesday I was looking at a paper that said "Call brother F." I just thought wow that is amazing! It's pretty much like I sent the referral to myself haha. So I called Brother F. and he is going to set something up with his friend so that we can meet him at church this Sunday and from what Brother F. has told me about him, is that he gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he felt something as he read it, how cool is that?! Along with that there are a few part members in the ward that are so close to being taught and getting baptized its insane, I am just so excited to be here! However I know I can't get complacent because as soon as I do things will start to go down hill, so I need to keep working hard and being obedient.
Ok one more cool story. So this week we went to a members home and were talking to him and he told us about his friend who he had invited to come to church several times but kept making excuses, so I asked him if we could go knock on his door. He said we could and he pointed us in the right direction. Ironically as soon as we started to walk over he pulled up and so did a less-active sister right behind them. I guess he had been helping her out with some stuff at her house. Anyway we started talking to them and they both want to come to church with each other this Sunday and we have an appointment with them on Friday! Hopefully this will re-activate her and we will be able to baptize him, its a double bonus.
Oh also it's starting to get cold here believe it or not. On Thursday night Elder F. and I were riding our bikes and it was like 50 degrees which normally would be heaven for me but for some odd reason it was super cold! My hands were frozen and we couldn't get into anybody's home, so we started belting out hymns while we road and we started to get warmer haha it was so much fun! But anyway that's about all I've got and sorry it was all over the place, but that's how my memory is. Well I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! Love, Elder Bushman
Monday, November 7, 2011
Here we go again.....
Dear Family, Well....I'm getting transferred. After 4 and a half months of being in J.C. I'm going somewhere new, and to be honest, I'm quite sad about it. However, now it’s on to a new area with new people and a new companion to start over. So far as I know I am staying a District Leader, I haven't gotten a call from President yet to release me or anything, dang it, haha just kidding but that's as much as I know at this time. Thank you for the pictures you sent me, I can't believe how much bigger Lane and Heber are its crazy, and Heber is walking?? What? Last time I saw him he couldn't even crawl, that is so weird! That's so amazing that Jeff and Jenny had another girl! I wrote them a letter this week and I haven't sent it off yet, so if you see them tell them I apologize and that I will get it to them soon.
Alright now I'll tell you about my week even though it wasn't very eventful and right now my mind is just contemplating on the last few months here. As I've thought about these last months I keep thinking to myself that I could have done something more that some how I didn't do enough, but then I just get this peaceful feeling that I did do a lot of good. If anything else I've grown so much since I have been here, I've grown to love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I've learned how to handle hardship. How I've learned to handle hardship is by understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ and applying it in my life. I know I'm not perfect, that's why it takes faith, repentance, renewing baptismal covenants, having the Holy Ghost as my guide, and enduring to the end. Without that process right there life would be miserable, it would have no direction and it would be depressing. The Atonement of Jesus Christ makes it all possible, this process only works because of him, the plan of salvation only works because of him, EVERYTHING only works because of him, without him we are nothing. Just those thoughts make me feel so good in knowing that I can't do it all on my own, in fact it's impossible to do it all on my own, I need him and I need his spirit. And I love being able to change, the Atonement makes that possible for that to happen, because trust me I've had to make a lot of changes while I've been here and I still have a lot to go, but I know that I can do it. If anything I am just grateful that the Lord put me in this area to grow, I needed it, and I know that I left it better then when I got here, so I am well pleased with that.
But anyway on Monday we didn't really do much, we weren't able to tract so we went to Sister B’s house and sat out in her driveway with her as she passed out candy, The funny thing is, is that we gave her pass-a-long cards so that when the kids came by she would give them a handful of candy and a couple of pass-along-cards as well hahaha Sister B is Amazing! After that we went and saw another member for a little bit and then went home, so it was a pretty uneventful night. On Tuesday we had, well I don’t know really, I can't think strait oh wait, nope I remember we had zone meeting and it went really well! Elder R and Elder T gave some really good training. After that I can't really remember much else.
On Wednesday we did some service for Brother and Sister C. It took so long though, we put up some shelves for their food storage and cleaned a lot of the mess that they had. It's amazing how much food they have, they probably have enough food to literally last them 4 years; it’s incredible! So you can imagine the kind of work that this project entailed. So that actually occupied the bulk of our day and then we were supposed to have a few appointments which I think fell through, but I think a few of them did work out if I remember correctly. haha Thursday was wonderful though! We took C. B., who is a priest in the ward, out with us and we were able to see a lot of people and most importantly this guy named W. He is so amazing; he is really spiritual and really humble. He has had some things happen in his life that have truly humbled him and he said that he wanted to come to church with us because so far he hadn't been able to find a church that was right for him. He wasn't able to come to church this Sunday but he said he wanted to come to our Wednesday night class and that he would come this upcoming week, however I won’t be here.
On Friday Elder R got called to be an assistant to the President, which is so crazy. Elder R is probably one of my favorite missionaries and it has been such a wonderful blessing to be serving around him for the last 4 and a half months. So the current Assistants came and picked him up on Saturday and so from then on we have had Elder T with us. Sunday was a wonderful day to behold. We didn't have anyone come to church but we did get to witness a baptism that the St. Johns Elders had. It was one of the most powerful baptisms I have ever witnessed; actually it is probably the most powerful baptism I have ever witnessed. Her husband had been less active for a long time and I guess one day she had prayed for an understanding of which church they needed to be apart of when Elder R and Elder D knocked at her door. They were on a trade off. Ever since then they have been teaching her and she had no belief in Jesus Christ or any understanding of why He is important, but now she does and she was able to be baptized by her husband. It was absolutely beautiful, and the spirit was absolutely amazing!
So that was my week in a nutshell, not much else to say. Oh but do tell Nick congratulations for me, that is so amazing that he is basically going to the same mission as Jake! Oh and I remember what else, I guess I can tell you what I would like for Christmas. Well I would like a CD by the Nashville Tribute Band called "Work" it’s a tribute to the missionaries. And if you could send me out one of my sweatshirts, preferably not a nice one, but I will probably need it soon when it gets a little colder. Other than that I can't think of much else, I'll tell you if I do. Well you all have a wonderful week! Love, Elder Bushman
P.S. Don't write to me this week because I'll be in a new area, just send emails. I'll let you know my address next week
Monday, October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween.....
Dear Family and Friends, Hello there! Well today was a great week and I'm excited to talk all about it. So that is great that it was the deer hunt this week and that you all actually got something, I didn't think that was possible haha Thanks for the stories and the experiences dad, it was hilarious as I pictured Hunter getting all mad and then both Jake and Hunter just going to town on that deer hahaha Oh man, I wish I could have seen it, I don't think I could have even shot because I think I would have been laughing too hard! Good thing I'm not there either, I'm glad I don't have to eat any of it. Now Hunter has to eat the ducks and the deer haha And Mom I hope you had a wonderful Birthday, it sounds like it was a good one with all the family there. So I think this happens to all of us as soon as we go on missions, the family all of a sudden starts doing fun things together haha But anyway I'll tell you all how my week went.
Well it actually started off really slow, but Elder G and I worked out tails off, that's why I think our week felt so good, it wasn't necessarily the best week in productivity but it felt really good. On Monday I got to throw a baseball for the first time in 8 months, it was amazing! It doesn't feel like I've missed a beat, I could still throw it, I felt like, as hard as I could before I left, the only difference now is that my arm was sore the next day. We also had a home run derby with tennis balls on the field. The fence was only 200 ft so it was really fun. C E (a kid from the ward) and I were having a challenge and he almost beat me but then he tried to throw one fast on me and I cranked that thing out of the park, it was great! Then that night we went and carved pumpkins at a member’s house and I have some sweet pictures I will forward to you all.
On Tuesday we went out and worked hard and talked to a lot of people, we didn't ever teach a lesson but we got quite a few potential investigators to see. One of them being a man named J. We were walking down the street and he was just getting out of his car so we went over and started talking to him and he didn't belong to any certain religion and he said he had a lot of questions. Well we asked him what his questions were and we were able to answer a few of them with the message of the restoration. We ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and setting up a return appointment for this Friday, so we are really excited to go see him. Oh by the way we are at Brother and Sister C's right now and Brother C told me to tell you hi.
Anyway so on Wednesday we had district meeting and I was able to train on being more effective teachers through, listening, asking inspired questions, and teaching simply - which is what I need to do better at, so it was a good topic for me. Then I went on a trade off with Elder C and it went pretty well, but again we weren't able to see to many people and didn't have a ton of success but I did get to interview on of the St. Johns Elder's baptismal candidates and that was really good. I love interviewing people and see the light in their eyes and the testimonies that they have gained as they have studied the Gospel and prayed, it’s such a miraculous thing.
I can't remember much of Thursday for some reason at the moment so I'll just go to Friday. Well on Friday we had a lesson without investigator named L. He's an old guy that really likes to talk and in this lesson he basically confessed to us all of his sins and they were pretty bad haha…. I looked at Elder G as he was telling us all of this stuff and the look on his face was priceless. I started busting up laughing inside myself; I think Elder G's innocence was shattered that day. After that crazy lesson we had we went and saw some potential investigators and were able to teach on of them. Her name is K, she is a 16 year old girl that is agnostic and she had a lot of questions. Her dad is the first one that we contacted but his daughter seems to be the one that is more interested. We answered her questions for about an hour and basically taught the Plan of Salvation to her. She really liked it and even asked Elder G for the little diagram that he drew of the plan of salvation. She then asked us if we were going to come back and we said of course and so we set up a return appointment for this upcoming Friday.
Then on Saturday we had the Fall Festival for the ward and it was so much fun! They had a chili cook off and hayrides, trunk or treat, turkey shoot, and other fun games. The turkey shoot was hilarious; a bunch of the priests dressed up as turkeys and ran around as the younger kids shot paint ball guns at them. We were also able to talk to a ton of people in the ward so that was really good. I absolutely love this ward, if anything I've gained from being here is a love for the people here. They are so wonderful and do so much. I actually kind of want to stay; but I guess we will see.
On Sunday we had the wonderful Primary Program. I couldn't believe how strong the spirit was as those little primary children got up and bore their testimonies and sang the songs, it was amazing! There were a lot of non-members there as well; however none of them were our investigators. That's something we are still struggling with. That was basically our week. We taught one other guy named S on Sunday who became a new investigator. He's basically one of those guys that feels like he is as happy as he can get and that being happy will get him into heaven, but he said he would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.
Well this could be my last week in JC, I'll find out on Saturday but if it is, it has been a wonderful 4 and a half months. I have learned so much and have been extremely humbled. I've learned that the success we have as missionaries isn't so much in the numbers we have but the growth that we have within ourselves and how we have helped others come unto Christ. Obviously numbers is still important, I mean that is our ultimate purpose is to baptize, but we can only do so much and the rest we have to leave up to the Lord. I love this gospel, I am proud to be a member of this church and I know it is true. I hope you all have a wonderful week and God Bless. Love, Elder Bushman
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Another beautiful day in the neighborhood.....
Dear Family,
Hello! haha remember when President Monson did that? Anyway how are ya'll doing? It's great to hear about all the stuff that is going on. And mom I did end up getting your letter on Monday afternoon so don't worry. So Jake pulled his back duck hunting huh? hahaha oh man Jake is becoming and old man, shoot I'll have to carry him when we go to the wind rivers, or maybe we really will have to get the horses. It sounds like Lane and Heber are absolutely hilarious, that made me laugh so hard about what he said when hunter was scratching his back, I about died! As for Christmas, I don't have any idea right now what I want because it is too far away. Well I actually do have a few Ideas but I'll let you know when the time gets closer. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! I hope you are having a wonderful day besides the hurt arm, and sorry you haven't received a card or anything yet because I'm not going to be able to send it until today but I do plan on sending something, but I guess this is just a pre-birthday card happy birthday wish.
Well anyway this week was an ok week, it was actually a little rough compared to next week, but I am so excited for this week I feel that it is going to be a lot better. The week started off really good, we had a couple of lessons and on Tuesday President B came out on the trade-off with us and it was amazing. He didn't make it until 8 PM so it was a short trade off, but an excellent one. We went and saw M again and we had a really good discussion with him, we talked about the need for prophets and the guidance that they give to us and our families. M is just so humble and so willing to learn, it’s wonderful and we finally committed him to read the Book of Mormon! Then President B gave the prayer and it was just so powerful, M felt the spirit really strong, you could just tell.
On Wednesday we had district meeting and we talked about finding people to teach and what it is going to take to find them. It went well and afterwards Elder G found a parking lot where we were doing our studies and this guy drove up and asked us if we owned the property and we said no, then he just said ok and drove away. Then he came back and asked us if we were studying scriptures and we said yes! He was really excited and we told him who we were and what we were studying, well by the end of the conversation we were able to give him a Book of Mormon which he said he would read, so how cool was that?! Then after our studies we went to see this lady who we had given a Book of Mormon to last week and ended up talking to her 17 year old son instead. He said that he had actually read a little bit of the Book of Mormon because he was friends with a member of the church from school. He said that he was actually very interested in the church and wanted to come. We talked to him for a little while and shared with him a lot of stuff. By the way he is Catholic and by the end of our conversation he said, "You know with everything the Catholics teach I can dispute but with everything you all have said I can't, it’s all valid!" it was amazing and such a sweet miracle. So we gave him his own Book of Mormon and he said that he wanted to learn and come to church he just didn't know when we could meet with him.
Well after Wednesday things started to go down hill a little bit. We had a lesson with one of our investigators named J and we taught him the plan of Salvation, and hid didn't quite seem to understand the importance of all of it. We tried to explain but he just kept wanting to dispute. He is a very intelligent man, but we invited him to baptism and he said he would when he came to know the Book of Mormon was true, which means he actually has to study it. I don't know the lesson just felt really weird though and from then after I didn't feel very good. I had a headache that wouldn't go away for the whole week and when I would wake up in the morning I felt extremely tired. In fact my headache just barely went away this morning, but anyway so after that it just made it really hard to focus. We struggled for the rest of the week trying to find people and get lessons with our investigators. We never got to meet with B this week because he told C that he wanted to test out the difference in how he feels at our church and the Catholic church. Which I think is really good actually, so I hope he actually got to go and feel the difference. Hopefully we can meet with him this week.
Then on Saturday we went to see M and as we were talking to him his wife pulled into the driveway and we waved at her, but as she got out she just glared at us and started yelling at M for some dumb reason and then rushed inside. We started talking to him and telling him we will come back later, and in the middle of that she came out the front door and started yelling again but this time at us. She said "We're Catholic! We're Catholic! Don't you get it, why are you here talking to him, this is causing problems!" I said “Mam we are just talking about God.” Well she never heard me because she rushed inside again. We apologized to mike and then left. It was really sad to see because M is such a humble nice man and he just took it. He told us the only reason he is still with her is because of the kids. I wish so bad we could teach the whole family, the Gospel would help them out so much. Well we came back a little later and I wrote a note to Mrs. M saying, "Dear Mrs. M, We sincerely apologize for any problems that you feel we have caused, we hope you will forgive us. Sincerely, your humble servants of Jesus Christ." So hopefully that will soften her heart.
So then on Sunday we didn't have anyone at church again, however some of the youth brought a few of their friends so we are going to talk to them about it this week, which is really exciting. But anyway that’s about how our week went, started out good and ended up really weird, but I have a much better feeling about his week and I already feel a lot better. Today has already started out to be a great day, I got up and exercised and I jump roped for about 20 minutes. I got 766 of them in a row, my goal is to get 1000 so I’ll get it soon. Then I had an amazing study reading out of Jesus the Christ about the realm of disembodied spirits, so that was really cool. There are so many places in the Bible where it predicts Christ's visit to the spirit world and preaching there as well. Then I studied more of the Book of Mormon and I am in Heleman again, I'll probably finish it again before next transfer. And now I am here emailing you all, so it’s been a good day. After this I am going to go play some baseball with some kids in the Ward and the other Elders! I am so excited! It's going to be the first time I've thrown a baseball and swung a bat in a long time! So today is going to be a beautiful day, plus the weather is wonderful, its about 70 degrees everyday on average. Well I better get going, but you all have a wonderful week! Love, Elder Bushman
Monday, October 17, 2011
A Fire is Burning....
Dear Family, Oh man what a wonderful week! We finally had an investigator come to church!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy I can't even tell you, wow the Lord is truly blessing us.
Well anyway I hear that it is getting cold back in Utah
Ok so on with the week. Well on Monday we didn't really do much, in fact I can't really remember much about Monday at all. But on Tuesday we did a lot of good stuff, Tuesday was a really good day actually. We were able to pick up two new investigators and they were both member referrals. The first one is a girl named J. who Brother C. referred us too. She lives with them because her boyfriend is brother C’s great grandson or something. But anyway it was so funny because Brother C said to us, "if people are going to live in my house they are going to take the discussions!" so he looked at J and said, "J, it's your time." Ha ha ha it was so funny and she accepted, so we taught her the first lesson right then and there and now we have an appointment tonight at 6. I don't know how receptive she is our how much she really wants to know, but if she reads the Book of Mormon then she will definitely get an answer. Then later that night we had a lesson with B who is a 16 year old kid. He is the best friend of Conner E. who is a priest in the ward and we just watched the Restoration with him and invited him to read the Book of Mormon, so that was excellent, and he is the one that came to church!
On Wednesday we had district meeting down in St. Augustine
Then on Thursday we traded back and I honestly can't remember much about Thursday either, except that I didn't feel really good. I got pretty sick to my stomach because I ate some expired ham at lunch probably. But yeah I had to run to a members house at one point and that was pretty embarrassing but oh well what can you do, crap happens haha
Friday I went on a trade off with Elder T who is one of the Zone leaders and we had a way good trade off. Again it was so nice to work with someone that really knew what they were doing and I wasn't having to do all the thinking and the work, it was equal share. We got a lot of good work done and had a great time. I'm not saying that I don't like being with Elder G, it’s just I need to do a better job at giving him a little more of the load because I'm pretty much doing 95 percent of it right now, so that's one of my goals is to help him do more and to let him do more. Oh it was funny too because at the end of the night with Elder T we were tracting in this neighborhood and we knocked on this door at 8:50 at night and we saw this guy run into the other room. We sat there for a little bit and nobody was coming but as we started to walk away this guy came to the door and he told us that we needed to leave now. He told us that we shouldn't be doing this at that time at night because bad things could happen. He then turned around and I thought he was going to moon us but there in his pants was a gun, I guess he got pretty scared or something but anyway I'm sure glad he didn't pull the trigger while that was down his pants because that would have been no bueno for him haha
So then on Saturday Elder G and I were back together and we had a pretty good day, we had a couple of lessons with some of our investigators and saw a lot of people and got fed once, so yeah it was a good day. Then on Sunday B came to church and it was just a most joyous day, it felt so good to finally have someone come! He really liked it too. He told us that the three hours just seemed to go right on by so that was good. We should be seeing him again sometime this week, so we are excited for that. Well anyway that was our week and I can't believe that we are already half way through this transfer, its crazy how fast time flies. Tomorrow is going to be a great day as well because we are going to be going on a trade off with President B! He's coming to our area to go out and work with us for a couple of hours, which is going to be absolutely wonderful, I love that man!
Well anyway I don’t think I have anything else to say, but I do want to let you know that I about died laughing as I pictured Jake running through the water to a duck like a dog runs to a treat, he probably had his tongue out and everything hahaha its still making me laugh. Hopefully all that running through the water will get him ready for the Wind Rivers. Thank you for all that you do and I love you all, and have a wonderful week!
P.S. Dad I did get your email about T and I about forgot to say something just as I did last week, but I was so happy when I saw that, I've been worrying about that kid for a while, I am just so excited! Well Cya.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Fruit Snacks are Heaven!
Dear Family,
First off thank you so much for the package and for everything that was inside, especially the fruit snacks! Oh my goodness, I have been munching on those for the last week, I have missed fruit snacks. I don't ever by anything unless I need it because I am super cheap so I never by fruit snacks haha And thank you for the recorder I was going to send you some recordings but I forgot to bring the cord to plug it in, so next week! However, unfortunately the video that was supposed to be on the card for my camera did not work. It said there was nothing on the card. So I never got to hear or see what was on it. And Grandpa thank you for the letter with the talk, that was really insightful. And thank you Grandma for the card and yes I'm allowed to receive money but don't worry about sending any its fine, but thank you so much for the card!
Alright well to start off this week it was really slow! On Monday Elder G and I went to M's house to drop him and it was pretty sad. We asked him why he didn't come to General Conference and he got really defensive with it and told me how hard it is to be a single parent which was just a lot of excuses, but I didn't tell him that. But we left there on good terms so that is what is good. Then on Tuesday I think Elder G and I probably tracted for about 3 hours all together and didn't find anyone which was pretty hard but it was good. It was so funny because we had this one guy that Elder G talked to, which I actually recorded this door approach, but he answered and Elder G introduced himself and put his hand out to shake it and the guy said, "This isn't a social event." I was like "A social event? Well of course not, were here to share a message about Jesus Christ." then he said "Do your history buddy." and closed the door. It was absolutely hilarious, I don't know why, but it was, probably because what he said made absolutely no sense haha
Well anyway then on Wednesday we went to see L in the morning and she came outside before we could even go into the house and she told us she didn't want to learn anymore. She said that she had done what we asked by praying and reading and didn't feel like she received any answer. So she told us that she decided to not learn anymore and that this is what she felt like the answer was, and that it was the answer she wanted in the first place. She didn't even have an open heart at all, she never wanted to accept it. This was something I was not expecting and was kind of a blow to the stomach, I was shocked! But all we were able to do was to bear our testimonies to her and let her know of the truth. I think it finally took all the way till Thursday before we taught our first lesson of the week.
Thursday was a really good day. We had zone meeting and Elder R and Elder T did a wonderful job! Elder R did this really cool analogy of baseball to missionary work and how it works with our goals so I could relate really well. Elder G and I had decided to tract this street the night before and as we were knocking on doors one of the ladies said "latter day saints?" and we said yes have you talked with missionaries before and she said yes. She told us that she would listen to our message if we would come in and be part of her daughters lemonade tasting science fair project hahaha Well a little unusual way of getting into a house but oh well we'll do whatever it takes. So we went in and participated in her daughter’s science fair project and test tasted lemonade with different types of sugar in it. Then we were able to sit down and tell her about Joseph Smith and the restoration. She had a lot of questions actually, she is Catholic, so of course she believes that there never was an apostasy, but she said she was really interested in the Book of Mormon and said she would read it. She wouldn't set up a time that we could come back because she didn't think her husband would be ok with it, but we will go back in a couple of weeks and see how the reading has been going.
Then on Friday we had a super long weekly planning session as we prepared ideas for how the Ward could help out with the missionary work. We also made a bunch of cards that tell people if they want to learn more about Mormons that they will come over to the church every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Obviously we didn't write it just like that but we thought it would be a good way to find people. Then later in the day Elder G and I went tracting for another hour and a half and in that period of time found 4 potential investigators. One of them was really solid. He was a 21 year old guy named J. As he came out the door we told him who we were and he said he was ready to listen. He said that in a world with so much bad things and confusion, it's been hard for him to find a faith in God and Jesus Christ. Well we basically taught the first lesson on his door step and invited him to read the Book of Mormon. He said that he would and that we could come back and teach some more, it was a sweet miracle. Then later as we were waiting to go on a trade off, we saw this guy across the street smoking a cigarette. I thought to myself that we should go talk to him but I said to myself that we didn't need to. Again I felt that we should go talk to him and again I decided against it. Finally a third time I was nudged to go talk to him and decided to go do it. We went and talked to him and he was very receptive. He was from C. and didn't like it here in Florida
We had some really busy days on Saturday and Sunday. In the Morning on Saturday we went and saw this kid named A who we had been trying to see for a long time. His grandparents are against the church so it’s been hard for him to talk to us, but they were out of town so it was a good opening. He wanted to know our beliefs and we gave him a 13 articles of faith card. He was cool with all of them and said he would read the Book of Mormon and come to church, but he needed to get his license first. So that was a cool thing that happened in the morning. Then later we went and saw L and the first thing he said to us was; "Now you know that I'm not going to convert right?" We asked him if the spirit told him it was true if he would, and he said that it hasn't yet and we said we'll see. He had a lot of good questions about the Book of Mormon which we answered but he isn't the brightest, so I think with a lot of the things we went over his head a bit so we will have to simplify for him later. On Sunday we went and saw a lot of members and it was a really good day except for people not showing up to church. But yeah there is my week for ya.
I don't really have anything else to say, but I hope you all have a great week! Love, Elder Garrett Bushman
Friday, October 7, 2011
Another wonderful week to be alive!
Dear Family, Well what another wonderful week to be alive! I love being a missionary, it’s absolutely wonderful! Oh I don’t even know where to start, I guess I'll start off by saying thank you to all that have wished me a happy birthday or who will. I think there are some letters that have been sent that are still at the mission office and I haven't gotten them yet, so sorry if I have not replied back yet. And mom no I have not yet gotten the package but I assume that it will come sometime soon, but thank you so much for sending it, I'm excited to see what it is! The letters were great as well, it was fun to hear yours and dad's perspectives on my life over the past twenty years, wow that sounds weird haha But I loved looking back into all of that. We did some fun things as a family and some of the things that I got in trouble for it was fun just to look back and laugh at it. I think I particularly laughed out loud when dad commented about me getting grounded for instant messaging girls (we had a rule in our house – that he was suppose to get his homework done before he instant messaged this “friends” and after numerous times of breaking that rule- he would get grounded) haha wow I was immature, still am, but better. As I look back on the last twenty years of life the best word I can think of to describe it is "gratitude." As I have contemplated the last few months and the struggles we've had, I have come to the realization of something. It all struck me in conference this weekend as one of the speakers talked about how we are sent to a mission, a mission president, an area, investigators, and members for a reason. We are sent to these people to help us grow and make us better. So I have come to understand why I have been sent to such a difficult area, because ever since I have been here my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and its importance have exploded with great light in my soul. You are probably wondering what this has to do with being grateful for my last twenty years, well it is because if I didn't have worthy parents who were strong in the gospel and understood its importance I might never be at where I am today. I don't know where I would be, so for you mom and dad, Jake, Austin, and Hunter...Thank you for your righteous example to me, I am eternally grateful! And thanks to all who have been good examples to me throughout my life, I wish I could name you all but that would just take to long. This Gospel goes far beyond this life, far beyond anything we could ever comprehend, but God has given us enough understanding and made it simple enough so that we can know they WAY back to him. All we have to do is trust in him and have hope. Through all of you and your examples and through the trials that I have faced, that hope has become a reality to me, a true knowledge, and with that knowledge I know that God lives, he loves us, loves us so much in fact that he sent his only begotten son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ to suffer for each and everyone one of us so we don't have to. I know that through Joseph Smith his Gospel, the Gospel of everlasting life has been restored in its fullness and that all the nations of the Earth can be blessed by it. This is tangible to me, I can feel it so deeply that I can't quite express it but I just want to let you all know that even with the shaky mind of a 20 year old, that I Testify in the name of Jesus Christ that what I have said is true and I love it!
Alright well I guess now I'll tell you about my week haha Well I hate to say it but again it was another pretty hard week. We've had to drop about 4 of our 6 investigators because of their lack of progress and commitment and none of them showed up to General Conference. I don't really even want to talk about M, L, or any of them because they really frustrate me in their desire to follow Christ. But I know I need to learn more patience and I'm sure I will continue to learn it. We are actually going to drop M today because he hasn't been to church in a month and he committed this week to come to conference and failed to do so. I wish I could some how describe to these people how much potential they have and what the Gospel can mean in their lives and I do, but it is so sad when they choose to reject it. Stupid agency haha Brother C and I always talk about how we wish we could just take away peoples agency sometimes so they will have to accept the gospel but we know we can't do that. Oh by the way have you all received the October Ensign yet? Oh my goodness it’s amazing! A whole Ensign dedicated to the greatest book ever to grace this planet, what a blessing! I absolutely love the Book of Mormon, I started reading it again just because it's so much fun to study! In fact I made a goal that I would no longer tract with a Bible in my hands but just a Book of Mormon and I would only go into lessons with a Book of Mormon. This is not because I dislike the Bible but it is because I have realized that I'm not going to convert people by reading the Bible and arguing about it with them, but it is going to be through the Book of Mormon. Anyway so we did fine one new investigator this week. It's an old guy named L, he is a very nice man and he sat and told us how he struggles with his language and how he sometimes looks at the women, it was absolutely hilarious! I won't go into detail of what he talked about, not that its bad or anything, but it was just so funny. The weather has been excellent these last few days as well, in the mornings it’s about 55 degrees and then right now actually it is 65 degrees outside. It's absolute heaven!
Well I don’t really know what else there is to say....Thank you for the pictures mom, they are really cool. Lane looks so much older and Heber kind of has his dad's hairline haha Oh and tell M good luck in Spain
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Finally - some pictures from the Elder....
Score!
The new companion - Elder G.
Zone leader roommates
Past comp - Elder A.
And last but not least..... Elder John Travolta! Dance baby dance!
Monday, September 26, 2011
It's birthday week in Florida.....
Dear Family,
Well I guess the first thing I need to say is that I'm not getting transferred, I'm staying in J C. So this is kind of weird because this will be my first time for having a companion for more than one transfer haha Kind of weird but it will be fun. And thank you for the Birthday wishes I really appreciate it. I'm glad you enjoyed the videos and the pictures we've been having a good time, well except for the bed bugs, but other than that it’s been really good. And when you say that they inspired you, does that mean you all are going to be singing......oh I sure hope not hahaha just messin. Anyway I don’t have a super a lot of time this week to write because we are going down to St. Augustine for a district P-Day so it should be fun, but I'll tell you about our week.
So this week has actually been a pretty rough week but a good one at the same time. We were able to learn a lot of good lessons and realize that we needed to rely on the Lord more. The first part of the week started off really well, we were able to teach quite a few lessons in the first 2 days of the week, but then we didn't teach a single lesson after that for the rest of the week, except to members, all of our investigators abandoned us haha One of our Investigators, L, we took her on a church tour on Tuesday and invited her to come to church but she is still very skeptical, she doesn't want to come to church until she reads the whole book of Mormon. She feels that if she comes she isn't going to be able to keep up because she doesn't know where any of the scriptures are. So we are still working with her but she went out of town this weekend so we couldn't see her again. M is still struggling, we weren't able to have a lesson with him at all this week, he kept post-poning and post-poning to the point we never even got to see him, so that was pretty frustrating. However, we did get a new investigator on Monday named H. Last Sunday we went over to one of our investigators houses and we began to teach and his daughter H was there so we started to talk and she began to ask us a lot of questions. Well she said that she wanted to read the Book of Mormon and asked if we could give her one, so of course we said yes! And then as we were leaving we asked if we could do anything for them and she said "yeah come back again" haha it was amazing! So we went back on Tuesday and had a quick spiritual thought and prayer, because it was late, and set up a time to go back which is tonight! So we are really excited about her and hopefully we can get them all out to General Conference. Speaking of General conference, I hope you all are getting very excited, because I am! I absolutely love general conference, it’s the best thing ever! We are so lucky to have prophets and apostles that get to speak to us every six months, I never realized how important this was obviously until I came out here on a mission, but it is so important! President Uchtdort told a story of a man that was talking to a friend about having prophets and apostles and his friend said well if this is really true, what did they say last at the conference. Well needless to say the member went from being very excited to extremely embarrassed because he couldn't remember a single thing. His friend said "so you're telling me that you have prophets and apostles that talk to you and teach what the Lord wants you to know and you don't even listen?" So family, don't be that person haha I hope you all get the chance to watch and not only watch but "Listen" because it really is such an amazing experience and I am so mad that I took it for granted all of those years. Well anyway enough of me rambling on about that.
So for the rest of the week.....Well we tracted a whole bunch this week, more than I have in the last 3 months and we didn't get one person that wanted to talk to us. I had to tell my companion the story of dad's fruitless six months which I think seemed to help us both out a lot. We had the opportunity to have dinner with our bishop on Sunday and we finally got to ask him what he thought we could do as missionaries to help the ward. Well, the sad thing is, is that he didn't know. He just told us that it was a tough area and it always has been. Every single baptism in this ward for the past 6 years has been through a member referral or a friend of a member, so that will be the best way for us to find solid people. I think we are gaining favor with the members though because we have been seeing them a lot and we have been taking their sons out on trade-offs with us so that has been the good things that are going on.
Well I am sorry to cut it short but I really have to go, I love you all and have a wonderful week!
Oh and Grandma I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday is well! I love you so much and am so grateful for all that you have done through out my life, not just for me but also for my mom and my family. You raised a wonderful daughter and she has taught me so much and been such a guide for me in my life, so I am so grateful to you for doing so a fine job at raising my mom. It's fun having the same birthday as you, I've always been so proud of it haha But grandma thank you again for all you do, you are a great example to me and Have a wonderful Birthday! Alright now I will be done for sure, Cya! Love, Elder Bushman
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