March 28, 2011

Dear Family, and extended family, and whoever else reads this,

Wow this week has been incredible! We as a companionship have seen so many miracles this week and have had so many blessings. We keep asking ourselves what we do to deserve them, but we just keep thanking Heavenly Father for the countless blessings he's giving us.

So I'll start from the beginning, on Monday we had a way crazy day. For some reason I just wasn't being myself, and as we were going to an appointment that night I said something to Elder P. saying how if he took a drivers test, he would totally fail, (he was driving crazy) but right after that he told me "Elder Bushman, you are being ridiculous today!” I was shocked, I didn't know what to say but the thing is, is that he didn't explain to me what was wrong so we went into the appointment, and I was super frustrated. Afterwards we went back to the apartment and I was really mad, so I knelt down and prayed for help and I started to realize that I didn't know how to work with other people very well, like if I was going to do something, it was either all on my own or I let everyone else do it. I don’t know why this came to me, but I know it was the spirit, and it was something I needed to work on.  I prayed that I would be able to work with my companions and after [my prayer] I had a talk with Elder P. and Elder W. and I explained to them why I was so frustrated.  Elder P. told me that I had just been doing some immature things throughout the day and that I wasn't being a good disciple of Jesus Christ. After he told me I felt a lot better because now I knew what I needed to change, so everything’s good now.

We went to the H.'s house on Tuesday and when we got there, on there wall in the family room were all of our pictures framed, with the family proclamation to the world hanging in the middle. It was so cool! They are such an amazing family, we have taught them all the lessons; they are fully committed and are getting baptized this Sunday!!!! Mom this is the most prepared family in the world, it truly is amazing, they are solid and I'm positive they won’t ever go inactive.

On Wednesday I went to Way Cross with Elder P. to their district meeting and then went on trade offs, that was really good, I got to work with Elder N. again so that was fun.  So then we came back on Thursday and we helped this lady K. move her stuff outside of he house for a garage sell. She is getting evicted from her house with her two girls, her husband abused her in every way imaginable its really a sad story, I won’t go into detail but pray for her she needs all the strength she can get. She isn't a member either and wants to find religion and really loved us and what we were about and wanted to join, but she has to move. So yeah pray for her.

Friday morning we went and saw this black lady named B. It was probably one of the funniest things ever, we brought a recorder in with us before we started, she didn't know, but it is hilarious. So we started talking and she interrupted us and started preaching to us, she sounded like a pastor it was so funny. We had her say the prayer at the end and she started off quiet and then got louder and louder and would say halleluiah like every once in a while, we almost started like yelling amen and stuff it was good haha

Sunday was amazing! We had 7 investigators at church.  It was crazy, like I said the Lord has blessed us. We have 6 baptism dates for this next month too, can you believe that?!!!  I don’t have a lot of time to go into detail but, we have a couple of new investigators that have dates besides the H, a black lady named Y, and a 16 year old girl named A..  Shoot I got to hurry this up. So something cool though, so I lost my wallet during the week and looked everywhere for it all week. I had a thought that I left it in a member’s car, but never did call them. So on Sunday part of my fast was that I could find my wallet, and that Sunday the member came up to me and gave it to me, man fasting is such a cool thing.  Well I'm running out of time but I do have some last advice and this is mainly for Nick, and Hunter too but more at the time for Nick, I gave this advice to Jordan so hopefully it will help. So Nick I know you are getting prepared to go on a mission, so something you can do now is set goals on what kind of missionary you want to become. I wrote myself a “little title of liberty: or “title of missionary” and I'll share it with you.

Loose yourself to find yourself,

Be exactly obedient,

The lord expects much of you,

Don’t let anything hold you back from reaching your full potential,

Give the lord your whole, heart, might, mind, and strength,

Don’t fight it, let the lord mold you

Into a disciple of Jesus Christ,

Into a selfless servant.

Into humble servant,

Becoming a God!!

The Lord can mold us into a God if we are willing to give ourselves to him. We are in debt to him, he already has everything we have, he created us, but the only thing he doesn't have is our hearts. So give him your heart. Find a love for learning, reading the scriptures, serving, and people, and most of all God. Do these things now and you will be prepared for a mission.  A mission isn't easy, it is physically, mentally, and spiritually demanding at all times, but is so worth it, because of the joy that comes from it if you give all of yourself to the Lord.

Well I got to go but have a good week everyone! Elder Bushman  

My Dads and my first home in Georgia....

Elder P. - obviously the more serious of the two...... Garrett said he is a "spiritual Genius!"

And Elder W. - the very fun and outgoing one!

Looks a little cozy (and amazingly clean) for 3 missionaries.......wonder who gets the bed in the corner?

Finallly..... a few pictures from the MTC - he really was there....

We finally received some pictures (like 100 or so) of Garrett at the MTC.  Here are a few of him with his district......

 Garrett's companion Elder Svedin - from Utah.

 Yes - a picture in front of the Provo Temple!  I really should find out who these Elders are....

 Boys will be Boys......  Garrett really liked Elder Chan - they had a lot of fun together!

 The District....

 Somebody's mom was very creative.....

And the famous "Look Where I'm Going" picture....  Hum.... Garrett isn't going anywhere....

March 21, 2011

Dear Family, Oh man so much to tell ya'll, I have had an eventful week, let me tell ya. But I'll just start off with everything I guess and then answer questions. And forgive me if my grammar isn't the best, but to be honest, it's not that big of a deal to me at the moment ha ha alright here we go!

So I think Tuesday was March 15th if I remember correctly and that’s where I'll start. So it was a pretty sweet day, we had district meeting and I finally felt like i learned how to plan effectively. We learned like this eleven step process which really helped me out. After that we went to see R. and H, two of our investigators, but they weren't there so we just decided to tract that street. We started knocking on doors and nothing was happening. Then we knocked on this door and a lady comes to the door and says she's not interested, but Elder P. asks if she knew anyone that would be interested and she said her friends across the street. So we went across the street and started talking to this lady named D. She was a way sweet lady and was way willing to listen. She told us that if there was anything God needed her to know then she would listen. So we taught her the first lesson and it went really well, she said she wanted to know if our prophet really was the prophet and wanted to come to church, but she is way busy because she teaches a Sunday school class and other things and won’t be able to come till April 17th. But she did say she had been trying to order a book of Mormon for the longest time but never received it....MIRACLE!! So we gave her one. That night we watched finding faith in Christ with B.H. and afterword I talked to her about how faith in Christ is so important and that we need to prove our love to him through our faith and our works. I asked her how she could do that and she started talking about her kids and broke down in tears, she felt like her kids were why she was here. She is such a great mom, and loves her kids more than anything in the world. I promised her that as she puts all her whole heart, might, mind, and strength into this gospel, that the Lord would bless her and her family and that they will find continued happiness. It was such a sweet spiritual experience.

Now skipping to Thursday, we got to do this service project for a less active lady and a non-member. We cut down this huge tree in their yard, it took us from 10 am till 3 pm, it was crazy! I got roasted and eaten alive by nats, but it felt good to get out and do some physical labor. Afterwards we went to a members house and had the most amazing meal in the world! So they fed us Brisket, Ribs, BBQ chicken, roles, coleslaw, beans, and desert. It was just a beautiful thing, that’s all I’ve got to say. Then that night we had another good lesson with the H's.

Then Saturday was another crazy day. We went and saw a ton of members and even helped one of them and did some service for them for a while. Then we went on a trade off that afternoon with Elder R. We went and saw some of his people and then went to see some of ours. One our people wasn't home but we started talking to this big black girl and asked if she'd like to learn more and she said she would. Then she turned to me and told me I needed to leave my wife because she was going to take me haha I told her I wasn't married and then she told me to break up my girlfriend and I just laughed, it was pretty crazy! Later that night we watched Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration with the whole H. family and the loved it! What a powerful movie. The spirit was so strong. Every time I watch that movie, my testimony of Joseph smith just grows and grows. The H's were just in shock at all he went through and loved seeing how the priesthood was given to them, and all the other heavenly messengers that appeared to them. S. especially was ecstatic about that. I asked them afterwards what they felt, and they all said they felt really good, and C. especially (he's the 16 year old son) said that all of his worries seemed to just go away and that he felt peaceful. MAN I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!! It was so sweet! I bore my testimony to him about Joseph Smith and how it was all true. He had a friend there with him too which felt the spirit, so we're hoping we can start teaching him too.

The next day they all came to church. They even beat us there, they were twenty minutes early haha They all loved church and just kept saying how grateful they were to finally find the true church. The coolest thing that happened though is that C. has a friend there that was talking about a mission, and now C. wants to go on one! He's not even a member yet and he already wants to go, it truly is one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. Heavenly Father really does work in miraculous ways, I feel so blessed and so humbled to be able to teach a family so elect and so ready as this one. I feel like I'm learning more from them, then they are from me. They have gone through some really hard things, Sister H. like totally shared her whole life story with me this night as well, and it truly is amazing how the Lord has been preparing her from her youth to be the kind of person she is today. I can't wait until she gets to go to the temple and be sealed with her family forever.  So yeah that’s Sunday.

So early this morning the sisters in an area called Hilliard called and were freaking out. They had been stocked by this guy that night like threatening them and stuff. So they booked it out of there and went to another area where the other sisters were. But Elder P, W, and I drove down there to give them blessings and make sure everything was alright. We didn't get back till 3 in the morning, but it was a way good experience. Well that’s my week for ya.

Now to answer questions. So Elder W is from southern Idaho and he's been out for about 11 months. The food in that picture was eggs, sausage, and coke (the drink) all mixed together. We don't get dinner appointments during the week because prime proselyting time is from 5 to 9, but we can have appointments before that and on weekends. I don’t need any bug spray, I’m just going to try the whole rub dryer sheets on me thing.

(Missionary cooking at its finest..... eggs, sausage and coke - oh yum!!!)  Somebody please feed my boy????

Mom you need to send me some pictures of everyone, I want to see how things are going. Oh and Hunter, I don’t think it will happen in 2012 anymore  because it says that the gospel will be taught to every nation, tongue and people and so far it hasn't happened yet. But soon missionaries will only be sent out of country and that members will be doing all the work in the Americas. And in D&C 35 it says that the week things of the world will rise up and thrash the nations, and that’s happening right now in the middle east, so pretty cool. So keep me informed how things are going, ya'll have a great week now! Love you all, bye bye.  Elder Bushman

March 14, 2011

Dear Family,  So this last week has been pretty Crazy, I've learned so much about myself and How I can become a better missionary and have been put in a lot of situations where I didn't have my companions. So first of all Monday went really good I really can't remember too much about it because I still had Elder Pelo and Elder Wadsworth with me. But on Tuesday Elder Pelo and Elder Wadsworth had to go to a training meeting in Jacksonville so I was left behind to be with some other elders. We tracted a lot, which was good for me because it helped me out a ton on how to do door approaches. But we tracted into this preacher and we introduced ourselves as Elder so and so and he said yeah and I'm elder so and so too. So we already knew this one was going to be bad. He asked us where our bible was, and we said back in the car, and he told us that all we need to know comes out of the bible. It went on and he told us that technically he wasn't even supposed to wish us God Speed because he said we were preaching a different gospel which is ridiculous. He told us how we were confused and then he told us that Joseph Smith was in Hell, I totally laughed out loud ha-ha it was great. We left, but I so badly just wanted to rebuke him and tell him he was wrong, cause I did just try bearing my testimony and leave but he interrupted me which kind of pissed me off, but oh well. People here are just so stubborn, Everybody has a church they go to and they all believe in Christ for the most part, and they are Southern which adds on to the pridefulness ha-ha But that night I got to teach our way awesome family, the H's, and I taught them the plan of salvation and they absolutely loved it! The spirit was so strong and they are understanding everything its awesome. I’ll talk more about them in a little bit. Oh but I need to tell ya'll about the nats, they are terrible! They just seem to hover toward you with there tiny bites of death, I hate them! Do you remember how in the other side of heaven how he freaked out over the bugs, yeah that’s what I feel like doing sometimes ha ha but anyway I just thought I’d share that.

On Wednesday I got to go to Waycross, Georgia on a trade off and I was companions with Elder Neville who I actually went to Junior high with ha ha its a small world. It was way fun and we got to do service for this old couple. It felt so good to get out and do some yard work. We were moving some wood though and there were these huge nasty black spiders, I'm not going to lie I freaked out once because I thought there was one on me ha ha But they fed us after and it was great. We then got fed again that night, it was the first time that I’ve been fed so I was stuffed.

On Thursday I was reunited with my companions at zone conference. I learned so much at zone conference. We were asked to read our patriarchal blessings and write down everything it tells us we need to do or that we are going to be. It hit me so hard that God expects much of me and I realized that I can't be my regular self, the one that just kind of follows along. I need to be a leader.  I can't let laziness get a hold of me anymore, there is no room for that. There is no room for mediocracy when it comes to missionary work, we have been called of God through a modern prophet to serve his people. It is a sacred calling and it’s not something to take for granted. I need to put my whole heart, might, mind, and strength to the Lord. But I also learned I need to be patient.  all I’ve wanted  since I’ve gotten here is to know everything right now and it gets me thinking that I wish I had been out here longer so I know as much as like Elder Pelo or Elder Wadsworth, but that’s not the point. I need to live in the moment and take every opportunity I can to learn and grow, I can't fast-forward things, that’s not how God works. So at length I just knelt down and prayed to my Heavenly Father and said basically that I give up, I give myself to thee, I’ll do whatever needs to be done, I won’t try to rush, and I'll be patient, but I do need help with it. So that really helped a lot, The work has become so much more enjoyable and rewarding, not that it was bad before, but now it just seems so much better. I have so much more thoughts about this but I don’t have a lot of time so I won’t be able to write them down so sorry but I guess the huge thing that I've learned so far is that God loves me and he expects much, but he also expects me to be patient and long suffering and humble, then will I be blessed to know the things that I need to know. Me and Elder Pelo are a lot alike.   In fact, he told me he had all the same thoughts when he first got here too and so we had a really good talk about these things and it helped out a lot.

So anyway skipping to Saturday. Saturday we had an awesome lesson with the H. family, we watched the restoration video and it was so great. They loved it and were just so happy to know that God once again has called a Prophet. The mother's name is Sunshine and she's from Australia, she hadn't seen or heard us talk about Joseph Smith yet, but she had been in Illinois when the Nauvoo temple was built and had, had a friend who took her to Carthage jail so she knew quite a bit. But afterwords she just kept saying thank God, Thank God, that I have been led to the right church. She has leukemia so she is knows God has a purpose for her to still be alive, she said she should have died like 30 years ago but God has kept her alive. She had to work on Sunday but the daughter, Brandy, got to come and she felt so welcome, everyone came and talked to her and welcomed her it was great. And her kids have already made friends at church when they came to bible study on Wednesday. So they are so solid and will all be getting baptized on April 3rd, Can't wait!

Anyway that’s all that’s been going on here in Georgia.  Hunter, That’s awesome that you hit well and got to pitch! Keep working hard and just love it, if you love it that means you're having fun so always make sure you're having fun or you won’t love it. That’s something I kind of regret is I don’t think I tried to have as much fun as I should have I was too hard on myself, which isn't a bad thing, but don’t let it control you. Set goals for yourself on what you want to accomplish then write down how you will accomplish them, out here it’s all about setting goals and doing everything you can to achieve them. So I promise you that as you set goals and you set out to achieve them, the lord will bless you in your effort to become a better player. It’s crazy because even God had goals and plans, his goal was to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, and of course his plan is the Plan of Salvation. Captain Moroni set about goals for maintaining the liberty of his people and he put up defenses for all the cities, and the Lord blessed him. So always strive to set goals and make plans, you'll be the even more prepared for life and God will Bless you. Anyway I hope all is going well back at home, I'm loving the mission and working hard everyday. Hope y'all have a great day!  Love, Elder Bushman

Brunswick Georgia - my first area.

Dear Family,  Oh man I dont even know where to start. This week has been so awesome and so crazy! I guess I'll start with my companions. So as you know My companions are Elder P. and Elder W. and they are the zone leaders Here in Georgia. Elder P. is way cool, he is like a gospel genius and knows how to do everything pretty much. Elder W. is hillarious, he is way outgoing and just knows how to talk to people. We've been having a lot of fun. We just made a pact today that we were going to live the Celestial law which means that anytime we start talking about something that isn't gospel oriented we get to punch eachother. Like you can still quote stuff, but you can't linger on it. I screwed up in like the first 30 seconds, I said freak and got punched haha But we've all been working extremely hard and I am so exhausted! Missionary work is so demanding but so amazing. There isn't anything else I'd rather be doing. I'm reading a talk called the fourth missionary right now and its talking about all the different attributes that need to be in a successful missionary. It's really good and I'm learning a lot from it. one of the main things is that If you serve your mission right, be obedient, work hard, the works, but don't have your heart in it, you won't be happy and you wont change. You have to put your whole might, mind, strength, and heart into it to get something out of it. And this can be applied to anything in life.

As for the area, J. was right Brunswick is a beautiful place but there are so many ghetto's around here. You wouldn't believe the kind of poverty that i've seen. Its crazy to think people would want to live in such dumpy, dingy places but yet the people are way humble and kind, and i already love them. It's hard though because everyone is religious. Baptists are the hardest people to talk to because the just want to preach to you in there southern accents and don't ever let you talk haha Its actually really funny I wish i could record someone and send it to you. We got preached to by this lady last night for like 30 minutes straight, she didn't even check to see if we were still on the phone. We also ran into a reorganized church member which was really interesting. He believed joseph smith to be a prophet, but nothing else, he didn't want to listen to us at all. But we have ran into some sweet sweet people. So my very first night out, we were tracting at like 8:45 at night and I asked elder wadsorth if people ever answer there door this time of night and actually listen. He told me that everyonce in a while miracles happen. Like two doors later a lady answers the door, Her name is S. and she listens to us and we get an appointment with her to come back. We come back, teach her the first lesson, the spirit was so strong and she told us she would read the book of mormon and pray. It was so cool! Now for the way cool story! So me and Elder W. are tracting again we had just gone to see a less active, and just decided to tract the area while we were at it. So as we were tracting we saw some couches laying outside this house in the yard and we were like oh yeah perfect serving opportunity! so we go to the door and it was open so we yelled in to ask if anyone was home. This lady came to the door and we asked if we could move the couches in for them. They were all concerned though cause the didn't want us to ruin our clothes. But we convinced them it was all good and So we moved these couches in. It was extremely difficult by the way, they were heavy and we had to recline them so they could fit through the door, but she was so happy. She said she had been worrying about the couches all day and how she would get them in, and then we showed up. It was too perfect, the service softened her up and she wanted to here our message. So we sat down and talked with her and gave her the first lesson. I recited the first vision for her and the spirit was tremedous, so strong! afterwords I asked her how she felt and she said really good, she said she had goose pimples. So I told her that was the spirit testifying of the truth. She said that while I was telling her the first vision, that she could picture God and Jesus Christ Standing next to me and she already knew it was true. Oh it was such a sweet miracle. So we committed her to coming to church and to read the book of mormon and she said she would love too! She actually asked us if she could have the book and if she could come to church haha So she didn't show up at church though and we went over to see her last night. She said she didn't wake up till 11:30 because she was really sick, but she felt terrible for not coming. Her mom was there this time and she's from Australia. She is so cool! We started talking and She said she lived in Navoo when the temple was built and that she really liked the Mormons. She said she wanted a book Of Mormon and wanted to come to church too. OH MAN IT IS SO COOL! We're going to see them again tonight. So yeah just goes to show that the Lord prepares his children, they wen't through so many struggles in their life, and they told us they were looking for a church to go to, but none of them felt right. So god has been preparing them or years and he knew that those couches were going to be outfront that day and he told us to tract the area, what a sweet miracle.

So anyway thats kind of what is going on. Thats so cool about the ward too I'm excited for you. I know what its like to be placed with a bunch of new people, its hard, but you'll get used to it. And mom for your talk something that i've learned about friendship, is that be a friend to them always. Be an example, be a good listener, be someone they can count on, and just be there for them always and serve them. Thats the big one, is to serve. The second great commandment is to Love thy neighbor as the self, and how do we love someone? By serving them.

Hunter, be confident in your tournament this weekend. When you step up to that plate, look the pitcher straight in the eyes and say to yourself, "THERE IS NO WAY IN THE WORLD THAT YOU ARE GOING TO GET ME OUT!" if you have this kind of confidence in yourself there is no end to the kind of results you can have.

Well i'm going to just send the card to you mom i dont want to have to go to the store to do it. Well I gotta go so have a great week and love you all!  Elder Bushman

Tender Mercies....

Yesterday after ward council, I got home to find a message on the phone from an old friend, Joanne.  She had remarried after her 1st husband died, and moved to Georgia.  Well she went to church yesterday - to find out that they had a new missionary in the ward - yep - Elder Bushman from Farmington Utah.  She had to call me to tell me that she was standing right next to him!  And to let me know that her husband goes out with the missionaries all the time, and that they feed the missionaries all the time too!  She promised me that he would be well fed and taken care of........  It completely made my day - to talk to a great friend - and to know that Garrett is in her ward.......  What a tender mercy for the mom!

And less than a week later..... apartment inspection with Mission President.

Sometime during the week that Garrett arrived, it was apartment inspection time with the Mission President.  He lucked out on this one - can't be blamed for a messy apartment - if you have just arrived......

Meeting companions for the first time.....

Elder Bushman - being introduced to the mission by Elder Wadsworth and Elder Pelo - his new trainers.

I have no idea who these Elders are with Garrett - but apparently they are very friendly!
(Ok - a few weeks later I learned that these are all missionaries that Garrett knows from where else - but Farmington, UT - wow - who knew?  No wonder they all look so happy and friendly with each other!)

Welcome to Paradise....

Sister Barry posted these pictures and descriptions on her blog today.  So grateful for their mission blog - occasionally I will get to see Garrett.   THANKS Sisters Barry!

* * *

The newest missionaries to Florida Jacksonville arrived on one of the most beautiful days I have seen since we arrived here. They fell in love with the mission right off. We didn't tell them about the summer months of heat and humidity. Just let them enjoy it while they can.

We are so impressed with this group of missionaries. At a devotional their first night here they each humbly bore their testimony. The spirit flooded the room and we knew they would be powerful missionaries.

 

Standing Left:  Elder Robinson, Elder Bushman, Elder Bigelow, Elder Boamorte, Elder Svedin
Sitting:  Sister Mathis, Sister Rule

 

The luggage is loaded in a trailer and they are loaded into the mission van.  The trip to the mission home takes about 45 minutes...35 with the one of the Assistants driving who we won't mention.  :)

 

They always arrive starving.  This group ate breakfast at 3:30 am at the MTC and nothing else the rest of the day.  I have found that no matter how much I cook, it disappears. 

 

Elder Pelo - on the right side in the back - is one of Garrett's new trainers.  He has been the AP.