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!

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

A few new pictures.....

So grateful for Sister Barry's mission blog.... it's nice to see pictures of the boy every once in a while....

 to  

Lunch  (always the best part of the day) - during leadership training.  

With visiting general authority Per G. Malm and his wife - Garrett loved this man - said it was such a spiritual meeting.

Life is good

Dear Family,

How has everything been going? Everything out here in the mission field has been going wonderful! I absolutely love being a missionary. We had a better week, we were able to find a couple of new investigators and teach a whole lot more of lessons, so that makes it really nice when you feel like you are accomplishing more. Oh and I would like to address something. Mom please don't worry about me getting discouraged, discouragement is the devils tool so get missionaries to give up, and so I will not get discouraged no matter what happens. I am serving the Lord and that's what brings true happiness. When we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ there is no room for discouragement.  You just trust in God and press forward relying on him. So that is what I am doing, I am pressing forward with a steadfastness in Christ and having a perfect brightness of hope…. well trying to have a perfect brightness of hope, but we all know I'm not perfect. haha Anyway so I am doing Great!

So the week went well, we were able to teach a lot of lessons like I said, which was a welcome change. On Thursday we were able to teach a new investigator named J that Elder D and I tracted into like 2 months ago.  It was really sweet, we contacted him a while ago and asked if we could come back and so we have been trying and trying but finally we were able to get in. We were able to sit down and teach the first lesson and it went really well.  He was listening intently and was asking a lot of good questions. So we are going back to see him today and hopefully we can set up another appointment because he never answers his phone. 

We were able to teach L twice this week, I don’t know if I have told you much about her, but she has been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy and almost has all of it done. We keep inviting her to church, but she doesn't want to come until she knows more, so we are taking her on a church tour this Tuesday so we can get her more familiar with the church.  She is really coming a long, she is the only one really keeping all of her commitments so we are really excited about her. 

M is still being a little lame. I'm trying to be less critical but he is just so darn stubborn.  He is caught up on this whole book that is going to be written by the gentiles for the gentiles. It talks about this book in the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 30 but it is actually talking about the Book of Mormon and we tried to explain that to him but he won’t listen. So we then watched Prophet of the Restoration with him and the spirit was so strong the whole time. We asked him how he felt and he said he felt warm the whole time and that he knew it was all true, but that he's still caught up on the whole book of the gentiles thing. Oh it was frustrating, he totally had a spiritual confirmation, and Elder Green and I bore powerful testimony and he still won’t accept it. But we have some good things prepared for him and hopefully he will just let down his pride walls and accept the fact that there is only one true church.

We were able to contact L yesterday again. She is still excited to meet with us and she wants us to give her a call on Thursday, so I just can’t wait for the time that we get to teach her, she is so ready for the Gospel.

We also got a referral for a man named A from a member in his neighborhood last week. We had the chance to talk to him that day and give him a Book of Mormon. Well we have been trying to go back all week to talk to him but he was never home. Well finally we talked to him yesterday and we were able to sit down and have a lesson. He had all sorts of questions and it was great because we were able to answer them all and he said that he would definitely read and pray. So it was just another last minute miracle and it goes to show how important member missionary work is. There are people all around us just searching for truth and don't know where to find it, and it is our responsibility as members to befriend them and show them where true happiness comes from.

Well that is how my week went this week, unfortunately nobody showed up to church but we are continually being hopeful and we are continuing to see little miracles here and there. Oh by the way the weather is starting to get wonderful here, it has been 75 degrees the last two days with cloud cover and a cool breeze, it’s been like heaven. I am so happy it’s not hot anymore!

Oh and Dad sorry if I am not responding to any parts of your letter yet, but I haven't gotten it yet so I can't really. But I did think of a few more things that I would like for my birthday, Wow I can't believe I am almost twenty, I remember last year when I turned 19 like it was yesterday. You all drove all the way out from Utah to take me to Texas Rode house and it was amazing! Then I got a bunch of stuff stolen from me that night haha good times. Well anyway, so I think I will need a new church shirt, and well I can't remember now but I have a list and I will send it next week haha 

Well thank you for all that you do and I am grateful for all of you. Have a wonderful week!  Love,  Elder Garrett Bushman

Yes I'm still alive....

Dear Family,

Yes I am alive haha Our preparation day was today because we had a zone conference yesterday and let me tell you it was amazing! Actually this whole weekend was just so good for me and I don’t think I've had so many powerful, spiritual experiences in one weekend. I guess I'll talk about those first so I don't forget, well actually I'll talk about my week first. Oh but I first want to say that I am super jealous about Hunter and Dad going to a Yankees game! I can't believe that you went without me. I’m just messing I don't really care but I hope you had fun, anyway. 

So it is good to hear that Elder Sears and Elder Payne are doing well, its amazing to see how much they have changed in just a short period of time. Well I guess I have too haha Anyway but it was another good week, we worked hard and did our best, but this upcoming week we have the opportunity to become better. That's what I love about the Gospel, there is always something to work on and we can always become better. I'm starting to change my attitude about things pertaining to the work, because to be honest I don't really care what happens, as long as I give my full effort to the Lord, everything will be okay. I can't do it on my own, I keep thinking I can, and I've just began to realize again that I can't haha It's funny how we have to continually be humbled. This is what I learned from Sister B yesterday in zone conference. Oh sorry I told you I would tell you about my week, well it went good. We have been continually teaching M. and he is very stubborn. He doesn't believe he needs to be part of a church to return to God. He says he knows the Book of Mormon is true but he doesn't believe that The Church of Jesus Christ is the only way, he thinks he could start his own church if he really wanted. It's kind of frustrating  but we are still working with him. We are teaching this lady named L. who we are seeing quite often like twice a week and it is so nice! She has actually read all of 1st Nephi and she did it in like two days! We invited her to be baptized the other day and she told us she would when she knew the Book of Mormon were true, so that was good to hear. We have a lesson with her tomorrow, so pray for us that it goes well. Other than that, not much else is going all, we are supposed to give our Miracle person a call on Thursday, so I am just praying and praying that, that turns out well. I really have a lot of faith that she is golden, I have never felt the spirit so strong about a person before, so I can't wait till we get to see her and her family. Then other than that we probably have 5 other solid potential investigators that could most certainly get baptized, so we are excited. 

Ok so now I will tell you a little bit about this weekend. Elder Per G. Malm from the 2nd quorum of the seventy came and spoke at our stake conference and then at our zone conference. He was absolutely amazing! I wish I could properly explain the kind of power that he had, it just seemed to radiate from his voice and countenance. I was able to write down some impressions I had this weekend as I listened to him, so I thought I would share some of it with you.

I just want to start off by saying how grateful I am for love, the Love I feel from my Father in Heaven, my Savior Jesus Christ, and from the people around me. These last couple of days I've just been filled with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and love that I don't quite know how to explain. I'll try to organize my thoughts but I might be all over the place.

This past week we have been doing a study about obedience and wow, I have a grand new perspective on rules and obedience to them. It finally hit home that it doesn't matter how ridiculous a rule might be, but we obey them because they are there to protect us, to keep us close to our master so we can feel his love. Why do we try to push the boundaries of sin and disobedience? Why do we try to see how close we can get to the edge before we fall? I can't believe I ever thought that way because its not that I'm gaining more freedom, by getting closer to the edge, but in reality I'm pushing away from my Saviors loving embrace of protection, and denying those blessing that come from feeling his love. But I love that I have the POWER to change. As a son of God and with the gift of the Holy Ghost I can redirect my course and turn back towards my Savior's sweet embrace. I pray for the day when I can have the faith and the obedience so that I can receive more commandments, because each new commandment we receive draws us closer to our Heavenly Father and we receive more Blessings. The covenants we make are so powerful, because God cannot lie and when He promises us something through a law, it is by obedience to that law that all blessings are predicated. Elder Bednar said that each new commandment is like a step to a ladder climbing higher and higher towards our Heavenly Father. This is how I feel about laws and commandments now. So Dad it is kind of ironic that you talked to me about that in your letter. It's amazing how the spirit guides.

Speaking of the spirit, I absolutely love the power it has to make us want to change. Throughout the time Elder Malm was talking to us, he would randomly ask people to come up and share what they have been feeling. I have never seen a man so in tuned with the spirit, and each time someone bore their testimony, it was extremely powerful, truly incredible. But I want to share with all of you what I have been feeling from my heart and I would like to say that I know...without a doubt that this gospel is a hundred percent true. I am so grateful for the spirit that teaches us and humbles us to make us want and desire to become better. I am eternally grateful for the Love Jesus Christ has shown for me. I love Him. I want to give Him everything I've got, not just now but forever. And I know that it comes by consecrating myself and obeying the laws and commandments which He has given me. This I must do because I know it is true. I am so grateful that I have this opportunity to serve as a Disciple of Jesus Christ and I will forever be just that. 

Thank you for all that influenced me in my life to become better, to work harder, and to do what is right. 

Well enough of me rambling on haha  I hope you all have a wonderful week and I'll talk to you later!  Love, Elder Garrett Bushman

Well that was fun!

Dear Family,

Well there are a few things I would like to address from your letters before I tell you about my week, so I don’t forget. First off the only people that actually had problems with the Bed Bugs were the other Elders so I don’t think they are in my clothes Hopefully! Secondly, Dad you referred to how I had said that I could prove the Gospel was true through the bible and in all reality that is impossible. Thank you for saying that it was a truly humbling experience, I think I had stated that because I was just frustrated at the blindness of the people and their ignorance. I was reading in 2 Nephi chapters 28-29 which talk about the apostasy and what will happen. It says in the last days how men will begin to rely on their own knowledge and the precepts of men rather than on the Holy Ghost. It said woe unto these people because they are pretty much denying the Holy Ghost. So it is pretty Ironic that I red that in your letter, and also I thought of those people I had been trying to prove it to be true, and the only way they will believe is if there is evidence in the Bible. They take the bible first then prayer later, so its kind of frustrating. But I then thought about how we can't prove Jesus Christ was real, the only evidence we have are the witnesses of the Apostles because if you think about it, his body was taken away, just like the Book of Mormon was, kind of Ironic. Thirdly I would just like to thank you dad for sharing your letter to Grandpa with me, It was extremely powerful, sincere, and heartfelt and it made me realize a lot of the Good things in you and the things I love about you as well as Grandpa.

I also would like to wish Grandpa a happy birthday, Happy Birthday Grandpa! I hope it was one of your best and I wish I could have been there with all of the family to witness it. And Grandpa I want to thank you for being such a wonderful example to my father and bringing him up in the ways of righteousness. I am truly grateful for the Bushman stubbornness that we all seem to have but I am glad that most of all we are stubborn in righteousness and may it always continue to be that way. I think some of my fondest memories are when you would come to Utah for Christmas and you and grandma would always buy us pajamas and we would open them before Christmas. I loved getting pajamas haha Then of course North Carolina was the best family reunion ever! Grandpa you have always loved us and been there for us and I am sincerely grateful for you, I love you Grandpa and happy Birthday.

Ok so now for my week. Well if you have read my blog you have heard of a few experiences that I have had this last week, so it’s been a good week but kind of a crappy one at the same time. It seems like the work just keeps building up and that at some point its going to explode, and I think that exploding point is going to start happening this next week. We are finally setting Solid return appointments with people and teaching lessons, It is so great and feels so good! So I guess to go on a little more about the miracle we had on Monday, we did set up an appointment with her for Friday, but she called us Friday morning and told us that she wouldn't be able to meet with us because her son had a football game. She apologized a lot and continued to thank us for coming over Monday evening and sharing with her our message and praying for her and her family. She said that she would read the Book of Mormon and give us a call the upcoming week.  So she is still awesome but the more days that go by the more people begin to forget that feeling they had, so we are going to give her a call today and set up an appointment with her.

On Thursday I had a district meeting, which I thought went well.  I didn't train on anything of huge inspiration or anything but just on simple fundamentals. Repetition in the gospel is everything. Afterwards I went on a trade off with Elder M., a new missionary in my District that came from S, and it went really well. We taught M. that night and invited him to be baptized again. He said he definitely wants to get baptized he just doesn't feel like he could be ready anytime soon. We assured him that he could be and invited him to pray about it. Then we went tracting for a little bit and ran into this lady who had come into contact with missionaries before and she let us right in. She was from Pennsylvania and had lived near the Peter Whitmer farm or something. Anyway she had been given a Book of Mormon before and had read it but didn't think much of it. We asked her if she remembered the importance of it, and she said no, so we taught her the restoration. We committed her to read and pray and then set a return appointment, it was awesome! Right after that we came out and talked to this guy named C. in his driveway and he seemed really interested.  He was asking us all sorts of questions and said we could come by anytime.

So it was actually Thursday night that we got the call and we were kicked out of our apartment. We have been staying with our bishop and his family ever since and I am so grateful for them, they are wonderful people. Oh and Dad bishop's son is getting his degree in wildlife management and conservation I think and is looking for someone to send a resume to, or just someone he can talk to so I was wondering if you could send me your contact information and then I can give it to him. Anyway so these last few days have been extremely stressful and crazy. But we should be going back to the apartment tonight so I am excited for that. Today is awesome though because we are going to have two barbeques to go to and then we are going bowling with bishop! I'm excited! But as for Sunday none of our investigators came to church which was kind of frustrating but I think kind of a blessing in disguise. It was fast and testimony meeting and the ward had just gone to the temple the day before, so all the testimonies were about the temple and genealogy work and people were just sobbing. I'm sure if one our investigators were there they would probably have been freaked out.  So yeah that is how my week went, but this next week I feel is going to be amazing so I can't wait! Well I love you all thank you for all you do, and have a wonderful week!

Love,  Elder Bushman

P.S. Jake I've seen some pictures and I am just letting you know that you have 17 months to get in shape for the Windrivers haha