A few pictures.... not in any particular order.....

Man I love this place....

Dear Family,   Well this week has been extremely amazing and extremely terrible at the same time. Extremely amazing because we saw a ton of miracles and terrible because Elder A is gone! He got called to be an assistant and they took him out of here on Saturday. President Barry called Friday night and I knew exactly what was happening because I was there when Elder R got called to be an assistant as well. It's like everyone I serve around gets called to be an assistant, I don't understand it. But oh well I am looking forward to a new transfer and a new month and a new companion to hit the streets running and baptizing.

Well I don't even know where to start for this week, it really has just been super crazy!   We found 10 new investigators this week and set 2 baptismal dates for this upcoming month, so we really just saw a lot of miracles and I am feeling extremely blessed right now. It started out with Monday when we went and saw a few potentials and taught and set return appointments and we got 3 new investigators that night. One of them, his name is T. and he is about 23, black man, with dreads, he is really cool. He had this dream about the pre-existence which was amazing and believed it thoroughly. He came to church on Sunday and really enjoyed it. Then on Tuesday, I can't really remember what happened much on Tuesday, I don't think it was one of our more productive days, but it was still amazing I’m sure.

On Wednesday we drove down to Zone Leader Council in Jacksonville. It was really good and I learned a lot and we talked about a lot of good things to get the mission going forward. While I was there Elder T, a missionary I served around, told me how he got an email from this lady that Elder Z and I had contacted in Atlantic and she said that she was getting baptized!  Her name was R. and we had contacted her on the street. She told us she was Jewish but she accepted a Book of Mormon and said she would read it. Well every Monday we would see her at the Library and she would ask us a lot of questions and talk about the things she had been reading. The more and more we talked she kept saying how every time she saw us or talked to us good things would happen. We would see her all the time while riding our bikes or driving and we would keep running into her. Well near the end of that transfer she was going to move up to Maine and I just told her that there was no coincidence that we kept running into her and that good things were happening every time she saw us. She sent a postcard about a month later and told us how she ran into missionaries in Maine too. Well now about 8 months later Elder Tenny gets and email from her and she said that she is going to get baptized!  How crazy is that! I was so excited to hear that!  I had a feeling that she would get baptized, it's just crazy how planting seeds like that can have such a huge impact on someone’s life.

Well the rest of the week continued to go great we were just teaching like crazy and finding like crazy. On Friday we went to go see this old media referral but she wasn't there and so we decided to knock a few doors along the way. Well the first door we knocked on this lady named C. answered the door and we talked for a little bit and then we asked if we could go in and share a brief message. She let us in and she told us how she is looking for a church to join and that she has been praying for God to lead her. Well we taught the restoration and set a baptismal date with her for the 19th. She came to church and loved it!  We have another appointment with her on Thursday. Later that night we went to go see one of our investigators named R. but she wasn't home and instead we talked to her husband. He was a really nice guy, but he said he was Muslim so we just bore testimony about Jesus Christ and then left.  Well as we were about to get into the car he came running around the corner and asked when we were gong to come back. So we set an appointment for Saturday. Saturday night we went over and taught the restoration, the spirit was really strong and we set a date for the 26th of February. He unfortunately didn't show up to church but he called us right after and apologized and said he couldn't get a ride and asked if we could get one for him next week and asked if we could come back. How amazing is that!

On Sunday at church we had 2 people show up to church for the second week in a row and I was able to set a return appointment with them for Thursday which is wonderful! But yeah that was the jist of the week. S. is just the best and I am loving it!  I hope everything continues to go well back at home, thank you for everything that you all do, I love you and have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

Blessings just keep pouring on us....

Dear Family,  Well it's good to here that everything is going well back home. It finally stormed huh? Well my prediction is that it will snow all the way through June; it seems like if it starts late it will end late. I can't believe D is already getting married, that is insane! I think that is quicker than Jake and Hillary haha  How long were they even dating, couldn't have been that long. I bet J is freaking out over there in Paraguay. Anyway this week was a crazy week and I have a lot to talk about. I think, so I'll get started.

I guess first off, something that just came to my mind, in case you all are wondering why I haven't written a blog post in a while...it's because we are super busy and I have only done facebook once since I have been here, so I apologize if I have disappointed anyone with that. Well anyway this week has been super amazing, we taught so many lessons this week, it was incredible, definitely the most I've ever had, I don't even know how it happened. We were able to teach 37 lessons this week, the Lord is just blessing us so much and I don't know why haha but I love it and I am continually grateful. 

This whole week has just been leading up to the baptism of J and it almost didn't happen. Satan tried really hard to stop it from happening and it almost got postponed but luckily J stayed strong and the spirit won the battle for us. It all started off with J's boyfriend, who is in jail, he wanted to be able to listen to the baptism and confirmation over the phone but when we told him that they wouldn't be on the same day he flipped a switch. He didn't want to have the phone in the chapel because that would be disrespectful, so we compromised and told him he could hear it over the intercom from the relief society room. Well that wasn't going to work either because they were running out of minutes on their paid for phone program that they were using and wouldn't be able to listen to both the baptism and confirmation. So we ended up putting a little money into their account so that he could hear. Well in the end it all worked out and T got to hear everything from the phone. It was kind of weird carrying the phone around and just being able to hear his voice, it felt like he was the phone and we were carrying him around haha Then on Sunday we stuck him up in the ceiling in the relief society room so that he could hear the confirmation haha I don't think I will ever have an experience like that again, I think it's one of a kind. I had the opportunity to perform the  baptism which was really cool, it's been almost a year since I've gotten in my whites so it felt really good.

Earlier in the week we had a lesson with T and we took a less-active member with us to the dinner. His name is Brother D and he is just a wonderful man, just has a few struggles, but he's awesome.  But even though all of that happened Brother D really liked her haha 

We also had a hilarious experience with this big old black lady this week. She was sitting on her porch and we decided to go talk to her. She was a pretty big woman and she had the most horrendous make up on. She really looked like the joker off of batman and she had blond hair. We started talking to her and she just loves Jesus, so we started talking to her about baptism. Her son came out, and if you can picture this, She has this walker and she starts rocking back and forth and starts yelling "if you want to see God again you must be BAPTIZED!!!" and she just starts saying "holy holy holy" I wish I could write it out like the way it sounded, but it was just hilarious and we through in a couple of amens and hallelujah, it was great! Well the son was actually pretty interested, in fact Elder A had actually talked to him before so we are hoping to see some good come from him.

Yesterday we went to a member's house, the C. They live out on the Islands here in S and they have a smoker. Well brother C smoked a turkey and some sausage, and let me tell you, it was amazing! I probably ate 4 pounds worth of food. I was tasting smoked turkey for the rest of the night haha I didn't feel very good last night, in fact I didn't get a whole lot of sleep and almost threw up, but it sure did taste good and I have no regrets haha That was really all the highlights of this past week, the rest of it were just a lot of talking and teaching and not a whole lot of progressing investigators at this point. We had some solid people, but none of them showed up to church, so a few of our dates fell through, but that's alright because S is just amazing. Today we went down and toured a little bit of downtown, it was really cool, the buildings here are amazing! Well that's about all I've got and I better get going, but I love you all and hope you have a great week!  Love,  Elder Bushman

Another amazing week!

Dear Family, Well I guess since you all want more detail in the letters, I will not talk so much about what you all did but just go strait into the good stuff. Although I would like to wish Libby a Happy Birthday, I hope you had a great birthday and thank you for making my brother so happy, Happy Birthday!

Well this week has been really good, we were able to start off the week and go on a trade-off with Hinesville, Georgia and it was great because we were able to help them set 3 dates while we were there. Hinesville has the biggest army base on it east of the Mississippi. It was a lot of fun and I got to go on the trade off with an Elder G who I found out is from Utah. In fact he knew a lot of the people I knew and hung out with a lot of people from Viewmont.   He went to Bountiful High School, so we got to talk a little bit about all the kids that have gone on missions and kids that are going and just how merciful the Lord really is. We had a really good time!

On Wednesday we came back and had a lesson with our investigator J.W. It was really good we were able to teach her the Doctrine of Christ and she really liked it and thought it was a lot better than anything she had ever been taught and that it was much simpler. Something kind of cool that we learned about her is that she used to be a J dub for 7 years but didn't like the things it taught. But anyways she is getting baptized this Saturday and she is super excited. We were supposed to have a lesson her on Friday but she had a migraine. We talked to her on the phone and she told us, "I don't care if I have a migraine or a broken bone or if I am sick, I am getting baptized!" ha ha it was so amazing! She was a referral from her boyfriend that is a member who is in jail, and we have actually talked to him on the phone, but when he found out that she was getting baptized on Saturday and getting confirmed on Sunday, he was really upset because he wanted to be able to listen to the confirmation over the phone and he was wanting to postpone the whole thing just so he could listen to it! Can you believe that, the nerve! haha It's like it is his baptism or something, but we want to keep them happy so we have figured out a way for it all to work so that she can still be confirmed on Sunday in sacrament meeting and for him to hear it. We will just have him listen to it from the Relief Society room.

On Thursday we had Zone Conference and it was amazing! I love President B, he is such an amazing man and he just has so much power. We set our goal for this upcoming year for how many baptisms as a mission we want to have and the goal is 1000 with 100 percent retention! At first I was taken back thinking that, that would be impossible but then the spirit just bore witness to me that there were 1000 souls that the Lord was preparing for this year and as we do everything in our power to reach it and trust in the Lord, it is possible. Then President B just bore powerful testimony about it and said if we are not one, ye are not mine. Oh wow it was just amazing, this truly is a special time in the history of the world, it's the dispensation of the fullness of times, the last time the gospel will be on the Earth before the second coming, and we are in a Mormon Moment where the church is more out there than it ever has been before! I am so grateful to be a missionary at this time to bring souls to Christ!

That night we were able to go on a Trade-off with President B and we went and taught D. and S. and we had President teach the first vision and re-invite them to be baptized. It was such a powerful lesson and I just couldn't believe how powerful the spirit was, but they still wouldn't accept because D. has this vision of uniting all the Christian churches and he feels like if he is apart of a certain denomination that it will make it so people wont want to listen to him. He is prideful and doesn't realize that this process has already begun, but we are still working with him and I am going to give him the talk you gave me about strengths becoming our downfall.

On Friday we had a trade off with the assistants and I was able to go with Elder R. We had a dinner at a sister's house and she had a friend that is living with her that’s not a member and we taught her the restoration and set a date with her for the 29th! It was such a sweet miracle and she was able to come to church on Sunday, so it was really good. We are just being blessed and I am loving every minute of it, the only bad thing is that the end of the transfer is coming up quick and I just wish it would slow down a bit, but what can you do. Well unfortunately I have run out of time again. Dad if you could start writing me again I could make these longer, but I have people waiting on me right now so I better get going. I love you all and have a wonderful week!  Love, Elder Bushman

So many blessings flowing.....

Dear Family,  Well I have 30 minutes from right now so I'll do my best to put in as many details as I can haha It  sounds like this last week was quite the interesting week back home and that's good it finally snowed I guess. Like you said mom I haven't really thought about it, ever since I have been here in S I've had no time or reason to think about it. Elder A and I are just working super hard and I'm sad because it's already 3 weeks into the transfer, and it will be likely that Elder A will be transferred at the end of this one because that will have been 6 months here, but I hope he stays. We are so unified as a companionship, it is so great! We are even going on a slim fast diet this week because we have been eating kind of crappy throughout this holiday season. I've gained about 4 pounds since I have been here and the weird thing is, is that I exercise more here than I have anywhere else I've been! We go running almost every morning and do the abb ripper about every morning so I just don't get it haha

Well I guess I'll just start from the beginning of the week and work onward. First of all, no we haven't been able to talk to that family that was getting baptized yet, they seem to be avoiding us or they have just dropped off the face of the earth, one of the two. But On Monday we had a lesson with and unbaptized child and set a date for the 21st of January so it was kind of just a tender mercy of the Lord, which he seems to be poring out on us quite regularly so far. On Tuesday we went on a trade off to Hilton Head South Carolina, I was with Elder M the whole time and he is a Spanish missionary, so I had no idea what was going on most of the time, but we did find a lot of new investigators and I think set a couple of dates, so it was great! Then on Wednesday we went up to Beaufort South Carolina and we power traded in their area as well and we had a great time there too. I was with Elder B and in fact at one point we got chased by some dogs on our bikes and I think I was going about 40 mile per our on my bike and I booked it across this field, my adrenaline was pumping pretty good. Also one of the Elders in Beaufort, Elder H, played football for Bingham and I played against him all throughout little league and in high school, so kind of a small world. He remembers the day that I broke my leg haha

So Elder A and I were out of our area for 2 days but came back and ended up having a great week. On Friday we had the baptism of Brother S.C.! It was such a sweet experience. Elder A has been teaching him since September but because he has had a lot of health problems he hasn't been able to come to church a lot. But we finally got him out to church 3 times and through the Lord's grace and mercy he was able to be baptized this last Friday and confirmed on Sunday! He really is such a sweet humble man and just has so much faith.

Also Elder A and I have just hit the streets really hard the last couple of days and have found some really elect people. Two days ago we found this lady named M. who has been searching for a church for a long time but has never been able to find one that she likes. Then that night we found another guy named L. who said that he had just made a change in his life for the better, he was a really happy guy and really excited to hear about the Book of Mormon. Then last night we were knocking for about 2 and a half hours and we found this way sweet lady named Sister G. It was the second time missionaries had found her and this time we were just led by the spirit to ask the right questions and she was in tears because the spirit was so strong and she promised to come out to church and bring her sister with her this Week! The Lord is just so rich in mercy and ever willing to answer the consistent prayer of the humble.

We are also teaching this lady named T, and she has gone from about 0 faith to, in her words, 95 percent faith. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and chatting with online missionaries, she is incredible! She wants to get baptized but she knows she has to stop smoking first, so she is working on that. Her dad died a couple of days ago though and she told us that if it weren't for the gospel being brought into her life that she wouldn't be able to push through this. Her story is just incredible but unfortunately I won't go into much detail.

Also one of our investigators has disappeared on us. An older lady named P.K. who we have been teaching we seem to have lost contact with. Last time we talked to her was last Monday and then we have gone by her house and called her and she is nowhere to be found. There are lights on in her house still too, and we are really hoping that nothing has happened to her because every time we go by we get this really eerie feeling, so keep her in your prayers please.

Well I don't really have much else to say besides that I am loving the work!  My testimony is getting stronger and stronger each day and I love teaching the gospel. I'm glad things are going well back home, it's crazy to think that a month from today I will have been out a year but it's been a really good year and I look forward to this next one as well! I love you all and thank you for all your prayers, have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

Happy New Year everyone!

Dear Family,

Well sorry you didn't hear from me last week but I figured since I had just talked to you on the phone that it would be a little pointless, but I guess there were still a lot of people who would have liked a letter and to them I apologize. I have never been so busy in my life and I am loving every minute of it. I kind of got a little depressed just a minute ago reading dad's letter about making preparations to come home as the realization hit me that I nearly only have a year left on my mission. I never realized how much I loved it and how much happiness and satisfaction it brings me until I realized that I don't get to do this forever. Well I kind of do because I will always be a missionary but just not a full time missionary. And Dad I believe that I still do have a desire to play baseball, I guess I just haven't thought about it that much but yes I would. But I will make sure that it is the Lord's will not mine and that it will be in the best interests to his work and my spiritual progression and learning in this life.

                        

Well I am absolutely loving S! I am so grateful to be with Elder A again, he and I just go out and run the screets talking to people and thrashing the nations, its so much fun! Black people don't pronounce their T's that's why I called it screets haha Black people are definitely the majority here and it's a blast talking to them. We were looking for a person yesterday and across the street there was a church in session and we could hear the preacher just yelling and going to town, it was so funny, it's just like the movies. The only unfortunate thing is that our baptisms didn't go through. We called them an hour before and they said they were good to go and that they were on their way to the church, they just had to stop at the store first. Well we went to the church, got in our whites and waited and waited and waited and they never showed up. In fact they never even called us back and we couldn't get a hold of them, so we are hoping nothing happened to them.

The rest of the week went really well, on Wednesday we drove all the way down to J for a zone leader council. It was a great experience, I just love being with President and Sister B and the other leaders of the mission. We had a really powerful meeting and talked about the upcoming year and what we are going to do to change and improve. We didn't get back to S till about 7 pm so we were out of our area most of the day. Then on Thursday we went to V which is another hour long drive and we went to their district meeting. Afterwards Elder A and I just stayed in their area and blew it up. The week before V didn't find any new investigators but on that day between the both of us we found two new investigators for them and set 3 baptismal dates, it was a great day! Since our zone is so big we just stay in missionaries areas and split with the both of them. This upcoming week we are going to be out of our area for 2 days strait because we will be going on two trade offs in S C.

On Friday we came back home and had a miracle day, it seems like the Lord is just blessing us for helping out the other missionaries. We were able to have 5 lessons with members present and in two of those lessons we set dates with out investigators. One is being baptized this upcoming week on Saturday, His name is S.C. He is an older gentlemen that has a lot of health issues but has a sincere desire to be baptized. The other one was with a woman named J she is progressing oh so very well and has read much of the Book of Mormon, a lot of Gospel Principles, and even teachings of the Prophet George Albert Smith! We are also teaching this older lady named P. who talks more than anybody on earth. She had a stroke recently and is just all over the place and she wants to get baptized as well and will be getting baptized probably on the 15th.

So like I said the Lord is just blessing us with and abundance of people to teach and we really are so grateful and we are working harder than I have ever worked before. I'm sorry I don't have a lot of time to go into a lot of detail because there is quite a bit more to talk about haha I'll leave you all hanging.  But anyway I also gave a talk in church on Sunday about new beginnings and I actually really enjoyed giving the talk. I was the closing speaker so I had to take up the remainder of the time, which was whatever was left. There were two college girls that spoke before me, one I actually went to Junior high with which was kind of weird. They each gave about 5 minute talks and I was left with about 25 minutes. I ended up giving a twenty minute talk which worked out just right and I had a lot of people that seemed to enjoy it so it was good. But that's all that really happened this week, we have another busy week before us and everything is going by way too fast. I thank you for all of your prayers and for everything that everyone has done for me. I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!  Love, Elder Bushman