Beuford district

The best part  of any training meeting - lunch time!

Zone Leader Council - May 2012

Dreams really do come true.....

Dear Family, Sorry that it is so late that I have gotten to you over the email, but we haven't gotten the chance to go to the library today because they are all closed. We are finally at a member's house and I have the quick opportunity to write a quick letter. But before I start I need to remember a couple of things. Mom, I need some more garments, bottoms, stretchy kind, large, thank you, probably like 4 more.

Ok, anyway my week went really well here in S, I can't believe that it is already the start of a new week and the last week of the transfer. This week has been busy with trade offs in H and S and we are still struggling to find elect people, however we did see a couple of miracles this week with some referrals that we received from some members. We went and gave a blessing to a lady named M in the hospital on Friday. She was a referral from a member and she is a non member, she is a cousin to the member. She is in her 70's and she was so funny, she was telling us how she was hallucinating because of the medicine she was on. She told us that there were bugs all over the walls and little people dancing around and at one point there was a grizzly bear between Elder N and I. At one point there was a young nurse that came in, and for purpose of the story I will say she was not bad looking, and she told the nurse, "look at me with these three good looking young men coming to see me tonight, I am really racking up! Although they probably would rather have you in here then me." No joke those were near her exact words haha Elder N turned bright red and I just laughed. She became a new investigator.

On Monday I played some basketball against some black kids after emailing you all by the Library. They asked if we played and I said yes and Elder N and I just went and played. By the way this has been one of my dreams since I have been in S, to play against a bunch of black kids in the street and I got my chance. There were 5 of us so we played a free for all game to 32 by 2's. Well it wasn't long before my dream was realized as I came up triumphant against these street ballers haha I think the Lord gave me some extra abilities to play against them because afterwards we were able to give them some pamphlets.

These are the only two big experiences I really wanted to talk about since I have such a short period of time to type, but I did want to let you know that my next P-Day will be on Tuesday instead of Monday so don't expect to hear from me next Monday. Alright love you all sorry it was short but this day has been hectic. Have a great week! Love, Elder Bushman

 They boyz are back in town (Elders Bushman, Neville and Bass - all Farmington boyz)

Where it all begins......

So so lucky!!!

Dear Family,  Wow I can't believe you all got to listen to President Uchtdorf and Elder Holland - they are two of my favorite speakers! I heard President Uchtdorf told people it was ok to fall asleep in church...is that true? I can't wait to hear about what Elder Holland through down on too, hopefully it was missionary work haha Elder N and I were talking this morning about how when President Hinckley said we could double the amount of baptisms with unified effort from the members and missionaries if everyone just worked together and actually did missionary work. We were talking about how we haven't even got back to that number that we had that one year, kind of sad. While I've been out here I’ve really began to understand the meaning of our covenants and the importance of members. I mean we all make that covenant when we are baptized to share the gospel. "To stand as a witness of God at all times, in all things, in all places even until death." Just think if every member really did that and really focused on sharing the Gospel, it would be amazing how many people would join the church. I wish I would have done a lot better when I was back home.

Anyway our week went pretty good. Nothing really happened the first two days of the week we were just going about teaching lessons and what not, except for on Tuesday we were doing service for this man named Don Joyce. He was someone Elder N and Elder R tracted into and asked if they could help in anyway and he said yeah paint my house so they said ok. I don’t think people think we are serious when we ask that, but we are! So we came back on Tuesday and started painting the trimming of his house green and he was very happy. He is an older black man that has a lot of health issues so can't really do a whole lot. After painting he went and bought us lunch and we taught him the restoration while we were there and he was really interested and said he would read the Book of Mormon and now we are winning his wife's heart too so hopefully we can nudge are way in there. 

On Wednesday we made our way down to Jacksonville for our 2 day leadership training conference. However I got sick in the middle of the night and had a fever the whole day so I didn't get much out of the first day, plus I was asked to give a training but luckily it was on Thursday that I was going to give the training. I felt a lot better on Thursday and was ready to learn, I got a lot more out of it. However out of the 4 people that were asked to train I was the last one to go and we were all given a similar topic to train on. I was asked to train on being bold with our commitments but not pushy or manipulative. Well the first Elder trained on why we commit people to do things and he also talked about being bold. So I started scrampling through my notes and realized I could still talk about not being pushy or manipulative.  Then the last guy right before me gets up and yep, he trained on not being pushy or manipulative. I hate being last, this happened to me at Zone Conference last month too and I just had to wing it. Well I was sweating bullets trying to think of something I could add to what had already been added. So I got up there and stood before all the missionaries and asked the Assistants how much time I had and they just shrugged, so I said a little prayer inside my heart and started talking. It's amazing how if you are prepared, that no matter what happens the spirit will tell you what to say and this is what happened this time. I basically ended up giving a training about charity, that we cannot be bold unless we have charity. Because we could be straightforward and say the most bold things in the world but if those people don't see that we care about them then it is going to mean nothing and they will feel nothing. So everything ended up working out really well and the spirit was really strong.

The rest of the week went alright, we weren't able to find any new investigators this week unfortunately, that is something we have been struggling with this week, is finding elect investigators so we have been praying mightily for some miracles. The highlight of the week is that our new convert, K, got to go to the temple this weekend with the youth and she absolutely loved it! She said it was incredible and that she wishes she could live there haha. I was so jealous; I haven't been to the temple now for 15 months!  I want to go so badly but it will have to wait. Well I'm getting kicked off the computer so I got to get going. Have a great day love you all!  Love, Elder Bushman

A small note

Dear Family,  Well I don't have a whole lot to talk about since I talked to you all yesterday! It was so good to see all of you over skype but really weird at the same time since I haven't seen you all for 15 months. It was funny because before we talked, as Elder N and I were driving over to this members house to do skype we were talking about how we felt nervous to talk to our families haha So yeah I felt a little nervous before I talked to you all and I don't really know why, kind of funny though, it was kind of like going on a date almost haha just kidding I got over it pretty quick though. It was weird seeing Heber and Lane, they look so grown up it's crazy! I think Heber looks a lot more like Hillary then Jake, which is a good thing, no offense Jake. 

Elder N and I had a baptism this week which was just a great tender mercy of the Lord and it went really well with lots of non-members showing up and it was just a spiritual meeting. We were also able to set another date with D again. She was the black lady that Elder N and I found about 3 months ago and she has had a couple of dates, but now we have set a solid date with her for the 27th. Elder N and Elder R were able to weed out her concerns and solidly commit her to a date and they said it was very powerful, and from what I know of her, she is very true to her word when she commits to do something, so we are very excited about that. We also were out of our area again for 2 days this week as we went up to R and B on trade-offs and those were a lot of fun. I enjoy going on trade-offs with other missionaries to learn from them and help them in any way that I can. But basically that was our week. This upcoming week we are going to be having Leadership Training down in Jacksonville where we are going to be learning a lot of cool stuff, and yes President Barry was at that Seminar that Brad's mission President went to, so I am excited to hear what went on there. But anyway thank you again for the wonderful conversation yesterday, love you all and have a wonderful week!  Love, Elder Bushman

Life is good!

Dear Family,

Well life is just amazing I love it so much! I'm glad to hear that things are going well and that Hunter is even winning some baseball games, congratulations! I remember how frustrated I would get when I wasn't playing well, I was telling Elder N the other day about my college experience and how terrible I was playing when I was there, it's just no fun, but it is a lot more fun when you are doing well so good for Hunter. Hunter is a lot more patient and not so much competitive as I am though so maybe he loves it no matter what haha Baseball has made me such a numbers guy though I am definitely grateful for the drive and motivation that sports gave me to be the best I can be, but sometimes It also has its setbacks when it comes to missionary work, so I am still working on getting myself well rounded in that aspect of my life haha

Anyway things are going very well here in Savannah, right now Elder N and I really just trying to find out how to find the elect. To really see the vision beyond what we already have to take it to the next level and really achieve what the Lord has in store for us. President B told us this morning in a letter that The Lord is pleased with our work and what we are doing, but he is not satisfied, there is always something more that we can do. It is so true, so many times in my life have I just done enough, just done as much as I need to do and I was satisfied with it, but there is no growth involved when you do that. Growth comes as we reach beyond what we have set for ourselves, to run the extra mile, I just pray that I can do it and that is the best thing about it, we need to rely on the Lord to achieve it, there is no other way!

This week was great though, on Tuesday we had a lesson with this lady whose name was E who lives on Alma street. That is actually how we contacted her, we knocked on her door and told her that she lived on a street that was in the Book of Mormon and so she wanted to read it haha it was great. She is a real big talker though and has studied many religions and is not a big fan of religion but is willing to learn. On Wednesday we got to drive down to Zone Leader Council in Jacksonville which is always a treat. I just love those meetings so much we get so spiritually fed throughout the meeting and then we get physically fed afterwards with amazing food, it's just the best thing ever. Then we went back that night and taught K at the church and finished up the lessons with her. So now all we needed was her uncles permission for her to be baptized. Oh boy did Elder N and I fast and pray this weekend for a miracle to happen and while we were in Church V got a text from K saying that the Uncle was fine with her getting baptized! OOOOOOH YEEAAH! It was a really incredible experience actually because about 2 months ago, or a month, I fasted that she would have the desire to be baptized and when I closed off my fast I saw her in my mind dressed in white with Elder N and I there and now everything is working out that it is going to happen, I am just grateful! But we need to keep praying because crazy stuff happens all the time right before baptisms, the Devil works hard. Anyway so things are looking good for her to be baptized on Saturday.

T also had a really cool experience this week. She called me Monday morning very excitedly explaining this life changing experience she had. So she recently had surgery on her mouth and it has been really hurting her and she had to go to work Monday morning. She told me that, that morning she prayed for help from Heavenly Father to help her fulfill her responsibilities at her work as a nurse and that her jaw wouldn't bother her. When she got to work there was a lady there that wasn't supposed to be there but ended up taking her place so she could go home. She said that she was filled with the spirit, like she had never felt before and recognized that, that was an answer to her prayer that morning so now she believes God to be there 100 percent, which is truly a miracle!

Earlier this week I was having a pretty rough day and my mind was everywhere but on missionary work, it was terrible.  It was really frustrating to me too because I knew it was something that I could easily refocus myself on but for some reason I just couldn't do it. To worsen the circumstances all of our plans that we had scheduled for 3 hours fell through in 10 minutes, oh yeah that is frustrating. So Elder N and I just prayed that we would be led to where we needed to be and I prayed that I could be focused enough to feel the spirit. I knew if we just got out to work that I would forget myself so we decided to go to a neighborhood near our house and tract. So we went to work and at first I was still having a hard time focusing and we just kept getting rejected left and right by people, but we just kept going and after about 45 minutes of tracting we knocked on this door and an 18 year old kid walked out. As soon as I saw him, I knew there was something different about him and everything that I was thinking about myself went out the window. We began to talk to him.  He wasn't like all the other kids in the neighborhood, he didn't have his pants around his knees, he spoke maturely, he is planning on going to college, and is graduating High School. While we were talking to him I could just tell that he could recognize the spirit, in fact he told us that he felt it. By the end he asked us if he could have a Book of Mormon and when we asked him if there was anything we could do for him, he asked us if we could say a prayer for him that he would understand the Book of Mormon, it was incredible. It was a huge testimony builder to me on how the Lord is mindful of us always. Even though I wasn't very focused at the time he led us right where we needed to be to help me forget all the stuff that was on my mind and focus on the work. My mind was completely freed after that, and I was so grateful for it. The Lord is mindful of all of our needs, he really is.

Ok funny story real quick so the other Day Elder N and I were tracting in this neighborhood and this black lady asked us, "Are you the Mormons." And Elder N said, "Yeah, what gave us away?" To which she replied, "Two white guys in a black neighborhood." haha it was so funny and we looked around and said yeah that makes sense, it was great! But anyway I got to get going, but thanks for all that you do and I will talk to you all next week. Oh and I was thinking about doing the skype and I will probably call around 5 PM your time, so be ready, Love you all by! Love, Elder Bushman