Happy birthday Elder Bushman!

This and That

Dear Family, Well before I get started I just want to share a little miracle I just had as I was sitting here in the Library. As I was about to start typing I looked up and right across from me was two investigators that Elder  Z and I found over a year ago. Elder A and I later taught them and they were some of the most elect people I have ever met. They moved and we lost touch, they had baptismal dates and everything, but now they are here in this area! Wow this was just a miracle and a tender mercy of the Lord! We are going to go by and see them on Tuesday. 

Well anyway it's a blessing to hear that everything is going well, and it is strange to think that a lot of my friends will be coming home here pretty son or have already come home. But before I get into much detail about what happened this week I would like to ask for a little birthday gift and I know you already sent a package but I was wondering if you could send my red Nike running shoes. My shoes that I have right now are falling apart and are not comfortable running in. Since I have been here in this new area I have lost 10 pounds, I have been running 2 miles a day on the treadmill, I'm down to 188 right now. I haven't weighed that much since my junior year in High school haha it's kind of weird, but I would like those good running shoes if it's not too big of a hassle. 

We had a really good week this week! We have just been so busy with teaching appointments and district meetings and Trade-offs its just crazy.  I really enjoy having people to teach. I think first I want to talk about our 96 year old investigator. He is an incredible man, when we first went to his home and offered a blessing he told us afterwards that he wasn't interested in becoming a Mormon so we asked him if it would still be alright if we could at least come back and tell him more about the Book of Mormon and we left him the introduction to read. When we came back he said that he had read half of the testimonies and all of the introduction and that he felt like Joseph Smith's story was true. Well this week when we went back he had read the whole testimony and the first chapter of Nephi and he told us that he knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I was blown away, so we talked about baptism and he said "Well I guess if I know it's true then I don't really have a choice do I?" Again I was blown away! I think it would make my life if this man got baptized, he is just such an amazing person. The only thing holding him back now is that his family picks him up every weekend and takes him and so he has no way of getting to church and it is the only family time that he has so he is reluctant to give it up, but I am continuing to pray for miracles. 

We have this other investigator who is also very incredible! We have taught him the restoration and the plan of salvation and he is solid for a Baptismal date on the 7th.  Then we are also teaching a very humble man who is scheduled to be baptized on the 7th but we didn't get a whole lot of chances to meet with him this week, but he did come to church and it was a great Sunday. There was a great talk on gratitude and the spirit was really strong. It just got me excited for General Conference coming up in two weeks, it's probably my favorite time of year. but those are the main people we are teaching right now.

I did get to go on a trade off in the Beach area this week. It is a like a whole other world over there on the other side of the inter-coastal. There is a lot of things that were really neat to see and a lot of things that I could have gone without seeing haha But anyway I was able to see the beach for the first time since I was here. Elder W and I ran to it in the morning and I got some really neat pictures. We weren't able to go onto the beach but it was still beautiful none the less. Well I am about to get logged off, but I will talk to you all later, have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

Life is soooo good!

Dear Family,

Well this week has been a really good week. I'm glad to hear things have been going well for all of you and that Mom and Dad you got back from Georgia and South Carolina safely. It's funny to hear how you think it has been so hot, to me it feels like this summer has been much more tolerable then last, but maybe that is because I am just starting to get used to it. Or it could be that I have been in a car all summer, that always helps too. But yes working in a shirt and a tie with all this humidity is quite the experience, it is pretty warm haha

Ok so we had a great week! We have been busy with many teaching appointments and lots of things to do, so it has been fun. We had a great experience with Elder Cardon of the seventy this week. We went to Kingsland for a zone conference, but we had a zone leader council with him right before the other meeting and it was incredible! He is a very humble man and very loving as well, he sounds a lot like President Eyring when he speaks. As we were in the Zone leader council we discussed the needs of missionaries and the things we were struggling with and he was able to give us some amazing information on how to better work with ward and stake leaders. I think that has really been the hardest thing here in the South is trying to work with the Ward leaders. It is very difficult to build trust and then when you do, It’s more like, Ok now we trust you to do what you want. Which is fine but really we want to work with them and help the members find so that we can bring solid people into the church. So Elder Cardon gave us a lot of good ideas on how to solve that. Then we had an amazing Zone conference, the spirit was just so strong and I learned so much. I think that greatest thing that I learned is when Elder Cardon talked about being servants. He told us never to say "I'm sorry to Bother you" We should never say that, he said, "Who do you think I am?" "I am a servant and servants are never bothered to do the master's will" This little concept hit me really hard because that is what we are. We are here as instruments in the hands of the Lord to bring to pass his work, we should never be bothered when we are asked to do something.

We also had an amazing experience this week with a part member family that we have been working with.  The husband is a less-active member and she is the non-member. She has been working with missionaries for the last year and a half, but has never came to church. Well Elder Marquez and I made it our goal to keep this family together because they are one of the most amazing families in the world. We had dinner with them on Thursday evening and the dinner was great! We had biscuits and gravy, grits, and oatmeal. Then after that we had a powerful lesson, we read Mosiah chapter 4 with them. At the end we invited them to come to church as a family, they both looked at each other for a minute, it seemed like they were waiting for the other to say something. Finally the wife said that she was supposed to be doing something else - but that this was probably more important and then the husband said that he had no problem with it. So this Sunday for the first time since she has been taught by missionaries her and her whole family came to church! It was so incredible to see that little family sitting down in the chapel together. As I looked at them the spirit filled my heart with joy, I think for a small moment I caught a glimpse of what Ammon felt when the king and queen accepted the Gospel, it was true joy. Unfortunately our other investigator wasn't able to make it to church, a lot of people have been getting sick this week and one of her kids has pink eye, so hopefully we can meet with her soon so we can help her be prepared for her baptismal date. 

We are also working with a few other people that are looking very promising to be baptized, the Lord is truly just pouring out blessings upon us, I wish I had more time to talk about them, but I have to go in a few minutes so I will conclude this letter by saying that I know that this Gospel is true, There really is no other answer, being here in the south has really opened my eyes to the fact that this really is the true church. I know that living the Gospel to its fullest is the only way to find true joy and true freedom and peace. I love you all and am grateful for your examples, have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

Zone Conference - with Elder Cardon of the 70

A day of Miracles.....

Dear Family,  Oh wow hearing about Savannah has made me so home sick for it haha Not home sick for utah but for Savannah, I loved that place so much and some of my favorite people in the world are there. It's funny hearing about the people you talked too and the places that you went and it's weird to think that I was only there about 4 months ago. I remember going to Ft. Pulaski, Elder Neville and I had a blast with all the cannons and we even got to see someone shoot a musket. We had this one guy talk to us for like 30 minutes how the Confederates were the ones that were right the whole time, what great times! It's also weird because I am talking to Ben right now on Facebook and you all were just up there, it blows my mind. And yes dad the missionaries in Hilton Head have success, they are Spanish missionaries up there and they basically just teach Spanish. I went on a few trade offs there and talked to a lot of Spanish people, it was a lot of fun. 

Well my week has been incredible! We have had a lot of amazing experiences and have had a lot of success this week to which I am truly grateful of the Lord, I will explain all about it. On Tuesday we had Zone leader council where I saw the Savannah Elders haha and it was incredible! It was a very powerful meeting where as zone leaders and assistants we set a goal to have 20 baptisms within those companionships.  There are 7 zones, so it would be almost 3 baptisms per companionship. It is a big goal but it will be a game changer for sure when it happens. We fasted and prayed for miracles this week and they happened! The next day Elder M and I had to put together a zone meeting which was stressful. President and Sister Barry came and the assistants and we only had about an hour to put it together, so we relied on the Lord a lot. It ended up being a pretty good meeting and the spirit was very strong, it helps when you have President and Sister Barry there to bear testimony. 

On Thursday we did some service for a member of the church and ended up doing a whole lot more than we expected to do. We were moving rocks from the back of her truck into her backyard to put a long the backside of her fence. As we were doing so we noticed some stumps that were in the way, so we decided to dig them up. Luckily the ground was pretty soft and we pulled out about 8 stumps. They weren't very easy though, it took about 3 hours all together and I got dirty from head to toe. Plus it was about 95 degrees and very humid so I was drenched by the end of it. She was really nice though and bought us pizza so I was grateful and it was just a lot of fun to do some manual labor. That night we were contacting some people and we contacted into this Jehova's witness. We didn't even try to share anything with her at first but were just talking to her about Jesus and then she asks us our view on war. For the next 45 minutes she preached to us about how war is against what the bible teaches and that no matter what the circumstance is, we shouldn't fight. I asked her "So if another country invaded the united states and threatened to take away our freedoms and destroy our families, you wouldn't fight for those freedoms. She told me that she would trust that God would deliver them. I wanted to say that God probably won’t deliver you from stupidity but I held my tongue. It was really frustrating, mainly because there was no purpose to her preaching, she didn't invite us to do anything and she wasn't sharing anything that was beneficial for my salvation.

Then on Friday we tracted into this 96 year old man. We asked if we could come in and bless his home and he said he was Baptist, but we persisted and told him that the blessing was for all Christians and everyone really and he let us in. so we blessed his home and invited him to read from the Book of Mormon and he accepted! It was crazy, i think he is the Oldest investigator that I have ever had. We have a return appointment with him for tonight, so we will see how that goes.

Saturday was probably the best day of the week, well Sunday was really good too, but Saturday was miracle day. We were fed two meals today which were amazing. one of the meals, one of the members daughters made the bean dip that we make all the time for sports games and like new years and stuff, I was in heaven!!! Then that night we went to another members home and had Hawaiian Hay stacks and that was incredible. But the crowning event is when we went to go teach some new investigators. They are Sisters and they have been both coming to church for about the past six weeks and this was our first meeting. We went by at 7 pm and boy are they just so humble and ready for the gospel. We taught the restoration and it was extremely powerful. At the end we invited them to be baptized and they accepted a date for my BIRTHDAY!!!! It was incredible! Although we will probably baptize them on the 29th so they can be confirmed on Sunday. We had fasted and prayed for a miracle like that and the Lord in his mercy saw fit to give us these wonderful people to teach. One sister also has 2 kids that are baptismal aged and she wants them to be baptized with her, it's going to be great! They all came to church on Sunday and we had some other investigators show up as well, so we have a lot of good things happening. 

This week on Thursday we have a zone conference and I will be actually traveling up into Georgia for it. We will be going to Kingsland and Elder Cardon of the 70 will be there! Also on Wednesday evening we are doing another FHE at the Barry's and Elder Cardon will be to that as well, and we are bringing a bunch of investigators, golden!!! I am just truly blessed and grateful to be a missionary. I love you all and have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

How sweet it is.....

Dear Family,

Well I am living in the same apartment complex I lived in when I served in ________ haha I'm back! The ______ ward and my ward meet at the same building so it is so great to be back where I basically started.  My new companion is Elder M. He has been out 2 transfers more than me, so once again I am with an older companion. I can't believe, Mom and Dad, that you are going to Savannah This weekend!  That is so crazy, I miss that place so much. Elder M and I have been reminiscing all the time about it. I already sent a list of people to mom that I wanted you all to see and say hello too so I hope you got it. Anyway so on with the week. We had and incredible transfer meeting on Wednesday! There were so many Elders that went home that I have truly come to love and admire and it was sad to see them go, the next few transfers are going to be even harder. All the missionaries that I know and have been companions with are going home in the next 3 transfers, so that is sad, but It's all a part of life.  Being here in _____________ has been a lot like the time that I spent in ______, just super busy and lots of appointments. Elder M and I found 9 new investigators this week in 4 days which was so incredible, it was so much fun! We also taught a ton which is what I love to do most so I am loving this area so far. It is so nice to be able to talk to everyone now.

The new ward is quite the interesting ward too because half of the ward is related to each other. There is the Grandpa _________ and he has like 6 children all of which still live in the ward. They have children that have children and it is just massive and fun. We had dinner at _________house yesterday with his whole family there and it was so much fun just chatting with him. He has such a strong testimony of the Gospel and such a great love for people, he is incredible! Also after fasting for a long time I stuffed my face with food, and it was amazing food, I was grateful. Really I am just happy and am grateful that I am in this area. I am really excited for the month of September, there are just going to be miracles that role forth. Oh one sad thing, we had an investigator that was going to be baptized this month that got way into anti and won’t even listen to us anymore. I can't tell you how sad that is…. This man went from willing to learn and to progress to being angry and contentious, Satan had completely taken control. With all the great opportunities with Mitt Romney running for president there will also be a lot of opposition with all the anti that will be thrown out. So we need to be prepared to be able to answer questions and make sure our testimonies are sure and founded and the only way to be able to do that is to make sure we are holding on to the Iron Rod and praying and keeping the commandments.

Well I got to get going, but thank you for all that you all do for me and I hope you have a wonderful week! Love, Elder Bushman