Life is GOOD!

Dear Family,  Good Morning! How ya'll doing?! Oh I just got to tell you that I love the south. Things are going really good here in this area of Jacksonville Florida and it's good to hear that things are going well back home as well. I'm glad I've stayed away from the sickness that has been occurring  I've been really blessed on my mission thus far and have only gotten sick once with a cold for only a day. The Lord truly watches over and protects us out here while we are on our missions. It was also great to hear that incredible story from Elder Hager, I wish I could have been there! Elder Holland was supposed to come to our mission in August of 2011 but never did show up and it was really unfortunate. Well it is extremely weird to think that I only have 3 months left now on my mission and it feels like I just got here, I don't know what to think, all I'm going to do is work hard and hope the day never comes haha 

Well Like I said we had a great week! Things have been super crazy down here in Florida with the election going on and everything. All the members down here talk about is Mitt Romney and I feel super frustrated because I forgot to get an absentee ballet so that I could vote. I wish there was some way that I could vote but it is probably far too late to do anything about it at this point. With all the preparations that the church is making with more missionaries and more everything really, I feel like something big is going to happen. Either he is going to lose and this nation is going to go down the tube really fast and the second coming is going to happen or he is going to win and the church is going to be highlighted more than ever and many people are going to join because of it. I can't make up my mind which one it is but I guess we will know by tomorrow. I hope and pray that he wins though, we need a man of faith and someone that will rely on God to be in the office. I don't know a whole lot about politics but I do know about the spirit of the Lord and what happens when people have it with them. You see it time and time again in The Book of Mormon with the kings and judges. When the people were righteous it was usually because they had a righteous king or judge but when they were wicked they were ripe for destruction and it was the leader that was always at the head of it. 

In 3 Nephi 3:19 it says, "19 Now it was the custom among all the Nephites to appoint for their chief captains, (save it were in their times of wickedness) some one that had the spirit of revelation and also prophecy; therefore, this Gidgiddoni was a great prophet among them, as also was the chief judge."

We need someone like this in the Presidency as well, someone that has the Spirit of the Lord with him so he can receive guidance and revelation to bless and help this country come out of the darkness that it is in right now. This is why I feel that more missionaries are being prepared, because now is the time and it is getting close to the end, what a great time that we live in! 

Well anyway things are going well with our investigators as well. We had a powerful lesson on Monday with our investigator  and pretty much set a date for the 18th of this month, but satan is really combining against her. She told her family that she wanted to be baptized and they are very opposed and think that she is only doing it to save her marriage and so it is really hard on it because she loves her family very much. However, she has seen the miracles that the gospel has provided in her life thus far and knows it is the right thing to do, so please pray for her. The other family that we found ended up not working out, the wife wasn't having any of it, she is pretty staunch catholic but the husband really liked us and we committed him to pray about reading the Book of Mormon which he sincerely said he would, so we plan on following up with him at some point, but are just waiting for the right time. 

We also had our zone meeting this week and it went really well. You know before coming on a mission I never thought in my dreams that I would be able to put together a 3 hour meeting and stand up in front of a large group of people and train on important information and do it without being nervous or scared. It is just incredible how the Lord gives you strength where you are weak, if you just rely on him. I've really gained a testimony on that scripture in Ether 12:27. I am weak, I really am, but in the strength of the Lord I can do all things which are required of me. I was able to train on the importance of repentance and exact obedience, I feel it went well and I hope the missionaries got something out of it. 

Oh Halloween was really interesting this year as well. It was a lot different from last year since last year it was on a P-Day so we really didn't do anything. But this year we had all day to work and we were on a trade off with the Assistants, and believe it or not we actually got a lot of good work done and nobody got mad at us. It didn't even feel like it was Halloween. Then again, Holidays on a mission never really feel like Holidays, they just feel like another day haha But anyway that's all I can really think about at the moment, things are going really well and of course I'm loving every minute. Well I love you all and hope you have a great week! Love, Elder Bushman