Elder Greer, Bushman and Danderidge at the mission office on transfer day

 Service with a smile..... Elders B., H., B. and N.

My trainer, Elder W. going home!

Collard greens, pig feet, and such.....

Dear Family, Well what a wonderful week it has been! I don't even know where to start but I guess I'll start by answering Dad's question about all the different stuff I have eaten since I have been here and surprisingly enough it has all happened while I have been in Savannah. But I have eaten: collard greens, ox tail, pig feet, chicken liver, gizzard, and who knows what else. The thing is that I have loved all of it, except the chicken liver and gizzard, that was disgusting, but everything else tasted great. However, once I realized that I was eating pig feet, I got kind of grossed out because Elder L said, "Elder Bushman you hate feet, and you are eating it right now." Yeah I was pretty disturbed after that haha But I love southern food and I think collard greens are great, it's just all really bad for you.

This week started off with a lesson at B's house. He made us shish kabobs, I don't know if that is how you spell it but I tried anyway, but it tasted amazing! I love that food so much, it was great and then we watched the Testaments with them and they absolutely loved it! 

On Wednesday, I'm skipping Tuesday because nothing real special happened, we just found some new investigators, but on Wednesday we drove down to Jacksonville to transfer meeting. Elder H who is living with us is training so we were very excited to see who his new missionary was going to be. I just love being around new missionaries too. It's a lot better when you aren't the one training them, I assume it would kind of be like being a grandparent; you get all the benefits of being around them with out having to raise them. Elder N and I were hoping it would be Elder G since he is from Farmington, but instead he got Elder F, even better! Elder F is from the Dominican Republic and he is such a great missionary. He is black so he will be perfect for Savannah and I just love him already. He is the only active member in his family and is now on a mission, how amazing is that? I really hope that his being on a mission will get his family in gear. That night he had his first baptism too because they had a baptism ready to go for that evening, that's like every new missionaries dream, so it was incredible. 

The rest of the week we were really just preparing for B's baptism, we were just so excited for it, because not only was he being cleansed and getting on that strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life, but he was going to have a lot of non-member friends and family at his baptism. So Saturday roles around and we are super excited, we made sure everything was going to be just perfect for the baptism and the service. B's whole family showed up, which was about 6 people, and a lot of his friends as well. All in all there were probably 30 people there at the baptism and only a few of them were actually members from our ward. The service was amazing, we started off with singing “I Need Thee Every Hour,” which is one of my favorites and then Elder N gave a great talk on Baptism, then B went to the font. The spirit was super strong as he was immersed in the water, being born again spiritually into a great new world. We then went back to the Relief Society room and as B was changing Elder N and I taught the restoration to all the people that were there, it was amazing!  I don't know if the teaching was amazing but the opportunity was haha Then when B came back I got up there again and gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and then B got up there and bore his testimony to everyone and basically invited them all to learn more, it was fantastic! Everyone was very impressed with the service and thought it was great! After that we went out to dinner with everyone and we had the chance to talk to some of the people that were there and they were asking us all sorts of questions about what we do as missionaries and they were very impressed so I am hoping we get some referrals soon. But anyway it was just a great day, and my joy is full.

Then to make it even better, B went up to K, the other person we are teaching, and told her that she would be next in a few weeks. So on Sunday we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to be baptized on the 12th, and she said yes! The Lord is just merciful, that's all I have to say. The only thing now is that she needs to get permission because she is a minor so pray that she can, we will need all the help we can get! She is great though, she has been coming to church for the last 2 months as well, about the same time as B. She is the cousin of L, B's girlfriend, but it is V, L's sister, who is the one that has been working with her. The D family has just been doing an amazing job at doing missionary work! I'm glad to hear that you have been having some missionary experiences Mom, I wish I would have been better at doing missionary work back home. Anyway so now we are preparing for K's baptism and we are going to be super busy this month because of all the trade offs and we have 2 zone leader councils, and we have a leadership training week, so yeah it is going to be crazy but I love crazy! I'm going to send some pictures, so thanks for all you all do and have a wonderful week, love ya! Love, Eld

I'm sooo happy!

Dear Family,  Thanks for the pictures mom.  That was really funny about the missionary Mom's lunch. Those other mothers must be amazing women for the kind of men they raised that are out here in the mission, Elder A, Elder R, Elder N, and Elder B are some of my most favorite missionaries! The great news is......I get to stay another transfer here in Savannah!!!!!!!! One of the missionaries that lives with us, Elder H, is training as well, so I am really hoping that he gets to train Elder G so that there can be 3 Farmington Boys living at the Fenwick! (That is what we call our house because it’s on Fenwick Avenue).  By the way I did know Greg Forbush, he graduated with Devin and Elder B, so I went to Elementary, Jr. High and High School with him. Elder B already told me about him however, that is really crazy. It's just hitting me harder and harder about how fragile life really is. We have been teaching the Plan of Salvation a lot lately and I have been reading the Book of Mormon again and wow, the Plan of Salvation is so important, everything wraps around it, I don't even know how to explain it, but it is incredible! 

Anyway, I am just really happy!  I wanted so badly to stay in Savannah to be here so I could finish up the work that Elder N and I had started and now I am getting the opportunity to finish it off and keep it going! I just love it up here in Savannah so much, it really has felt like home and become my home on my mission, plus this will be my first 6 month area, so it should be fun! It feels like I just got here yesterday though, it’s intense. Anyway, I will talk about the week now. Well things are going really good, BG is getting baptized this upcoming Saturday and he is just one of the most amazing people I have ever met. He finished the Book of Mormon the other day and prayed about it and got a confirmation that it was true and he just understands the Gospel so well. He figured out that it was true before he even asked us to teach him, so now I kind of understand how the Utah missionaries feel, It's like we don't even teach anything we just go over and review the lessons for them haha  But it really has been a blast teaching him because we can go so much more in depth with him then we can some of the other people we teach, and he is really smart so he understands and comprehends it all. He is a pharmacist so that really helps, like the other night we taught the Plan of Salvation and he asked us about heavenly mother. Well we explained it to him and just told him how it is and he accepted it and said it made sense! Oh it is so nice when they already have a testimony. He is just doing so great and he has already started making plans to go to the temple, and to serve a mission when he is older. I am definitely going to come back when he and L get sealed in the temple, it is going to be amazing!  Tonight we are going over to watch the Testaments with him and eat dinner, we are super excited; he is an amazing cook!

All of our other investigators are progressing nicely. K is also very amazing and very solid. We taught her the plan of salvation yesterday and she understood it and knew it made sense and she just loves it all. We haven't set a date with her yet. T is doing great, she gave me a call the other day and told me how she is feeling the spirit at work to help her with her patients and how happy it is making her, it's incredible! She went from zero faith to now recognizing and understanding the Spirit in her life. 

So we are visiting with this partially less-active member named Brother B. He is a black man and he loves the gospel. Well anyway the other day he bore his testimony to us and was like yelling and through his arms up and said "I KNOW THE PROPHET IS REAL!"  It was so good to hear from him and then we asked him to sing us some soul music, with which he proceeded to do and it actually sounded really good haha Then we sang a song for him out of the hymn book. Elder Neville and I aren't the best at singing but we love to sing and do it all the time for people and they really enjoy it believe it or not. We have a lot of fun out here, I just love it! We had a potluck at the church last night as well where he sang some more, it was great!

But anyway that is really all I have for the week, this week is going to be crazy with transfers and all. We are getting a lot of new missionaries in the zone and a lot of new district leaders, so we are really excited! Also we will be traveling a lot because we will be doing a lot of interviews, so it's just going to be a crazy week, but I love crazy weeks, I feel a lot more fulfilled when I'm stressed out, I don't know why but I think I perform a little better under a little stress. Anyway I love you all and have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Bushman

And so it goes....

Dear Family,  Well it sounds like it has been quite the crazy week for you all back home. I'm glad Hunter won a game.  I am quite amazed at his determination to keep trucking through all of that.  To be completely honest, if I were him I would be getting so frustrated haha I think that is why I was blessed to have such a good team to play on when I was younger, I just didn't take losing very well and never have. And Dad I don't know why you felt prompted to talk to me about the frustrations of people not accepting or not seeing the grand vision but that was perfect. I have been feeling that a lot recently myself, just working with all these wonderful people who need the gospel so much but aren't willing to take the steps necessary to receive the blessings that come from it. I too just want to grab them and shake them and help them see what they are doing, but unfortunately that darn agency gets in the way haha When I was in Julington Creek Brother C would always joke about how he hated agency because so many people reject the gospel because of it, we had some good laughs. But the thing is that it’s not just the people that we are teaching but it is the missionaries that our under our stewardship as well. I've never felt so responsible and so helpless all at the same time in my whole life. Our zone is so big, it's so hard to reach out to all the missionaries and help them and so they are a lot of the time left unto themselves to do the work and I just worry all the time about how to help them more and help them see their potential as missionaries and as children of God really. A mission is so vital to rest of someone’s life, I’m really beginning to realize this more and more because there is so much you can learn in these two years that you couldn't learn anywhere else and you just want to help them understand that. So yeah I know exactly where you are coming from and it is really easy to get frustrated. I was really frustrated this morning actually because as a zone we had a really bad week, but then I realized I can only do so much and things happen, we’ve just got to be patient and love those that we serve. 

Anyway this week was a really good week. However, all 5 of our dates that we had have fallen through because they weren't able to make it to church so that was a bummer, but that didn't worry me at all because the Lord just provides people. On Monday we were able to teach BG, who has been coming to church for the last month with a lady in the ward, his girlfriend. He finally decided that he wants to be taught and be baptized, so we had a wonderful lesson with him on the restoration and he made us some great burgers. We then taught him on Saturday at a member’s home and he decided that he wants to be baptized on the 28th! Then on Wednesday another member who we have been working with to teach her cousin finally said that her cousin was ready and we had an amazing bible study class at the church Wednesday night. We started in a room and talked about the Priesthood and what it was and where it came from. Then we went into the Chapel and talked about how the priesthood is used in the church today and how it is the same as it was back when Christ was around. Then we went to the Relief Society room and watched the Restoration and talked about how the priesthood was restored. then we went to the baptismal font and talked about how saving ordinances must be performed by the priesthood, it was amazing! The spirit was so strong the whole time. Afterwards, V who is the member, told us that as soon as K got into the car she started to cry because she felt the spirit so strong and everything began to click and make sense and she asked V if she could be taught. So we were able to teach her on Sunday and she told us that she wants to get baptized as well. So even though all 5 of our dates that we set fell through, to miracle people just come out of nowhere and are ready to be baptized!

But anyway that was basically the highlights of the week and so we are really excited! the only problem is that transfers are coming up in a week and I've been here for 3 transfers now, so I'm a little worried that I will be leaving since it has been my record so far to never be in an area for more than 4 months. But I am praying that President Barry will leave me here in Savannah 1 more transfer because if he does we will definitely have probably 5 or more baptisms this upcoming month. But I know that wherever I go will be where the Lord needs me to go. Sorry that this letter is a little shorter this week but we are kind of rushed because the other missionaries are already done and they are waiting on me, so I got to get going. Thank you for all you do, love you all, have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

Zone Conference

3 Farmington boys - Elder Bass, Elder Bushman and Elder Neville

Savannah Zone

Another Blessed Week!

Dear Family, Wow, another week has just flown right on by, I cannot believe that it is already Easter again. It really felt like yesterday that I was in the Atlantic area with Elder Zabriski just trekking on our bikes in April, wow, it's just incredible how time flies by. Well sorry I won’t have much to respond back to because I didn't get a letter from mom yet, it will probably come this afternoon, but I did get the pictures and the email from Dad so thank you for those. Doing that work on the house seems like it was a lot of fun, I've decided that I like doing strenuous labor, it makes you feel good even though it doesn't feel so good. I think that is why I have gotten so into running now, it just makes you feel good after. Anyway, that picture of Heber kind of freaked me out, I haven't seen a picture of him in months and he looks so much different, I don't even recognize him anymore.

Anyway I will talk about my week now. Our week went amazing! On Monday night we went and saw Sister B and she pretty much rebuked us the whole time we were there. She didn't like how we were always out past dark and was telling us that we need to be obedient to the scriptures and follow the spirit when it comes to talking to people, because we just talk to everyone. It was nice because she was concerned for us but at the same time she just doesn't understand, so after she was done I asked if I could respond. I thanked her very much for her concern but then told her that this is what we have been called to do by a Prophet of God and as long as we are obedient to the rules we have been given we are protected. It all ended well but she had totally forgotten a lot of things. It’s been a whole month since she has been to church because she found a job and we can't ever meet with her because she is always tired from working, she is going to work herself to death.  We then went to go see this lady that we met in the elevator the week before, her sister had been baptized in Augusta. We went and taught her and set a date with her for the 28th. 

I can't remember much that went on in the earlier part of the week other than that, we went to a few district meetings in R and B but that's about all I can remember, mainly because I missed writing in my Journal that day haha.  But we have been preparing people for baptism mainly. However we had an amazing day on Wednesday, we went on a trade off with the Assistants and it ended up being a wonderful night. Before every trade off we ask or get asked what we want to work on, well I wanted to work on receiving more referrals because it has been something Elder N and I have been struggling with and I told Elder R this. They showed up kind of late in the day so we didn't have a lot of time to work together because we had a few appointments, an interview, and a scripture study class to teach. After meeting with an investigator I asked a referral from him. He told us to go to the Brentwood apartments but didn't have a specific name. Anyway that night we had to do an interview and teach the class at the church.  We had nothing to do afterwards so we decided to pray for the Lord's guidance and I felt impressed that we should see Brother C, however I knew the other elders were going to see him so we decided to see O instead. On the way to see him we got a text from the other Elders to go see Brother C, so we did. While we were there a man called Brother C, his name was J L. He had run into Brother C down at the Georgetown Building about a month and a half ago and wanted to meet with him again, and guess where this man lived....He lived in the same place that our investigator had referred us too earlier in the day! We got the referral we were seeking for, it was incredible!  Anyway we went and saw J Saturday morning with Brother C and as soon as Elder N and I met this man we felt this enormous amount of love for him, something that I haven't felt with too many of the people I have taught, and we both felt it. He is just so humble and so ready for the gospel, it was incredible. We taught him the Doctrine of Christ and set a date with him for the 21st, the Lord is just rich in mercy.

To top it all off, on Sunday while we were at church, there is this man named B that has been coming for the longest time, he is dating one of the girls there. He was talking to our ward mission leader and told him he wanted to get baptized. They turned around to us and we have an appointment with him tonight!  Wow, I am just so humbled and grateful for what the Lord is doing for us, it's amazing!  He told us that when President Uchtdorf spoke and said "come home" he just broke down and he knew it was true, he had no more questions.  It was just wonderful, I love the Spirit so much it just amazes me every day. So these are the things going on here in S, and I just love being a missionary! Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

Zone Leader Council

Wow!

Dear Family,  Wow it has truly just been such a spirit packed, spirit filled week this week and I have loved every minute of it. It is good to hear that things are going well back home and that life is continuing to go on very well. I hope you all enjoyed conference as much as I did because it was probably one of the most powerful ones that I have ever been to! This conference I came in with the Question of how I could be more humble and less competitive. The reason being because I love having good numbers and being at the top of the board, and I really wanted some good advice or "rebuking" on how to be more humble and grateful that others are doing really well even if it was better than our companionship. It's just ridiculous that I should even feel competitive about stuff like that I mean honestly its all a team effort, however on the other side it keeps me really motivated, so I was looking for that happy medium. Well I sure got my prayers answered as I got rebuked the whole conference! It seemed like so many people talked about having an eye single to the glory of God and that the only honor that we should ever seek is the Lord's and nobody else's. That really hit me hard, something I already basically knew, but I just think I needed one of the Apostles to say it so I could be spiritually rebuked and have more motivation to change haha So these last couple of days I have been really focusing hard on being grateful for what I have and drawing my motivation from my love for the Lord rather than my love to compete. However, in Zone Leader Council this week I suggested that we should make a competition out of a certain aspect of missionary work that we were discussing and Sister Barry full heartily agreed with me and thought it would be a great idea because that is how she was raised, but we both realized that it probably wouldn't work because that is not how everyone was raised, but it made me feel better that I wasn't the only one that liked having a competition haha

Anyway, this week we had a great week, we were able to go out on a trade with President Barry on Thursday which was a blast. I love working with President Barry he is one of the most amazing men I know, he really is like my second dad. (Don't worry dad I still love you more) We had the chance to go see T. who I have been teaching for the longest time and the whole time she just talked us up to president, telling him how great we are and how much we changed her life, it was really funny. I think she thought we were being checked on or something and that we needed a good grade but anyway we were able to go over the Baptismal Interview questions with her and she was solid with everyone of them and understood them, so we are really excited for her baptism on the 21st. Then we were able to go see our investigator D and she did the exact same thing! She sat and talked us up and told President how amazing we are haha She told him and assured him that we work very had and that we are very good missionaries, yeah....I think she had the same mindset as T as well. But the great thing was that we were able to set a date with D as well for the 15th of April, she is a really cool lady. Both of them watched conference and enjoyed it.

Oh this week I had a fun encounter with a Jehova's witness. We were knocking some doors and tracted into this lady and just started talking about God and how he had blessed her life and she was very happy to talk about it. Eventually at some point in the conversation she asked us, "Did you know God had a name." and we said, "yes, it's Heavenly Father." She said, "No, it's not, that is just a title.." I said, "no it's not, that is what he wants to be known as because he is our Father and he wants us to address him as such." she said, "No that is just a title and he has a real name." I said, "I know where you are going with this, you think his name is Jehova...well let me ask you this...would you call your father by his first name when you address him?" she said no. I said, "Neither would I. I would call him Dad because that is my relationship with him, i wouldn't call him Marty, I would call him father. Now God is the Father of us all and he is no different." well that kind of shocked her at first, but then she tried to argue with me that my Dad isn't everyone elses dad and that if she were to talk to him that she would call him by his first name. Well duh! My Father isn't God, he's only my father, but God is the Father of us all and we are all brother's and Sisters. Anyway, the conversation went downhill quite a bit and we decided to agree to disagree but it was just one of those moments where I was sick of people trying to justify something that was completely false. Now I know how you feel Dad whenever I tried to argue with you about something that never made sense, and I apologize. haha

so anyway that was just a fun Story, but after Conference last night we had the chance to go over to see one of our investigators and we set a date with her as well. So as of right now we have 3 baptismal dates for the month of April which we are really excited about, and the Lord is definitely blessing us. Now I just pray that we can continue to find elect people that are ready for the Gospel because lately we have just been finding people that aren't elect, so keep praying for us, I really do appreciate all of your prayers. I am just so grateful for the gospel and the powers of heaven. It's incredible that people can be so far away yet have such a great influence on someone by saying a simple prayer.  This General Conference really hit me, there were just so many good talks and such a great spirit, that it made me motivated to always be a doer of the word not a hearer only. I loved the talk about how you can be Active in the Church but not in the Gospel and I think that is how I was most of my life growing up, but now I understand the importance of both and how both are necessary to salvation. It's just given me a lot to think and ponder about. But anyway, I got to get going, but I love you all and have a great week!

Love, Elder Bushman

The Superbowl!

Dear Family, Wow it sounds like things are pretty crazy back home. I'm glad you got to have those face shots with the snow Dad, that's what I got to enjoy one last time before I left, it's pretty amazing! But don't worry it is not distracting me, teaching the Gospel is 100 times better! And mom I'm glad you are feeling better, that's one thing I’ve been blessed with so far being on my mission, I haven't gotten sick, so I just keep praying that I won’t.

Well this week has been a super crazy week for me as well; we had our 2 trade off days while we were out of our area again. We went up to R to go on a trade off with Elder L and Elder M. They had to do an emergency transfer because Elder L's companion had to go home, so Elder M, who has been in one of my districts before came up to R. I had the opportunity to go with him and it was a pretty crazy experience, because he was really down. He just didn't understand why it had to be him that got transferred especially when they were finally having success down in G, so we talked for a long time and then got out and worked hard. They have seen a lot of success since then, so I'm hoping that he is feeling better and recognizing the Lord's hand in his life now. It was perfect that I went with him though, because I felt much the same way when I got transferred to J.C., after having such a great transfer with Elder A and seeing so much success and then being pulled away, it was hard but the Lord knows us better than we do and he does everything for our good. 

After that we went up to B and had a good trade off up there. The only problem is that I barely got any sleep each night and so I was getting pretty cranky by Thursday. I hate feeling that way, because I really don't want too but it's so hard to control it. Then when we came back to make matters worse, all of our appointments fell through and so now I am tired and mad because everything fell through, but we just went and hit the skreets (his words) and started to talking to a lot of people, and it made me feel a lot better. That's what I love about hard work, if things aren't going well and you are feeling weighed down, then get out there and do something that gets your heart pumping and the sweat rolling and you will feel a lot better. Speaking of sweat, it is already getting super warm over here. It has been 84 most of the week and its only March!!! I'm not too excited for the summer, but it doesn't matter because the work is the same and it is still wonderful!

Our week was looking pretty bleak after our trade-offs because of all the appointments that were falling through and it seemed like everyone that we were finding didn't live in our area, so we were giving away a lot of referrals, but we pressed our way onward and in the end the Lord pulled through for us. We ended up having 4 of our investigators at church, two of which we had originally dropped earlier in the week because they canceled our appointment and I got frustrated and dropped them, but we decided to go by on Saturday to see them. Her name is R and the other is B, we talked to R and had a really good talk at the door about how much we cared about her and only wanted the best for her, she started crying and the spirit was really strong. She told us that she was coming to church that minute and we found a ride for her. Sunday morning we pulled up and she had woken her self up and scared me half to death by jumping out of her house while I wasn't paying attention, but she told us that B would be coming with her, which he hadn't been yet, so we were really excited. Brother R picked them up and we went to church. We had a really good fast and testimony meeting and B and R absolutely loved it and we have an appointment with them tonight to reset their dates, they are amazing!

Also this week we had our investigator, T, since I have been here we have been teaching and she finally told us that she felt like she was ready to take the next step. She has gone from zero faith to, in her words, 99.99 percent faith, and it has been amazing to see. Well last night we went to her house and we were able to set a date and calendar with her for April ___, I am so excited, it will be so good for her, and it's great because I have been teaching her for so long and its now all finally coming together. So despite the earlier problems in the week, everything turned out extremely well by the grace of God. But yeah that is how my week went and I am excited to start this new week, especially with General Conference coming up!  It’s like the Superbowl for us! haha Well I got to get going, but you all have a wonderful week, and I love ya. Love, Elder Bushman

Let the good times roll....

Dear Family,

Wow, it's amazing how fragile life really is isn't it? I definitely remember The Smith family and I am saddened to hear that happened, but I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and for the Temple, knowing that the priesthood authority and power has once again been restored to the earth to bind our families together forever, what a tremendous blessing! And yes Dad I guess you could say my blog post was a little bit out of frustration, but mostly just saddened by the state that a lot of these people live in. This weekend was St Patrick’s day and here in S they have the second largest celebration in the United States, there were over a million visitors to S over the weekend. But leading up to the event there were just posters after poster talking about beer and everyone just talked about the parties and how drunk everyone gets and its just a sad thing that for people to have fun the have to revert to doing things that in the end will ultimately bring them eternal unhappiness for a few moments of pleasure. We unfortunately had to drive through down town at one part of Saturday and there was just so much immodesty, immorality, drinking, and everything else you can imagine going on, it was just sickening. But despite all the wickedness that goes on in the world and despite the great hold that Satan has on so many hearts, there is also so much good and beauty in the world, and that is why the Gospel Changes Everything. 

Anyway, but I had a wonderful week! Because this week was transfer week, we didn't have to go on any exchanges so we got to work a lot in our area and we got a lot of work done which was really nice. Unfortunately nothing really super special happened this week, all I can think about right now is just how grateful I am for having the Gospel in my life, I don't know where i would be with out it, and I wish I understood it like this before my mission, of course I still don't understand nor appreciate it fully, but I do understand it better and I could have done so much better as a teenager, but thank goodness for Repentance! haha Anyway, sorry my mind is just in other places I'll try to focus on what happened this week. Well we didn't get to speak at a P Church this week so I don't know of anything that can compare to that. Oh by the way mom, I noticed that you said I looked skinnier in my photos which doesn't make much sense because I haven't gained or lost a pound so I don't know what to tell you. However, Elder N and I have kicked it up a notch and have been running about 2 miles every morning this week, but still haven't been loosing any weight. 

Well I got this week to share are funny experiences that happened basically because nothing special went on and all of our investigators are doing pretty well. On Friday we went over to see T, she's been a long time investigator, but is slowly but surely progressing. Well anyway they live in a really hard circumstance with her being divorced and her ex-husband being a really bad example of how to treat other people. Well I guess her son tried to take a swing at Ts roommate the other day and so T asked me if we could council her son. I didn't really know how to respond to that since I have no authority over her son whatsoever but I went a long with it haha I decided to kind of brush around it but still get the point across to read Alma 56 and 57 about the 2000 stripling warriors. A really respects us and I think the story went really well with the situation, but that wasn't enough for T, she ended up leaving us alone out on her back patio with her son to talk to him about being a respectful young man. At first it was kind of awkward, but then we just started talking about sports and eventually we were able to tie in the gospel and it really impacted him, it was really cool. 

On Saturday we went to go see the O_____s and when we got there they told us about how their next door neighbors dog killed their cat and how she wanted us to pray over his grave.  Well we went into the backyard and stood over the burial sight and I volunteered Elder N to do it. By the way Elder N is extremely allergic to cats and hates them with a passion hahaha He was so mad, and he told me that his prayer was a complete lie because he hates cats, oh it was great! Anyway things are going good here and I'm loving every minute of it and I love all of you and thank you for your prayers and everything you do, have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Bushman

Pooler district meeting

Spreading the Gospel.... One university and one congregation at a time....

Dear Family,

Well as I was sitting here in the Library reading dad's email, I about died laughing inside of myself, I am grateful that I didn't burst out or anything because that would be quite the scene, not that it would be unusual (Garrett busting up laughing) because I saw a guy dancing in front of the screen the other day. It sounds like quite the adventure tending those two, probably pretty relieving to Jake and Hillary to dump them off for a couple of days as well haha 

Well things are going really well here in S, it's crazy how fast this last transfer has gone bye, I don't even know what to think. It seems like yesterday that I got Elder N as my new companion and now it's already the beginning of a new transfer! So Dad I can already see how it is going to go by so fast and you better believe that I am going to make every second count. This week was really good, it was crazy seeing the hand of the Lord just truly open doors for us this week and provide miracles that we don't really understand why we deserve to have them, but they happened anyway and I am grateful! On Monday we got a call from our Stake President asking us if we would like to go speak at a ______ church with him on Wednesday. Well of course we readily accepted and were just shaking in our shoes with excitement waiting for Wednesday!

Wednesday was on of the most memorable days on my mission so far probably. It started off with us going down to _____ University to set up a booth about mormon.org and also questions of the soul that the Book of Mormon answered. For 2 hours we had the greatest time of our lives as we just talked to everyone that walked by and handed out a ton of supplies. A member in our ward goes to school down at the university and she set it up for us, so it was a great opportunity to get ourselves out there and let people know who we are.

Then that evening we got to go to the _____ church. Going to the Church Elder N and I were a little nervous, heart was pounding a little bit, but we were really excited at the same time. I had been assigned to speak on the organization of the Church and about the Priesthood and Elder N was assigned to talk about the Book of Mormon. We had practiced what we were going to say that morning but were now just praying that the Spirit would direct our words and that we wouldn't stumble. President O, our Stake President, got up there first and started to talk about the restoration and the first vision. As he recited the first vision, the spirit was incredible in the room, it was completely silent and all ears and eyes were directed towards him. You could have heard a pin drop it was so silent. He spoke the words so beautifully and so perfectly that the spirit flooded the room, my heart was pounding and the Joy of the gospel filled my soul. Afterwards Elder N got up and talked about the Book of Mormon and the spirit directed his words , he spoke with much power and bore a wonderful testimony about the divinity and importance of the Book of Mormon. Then it was my turn, I got up there not quite knowing exactly how I would say what I was going to say and I don't think I ended up saying anything that I had previously designed to say. I wasn't nervous at all as soon as I started talking, but the spirit just directed my thoughts and my words and I was able to say everything that I felt was needed to say. Sister O then talked about the youth programs, and we had people asking how they could help their kids avoid the temptations that are so available today, it was great! We were only supposed to be there for an hour but ended up being there for two as people kept asking more questions, and they weren't bashing questions, but they were really elect questions. We basically talked about everything and the spirit was there the whole time. The Pastor was kind of squirming in his seat haha I felt bad for him because I don't think they were expecting something so powerful, but our message has so much weight behind it, it's incredible! We were the first Christian Church that they had come speak; before it was just Muslims, Buddhists, and Hinduism. So when we came in with the Spirit, I think it really just blew them away. Everyone that was there took some type of material and about 10 of them took a Book of Mormon, it was an incredible experience!

The rest of the week continued to go really well and we were able to find a lot of solid new investigators and we had a few of our investigators show up to church and were able to set 2 baptismal dates. I don't have a whole lot of time to go into a lot of detail about all of that, but it was just incredible all that the Lord helped us out with this week. I am going to try and send a recording of my training that I gave at the church, so hopefully I can get it sent to you. But I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, Elder Bushman

Blessings, Sand Nats and Enduring All Things!

Dear Family, Well just about 4 minutes ago I was writing a very exciting exuberant letter when all of a sudden, after about 20 minutes of typing, it all got deleted right before my eyes and I have no way to bring it back. So as you can imagine I am once again very frustrated and my patience is wearing thin. However I will once again try to summon the excitement I previously had in my other letter into this one.

Helloooo Family! It's another beautiful sunny day here in Georgia, it's about 60 degrees with a light crisp breeze and it just feels absolutely wonderful! This is the kind of weather that I like up here. I am glad to hear all is going so well back on the home front because everything is just going wonderfully here. As I was saying in my previous letter, I think Dad has more excitement and enthusiasm about skiing than I did, and Hunter just to let you know you are getting extremely spoiled! haha But I guess I can't complain since we all went to Hawaii while Austin was on his mission, but I guess when Hunter goes on his that Dad and I will have to go up to Vail or something and go on like a week long ski trip, oh yeah!

Well what a great week, I love the stress and the excitement about missionary work. I love the feeling of having a lot to do and being able to get it accomplished through the Lord's help. It seems like at the beginning of each new week it’s just another opportunity to improve and progress and I love the challenge. I was talking to Elder N this morning about the beauty of missionary work and how it is so rewarding. I never thought that I would enjoy having so much to do and have so much to think about and have so many things to worry and ponder about, but I absolutely love it!  Each week is the start of trying to work with investigators to help them get baptized and it ultimately all leads up to them coming to church.  Sunday is by far the most stressful day of the week for me, no longer the most relaxing, but after church it gets more relaxing. Then just a few hours later you are back at again, starting a new week over and beginning another climb -  its amazing and Elder and I are being extremely blessed with a lot of wonderful people to work with, but I will talk a little about what went on this week.

The week started off pretty slow but really picked up with the last 3 days. On Wednesday we went down to zone leader council which was amazing! I just love being down there with all the other leaders and especially with President and Sister B. I love feeling their great spirit, they just having something different and special about them, they really love the Savior and all of us missionaries so much, it’s incredible. On Thursday we went on a trade off with the H Elders which was a lot of fun, however I did get eaten alive by Sand Nats! Oh yes, those little demons straight from the fiery pits of Hell are out again, and I am not excited about that one bit, but I will Endure!  Gotta love that 13th Article of Faith!  It was great though, because on Saturday we had a massive rain storm and it rained all day and all night and completely wiped them out, and it got cold afterwards so we are doing good in that area so far. In fact we even had a tornado warning on Saturday, which means there was actually a tornado, luckily it was a little north of us and didn't head in our direction, but we did have to go back to our apartment for an hour under Sister B's orders.

We are teaching this wonderful couple in their 60’s. They are just amazing! C is a convert and has been a member for over 20 years but has been inactive for the last 12. She has been going to other churches but she was friends with J because her and R go to her support group and when they found out J got baptized they wanted to come back to the church. C has had a testimony all of the time that she has been inactive and is very excited to come back; in fact she bore her testimony on Sunday! They are such a sweet couple and C just talks about how R is going to get baptized and how they are going to go to the temple and get sealed. Well on Sunday after Church R told us that he wants to get baptized! Oh yeah!  So we are super excited about that!

We are also teaching this really amazing man named O. He is so funny and he loves us, so we have a lot of fun teaching him. He was supposed to come to church on Sunday but couldn't because he couldn't find a ride and he contacted us way too late so we couldn't get him one unfortunately, we went and saw him afterwards though and he wants us to come over this week and he is going to make us dinner, so I am really excited about that. I love praying with him too!

There are a lot of other people we are working with; unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to talk about them because this is the second letter I am typing because the first one got deleted, so I apologize. Just know that all is going well and that I am very grateful for all that you all do for me and for all of your prayers. I feel so blessed to be serving a mission at this time and I know without a shadow of a doubt that I was meant to be here at this time. I feel that every event in my life has lead up to this point in my life to be here serving the Lord and being under President B. God is good and his hand is in every aspect of our lives, all we have to do is recognize it. Love you all, have a great week!

Love, Elder Bushman

I talked a little more about Preach My Gospel in my other letter, so I am sorry I couldn't talk about it in this one, but I am excited that the Ward is picking up on it, it is so important! 

Miracles and Blessings Pouring from Heaven.....

Dear Family,  Well first of all it is good to hear all is going well back in Utah and thank you dad for the letter that was written, it didn't come till last Tuesday so I got to read it this morning and it was fun reading about that experience you had with the hike. I remember you telling me that story many times when we would have our long talks haha and about not giving up and not quitting, so thank you for sharing that again. And I am glad now that I am in Georgia where I cannot get grounded because I wasn't the most obedient when it came to the skiing rules that you gave me either haha I was laughing so hard as I was reading that but at the same time I wish your thought process would have been the same back then as it is now, it would have relieved me of a lot of guilt haha I am pretty jealous that Hunter got to ski baldy chutes, that is something I never got to do unfortunately, however I did ski High Rustler which I don't think he has done yet, well maybe he has, but no matter that’s cool that he got to do that. 

Anyway I guess I will begin to talk about my week, however I have no idea where to begin because it was probably the most crazy week of my mission, but also the most rewarding. It started off with a trade-off in V on Tuesday which was a lot of fun, we were just able to once again just go out and help them in any way that we could with finding and teaching, and the great thing is, is that they found 7 new investigators this week. Afterwards on Wednesday we drove straight to G to go to the H district's district meeting which was another hour and a half drive, but we were able to participate in that which was really good. A miracle happened that morning however because we needed somebody to go with us that night to go see C but we couldn't find anyone and out of the blue a member called us and said that he needed to go out with us, he said that he had been feeling impressed the last couple of days that he needed to go out with the missionaries. Wow!  I am just so grateful for the work of the Lord.  Anyway basically everything we did this week, we were doing to prepare for C's baptism and it was the most stressful baptism I have ever had trying to get everything orchestrated and also having to make sure everything got done in the zone. So I'm going to talk a little about C now.

The first week we started to teach C, she lost her job, but she had faith that everything was going to work out. Well the whole time we had been teaching her that was a really big worry for her because she didn't want to get evicted. Well it's now close to the end of the month and she was really stressed out and worried, to the point that she couldn't eat and we were trying to do everything we could to help her, however it seemed like things kept falling through. Wow I have never prayed so hard in my life that something miraculous would happen and that she would find a job. Well it's now Saturday morning, the morning of her baptism and we decide to go over to her house a little early to talk with her and to talk about the Baptism.  Right as we get there the mail man pulls up and drops something off in the mailbox and drives away, I didn't really think anything of it and went to the door. Sister B was right there at the door and I kind of startled her but we said hello and she grabbed the mail. As she looked at it she began to get very excited and beckoned us into her home. She then began to break down and cry as she opened this envelope with her tax refund in it, with enough money to pay for all of her rent. She sat there on her couch and thanked God, I have never witnessed a miracle like that, I just felt overwhelmed with gratitude for the Lord and how he is willing and ready to fulfill all of his promises. We promised her at the beginning that if she kept going and obeyed the commandments that the Lord would bless her. Well she quit smoking 4 days prior to her baptism and on the day of her Baptism the Lord provided this Miracle so she wouldn't get evicted. It really humbled me and let me know that I am nothing, for as to my strength I am weak but in the strength of the Lord, all things are possible. She got confirmed on Sunday and told us that she has never been so happy in her life.

To put the icing on the cake, President and Sister B came and spoke in our ward on Sunday and it was amazing!  We were able to get 5 investigators in church and they all loved it. The great thing is that we were able to reactivate this less active member that we found contacting and his wife is not a member. Well all of them came to church on Sunday, and their two kids and they absolutely loved it! We are going to see them tonight and will invite her to be baptized. The Lord is just pouring out blessings upon us and I am not quite sure why, but I know it is nothing that we are doing, we just have to keep being obedient and diligent, I love this work, I truly do. Well I got to go, love you all have a great week! Love,  Elder Bushman

Happy Days.....

Dear family,  Well this is round two trying to type you an email, because it is presidents day the library is shut down so we are using our laptop that we get as zone leaders to do emails. I started about an hour ago to try and type an email and got a lot done when all of the sudden the computer just freak out and deletes it all. Well you know me I got pretty frustrated and just told Elder N to do his emails because I wasn't going to type again haha but here I am. Well as I was saying before, I wanted to wish Hillary a Happy Birthday, so happy birthday Hillary! thank you for putting up with my obnoxious brother haha

Well this week has been a pretty crazy week and a super busy one, I am exhausted once again, but in a good way. We had our two day trade off week with HH and B. On Tuesday we went to HH's district meeting and had a trade off with them. HH is a pretty place, it is pretty touristy and there are a lot of Spanish people. I got to go on the island this time and we pretty much contacted the whole time, but I had no Idea what was going on because it was all in Spanish, but it was still a lot of fun.

On Wednesday we went on a trade off up in B and I was able to go with Elder B who actually trained Elder A.  Elder B is amazing.  We had a fun trade off and just talked about a lot of the old people that used to be in the mission.  On Thursday we had another trade off with the assistants in S, so we were finally back in our area but we were on another trade off, which I was actually pretty thankful for because we had been gone for 2 days I was hoping to get some solid numbers that day, which we did! I went with Elder A, it was great, it felt like we just picked up where he left off, except now I was leading which was a little weird but a lot of fun. We had some good talks and both of us were just feeling the weight of being a leader. We were talking about how much the mission needs to improve if we are to reach our goals and what we were going to do to achieve it.  I don't know the gospel is just so important and it is so important that we share it, because this is the last time the gospel will be on the earth before Christ comes again, we are the ones preparing the world for his second coming. I just wonder what the prophet must feel like sometimes as he prays about all of us and just praying that we will catch the vision about how important this really is. Then I wondered how President B must feel when he gives us all these tools to do missionary work and he exhorts us to be diligent and obedient so strongly and yet missionaries choose not to heed his council.  I guess I just want to be the best instrument in God's hands that I can be, and I know I am far from perfect, but I do desire to figure out everything I must do to be as worthy as I can so I can fulfill my calling. Anyway these were just some of the things that Elder A and I talked about, it was a really good conversation.

The Lord is also just blessing us with referrals from members out of nowhere and we have some pretty good potential people that we are working with. JW, our recent convert, is doing amazing!  She is more than half way through preach my gospel now and is on fire!  She has given us 4 referrals in the past week for some of her friends, some of them who are really solid and want to come to church. We are also working with a couple part member families who seem to be really solid, one of them came to church on Sunday, at least the less active man did, so we are hoping to really get things started with them and get his wife baptized.

Oh on Saturday as we were about to leave, the Jehovah Witnesses knocked on our door!  Oh it was great, in fact one of them was someone that we had contacted on the street a week ago. haha Anyway they started talking to us about Armageddon and gave us a pamphlet and we listened kindly and didn't really say anything. Then the other guy talked and he started saying how his sister was a Mormon and how her husband
cheated on her and stuff but anyway he said that his brother in law asked him once how you could know if any of the books that were written were true, namely the Quran, Bible, and Book of Mormon. He said he didn't have an answer at the time and he thought about it for years but now he finally knew and then he asked us if we knew the answer. Boy did he dig himself into a hole with that question.  I said of course I know the answer!  I quoted from Moroni 10:3-5 and you should have seen the shock on his face haha it was priceless. But he gathered himself back together and started talking about prophecy being fulfilled and that's how you know things are true, I then told him how Ezekiel’s prophecy about the Book of Mormon was fulfilled and again he was shocked and started to fumble over his words. Well they soon left after that and Elder N and I just really gained a testimony of how true the gospel really is as we bore testimony to them about the gospel and the Book of Mormon and as they really did nothing, they had no direction with what they were doing, they were just trying to fill us with information.

Well anyway that was the gist of our week, I’m running out of time so I better get off, and thankfully nothing has been deleted on me, so I will talk to you all later. Have a great week. Love you all!  Elder Bushman

A few more pictures

Here come the bugs......

Dear Family, Well I'm glad you all enjoyed the pictures, I know it's been a while since I have sent them to you haha I think there are pictures on there from before Halloween, so it's been a minute. Oh and the red shirt and shoes were all things that I have found in the house we live in. Actually the shirt is from our lost investigator, she was throwing out a bunch of stuff, that shirt being one of them, so she said I could have it. However the pants are Elder A’s, He left them here because he didn't have enough room in his suit case when he got transferred. So pretty much everything I was wearing at that point was not mine haha but it is now. 

Well S is Great, that's all I really have to say, I don't think I could ask to be in a better place. The only thing right now is that the stinkin bugs are starting to come out again. It's February and it’s been 77 degrees almost every day this week, it's ridiculous. It just means summer is coming sooner, which means it’s going to be hot soon and I am not excited for that, I've been enjoying the cold weather way too much! Oh well anyway I guess I can tell you who my new companion is since you want to know so bad.....his name is Elder N. Yep that's right I am companions with someone from my same hometown! How crazy is that, I went to Junior High with him haha It's going to be so much fun!  He's been rotting away down in G for the last 7 and a half months so he is way excited to be up here in S and so am I.  We have a lot of good stuff going on right now, with people that are getting baptized this month, recent converts that are doing missionary work, really long fast and testimony meetings, its great!

I probably told you about the lady that we are teaching, well she is amazing!  We had a couple of lessons with her this week and she really is a choice daughter of our Heavenly Father, a spiritual giant. We had a lesson with her earlier in the week and watched one of the Mormon messages that you sent me and she just broke down crying and we were able to teach the word of wisdom while the spirit was strong, commit her to live it, and set a solid date. She also got up and bore her testimony in Sacrament meeting this. It was amazing and at the end she told everyone that she was going to get baptized, so at least everyone knows who she is now.

The rest of the week went really well but has been super hectic. We probably spent the last 4 driving as much as we did working in our area. On Wednesday was Transfer meeting, so we had to drive all the way down to J. and we didn't get back until 6 PM.  On Thursday we had to drive up to B. and go to their district meeting so we could drop off their supplies and then we had to go to H.H. to drop of their supplies. On Friday we had to take the hour and a half drive out to V. to drop off something for them and then drive to G. to drop off something for them, it's really been one of the most exhausting weekends of my life, but it has been great, I love being busy. We also have just been teaching a lot of people and are finding a lot of new people. Our recent convert J. is doing great missionary work. She referred us to one of her friends that wants to come to church with her, so we gave her a call and set up an appointment for tonight, she seemed really cool on the phone. We had the W. family show up to church this week, they were the ones that were going to get baptized a while back but they showed up to church this week. So we are going to baptize them this month.

But yeah that was pretty much our week. This week we are going to be out of our area for two days down in J for a leadership training, which I am really excited for because they are always good. Then next week we are going to be out of our area for two days again for trade offs, so It's like we don't even like our area or something haha but I love it. Well anyway I better get going we have a lot of work to do today as always, but I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week.  Love, Elder Bushman

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