This week... So many things have happened.
Sunday: Sunday's are always great because 1. Its a day of rest. 2. We don't have Spanish class, hence the day of rest. and 3. SUNDAY NIGHT DEVOTIONAL!!!OH YEAH! Because I have been sick and can't sing well, I haven't been attending the MTC Choir. Except, that will change this Sunday. The Speaker for the devotional on Sunday was M. Russell Ballard. So far, we have listened to Elder Bednar, Jenny Oaks Baker, Elder and Sister Sitati, and now, Elder Ballard. Elder Ballard taught that the Lord has His way of Placing people when and where He wants them. I have realized that I have been called to Boston for a REASON. What that reason is. I still, do not know. He taught that missionaries have a spiritual message of great importance and conversion always begins with what people feel. Elder Ballard was fantastic and was a real answer to my prayers.
Monday: Monday started with service. I was assigned to sweep the stairs, mop the stairs, and then clean toilets in the Men's Bathrooms... Let's say, I would prefer to clean toilets at home;) After service was exercise and class. Mom, when you all came to the MTC for the tour I was in class. As you were walking by all of the flags into the last new building. I was on the 5th floor, east side, studying Spanish. I would have loved to see all of you but it wasn't meant to be. Not much happened on Monday other that receiving a package from Mom that was much appreciated. I'm grateful for everything you all have done for me.
Tuesday: Tuesday was a pretty exciting day. Here at the MTC there is a thing called TRC. It stands for Training Resource Center. At the TRC you receive an investigator to teach. Many of the investigators are members, but some are non-members or less active members. Many of these investigators have been baptized because of missionaries in the MTC. Mine and Elder Gibby's investigator is a lady by the name of Ana Galvis. She is from Columbia. Her Grandfather is an Evangelic Priest, or father is also Evangelic, and her mother is Catholic. She is investigating the church because she feels something is missing from those churches. One of the best things to ask all investigators is..."What do you expect from us as Missionaries?" This encourages the investigator to tell us why they listened to us. We can then, base our first lessons off of what they need to hear, for Example. Ana wanted to know what was different about our church then others. Elder Gibby and I taught in the first lesson that 1. God loves her. He knows her. He cares about her. And He wants her to be happy. 2. That because God loves us He sent His son to die for us and that is what sets us apart from other churches. 3. We taught that because God loves us her, He called a man named Joseph Smith to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ on earth. We also explained how that was done and read her the first vision. 4. We invited her to pray that night about the things we had taught her. In the lesson the spirit was strong and we knew she would keep her commitment to pray. Later that day was Tuesday night Devotional!!! OH YEAH!!! Elder Neil A. Anderson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles Spoke. EVERY DEVOTIONAL HAS HAD A GENERAL AUTHORITY SPEAK!! Elder Anderson taught that the mission field would be hard and tough, but to "Never let anyone or anything extinguish my flame of faith." Elder Anderson also talked about how setting Goals makes us 10 times the missionary than if we don't set any goals. I have really come to love devotionals.
Wednesday: Wednesday was great because we got to teach Ana again. When we walked into the room I knew that it was going to be a good lesson. We asked her how her day was and all the boring chit chat at the beginning but finally got down into the meat of the lesson. We asked her if she kept her commitment to pray about Joseph Smith and Heavenly Father. She said she DID!! We then taught her about the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it can really bless her life. Elder Gibby and I both testified of the power of the Book. We gave her a copy of the BOM and committed her to reading it. We also extended the invitation for her to follow the Savior's example to be baptized. She said, "There is still more I want to know about your church, but if I feel the Spirit tell me to be baptized, I will." There is still a lot that has to happen before she could be baptized but at least she committed.
Thursday: Not much happened on Thursday other than class and study.
Friday: Friday we got to teach Ana again!!! WHAT?!?! It went great. We only have a certain period of time to teach her so, its hard to get everything we want to in. We talked for a bit when we walked into the lesson but than asked if she had read the Book of Mormon. She said, "Yes, I have read the Book of Mormon since you gave it to me on Wednesday." Great she read it!!! Then she says,"I have read all of the Book of Mormon since you gave it to me on Wednesday." WHAT??? I couldn't believe what I just heard. She may be a member of the church or she may be an investigator for real, but she said, "I read the Book of Mormon in 2 days." Anyway, she asked a bunch of questions and we answered some of them. She basically said I want to be baptized but needs more faith. When we go to our next lesson we are going to tell her that getting baptized is an act of faith and she needs to act on faith and put in work to receive a witness. Ana has been a great investigator even if she is a member of the church. Nothing else really happened Friday except class.
Anyway, there is my short recap of the week. Love you all and will continue to pray for you.
Love,
Elder Bushman
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| The Traditional Map Photo |
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| The Temple Calls |
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| Elder Bushman with Elder Broschart |
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| HAHAHAHAHAHA!! |
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| The Desk and THE TAG |
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| Elder Bushman with Elder Gibby (Companions) |
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| Elder Bushman and Elder Johnson (Friend from AHS) |
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| "One of my best friends at the MTC is Elder Broschart. We like so many of the same things and are really comfortable around each other. Because of this I told him that he looks like Elder Calhoun. He gave me a picture to prove he is not Calhoun." |
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| Beautiful! |
Other Tidbits:
I do almost everything with the Elders in our district. We go to the temple, play sports, study, sit together at lunch.. etc. Every once in awhile we'll play kick ball or some other sport with the Hermanas. My Comp. leaves on September 13th. I leave one day before him. We got here on the same day. I did get a blessing because I was feeling sick. It seemed to really help. Also, today is the first time I have woken up not feeling sick since last Wednesday. I think I am now completely over my sickness.
"The Lord has answered that prayer in our day with the greatest number of full-time missionaries in the history of the world. With this new wave of faithful laborers, the Lord has given us another opportunity to assist Him in that great harvest of souls."—M. Russell Ballard, "Following Up"
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