Year 1, Week 39: Spanish Branch?

This week has been great so far! One of the coolest things that happened was this Sunday. First, some background. Elder Neeley and I were thinking that if we keep the Waterbury Spanish group the way it is going, it will never grow into a branch. We started thinking of what could be an immediate change to that. Our idea was to combine the Southington(next town over) and the Waterbury Group in two and make it a branch. We then heard that President Miller has been meeting with our Stake President, President Martin. We called up President Miller and asked him what happened in there meeting and he just said they were talking about Missionaries in another part of the Zone. Anyway, Elder Neeley left and Elder Porritt came but I've still been thinking about this idea.

Yesterday, Sunday, we had Ward Conference with the Leaders of the Stake present. At the end, the Stake Presidency wanted to have a Spanish meeting. In the meeting they said that their plans are to make us a Spanish Branch in the year of 2018. We will be combining with the Southington Group when that happens. I won't be here for it, but I'm hoping to come back to Waterbury in 2019 and serve here in a branch. Also, kinda cool that my plans fell right in with the Stakes plans! Haha! The members were told that they need to bring the Less Active members back or we won't have enough people to do it. Elder Porritt and I have several people we are working with who have potential to come back.

While tracting, we met a young family named J. and M. (most generic Hispanic names ever). We talked to them a bunch about the Restoration but M. believes that Angels wrote the Bible and we weren't sure how to tell her that men wrote it under the direction from God and then it was changed. We had already been in there for about 45 minutes and didn't have the time to work over all of that. We are hopefully going back this Thursday. They were super nice and could have real potential!

The English Elders have 5 baptismal dates for the month of May. 4 of them used to be our investigators who we then passed of to them. It's pretty cool that even though our numbers are crazy, we still play a major role in the progress of others. I used to feel that if my numbers for the week or month didn't increase I was "failing in missionary work". Not true!

Another day, we were knocking doors and a girl named K. answered. She didn't have time at the moment but gave us her Facebook and said we could contact her and come back. Even though we've had the Technology for about a month, this was the first time I've ever actually used Facebook while proselyting. It was pretty cool. We'll see if she turns out to be anything. 

There is a lady named S. who is a less active. When I was serving with Elder Tirado she would always call and insult us half the time for not making time to talk with her. I talked to President Miller about her. He said to send her home teachers. Yesterday, she left a message for us that she had a friend who is interested in the Gospel and she needs us to teach her. So after 3 months of not answering we finally called her. She was actually super nice and kind. So maybe the 3 months made her do some thinking;) haha!

Not much else happened this week! I will be sending audio as well! Love ya

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 38: Hard Work and Tons of Laughs

Hello all! This week has been a good one. It went by CRAZY fast. Elder Porritt and I get along very well so it's been filled with hard work and tons of laughs.

With passing most of our investigators to the English Elders, we have been doing tons of finding things. Finding means tracing door after door and street after street. We got tons done.

While tracting on a street, we saw a man, his wife, and their baby on a second floor deck. We crossed the street and started talking with them. We explained how we are missionaries and share messages about the family and Christ. We then asked if we could come up to the deck to teach them a message about these things. They said yes so we went and taught the restoration of the Gospel. They were super cool but didn't say much other than, wow, oh, interesante... Stuff like that. They said we could come back a different day and share more of our message. We invited them to read the Book of Mormon and come to church. They didn't come to church yesterday which was a bummer but hopefully we can meet again and share a larger, more in depth lesson.

Since we have smartphones we have been inputting our teaching records into the church's app. While doing this, we found two former investigators who had been taught many lessons but didn't have any drop reason. We went over to one of them and he received us and we had a short conversation. We think that his wife is against us. We believe that he is very interested but won't go against the will of his wife. Which is good but kinda sad. Hopefully we can meet again with them and have her feel the Spirit.

The other guy wasn't home when we knocked so we stuck a card in the door with a note saying to call us and then we put our number. Later that night, we actually got a call from him. It was super cool, we then met with him a couple days later and taught the Restoration. By the end of the lesson. He said, "so the church on the earth that is the same church as Jesus Christ's in the Catholic Church right?" Elder Porritt shut him down. He just kinda sat there. During the silence he seemed to get it! It was super cool. Again, he didn't come to church but hopefully next week. 

A couple weeks ago, Elder Neeley and I reactivated a less active named B. Her daughter introduced us to D. She had received lessons from the missionaries years ago but she did not ever do anything about it. She approached us and asked us to come over and teach her about the Gospel. When we were teaching the Restoration, I was reciting the First Vision in the own words of Joseph Smith. During this, I felt the Spirit so strongly. It was incredible! I definitely cherish that moment. The lesson was very successful. She didn't make it to church because of work but she said she will get it off next week for sure.

We were tracting at 8:30 one night in one of the most ghetto parts of Waterbury (SO MUCH FUN) and we knocked this guys house. After he finished swearing and calling us names, he said, "don't you guys mess around. You in the hood now." and slams the door. We walked down the street and a house caught my attention. As I looked at it Elder Porritt says, we should knock there. It's cool when both companions feel the same prompting. We knocked the door and a woman answered. She said to come back Friday night. We gave her some cards, left, and sent her record over to the English Elders. At church, this woman walked in with the Elders. Later, I found out that they had a super spiritual lesson with her where she cried, accepted baptism, and said that these things were true and she has been looking for them. It was cool to know that the spirit used us to find her and the English Elders to teach the lesson.

We have had a great week! Love you all! 

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 37: I Just Go to My Nerd Side

So the first week with my new companion was great!! He is different than Elder Neeley, but we still get along great. Elder Neeley loved talking sports, music, etc. So that was a lot of my conversations with him. My new companion loves Magic, Star Wars, StarCraft, Magic, Magic, Raquetball, Snowboarding, Poker,etc. I just go to my nerd side and we have tons to talk about! I actually am pretty nerdy so it works out great! We get lots done. Also, I took my Brown Shoes into a shoe repair shop and it'll cost 15 dollars to fix!!! Elder Porritt is from Alaska. His family moves pretty frequently so they are now in Kansas which is cool! He spent most of his life in Alaska so that's where he says he is from. 

DL isn't much responsibility. It definitely is more but isn't hard. I plan exchanges, conduct and plan District Meetings, do weekly call in and get their numbers. Nothing too fancy or hard. There isn't really anything different about my schedule or service. So, it's all good. Nothing too hard. It's fun though. I feel like I contribute more to the growth of other missionaries. Except all the missionaries but one is "older" in mission age than me. 

District Leader is pretty easy so I didn't really need "training" but I do think Elder David taught me a lot. More in just how to teach better, be more obedient, etc. 

We went over to Hermana Peraltas house, who is my recent convert. Her daughter was there and referred her friend to us and her friend actually asked us to come over. She is also the cousin of a less active which basically means she is going to be super solid. 

I try to serve my companions a lot. Elder Porritt's last companion never talked/played Magic with him so I am playing with him. One, I think it's fun, but two, he is super excited to teach someone so I guess that's how I served. 

Most people on the streets/neighborhoods just don't want to talk. Some are super friendly, some are hostile. Most are right in between. However, I probably know 20 people's name who I see randomly on the street frequently. I knew more in Hartford because we walked. 

Most people here in Waterbury work in a factory, restaurant, or warehouse. 

Yes we log miles. We can drive up to 1250 miles a month. Including trips to Boston, etc 

Yes, I still drive all the time. Elder Porritt doesn't like driving. Yes, he stands and backs me:) 

Hope that answers all your questions!

 

Love you,

Elder Bushman

 

 

Year 1, Week 36: You've Got Yourself a Mormon

This week has been super good!

We went over to see G. and teach a lesson. When we got there her boyfriend William was over. We started asking him what he believed in. He said he was a Serbian Orthodox. We asked a few questions to understand his background and what he believed. Then, we started teaching the Restoration. As we taught he kept having his mind blown. We told him about our welfare program and his response was classic! "well... That's better than the catholics." as we continued to tell him about our church he kept responding with, "well.. That's way better than the Catholics!" when we told him that we love people who are gay, but do not condone what they do, again. "well that's better than the Catholics." haha! It was awesome. By the end our our lesson I said, "well W. ... You've been pretty impressed with our church." he said, "oh yeah! Your church is very impressive." I said, "that's because it's not our church. It's Jesus Christ's church, and the reason it is so awesome and has no flaws is because it is directed by Christ himself." W. looked at us, hugs me and Elder Neeley and says, "CONGRATS, you've got yourself a Mormon." haha! He literally just converted right in front of us. For true conversion he needs to pray about it and read the Book of Mormon, but it was just so funny! Because of W. "being a Mormon now" G. will go to the English ward with him so we are passing her and her siblings over to the English Elders. 

E. came to church again and we taught him the Restoration. He is such a good investigator. He does what we ask and he never breaks his promises. If he promises to do something, he actually will! It's awesome! He asks the greatest questions! One of his questions was, what is God's name? Anyway, he just has awesome questions! 

A couple weeks ago we met a random member of the church who moved from Hartford. He knows a bunch of the families that I know! Anyway, we went over to his house and had an hour and a half long conversation about the church and his life. He committed to coming to church and to come to the Spanish branch! 

We had exchanges this week. I was in the English area with Elder Davis. Exchanges are really fun because you get to learn tons of stuff from other missionaries! We had some pretty cool experiences happen. Because of Facebook we were able to see that a LA members mother passed away. We were able to go over and talk with her. It was super cool! 

 

Transfer News: Elder Neeley is gone to Lawrence. I'm staying in Waterbury. A Elder named Elder Porritt (from Alaska) is coming to Waterbury. He has been out a transfer longer than I have. I'm DL. 

That's about it! Love you all

Elder Bushman

 

 

 

Year 1, Week 35: Minister Like a Baller

Hello Family, 

First, this week has been crazy! Tons of stuff happening!

Tuesday was pretty uneventful. We did however have a super cool lesson with a woman. We met her knocking doors and she speaks English which is also disappointing but it was awesome. She basically told us that she was already saved and had Jesus and she didn't need any more Jesus in her life. We started asking her what she believed and asked her to share her church's beliefs so we could understand what she actually took as truth. She reads the Bible a lot and is interested in the Church now because we talked all about how our church's belief was similar but we had the correct authority. If somebody came to me and told me that the Church of Jesus Christ didn't have the proper authority and that their church did, I would die laughing! That would be so funny! But, when we yell this to people, it's super interesting how easily they accept that as truth. They say, "oh, wow... That makes sense." There is the difference between a true testimony and a fake one.

Tuesday night I decided to skip dinner just because I wasn't hungry. 

On Wednesday we had return and report in Boston. We got permission to drive up with the Southbury Sisters so that was interesting. We talked a lot about the challenges that new missionaries may have. Elder Neeley and I haven't had any problems so it was interesting to hear all the other things people say. We had lunch, but I still wasn't really hungry so I skipped lunch there. We went to the temple and did an Endowment session. Everytime I do an Endowment session my level of understanding and knowledge go up. The drive back from Boston was uneventful. I didn't eat dinner that night either so I completed a 48 hour water fast on Thursday Morning. 

We are still actively teaching G and A. We met with her on Thursday and Saturday and she watched ALL 4 sessions of General Conference. She even told us her thoughts about it. It was awesome! And, she is only 16. Isn't that crazy? 

After the first session of conference on Sunday, we had a lesson with a guy named E. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it was super awesome!! We talked a lot about why Resurrection is better than Reincarnation. It was awesome! We had 4 investigators who watched conference. It was great! 

Conference was FANTASTIC! I was literally blown away by it. Russell M. Nelson is a prophet! It's incredible. So many cool things happening in the Church. I committed to myself that I was going to be such a strong and active participant in Home Teaching when I returned but... Looks like I'll have to minister like a baller. It was also a super awesome experience to sustain the prophet and all the other General Authorities. I am a little bummed that Tad R. Callister isn't an Apostle.

Love you All!! 

Elder Bushman