Year 1, Week 43: I was Able to Meet Danny Ainge

Hello Family, 

The last few days in Waterbury were pretty uneventful. We stopped by several members and had dinner with them. I have sent some pictures for mom and if the rest of you want to see then that's cool. 

Wednesday, Elder Smith and I were driving up to the Weston chapel. I met Elder Perkes and we left to go drop my stuff off at the apartment. We got right to work visiting some members, investigators, and potential investigators. 

Waltham is a super cool area. I really love MA and I would actually consider living here. I would only live here though if work or school brought me out. 

On Sunday I was able to meet Danny Ainge! I didn't want to take a picture with him because we were at church but, hopefully some time I'll snap a photo;)

Not a whole ton happened this week. Just knocking, finding, and trying to work hard. 

Elder Perkes is a cool guy. He is from Logan, UT. He loves LaCrosse and playing sports. It's been fun so far. 

This morning around 9 we were able to do an endowment session. It was cool being able to go to the temple. We usually won't be able to go but because it's the Boston Stake temple day, we were allowed to go. 

Love ya

Sorry this is lame and short.

Elder Bushman 

 

 

Year 1, Week 42: Finally Going to Massachusetts

Hello Family! This week has gone by ridiculously quickly!!

First off, transfer news. I am being transferred out of Waterbury and I'm finally going to go to Massachusetts. I'm serving in Waltham which is about an hour from Boston. My new companion is named Elder Perkes. I'm bummed to be leaving Elder Porritt but I'm excited for some change. It was fun serving in Waterbury with Elders Tirado, Neeley, and Porritt.  I've wanted to serve in Waltham my entire mission because that's the closest I can get to Boston until Spanish Elders are put back in. I'm still going to be the District Leader in Waltham but it is a District with me, my companion, Zone Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders. Elder Perkes came out with me but he went to the Mexico MTC. 

This week has been full of laughs with Elder Porritt and I. First off, Tuesday morning Elder Porritt walks over to me and says, "hey, just so you know, I stole some of your body cleanse powder and drank it." With a nervous look in my eye I asked, "how much did you take?" haha, he only took a scoop but it wrecked him pretty good! We were out knocking around 3:30 and he said he needed to go to the bathroom. We head to the church and then go back out to knock. When we get to the street we are planning on knocking, he says... "OK, we need to go home. You can do record inputs while I am in the bathroom." It reminded me of the good ole days of 1 scoop fiber, 1 scoop cleanse! 

We also made a crockpot roast! I made bróccoli while Elder Porritt had the potatoes and carrots that we cooked in the roast. It was mighty fine!! SOOO good! Best roast I've ever had!

We haven't had a whole lot of stuff happen this week. It's been a bummer. All our lessons have been getting canceled and people aren't there. 

We had Zone Conference which was awesome! President Miller gave a super cool talk on what we can do to be life long disciples. It was pretty great! I took a lot away from it!

Interviews were also super cool! President Miller is awesome! It'll be a bummer when he goes home. He is one of the wisest men I've ever met.

On exchanges with Elder Phillipsen on Saturday we had some cool things happen. We were trying to decide what we should do for dinner. All the sudden, I had this super random thought. BDUBS!!! So we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. While there, the waitress took our order and started asking all about us. We told her who we were and what we did as missionaries. She said she wanted to learn more about the church so we got her phone number. Idk if anything will come out of it, but it was still a cool experience. 

We also went to a lesson with an investigator named O. She was too busy to talk with us so we talked to her Brother. He asked us a ton of questions because he knew some about our church. He asked about polygamy, how to gain Salvation, hell and where God lives, the difference between the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and how if he will read it, ponder it, pray about it, and come to church, we will feel happiness and peace. He committed to reading 3 Nephi 12 and compare it with Matthew 5. Elder Phillipsen doesn't speak any Spanish so I was talking the entire time. Because of that lesson, I feel a lot more confident with my Spanish.

D. got baptized yesterday. She was the one that Elder Porritt and I found and then passed to the English Elders. It was a great baptismal service. I had the opportunity to interview her for her baptism. She was SOOO ready. She was practically living everything before we found her except for drinking coffee. She stopped when they asked her to and hasn't had any for the last 3-4 weeks! Super cool and I'm so happy for the English Elders.

Elder Smith is being transferred to Newport, CT. 

Anyway, I can't think of anything else to write. Love you all!! 

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 41: We Have Proper Authority

Hello Fam,

Nothing much has changed since I talked to you yesterday. This week has been pretty good. I'm starting to get a little sick of being in Waterbury. I've been here for 4 transfers now and it's getting a little tiring. But, if I stay for a 5th transfer than it'll be fine. I'll work hard and get it done.

Nothing overly exciting has happened this week. We picked up an investigator named O. and she is cool. She is from Guatemala and seemed to have some real potential. We called her half way during the week to confirm that she will be coming to church like she said. She said she would be so we were looking forward to it. She didn't come though. It's a bummer but nothing new. Its been a little tough to have such flaky people all the time. But, we're working through it. Hopefully we will be able to meet with her again tonight but we haven't been able to get in contact with her. Hopefully something will come from it.

We met with a less active woman this passed week. When we first got in contact with her she said that the reason she wasn't coming to church was because her mom was super sick and she took care of her. When we went over for dinner we talked a bit more and she said the real reason she wasn't coming to church was because the members are 2 faced. During church all the members are so nice but during the week members ignore her... Super dumb but we are trying to help her get over that and come to church for the right reasons. She made us Salmon and Salad so that was sweet!

This week was a little slow. This next week will be pretty busy. On Wednesday we have Zone Conference, Thursday we have interviews, Friday we have T-Texts, Saturday we have exchanges, Sunday is Sunday, Monday is PDAY, Tuesday is Normal, and Wednesday is transfers. We have 3 normal days this week... Crazy! 

We did meet with an investigator named V. He says he has a testimony of Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon. He just doesn't understand the apostasy. We've been going slowly and helping him understand the apostasy more and more. He needs to understand that we have proper authority. So he's cool. 

Lots of appointments got canceled but we have follow ups for next week. That's about it! 

Love you all. Mom, Happy Mothers day!

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 40: Down 'n Derby

Hello Fam! This week has been crazy!

First off. Our AC broke. We called the building manager on Thursday to have someone come and fix it. John, the building maintenance dude, came and looked at it and said he would be back and left. He never came back. Friday morning we called the building manager again and asked about it. 12 o'clock. He said an HVAC guy was coming and that it would be fixed by mid afternoon. 2 o'clock. HVAC guy came and said that he needed a part to fix it and would be back later that afternoon. 5 o'clock. No guy... 6 o'clock. No guy. We called the building manager again and he said that it wouldn't be fixed until Monday afternoon. It is still 86° Degrees in our apartment. It hasn't been below 80 in our place for 6 days! Friday night we called Elder Pierce, the apartment coordinator, and asked what our options were. He said we could buy fans or go stay at the English Elder's Apartment. Since it was already 8:30 and we are supposed to be inside at 9, we just went to the other Elder's apartment and stayed the night. Saturday we bought a fan, which doesn't do much when it's 86, and were planning on staying the night in our apartment but it was too hot. So we stayed at the Elders Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Ive slept on hardwood floor now for 3 days straight. But, it's supposed to be fixed today so life is still good!

On Wednesday Elder Porritt and I went to the Library and we were going to post an ad on Facebook for free Bibles. In doing so, Elder Porritt got a notification from Facebook that someone had stolen his password, posted it on the web, and so he needed to change it. While trying to change it, Facebook completely locked him out. He had two options to get back in, either sign in from a recently used machine, the computer that just locked him out, or send in a picture of his ID. Sending in ID seems rather sketchy so we tried to find some way around it. But, Facebook has no customer service or tech line. We couldn't call anyone or chat anyone. I looked it up and found out that it is actually a legit Facebook thing to send in ID. So he did, marked out personal info, and Facebook unlocked it. So it wasn't too bad but annoying and crazy nonetheless.

So that's the crazy stuff. This week has gone by super quickly but also very slow. We haven't had much success with the people we are working with and haven't found anyone who is super solid.

We did, however, pick up a new investigator named A. She just moved her from the Dominican Republic and doesn't speak any English. She didn't come to church but we are trying to change that;) . Nothing too exciting happened with investigators this week.

The English Elders did have a baptism yesterday. His name is C. and he is probably 45ish. He's super cool, used to be Pentacostal. It took him several months to finally understand why our church is different. The word Authority to him means that someone has the Legal right to do something. When he was baptized in a Pentacostal church he felt that they had the Authority or legal right to do it. The Word Power means in our language Authority. The Pentacostal church doesn't have the Power to baptize because they don't have Authority. It's rather confusing but I'm just glad they helped him understand!

Down in Derby, (haha remember that pinewood derby movie?), CT there is a senior couple whose mission is to teach people about family History. He is a high council man for the Stake. His name is Elder Lopez and his wife is Sister Lopez. They are from Mexico and have been assigned to the Waterbury group to help build it into a ward. There is a ward in Bridgeport, CT that he helped make a branch and then a ward. He is super cool! Anyway, they invited us over for dinner!! I haven't had real Mexican food for over 9 months and I stuck to Keto! Yeah! Salsa Verde, Carne Asada, broccoli salad, so good!

Talking about Keto, I've been on Keto now for a full month! Oh yeah;) anyway! I'm doing very well. Transfers are coming so fast! 2 weeks from Wednesday. 

Anyway, not much else happened. Love you all! 

Elder Bushman