Year 1, Week 50: A Car Literally Blew Up....but we got a Picture

This week has been super busy!

We had interviews with President Mavromatis. He said he wanted each interview to last 10 minutes and with 18 missionaries in our zone it should have only taken 3 hours... Well. President said he wanted everyone at the church at 8 in the morning to begin interviews. We arrived at 8 in the morning and left at 4 in the afternoon. This day was sooooooo long! I had a good interview. We talked about what his plans were and then he asked me if I had any questions or concerns that I wanted him to address. There wasn't any so it ended. Some members of the zone had 40+ minute interviews. After that, President Mavromatis came to our apartment and looked at it and asked questions about our zone and individual companionship's. It was a long day. That night, we started our exchange with the Spanish Elders working in Framingham, MA.

I was working with Elder Hoisington. It was a great exchange and we got a lot done. I helped him to understand that whenever you contact a person to start teaching and testifying, instead of asking if they want to learn about the Gospel. It was great. I was in their area and got to check our Framingham and their apartment. 

On Thursday we had weekly planning and some other activities. We were able to go out and work that day and try to find people, set appointments, etc. Not very exciting day because we were planning.

We had District Meeting on Friday. Then we were able to go back down to Waterbury to see the baptism of G. Remember the girl Elder Neeley and I started teaching? We were a little late because a car literally blew up and was in flames on the freeway so we weren't able to actually see her get baptized. It was kind of a bummer, but we got a picture with all the missionaries who taught her. It was pretty cool. I will send that picture in a separate email. That night we drove to Boston to go on exchanges with the Assistants.

I was working with AP Harris. He has been out for 23 months and has been an assistant for the last 8 months. He is such a good missionary and his teaching skills are incredible! I learned a lot about teaching very simply and asking good questions to guide our teaching! It was super cool. We helped with a baptism that day so part of it was doing service but then we were out teaching, finding, contacting, and praying the rest the day! He is super consecrated to his mission and only listens to Mormon Tabernacle Choir and sometimes EFY. He always tries to stay in a spiritual mood. I learned a lot from him! We had several awesome lessons with people and followed the spirit's direction. We met with some people that they hadn't been able to get in touch with for months. It was a great exchange. I was super tired by the end of the night though. That was all Saturday.

Sunday is church, studies, and calls. So we weren't able to be out contacting a lot. We gave a blessing to a recent convert and Juan came to church! He is set to get baptized the 28th of July.

Not much else went down!!

Love you

Elder Bushman