Year 2, Week 17: Super Good Food

This week has been very good! I really am loving the mission! We had some good things happen and some not so good things happen!

First, Thanksgiving was great! Our Mission President said we shouldn't tract so we just decided to visit some members! We had our Thanksgiving Dinner with the Rodriguez family and their kids. It was great having some super good food! We went to O, S & R as well to share a scripture with them. They gave us some super good ham and Broccoli. We then hurried to visit another member but she didn't have a man in the house. So we just picked up the food that she wanted to give us and left. Thanksgiving was a great day!

We had a District Leadership Council with all the District Leaders in our Zone. Most missionaries have been really struggling with the work lately and so our purpose was to identify some things that we aren't doing or need to do better. After 2 hours we walked away with a plan to follow the counsel of President Mavromatis more effectively, be better about studying and applying principles from Preach my Gospel, and to develop a stronger love for the people we teach through working to develop Christlike attributes and praying for Charity. It was a super great meeting that was very good and effective. 

We were able to get in contact with J. this week. He has picked up some old habits that aren't good and has started working on Sundays again. We talked with him for a bit and asked if we would be able to come over to share a message with him. We set up a time to go visit him on Friday but when we went and passed by, he wasn't there. His car was out front and lights were on but he didn't pick up the phone or answer the door. It was a little disappointing that he blew us off and wasn't there but we are still trying to help him back. Hopefully he has those same desires! 

We had our Branch Thanksgiving party on Saturday and met some cool people that are friends with members that we will be trying to work with! We have exchanges, MLC, and Zone Conference this week so it will be busy!!

Love you all

Elder Bushman

Year 2, Week 16: What is our River Jordan?

Hello Family!! 

This week was pretty good. We had a super cool lesson with R and A. They are the kids who are in their dad's custody on Sundays so they can't go to church. President Velez, our Branch President, was with us. He was so outgoing and just really helped teach! We talked about what happens at church and discussed things like primary, Young Men, Young Women, Priesthood, and Relief Society. We talked about how they can be blessed by going to church. We are just praying that they will be able to be with their mom on Sundays. 

We had interviews with President Mavromatis this week. He shared a scripture about Joshua leading the Israelites and they came upon the river Jordan. When the people sanctified their hearts they were able to come through on dry ground. He talked about what our river Jordan is personally, in our companionship, in our area, and in our Zone. It was cool.

We have some exciting events coming up soon. We have a District Leader Council where we will be talking about what we can do to cross our Jordan Rivers. 

We have a Zone Conference coming up where President and Sister Bennett, the area Presidency, to talk about how we can receive more miracles and sanctify ourselves further! We have some exciting things coming!! 

Not much else happened this week. Sorry for the short email. 

Love you! 

Elder Bushman 

Year 2, Week 15: Awesome Conversion Story

This week was good. Lots of missed appointments which is sad but it still was a good week.

We tried something new this week. We were trying to help the members of our Branch recognize the blessings of the Restoration. We had 2 member appointments this week. The first one was super good! The member is named Ana Maria. She was baptized by Elder Porritt, one of my companions in Waterbury, but moved to Worcester from Lynn, MA. She has an awesome conversion story. She wasn't sure if she wanted to be baptized and had lots of doubts but then had a dream where she knew the church was true and 4 days later, was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She got so excited about it that we invited her to share the blessings of the Gospel with others. She has a friend at work who is struggling and she said that she would share her testimony with her. We role played her sharing her testimony to help her feel comfortable!

The second appointment didn't go so hot. We were visiting a family where the wife Is completely active, but the husband only comes to Sacrament Meeting.

They shared the stories of them finding the church. He shared about his mission experience and how he found the church at the age of 18. Hermana shared about the church she used to attend and how through a family she was living with, found the Church of Jesus Christ .

We invited them to think of a name that they could share the Gospel with. She told us about a friend she has at work who she has already tried to share the Gospel with but didn't accept her invitation. She said that she couldn't think of another person to share the gospel. We asked if we could role play with her to help her feel comfortable. Hermano did not like that.

He shared how members of the church stay within their inner circle of friends and don't branch out. He shared how the responsibility of missionary work is on the missionaries. He expressed how activities can help but missionaries should do it.

He shared how he hasn't read from the Book of Mormon since his mission and that he is considered active as long as he comes to Sacrament Meeting. He shared how he loves to pray and does it everyday. He shared how every missionary comes through and does the same routine of asking for referrals. We concluded with an invitation for him the read the Book of Mormon and he said he would not commit to doing it.

Hermana  shared how she reads, prays, attends the temple, holds a calling, watches conference, and does what she needs to do to gain Salvation. 

We offered service but he wouldn't accept because of past experiences with missionaries missing the service event. So we hurry and concluded with a prayer and left! So that was a sad experience. We'll keep trying though!

We had an appointment with a guy named A but when we went over he wasn't home. His brother, M, was however! We asked if A had a phone and aid, "who is A?? I have a brother named M? Guys, he was probably drunk when he told you his name!" haha well, M wasn't there!! We had a good lesson with M though! 

The Sisters had a baptism of a guy named F this week! They called him months ago and he said," call me on October 10th." so they did and he got baptized on Saturday! So exciting news for them!

We met a guy named Y and he told us to come by his house. We knocked on his door, but a guy named A answered the door and asked us to come in because it was super cold outside. S, his wife, was there and we asked them about their beliefs. They believe in Christ and God but have attend so many churches and are tired of criticism coming from them.

We explained how Joseph Smith also had this question. Which church is true? They asked questions about the name of the Church, who Mormon was, if we believe in Christ or God, if we can marry outside of the church etc.

They accepted Invitations to read and pray. They've seen many missionaries in Puerto Rico and asked if the Church was an American Church because all the missionaries there are Americans! Haha:) they don't work Sundays and have a car so we are looking forward to meeting again with them. At they end, we asked if they knew Y and they have never heard of him! Haha:) fun times!

Nobody came to church again so we will have to consider stopping the teaching of some people.

Not much else happened this week! 

Love you all 

Elder Bushman 

 

 

Year 2, Week 14: We have been talking with literally everyone

Hello family,

This week has been pretty good. We are staying for together for another transfer! On average, most companionship are together for 2 transfers but Elder Fragoso and I will be going for 3. So it looks like we still have some work to do! We are excited for the people we are going to be working with and excited to find more people to work with!

This week we had exchanges with Elder Lund and Elder Merrill. They are the English Elders here in Worcester. I went with Elder Lund in his area. He has just finished his first transfer in the field! It was fun working with someone who has all the ideas from the MTC still running through his mind! He was so prepared to lead throughout the day of what to do and who to visit! It was awesome:) we had some great lessons with people and then had a Baptismal interview with a boy named E that they were teaching!

We had lots of missed appointments and dropped people this week. Lots of contacting however. We have been talking with literally everyone! We talk with lots of people anyway, but because we are looking for more people to start teaching and come to church, we have done a lot more contacts. It's been good! We have had some cool contacts!

On one occasion, we knocked a door and a man named J let us in. J let us in and immediately went to go get his wife so that she could also listen. They have such a cute 3 month old baby named S! 

They've never heard of the BoM before but were willing to read. G, his wife, after having heard the intro, said that through the BoM we may know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. They already knew that prophets were messengers of God! J's dad is a pastor back in Kenya so they are pretty knowledgeable on Christian topics! 

They were willing to listen because just before we stopped by, J had kicked his Brother in Law out of his house because he was causing problems. When we came they saw it as message from God, especially because we taught about families! It was super cool experience!

But other than that... Not much happened this week! Sorry for the short one but I love you all! 

Elder Bushman