We had our Zone Conference with Elder Randall K. Bennett
and his wife. He is the area President and has come to our mission 3
times since September 2018. Our conversation ranged from Gifts of the
Spirit to who is Elect to following all mission rules with exactness to
any other missionary topic under the sun! It was really good and I was
really excited to get out and work in the field!
In Cambridge, we have an interesting situation with some
members. Before the Waltham Spanish Group was created all members
attended Cambridge. When the group was created most members stayed in
Cambridge and some broke off to Waltham. So the Waltham missionaries
don't visit our members from Cambridge, and we never had permission to
go to Waltham to visit members, so those members were never fellowship
pedo by missionaries. There are several recent converts who went
inactive when that happened and so Elder Skordas and I received
permission so we could go out there. Is was really good! We met a lot of
the people who aren't active and were able to set up some appointments
to visit with them. We are also hoping to be able to teach a lot of
there family who aren't members!
This week was great but we didn't have many lessons with
the people we are teaching. E. and I. canceled 2 appointments but
we will be seeing them tonight. They didn't make it to church again so
we will have to spend some time helping resolve those concerns. We are
hoping for that to work out. We will be talking with them about what's
keeping them back and how we can help them.
We did have a really good lesson with a lady named
R. She was baptized in the Dominican Republic years ago and was
even a temple worker in the Santa Domingo Temple. When she moved out
here she got a job and wasn't able to go to church. The sisters met her
and they we came in and have been working to help her come back to
church. It's incredible how much information she has retained. Most
people can't remember a whole lot about the church but she knows
everything. A member with us offered to bring the Sacrament to her house
but she said, "no. I need to be worthy and get to church. If I can't do
that. I'm not worthy for it." She has a very deep understanding of how
serious the Sacrament actually is and not a lot of Hispanics make that
connection! It was awesome!
We did teach E.R. this week! Her son, A., was
baptized back in November but then left for the Dominican Republic. He
got back but never came to church. We have been working to get an
appointment with him and we finally did. He was really excited to meet
with us and told us all about him and his family. He said he wants us to
teach his friend and he is going to be getting back to church which was
really cool! E. said she would come to church but didn't. Again, we
aren't sure what is keeping these people back from Church. That's the
trouble we face out her. Nobody wants to go to church.
During my personal studies this week, I was reading in
Preach My Gospel about learning to recognize the promptings of the
Spirit. In this section, it lists scriptures and gives descriptions for
all the things the Spirit does. I realized that I feel the Holy Ghost
allllll the time but I rarely give the credit to the Spirit. For
example, in Mosiah 5:2-5 it talks about the Spirit strengthening our
desire to avoid evil and obey the commandments. This happens to me a
lot! Through studies and instruction given to our mission from the
mission President, I frequently feel this desire but I have never
contributed it to the Spirit. I've always thought this was my own
thoughts or desires. So one of the biggest things I've realized, is that
I need to give more credit to God for the righteous things I
experience. Through thoughts or feelings or desires, if they are good,
it is God! It was a cool realization!
I know Jesus Christ is my Savior. He lives. I love being a missionary!!
Love,
Elder Bushman
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