Year 2, Week 50: God is good. God is merciful. God is just.

Today is the final preparation day of my mission. It's incredible how fast time actually goes. I always say that things will never arrive but in reality, time passes so quickly it's so hard to actually keep up with everything. The mission has come and gone in a blur.. There were hard times, sad times, happy times, amazing times, emotional times, and every other adjective that could be used to describe the time spent in the mission field. I'm now thinking about Thomas going out on his mission or Spencer getting ready to leave. It felt like those days were so far away but in a matter of a few eye blinks, the time has arrived or is soon to be arriving. Haha! If you can't tell, I trip at the concept of time. 

I've had the wonderful opportunity to serve in the Massachusetts Boston Mission. I will forever be grateful for the people I've met here. I honestly, without a doubt, can say that my life has been changed. That sounds so cliche and every missionary says that but it's true. You learn, grow, struggle, laugh, and become the person God wants you to be while serving. Spiritual things never appealed much to me before the mission. I now can say that I have a testimony of the reality of my Savior Jesus Christ. He died for me. He suffered for me. He bled for me. He rose again for me. I am grateful and am forever indebted to Him for that. I know what it's like to feel guilty for mistakes. I also know of the sweetness of repentance and change. God is good. God is merciful. God is just. I know that to be true. I honestly don't know if anybody but my mother reads these letters but I encourage everyone to serve a mission. Whether you are 18 or 76 the mission is the place to be! Dedicating time to God is an incredible experience!

This week has been really really good! We had a great lesson with R. and O. We had some members there with us that shared wonderful testimonies! Both of them served missions and they were wonderful at helping us teach. We started the lesson with them just talking. All missionaries understand that when members just talk and get to know the people we are teaching, missionary life is good! Lol! They talked about work and parenting and what they have planned for the future, etc. It was great! We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went super well. R. told us that she had looked up baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and she said that she really like how we don't baptized kids until they are 8 and can choose. When we invited her to be baptized she said yes and that she was in complete agreement with the necessity of baptism. O. was hesitant and didn't say anything. The member said if he wanted to actually know if it's true he needs to read, pray, and come to church. It was a great lesson and our members helped a ton!

We had another great lesson with R. and V. and their family. They were able to come for a chapel tour and we had a Chilean family with us. We showed them the church and they thought it was great and really want to come. The only problem is he works. We are trying to figure out a way to get the wife and kids there while the husband works to get Sundays off. For right now that hasn't happened but we are trying. 

We also started an English Class and will have out first class On Tuesday at 7:30 pm. R. says he really wants to come to it so we are excited for that! We got a random call from somebody and started asking us about it. He said he was going to bring his girlfriend because he wants to learn. Hopefully we can have a pretty good turnout of people and try to start finding/teaching people that way. 

We also were able to teach M. this week. She still has trouble reading in the Book of Mormon and doesn't understand much of it. She also isn't coming to church so we will have to figure out what to do with that. 

We had some great member visits this week and are trying to help them share the Gospel. Nothing much to report with that yet! 

Well this week has been great! I'm doing well! I'm happy and excited! I'm excited to see you all this week! 

Love, 

Elder Bushman 

 

 

Year 2, Week 49: I Now Have a Chinese Name

This week was a little crazy!

We finished out Monday night with visiting some people and talking to others on the street. Nothing too exciting there! Lol! 

I was able to go on an exchange with our District Leader, Elder Kohler. He is a Chinese missionary and we went to their area. We had 3 lessons that day in Mandarin. I've been on a Portuguese exchange before and I've been able to understand what is happening in the lesson. During that Portuguese exchange I've been able to add my thoughts in Spanish and they also understand what I'm saying. Haha let me say that Mandarin is completely different. I didn't understand one word! Not a one! But, I was able to learn how to introduce myself in Mandarin and I now have a Chinese name 😂I don't know how to write it out but... I can say it! The other day, we were asked by the Chinese Elders to run over to the church and open the door for a person they were teaching and wait with him until they arrived. We were just eating lunch so we ran over and opened the door. When I shook the man's hand I said, "hello, I am Elder Bushman" in Mandarin and the guy starts going off and talking! I just waited for like 10 seconds before cutting him off and saying, in English, that I do NOT speak any Mandarin. During that exchange, we contacted several Mandarin speakers, had lessons, called some of their members, and stopped by some people they were teaching. I literally did nothing that whole day! I just walked around following Elder Kohler and asking questions about how Mandarin works VS Spanish! Haha! I was worthless that day!

We had our Zone Conference this week as well. My last one😭😭 We talked about how Moro I worked to create a country where they could all have freedom and how we need to work to build the church so everyone can have spiritual freedom. It was a great Conference and we learned that President Nelson will be visiting our mission in October. So I'll miss that by 3ish months.

We still haven't had a lesson with R. and O. We are in contact with them and have something set up for Tuesday. We have members all lined up to come as well which is exciting. They weren't able to come to church this week because their baby is still sick. We are praying he feels better so they can keep coming to church.

R. and V. had to cancel as well. We have our next appointment set up with them for this Wednesday. We will also be having a member with us so we are praying that he will be able to help him see the need to come to church and out God first. 

We stopped teaching A. because he didn't express any interest. Hopefully in the future they will be able to progress. 

We stopped by a less active man's house and met him. We had a lesson this past week and invited him to church. We honestly forgot we had invited him but right after the opening prayer he walked into Sacrament Meeting! That was really cool. His name is Jaime and he hasn't been to church for 5 years. All that was needed was for some missionaries to stop by and invite him to come. We are praying he continues to come. 

I don't know if you remember A. S.? We were teaching her but she wouldn't come to church so we stopped teaching her. We got a call from the English missionaries one day and they told us they had someone they were talking to on the phone as well. Turns out, it was her. So we talked with her over the phone for about 12 minutes and invited her to come to church. She didn't so we will see how long we will continue to try with her.

This week has been really good! Several appointments canceled which is a bummer but we are looking forward to this next week. 

I love you! 

Elder Bushman 

 

 

Year 2, Week 48: We are Trying!

This week has been very good. We had lots going on. We started teaching a new guy named A! He is the boyfriend of a less active member named K. We are trying to help her come back to church and so her and her boyfriend can be active. The problem we are having is he is not super interested. But his girlfriend, wants him to come and be active and have God in his life. So that is what we are working towards! We set up a chapel tour to help him feel comfortable coming to church, but he decided last minute that he did not want to come. We invited them to church but he didn't want to come either.. So we are going to see if he is just not super interested or if he is just uncomfortable and when he becomes comfortable he will be more interested? Haha we don't know! But we are trying!

We had a lesson with a woman named M this week. She was being taught by the sisters until she went on vacation for a month in February to El Salvador. She wanted to be baptized but then left on her vacation. We had a lesson and taught her about the Restoration. She didn't seem to understand a whole lot. We aren't sure how much she understood from what we taught but we are excited to help her. 

We didn't have a lesson with O. and R. this week. Their son has been sick so they weren't able to come to church. 

We had a lesson with R. about the Plan of Salvation. We decided he needed to know about it before we worked on him getting work off to be able to come to church. He also really wants to go to an English class so we are working on setting that up. As we were teaching the Plan of Salvation, he realized how important obeying God's commandments is. He mentioned how he needs to more fully keep them so we are really excited to have a lesson with him.

Nobody was able to come to church this week. Elder Skordas and I gave talks. They went really well! I talked about the blessings we receive from the Gospel, the importance of sharing it with our friends and family, and some steps to doing so. Lots of members commented on it so it seemed to be good! 

That's the week! 

I love you! 

Elder Bushman