Year 2, Week 22: He Forgot About Me

Hello Family! This week has been a roller coaster of things! From spiritual experiences and enlightening meetings to disappointment and frustration! Haha! It was a good week!

First, Christmas! Highlight was being able to talk with the Fam and enjoy their love and laughter! I miss you all dearly and love you:) other than that, we did nothing special! haha! We talked with people, tried to set up appointments, call people, contact, etc. Not too many people were interested in us talking with them so not a whole lot to tell!

We were able to hold a District Leadership Council and discuss the needs of our Zone as a whole and what the struggles are. After counseling for a while, the District Leaders settled upon the fact that 2 things needed to he improved: Member missionary work and better teaching skills. Lots of study will be spent in Preach My Gospel and doing role-plays to improve this aspect of our missionary work! 

Right after that, we were able to go on exchanges with Elder Hughes and Elder Chidester in the area of Framingham. We talked with tons of people and set things up in the week! I had fun talking to some people in Portuguese and Spanish :) we were able to get some productive stop bys and calls done and set some things up with the people they are teaching! It was a good day.

The next day, we woke up at 5 in the morning so we could get ready for our Mission Leadership Council in Bloomfield, CT. About a 1 1/2 hour drive. We were able to get a ride from President Mavromatis and Sister Mavromatis so we spent the car ride talking a ton about Brazil and what it's like. On the way home, I had a conversation with President that went something like this :) haha! 

PM - "Elder Bushman, how long have you been in Worcester?" 

EB - "this is my 5th transfer President. Coming up on 7 months." 

PM - "oh wow... You are like that kid from that one movie.. What's it called? He gets left at home?" 

EF - "Home Alone?" 

PM - "YES! You were forgotten Elder Bushman!" 

Haha! President said I stayed in Worcester because he forgot about me! Haha :) it made me laugh a lot. He then said he was only going to keep missionaries together for 2-3 transfers and than said, "oh... Well I guess you are the exception." I love President Mavromatis and sustain him as my leader! So funny! 

S. was going to be baptized on Saturday but than was too busy to be interviewed. We were planning for this next week but missed church for an unknown reason. It's now getting close to him returning to the DR that we think it will be better if he just waits for that. O. still can't come to church and R. can't get there by himself. We aren't sure what we are going to do. S. won't be baptized here though. 

S. said she was going to be bringing her kids to church. We called that morning but she didn't answer. We went to her house and knocked on the door but she didn't answer. We called and knocked and through the door she yells, "who is it?" we reply its us and she tells us back that she isn't going. We don't know why but she keeps flaking out. It's a little sad... But we will keep helping. 

This is the season for New years Resolutions! Elder Fragoso and I have been talking about what ours could be and we have created a list! 

1. Get married

2. Buy a house

3. Master a wheelie on a Bullet Bike

Now my goals for the mission! 

1. Deepen conversion through more consistent and intent study

2. Strive to live a more consecrated life through more focus on the people we are teaching!

President Mavromatis told us that we should NOT study Come Follow Me. As a missionary, we need to study the Book of Mormon, PMG, and other texts so adding Come Follow Me takes too much time. 

The weather here in Worcester has been a little cold but not bad at all. No snow!! 

That's about it for the week! We are working hard and planning on helping more people come to church! That's the goal! 

Love you all! 

Elder Bushman 

 

 

Year 2, Week 10: We had 7 People Watch Conference

Hello Family!

This week has been pretty good! Lots of stuff going on and happening. Biggest news is that General Conference happened. We had 7 people watch conference. Some came to the church and others watched from their houses. It was a great day! I will be honest. I thought a lot more stuff was going to happen so when President Nelson got up for the last time, I was expecting a BOMB to drop. 12 new temples is awesome but I was expecting a little more.

Other than that, not a lot happened this week. We spent most of our time in some meetings and really trying to get people to come and watch conference. A, R, O, and S all watched it so they are still looking good to be baptized on the 27th of October.

We had several meetings this week as well. We met with President Mavromatis, Sister Mavromatis, the Stake President, the High Councilman over the Ward Mission Leaders. We talked all about what the plans for the Stake are and how we can help accomplish those goals! It went great. 

We had a Mission Leadership Council as well. We were there for hours and I skipped the lunch they had! We talked a lot about what things are happening in our mission that is causing lower results. Over the past 4 years, our mission has averaged 34 baptisms a month. The highest in the East! This last couple of months, it is has declined to 15 baptisms in the month of September. We talked about why this is happening and set in plans to achieve better results through higher obedience and more consecrated actions. Our goal is to have 26 baptisms in our mission this month. Our Zone is looking like we will be able to help 13 people get baptized! We are really trying to stretch ourselves and read that goal! Other than that, not much has happened!

Sorry for the short letter! Love you all!!

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 14: Call-Out Challenge

Hey Fam,

This week was super good! Halloween we got back to our apartment at 6. We couldn't be out any later than 6:30. We spent the night playing card games and listening to music. Nothing too intense. Earlier that day we went for a lunch appointment to a member's house. We carved some pumpkins and had a good time. 

On Thursday the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders gave a training to the District Leaders on how we can change to promote more motivation and to work harder. Elder Pulu, a district leader in our zone, said that a call out challenge might be fun. For example: Elder Pulu calls out another companionship and says, " We believe we can find 3 New investigators before you." It is then a small competition to motivate missionaries to talk to everyone. On Saturday, Elder Curzon and I did just that. We texted 3 set of missionaries and said  that we believe we could find 3 new investigators before any of the other companionships. The day started off very slow. We didn't find anyone. Elder Curzon and I literally talked to EVERY single person we passed. Finally, while knocking doors, we found a lady named Anna. She is in her 20's, has a couple kids, and lives with her mom. When she opened the door she just stepped out onto her porch and listened to us teach the Restoration. She asked us to come back tomorrow, Sunday, and said she would read 3rd Nephi 11. After Anna, we met a man named Jose and also taught the Restoration with an invitation to read the Book of Mormon and pray. 10 Minutes after Jose, we met another man named Jose. We taught him the Restoration, asked him to read and pray, and he said he would. It is amazing how the Lord always prepares a way when you set high goals!! Because of that challenge 4 companionships achieved 8 New investigators in a day! It was awesome:)

After church we went to Anna's house but she said she was super busy and asked if we could come back on Tuesday. She said she would read 3 Nephi before we came back so we'll see. We have appointments set up with her and with both of the Jose's:)

After Anna's house, we stopped by a less active member's house. The father was there and we talked with him for a while. He basically just opened up and explained that his wife got offended, didn't want to go back to church, and if he goes, then she gets upset with him. He explained that he loves church and the Gospel but also loves his wife and his hands are tied. He explained he doesn't know what to do and that he is working on his own testimony with the hopes that it can one day help his wife again. It was super sad to see such a strong member of the church in such a hard position. 

Other than that, Maria hasn't come to church yet so we will have to move her baptism date back. Mine and Elder Curzon's monthly goals are 1 Baptism, 3 Baptism Dates, and 25 New Investigators. Maria was our Baptism but because she hasn't attended church that might not happen. Keep her in your prayers! We are hoping to set a Baptism date with Anna and both of the Jose's! Other than that not much happened. 

Once again, Happy Birthday to Olivia! I hope her birthday was a good one:) Love all of you!

Elder Bushman

 

"Day after day, on your path toward your eternal destiny, increase your faith. Proclaim your faith! Let your faith show!"

—Russell M. Nelson, "Let Your Faith Show"