Year 2, Week 21: Baptism is on for This Weekend

Wow! This week has been a little crazy! First, I'll give you an update on our people!

S, R & O! We had a lesson with them on Tuesday. We told them that they would be able to be baptized on December 29th if they were able to go to church and continue going after! O still is working, but S said that he would be able to come. We set the date for the 29th! 

Saturday night rolled around and S confirmed he would be at church. Sunday morning comes and we get a heart breaking text message. 

S - "I have a commitment with my Sister that I forgot about and will not be able to come to church." 

We reply by saying, "we know that sometimes in life, there are things that get in the way of God. We promise that if you put God first and come to church, you will be blessed in all aspects of life!"

S - "I will be there. What's the address again?" 

We were on top of the world. While waiting at church, he texted us and said he still needed to help his Sister and take his brother to work in another city. He asked for the directions to another Spanish group and went to a different branch closer to work! He wasn't here in Worcester but still went! His baptism is on for this weekend!!! R & O will be getting baptized later, sometime in January! 

I haven't mentioned this family yet but I will tell you now! :) I&M! They are kids of a member named S. We have been meeting with them lately and are trying to help I, 11, get baptized. M, 8, will be baptized at the same time, but as a member baptism, not a convert baptism.

They are slow to understand things so we repeat a lot. We made flash cards with them so they can remember their vocabulary words! We had them draw pictures for words such as: commandments, prophet, Joseph Smith, Sacrament, Baptism, etc. With that, they are retaining more information and learning quicker! Haha! They are adorable. 

Well they committed to coming to church, but their mom didn't answer Sunday morning. We went by to visit them and the door to their apartment complex was locked. We had no way to contact them. So they didn't go to church... But there is always next week. 

R&A still are with their dad on Sundays. Their mother texted us and told us that they are planning on holding off on church for a while. We aren't sure what that means exactly but... 

Because it was Christmas, several members brought some family who aren't members! So we had some other people at church. It was great! Lots more success this week then past weeks. Christmas time is always the best as a missionary! 

We had a bunch of appointments on Friday, so we decided to celebrate on Wednesday! We went to a Brazilian Buffet restaurant. I wanted to stick to my diet better so we went to get meat and veggies! Let me tell ya! Sooo good! :) I decided to cheat a little and eat some pineapple! We will definitely be going back there again. 

This week was wonderful! Great times! Thank you all for the birthday gifts and cards. They mean a lot to me! I love you all very much! 

Elder Bushman 

 

 

Year 2, Week 18: Thank the Members

Dear Family!

Hows everything going today! The week has been great! We had some Zone Conferences, an MLC, and an exchange this week, plus all our other work that we are trying to get done! 

It started with our exchange with Elder Lund and Elder Merrill. I was with Elder Merrill in their area. They have some super good things going on! We had a lesson with a guy they are teaching named A. He is from the Dominican Republic and speaks English and Spanish, but his kids only speak Spanish so the English Elders are teaching him. He knows that he needs to be baptized and he knows the Book of Mormon is true. His concerns however are that he doesn't want to make a commitment, especially with God, if he is only going to break it later. He understands the need to be baptized and everything, but he doesn't want to get baptized if he won't be able to go to church every week and stop drinking coffee. We had a lesson with him about faith. We shared how the difference between faith and belief is that belief is believing, but faith is letting your beliefs affect the way you live! Then we discussed how Nephi and his brothers had their plans to get the plates, but once they gave up their plans, and went with the Lord's plan, that's when it all worked out! He understood and recognizes the need to be baptized and stop delaying it but he was still hesitant. We decided that we would fast for him to develop the courage and power to overcome his concerns and be baptized like he knows he should be.

We had another appointment with a lady named A and her boyfriend S. S was baptized in Mass when he was 21 but went inactive a couple years later and never went back. He moved to Worcester and got in contact with the church because he wanted his girlfriend to learn about it. So we had a lesson with them. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and they understood it great. S doesn't remember everything super well so he wanted to know about sons of perdition and things of that nature. It was a great lesson none the less!

We had Zone Conference the next day. Elder Randall K. Bennett of the Quorum of the Seventy was there conducting whats called a mission tour. He basically comes in and looks at what has been happening the past year in the mission and what can change and improve. It was super cool. He made some awesome promises and told us that if we want to see success in our areas, then we need to thank members! He said most members don't answer missionaries calls because all they do is ask for things. Anyway, it was super super cool! 

We had Mission Leadership Council the next day with Elder Bennett and we just talked about what is holding our mission back from increasing baptisms and blessings. Our conversation ranged from Christlike attributes to setting faith filled goals to helping people come to church. Again, he made some promises that where pretty amazing. I don't have my notes with me so I can't remember them.. Lame!!

The M family's court date got moved again. It was for today but got moved to an unknown date. But, Hermana M said that she is just going to trust in the Lord and ask her ex husband for her kids on Sundays. We are praying that that goes well! We have a lesson with them tonight so we are excited for that.

O, S & R still haven't come to church. We are trying to work with them but they aren't answering their phones because they just use wifi to do all their calls and messages so we can't get in touch with them very often. It's a bummer but we are still working with them.

That's about all for the week! We started teaching some people this week which was exciting but we will see if they have a second appointment.

I love you all!!

Elder Bushman

 

 

Year 2, Week 12: They Want the Blessing of Eternal Life

Hello Family! This week has gone by super fast! Lots of stuff happened but I don't even remember half of it. Let's see...

Monday night we spent trying to look for a less active family with unbaptized children. Their phone number didn't work so we were passing by their house. We knocked and a kid named A. answered. The family that we were looking for wasn't there but we went in and started sharing our message with some others. A., his mom, S, her boyfriend, J., their cousin J and L were all there. J. invited us in to share a message with S., they then asked the entire household to join in. They pulled J out of his room to listen. 

They listened intently and wanted to learn more about the church. They asked about where and when our church met and if there was transportation to get there or if someone could pick them up. They believe in God, and the Son as their Savior.

A. offered the closing prayer; it was really good. He gave lots of thanks... thanks for the trials in his life that make him strong. His mom said as we left that that was the first time she'd ever heard him pray out loud! It was a super sincere and cool prayer. 

Elder Fragoso and I forgot to order more supplies so we had zero Book of Mormons, so we didn't teach the Book of Mormon. We need to teach them that next time! When we came back later in the week we had more stuff. We were able to teach the Book of Mormon and share what it was. We invited them to pray and ask to know if it was true.

Last week I talked about J, J, S, M & M. We had a lesson with them this week and they told us that they are looking for God and don't believe he is in churches. They shared how they wouldn't go to church for 3 hours and that they know everything there is to know. It was pretty sad. Instead of being angry or annoyed, all we felt was love for them and knew that they just needed sometime. We committed them to read and pray and left.

We started teaching O, R & S about the Commandments. Since they started working on Sundays we first taught Sabbath day. They shared that commandments are just rules so we helped them understand it was also to show God we love him and to get blessings. They understood. They want the blessing of eternal life! 

Hno. Jimenez, one of our members, bore strong testimony. He works on Saturday nights from 8 to 5 in the morning and comes to church at 11. He has a super strong testimony that church attendance is key. They enjoyed that. 

When we brought up baptism, O & S smiled and said they were still excited to prepare for baptism. They knew what it meant and the blessings it would bring! 

The spirit was very strong, after 1 Nephi 3:7 and that O. agreed to talk to his new boss and get Sundays off.

C., the sister, shared she felt good and that she felt like what we were saying was true. S.  said that was joy she was feeling because they were gathered as a family. C. mentioned it was the Holy Ghost.

We stopped by a man who had been taught in the past this week! It was super cool. His name is A! He shared with us that he has been looking for a church but hasn't been able to find one. He has felt the Spirit but feels that he loses the Spirit and goes back to his old ways. He wants to get married so his daughter can grow up in a family. He has cancer and so it's hard for him to come to church! 

D., his wife, and R., his niece, joined in after. D was open to receive the message but A. is still hesitant even though he has read from the Book of Mormon, but feels the need to continue reading and searching.

R&D, didn't say much but they seem open to our testimonies and the blessings we promised. A. was open to our testimonies but not so much to logic. A. has some misconceptions about the time-line of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. He is a little confused from misunderstanding past missionaries. But we are trying to help him!!

We fasted this week with R, A and Hermana L so that she could have custody of the kids! They said that it was hard for them to do it but they resisted all the food and treats that were placed in front of them. R and A said that they didn't like doing it but did!

When we talked about following the Prophet, they told us some of the responsibilities of prophets and that they were willing to follow him. 

During our discussion of following the law, A. said that she didn't think that obeying the law was a commandment but once we said it was she quickly said that she changed and believes that is a commandment.

During the Word of Wisdom, R and A quoted back to us the 5 things we aren't supposed to put into our bodies. They said that the reason we shouldn't take those things is because we aren't smart and we can be addicted. The are such smart kids! Hermana L. said that R shouldn't be drinking Coke because it's against the Word Of Wisdom! Hahaha! We cleared that up! 

They accepted all commitments and said they would live everything!

We had some other appointments and such this week! It was a good one.

O, S and R's car broke so they didn't come to church:( they won't be able to be baptized this month.. :/

All is well here! 

Love you all! 

Elder Bushman 

 

 

Year 2, Week 11: Ahh! It's the Greatest!

Hello Family! This week has been pretty good. Let's see... What has even happened?? We had a cool experience that will be further detailed below. Happy Birthday to Eden! I know I'm super late but I'm trying:) I can't believe it's already half way through October! It's super nuts!

So O, R and S! The lesson went well! S. remembered a lot from Conference and understood the 2 hour church change. O&R fell asleep during it and missed most of it. They liked what they saw but couldn't tell us what happened. 

During the lesson, S. explained to us what faith was, O. explained what Repentance was, and R. explained to us what Baptism was. They all understand those three things so it was pretty easy to teach the Doctrine of Christ!! 

S. said that they would continue reading with R. We downloaded the Book of Mormon app on their Phone so they could listen to it.

O. got a new job at a Mexican Restaurant. He works as a chef. They didn't come to church because they worked this Sunday. They may not be getting baptized this month if they can't quickly change the schedule and get back to church with a commitment to come every week.

They are doing well however! They are fun to teach because they grasp everything very quickly!! 

R and A! We taught them the Plan of Salvation and started teaching them about the Commandments. They are 11 and 12 so they shouldn't have any major problems but it's still possible. R. wasn't understanding the importance of Church, Pray, and Read so we applied to Fortnite! R. said in Fortnite, you need weapons, materials, and medicine to survive. We said that church is where we get our medicine from the Sacrament, materials is what we read in the scriptures, and our weapon is prayer. It helped it click for him. Thir mom's divorce didn't go through so she doesn't have custody on Sundays so they can't come to church.

We had an awesome lesson with a family this week! M, J, J, S, M

We knocked on their door, they let us in! 

We taught them the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! It was great! We haven't taught a lesson like that in a while! We usually schedule appointments for the future so we can have members and such! 

First it was just three of them.  As we taught about the church of Jesus Christ S asked where it was based and where it is now. She resonated with the idea of the Church today! 

M had a beer at the beginning and said she couldn't stop drinking because it would go bad, but, after the opening prayer she felt the spirit and asked her husband to take it away! Haha! 

Half way through M. walked in with J. M. asked them to join; they both did which was pretty surprising! Usually people come and go and don't care to stay. J. believes in Christ as his Savior. 

S. gave a wonderful closing prayer with some help in the beginning and end, all we did was ask her what she would tell her Heavenly Father, she gave lots of thanks. 

J. M and S. all acknowledged they felt the spirit. We told them they would keep feeling it as they read and prayed

We had another lesson with a man named V. and A. from the Dominican Republic! 

A. believes strongly in God. He is a God-fearing man...he knows the purpose of the commandments and has a desire to follow them, he has been separated from a church for a while and we told him now would be a perfect time to come back! He had some confusion about which Church Christ left behind through Peter. He didn't understand that Peter led the Church of Christ and not some other church. 

A. knew that Israel used to be God's chosen people, he now knows that those blessings are freely given to all through baptism in the restored Church!! He accepted our baptismal invitation and so did V! 

V whipped out a dusty old BoM at the end of the lesson from when missionaries taught him years ago! 

When invited to pray and read for an answer, A. said he wouldn't ask... Until he fasted to receive the answer, he said that through fasting we receive answers from God!! They are incredible! 

Alex gave a wonderful prayer at the end, in proper order, just needs help to say the ending 100% properly! 

It's incredible to see what people already know that is restored truth! When we teach further truth, it's so easy for prepared people to accept it! I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. He lived and died for me! I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and that the Book of Mormon is an inspired writing. I know that our Prophet, Russel M. Nelson is a Prophet! I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change people's life because of His Atonement and Ransom for our souls! 

I love being on a mission! Being a missionary is a great experience that I wouldn't trade for the World!! My favorite part of missionary life is teaching! Days without lessons are the worst!!! When I first came out, I never wanted to teach because I thought it would be boring and scary. Ahh! It's the greatest! 

Not much else to report! I love you all!! 

Elder Bushman 

 

 

Year 2, Week 9: They Love the Book of Mormon

This week has been great! Lots of awesome things are happening!

First off, A and R! This is a super cool story from last week but I wasn't sure how awesome it was going to turn out but it turned out great! 

One day, Elder Fragoso and I were calling all the less active men in our records. We called the number of an 18-30 year old male named T. When we called, it went through to his mother and we talked with her. T is actually a child of record but was never baptized at 8. So we were wanting to teach him. We found out that she has 2 more kids over the age of 11. When we got there, they were home and we taught the 2 kids, not T, about the Restoration. Hermana L, the mother, said that the reason her 2 kids haven't been baptized is because her husband and her are going through a divorce and he has custody on Sundays and never wanted them to be baptized. On Friday, they have a court date to finalize the divorce and to change custody schedules so her kids can come to church. Sooo... We happened to call a week and a half before this and set up times. If everything goes the right way, they should be coming to church for the next three Sundays and will be getting baptized on the 27th of October. 

O, S and R are some other guys we are teaching. They were telling us before we started about reading in the Book of Mormon about Nephi killing Laban. They love the Book of Mormon. We had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation. We talked about why it's important for them to know everything that they know. Super Awesome lesson! Then, yesterday, they all came to church. During Gospel Principles we asked S and O how they know that there is a God. O said that the missionaries called just at the right time. They hadn't heard from missionaries in over 5 years and then all the sudden, one day, we call! He said he found God when he was in prison for 15 days and knew that we weren't a coincidence. Super awesome story!! Then, after we taught O, S arrives from the Dominican Republic to be with his brother. So it all worked out because God is amazing and blesses people. We have a lesson with them tonight! Its going to be super good.

We had a special Zone Conference this week with the Area President, President Bennett. He is super awesome and helped us identify some of the things that is holding back our success. Some of that list includes, a lack of focus on Preach my Gospel, not effective time usage, not having enough faith, etc. So that was awesome! He was super loving and awesome! He told us that an Apostle said that in our area, tens of thousands of people woke up that morning willing and ready to except the Gospel. All we have to do is be obedient, work hard, rely on the Lord, and keep trying. It was super awesome!! 

Because of this meeting with President Bennett, we are having a mission leadership council this Thursday! We are super excited!!

Anyway, not much else happened! It was a great week. Love you all!!!

Elder Bushman

Year 2, Week 8: The Best Lesson of my Mission

This week has been great! We had several awesome things that have been happening so we are excited.

First of all, we have heard tons of rumors about this General Conference. Several Missionaries have heard from family and friends in the MTC's that the Apostles have said, "This Conference, you all need testimonies. If you do not have a testimony, this could be the conference that breaks you." From further discussion amongst missionaries, we have come to a conclusion that something hard is going to happen. With the release of the book Saints, we read a lot about the hard things the members of the church had to do. Now, when was the last "hard" thing was?? I can't even think of something that's been hard. So, several things have risen as we have discussed the upcoming events of the Conference. We think, because of the hastening of the work that Sisters might be called to serve 2 year missions and Elders called to serve 3 year missions. Anyone on missions have the choice to extend to the new standard or come home at the appointed time. In the Saints book, several chapters are dedicated to Polygamy. Probably won't come back because there is no real reason for it too, but... its possible! Idk.. Whatever comes, I think it will be hard and test our faith. Hopefully we all have a testimony and it won't be as hard.

We had a great lesson with O. this week. It was the best lesson of my mission and best lesson of Elder Fragoso's mission. We went to teach O. and his brother who we started teaching. The last lesson we had with them, S., the brother of O., said the closing prayer. In his prayer, he prayed to Jesus Christ and ended in the name of Heavenly Father. For this lesson, we were going to go over the God Head with a focus of the Holy Ghost and how, through prayer and reading, they could receive an answer. We started by opening to the back of the Book of Mormon and reading the guide to the Scriptures under the Holy Ghost. It talks about the role the Holy Ghost has and the importance of it. We then headed to the introduction and discussed the very first promise made in the Book of Mormon. We talked about how there are three things they will learn when they know the Book of Mormon is true. They will know that Jesus is their Savior and Redeemer, that Joseph Smith was His Prophet and Seer, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church. With that, they need to do three things. Church, pray, read. Once we discussed that and how important reading and praying was, we went to Moroni 10:4-5. We discussed what prayer does. With a real intent, seeking in humility and through prayer, we can receive an answer. We asked them if they have any experiences with the Holy Ghost and they both shared experiences where they almost died and they felt, when they lived, that God was there. We helped them understand that that feeling was the Holy Ghost. We then taught them how to pray. We told them why we address our Heavenly Father first, explain things we are grateful for and what we need, and end in the name of Jesus Christ. I asked them if we could practice what we just taught. I first said a prayer, going through the steps we had taught them. Next, O. said his own prayer in the correct way. We talked about the feeling that was there with them in that moment. They said that they now know what the Holy Ghost feels like. We testified and closed our lesson with S. saying the concluding prayer. He did it perfectly and it was an amazing lesson! We committed them to baptism on the 27th of October and to continue praying, reading and coming to church. They didn't come to church however...

That was the biggest thing that happened. Mom asked me what being a Zone Leader was like so I will write a little on that.

It's nothing special really. All you do is watch over and help serve. Its just like any President of a Quorum except we don't have any keys. In a transfer we, create a Zone Vision, something to direct District Leaders for their District Councils, go on exchanges with the Assistants, with District Leaders, and any other struggling companionships. We record Key Indicators of Conversion and report that to the Assistants, attend Mission Leadership Council, go to Zone Conference and give a training based upon information sent to us from the Assistants. That's about it. We set an example and try to be the best missionaries we can. 

For exchanges, we discuss the needs of each companion and who can better help the Elder overcome his issues. We pray and discuss as a companionship. A lot is rotation and who you've already been with but that can change and you can go with others. 

I've learned a lot from Elder Fragoso. He is very effective and efficient with his time. A lot of missionaries tract for days on the mission. That's what we think missions are. President Mavromatis has asked us to move away from tracting but I was never sure of what to fill time with when we aren't tracting. I learned from Elder Fragoso to work through our area book and have it be clean and record things to know when people need to be stopped teaching etc. Its hard to explain in one paragraph but I can spend more time on that if you want me too!

Anyway, about out of time! Love you all! Take care.

Elder Bushman

Year 2, Week 7: Pray They Will Know the Church is True

Dear Family,

This week has been good but super busy. We had Zone Conference, Interviews, 2 exchanges, and then trying to work on top of that. 

Starting with Zone conference we talked a lot about following the Spirit and relying on the Spirit. The Sister Training Leaders and us gave a training on when we say "I don't know" to pray for direction instead of trying to think of something to do. It was great. Everything we are trying to implement into our Zone was discussed at Zone Conference. It was pretty sweet! President Mavromatis got up to speak and said, "If you all stay awake during my talk, I will give you an extra PDAY and 200 miles! Will you all stay awake??" When we all said yes he said, "Sorry Elder and Sisters... Im joking!" It was super funny! He is a great guy. I will work on getting a photo of us.

Interviews were nuts. We were told to be there by 2 so we arrived at 1:30 to set up a room and gets chairs etc. Well, President was running late by 2 hours and didn't get there until 4:30.. So we were there until about 9:45. We started exchanges that night and didn't get back for a while! We were on exchanges from Wednesday night to Friday morning and then switched Friday morning and went until Saturday morning! It was pretty crazy! 

J&D didn't come to church. They didn't feel well so they didn't come. We learned of some other problems so we will be working with them more but want to really help them.

M&G didn't come either because of sickness. On exchanges Elder Fragoso taught them about being baptized and they expressed concern that they think all churches have God and that not just one church is true. We invited them to pray and they are doing that. We are teaching them tonight to follow up. Pray they will know the church is true.

We have been working with several part members. We have taught the but so far, nobody has come to church which is a problem. We are still working with them and should get more of them to church this week.

The coolest story this week was about a woman named C. She was an old media referral who wanted a Book of Mormon but nobody every updated it. So we got a random notification and set up a time to go by. Her brother O. was there but C. wasn't. We taught O. the Restoration and invited him to read, pray, attend church, and be baptized. He accepted all of them. Then, the next day, he came to church! It was awesome!! He is a super super awesome guy! We are meeting with him again on Wednesday and are going to try to set a baptismal date. 

Other than that... Not much going on! Life is good! I'm loving the mission! Everything is great!!

Love you all! I forgot to bring my recorder so I will try to come back to get that sent!!

Elder Bushman

 

 

Year 2, Week 6: I Literally Fell 10-14 Feet out of a Tree

First off, this week has been pretty good.

J&D, M&G all came to church so 4 people were with us in Sacrament Meeting. M&G had an event up in Boston but they were late to it so they could come to the first hour of church. They were in Sacrament Meeting and loved it! J&D liked church as well and stayed for all 3 hours. 

D is 11 almost 12 so she goes out with the young women to class and has a great time. J came with us to Gospel Doctrine this week. There is a Stake wide event called come and see that is designed for the youth of the church to invite their friends to hear more about the Gospel and to come to church. Since we have very little youth in our ward, we are focusing this on the adults, to invite their friends to come to church with them. It is going pretty well. Elder Fragoso and I and the Spanish Sisters taught the adults on how to invite their friends. By the end, we asked them to send us the name of one of their friends so we could remind them to invite them. J said, "What if we don't know what to say about church?" We asked her to tell us why she liked church and so she stated that the reason that she likes coming to church is because of the peace that she feels. She started crying as she was saying it and then texted us the name of the person she is going to invite to come to church with her. She isn't even a member of the church and she is doing more missionary work than some of the members. It was awesome! 

In third hour of church there was a teaching of self reliance and J signed up to participate in the church sponsored program. She even found a way to get herself there!! It was a great day at church. 

Other than that, We did teach J&D this week but they missed church last week and so we had to drop their baptismal dates. We will be setting one up in the coming days. 

We did some service for M&G. She is laying concrete in her backyard so the people who rent rooms from her have somewhere other then the street to park. We were clearing some trees and the only way to get to a high branch was to climb the tree. So while doing so, I grabbed a super thick branch and puled myself higher into the tree. I did not, however, realize that this particular branch was completely dead and broke as i maneuvered higher and I literally fell about 10-14 feet out of a tree. It was pretty Awesome!! It was cool how we could help her. I then cut up 4 pallets of wood with an axe so I got a pretty good daily work out!!

We went on exchanges this week with two sets of different missionaries. So far, I've gone on three exchanges in the last 10 days and will be going on 2 more in the next week! We have interviews and Zone Conference this week which will be awesome!!

We had a barbecue at a members house. They had tons of meat which was great for me and we met tons of part members that we are have been trying to get in touch with. We should be on our way to having more solid people to teach and come to church.

Other than that, not much happened! Its was a great week!

Elder Bushman

Year 2, Week 5: Coolest Guy Ever

Hello Family,

This week has been pretty good. Again, nothing spectacular happened. We were able to go to the Temple today which was super cool. A member named Hermano De Aza from the DR took us. He is literally the coolest guy ever. We had a lesson with a man named D. who is the father of a Recent Convert. We were teaching the Restoration and he said that he is a Catholic. He declined the invitation to read the Book of Mormon because his parents are catholic, his cousins are catholic. It's tradition to be Catholic and he wasn't going to change. Hermano De Aza told him that Saul, in the Bible, thought that everything he was doing was right and just. Jesus Christ visited him and told him that what he was doing was wrong and he needed to change. We then re invited him to come to church and read the Book of Mormon and he agreed. It was awesome! Hermano De Aza comes to lessons, gives rides to church, and drove us to the temple and did an Endowment Session with us. 

On Saturday we had confirmed for 6 people to come to church. When church came, not one person showed up at church. It was labor day weekend and church did get rescheduled to 9 am because half of our branch was going to some camp and needed to combine with the English ward. We woke up at 5 in the morning and got ready so we could get to the church by 8 to have all the translation equipment set up. Not even members of our branch who weren't going to the camp came. Anyway... its all good. Trying again for next week.

We had to drop J&E. They haven't answered our phone calls and when we've stopped by they told us that they were busy at the moment and didn't know when we could return. So we dropped them and will try in the next couple of months. Maybe when he gets closer to getting off parol. 

J&D are still doing well. They didn't come to church but we have a lesson with them tonight that will hopefully be good. I'll let you know the status on them next week.

We went on exchanges with the Assistants but half of the day we just sat around because they had to figure out an emergency transfer. Anyway. Not much else happened!

Love you all!

Elder Bushman

 

 

Year 2, Week 4: Every Single One Fell Through

Hello Family!

This week has been great! Not as much success and awesome stories as last week but still good things going on! Lets report on the people we have taught.

J&D. J got sick and went to the Hospital on Saturday night. We called her to confirm that she was going to be going to church and she let us know. She said that she still wanted too and that she would tell us in the morning. When we called her she let us know that she was still feeling sick and couldn't make it. She said she was uncomfortable to just send her kids so they all missed church. We have an appointment with them on Wednesday and we are planning on teaching the Plan of Salvation.

J&E. Wow... So they are still super awesome but we haven't been able to get in touch with them. We might be dropping them because they didn't come to church either Sundays and haven't answered our calls. We really want to know whats been going on with them and if there is something we can help them with before we move on so... I will keep you posted.

H. We were supposed to be meeting with him this week but he missed his appointment and isn't answering his phone. He missed church as well for unknown reasons. He has 3 daughters who are all baptism age and we are really hoping that we can teach all of them. Again, I will keep you all posted on progress.

We were cleaning up our area book and calling people. We called a girl named M and she answered and asked us to come over. We had a super good appointment with her and invited her to be baptized on the 22nd of September. She accepted and said she would be coming to church. When we tried to call her to follow up, we found out that the phone number we had is her Grandmas and the address we have is also her grandmas. Basically, when we called and went over, it was a super lucky time to catch her and so we didn't know that her information was wrong. She said that she had met people in all Black and gave them her information and they never called her, so when we did, she thought it was them. Anyway, she didn't come to church so we don't know what is happening with her.

We had meetings and other things going on, lots of time was spent trying to have appointments work out to no avail. 

On Saturday, we had 10 teaching appointments! Starting at 9 in the morning and finishing 9:30 at night! It could have been the best day ever but not ONE appointment happened. EVERY SINGLE ONE fell through. It was a pretty rough day. Anyway! I'm doing great!

Love you all! 

Elder Bushman

 

 

Year 2, Week 3: Excited for More!

Hello Fam,

Wow... what a week. In some ways, it feels super super long, and in other ways, it feels very very short! Monday and Tuesday were last minute visits and Wednesday, Elder Warner left to go to Weston. It was a bummer. Elder Neeley, Elder Curzon, and Elder Warner are going to be life long friends and I was a little bummed we were only together for 1 transfer. Elder Fragoso came here and we quickly started working. We started trying to contact part member families. We stopped by one of our members to talk about why his kids weren't baptized but he wasn't home. We went up to the top floor to just knockin his house and we met a guy who let us in. We taught the Restoration and during it, the guy, J, told us he had done some crazy things. He has been in prison for 14 years. He now, has been on Probation for the last 17 years and he gets off of probation December 12th. For people to get baptized, they cannot be on probation. We extended a baptismal date for the 15th of December. The Saturday after the 12th and he said, "wow. That's my birthday. Yes. I will be baptized then." It was a great lesson. We went back the following day and talked with him and his wife and the member who lived on the first floor. We extended the same date to her and she accepted as well. It was super cool how we met them right when his probation is going to end. They didn't make it to church like they said but we will keep trying with them.

Friday, we were making more visits and decided to call J. We set up a time for later that night and asked Hermano De Aza to come with us. We taught them the Restoration again with her daughter D. It was a great lesson and she said she would pay a taxi to bring her to church. Hermano de Aza said that he would be able to pick them up and bring them. We extended a baptismal date for September 15th and they accepted it. They said, "wow. September 15th is J's (the 6 year old son) birthday." They came to church and loved it. D is 11 and she went to Young Womens and J. went to Primary. J came with us to Gospel Principles and enjoyed it. We will meet with them tomorrow and they will be coming to church next Sunday.

Saturday night, we were meeting with a member family to ask if they would help us get in touch with their Sister in law. We want to start teaching her and they said they would help us. After leaving there house, we talked with a guy from Ecuador. His name is H. and he was a little drunk so we just got his info, gave him ours, invited him to church, and left. We called him Sunday morning and he said he was going to come. Well Henry did show up. He came and sat with us during Sacrament. We haven't even had a lesson with him. We will be teaching him this week and extending a baptismal date. I've never had a random person on the street come to church without tons of fallow up calls and arrangements of rides etc. So we have had a lot of success.

The week has been good! I'm doing well! Excited for more to follow!

Love ya

Elder Bushman