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 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