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 47: Excited to Work With Them

Hello! This week has been really good! We had some exciting things happen and some really slow days too!

We had a lesson with R. and O! We focused on if she had read the Book of Mormon which she did. She said she has read a lot but understood little. So we re read it and explained as much as we could. We transition into her praying about it to know if it's true. She said, "yes! I have prayed and I feel like God is still waiting to answer me, but... When I left church last week I felt really at peace. I felt like this was the right place for me and my family. I believe that is part of the answer from God. It was really good! We testified that peace is what will bring the answers and how they just need to keep acting. We invited them to church and they said that they would be there. We'll they came to church and lots of the members are excited for them. Once members start seeing people at church 2-3 times then they get excited about the people. We had lots of members ask if they could help and the Branch Presidency is willing to drive 40+ minutes to come to lessons with us! It was really great! We will be having another lesson with them this week and are going to work on helping them know the importance of the Gospel for them. We are really excited!

We started teaching a member's boyfriend this week! Lol he is 19 and his name in A. He says he isn't very interested in religion but will listen to us if his girlfriend wants him to. So we are planning on trying to help him see why the gospel is important and why he needs it. I feel like that is a lack that so many people have! Nobody understands the Gospel is for them and they think it's just a nice thing if there is time. So we are excited to work with him. We have a church tour set up for Thursday to help him feel comfortable and then hopefully he will come to church. 

We had a lesson a couple weeks ago with the wife of a member. She has helped her husband, kids, cousins, aunts, and friends joking the church but won't join herself. Because of her probably 10-15 people have been baptized but she thinks she doesn't have faith enough to be baptized. We have an appointment this Friday and are hoping to help her see that she can progress and improve. 

The rest of this week was visiting less actives, finding and meeting new people, going to coordination meetings with our Branch, going on exchanges, etc. 

I got a little sick Wednesday and Thursday but am fine now! We have interviews this next week which will be good! But that's about the week!

Love you! 

Elder Bushman

Year 2, Week 46: It Will Take Great Faith

This week has been super super good! We had a great exchange with Elder Chu, a Chinese Elder! We had a lot of appointments with people cancel but still had some great ones none the less. 

We had a lesson R and O. We taught them last week about the Restoration and invited them to church. They didn't come. This past week we had a lesson about the importance of church and they said they would be there. We offered to show them the chapel but they were to busy. But when Sunday came they were there! They were a little nervous because their son is very energized and they didn't want to cause a scene. We reassured them that there are other kids who do the same. They said they would come and they showed up! It was so good! Their boy was a little rowdy during Sacrament meeting but was able to go to nursery for the second hour and have a party with all the other kids.

We had a really good lesson with R and V. R had read again in the Book of Mormon and wrote a great summary of what he learned from the Book of Mormon. He read in 3rd Nephi 18 about Christ instituting the Sacrament. We explained church and the importance of it. He really wants to come but can't. His job won't let him get work off because of his position at the store. We will have to teach a little more about the commandment of keeping the Sabbath day Holy and explain how he should have Sunday as a day of rest. Teach doctrine, testify, and invite to change is what we are going to be doing. It will take great faith on his part. We will for sure be praying he has that faith. We are also going to invite him to fast about what he can do to keep the Sabbath day holy and then act on what he feels. Lots of prayers with that would be appreciated. 

We had a great chapel tour with A. this week! She really like the building and loved the baptismal font. She said she would be baptized and that she would come to church but she hasn't answered our calls lately. So we literally are so confused. We may have to stop teaching her. So we will see. 

This has been such a good week! We figured out a way to locate more Hispanics by getting the voting records, putting them in a excel spreadsheet, and then putting their address into Google maps. We now have all locations of the Hispanics! 

Anyway! It's been a good one! 

Elder Bushman 

 

 

Year 2, December 25, 2018: Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Elder Bushman and Elder Fragoso

 

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 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

 

 

August 2, 2018: One Year!

My One Year Mark Celebration: Texas Roadhouse

I hit my year mark this week. Elder Warner and I went to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate and we each got 16oz Steaks! The country music playing in the background was definitely the best part of the experience with steaks and 2 Cesar salads as sides coming to a close second. Peanuts were good too.