Year 2, Week 44: We are going to be a Trio for 2 Weeks

Hello! This week has been a great one! Let me share a few events from the week :)

On Wednesday, we had lesson with a family that we had met several weeks prior. We met him and got his info but kinda forgot about him. Several days later while making calls we spoke with him and set up an appointment. Neither of us could remember who he was. When we got there, him and his wife both came in and sat down to listen. We began with a very comfortable conversation talking about there lives, when they got married, where he works, etc. He works Sundays which is a bummer but we have dealt with that before! Lol! 

We talked a little bit about why they are interested, what they already believe about God, if they are religious, attend church, and other things of that nature. They are from El Salvador and said that being here in the States is a huge blessing from God.

He seemed to understand prophets very well! When we talked about the Priesthood he said, "so if you don't have it then you can't lead God's church." We promised lots of blessings to their family and other things in their lives because of our message. He said he went to church as a child but hasn't gone a lot lately, he knows it's important however.

They accepted the invitations to read and pray with enthusiasm. He loves to read and promised he would read 3 Nephi 11 before our next visit. He also wants an English Class so we will probably be setting up one this week! His name is R. and she is V. He works so they weren't able to go to church. 

We had another lesson this week with a lady named R. Her friend is a recent convert here by the name of A. We are teaching A's mom and now is a friend! We met R. a couple weeks ago and finally got a meeting set up for this past week. We got to know them a bit. As we taught, she seemed to understand a lot. She is fluent in both Spanish and English. When people speak both they always understand better. We taught in Spanish but she really understood! 

While teaching and explaining the Apostasy we asked if she has had the question of, "why are there so many churches?" she said that she has had that question for a long time and didn't know why. She said she wants to know the truth! Super cool lady! 

She prayed before we came over that she could have wisdom and have an open heart to our message. When we read in the Bible she said she followed the counsel in James 1:5 without even knowing! 

She said she would be at church if A. went and A. said he would! Turns out, something came up for A. and he wasn't able to go but was very apologetic about it. So hopefully next week we will be able to get them to church. A. was also supposed to get his mom there so that was a little sad.

We were supposed to have lessons with several others this week but they got canceled. D. had to work, A's mom got sick and went to the hospital, others got called into work and some just weren't there at all!

We got transfer texts this week as well! Elder Skordas and I will be staying together! We are getting back a Zone into our mission June 21st and lots of missionaries needed to be placed in trios until then, so we are going to be in a trio for 2 weeks! Elder Oberman, who is an English missionary will be with us for the next 2 weeks starting on Wednesday! That'll be super fun! 

Well :) love you lots! 

Elder Bushman 

Year 1, Week 45: One of the Happiest Days of the Mission

Hey Fam,

This week has been pretty uneventful. We did however meet with one of our investigators . He has had a drinking problem in the past but has cut back from one bottle to 2 shots a day. Since he started meeting with us, he has gone off completely and so far has been 9 days sober as of Thursday. He is a super great guy! We talked with the mission doctor and he said that when a craving for alcohol starts, it usually lasts for three minutes so if he reads the Book of Mormon for 3 minutes every time he has a craving then he will be able to overcome those cravings. With that, strength from Jesus Christ, and support from the ward, he should be able to get off alcohol and stay off. On Thursday we met with him and explained that and shared a scripture with him about how Christ will help him. It was great! One of the happiest days of the mission. Being able to see someone be a alcoholic to dropping it completely because of the Gospel is super cool! 

Today we went into Boston and checked out the city. We went to a building called the Prudential Building. Inside, it has a huge mall and then at the very top of the sky scraper there is a restaurant. Cheapest item is around $20 so we didn't go, but one day! We played basketball, did laundry, and the norm. It was a fun day. 

We finished up teaching English Classes. It really helped my Spanish having to understand Spanish Concepts in order to explain them in Spanish how they work in the English. For example, in Spanish, we say Tenemos comida. Which is we have food. Conjugating tener in the nosotros form makes it we have. In English we always add we, you, he, she with the word. Super simple example but gets the point across. It was fun to hang out with the Hispanics.

In missionary work, I started my mission being very hesitant to talk to Hispanics. I couldn't communicate so I hated teaching and contacting in Spanish. But now, it's frustrating contacting anyone who speaks English. When we knock doors and an English person answers, it's the WORST!!  (No offense - just love teaching in Spanish now!)

I wasn't smart with timing so I'm running out of it. Sorry! 

Love you all! 

Conversation about Below Truck:

Mom: Whose Truck?

Elder B: Ours:)

Mom: Whatever!

Elder B: Seriously! That's what we drive

Mom: What?? Really?

Elder B: Yup!

Mom: Are you the driver?

Elder B: No

Mom: What kind of truck?

Elder B: 2017 Chevy Silverado 1500:)

Mom: Are you in heaven?

Elder B: It's pretty freaking awesome!!!

Mom: Why do you drive that?

Elder B: We are the moving Elders so whoever needs help moving to or from apartments we get called. Also, they need a truck to pull trailers and we are close to Boston but far enough away it's super easy to find parking.

We were in Boston this morning in downtown.

Mom: That’s so cool!

Mom: You help members move or missionaries?

Elder B: Both

Year 1, Week 39: Spanish Branch?

This week has been great so far! One of the coolest things that happened was this Sunday. First, some background. Elder Neeley and I were thinking that if we keep the Waterbury Spanish group the way it is going, it will never grow into a branch. We started thinking of what could be an immediate change to that. Our idea was to combine the Southington(next town over) and the Waterbury Group in two and make it a branch. We then heard that President Miller has been meeting with our Stake President, President Martin. We called up President Miller and asked him what happened in there meeting and he just said they were talking about Missionaries in another part of the Zone. Anyway, Elder Neeley left and Elder Porritt came but I've still been thinking about this idea.

Yesterday, Sunday, we had Ward Conference with the Leaders of the Stake present. At the end, the Stake Presidency wanted to have a Spanish meeting. In the meeting they said that their plans are to make us a Spanish Branch in the year of 2018. We will be combining with the Southington Group when that happens. I won't be here for it, but I'm hoping to come back to Waterbury in 2019 and serve here in a branch. Also, kinda cool that my plans fell right in with the Stakes plans! Haha! The members were told that they need to bring the Less Active members back or we won't have enough people to do it. Elder Porritt and I have several people we are working with who have potential to come back.

While tracting, we met a young family named J. and M. (most generic Hispanic names ever). We talked to them a bunch about the Restoration but M. believes that Angels wrote the Bible and we weren't sure how to tell her that men wrote it under the direction from God and then it was changed. We had already been in there for about 45 minutes and didn't have the time to work over all of that. We are hopefully going back this Thursday. They were super nice and could have real potential!

The English Elders have 5 baptismal dates for the month of May. 4 of them used to be our investigators who we then passed of to them. It's pretty cool that even though our numbers are crazy, we still play a major role in the progress of others. I used to feel that if my numbers for the week or month didn't increase I was "failing in missionary work". Not true!

Another day, we were knocking doors and a girl named K. answered. She didn't have time at the moment but gave us her Facebook and said we could contact her and come back. Even though we've had the Technology for about a month, this was the first time I've ever actually used Facebook while proselyting. It was pretty cool. We'll see if she turns out to be anything. 

There is a lady named S. who is a less active. When I was serving with Elder Tirado she would always call and insult us half the time for not making time to talk with her. I talked to President Miller about her. He said to send her home teachers. Yesterday, she left a message for us that she had a friend who is interested in the Gospel and she needs us to teach her. So after 3 months of not answering we finally called her. She was actually super nice and kind. So maybe the 3 months made her do some thinking;) haha!

Not much else happened this week! I will be sending audio as well! Love ya

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 32: 2 People Came!

This week has been great! We have spent a lot of time working with less actives and trying to find people who are ready to hear the gospel. O and M went ghost this whole last week and when we finally talked to them again she said, "I am too busy, I'm catholic, and I do not want to change. Please do not come back. Door slam." It was kind of sad. We were bummed on how they totally accepted the message and then didn't actually care. This is the first actual person who dropped us. We get rejected all the time just knocking doors but this is the first time I've been rejected after picking someone up as a New Investigator. The other people we picked up last week haven't made any progress. We are still trying to set up return appointments with the people we have already met.

This week, we planned in a full day of lessons with people and other meetings and appointments. Except, nobody was there. So we literally just started visiting less actives. We went over to one family and talked to them for about 40 minutes. We talked to them about why they weren't coming and how we wanted to help them get to the temple. We committed all of them to come to church. Their son has a girlfriend who is also a LA.

We went over to her house to visit and he was with her. We talked to them for a while and figured out that they want to get married in the temple. We quickly explained that for them to get hitched in the temple, they will need to attend church. They both said they were going to come. While at her house, her uncle, who moved from the DR 6 months ago was there. He is a member with a current temple recommend just had "No way" to get to church. As of right now, we now have a total of 7 LA who have committed to come to church.

We then went to go knock on a street. While walking, we saw a man and went to go talk with him. We started the whole missionary thing, “Hey, we are missionaries from our church, and…” He cut us off and said, “Yeah, I know… I’m a member. I moved here from the Hartford ward about a year ago.” We kept talking and I found out that he knows a bunch of the members from the Spanish Branch. We committed him to come to church and said we would get him a ride.

We kept going throughout the day meeting various people who weren’t very interested in the gospel. When I realized we were on another street with a less active. We stopped by their house for the like 14^th time in the space of 2 weeks. They did the same routine. Come to the door, yell through the door, “Who is it?” We reply, “The missionaries.” No one ever opens the door again. This time we just said who we were looking for instead of saying who we were. The guy, L., who we were looking for opened the door and we started talking with him. Just then, his mom, who is also a member, pulled up and let us come into their house. We started talking about the Temple and how they can be together for forever. They showed us how they randomly found a card in a book of the Salt Lake Temple and how they said they wanted to go. We committed their whole family, of 6, to come to church. We now have invited and committed 14 people to attend church. Another one of her sons is going into the army. He asked this question, “Will I go to Hell if I kill people while I am in the army.” We pointed him to Moroni in the Book of Alma and told him that he should pray about his decision. We also said that it depends on his intentions and reasons for going to war. Another one of his questions was, “If I die while I am in the Army, will I be able to see my family again?” We told him about how they could all be sealed together in the temple and that he can and will see his family again. They were all super interested!! It was awesome.

The next day at church. Only 2 out of the 14 people came. But, 2 came!!! They ditched right out of Sacrament meeting and we haven’t been able to get in contact with them since then, but they still came.

Later after church, we went with Jay Halterman, the Priest 1^st Assistant, and Brother Taylor, a guy who served his mission in Guatemala and is in the Young men group, to all those LA houses and invited them to a youth retreat. Basically, mini ward youth conference. All of them said they would come so we are hoping that they actually do and that they will have their interest in the gospel sparked!

We picked up 3 NI this week, but 2 of them were English speakers so we passed them off to the other Elders. The other girl is named G. She was outside when we started talking with her. We found out in a matter of minutes that she was sad because her Grandma had passed away recently. We shared part of the Plan of Salvation and both testified that she would be able to see her family again. She just started crying and it took a couple of minutes for her to gain her composure. She didn’t come to church like she had said but we are hoping to stop by soon and speak with her again.

When the storm came on Wednesday afternoon, our car wasn’t doing too hot, so we had to come in, 15 minutes after we came inside, the mission told us that the Governor of CT had asked all the citizens to stay in if they could. So we got inside around 5. We got some good things done while inside. The next day, we did some shoveling for people. We were driving past a house and saw a guy just staring at the snow he had to shovel. The big plows just plow the streets and leave the huge piles of snow in front of people’s houses. We asked him if he needed any help and he said that it would be great. Turns out he was 12 and his mom had asked him to go out. It reminded me of all the times mom and dad woke me up in the morning to go shovel, but now, I shovel like a beast;) We literally cleared this pile of snow and the whole driveway in a matter of minutes. We started talking to this 12 year old about religion and he said that his family was looking to go to a church. Good thing the Waterbury chapel is just up the street! We told him who we were and what our church believed and he told us to hang on while he told his mom to come out and talk to us. We talked with her for a couple minutes and set up a time to come back to talk with her and the rest of her family. It was awesome!! Shoveling literally brings so many cool people to talk to!

Other than that, not much is happening!! Love you all.

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 28: I Love Teaching the Restoration

The week started with some media referrals and some New Investigators! We met a woman from Jamaica who wanted a free Bible. When we met her she said she has been meeting with all kinds of missionaries and pastors. She has met with the JWS, Protestants, Mormons, Catholics, and Baptists to see which Church she wants to join. We gave her a Book of Mormon and the Bible and shared how they work together. She is super interested in finding out more, but we haven't had the chance to go back.

On Friday we had our all Spanish Missionary meeting. President basically roasted all of us saying we aren't good enough and how we need to do better. He obviously did this in a kind, loving, positive way, but that's pretty much a sentence summary. We talked a lot about how and where the Spanish program is going and what we need to do to become better missionaries. He shared the statistic that in the last 4 months, there has only been 8 baptisms in the Spanish group. That is very sad.. But it has given a lot of direction that will be very good! I am super excited for where we are heading!

Saturday was exchanges with the ZL. I went on an Exchange with Elder Warner who has been out for 18 months. We did a lot of knocking and taught some awesome Restorations. I love teaching the Restoration! I feel like it has the most power with the story of Joseph Smith.
One of the biggest things I learned from him is how to be super Bold. I am always a little nervous to be bold. If someone rejects me or my message I usually just say, alright, have a nice day. Elder Warner says, "What we are telling you is that Christs church is literally on the Earth today and you need to become a part of it." I also realized that if they reject us, they have now completely put not joining on there heads and not on ours. I have really enjoyed going out with older, experienced missionaries!!

On Thursday its service day!! We volunteer at a soup kitchen in Waterbury. We make bags that consist of soup, canned beans or corn, rice, pasta, meat, etc. to hand out to people who get on a list. We usually spend about 2 hours at service and have had some awesome conversations with people. We have met people who took lessons back in Puerto Rico and are interested in lessons again. We have conversations about the Gospel with the people who volunteer with us. 

Mom, you asked about what we do for church services.  Elder Tirado and I lead the music and do the piano. We have a piano that plays by itself. Last week we passed the Sacrament, Blessed the Sacrament, Gave the Talks, led the music and played the piano!

 

This week I have been reading Preach my Gospel and marking all the principles and promises! Most of the promises I have noticed are about gaining eternal life. Do these things and you can either help yourself or others reach eternal life! Very interesting. Preach my Gospel is not just a guide for full time missionaries but for EVERYONE!!! Its awesome. Definitely recommended reading

We went over to a members house on Tuesday for dinner. Because the members here are SOO nice they usually make something Keto for me. I was made, Tuna Salad!

This tuna salad was, tuna, raw onion, and green bell peppers!! Literally SOOO GOOD. I love onions and I am also a BIG fan of peppers now! I know dad is going to literally be so excited!! There is now only 1 thing I cannot handle.

Tomato.

Tomatoes literally make me sick. I HATE tomato.. Anyway,

Love you all!!

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 27: 1/4 of the Way

This week again was the same as last!

Love you much,

Elder Bushman

(Very Funny, Elder. He sent another email later as below...)

Hey Fam!!

How is everything going! I hope all is well. This week was good and super fast! I honestly can't really believe I am 1/4 of the way through my mission. I always thought that I would never leave on my mission. I left. I thought I would never leave the MTC. I left. I thought I would never get to the field. I did. I thought I would never get out of training. I did. I thought I would never make it to the 6 month mark. I have. I feel like I will never learn Spanish! I won't... That is basically where I am right now!!

This week was great. We finally got back in touch with Waddy. His mom just works a ton because her husband is still in the DR. He is coming to American though in March so they want to wait until he is here for him to be baptized. We are planning on continually going to teach him and then re-extend a baptism date at the end of February. We have an appointment to teach him on Tuesday, tomorrow, so we are excited about that! We are hoping that his dad will want to be baptized when he gets here as well.

The Vogel dinners are going to be different from now on. A new rule stating that there cannot be 4 Elders at dinner appointments have now come into play. Since we are a group and the English ward provides over our group, we can eat with both Hispanic members and English members. Just not all at the same time. We now have to have 1 companionship go at 6 and the other companionship go at 7:30. Its not too bad, just weird.

On Wednesday we had a big day of nothing!! Whoo.. So we called tons of people and finally got some appointments set up. We also received a media referral. When we went over her husband answered the door and said that he didn't want the Bible because it was a Mormon Bible. We explained that it was the King James version, just its a "Mormon" Bible because it is the one we use. He was chill after that. We also contacted a lady named Hazel. She was playing one of my favorite Hispanic songs, "Tu Estas Aqui" by Jesus Adrian Romero. We knocked on her door, taught the Restoration, and picked her up as a new investigator!! I basically have that whole song memorized so it was cool to hear coming from her house.

Later in the week we went back to Hazel's house to get back in contact with her but she wasn't home. The floor below was playing super loud Hispanic music so of course, we knocked the house. A girl named Cindy opened the door and we also picked her up as an investigator. We are working on getting back in touch with all of them.

One interesting thing about mission life is this: Elders only have female investigators. Sisters only have Men investigators. I don't know why this is but it is... In Waterbury, our investigators are, Ashley, Tania (got Baptized), Mary, Cindy, Hazel, Isabel, Marcel, Deborah, Sierra, Niyannah, and Waddy. Waddy is male but he is also 11 so we still have to get a male member to go over with us. This is THE most frustrating aspect of missionary work. Anyway...

The English Elders were door knocking and found a Hispanic woman who doesn't speak any English, so they called us and had us set up an appointment over the phone. I talked with this woman and set up the appointment, got her info, and had a conversation completely by myself. Was I proud?? Yes!! Her name is Rosa and she is super interested. Again, Female. We haven't been able to get a guy to come with us yet.

We had Interviews with President Miller this week. Again, super short interview but we had a training given by the AP's prior to the interviews. The training was involving Smartphones. Supposedly, we are supposed to get smartphones soon. Whether or not this actually happens, I have no idea. But it is looking more and more like it. I personally do not want any technology in the field. It is too much crap to worry about. I would rather just go about Missionary work like we have for centuries!

Love you all,

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 24: My All Time Goal For Life

So this week has been very very interesting. Not really even sure what happened but...

So Tania did not get baptized. President Miller was contacted and came to interview her himself to skip over all the young missionaries interviewing her. He met with her, talked, and came to the conclusion that she was set for baptism. Basically, Tania will be getting baptized this Thursday! We have been planning her baptism for the last couple days now. I will make sure to get pictures and everything for you mom! We are super excited that she is finally getting baptized though:)

We aren't really sure about Ashley either. We want to go over this week and check up and figure everything out.

Other than that. Nothing SUPER awesome happened other than President Nelson becoming the Prophet. We were able to watch the broadcast at a members house which was fun.

Transfer news, I am staying in Waterbury another transfer with Elder Tirado. Elder Goodman is getting transferred to North Brookfield, MA. An Elder named Elder Smith will be replacing him so I will let you know how he is.

I have been really really studying Spanish this week. I read 20 minutes of Spanish out load, study, write, and memorize conjugations, and then go through flash cards to learn and study vocab. I will be studying grammar once I enlarge my vocab enough.

During my Personal study I have been blazing through the Book of Alma. Definitely the best book in the Book of Mormon. Reading about Lehi, Moroni, Teancum, Helaman, Alma, and Amulek really make me want to stand with them so when Satan looks at me, the very Jaws of hell quake!

That is now my all time goal for life!

Elder Tirado attempted the 'Blazin' challenge but only ate 6 wings before he threw up into the rest of the wings! I will send photos.

MLK Day...We didn't do anything special for it. We did go over to the Second Counselor in the Bishopric for games and such. Nope, I have not explored Waterbury, like flurry. That is how I pronounce it. It really depends on the person if it is berry vs burry (like furry). 

Elder Tirado has been here in Waterbury for his whole mission. At the end of this transfer will mark 6 months in Waterbury for him. Which most likely means I will be getting a new companion at the end of this transfer.

 

Love y'all. As Mr. Haymond says, "Remember who you aren't!"

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 13: A Record Breaking 70 Members

Dear Fam,

This week has been great. Our branch mission leader, Luis Gonzalez, is moving to Mexico so he has been released. A man named Romulo Panduro has been called as the new branch mission leader. He is a great guy who is very excited to be working with us. He loves coming to lessons with us, but he can't drive and Elder Curzon and I don't have a car... So if he wants to come to a lesson with us we have to work with the other Elders. Its kinda tough not having a car to pick up members. Other changes include the young men president, the relief society president, and some youth Sunday School teachers. On Sunday, we had a record breaking 70 members show up to Sacrament Meeting!! This is the most it has been the whole time I have been in Hartford. I really think that the Lord is using us as his tools in bringing people back to him. Yesterday, we visited some less actives who have been coming the last couple of weeks and told them that we wanted to help them get to the temple. They are in their 70's and have been married for a long time and it's always been their goal but they have never really worked towards it. It's great that we are now helping them do that. 

Elder Porter is the Elder who was just transferred into our area. He is our Zone Leader and a great missionary. His Spanish is fantastic and he teaches super well. He is a great addition to our area. For dinner last night we went to a Honduran Family's house named the Zaldivars! Hermano Zaldivar is the First Counselor in the Branch Presidency. He is a great guy! We had a Honduran dish that was homemade tortilla's, egg, beans, and hispanic sour cream!! Super Bien:) I really enjoy all of the different flavors and meals different countries have. Because of all the diversity I am learning how different cultures speak Spanish and words they use! For example, most Dominicans drop their S's while speaking Spanish. If you don't practice understanding them, fluent Spanish speakers have a hard time understanding their Spanish. I'm excited to continue learning Spanish and using it.

Maria is doing well. She still babysits on Sunday so she hasn't been able to come to church.

Love you all. Remember who you're not!!

Elder Bushman

 

Photos: 

1: Dead Rat in the street

2:Crazy crash right outside our apartment

3: Keto Pizza

4: Our kitchen is so small we store all of our pots in the oven. So baking the pizza we had to pull all the pans out

 

 

 

 

"If you feel too spiritually maimed to come to the feast, please realize that the Church is not a monastery for perfect people, though all of us ought to be striving on the road to godliness. No, at least one aspect of the Church is more like a hospital or an aid station, provided for those who are ill and want to get well."

—Jeffrey R. Holland, "He Hath Filled the Hungry with Good Things"

Year 1, Week 9: Just Like Amulek

Wow! Was General Conference Awesome or WHAT?? I'll be completely honest. General Conference was always a time of eating, lounging in PJ's, and wrestling brothers during talks. Actually paying attention to Conference was amazing. I learned tons of stuff. One of my favorite talks was by Tad R. Callister. He straight up said that the Book of Mormon is inspired of God and that Joseph Smith could not have done it alone. I wanted to hug this man. I have developed such a deep love for The Book of Mormon. I know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God. Thomas S. Monson is the Modern Day Prophet who receives revelation for The Church of Jesus Christ. Wow!! The Book of Mormon is Great.

I had several questions answered because of General Conference. Our Spanish Branch isn't super strong. Members fight with recent converts and recent converts swear they will never come back to church. Sister Oscerson taught that we need to serve in our families before we serve others. I believe that if we can get members serving there families, this will in turn get members serving members. 

Another question I had is, How can I recognize the Spirit more fully in my life. This answer came when a Seventy said, "Patient Covenant keeping brings the blessings of Heaven into our lives." If I keep the commandments and rules of a mission and then wait, the Lord promises these to me. "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say." Incredible how things start to make sense when you study the scriptures. We went to a chapel and watched Saturday Sessions in English. On Sunday, we watched the first session at a chapel and then went to a members house for the Second Session. It was great spending time with them. 

On Tuesday we met with Frankie again. He asked why we needed the Book of Mormon and as we were trying to explain two other guys came over and started talking in Spanish. (keep in mind we were speaking English with Frankie.) They started trashing the Book of Mormon and Elder Curzon stood up, just like Amulek, and said,"I Know the Book of Mormon is true. It was translated by the power of God." Frankie and the other guys were so impressed that he knew Spanish they had to tell like 10 other guys. It was great. We came back the next day (Wednesday) and Frankie said he wanted to keep the Book of Mormon and read it. We assigned him some chapters and we are going to follow up tonight.

Other than that, we did some service. Helped people move, carried bags to peoples cars, etc...

Love you all,

Elder Bushman

 

Other Info: Elder Eaton, my ZL, has a fantastic voice and asked if I wanted to sing with him in Zone conference coming up on the 17th of October. I agreed and we are singing an arrangement of I Know the My Redeemer Lives. I will record  it and send it to you.

 

BTW I love getting and reading Grandpa's letters. His thoughts are super deep and inspiring.

 

General conference was an answer to prayers to know how to help the people in our branch. Service. We are looking for ways to serve and get members to serve members

We also are going to start teaching English classes at a Library for community service.

 

Spanish is going better. Still struggling to understand but speaking is becoming better.

 

I don't have any photos this week but will get some next week.

 

"Oh, how we need general conference! Through conferences our faith is fortified and our testimonies deepened. And when we are converted, we strengthen each other to stand strong amid the fiery darts of these last days."

—Robert D. Hales, "General Conference: Stregthening Faith and Testimony" 

  

Year 1, Week 8: Repentance

Wow.. This week has really flown by. It is incredible how fast time can go. 

Monday: After I wrote home, a ton of Elders got together to play ball. We played basketball for 3 1/2 hours. Super super fun!! Not much else happened. Elder Curzon and I went out and knocked doors; we placed a couple Book of Mormons and that was it.

Tuesday: This was a crazy day full of crazy people. Elder Curzon and I knocked a door and it turned out to be this lady who loves to talk. We stood on her porch for 30 minutes and talked 5 out of the 30. She is a crazy lady but since she is English, we passed her off to the sisters in our district. There are a lot of spanish speaking people but because they are super religious, they aren't willing to listen to our message. The spanish people who do listen accept it well, but when we set a return appointment they are never home. We once knocked on a guys door 6-7 times and he never answered.

Wednesday: Elder Curzon and I decided to go East on a street called Park Street. It is kinda like main street in Hartford. Super busy and tons of people. While walking down this street we met a guy who talked with us for about 15 minutes and asked us if we keep the commandments of God. When we replied with a yes we do, he said," If you keep the commandments then buy me some food. Its a commandment to feed the hungry." So, Elder Curzon and I went into a McDonalds and I bought him a Double Cheeseburger and a small Shake. When we walked out of the building and handed it to him he said, "Thank you guys. After I eat this meal, I am going to jump of a bridge." Elder Curzon says, " No... Don't do that." The guy replies with, "Yeah... You're right. I won't. Do you have any money for the bus?" We said no and then quickly left. But we taught the restoration and left him with a Book of Mormon. We walked so much today it was crazy. We mapped out where we went and we had walked over 8 miles this day.

Thursday: Because of our crazy walking on Wednesday, Elder Curzon got major major blisters on his feet. He called the Medical Missionary and she told him to stay off of his feet for a few days. So Thursday was full of reading, studying, and napping. Pretty nice to have a day off but I was ready for work come Friday.

Friday: Elder Curzon's feet got worse and so again, we stayed in. I have been reading in Mosiah and have learned tons about the Savior. I also studied Jesus the Christ for a while and am gaining a deeper understanding of the Life of Christ. 

Saturday: Today was a pretty fun day. Elder Curzon and I got a call from Elder Pierce, the Senior Missionary in charge of housing, and he told us that he was going to be moving us out into another apartment. He gave us some addresses to check in on and most of them are super sketchy and weird. Elder Curzon and I really like Elder Tebbs and Elder Eaton so if we do move, it will be a pretty sad day. While walking we met a guy named Frankie. He said that he had a Book of Mormon but didn't want it anymore. He said he knew it was the word of God and he wasn't willing to throw it away. I said, "Frankie, if you know it's the word of God... Why don't you want to read it and learn?" He went silent and then quickly changed the topic onto something else. I said, "I will make you a deal. Read the first chapter before we meet, we will share a message with you, and if you still don't want it, then we will take the Book from you." He agreed so we have a meeting with him on Tuesday.

Sunday: Sunday was church at 9, lunch at 1, and out knocking doors. We went to check up on several people to try and teach return appointments but nobody was there. It was really sad. During personal study I came to the realization that every single prophet teaches one thing, repentance. Lehi taught repentance to Jerusalem. Nephi taught repentance to his brothers and people. Jacob taught that the Lord delights in the Chastity of Women and the need to repent, Enos repented and then taught repentance. Omni called people to repentance. King Benjamin gave a massive sermon on the need to repent. Abinidi taught repentance to Kind Noah. Alma Teaches repentance and Baptizes. What have I been called to do on my Mission? Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts. If I am not calling people to repentance every time I teach, than I am not fulfilling my purpose as a missionary. Pretty interesting to think about.

Boom. Just like that I am back to PDAY. I love you all and will keep you in my prayers.

Elder Bushman

 

Random Photos: Looks like he got his Charmin! He's become a great cook! And things he finds humorous...

 

 

"Each accountable child of Heavenly Father needs repentance. Consider what sins we need to repent of. What is holding us back? In what ways do we need to improve? I know, as President Packer experienced and testified, that when we sincerely repent of our sins, they are truly gone—without a trace!"

—Linda S. Reeves, "The Great Plan of Redemption"