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 2, Week 39: The City of Cambridge

Well! This letter is gonna be short and sweet! Because we just got transferred here nothing much has happened. We got here on Wednesday and went out into the city of Cambridge. There isn't a lot of Hispanic areas within walking distance and so we talked to many English Speakers. It was cool to be out in the city though! 

 

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were calling everyone in our Area Book. The sisters before us never stopped teaching people with interest even if they showed no interest. So our area book said it had about 350 people who were interested. That was definitely not the case! We were able to set up a lot of appointments and clean out that a lot. We know have a bigger handle on who is actually interested in our message! 

 

We did have a good lesson on Sunday night with a guy named E. He was in the area book and we called and set up an appointment. He has some religious background but doesn't know what churches believe. He only has heard Bible stories. As we were teaching the Restoration, we asked him what he wants most in this life. He said he wants to stay on God's path and he wants to be happy with his family. 2 things the Gospel will bring us! We testified of how the messages we share can and will bring these desires to him if he acts. It was really good! We have another appointment with him this week! 

 

Sunday was also cool because we were able to meet a lot of the members of our Branch. The sisters said there was about 30 people active and our branch leader said 40ish but at church there was about 72! It was really awesome. We don't know who has come to church in the past because a lot of things got messed up for our area with the missionaries moving areas and such.

Sorry for the short email! Not a lot of time and not a lot of events that happened! 

 

Love you! 

Elder Bushman 

Year 2, Week 38: There Were 80 People There

Wow! This week has been really good! I've highly enjoyed it! Lots of things happened that were pretty awesome!

So we had a lesson with D, M and J. this week. When we first walked in they were asking us that after they are baptized if D. will be able to go on a mission! We said yes and told them that he can go and serve in Puerto Rico, Honduras, Brazil or anywhere in the world! During that moment, I honestly realized why the mission is all worth it. Two years of serving is completely worth a lesson like that! We talked about Easter and the need for Jesus Christ. I'm sad that I'm going to be done teaching them. Tonight will be our last lesson before I move on to Cambridge, MA. We are bringing a member who will be able to give some solid support with their divorce! So I'm hoping that they will be ready for baptism before I leave the mission field! Elder Shkapich will continue working with them. They also came to church this week!

We also had Zone Conference this week! President talked a lot about the last week of the life of Jesus Christ and all the events that occurred. He discussed a lot about what miracles happened and the reason why things happened! It was very cool! Then the assistants talked about raising our faith in Christ and memorize the Living Christ! So I started on that. A lot of it I remember from when I memorized it in 6th grade so it hasn't been too hard! It's a really cool testimony that is given from the Prophets! The Zone Leaders talked a lot about how we need to implement the Doctrine of Christ more fully into our teaching. Elder Shkapich and I were asked to do a demonstration of teaching the doctrine of Baptism. Why we are baptized, the Covenants we make, etc.

We also had a lesson with T. this week. Her court date got changed so we are hoping that she can get baptized and get the gift of the holy ghost, go to the temple to do baptisms, and if she gets sent back then to contact the missionaries and ward when she goes. So we are going to be praying for them a lot and having some major faith!

Some other cool experiences included receiving our transfer texts telling me that I'm going to Cambridge, Easter, church! There were 80 people there! It was so amazing for a branch that had just been created a little while ago!

Anyway! I love you!

Elder Bushman

 

 

Year 2, Week 20: Worcester for a 5th Transfer

Hello Family!

So! Biggest news...... Ready?? Elder Fragoso and I are staying together for a 4th transfer. I am going to be in Worcester for a 5th transfer. Other than Assistants, I only know of 1 other companionship who has ever been together for 4 transfers! So, we are legends! Haha jk:) 

The coolest experience this week happened on Friday night! A boy, named B, said he would come out teaching with us around 1:30 pm. We picked him up and left to go to our appointments! We had some missed appointments, stop bys, street contacts, etc. It was great! He loved being with us that he even bought Elder Fragoso a pizza! Haha:) that same day, we tried to teach an English Class to a Brazilian man. He spoke Portuguese and no English. We speak English and Spanish and some random Portuguese phrases. Anyway, most stressful English Class ever. He said that he wants to bring some of his friends and things so we are going to have to invite the Portuguese Elders in Marlborough to teach! We had a lesson that night with R and A but R wasn't there. We taught A about the Law of Chastity and Tithing! While teaching Tithing, B shared several wonderful stories and said that he wanted to come out with us more often! 

I love A&R. A is 11 and she heard it was my birthday soon. She went over to her money jar and gave me $10. I tried to tell her that she could keep it but she insisted. Such a sweet girl!

The court date has been moved back for another 3 months so if anything is going to change, they need to figure out another arrangement. But for now, we are praying! 

S had work off this Sunday and should for every Sunday now! He slept in so he didn't come. But next week! We are excited! We will be teaching them on Tuesday! 

We were expecting several people at church again. Around 4-8. Nobody came... Again. But! We now know more things that we can do as missionaries to help them get there which is exciting. We have some cool people to work with, they just need to come to church! We are continually working on that though! 

I don't know if you remember G and M? Well we taught them but they had some problems with the Word of Wisdom. Well G just turned 14 and they invited us over for his party. We spent about 45 minutes there talking to all their friends. People from Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela, Mexico, Dominican Republic, etc. It was super fun! They had tons of meats and things so I had some awesome food. Sadly... We didn't take a picture. Bummer.

We had our Christmas Zone Conference this past week! The Assistants talked about the need and importance of role playing our teaching skills to become better and better! President Mavromatis talked about what we want to become and how it's up to us! It was exciting!! Then we had tons of musical numbers! So much fun! 

I have been reading a lot of the Book of Mormon and also in PMG lately and have found a better correlation between the two by studying PMG and reading the Book of Mormon verses that it references! It's fun to see both books complement each other! 

I want to say thank you for all of your examples and testimonies! You are all in my prayers and in my heart! 

I love you

Elder Bushman 

Year 2, Week 14: We have been talking with literally everyone

Hello family,

This week has been pretty good. We are staying for together for another transfer! On average, most companionship are together for 2 transfers but Elder Fragoso and I will be going for 3. So it looks like we still have some work to do! We are excited for the people we are going to be working with and excited to find more people to work with!

This week we had exchanges with Elder Lund and Elder Merrill. They are the English Elders here in Worcester. I went with Elder Lund in his area. He has just finished his first transfer in the field! It was fun working with someone who has all the ideas from the MTC still running through his mind! He was so prepared to lead throughout the day of what to do and who to visit! It was awesome:) we had some great lessons with people and then had a Baptismal interview with a boy named E that they were teaching!

We had lots of missed appointments and dropped people this week. Lots of contacting however. We have been talking with literally everyone! We talk with lots of people anyway, but because we are looking for more people to start teaching and come to church, we have done a lot more contacts. It's been good! We have had some cool contacts!

On one occasion, we knocked a door and a man named J let us in. J let us in and immediately went to go get his wife so that she could also listen. They have such a cute 3 month old baby named S! 

They've never heard of the BoM before but were willing to read. G, his wife, after having heard the intro, said that through the BoM we may know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. They already knew that prophets were messengers of God! J's dad is a pastor back in Kenya so they are pretty knowledgeable on Christian topics! 

They were willing to listen because just before we stopped by, J had kicked his Brother in Law out of his house because he was causing problems. When we came they saw it as message from God, especially because we taught about families! It was super cool experience!

But other than that... Not much happened this week! Sorry for the short one but I love you all! 

Elder Bushman 

 

 

Year 2, Week 2: I Love the Mission! I Love the People!

This week has been good. Elder Warner has been transferred to Waltham. The Weston Sisters have been moved out and Elder Warner will be training an English missionary in a half Spanish, half English area. This has never happened before, at least that I know of. He seems to be doing ok with the change and adjustment. Hopefully he will have success. Elder Fragoso is my new companion. He is from Utah and knows Jessica Larson from High School. He is a super hard worker and his parents are from Mexico. He is a fluent Spanish speaker so I will be asking him questions about the Spanish language. I am looking forward to this transfer. A little nervous though. In our mission, for each Zone there are 2 Zone Leaders, with one Zone Leader as the Lead Zone Leader. Usually the Lead ZL has been a Zone Leader for several transfers etc. Most ZL's will have been a Zone Leader for 2 transfers before they "train" a new Zone Leader or before they become the Lead. In this case, I have been with Elder Warner for 1 transfer and am the Lead Zone Leader. All Zone decisions will be made by me and Elder Fragoso but the real training of him will come from me. I am excited to grow and everything but it's nice being comfortable. I guess I have been comfortable too long and the Lord is ready for me to get back to the refining.

We didn't have any Investigators come to church this week. Elder Petit and I were on exchanges on Saturday and found some pretty cool people to work with. One guy is named M. He is from El Salvador. When ever I meet someone from El Salvador, first thing i say is, Le Gusta Pupusas?? You will always get a great reaction from some white boy, speaking spanish, knowing their food. Same thing with Dominicans. If I meet a Dominican, you say, A Un Tigere. I honestly don't know what it means but its a nickname for Domincans. Then you just talk about their food and instant love and respect from them. We will see if there is any potential from him.

There is a lady that the English Elders met named M. She is from Dominican Republic and I met her when I was on exchanges with Elder Blotter a couple weeks ago. I did the normal routine of asking her about her food and what part of the DR she was from. She invited Elder Warner and I over to have Lunch with her. We saw her again a couple days later and she told us to come again and get food. We showed up and she fed us lunch and then she gave us a TON of food. Random stuff she bought from the store. We told her that we were ok and she didn't need to give us anything but she said that she got it for us and if we didn't take it she would be mad. So we took it. Ill send some pictures of the week.

Anyway,  not much else happened.

 The week was good! I love the mission! I love the people! I love working in Worcester! I love you all.

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 42: Finally Going to Massachusetts

Hello Family! This week has gone by ridiculously quickly!!

First off, transfer news. I am being transferred out of Waterbury and I'm finally going to go to Massachusetts. I'm serving in Waltham which is about an hour from Boston. My new companion is named Elder Perkes. I'm bummed to be leaving Elder Porritt but I'm excited for some change. It was fun serving in Waterbury with Elders Tirado, Neeley, and Porritt.  I've wanted to serve in Waltham my entire mission because that's the closest I can get to Boston until Spanish Elders are put back in. I'm still going to be the District Leader in Waltham but it is a District with me, my companion, Zone Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders. Elder Perkes came out with me but he went to the Mexico MTC. 

This week has been full of laughs with Elder Porritt and I. First off, Tuesday morning Elder Porritt walks over to me and says, "hey, just so you know, I stole some of your body cleanse powder and drank it." With a nervous look in my eye I asked, "how much did you take?" haha, he only took a scoop but it wrecked him pretty good! We were out knocking around 3:30 and he said he needed to go to the bathroom. We head to the church and then go back out to knock. When we get to the street we are planning on knocking, he says... "OK, we need to go home. You can do record inputs while I am in the bathroom." It reminded me of the good ole days of 1 scoop fiber, 1 scoop cleanse! 

We also made a crockpot roast! I made bróccoli while Elder Porritt had the potatoes and carrots that we cooked in the roast. It was mighty fine!! SOOO good! Best roast I've ever had!

We haven't had a whole lot of stuff happen this week. It's been a bummer. All our lessons have been getting canceled and people aren't there. 

We had Zone Conference which was awesome! President Miller gave a super cool talk on what we can do to be life long disciples. It was pretty great! I took a lot away from it!

Interviews were also super cool! President Miller is awesome! It'll be a bummer when he goes home. He is one of the wisest men I've ever met.

On exchanges with Elder Phillipsen on Saturday we had some cool things happen. We were trying to decide what we should do for dinner. All the sudden, I had this super random thought. BDUBS!!! So we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. While there, the waitress took our order and started asking all about us. We told her who we were and what we did as missionaries. She said she wanted to learn more about the church so we got her phone number. Idk if anything will come out of it, but it was still a cool experience. 

We also went to a lesson with an investigator named O. She was too busy to talk with us so we talked to her Brother. He asked us a ton of questions because he knew some about our church. He asked about polygamy, how to gain Salvation, hell and where God lives, the difference between the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and how if he will read it, ponder it, pray about it, and come to church, we will feel happiness and peace. He committed to reading 3 Nephi 12 and compare it with Matthew 5. Elder Phillipsen doesn't speak any Spanish so I was talking the entire time. Because of that lesson, I feel a lot more confident with my Spanish.

D. got baptized yesterday. She was the one that Elder Porritt and I found and then passed to the English Elders. It was a great baptismal service. I had the opportunity to interview her for her baptism. She was SOOO ready. She was practically living everything before we found her except for drinking coffee. She stopped when they asked her to and hasn't had any for the last 3-4 weeks! Super cool and I'm so happy for the English Elders.

Elder Smith is being transferred to Newport, CT. 

Anyway, I can't think of anything else to write. Love you all!! 

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 41: We Have Proper Authority

Hello Fam,

Nothing much has changed since I talked to you yesterday. This week has been pretty good. I'm starting to get a little sick of being in Waterbury. I've been here for 4 transfers now and it's getting a little tiring. But, if I stay for a 5th transfer than it'll be fine. I'll work hard and get it done.

Nothing overly exciting has happened this week. We picked up an investigator named O. and she is cool. She is from Guatemala and seemed to have some real potential. We called her half way during the week to confirm that she will be coming to church like she said. She said she would be so we were looking forward to it. She didn't come though. It's a bummer but nothing new. Its been a little tough to have such flaky people all the time. But, we're working through it. Hopefully we will be able to meet with her again tonight but we haven't been able to get in contact with her. Hopefully something will come from it.

We met with a less active woman this passed week. When we first got in contact with her she said that the reason she wasn't coming to church was because her mom was super sick and she took care of her. When we went over for dinner we talked a bit more and she said the real reason she wasn't coming to church was because the members are 2 faced. During church all the members are so nice but during the week members ignore her... Super dumb but we are trying to help her get over that and come to church for the right reasons. She made us Salmon and Salad so that was sweet!

This week was a little slow. This next week will be pretty busy. On Wednesday we have Zone Conference, Thursday we have interviews, Friday we have T-Texts, Saturday we have exchanges, Sunday is Sunday, Monday is PDAY, Tuesday is Normal, and Wednesday is transfers. We have 3 normal days this week... Crazy! 

We did meet with an investigator named V. He says he has a testimony of Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon. He just doesn't understand the apostasy. We've been going slowly and helping him understand the apostasy more and more. He needs to understand that we have proper authority. So he's cool. 

Lots of appointments got canceled but we have follow ups for next week. That's about it! 

Love you all. Mom, Happy Mothers day!

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 36: You've Got Yourself a Mormon

This week has been super good!

We went over to see G. and teach a lesson. When we got there her boyfriend William was over. We started asking him what he believed in. He said he was a Serbian Orthodox. We asked a few questions to understand his background and what he believed. Then, we started teaching the Restoration. As we taught he kept having his mind blown. We told him about our welfare program and his response was classic! "well... That's better than the catholics." as we continued to tell him about our church he kept responding with, "well.. That's way better than the Catholics!" when we told him that we love people who are gay, but do not condone what they do, again. "well that's better than the Catholics." haha! It was awesome. By the end our our lesson I said, "well W. ... You've been pretty impressed with our church." he said, "oh yeah! Your church is very impressive." I said, "that's because it's not our church. It's Jesus Christ's church, and the reason it is so awesome and has no flaws is because it is directed by Christ himself." W. looked at us, hugs me and Elder Neeley and says, "CONGRATS, you've got yourself a Mormon." haha! He literally just converted right in front of us. For true conversion he needs to pray about it and read the Book of Mormon, but it was just so funny! Because of W. "being a Mormon now" G. will go to the English ward with him so we are passing her and her siblings over to the English Elders. 

E. came to church again and we taught him the Restoration. He is such a good investigator. He does what we ask and he never breaks his promises. If he promises to do something, he actually will! It's awesome! He asks the greatest questions! One of his questions was, what is God's name? Anyway, he just has awesome questions! 

A couple weeks ago we met a random member of the church who moved from Hartford. He knows a bunch of the families that I know! Anyway, we went over to his house and had an hour and a half long conversation about the church and his life. He committed to coming to church and to come to the Spanish branch! 

We had exchanges this week. I was in the English area with Elder Davis. Exchanges are really fun because you get to learn tons of stuff from other missionaries! We had some pretty cool experiences happen. Because of Facebook we were able to see that a LA members mother passed away. We were able to go over and talk with her. It was super cool! 

 

Transfer News: Elder Neeley is gone to Lawrence. I'm staying in Waterbury. A Elder named Elder Porritt (from Alaska) is coming to Waterbury. He has been out a transfer longer than I have. I'm DL. 

That's about it! Love you all

Elder Bushman

 

 

 

Year 1, Week 31: They Literally Yelled, Yes!

This week was pretty long. With Elder Tirado moving to a new area, he basically had to pack up 6 months of stuff and move it. Most of the week from Friday when we found out he was leaving to Wednesday when he left was him packing, visiting members, and stuff like that. We saw so many members and had soooo much food. We had such a long week.

Once Elder Tirado left, we drove to Boston with Elder Porter and Elder Perkes. I came in with Elder Perkes and Elder Porter was with Elder Eaton when I was in Hartford. That was a fun time! I went to the mission home and picked up Elder Neeley. We drove the 2 hours and 15 minutes back to Waterbury and got there around 8. We had dinner and just went to bed.

 

Being a trainer? I literally don't even feel like I am training someone. I think that is just because he is so ready to go. I literally don't even have to tell him that he needs to talk or say, "Alright, its your turn to knock this door." he just does it! So that's super nice! He went to a year of college first so he is pretty adjusted to everything so far. Wednesday was good. I was pretty nervous. Basically, President Miller was like, "So, you are all their first companions. Don't mess them up." Obviously, it was was nicer and he said he trusts us and everything, but I was a little nervous. My comp is Elder Neeley. He is from Washington St. He went to BYU for a year. Works hard and ready to get things done!!

 

We started and just got straight to work. We picked up 2 investigators by the name of M. and O. We taught them the Restoration in Spanish. When we invited them to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it was true, they literally yelled yes. I am not even joking. There voices raised and they were like, Claro! That was a super cool experience. We will be going over in the next couple of days to follow up with them. We also met a woman named J. She was talking on the phone and smoking at the same time. We went up to her and just started talking to her and basically made her hang up her phone call so she could talk to us. We started telling her of our unique message and she asked this question. "Literally, there is one God. Why is there so many churches?" we quickly explained the apostasy and why there are tons of churches. She said that it made a lot of sense. She said, "My next question is, what is the purpose of this life?" We quickly flipped open in the Book of Mormon to Alma 34:32 and explained that the purpose of our life is to meet God and that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ she will be able to become clean so she can live in the presence of God again. She said that she had never heard an actual answer to her question. We told her that we can literally answer any question she has and set up another time to pass by. That was a super cool experience.

We met another woman named Eliza. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and what our church is. We set up a time to come back and talk with her. We have met so many people the last couple of days who have been ready and willing go hear about the Gospel. We basically have tons of people scheduled all throughout next week. 

Like Dad asked me, I will record an audio recording about how the mission uses technology different than most people use it at home. 

Love you all!! I will record some more Audio for next week

Elder Bushman

 

Saying Farewell to Elder Tirado

Welcome, Elder Neeley

Writing Home in the Library with the DL's