Year 2, Week 49: I Now Have a Chinese Name

This week was a little crazy!

We finished out Monday night with visiting some people and talking to others on the street. Nothing too exciting there! Lol! 

I was able to go on an exchange with our District Leader, Elder Kohler. He is a Chinese missionary and we went to their area. We had 3 lessons that day in Mandarin. I've been on a Portuguese exchange before and I've been able to understand what is happening in the lesson. During that Portuguese exchange I've been able to add my thoughts in Spanish and they also understand what I'm saying. Haha let me say that Mandarin is completely different. I didn't understand one word! Not a one! But, I was able to learn how to introduce myself in Mandarin and I now have a Chinese name 😂I don't know how to write it out but... I can say it! The other day, we were asked by the Chinese Elders to run over to the church and open the door for a person they were teaching and wait with him until they arrived. We were just eating lunch so we ran over and opened the door. When I shook the man's hand I said, "hello, I am Elder Bushman" in Mandarin and the guy starts going off and talking! I just waited for like 10 seconds before cutting him off and saying, in English, that I do NOT speak any Mandarin. During that exchange, we contacted several Mandarin speakers, had lessons, called some of their members, and stopped by some people they were teaching. I literally did nothing that whole day! I just walked around following Elder Kohler and asking questions about how Mandarin works VS Spanish! Haha! I was worthless that day!

We had our Zone Conference this week as well. My last one😭😭 We talked about how Moro I worked to create a country where they could all have freedom and how we need to work to build the church so everyone can have spiritual freedom. It was a great Conference and we learned that President Nelson will be visiting our mission in October. So I'll miss that by 3ish months.

We still haven't had a lesson with R. and O. We are in contact with them and have something set up for Tuesday. We have members all lined up to come as well which is exciting. They weren't able to come to church this week because their baby is still sick. We are praying he feels better so they can keep coming to church.

R. and V. had to cancel as well. We have our next appointment set up with them for this Wednesday. We will also be having a member with us so we are praying that he will be able to help him see the need to come to church and out God first. 

We stopped teaching A. because he didn't express any interest. Hopefully in the future they will be able to progress. 

We stopped by a less active man's house and met him. We had a lesson this past week and invited him to church. We honestly forgot we had invited him but right after the opening prayer he walked into Sacrament Meeting! That was really cool. His name is Jaime and he hasn't been to church for 5 years. All that was needed was for some missionaries to stop by and invite him to come. We are praying he continues to come. 

I don't know if you remember A. S.? We were teaching her but she wouldn't come to church so we stopped teaching her. We got a call from the English missionaries one day and they told us they had someone they were talking to on the phone as well. Turns out, it was her. So we talked with her over the phone for about 12 minutes and invited her to come to church. She didn't so we will see how long we will continue to try with her.

This week has been really good! Several appointments canceled which is a bummer but we are looking forward to this next week. 

I love you! 

Elder Bushman 

 

 

Year 2, Week 42: She Knows Everything

Hello! Yesterday was officially 2 months until the mission comes to an end. I'm not ready for that day to come! It's been an amazing experience and I have learned a lot from being out here. Let's see what happened this week??

We had our Zone Conference with Elder Randall K. Bennett and his wife. He is the area President and has come to our mission 3 times since September 2018. Our conversation ranged from Gifts of the Spirit to who is Elect to following all mission rules with exactness to any other missionary topic under the sun! It was really good and I was really excited to get out and work in the field!

In Cambridge, we have an interesting situation with some members. Before the Waltham Spanish Group was created all members attended Cambridge. When the group was created most members stayed in Cambridge and some broke off to Waltham. So the Waltham missionaries don't visit our members from Cambridge, and we never had permission to go to Waltham to visit members, so those members were never fellowship pedo by missionaries. There are several recent converts who went inactive when that happened and so Elder Skordas and I received permission so we could go out there. Is was really good! We met a lot of the people who aren't active and were able to set up some appointments to visit with them. We are also hoping to be able to teach a lot of there family who aren't members!

This week was great but we didn't have many lessons with the people we are teaching. E. and I. canceled 2 appointments but we will be seeing them tonight. They didn't make it to church again so we will have to spend some time helping resolve those concerns. We are hoping for that to work out. We will be talking with them about what's keeping them back and how we can help them. 

We did have a really good lesson with a lady named R. She was baptized in the Dominican Republic years ago and was even a temple worker in the Santa Domingo Temple. When she moved out here she got a job and wasn't able to go to church. The sisters met her and they we came in and have been working to help her come back to church. It's incredible how much information she has retained. Most people can't remember a whole lot about the church but she knows everything. A member with us offered to bring the Sacrament to her house but she said, "no. I need to be worthy and get to church. If I can't do that. I'm not worthy for it." She has a very deep understanding of how serious the Sacrament actually is and not a lot of Hispanics make that connection! It was awesome!

We did teach E.R. this week! Her son, A., was baptized back in November but then left for the Dominican Republic. He got back but never came to church. We have been working to get an appointment with him and we finally did. He was really excited to meet with us and told us all about him and his family. He said he wants us to teach his friend and he is going to be getting back to church which was really cool! E. said she would come to church but didn't. Again, we aren't sure what is keeping these people back from Church. That's the trouble we face out her. Nobody wants to go to church.

During my personal studies this week, I was reading in Preach My Gospel about learning to recognize the promptings of the Spirit. In this section, it lists scriptures and gives descriptions for all the things the Spirit does. I realized that I feel the Holy Ghost allllll the time but I rarely give the credit to the Spirit. For example, in Mosiah 5:2-5 it talks about the Spirit strengthening our desire to avoid evil and obey the commandments. This happens to me a lot! Through studies and instruction given to our mission from the mission President, I frequently feel this desire but I have never contributed it to the Spirit. I've always thought this was my own thoughts or desires. So one of the biggest things I've realized, is that I need to give more credit to God for the righteous things I experience. Through thoughts or feelings or desires, if they are good, it is God! It was a cool realization!

I know Jesus Christ is my Savior. He lives. I love being a missionary!! 

Love, 

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 18: Thank the Members

Dear Family!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I love you all!!

Elder Bushman

 

 

Year 2, Week 16: What is our River Jordan?

Hello Family!! 

This week was pretty good. We had a super cool lesson with R and A. They are the kids who are in their dad's custody on Sundays so they can't go to church. President Velez, our Branch President, was with us. He was so outgoing and just really helped teach! We talked about what happens at church and discussed things like primary, Young Men, Young Women, Priesthood, and Relief Society. We talked about how they can be blessed by going to church. We are just praying that they will be able to be with their mom on Sundays. 

We had interviews with President Mavromatis this week. He shared a scripture about Joshua leading the Israelites and they came upon the river Jordan. When the people sanctified their hearts they were able to come through on dry ground. He talked about what our river Jordan is personally, in our companionship, in our area, and in our Zone. It was cool.

We have some exciting events coming up soon. We have a District Leader Council where we will be talking about what we can do to cross our Jordan Rivers. 

We have a Zone Conference coming up where President and Sister Bennett, the area Presidency, to talk about how we can receive more miracles and sanctify ourselves further! We have some exciting things coming!! 

Not much else happened this week. Sorry for the short email. 

Love you! 

Elder Bushman 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elder Bushman

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

Dear Family,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elder Bushman

 

 

Year 1, Week 52: Juan Got Baptized!

First, I would like to send a thought I had while studying yesterday. I sent this out to our Zone but it can be applied directly to us. 

In October 2012 General Conference, Elder David A. Bednar said, "A testimony is spiritual knowledge of truth obtained by the power of the Holy Ghost. Continuing conversion is constant devotion to the revealed truth we have received—with a heart that is willing and for righteous reasons. Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion. We should know the gospel is true and be true to the gospel."

Am I converted? The answer to this question is based upon action. Like faith without works is dead, testimony without works is dead. A testimony cannot withstand the" fiery darts of the adversary" (Helaman 5:12) if not nourished by living and acting upon the message of the Gospel.

Preach my Gospel says, "a great indicator of one's personal conversion is the desire to share the gospel with others" (pg 13).

Before our missions we should have received a witness of why we decided to serve. It might have been a testimony of prophets and we knew we needed to serve missions because we have a testimony of a living prophet. It could have been the Holy Ghost directing us to serve. Whatever the case may be, our testimony of why we are here is dead if we do not work and show our conversion.

If we dedicate two years to serve the Lord and not consecrate ourselves, are we going to dedicate ourselves when we return? If we serve with "lightness and frivolity in your hearts, looking for this and that, and to learn what is in the world,... You will go and return in vain" (Missionary Manual pg 7). 

Elders and Sisters, let us focus in on the work of the Lord and show our conversion to Him!

As I've tried to focus more on the reasons why we do things I have found a deeper desire to work harder. Anyway, but for the big news... 

Juan got baptized on Saturday. It was a great experience even though he got baptized twice. We filled the font as high as we could but it didn't even come up his waist. He is 6'4, a very big man. The Branch Presidency didn't show up though so we had to wait for 40 minutes before it started. On Sunday he was confirmed a member of the church and that was a super awesome experience. It's interesting to listen in Spanish. When we say receive the Holy Ghost, in Spanish you use the command form. So we as Priesthood, are commanding the Spirit to come to Juan... It's kinda awesome when you think about it!

Not much else happened this week. We had Zone Conference and Elder Warner and I gave trainings, we had exchanges with the English Elders, and that's about it. Super super busy with not much happening. I gave a training in District Meeting that went pretty well. I talked about how we need to convert ourselves and be a strong chain that others can lean on. It was pretty cool. I think it went well.

Anyway, love you all! 

Elder Bushman

Year 1, Week 46: I Really Enjoy Teaching in Spanish

This week has been really good! Some cool events happened. We got to go to a funeral for a members Sister. She was a member of the Episcopalian Church so it was at a different church. We had the opportunity to go on exchanges. I was in Waltham with Elder Kennard. He was in my Zone when I first came into the mission so its cool to be back with him. We also had Zone Conference with the Miller's where we were able to say goodbye and take pictures. 

On exchanges we picked up to investigators named C and C! We taught the Restoration and got their contact info. Elder Kennard doesn't speak any Spanish so I just talked. It went well! I really enjoy teaching in Spanish! 

We had a lesson with L and he told us he has now been 20 days without a drink! It was awesome! We talked to him about keeping the Sabbath day Holy and told us that he has taken a second job and has to start working on Sundays. We are working with him and trying to help him get days off! 

During Zone Conference, they talked a lot about sustaining our church leaders. They said to forget about them completely forget about them and that they no longer exist as leaders to us. It was a little sad. I love the Millers but the new President has my complete support with everything! I'm excited to learn from a different perspective.

We helped a member move to a different city. We through a bunch of stuff in the back of the truck and tied it down with ties. I've decided I'm definitely getting a truck when I come home because I want to be able to help people with things and a truck will come in handy! We are helping another member move on Thursday. 

Elder Hilbig is going home. We thought Elder Kennard was going to come to our companionship but he is going to the Portuguese Elder so he won't be with us.

All in all this week has been super good! Love you all! 

Elder Bushman

Goodbye, President and Sister Miller

Photo Credit, Kimberly Miller

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 26: We Talked a lot on Prayer

Hey Mom,

Not too much has happened this week, but it was good. I got a call from the AP's on Monday night, asking me to do a musical number at Zone Conference on Wednesday. I basically had Tuesday to prepare. I will send the recording I took in another email. Zone Conference was super good. We talked a lot on prayer and how we should make our prayers a lot more meaningful. We went through some talks and PMG on how to also gain more spiritual power. Our mission has a goal to read PMG in a transfer and mark all the principles and promises given. It's not hard but if you get behind it takes a while to catch back up. I bought some fine point sharpies today so the ink won't smear anymore!

Tania is doing well. We had a member go to her house with his wife and start teaching the New Convert lessons. Now they are super good friends. We went over to their house for lunch. I ate salad and meat;)

Other than that, nothing really happened. Sorry this is so short! Hopefully the recording makes up for some of the lameness of this letter.

Elder Bushman