A few random pictures

 New Year's Day at the Gator Bowl

 Garrett's new comp - Elder W

Arlington 

Shortest letter ever!

Dear Family,

Well it is good to hear that all is going well and that you'all are having a great holiday season. WE have had some incredible miracles this week which I am really excited to share with you all tomorrow! Just to give a little prelude, _____ will be getting baptized this week, probably on the 26th so we are going to have a white Christmas!!!! And also we had another investigator tell us she wants to get baptized after the Holidays are over, so after all the chaos and trials that have been happening the Lord in his Mercy has given us some amazing miracles! 

So for tomorrow we are going over to the Smiths to have Dinner at 1:30 and I will most likely be skyping probably around 3 pm our so, so that would be 1 pm your time. So just be ready around then and I will call and we will talk then! Well I am going to save mostly everything for tomorrow, that way I don't have to spend a lot of time on here. Love you all and talk to you tomorrow!

And even more Miracles!

Dear Family,                                                                                      

Oh boy what a crazy week it has been, I am pretty exhausted but it is good. I am glad to hear everything is going well back home, and it is good to know something I said last week helped someone.  I want to invite everyone that reads this letter to watch a talk by Jeffery R. Holland called "Safety for the Soul" It is powerful!  So I did get a new companion and his name is Elder W, he is actually from the same ward that Elder H came from haha kind of funny. He is a very hard worker and we already get along very well, so I am excited to work with him. He had just barely been called a district leader 2 weeks ago when the transfer started and now he got called to be a zone leader but he is handling it very well. 

On Thursday we got a media referral on our phone for a person. So we decided to go by and see him that day. When we went by a 16 year old kid answered and we asked him if ________ lived there. Out of nowhere comes this little 8 year old kid saying "That's me!" I wish I could have had a camera to take a picture of the expression on our faces because I am sure it was priceless, but we were shocked to say the least. We asked him if he went on the website and asked us to come by to which he replied he did. Well right at that moment his friend came by and he left with his friend to go play so we were left talking to his brother and his mom. They had no idea that he had done such a thing but with how funny it was it really opened things up and we ended up talking to his mom for 40 minutes right there on the doorstep. Her husband had actually passed away a year earlier and she had a lot of questions about religion and about life in General. It truly was a miracle! We set a return appointment for Sunday to go see them. When we went by we asked ______ how he got on the website and he said that he was just playing a video game on the internet and something popped up and he clicked okay, which if you know anything about the website is not how you request missionaries. You have to go to the website and type in all your information so that we could come by, so some miracle had to have happened. We ended up teaching the Restoration and we are going back on Tuesday to teach the Plan of Salvation, so we are really excited about them. _____  is progressing well and is getting baptized this month.

We also started teaching a lady this week who is most definitely the most prepared person to receive the Gospel that I have ever met on my mission. We taught her for the first time on Monday and before we started she asked why we came on missions and we tried to explain it to her, but she just wasn't getting why we would give up time to do something like this. I told her by the end of the lesson that she would know why we came out. As we taught her the Restoration she told us of an experience she had, that she used to be atheist and then had an experience that she finally prayed to know if God existed and she said she felt a warmth come over here that she had never felt before and she felt God's love and knew he was real. Ever since then she has been searching for that feeling again as we were teaching her she felt it again. She said that nobody had ever believed her before about her experience but now she has found people that do. By the end of the lesson she said "Now I know why you come, to find people like me." It was one of the most powerful lessons I have ever had on my mission. Later in the week we taught her the plan of Salvation and it answered all of her questions. She said later that she couldn't get the Celestial Kingdom out of her head, that now she has hope for eternal life because nobody had ever been able to tell her what happens after life but now she knows and now she has hope. Oh it was so powerful. We are going to see her tonight and she has a baptismal date set so we are very excited and so is she. 

Well I got to get going, but thank you for everything that you all do and have a wonderful week!   Love, Elder Bushman

Miracles!

Dear Family, I am sad! We were a little late for the Christmas devotional and I never saw Austin once! The only people they ever showed were the French horns and the flutes, it was ridiculous. However the messages were incredible and I really enjoyed it, so that was good. Anyway it is good to hear that all is going well there on the home front. I can’t believe Stephen is going to be home on Wednesday, that just blows my mind! I still don’t feel like I am ever going to be home, I’m pretty sure my mission will just last forever. As for what I want for Christmas, I think the thing I would like most is just to get letters from everyone like last year, that was the greatest of all the presents I got. But right now, I have everything I could ever ask for, I am on a mission serving the Lord, I am surrounded by amazing people, and I have a great family that supports me, what more could you ask for? The question is what would you all like from me?

Well we had a miraculous week this week! It really started off with an incredible zone leader council on Wednesday. Everyone was just very excited and fired up for this last month of the year to go out and give it all we got, and of course President Barry and Sister Barry just come in with so much power and love when they teach us. I love them so much! I think the thing I am excited about most for going home, and please don’t be offended by this, but the thing I am excited about most is giving Sister Barry a hug on my last day haha That will be just the greatest thing ever! Well anyway after that Elder H and I were very excited for the remainder of the week and we are excited for this month. On Thursday we had a lesson with one of our investigators, I believe I told you about her, well anyway we taught her the Doctrine of Christ and afterwards she said “Wow, that makes so much sense." Which is exactly what I say all the time, the Gospel makes so much sense! Well we were able to reset her date for the 23rd of December, 2 days before Christmas, and we put it on a calendar and she is very excited.  She is an incredible woman! So that was our first miracle.

The second Miracle we had was that, and you will never believe this, but we got permission from our Mission President to go to the Gator Bowl which is played at the Jacksonville Jaguars stadium! The game is on New Years’ day, which just happens to be on our P-day because transfers are that week, it was like it was perfectly set up by God. So we already have our tickets and are looking forward to that.

Third Miracle was that we had our ward Christmas party on Saturday and we had 8 investigators there and probably 15 nonmembers total. It was so good because we have noticed that it has already built a lot of trust with the ward. The bishop yesterday came up to us and gave us a referral and members are really beginning to trust us, it is really incredible. I have a feeling that this Ward is soon going to blossom with many baptisms.

The fourth miracle was that after church on Sunday we went to go see ________. They have been planning their wedding and we were able to convince them even more to plan it for this month! Then we worked at trying to set a date for _______ to get baptized but she told us that she wanted to work on getting married first. But then Elder H comes in and talks about how amazing it would be if she started of the new year with a new birth into following Jesus Christ. All of a sudden she got really excited and not wants to do that! So we set a date with her to be baptized on December 30! Fasting and prayer truly works, let me tell ya!

The 5th and final miracle happened this morning! This weekend J and her family all came to the Christmas party and loved it and then they all came to church, stayed for all 3 hours and loved it! It was such a beautiful sight to see their little family all growing together in the gospel. Well this morning we get a text from J saying "Good morning!" I said good morning back and asked her how her day was going. She then replied and said, "It is going well, I am on my way to work and I am texting my Brother-in-law and asking when he can be available to baptize me." As she texted this we were listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing a song that says "Hallelujah, Hallelujah" It was perfect and incredible! My heart is just filled with joy because a true change has come over her heart and she wants this in her life, for her, and nobody else. She knows it will bless her family obviously, but she is doing it for her, and I just love her and that family so much, I am truly truly blessed. Being a member of this church and coming to know the things that I have come to know has blessed me more than I can ever imagine, I don’t know why anyone would ever want to fall away, it makes no sense. Seeing the Gospel change people is why I came out here, and it has never ceased to amaze me as it continues to do so. I share frequently with people about my experience at Moroni's quest and how I saw two amazing young man be changed by it, I hope they still remember that and I am glad to hear that one of them is preparing to go on a mission. But that experience changed me, and made me realize that this Gospel truly is meant to change people, and I have witnessed that every day for the past, however long I have been out. What an incredible experience it has been and will continue to be! I really don’t know why anyone would not want to be a member of this church, but I guess it gives us that are members the opportunity to bear our testimonies to the world, and my prayer is that one day we will all be truly converted, not just to this true and living church but really to the true and living God who we are here to serve. I love you all and thank you for all that you do, have a great week! Love, Elder Bushman

Elder H and Elder G

Killer Thanksgiving Feast!

Dear Family,  It is good to hear that all is going well.  I don’t think I have ever been chucker hunting before but it sounds pretty fun!  We had a really good week as well, thanksgiving was a killer but I will explain more a little later, I first want to address what Dad asked me about.

There are 3 main things that a missionary needs to be a successful missionary on a mission. These three things are my own personal opinion, so obviously there are many other good things that could be presented as well, but I will present these 3 which are: Obedience, Testimony, and a Love for God.

Obedience: Obedience is the first law of heaven and all blessings are predicated on this law and if we obtain any blessing from God it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. As a missionary you are asked to do many things that you don’t necessarily understand. There are a lot of rules to live by, which can either be a blessing to a missionary or a cursing. The key to be exactly obedient is having a humble heart, being submissive, and being willing to do anything that is asked of you. You have to go into your mission with the Goal already at hand that you are going to be exactly obedient to every rule, obedience is the key to truly feeling free. When you are disobedient, it ways down upon your heart and mind and distracts you from the work which leads to none or very little success which leads to feeling miserable. God's plan of Salvation is a plan of happiness. He created this world and this plan to see if we would be obedient to all of his commandments. So in all reality you could call God's plan a plan of obedience which leads to true freedom and happiness.

Testimony: Having a testimony of this Gospel and this work is vital to being a missionary because you will have it tested many times on a mission. But when you can stand with boldness and testify that you know by the power of the Holy Ghost that this work is true, you feel a feeling of love and joy that is you can’t describe. Most importantly you need to have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, anyone preparing for a mission should read the Book of Mormon cover to cover and pray and ask God if it is true so he can receive a witness that it is and bear that witness to the world. To bring your testimony from testimony to conversion, you need to apply what you have learned in the scriptures and preach my gospel and have a mighty change of heart, when you have this change, nothing will hold you back. So gain a testimony before you leave through scripture study and prayer.

Have a Love for God: When all else fails on a mission, your love for God will motivate you and carry you through to do the hard thing. Coming to understand who you are and what kind of relationship you have with God will give you the strength to endure any trial. You have to be willing to give everything to God, give your whole soul as a sacrifice to him and let him use you as a worthy vessel to perform his work. So I would say develop a relationship with God now, come to know him now, do what he asks now, make the choice to love and serve him now, and as young men do this they will bring many souls to Christ on their missions. Also just as a last little note, they need to learn how to be hard workers, to be proactive and be anxiously engaged always in a good cause, this will help a lot. I hope these 3 points help.

Well now we will get back to my week. It went pretty good, we were able to set a date with one of our investigators on Tuesday. She is just a super elect lady. Thanksgiving was crazy! We went out to the beaches area and played in a turkey bowl with the wards over there. It was a lot of fun and made me think about little league football and I was super sore afterwards, but oh well it was worth it. Then we had 3 meals that day!  The first one we had was at 12 pm, and we didn’t eat as much there because we were trying to portion ourselves well. Then the next one was at 1 pm, and I just went all out there, I ate so much food!  It was all so good too; southern cooking is just one of a kind, not much that can beat it! Then we had another meal at 2 pm and by the time we got to that one I was shaking as I was bringing up food to my mouth haha I was so full! Although one of the ladies that cooked at that home made some lemonade pie! I haven’t seen that since I have left home and she did it with real lemons, it was really good. So yeah thanksgiving was quite the day. 

Nothing big happened the rest of the week. A lot of our investigators went out of town or just were super busy because of the Holiday so we didn’t get to see a lot of them on the weekend. So we are looking forward to this week to have all of our investigators back in town and ready to be taught. We are teaching a lot of really wonderful people.  Anyway, I Iove you all, have a great week! Love, Elder Bushman

Pure Joy!

Dear Family,  I am typing on a small computer today so excuse my grammar and any errors in it. First of all happy birthday to Heber! wow I cannot believe that he is already 2 years old, that is just so crazy, last time I saw him he was basically a newborn baby and now he is running around mooning people, what has this world come too haha Well I will be spending at least the next 6 weeks in this area!  Thank goodness I am not getting transferred, there are so many good things going on in this area and I am very excited about it, plus I have been transferred 7 times on my mission and I was really hoping to stay here. Good thing God knows me the best and knows that I still have much work to accomplish here in this area. Also I will be keeping my same companion Elder H for another transfer. It’s going to be crazy because this upcoming transfer we will have thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years’ all in the same transfer. So it’s going to be an eventful transfer with hopefully many baptisms, we have a strong possibility for about 3 or 4 for the upcoming month. My last transfer will be kind of uneventful though, it’s just crazy to think about, time is going so fast. I won’t lie, I am a little nervous to come home soon, I have no idea what I am going to do, all I know is I need to be busy fast but I won’t worry about that right now, it will come. I am just loving my mission and it is sad to see it coming to an end, although it really isn’t the end, I will still be a missionary at home too. I am really excited to do home teaching because now I can actually give good thoughts haha!  I have really come to enjoy talking to people too. I was telling Elder H this week that I think I am going to be one of those old people that just won’t ever stop talking someday, I know that is probably kind of weird coming from me, but I just really enjoy talking to people now it’s crazy!

Anyway we had another incredible week!  Unfortunately J is not going to be baptized this weekend but she is going to be baptized in December for sure. We had a lesson with her last night and she committed to set her own date for December. She is incredible!  She came to all 3 hours of church on Sunday and loved it!  She had been really nervous to do it for a long time but finally did it and got a lot out of it. Her kids loved primary too, so it was really good all around. I have just come to love that family so much and they feel more like family then someone we are teaching, you really do gain friends for eternity while on a mission. The Gospel of Jesus Christ binds friendships and creates feelings of love and unity more than any other force on earth, it truly is the uniting power of eternities. 

We are teaching another incredible woman. We started talking to her and asking how her day was going and then just started talking about God and her relationship with him. Eventually I shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon and she was blown away. She was told before that she should never read that book but when I read that scripture which talked about Christ she felt the spirit really strong and started asking us questions. She asked us why there were so many churches on the earth, it was something she had always wondered, we answered her question and told her that we could answer more of her questions if she would allow us to come back. She accepted a return appointment for Saturday and also accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. We went back on Saturday and taught her the restoration and watched the Restoration DVD, and again she felt the spirit very strong but was worried about how in the bible that is says beware of false prophets. We explained that, that is why the Book of Mormon is important because it is the evidence and the fruits of the prophet Joseph Smith. She just kept saying "wow" all the time and we answered all of her questions. Yesterday we taught her the Plan of Salvation which answered many of her questions that she has had for all of her life. It was such an incredible experience to see the light and understanding enter into her heart and mind and she was so happy and grateful that she was finally getting her questions answered. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted. She is one of the most elect people I have ever taught, it is incredible!

There are about 3 other people that are progressing at the same rate as her. The Lord is truly blessing us at this time and I am so grateful! I just pray that I can continue to be worthy of such blessings, I don’t want to do anything that would make me lose trust with God. I know when I was younger I did a lot of dumb things to lose trust with Dad and I definitely don’t want to do that with God, that would be a bad idea haha But I really do love this Gospel and I know that it is true, I have had so many witnesses that it is and I am too stubborn to reject it....in a good way. I love my Savior Jesus Christ, I know he lives and I love my Father in Heaven and am so grateful to him for this wonderful plan that he has put for us, so that we can become like him. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!  Love, Elder Bushman

Surrounded by greatness - Elder H and President and Sister Barry

Life is GOOD!

Dear Family,  Good Morning! How ya'll doing?! Oh I just got to tell you that I love the south. Things are going really good here in this area of Jacksonville Florida and it's good to hear that things are going well back home as well. I'm glad I've stayed away from the sickness that has been occurring  I've been really blessed on my mission thus far and have only gotten sick once with a cold for only a day. The Lord truly watches over and protects us out here while we are on our missions. It was also great to hear that incredible story from Elder Hager, I wish I could have been there! Elder Holland was supposed to come to our mission in August of 2011 but never did show up and it was really unfortunate. Well it is extremely weird to think that I only have 3 months left now on my mission and it feels like I just got here, I don't know what to think, all I'm going to do is work hard and hope the day never comes haha 

Well Like I said we had a great week! Things have been super crazy down here in Florida with the election going on and everything. All the members down here talk about is Mitt Romney and I feel super frustrated because I forgot to get an absentee ballet so that I could vote. I wish there was some way that I could vote but it is probably far too late to do anything about it at this point. With all the preparations that the church is making with more missionaries and more everything really, I feel like something big is going to happen. Either he is going to lose and this nation is going to go down the tube really fast and the second coming is going to happen or he is going to win and the church is going to be highlighted more than ever and many people are going to join because of it. I can't make up my mind which one it is but I guess we will know by tomorrow. I hope and pray that he wins though, we need a man of faith and someone that will rely on God to be in the office. I don't know a whole lot about politics but I do know about the spirit of the Lord and what happens when people have it with them. You see it time and time again in The Book of Mormon with the kings and judges. When the people were righteous it was usually because they had a righteous king or judge but when they were wicked they were ripe for destruction and it was the leader that was always at the head of it. 

In 3 Nephi 3:19 it says, "19 Now it was the custom among all the Nephites to appoint for their chief captains, (save it were in their times of wickedness) some one that had the spirit of revelation and also prophecy; therefore, this Gidgiddoni was a great prophet among them, as also was the chief judge."

We need someone like this in the Presidency as well, someone that has the Spirit of the Lord with him so he can receive guidance and revelation to bless and help this country come out of the darkness that it is in right now. This is why I feel that more missionaries are being prepared, because now is the time and it is getting close to the end, what a great time that we live in! 

Well anyway things are going well with our investigators as well. We had a powerful lesson on Monday with our investigator  and pretty much set a date for the 18th of this month, but satan is really combining against her. She told her family that she wanted to be baptized and they are very opposed and think that she is only doing it to save her marriage and so it is really hard on it because she loves her family very much. However, she has seen the miracles that the gospel has provided in her life thus far and knows it is the right thing to do, so please pray for her. The other family that we found ended up not working out, the wife wasn't having any of it, she is pretty staunch catholic but the husband really liked us and we committed him to pray about reading the Book of Mormon which he sincerely said he would, so we plan on following up with him at some point, but are just waiting for the right time. 

We also had our zone meeting this week and it went really well. You know before coming on a mission I never thought in my dreams that I would be able to put together a 3 hour meeting and stand up in front of a large group of people and train on important information and do it without being nervous or scared. It is just incredible how the Lord gives you strength where you are weak, if you just rely on him. I've really gained a testimony on that scripture in Ether 12:27. I am weak, I really am, but in the strength of the Lord I can do all things which are required of me. I was able to train on the importance of repentance and exact obedience, I feel it went well and I hope the missionaries got something out of it. 

Oh Halloween was really interesting this year as well. It was a lot different from last year since last year it was on a P-Day so we really didn't do anything. But this year we had all day to work and we were on a trade off with the Assistants, and believe it or not we actually got a lot of good work done and nobody got mad at us. It didn't even feel like it was Halloween. Then again, Holidays on a mission never really feel like Holidays, they just feel like another day haha But anyway that's all I can really think about at the moment, things are going really well and of course I'm loving every minute. Well I love you all and hope you have a great week! Love, Elder Bushman

The Power of "One"

Dear Family,

Good Morning! How is everyone doing? It was great to hear of all the good things going on back home and extremely weird to hear about all these missionaries coming up, it all seems so surreal to me. I really don’t feel like there is even an end to missions, it has become my life I don't really know how to do anything else now haha It's weird to think that I am at the same point on my mission as was my trainer when I was trained by him (Elder P). Missions just go by way too fast, but they are the greatest things in the world.

This week we had a two day leadership conference here and so we had to make a whole bunch of arrangements with where missionaries where staying and who they would be working with, for those that would be traveling from far away areas. The Leadership conference was incredible, probably one of the most powerful ones I have been too, then again you kind of feel that way about anything that you do over and over again. But President talked a lot about the importance of humility and sustaining leaders. As we talked about it the phrase that popped into my head, well actually there are a couple so I'll share both but here is one, "The best leader is one that knows how to follow" I learned that as a leader you can't expect anyone else to follow you if you aren't willing to follow anyone else. Christ of course was the perfect example with being obedient to all of his Father's commands and giving complete submission to him. Sustaining actually means to support and uphold, so even if we don't necessarily like our leaders when we raise our hand to sustain them, that means we are going to help them. The next phrase that popped into my head was "It takes 2 to be ONE." You can't be unified with yourself haha to truly be one like God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are one we need to learn how to work with each other and look for the good qualities that the other person has and serve them. And you have to work together to become one, there is no one side to it. The best companions that I have had are the ones that are humble and willing to work with me to achieve worthy goals and for me to work with them and be submissive to the things that they want to do. We have to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit as the scriptures say. But it was very uplifting and edifying conference.

Wednesday night Elder M, my former companion, worked with us in our area because he was staying overnight because of the conference. We went to go see an investigator and had an extremely powerful lesson on baptism and the Holy Ghost. The spirit was thick in the air and then Elder M invited her to be baptized on the 27th. It was silent for about 2 minutes as she thought about it, my heart was pounding, she finally spoke and said that she wants too, but that she needs to pray about it. I am confident that she will say yes. We have a lesson with her tonight at a members home and I believe tonight is the night that she will accept the invitation to be baptized on Saturday. She is an amazing lady and has such a strong desire to live the gospel. She told us that she felt like her whole world was being torn apart but in the midst of it all she has been finding incredible peace because of the Gospel. I love this gospel so much. 

On Friday during or weekly planning session Elder H and I were pondering on a goal that we should set for baptisms for this upcoming week. We had several possibilities with people that had been to church enough times but who did not have a date at the moment. As we thought about it we felt that we should set a goal of 3 baptisms for the weekend of the 27th and 28th and we felt very strongly that this was the goal that we needed to set. That night we went to go see one of our investigators. He has been taught for the last 2 months and has come to church 4 times, and at one point had a date, but then a lot of chaos with family got in the way. Well anyway we went by with the goal in mind to invite him to be baptized next week. At the beginning of that lesson I thought there was going to be no way in the world that we were ever going to invite him to be baptized. There were kids running around screaming, a baby crying, and it just seemed hopeless. We opened up to Mosiah 18 to talk about the importance of baptism and confirmation and the blessings that God gives us as we keep this commandment. Before we started reading I just bowed my head real quick and said a silent prayer that he would be able to feel the spirit even with all the chaos going around. It truly is incredible what the Lord can do, the spirit was there as we read and as we testified and we were able to invite him to be baptized and he is set solidly for the 28th of this month! It truly was a miracle.

Then yesterday on Sunday we had a tender mercy from the Lord. I don't know if I told you, but Elder H and I went to go see a member his first week here and she ended up having a little grandchild that wanted to be baptized. She had full custody and he was just turning 8 so we didn't know if that would be a child of record or a convert baptism. Well we called President Barry and he called Salt Lake and we found out it would be a convert baptism. So on Sunday _____ was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints and all we had to do was visit a member, it was a miracle. The Lord has truly blessed us with an incredible week and I pray that this next one will be as we have planned according to our faith and diligence. I am grateful for this work and for this church and gospel, I love it so much! I am grateful for all of you and what you do for me.  I hope you have a wonderful week!  Love, Elder Bushman

Let the good times roll.....

Dear Family,

Oh wow it is so weird to see those pictures! I love those Missionaries so much, they helped me out in so many ways on my mission and were always a shining example of Christlike service. I have some of my best friends in the world coming home and one of my best friends going out, what a glorious thing it is to see Tyler going on a mission! What joy feels my heart to know that he has come such a long way and is making that step, it is going to change his life forever, it has for me. I'm not going to lie it was really hard for me to see all those missionaries go, I only have a few of my companions that are left in the field now after that transfer and next transfer I will have even more of my companions leaving. I am grateful to finally have a younger companion haha Elder H. He has been out on his mission for 9 months now and this is only his second area, he was in his first area for 9 months. He was trained by the same missionary I was trained by, Elder W. So in the mission lingo we are brothers, so that is kind of cool. Right now I am kind of training him how to be a Zone Leader which I don't know if that is really effective because I don't know what I am doing half of the time haha but it will work out and it will be fun. It's weird to think that I have been a zone leader for almost a year now, It's been the fastest year of my life. I'm starting to get to that point on my mission where everyone is like "how much time do you got left? Only 4 months wow you are almost done aren't you?" It's getting really annoying. I have given all of my companions a hard time because of the amount of time that they have left and now its coming on me 10 fold haha

Well anyway I will start off talking about this week. Well all the amazing people that I told you about that we found on Monday pretty much dropped off the face of the earth now. They weren't as solid as I thought they were going to be, but that is alright there are plenty more out there. We did find a sweet little miracle this week the second day that Elder H was here. We went to go see this active member that has like 6 Grandchildren that live with her. She is a convert of about 4 years and all of her grandchildren have fallen in behind. Well she has one that is turning 8 today actually and since he isn't her kid technically he will be a convert baptism! So we are going to teach him and baptize him! It is going to be incredible, so I hope the ward will go along with it, we told President Barry and he called Salt Lake and they said it would be a convert baptism so hurrah for us haha 

I think the next day we were tracting and we contacted into this guy. We talked with him for about 30 minutes about all sorts of different things, and eventually I asked him if we could come in and bless his home. He let us right in, he really liked us by this point. His wife was inside and so was his 19 year old son and we sat down in their family room and offered a blessing upon their home and family. The spirit entered into the room and really softened all of their hearts. Afterwards we sat and talked for a little bit longer and we found out that his Grandmother was a member of the church and that he had her copy of the Book of Mormon and we went searching for it all excitedly. He came back out and showed us the Book and it was super old but really neat. I asked him if we could come back and talk more about the book and he looked at me for a second and then said "yeah, that would be fine, I would like that." he then asked his wife if we could do so and she agreed and we are going to go back over this Friday!

I have really just come to love these people on my mission.  Every day I am learning more and more about our Identity. The statement "I am a Child of God" is becoming real to me not just a statement. I really do know that I am a child of God. That I have a Father in Heaven who loves me and knows me individually and what an incredible thought that is, that there is a perfect being in this universe that cares about someone as small and insignificant as me, it really blows my mind. I know that he feels the same way about each person that we see every day and it is my desire and my hope that they can come to know the same thing I do, and I hope we all can. It's when we come to understand our identity that every aspect of our life changes. I am so grateful for this gospel and for this church, I don't know where I would be without it. I love you all and thank you for all that you do, have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

P.S. Mom I think that the change of the missionary age is a brilliant idea by the way. I think there are going to be many more missionaries out in the field and more missionaries means more hearts will be changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sacrafice, Fleas and Rolling Along....

Dear Family,  So first off, yes I did get the shoes and oh they are incredible, it makes running so much easier! But, wow what an incredible week this has been! I was absolutely just blown away during General Conference! It was interesting to see how many of the Apostles actually talked about how ridiculous anti is and the importance of not leaving the church. But more than that I was spiritually filled and I had questions answered. I love going into General Conference with questions and every time getting them answered, I think about 5 different speakers answered my question this time and so it really helped and I have a lot to work on. My favorite talk by far was Elder Holland's the spirit was so incredible! I remember looking into his eyes and you could just see how much love he had for the savior burning within, I hope too to one day have the same love for him as he does. The whole time I just felt like I needed to repent haha It was incredible! Oh and thank you for the pictures, it’s crazy to see how much those boys have changed, I didn't even recognize them, hopefully they will recognize me, I'm going to have to win them over from Hunter when I get back haha

Anyway well it looks like I will be getting another companion tomorrow. Elder M is getting transferred which I am pretty bummed about because he and I got along really well and worked really well together. It's going to be hard starting from scratch with a new companion when you have worked so well with one. Also he has been in this area for 9 months so there are a lot of people that are pretty attached to him so we are going to have a lot of work to do to win the members and longtime investigators hearts, but I have no doubt that with the help of the Lord it is all possible. But I have incredible news......It's getting cooler!!!!! Oh it was so incredible waking up this morning and it was like 70 degrees outside! It has been blazing hot for the last about 4 weeks and all of a sudden the temperature just dropped and it is beautiful.

Well we did have a good week this week. I am trying to think of the stuff that happens but I am kind of having a little bit of a brain fart right now. Oh I remember now. We had zone leader council on Tuesday and it was a really powerful meeting. We are going to be focusing on getting people to church this month, and it is always good to be around President B. I always feel so uplifted and strengthened after listening to him speak, I think he is going to be a General Authority someday. But we were told that we needed to duplicate what we learned in Zone Leader Council into our zone meeting two days later. Our last zone meeting we had wasn't very powerful, so we were a little worried, but we had an extra day to prepare this week so it gave us a lot more time to seek revelation. On Thursday when we had our zone meeting both Elder M and I trained on how God loves us and the importance of coming to know God and how we as members and missionaries know something that other people don't. It was a powerful meeting as we discussed these different topics and the spirit was really strong. 

The rest of the week went pretty good but there isn't much to talk about, so I want to talk about yesterday instead because a lot happened yesterday. Yesterday started off with one of the things I could not ever see myself doing. We got called by a former investigator to come do some service for her, well she asked us to bathe her dog. I can't stand dogs let alone how they smell or anything (my mission has kind of turned me off to dogs and cats).  So we get asked to clean this dog and what I didn't know is that we were bathing this dog because he was covered in fleas. I did feel a little bad for the dog because blood started pouring off his back as we cleaned him, but it just all out grossed me out.  Sacrifice brings force the blessings of heaven! Then we started out to work and we went to go see a former and as we approached the door we could hear the wife saying "oh my gosh tell them to go away" (She had told us to come back a few days earlier) The husband comes out and tells us that we are really getting on his nerves and that he would read the book and call us when he wanted us to come by and then walked inside and slammed the door. I was pretty frustrated, and I really hoped that it wouldn't be how the rest of the day went.  About 30 minutes later we were tracting and we tracted into this really humble lady. She told us that she hasn't been happy for 20 years, so we asked her if she would like to be happy and she said yes, so we taught her right there. We taught her about the plan of salvation and of some of the commandments and how we can receive happiness. By the end of it she felt a lot better and she had committed to live the word of wisdom, it was great! After that we went to go see this couple that we had found. They are the funniest old black couple I have ever met. They were flirting with each other like the whole time, it was hilarious. Then when we were telling him where the church was, we told them that it was on ______ and there were 2 churches a white and a brown one and he said "What?!" a white and a brown one? His wife then said that we were talking about the painting and he burst out laughing. he thought we were talking about the race of the church hahaha Well then later we found another really neat family and so things are really starting to roll along, but I am about to get logged off the computer, so I got to get going, Love you all have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

Zone Leader Counsel

Never Doubt!

Dear Family,

First off, thank you so much for the package, I definitely got all of my favorite candies, so it was great. Also thank you for the gift card thing haha I was able to take 4 of us missionaries to Olive Garden and we got the Endless soup, salad, and breadsticks, and yes I killed myself basically haha I am really full right now. I must admit however that the news of Brother __________ really hit me hard, that was hard to swallow. It makes me really sad. Out here in the field I run into people like that all the time who have turned away because of Anti or whatever it is and its sad to see, but this was much different. I really loved Brother ________, he was a great example to me and i looked up to him a lot. I prayed really hard after getting that news that he would someday come back around. Anti is a deadly drug and poison, it really is, it turns people who were once loving and kind into people that are angry and hateful. There is a recent convert here in this area that got addicted to heroin because he wanted to prove to one of his friends that it would be easy to give up after trying it. Well obviously that didn't work out very well and he became addicted to it. Anti can do the same thing, even to those with the strongest testimonies. Elder Holland said "Even in the last days the very elect will be deceived." It's interesting that one of the things that I have faced the most out here on my mission is anti, it has shaken me a couple of times, but I always turn back to the Basics, is the Book of Mormon True? Do I feel the spirit when I read it? and the answer is always yes? I cannot deny the spirit and the power that I have felt from that book, and not just that but all the many witnesses that I have received throughout my youth growing up and throughout my mission especially! God Lives! I know he does. He is our father. Jesus Christ truly is our Savior, the Plan of Salvation is real and this is Jesus Christ's church. It has to be true, nothing else makes sense and there seems to be no other way. No matter what is thrown at me I will stand stubborn in that fact that this is Jesus Christ's church and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, I know it and I know that God knows it and I cannot deny it. I just want to say that if anyone reading this has any doubts or has looked at anything that they have questions about, I invite you to read the Book of Mormon and then Kneel down and ask God the Eternal Father in the name of Christ if the Book is true and then you will know by the Power of the Holy Ghost that it is true. If you feel that you have already gained a witness, then do it again, never stop asking always seek out the truth. We need to be in the scriptures every single day and be praying every single day.  Holding steadfastly to the Iron rod which is the word of God is what is going to keep us strong through these tumultuous times. This is what Nephi says about it.

"And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.

 Wherefore, I, Nephi, did exhort them to give heed unto the word of the Lord; yea, I did exhort them with all the energies of my soul, and with all the faculty which I possessed, that they would give heed to the word of God and remember to keep his commandments always in all things."

Well enough of me preaching but this is something I feel really strongly about. Anyway I had a really good week and a really good birthday. The people here are so good to us and its been a great blessing. Nothing really spectacular happened this week. The baptismal dates that we have for this coming weekend have to be pushed back because they didn't come to church. Umm...I saw dolphins yesterday as we were at a members house eating dinner. They live right a long the river and we were out on the dock and there were dolphins swimming 10 feet in front of us, so that was really neat. We had the great opportunity of blessing an amazing families home yesterday and the spirit was really strong. It's a family of 6 and they are a stable loving family and so we are hoping to be working with them soon. But other than that there isn't a whole lot to talk about. I am just ready to go out there to bring souls to Christ. I love this Gospel, I love this Church and I am grateful to be a servant of the Lord. I love all of you and always stand for what is right and stay strong, have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

Happy birthday Elder Bushman!

This and That

Dear Family, Well before I get started I just want to share a little miracle I just had as I was sitting here in the Library. As I was about to start typing I looked up and right across from me was two investigators that Elder  Z and I found over a year ago. Elder A and I later taught them and they were some of the most elect people I have ever met. They moved and we lost touch, they had baptismal dates and everything, but now they are here in this area! Wow this was just a miracle and a tender mercy of the Lord! We are going to go by and see them on Tuesday. 

Well anyway it's a blessing to hear that everything is going well, and it is strange to think that a lot of my friends will be coming home here pretty son or have already come home. But before I get into much detail about what happened this week I would like to ask for a little birthday gift and I know you already sent a package but I was wondering if you could send my red Nike running shoes. My shoes that I have right now are falling apart and are not comfortable running in. Since I have been here in this new area I have lost 10 pounds, I have been running 2 miles a day on the treadmill, I'm down to 188 right now. I haven't weighed that much since my junior year in High school haha it's kind of weird, but I would like those good running shoes if it's not too big of a hassle. 

We had a really good week this week! We have just been so busy with teaching appointments and district meetings and Trade-offs its just crazy.  I really enjoy having people to teach. I think first I want to talk about our 96 year old investigator. He is an incredible man, when we first went to his home and offered a blessing he told us afterwards that he wasn't interested in becoming a Mormon so we asked him if it would still be alright if we could at least come back and tell him more about the Book of Mormon and we left him the introduction to read. When we came back he said that he had read half of the testimonies and all of the introduction and that he felt like Joseph Smith's story was true. Well this week when we went back he had read the whole testimony and the first chapter of Nephi and he told us that he knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I was blown away, so we talked about baptism and he said "Well I guess if I know it's true then I don't really have a choice do I?" Again I was blown away! I think it would make my life if this man got baptized, he is just such an amazing person. The only thing holding him back now is that his family picks him up every weekend and takes him and so he has no way of getting to church and it is the only family time that he has so he is reluctant to give it up, but I am continuing to pray for miracles. 

We have this other investigator who is also very incredible! We have taught him the restoration and the plan of salvation and he is solid for a Baptismal date on the 7th.  Then we are also teaching a very humble man who is scheduled to be baptized on the 7th but we didn't get a whole lot of chances to meet with him this week, but he did come to church and it was a great Sunday. There was a great talk on gratitude and the spirit was really strong. It just got me excited for General Conference coming up in two weeks, it's probably my favorite time of year. but those are the main people we are teaching right now.

I did get to go on a trade off in the Beach area this week. It is a like a whole other world over there on the other side of the inter-coastal. There is a lot of things that were really neat to see and a lot of things that I could have gone without seeing haha But anyway I was able to see the beach for the first time since I was here. Elder W and I ran to it in the morning and I got some really neat pictures. We weren't able to go onto the beach but it was still beautiful none the less. Well I am about to get logged off, but I will talk to you all later, have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

Life is soooo good!

Dear Family,

Well this week has been a really good week. I'm glad to hear things have been going well for all of you and that Mom and Dad you got back from Georgia and South Carolina safely. It's funny to hear how you think it has been so hot, to me it feels like this summer has been much more tolerable then last, but maybe that is because I am just starting to get used to it. Or it could be that I have been in a car all summer, that always helps too. But yes working in a shirt and a tie with all this humidity is quite the experience, it is pretty warm haha

Ok so we had a great week! We have been busy with many teaching appointments and lots of things to do, so it has been fun. We had a great experience with Elder Cardon of the seventy this week. We went to Kingsland for a zone conference, but we had a zone leader council with him right before the other meeting and it was incredible! He is a very humble man and very loving as well, he sounds a lot like President Eyring when he speaks. As we were in the Zone leader council we discussed the needs of missionaries and the things we were struggling with and he was able to give us some amazing information on how to better work with ward and stake leaders. I think that has really been the hardest thing here in the South is trying to work with the Ward leaders. It is very difficult to build trust and then when you do, It’s more like, Ok now we trust you to do what you want. Which is fine but really we want to work with them and help the members find so that we can bring solid people into the church. So Elder Cardon gave us a lot of good ideas on how to solve that. Then we had an amazing Zone conference, the spirit was just so strong and I learned so much. I think that greatest thing that I learned is when Elder Cardon talked about being servants. He told us never to say "I'm sorry to Bother you" We should never say that, he said, "Who do you think I am?" "I am a servant and servants are never bothered to do the master's will" This little concept hit me really hard because that is what we are. We are here as instruments in the hands of the Lord to bring to pass his work, we should never be bothered when we are asked to do something.

We also had an amazing experience this week with a part member family that we have been working with.  The husband is a less-active member and she is the non-member. She has been working with missionaries for the last year and a half, but has never came to church. Well Elder Marquez and I made it our goal to keep this family together because they are one of the most amazing families in the world. We had dinner with them on Thursday evening and the dinner was great! We had biscuits and gravy, grits, and oatmeal. Then after that we had a powerful lesson, we read Mosiah chapter 4 with them. At the end we invited them to come to church as a family, they both looked at each other for a minute, it seemed like they were waiting for the other to say something. Finally the wife said that she was supposed to be doing something else - but that this was probably more important and then the husband said that he had no problem with it. So this Sunday for the first time since she has been taught by missionaries her and her whole family came to church! It was so incredible to see that little family sitting down in the chapel together. As I looked at them the spirit filled my heart with joy, I think for a small moment I caught a glimpse of what Ammon felt when the king and queen accepted the Gospel, it was true joy. Unfortunately our other investigator wasn't able to make it to church, a lot of people have been getting sick this week and one of her kids has pink eye, so hopefully we can meet with her soon so we can help her be prepared for her baptismal date. 

We are also working with a few other people that are looking very promising to be baptized, the Lord is truly just pouring out blessings upon us, I wish I had more time to talk about them, but I have to go in a few minutes so I will conclude this letter by saying that I know that this Gospel is true, There really is no other answer, being here in the south has really opened my eyes to the fact that this really is the true church. I know that living the Gospel to its fullest is the only way to find true joy and true freedom and peace. I love you all and am grateful for your examples, have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

Zone Conference - with Elder Cardon of the 70

A day of Miracles.....

Dear Family,  Oh wow hearing about Savannah has made me so home sick for it haha Not home sick for utah but for Savannah, I loved that place so much and some of my favorite people in the world are there. It's funny hearing about the people you talked too and the places that you went and it's weird to think that I was only there about 4 months ago. I remember going to Ft. Pulaski, Elder Neville and I had a blast with all the cannons and we even got to see someone shoot a musket. We had this one guy talk to us for like 30 minutes how the Confederates were the ones that were right the whole time, what great times! It's also weird because I am talking to Ben right now on Facebook and you all were just up there, it blows my mind. And yes dad the missionaries in Hilton Head have success, they are Spanish missionaries up there and they basically just teach Spanish. I went on a few trade offs there and talked to a lot of Spanish people, it was a lot of fun. 

Well my week has been incredible! We have had a lot of amazing experiences and have had a lot of success this week to which I am truly grateful of the Lord, I will explain all about it. On Tuesday we had Zone leader council where I saw the Savannah Elders haha and it was incredible! It was a very powerful meeting where as zone leaders and assistants we set a goal to have 20 baptisms within those companionships.  There are 7 zones, so it would be almost 3 baptisms per companionship. It is a big goal but it will be a game changer for sure when it happens. We fasted and prayed for miracles this week and they happened! The next day Elder M and I had to put together a zone meeting which was stressful. President and Sister Barry came and the assistants and we only had about an hour to put it together, so we relied on the Lord a lot. It ended up being a pretty good meeting and the spirit was very strong, it helps when you have President and Sister Barry there to bear testimony. 

On Thursday we did some service for a member of the church and ended up doing a whole lot more than we expected to do. We were moving rocks from the back of her truck into her backyard to put a long the backside of her fence. As we were doing so we noticed some stumps that were in the way, so we decided to dig them up. Luckily the ground was pretty soft and we pulled out about 8 stumps. They weren't very easy though, it took about 3 hours all together and I got dirty from head to toe. Plus it was about 95 degrees and very humid so I was drenched by the end of it. She was really nice though and bought us pizza so I was grateful and it was just a lot of fun to do some manual labor. That night we were contacting some people and we contacted into this Jehova's witness. We didn't even try to share anything with her at first but were just talking to her about Jesus and then she asks us our view on war. For the next 45 minutes she preached to us about how war is against what the bible teaches and that no matter what the circumstance is, we shouldn't fight. I asked her "So if another country invaded the united states and threatened to take away our freedoms and destroy our families, you wouldn't fight for those freedoms. She told me that she would trust that God would deliver them. I wanted to say that God probably won’t deliver you from stupidity but I held my tongue. It was really frustrating, mainly because there was no purpose to her preaching, she didn't invite us to do anything and she wasn't sharing anything that was beneficial for my salvation.

Then on Friday we tracted into this 96 year old man. We asked if we could come in and bless his home and he said he was Baptist, but we persisted and told him that the blessing was for all Christians and everyone really and he let us in. so we blessed his home and invited him to read from the Book of Mormon and he accepted! It was crazy, i think he is the Oldest investigator that I have ever had. We have a return appointment with him for tonight, so we will see how that goes.

Saturday was probably the best day of the week, well Sunday was really good too, but Saturday was miracle day. We were fed two meals today which were amazing. one of the meals, one of the members daughters made the bean dip that we make all the time for sports games and like new years and stuff, I was in heaven!!! Then that night we went to another members home and had Hawaiian Hay stacks and that was incredible. But the crowning event is when we went to go teach some new investigators. They are Sisters and they have been both coming to church for about the past six weeks and this was our first meeting. We went by at 7 pm and boy are they just so humble and ready for the gospel. We taught the restoration and it was extremely powerful. At the end we invited them to be baptized and they accepted a date for my BIRTHDAY!!!! It was incredible! Although we will probably baptize them on the 29th so they can be confirmed on Sunday. We had fasted and prayed for a miracle like that and the Lord in his mercy saw fit to give us these wonderful people to teach. One sister also has 2 kids that are baptismal aged and she wants them to be baptized with her, it's going to be great! They all came to church on Sunday and we had some other investigators show up as well, so we have a lot of good things happening. 

This week on Thursday we have a zone conference and I will be actually traveling up into Georgia for it. We will be going to Kingsland and Elder Cardon of the 70 will be there! Also on Wednesday evening we are doing another FHE at the Barry's and Elder Cardon will be to that as well, and we are bringing a bunch of investigators, golden!!! I am just truly blessed and grateful to be a missionary. I love you all and have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

How sweet it is.....

Dear Family,

Well I am living in the same apartment complex I lived in when I served in ________ haha I'm back! The ______ ward and my ward meet at the same building so it is so great to be back where I basically started.  My new companion is Elder M. He has been out 2 transfers more than me, so once again I am with an older companion. I can't believe, Mom and Dad, that you are going to Savannah This weekend!  That is so crazy, I miss that place so much. Elder M and I have been reminiscing all the time about it. I already sent a list of people to mom that I wanted you all to see and say hello too so I hope you got it. Anyway so on with the week. We had and incredible transfer meeting on Wednesday! There were so many Elders that went home that I have truly come to love and admire and it was sad to see them go, the next few transfers are going to be even harder. All the missionaries that I know and have been companions with are going home in the next 3 transfers, so that is sad, but It's all a part of life.  Being here in _____________ has been a lot like the time that I spent in ______, just super busy and lots of appointments. Elder M and I found 9 new investigators this week in 4 days which was so incredible, it was so much fun! We also taught a ton which is what I love to do most so I am loving this area so far. It is so nice to be able to talk to everyone now.

The new ward is quite the interesting ward too because half of the ward is related to each other. There is the Grandpa _________ and he has like 6 children all of which still live in the ward. They have children that have children and it is just massive and fun. We had dinner at _________house yesterday with his whole family there and it was so much fun just chatting with him. He has such a strong testimony of the Gospel and such a great love for people, he is incredible! Also after fasting for a long time I stuffed my face with food, and it was amazing food, I was grateful. Really I am just happy and am grateful that I am in this area. I am really excited for the month of September, there are just going to be miracles that role forth. Oh one sad thing, we had an investigator that was going to be baptized this month that got way into anti and won’t even listen to us anymore. I can't tell you how sad that is…. This man went from willing to learn and to progress to being angry and contentious, Satan had completely taken control. With all the great opportunities with Mitt Romney running for president there will also be a lot of opposition with all the anti that will be thrown out. So we need to be prepared to be able to answer questions and make sure our testimonies are sure and founded and the only way to be able to do that is to make sure we are holding on to the Iron Rod and praying and keeping the commandments.

Well I got to get going, but thank you for all that you all do for me and I hope you have a wonderful week! Love, Elder Bushman 

Ramdom pictures

I wonder who he's preaching to????

How Valiant Can I Be?

Dear Family,  Well it was good to hear from all of you this week. Hunter, I finally read your letter that you sent me, one of my roommates hid it or left it somewhere so I wasn't able to read it till today, but it was really neat hearing about your experience on trek and the spirit that you felt. It brings back memories for me, from trek and also from Moroni's quest where hearts were touched and lives were changed. The youth programs that this church has and the Spirit that those conferences bring is just one more factor to the Truthfulness of this Gospel and of the church. It's insane all the sin and the temptations that youth face these days, but the Lord has provided every way and means necessary to combat it and for those that desire to come out on top and conquer Satan.

This Sunday at church, one of the Branch counselors spoke and he is incredible! Well his job out here hasn't worked out like they had planned it and so they are moving back to Utah so he gave a couple of last words for the Branch. He is such a down to earth man with an extremely powerful spirit and firm testimony of the Gospel. Every time he gets up to speak he invites everyone to take the things they have learned by the spirit and apply them in their lives and change, become better! In Elders quorum he asked everyone to think of the thing that they love most about the gospel and to ponder upon that. Then he taught about how it is the spirit that reveals those truths to us and that we should never do anything to offend that spirit. He talked about how we need to step up and become worthy Melchizedek priesthood holders. he said that he just heard a few of the priesthood holders out there talking about a Rated R movie they had watched that weekend and about how good it was and he said the spirit was offended. But he did it with such love and the spirit was so strong that I have no doubt that those that were talking about it felt ashamed. One of the greatest things I have learned out here so far is how important the Priesthood is, and how important it is to be worthy of it. We cannot be flirting with the lines, we cannot have one foot in Babylon and one foot in Zion, we need to have both feet in Zion on the trek to righteousness. My idea of what is right and wrong and what is ok and what is not ok has completely changed. It's no longer, "how far can I go before it is wrong?" but it is now "how valiant can I be?" I love the Gospel so much!

This week has been a pretty interesting week, another humbling week I would say. Elder J and I have been working really hard trying to find new investigators. Last week when we tracted that one day for 5 hours we found 1 potential. Well we went back Monday evening and had a really powerful restoration lesson with him and his girlfriend and set a return appointment for Wednesday. Well when Wednesday rolled around he called us and told us that he didn't really want to learn anymore but was grateful for the things that we shared with them. This little happenstance just reaffirmed my thoughts that we need to work through the members. So that is what we have been trying to do this week, but it is really hard since everyone lives so far apart. So we have been mainly working through our recent converts and teaching them how to do missionary work and just simply inviting people to do things. I've never had so bad of numbers on my mission, it's kind of funny but frustrating at the same time, but I still feel very confident that things are going to work out.

Oh so one day this week as we were at the Library we had this Jewish guy come and talk to us for a while. He was a rabbi at one point and he knew a lot about the church. He was asking us about our seminary program, church programs, garments, missions, standards, and all sorts of stuff, it was really cool! He was really nice and was just really interested on how the church worked. He asked us how Jewish people react when we talk to them and what we say to them. We told him that they are generally really nice and that we usually just talk about the book of Mormon or about Christ. He told us a story of when some Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on his door and told him that 6 million of his people were killed because they rejected Christ. He said that is the only time he has slammed the door in someone’s face and I was just amazed at some of the things that people would say. Another great witness of the reality of the Great Apostasy. In fact that is one thing I have gained a massive testimony of since I have been here is the Great Apostasy, it is everywhere! Everything the scriptures talk about, with churches taking advantage of the poor and priest craft, and no consequences for sin is everywhere! So yeah I have learned a lot haha

I don't know, nothing else really glorious has happened this week because of our lack of investigators so I don't have much else to say. But I am grateful for all that you all do for me, for all of your prayers, and I hope you all have a wonderful week!  Love, Elder Bushman

The things you learn....

Dear Family,  Well I was laughing pretty hard today as I was reading about how Hunter thinks he is maturing and the little incident in church where he sang the high notes haha Hunter's attitude towards maturing seems a lot like Jake's was. I'm also pretty jealous that everyone hiked the subway without me since I have never done it before, that will be on my to-do-list sometime but next is the Wind Rivers!

Well anyway this week has been a pretty good week, life as a missionary is always good. I think this week I have really learned the attributes of patience and humility. This week has been a very humbling week for Elder J and me. With the recent baptisms we have been left with very little investigators and are actually currently sitting at 0 haha yep a big ol goose egg. The one investigator that we did have, kind of dropped us yesterday. We feel that we really need to work through the active and less-active members to find solid investigators. It seems like the youth that they get anti-d very quickly from friends or family and so we don't have much chance after we have found them, but when you have a member friend who introduces you, then you have a support line and someone there that can answer the questions. So that is what we are going to start. 

So yeah I believe this is where the Lord is testing me with the humility and patience. For the longest time now I have been doing so well with having people to teach and having things to do and now it is really weird when I have nothing. It brings me back to where I was when I was in _______ and we were in a similar situation, but it feels so much different this time. I have so much more hope this time than I did last time and I know that things will come up and we will have people to teach, I just have to have patience and faith. I have just been so grateful lately for all the things that the Lord has taught me thus far on my mission and I have been exactly everywhere I have needed to be and have had the companions that I needed to have. 

I don't know if I have really much else to talk about since I have so little of things to talk about. We mostly just did a lot of tracting this week trying to find where the YSA's are at. The other day we probably tracted for 5 hours of our day and couldn't even find a potential investigator.  We did tract into this one girl that thought she knew more about our religion than us haha She kept trying to state things that she had no idea about, but wouldn't be quite long enough for us to answer back, so that was frustrating, but what can you do? But it's all great! I love it all, it's all the greatest experience ever!  But yeah that is about it for what happened this week, so I will conclude this letter by thanking you all for your love and support and I hope you have a great week!  Love, Elder Bushman

The Gospel will go forth to every Nation!

Dear Family, How ya'll doing? haha I thought I would start off by giving you a little bit of the south. It's good to hear that a lot of fun stuff is happening and first of all I want to Wish Hunter a happy Birthday!!! I can't believe you are already 14 that is insane but just like the rest of us you still look like you are 12 haha It's alright you will grow up eventually just give it a little time. And that is good that you get to go to scout camp, I remember missing so many of them because of sports, not that I regret it but there is nothing more fun than camping and being outdoors. Also I want to wish Austin and Libby a happy 1 year anniversary on Thursday, did you remember Austin? The only reason why I remember is because you got married on the day that I hit my six month mark and yep that was a year ago which means on Thursday I will have been out 18 months on my mission, I can't believe where the time has gone. I remember when Devin was his 18th month mark and how he wrote that he was going to give it all his last 6 months, but the thing is - I feel like I have forever left, so my plan is to drag it out as long as I can. Being on a mission has just been such a great experience and I have loved every minute of it!

Well this week was a really good week, it has been such a blessing to have 2 baptisms right in a row. E's baptism went extremely well. Now Elder J and I are looking for people to teach! It's what usually happens when you baptize all your progressing investigators, you run out of people to teach. We have been working extremely hard to find more progressing investigators and we have a couple of solid potentials to be progressing but it's just getting past that spectator stage to actually being an investigator. So after the baptisms now we are running slim on investigators so we are praying for miracles. 

We had an amazing experience this week where we got to go to one of our investigators bible studies at the church he goes to at the moment. It was really interesting, the pastor was talking all about being moral and having high standards, and basically living an lds lifestyle. I was really impressed with him...  At the end he gave time for people to say anything they felt, so I stood up and thanked everyone for letting us come and thanked him for what he was teaching because not to many teach those things these days. Then I bore testimony about the work of the Lord that it will never cease and that the Gospel will go forth to every nation, I quoted The Standard of Truth. I was getting a lot of amens - it was great! Afterwards we talked to the pastor and he wants us to go on his radio show and talk to the youth about being good moral kids. I gave him a little For Strength of Youth pamphlet that I had and showed him everything that was in it and gave him our phone number, so we might be able to go speak on a radio show soon!

Other than that, there wasn't much that happened this week, everything is just going great! Thank you for giving me Steven's address, I am excited to hear from him, it is always interesting to see how people you have known really well have changed from the experiences they have had. It was really funny hearing from Jordan he seems to be doing really good. Well I got to get going, love you all and have a great week! Love, Elder Bushman

Another day of miracles....

Dear Family, Well it has been quite the week, that is for sure! I'm glad Hunter had a good experience at trek and that he felt bad for the girls. I would have felt bad too if they had actually done anything but all they had to do was pull the carts for a quarter of a mile on flat terrain on our trek, even the girls complained that it wasn't hard enough, maybe Hunter's experience was different.

 

Anyway so this week was transfers and I did get a new companion, His name is Elder J and he is from SF Utah. He was a district leader when I was in my last area so we went on one trade off before. He only has 2 transfers left though, so I will probably kill him off too, which means I will be with the YSA's for 6 months, so it should be fun.

Wednesday night after transfer meeting we had a really good lesson with one of our investigators. She came to institute on Tuesday and absolutely loved it and we had a lesson with her the next evening. We brought our branch mission leader with us and taught the restoration. It was a really powerful lesson and she is an amazing girl, she is very attentive to the lessons and is very open and honest with us which is really neat. She went out of town for the weekend but we are going to see her this week and she is coming to institute tomorrow, so we are excited about that.

Anyway so the week went on and it went pretty well, we had an amazing miracle yesterday. We were tracting in apartment complexes trying to find young single adults and just having no luck at all, until finally we knocked on this man's door! He had said that missionaries had just contacted him a little earlier and gave him a Book of Mormon and that he had asked them a few questions. Well I asked him if we could come in and share more and he accepted, so we went in and started talking to him about religion and about God, did a few How to Begin Teaching points and then went strait into the Restoration. We taught a powerful Restoration and there was a great spirit in the room and he asked us a lot of good questions. The Lord is truly in this work and leads us to where we need to be. I really don't even know how we find people, it just happens, it really is the hardest thing in the world to find young single adults, but every week we somehow find 3 or more investigators. The scripture that says "that we are saved by grace after all we can do", comes to mind. The Lord provides the way after all we can do, I have gained a firm testimony of that.

So we have a baptism coming up this weekend which I am super excited about! She is doing great and just soaking everything in and then the very next weekend we have another baptism with another investigator, so the Lord is just blessing us and now we just need to keep finding people to teach because if we run out it's going to be a sad day for us, that's for sure haha.

By the way I would really like to get Elder Sears address if that is possible, I would like to write him. I got a letter from KL and it seems like he is doing great. I love hearing from her and hearing about the things that are going on with their family. I was always was so grateful for their family and what they would do for me. I'm glad Hunter is having an opportunity to home teach them, so Hunter take full advantage of it. Well I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!  Love, Elder Bushman!

P.S. I am still wanting to do the kings peak trip next summer, so I hope everyone is getting ready and in shape !)