Dear Friends and Family,
I hope
everything has gone well for you all out there! Things are going well
out here all though I am tuckered out from last week :) Ugh, I'm so
tired. Anyways, this last week wasn't a very good week in terms of
teaching or finding or making progress. It was kind of a frustrating
week. During my whole time with Elder Kern we've been just doing
GREAT...but this week we stumbled a little bit so that was pretty lame.
But, we've set some goals and we're going to be doing things a lot
better this week. So, I'm excited :)
So, first off...a quick shoutout to my buddy Grayson Ercanbrack who will
soon be joining me in Chile! :) Whoohoo, congrats boy!!!! Anyways, we are going to be
doing a Christmas
card, both Elder Kern and I, and we will be taking the photo, a card,
and a candy cane over to all the people in the ward council and some
other people in our sector. :) We are excited!!!
So, a few other answers to some other
questions: so that Peruvian family we found is being quite lazy and
we've set up SEVERAL appointments but they are never there. I don't
understand why people just keep playing this sort of game. Just tell us
you don't want anything!!! :) But oh well! So we've done a little bit
of decorating but not much. I sent some photos of our tree, the tree
Elder Kern got but that's about it :) It looks sweet!!! There are little
tiny stores or businesses that people have all throughout my sector so
you can walk down three or four houses and find basic cooking needs and
ingredients and stuff. Also, there is a store called UniMarc that is
just basically Kohlers but 1/4 of the size and there is a WalMart within
a 10 minute walk of my pension. So my favorite food here is lentils
with a big piece of sausage in the middle with a big link of homemade
blood sausage with salad :) OH! It is amazing!!! You can buy American
food but it's WAY expensive. Most of our investigators come from part
member families and street contacting ... we don't get many member
references. We hardly get any Mormon.org references. The ward council is
pulling most of the weight and they are really working on the recent
converts we have and doing activities to help out with our
investigators. We write the mission president every week and it is
included in our time of 90 minutes. He writes back if we ask him stuff.
I'm not sure on the skype call. I know of several people who could hem
and adjust my pants...I would just have to make some time to coordinate
with the people. So about obedience! I am in charge of handing most
things with the people in my district. If there is something I cannot do
or if the things I'm doing are working or the situation is getting
worse, I report to the Zone Leaders and directly to the president.
Basically you just help them realize the blessings they can get for
obedience, set goals, follow up, set new goals, follow up, and so forth.
:)
So not too much happened this week but when I went
on divisions I had a great experience. We went to a family's house that
is the mother, father, and their two daughters. The mother and father
are not married so neither are members of the church. The two daughters
are however. Anyways, we went there and I just loved it! The problem is
the father needs to get a divorce from his old wife who is trying to
hold out for lots of money he doesn't have. Anyways, it's a sad
situation but the couple's outlook on the situation is just fantastic.
Although they cannot get married and therefore cannot be baptized, they
still go to church every week. They study the scriptures faithfully and
they are so very strong. We had a very in depth gospel conversation at
their home and it was amazing. I felt the spirit really strong as he
bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon, Holy Ghost, Joseph Smith, Plan
of Salvation, and his favorite topic, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He
kept saying, "When we are able to be baptized..." They are great people
and they are so very strong where they are! :) They were a great
testimony of being strong in the gospel, NO MATTER what your
circumstance. There are lots of people who make excuses but it was nice
to see that they remain doing the things they know are right when they
have every excuse not to. :D I was very impressed with that appointment
and lesson!
(Elder Bushman has been recording some great insights on his digital recorder after lessons or while waiting for a bus, etc, etc. He emails the WMA files to us. It has been AWESOME! Here are a few this week that I really loved:)
Recording #1:
"We just got out of a really cool lesson with our investigator, J. She is having some problems with the university and she is just sick of it and about to leave - and she's asking herself why bad things happen to good people. So, we took the Prophet of the Restoration video and Ether 12:6, and tried to answer that question based on both those two things. When Elder Kern and I were bearing our testimonies at the end and teaching a little bit about the doctrine and the necessity of tests in our lives, it was so powerful...and we felt the spirit so strong. I honestly felt like I was being taught by the Spirit a whole lot during the lesson, while I was bearing my testimony - everything was making so much sense about the whole plan of salvation, why we're here on earth, why there's opposition in all things, why we have tests, how the great promise of if we are faithful to the end, all we have lost will be restored unto us and the promise that if we follow the doctrine of Christ and if we follow Jesus Christ and do all he has done and do the covenants necessary, we will become as our Father in Heaven and will receive all that he has. And so all those things, these different doctrinal principles, are making so much sense to me. It was really, really awesome and I felt the spirit so strong - and just watching the video from that perspective was just fantastic. Thinking about how Joseph Smith understood it all - and that's why he was willing to go through anything...and when he was in Liberty Jail and was about to give up, the promise that was given to him that if he endured it for just a small moment, he would be exalted on high. It really is just a small moment. It was so powerful...what I learned and how I was being taught by the spirit. J's mom was listening the whole time and I really think she needed to hear those two promises and the video we saw and comparing it to his life."
Recording #2:
"I'm doing divisions with Elder M right now...But me and Elder Kern had a good lesson with an investigator - J. and we had a lesson with him about the Book of Mormon and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and why it's important to enter into the path that leads to the Celestial Kingdom and why going through the door of baptism is so essential and how we can do that through knowing the Book of Mormon is true. I think that helped him realize that it's really important that he understands and knows that the Book of Mormon is true. Hopefully he'll be able to read and pray and things...I never realized how hard of a task it would be for people to remember to ask in their prayers if the Book of Mormon is true. I notice that lots of people are just like, "Bless me to know that it's true" or "I really want to know", instead of saying "Is the Book of Mormon true?". Because for us to gain a specific answer we need to ask a specific question. So that's one of the things I've noticed out here - I'm trying to stress the fact that we need to ask specifically so we can receive a specific answer. And especially for people who are inexperienced with feeling the spirit, it's hard for them to realize complicated answers. And so to make it as simple as possible we need to ask a question to get a simple answer - a confirmation of if it's true or if it's not. Instead of asking "well I really want to know so help me know". So hopefully he can ask a specific question and work on that."
"We just got out of a really cool lesson with our investigator, J. She is having some problems with the university and she is just sick of it and about to leave - and she's asking herself why bad things happen to good people. So, we took the Prophet of the Restoration video and Ether 12:6, and tried to answer that question based on both those two things. When Elder Kern and I were bearing our testimonies at the end and teaching a little bit about the doctrine and the necessity of tests in our lives, it was so powerful...and we felt the spirit so strong. I honestly felt like I was being taught by the Spirit a whole lot during the lesson, while I was bearing my testimony - everything was making so much sense about the whole plan of salvation, why we're here on earth, why there's opposition in all things, why we have tests, how the great promise of if we are faithful to the end, all we have lost will be restored unto us and the promise that if we follow the doctrine of Christ and if we follow Jesus Christ and do all he has done and do the covenants necessary, we will become as our Father in Heaven and will receive all that he has. And so all those things, these different doctrinal principles, are making so much sense to me. It was really, really awesome and I felt the spirit so strong - and just watching the video from that perspective was just fantastic. Thinking about how Joseph Smith understood it all - and that's why he was willing to go through anything...and when he was in Liberty Jail and was about to give up, the promise that was given to him that if he endured it for just a small moment, he would be exalted on high. It really is just a small moment. It was so powerful...what I learned and how I was being taught by the spirit. J's mom was listening the whole time and I really think she needed to hear those two promises and the video we saw and comparing it to his life."
Recording #2:
"I'm doing divisions with Elder M right now...But me and Elder Kern had a good lesson with an investigator - J. and we had a lesson with him about the Book of Mormon and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and why it's important to enter into the path that leads to the Celestial Kingdom and why going through the door of baptism is so essential and how we can do that through knowing the Book of Mormon is true. I think that helped him realize that it's really important that he understands and knows that the Book of Mormon is true. Hopefully he'll be able to read and pray and things...I never realized how hard of a task it would be for people to remember to ask in their prayers if the Book of Mormon is true. I notice that lots of people are just like, "Bless me to know that it's true" or "I really want to know", instead of saying "Is the Book of Mormon true?". Because for us to gain a specific answer we need to ask a specific question. So that's one of the things I've noticed out here - I'm trying to stress the fact that we need to ask specifically so we can receive a specific answer. And especially for people who are inexperienced with feeling the spirit, it's hard for them to realize complicated answers. And so to make it as simple as possible we need to ask a question to get a simple answer - a confirmation of if it's true or if it's not. Instead of asking "well I really want to know so help me know". So hopefully he can ask a specific question and work on that."
So that's all folks! Love you!
Elder Bushman
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| This is our little Thanksgiving feast from the Stake President: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and corn! OH! So good! :) |
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| This is our little tree all lit up! |
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| This is our tree in real life |
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