Yr. 2, Week 48: Studying the Attribute of Christ - Hope

Elder Bushman's letter was answering several questions about coming home. Here are some tidbits about Chile and teaching...

The vacations are going to be over next week. There's still some people gone but even though others are home, they still go out and do stuff like the pool, camping, shopping, etc., and it's hard to get back with them sometimes. They usually go to the beach (an hour and a half away) or the go to the south of Chile to camp or stay in cabins and stuff. 

I think some of our investigators could be baptized! They have the potential and I have the faith that if they really just fulfilled their commitments they would be baptized! However, it's cutting pretty close. Even if we don't have one, I'll be stoked to hear from Elder Deal about the baptisms.  

This week was a little tough with teaching our investigators. We weren't able to take anyone to church, A left on another vacation, C and Y were doing lots of stuff, D worked all week and we didn't get in a single visit. We weren't able to visit with C and G all week either. However, despite all the difficulties we had this week, we found some new people. 

We had some really good lessons and some really good studies. Not much to tell, we are stoked to work really hard this week. We really have been trying but we haven't seen many results. I'm studying the attribute of Christ, HOPE. I really like it and I think it has everything to do with my last few weeks in the mission. I'm going to study this attribute this week, Virtue the next, Diligence the following, and Patience the last. I'm really excited :D 

I love you all, take care guys!

Elder Bushman

Yr. 2, Week 47: Some Really Amazing Studies This Week

Dear Family and Friends,

Everything is going really well. I would say this week was a bit of an up and down week in regards to investigator progress, however, it was a week of increased personal spiritual growth in addition to increased faith. Let me tell you about some of the experiences I had this week had increased my faith and also helped me to improve and grow as well.

First off I had some really amazing studies this week. The first one spawned from a scripture our bishop shared in Isaiah 43:2. I later read verses 1-3 and began to study the different names that appear there in regards to Jehovah. It was interesting as I began to study the phrases and words, “Thou art mine” “Holy One of Israel” “Thy Saviour”. That led me to study many different scriptures in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and D&C and Pearl of Great Price. I looked up scriptures in John 1:1-14, Hebrews 1:1-2, John 12:35-36, 46, John 14:6, 2 Nephi 9:10-11, 19, Mosiah 3:7, D&C 110:1-5, etc. I began to see a lot about how Christ really was all that Isaiah said He was in his writings and that He truly was the God of the Old Testament. But more importantly, I began to understand better Christ’s role in my life and His love for me. Anyways, I shared it all with Elder Deal. It was amazing, I loved it. Another amazing study from this week was a study in Alma 43:18-21. I linked these scriptures up with some in Ephesians 6:13-17 about the armour of God.  I linked in the different things about the armour and I saw that the “thick clothing” was something not mentioned by Paul in the New Testament. I thought of the temple and the physical protection we receive there. Therefore, I, throughout this study, was able to see how the armour of God really surprises the devil and how much it protects us compared to those who do not wear it. Pretty cool :D

We had a great experience while trying to exercise more faith to baptize. We taught L. 2 and the Sacrament to A. and her son J. It was a really good lesson and we were able to focus on how the atonement and the doctrine of the sacrament and baptism help us progress and therefore fulfill our purpose on earth. We then invited her and her sons to go to church and she accepted while adding, "I want to get baptized." We were stoked!!!! Haha, now she and her two sons went to church yesterday and we have an FHE set up for this Thursday with them and a family in the ward. One of the kids in the primary personally gave A. a Book of Mormon and she loved it. I think it touched her and I saw her looking up the scriptures related to the hymns that we were singing. She has a baptismal date for the second week of April and we are going to be extending the same date to her son who's 14. :D It was a sweet experience. I think they are going to progress real well.

We visited lots of other people but there wasn't a whole lot of progress with the W. family nor C.B's family. We visited D. and it was great but they didn't go to church or anything. Anyways, some people have paused in their progression, etc. However, with A. we are seeing some good things with others. This week we are going to go full force with D's family and C's and J. and P. etc.

Anyways, take care guys! Love you!

Elder Bushman 

Adios, Elder Nelson!

 APPLEBEES!!!!!

Yr. 2, Week 46: Studying the Scriptures with Temple Eyes

Dear Family and Friends,

Things have been really good and this week was awesome! We had some sweet miracles and we met some new people and we had some really awesome lessons. Here are some of the highlights:

This week Elder Deal and I went to the temple to do an endowment session. It was really, really cool, I loved it. We both went quite prepared. We had talked about some things and we both did some studies and thought of some questions when we went. The night before we went, I personally read Alma 33 and I loved that chapter. I began to understand that truly praying and worshiping God is in having a relationship with Him. V. 3-11 talk about how God hears our prayers and that he answers us through the scriptures. Even though the Zoramites were thrown out of their synagogues, they still could pray and read the scriptures. I loved verse 16 because God is so saddened when we don't want to understand Christ's sacrifice. It makes me glad that he wouldn't be mad at me because I am sincerely trying to understand it. Verse 22 was great as well because it talks about how sure Alma was when he said that Christ would come. :D Anyways, when I went to the temple, I just understood so much better everything. A few things I learned in the temple:

1. God loved Adam and Eve so much that it was a big act of love that they put the cheribums and flaming sword in front of the tree of live (that was explained even more to me this week as I read Alma 42. 

2. It truly isn't meet than man should be alone.

3. God's plan ALWAYS included the fall and the need for a Redeemer. 

Anyways, Elder Deal and I talked a lot about the things we had learned and we have more questions for next time. I am very excited to go again and I've been studying the scriptures with temple eyes so as to understand and see the hints and signs and hidden references to the temple and the ordinances therein. 

This week we found some new investigators super awesome. WE FOUND 8, which is probably the most I've found in one week in the mission. Here they are:

F: this is a less-active's daughter who, by invitation of him and us, went to church two weeks ago. So we visited with her and taught her a bit of lesson one. She's 15 and really has a great desire and she loved church. It was interesting to see how the spirit touched her heart and although she is pretty shy, she was able to be outgoing and make some good friends.

H, V, S & C: Last Monday we contacted V. and, although she said that she was catholic and that she wasn't going to change religions, she said that we could go by and see her son who was having some struggles. We went by on Friday and when we got there, H., S. and C. all tried to flee so V was like let's just sit outside...but we were like, can we at least meet them? Haha, so we went in and introduced ourselves and H. and V. started talking with us first. Then C. joined and after a second invitation, S. came and we had an AWESOME first lesson. We talked about coming unto Christ and repentance and how we do that through prayer. We said a prayer with them as a family and invited them to say one as a family once a day. When we left V. was like, "You guys were sent from the Heavens." Haha, she was really happy. :D 

M: This guy is a very learned Christian and has lots of really educated questions in regards to the Book of Mormon and our restored gospel. It has been interesting. He has read up until Alma in the BofM and he's been leaving us homework and certain stuff so that's fun, haha! :D He's a cool guy and really wants to keep meeting with us. We are just worried that he might be too focused on learning by study instead of by faith. :S But we'll see. 

J and P: These guys were cool. We talked to J one day when we were looking for a reference. He lied to us and said that his name was S. because he thought we were never going to come back. Well we did a few times and we finally saw them yesterday. We talked about getting to know God. P. is really religious and she is clearly sad that J. isn't very believing. However, she said that it was incredible that he was listening to us and at the end of the lesson he agreed to pray. It was a sweet lesson because she was like come over every day and J. really likes us! :D They are pretty darn humble and I think they could progress fast. 

We haven't met with C, G, etc. much this week because they are on vacation, and so is the story with many others... :)

Well that's everything folks! I'll keep you updated!

Elder Bushman

This is called "Lentejas con Chorizo"...this is a typical Chilean dish, and I made it all by my self the other day for lunch. It was pretty good :)

Elder Deal and I went to the temple for a session. IT WAS AWESOME!!!

This is Me, Elder Carvalho, and Elder Prens. My great-grandkid, and my grandkid :D

Yr. 2, Week 45: Do I Study it in the Moment?

Dear Family and Friends,

This week we had just an incredible lesson with C, G, D, and C. We were finally able to meet with the whole family and it was so INSPÎRING!!! Elder Deal and I made a sweet recording about it so hopefully you guys enjoy. I can't even give it near the justice it deserves over email so just listen to the recording, you'll love it. Suffice it to say they are a very prepared and incredible family. 

We didn't do a whole lot of teaching to our normal investigators or less actives or converts. Most everybody was gone on vacations which made things interesting. So we made use of finding new people to teach and looking for other less-actives that we've never taught before.

This week we met with C and Y and family. C has been pretty stubborn lately and has just been complaining about the Book of Mormon and how he doesn't understand it so we gave him a Bible. He's been reading it from the start and we were able to teach him about the Footnotes because he had like 10 questions from the opening chapter of Matthew so it was so cool that all the references were in either the Book of Mormon or the Topical Guide (in Spanish the topical guide is in the Book of Mormon part). It was super funny to see that even though we are helping him with the Bible, he's still gotta go through the Book of Mormon.... I LOVE IT! (Dad style voice ;)

We had the sweetest experience with D and F this week. We taught them about fasting and how it is a commandment with a promise. We invited them to fast with us this week and they accepted. D. had to work and F. was the only one who went to church this week but it was just so cool. They came to the Church Open House last night and they were offered food by the members and they were like, "Um, we're fasting." And we were like, "YEAH, that's what I'm talking about." After church we talked to F. and her mom at her mom's work and they were like, "Yeah, we are going to say a prayer and break our fast now so we can eat." :D It was super, super cool. They said that, although it wasn't enjoyable per se, they did feel a difference. It was sooooooo awesome! A. is pretty shy and so it's hard for her to learn and get involved at church. A. went on vacations so we aren't really sure how we are going to help him be ready for his baptism but we'll see. :)

In PMG, chapter 5, it talks about how the Book of Mormon answers the questions of our souls. So, while visiting a less-active yesterday, we took those questions out and asked him if he had ever asked himself some of them. He said that he had. So we read the corresponding scripture reference with him and talked about how it answered his question. We then left him as homework to read the reference to his other question. It was a really spiritual moment that we shared with him and I really think he was able to see the value of the BofM...

So I've been trying to finish reading the BofM in Spanish before I go home and it's pretty hard. I find myself studying and pondering the scriptures and sometimes I don't even get through a whole page of the BofM in our hour study. But when I just read I feel like I'm missing the hidden treasures that there are...anyways, that's the battle I'm in...do I finish before the end of the mission? Or do I study it in the moment?

 

Love you all -

 

Elder Bushman

This is the Capilla abierta (church open house) we had this week! A decent turnout, but overall fun!! :D

 This is our mate "bar" holder :) haha!

 This is my grandkid, Elder Hulet

Churrascos and Mote con Huesillo...it's been a good day :)

This is me and Elder Kern and Elder Hulet, I got a sweet visit from them for like 3 hours because they were going to stay over at our place until they could get their house back but the office decided to move them...again :( Oh well, it was fun seeing them!