Yr. 2, Week 50: I'm Going to Read it Every Day

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, what a week. It was a really, really great week. Looking back on it I can see the ups and downs of the week, the frustration and joy we felt, the tough and easy things, the fun and dumb moments, but I just remember the good. Seriously looking back I only focus on and can remember the good about the week. I really like that. :)

So a quick summary of some of the investigators:

B. Family: this week it was really hard to visit with them, however, this weekend we were able to teach them some really cool, awesome things and they are just progressing awesomely. Sometimes they cancel on us and sometimes they aren't there but when they are and when we coordinate well, it's incredible the spirit we feel with them. Yesterday we taught them and it was awesome. They asked us some questions about the BofM and everything and they really have been reading. D. has read up until 2 Nephi 15. It's incredible and she has really marked some things and has been able to tell us why she did so. Anyways, really awesome! We invited them to be baptized and to a date and they agreed. Anyways, they won't be baptized until after I leave but I don't care, I'm really stoked for them. THEY ARE AWESOME! :D Hahaha!

J and P: we also visited with them yesterday and it was sick. We taught the restoration and P. was just knocked off her feet. We gave her the BofM and she was like, "I'm going to read it, I'm going to read it every day in the subway on my way to work!" It was awesome. J and P want to baby bless their baby and we told them about it and they want to come to church and everything! Anyways, they are doing great! 

L: this was an old investigator that we were visiting but we left him because he didn't progress. However, we taught him again and he's decided to be baptized. We invited him and his wife to set some goals as to what they thought they needed to do in order to prepare for baptism. We came back and they said they were going to pray every day in the morning and night, read the BofM together, go to church when L. isn't working, and he wants to be baptized the first week of April! :) Anyways, we visited with him with J., our convert and it was awesome. I think it strengthened J. and helped L. know that there is someone at church who has made changes and who is happy! 

A little bit about my studies this week. While on divisions I had a great study about Virtue. PMG led me to read D&C 48:33. I was meditating on it a bit because I was trying to understand a bit more about why the Lord would be telling the saints to be sanctified and virtuous. I read the section heading and it all made sense. The lord was helping them to know who he wanted the meetings of the church to be directed. So as I kept studying, it made more and more sense why the Lord wants us to be virtuous as we perform sacred covenants. In D&C 133:4-5 it talked about being clean those that bear the vessels of the Lord. So I thought for a long time about what vessels meant and 2 Timothy 2:21 helped me to understand. I loved this study because it helped me to understand what it is that I want to be as I represent the Lord in administering Christ's grace and blessings through those covenants. 

So that's a bit about the week that I've had and I've really had a great time. It's been so fun and so great to be with Elder Deal. We have lots of fun together. He comes home a change after me and is going to BYU too and we we are planning lots of fun stuff to do! Haha, we're good friends! :D 

Love you guys, take care!

Elder Bushman

Yr. 2, Week 36: It is just the Greatest Experience Ever

Dear Family and Friends,

A cool miracle from this week:

About 2 months ago when I went on a division with Elder Jara in our zone, we contacted a young guy by the name of A. He was cool and we had a good conversation. He gave us his contact information and we tried to go back that week but we weren't able. Turns out we weren't able to visit him for about a month and a half because we never found him at home, he never answered his phone, etc. Anyways, I still kept trying with Laurentino. Then a few weeks ago we had a lesson with him and it went really well and he seemed pretty excited to read the BofM. Then again, we lost contact. However, yesterday, we decided to pass by and we met with him and his mom and younger sister!! It was sweet because his mom, D and his sister, F, were AWESOME! We had a sick lesson and we have a return visit for this Saturday. D said she also wanted her other daughter, A, to get to know us so we are really, really excited because she could also be a new investigator :D Anyways, it was an answer to prayer and I believe they could be our next baptisms after R, O, and M :)

Another cool thing from this week was a lesson we were able to have with C and Y last night. We've been talking A LOT about the lesson of the Restoration with them because it is just SO HARD for C to grasp... We explain it as simple as possible with scriptures and everything but it's just HARD for him, haha, to put it simply! Anyways, when we were there Y said that she just couldn't keep it in any longer, but that for a few weeks she has been feeling the spirit when she prays, reads, and is with us and that she KNOWS and received another CONFIRMATION that the church is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet! It was awesome because she has also had lots of doubts. Now we just gotta work more with C and help him soften his heart. But it was a really cool experience and it just let me know that it's the feeling, nothing us, that helps us change and feel a surety that these things are true!

Another cool visit we had this week was with O and M. We set back their date for the 21st just because it's going to take a bit more time to teach them all the lessons. They both love church, they love reading the BofM, they pray, the love FHE, and they are excited for their baptism. O says she wants to feel a bit more prepared and she feels like praying and asking forgiveness will help here with that! I thought it was awesome and she is definitely going to be baptized on the 21st along with her daughter :D THEY ARE FABULOUS, a true example of a miracle in one family! 

Another absolute miracle from this week was R and P. This week they got married!!!!! Sort of. Haha, so weird thing about Chile, when you get married you go twice. One time to sign the paperwork, swear in, etc. And then the next part they do all the formal stuff (dress up, kiss, whatever). So, technically, according to Chile, they are married! We are so stoked. P. was ordained a Priest yesterday and called to be the Young Men's Secretary :D I was so stoked! Also, in a visit we had with them last night, R. stated CLEARLY that she is going to be baptized and that she is looking forward to it. Yesterday she got up and ran around waking everybody up and getting them ready for church :D I'm so very happy for them!

I'm really enjoying being with my companion! He's so awesome, I love him a lot :) Hahaha, he's trying to practice English and so when he says something and I start laughing and I tell him what he said, he just laughs. He's such a good sport about it all and he's just helping me out a ton! Anyways, things are going really good here! I really love this sector and I'm trying to learn a bit more Portuguese! I can say a prayer in Portuguese, so we'll see how much I can get down before going back home. Haha, I'd like to study Portuguese too, since Elder Laurentino wants me to visit Brazil one day (not to mention it wouldn't be bad for work if I knew a bit). 

Anyways, take care everybody! I love you all, you're amazing! I love this work, I'm working hard, I love the scriptures and I think it is just the greatest experience ever being out here. I think it's gonna be a bit hard to go home.

Love,

Elder Bushman

Yr. 2, Week 30: I'm Being Converted

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, what a week we had. It was a great week! We had lots of highlight lessons and experiences! I love my companion, guys :) Haha, he's such a great guy and we work really well together. Anyways, on to the highlights:

We are visiting an incomplete family. C., the dad, isn't a member and neither are his kids but Y. is a member. She has been inactive for a very long time but we started visiting her a few months back. Not much happened because C. wasn't very interested and neither were their kids and Y. was just having a difficult time trying to do things herself with no support. So update, Y. is currently in the hospital until her baby comes, C. is MR. MOM and is having a tough time, their daughter B. is having a tough time without her mom, and their youngest son M. is missing Y. SO, the father has really started to get involved. He's praying, meeting with us, reading the scriptures in lessons, and he said that this week he's going to try and round up everyone to go to church :) We had a great lesson with him last night with President S., first counselor in the stake presidency. We talked about what's best for our families, especially in times of crisis, and how we must have faith and repent in order to receive joy and eternal life :) SWEET LESSON :) C. is opening up every single time we visit him. When I first met him, he didn't even want to see us and even tried to fight with us a little about the existence of God (he "didn't believe" in God before). Big turn around. Also, the presidents of the relief society and the primary went to visit Y. in the hospital! This family is sweet!!

Next, we had a really cool experience in church this week. We are visiting a mom and her daughter (O., the mom, and M., the daughter). The Mom has been to church a few times with P. and R. and everybody but the daughter never really wanted to participate. She's 16 and never really was into the whole "church/religion" thing. But then, P. and J. started getting on her saying she should go to church and hang out with some of the YW there. She finally decided to go and so two weeks ago we had F. (the girl who can't get baptized because her parents wouldn't let her) go with her to the classes. Then this week, J. went and picked up M. for church. It was sweet because right after sacrament meeting, F. looked over right before going to class and went right over to say hi to M. and to take her to class. They are good friends!!! F. is practically a member :) Right after church we looked out into the hall and there was M., F. and other YW all laughing and having fun! It was really, really cool :D We are going to invite her and her mom to be baptized for a specific date :)

We also visited with a family, the G. family. They received missionaries like two years ago but we decided to revisit them and see what's up. We had a lesson in which we talked about the Plan of Salvation. It was a little rough at the start because they were like, "We are believers, we are Catholic. We don't feel like it's necessary to go to church or to do anything like that. Plus we were baptized already, why would we be baptized again?" Anyways, it was pretty rough and I was starting to feel like this family wouldn't progress. Then, we started just asking them questions and it started changing the whole spirit and direction of the lesson. We finally ended by expressing that if we don't fulfill one commandment, we are in trouble and unless we are cleansed we are sunk. The wife, whom has ALWAYS turned down the invitation to go to church, said, "Well, I'm going to go to church next week." The dad and the daughter also committed. It was interesting how everything changed. Questions are powerful and they help with the conversion. Hopefully this family will really progress now :D

Well, that's all folks! I love you all, I'm working hard, I'm being obedient, I'm being converted, and I'm torn about leaving Chile in a few months. I'm excited, but I'm also sad. I suppose that goes with the territory of change!

Love,

Elder Adam Bushman

My comp - Elder Laurentino

Yr 2 - Week 6: My Joy Was Full

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a pretty good one; we struggled with lessons during the week, but I was really content when we had 11 people in the church!!! We had three investigators, two little kids, two less actives who just came back after 19 years, and four less actives that are still in the process of getting back to church :) It was really awesome! I looked around at everybody we had brought. I saw how joyful everybody was and it just made me so happy and so grateful to be a missionary. As President Monson put it, "My joy was full." ;) Haha, but it was really great! We are planning to take the G. family to the temple this week for a tour and we are going to be visiting our investigator D. tonight with the bishop. We're going to be reading Mosiah 18 and trying to invite her to be baptized...we'll see how it goes :)

I'm excited to talk to you guys this Sunday!...5:00 :) PM! Your time!!!! I'll see you then, okay!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Elder Bushman

 

"I am convinced that there are many, many thousands who, with warmth and welcome, can be led to the eternal truths of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They are looking for something better than they have. They must be friendshipped. They must be fellowshipped. They must be made to feel comfortable and at home, so they can observe in the lives of the members of the Church those virtues they wish for themselves." - Gordon B. Hinckley

Yr. 2, Week 2: 17 Cookies and 2 Liters of Chocolate Milk

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, conference was downright amazing!!! :) I loved every, single talk and I was just so inspired, especially by the talks from the priesthood session and from saturday!! :) I had brought two questions to conference and both were answered during the five sessions. I loved Randall L. Ridd's talk from the priesthood session. He talked a lot about how we need to use the internet for good. There were many things that he said in the talk that I want to implement when I go home. Henry B. Eyring's talk from the priesthood session was outstanding. He talked about being an example of priesthood heroes. I was really impacted and I want to be someone's hero of priesthood service and worthiness :) Our plans for General Conference went great! We made about 70 cookies and divided them up between us four in the pension. I ate like 17 cookies and drank two liters of chocolate milk myself to finish off saturday. Sunday rolled around and the gringo family in our ward made us four 24 cinnamon rolls!!! It was pretty fetchin' awesome and we still have some left :D YES!!! Conference was amazing and I'm sad to think that I only have one left in the mission...I'll be home two in a half weeks before next year's April Conference.

So we saw L. this week. It has been quite up and down for him lately. He is reading the BofM a lot and praying every day. He also accepted our baptismal invitation but was sick so he didn't go to conference. Also, he said he might move back down to the south of Chile because things aren't going too well up here. We are going to be having a FHE tonight with the N. family, so hopefully everything goes well there and he will stay in Santiago and progress...if that's the Lord's will :)

So here in Chile, the men shake hands, give a hug, and then shake hands again. I'm so accustomed to it that it is COMPLETELY automatic. Also, the women give eachother kisses/hugs, and people of the opposite sex give eachother a kiss...it's REALLY awkward when a woman who doesn't know the mission rules comes in for a kiss and we just stick out our hand... :) HAHAHA!!!!!

Well, that's about it for the week! Chao!!! Love ya!!!

Elder Bushman

“You’ve prepared for this for millennia.
This is your moment to perform.
This is your four minutes!
The time is now!” . . . . . ~ Pr. Bishop Gary E. Stevenson

Yr. 2, Week 1: He is a Chosen Investigator

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, what a week! It was a good week, all things considered :) I am very happy to say that I got the family package :) YEAH!!! I am loving the music, although my companion Elder Kern is already sick of it...haha, but he is very patient! I've pretty much already eaten all the candy you guys sent me, it was very good!! :D I'm so very grateful for the journals, I've been trying to catch up on a few things that I've been short on! The dog buzzer/taser is fantastic!! Elder Osbon tries to use it on me...? :) Haha!!! All in all, fantastic! So the weather is starting to change ... finally! It's been quite cold these last few mornings and the temperature during the day isn't too hot. 

We have the coolest plans for General Conference. We all bought TONS of chocolate milk and tons of materials to bake cookies!! We're baking homemade cookies to eat during the sessions and we are going to order Papa John's between sessions!!! :D We are going to watch General Conference in English as much as we can. We are trying to invite everyone we can to go but we want them to sit with the members instead of us. Hopefully it works out! We are teaching an inactive returned missionary (went to Australia) and he accepted our invitation to go to G.C. He's coming with us to the priesthood session and said he wants to watch it in English! :) WHOOT!

Update on some people: that lady, N. who was a reference we got turned out to live in the Hermana's sector. I'm okay with that because the Hermana missionaries there are AMAZINGLY good and they are also in my same district so they keep us updated. Apparently they went by and N. was expecting my companion and I so she was quite confused... The sisters explained that they heard that she listened to a message from a few elders. She said yes!! The sisters said, "From Elder Bushman." The sister missionaries said that she was like, "Yeah, Elder Bushman" and then she let them in on the spot and now they are teaching her. I was really happy when I heard it!! :D The lady in the Netherlands will be there until like the start of June so I won't see her for a while.

So an amazing experience we had was with a guy named L. The Sunday before last Elder Kern and I were heading to an appointment we had when all the sudden this guy yelled, "Hey, give me something to read." He was sitting down on the inside of his front patio and was drinking and smoking. We gave him a pamphlet and started talking to him. He said he has felt really alone and with no purpose at all. I asked him, "What do you think your purpose is here." He said straight up, "I don't know... I feel like all I do is work." We explained a little bit of the nature of God and who we are as His children. We said we would explain more later and passed by the next day. He was so much happier when we passed by and we explained lesson 1, the Restoration and helped him understand that he can have eternal happiness if he follows Christ. He accepted a BofM and prayed with us. We've tried to teach during the week but he was always busy until we stopped by on Saturday and had a good lesson with him. We talked a bit about the Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost and how we can know that this message is true. He again prayed with us and accepted our invitation to go to church. He didn't go (I assume he had to work) but we also invited him to be baptized when he knows that this is true and he readily said, "Yes I will." :) We truly believe that he is a chosen investigator and a man that God has been preparing for a while!! We're excited to see his progress.

One of the biggest things I am learning right now is who I want to be when I get back and what I want to do. I have a vision of myself magnifying my calling, sharing the gospel with people at work,etc., studying the scriptures faithfully, using my time on Sunday wisely, etc. I really want to go home converted from my mission, I know it is essential that I do, and I want to make sure that I am converted to what the mission taught me. That is the biggest lesson so far I think. 

 

Here in Chile, everything is pretty much double the cost of things up there in the States. Food is EXTREMELY expensive. A one liter carton of milk is like $1.50... Personal care products such as shampoo, soap, detergent, etc., is just a lot of money. I'm able to cover everything with what I have but in general things are expensive here. Some differences between here and the states are the fact that there are security guards in every grocery store, we have to tip the baggers, there are TONS of drunks just wasted in the street. Also, in the states we have to go to some sort of grocery store to get certain items, but here, you can get most everything you need from small little stores called "almacenes" that people just open up from their house. There is usually one within a two minute walk from your house. The construction of the houses is poor because most people do things themselves. If you want the job done right, you gotta pay big bucks to get a real workman to come in. Anyways, those are some small differences :) Haha! 

 

I've pretty much decided that I'm going to study business when I get home, get a masters with it, and a minor in Spanish. We'll see how it goes, but I'm ready! :D

Anyways, that's the letter for the week! Keep living guys and I love you all!

Elder Bushman

Week 50: I Wouldn't have Traded this for ANYTHING!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, this week has been a long one but a very good week as well. We are having a lot of difficulties with some of our BIG TIME investigators so to speak. We weren't able to meet with F. all week and he didn't go to church, so we don't even know what's up with him. We found out today that the sister and niece of a recent convert in the ward next to ours doesn't want to talk to us anymore ... that kinda sucks. Also, we weren't able to visit P. and T., and T. didn't go to church. C. and her family were "really busy" this week so we didn't even visit them at all. We also visited a part member family and we were going to start teaching the 15 year old boy and reactivate the mom...but then they weren't there and we'll have to try and visit next Saturday. We visited with the A. family and had a good lesson but they said they would "do everything possible" to go to church...they didn't. Anyways, I'm not mad or discouraged because we really worked hard this week and we are being obedient and everything. I'm actually very pleased with this last week because we saw quite a few miracles :) So, now that we got all of the negative stuff out of the way, now I can focus on the dope stuff!!!

On Monday we made cookies, Elder Kern and I, and we took them to the Á. family in our ward, the family that gave us all of that food. We wanted to visit with the whole family but it turns out that the dad and daughter were there. They were SOOOO happy and though it was a tiny act of service in return, they were SOOO grateful that we walked for forever to get the cookies to them and that we had made them :) Anyways, their daughter, C., is going to BYU this fall so she asked me questions when she and her dad dropped us off in their car at our lesson! :) Really awesome family!!!

Well this week we found some sweet new investigators!!! The other day we were going through a list of old members and we went to a house we'd never seen before. We talked to a lady who told us the people we are looking for didn't live there...DANG we thought but then we started sharing our message with this family! She invited us in (there wasn't a man at home so we just sat in her patio) and we talked with her and her daughter (the mom is V. and the daughter is V.). They were both SOOO interested and they were so excited for us to come back! She also said that her mom (who wasn't home at that moment) was going to just love talking with us. It's really cool because just 5 doors down lives J. and C., the less-actives we just reactivated! C. and V. are the same age and they both have very similar family situations! :) Anyways, we are going to go back tomorrow to visit them so we are really excited :) That day I was really feeling down but I decided to be happy and positive and our loving Heavenly Father placed these wonderful people in our path! :)

So about a month ago a drunk stopped us and started talking to us about a bunch of weird stuff and then he said come by my house. So we said "Yeah sure" and we wrote down his address. We never went by and we saw him several other days just absolutely drunk and crazy so we were a little wary about passing by. Then the other day we talked with him and gave him a pamphlet and we promised we would go by. His name is J. and we went by the other day. He was sober and we had a good conversation about what he wants, what we want to help him accomplish, and what he'll need to do. We also taught him this morning and he promised to keep all of the Word of Wisdom laws until we go by his house on Wednesday. He also said he would go to church with us. I'm not sure what will come of this future investigator but he is quite sincere and if he stops drinking we could see some decent progress.

I'm going to be sending a recording soon so in that recording it will talk a little bit about what happened last night :)

I'm so very glad to be a missionary, I love my ward, I love my sector, and I am really enjoying everything! :) I've experienced the best and worst of times out here and I'm sure there are many in the coming months but I wouldn't have traded this for ANYTHING!!! :D I love you all, take care!

Elder Bushman 

 

We carried a couch from a member's home...we carried it like a MILE! UGH!

Well...I mastered the Rubiks Cube....CHECK!!!

 

Here is our church...

Here is our favorite completo shop!

“When we heed a silent prompting and act upon it without delay, out Heavenly Father will guide our footsteps and bless our lives and the lives of others.”
. . . . . . . . . . ~ Thomas S. Monson

Week 45: When we put our Faith into Action, we get Results

Dear Family and Friends,

Sounds like many fantastic things are happening back home and out here! Congrats to the b-ball players for the championship :) That's really awesome! This week has been an interesting week...I would say that this change has been an interesting change. Elder Kern and I are learning many lessons out here that are coming from many different sources. It has been really interesting seeing a different purpose this change.

Workwise, this has been the toughest week of my whole mission. We only taught four lessons to investigators this week. From the start of the week we saw appointment after appointment fall through. We had previously invited members to these lessons so we brought them anyways. Unfortunately, we didn't receive much success on these attempts. We were able to meet with a lot of less-active members and two of them came back to church for the first time yesturday for Stake Conference... The batteries in my camera were dead so I wasn't able to take any photos. Anyways, despite the poor numbers and the lack of work, we did see several miracles this week that I want to share :)

I would say the first miracle for us happened this wednesday. For a few weeks now we have been teaching a woman named V. (she was taught many times by missionaries before hand). She has been hesitant to commit to a date for baptism for a variety of reasons. (chastity is probably the biggest problem we face out here). Anyways, we decided to invite her to be baptized so we planned out a good lesson, prayed for the spirit, and pleaded that if it be God's will, that we could set a baptismal date. We went and invited her...she declined and expressed her worries again. FORTUNATELY, we had planned for this and knew EXACLTY what we wanted to do. We followed our plan and by the end she accepted the invitation and we are all working together to get her baptized on March 9, the day before changes. :) Anyways, this was a miracle because she had rejected every other invitation we or the other missionaries had extended. Truly it was a testimony to me of when we put our faith into action, we get results :)

Another experience was yesterday. We were walking and walking and walking...we didn't have a single appointment so we just went by our plans, which quickly ran out. We kept on walking, visiting anybody we could think of. Finally, at 9:00, an hour before going home, we had no idea of what to do. So we sat down on a bench, said a prayer as a companionship asking for guidance, and then pondered for a bit. We were pondering for about 5 minutes and when we started to talk about where we should go, there were a LOT of different ideas. We felt as though we had a "stupor of thought." So we thought some more. Finally, I said, "Well, maybe if we act we will be guided." So we set out to visit a couple that aren't really investigators of ours, but they aren't members. Anyways, when we passed by and the husband came out, he said, "Come on in." WOW, we hadn't heard that in a long time. We went in and had a great conversation about what we do and why we do it. We invited them to hear our message about eternal marriage (this couple has been married for 39 years, quite rare here). They were really interested so we are going to show them "Together Forever." We left them with a pass along card with the temple on it and a brief description of what goes on inside. We weren't sure if we should do a prayer so we thought "Next time," but then the wife blurted out as we all stood up, "BUT WAIT, what about the prayer!" (angels sang)! Haha, it was a cool experience. Anyways, we are excited to visit them again soon :) Their names are L and L, a really nice couple; they'd be good for the church!!!

Another experience is that an investigator family of ours got back from vacation. We met with the mom (member) and she commented to us about how much her three boys (non-members) love us and love what we have shared so far. We talked with her about the temple and shared with her how baptism and preparation afterwards helps us qualify for the blessings that lie in the temple. We told her that one year after baptism, her family can go to the temple. She is really excited and we are going to present the plan to the rest of her family, the boys and her husband (non-member). We have been planning an amazing lesson for them and we plan to invite the boys and the husband to be baptized and set a date for them. :) We are really excited and we feel that it is the will of God that this happens. We'll let you know how it goes!!!!! :)

Elder Kern and I watched a video this week about Zion's Camp. We talked about how most of the participants had a different view of what their mission or purpose was in Zion's Camp. As we all know, their mission wasn't to reclaim their land and liberate the saints again, it was to prepare the future leaders of the church. I applied this principle to my missionary service. I don't know exactly what the purpose is or when I have done enough. What I do need to do is not complain, keep working hard, and prepare myself to be the best servant and leader in the mission and afterwards that I can. :)

That's all for this week; take care everyone!!!!

Love, Elder Adam Bushman

"We are all in this together. With fellow ward members and missionaries, we plan and pray and help one another. Please keep the full-time missionaries in your thoughts and prayers. Trust them with your family and friends. The Lord trusts them and has called them to teach and bless those who seek Him."

Elder Neil L. Andersen