Week 10: Maybe that's some Peruvian Technique!

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, here are some of the questions I have received that I'm going to answer back:

How have things gone with Nicole and Carolina? 

     First off, we only met with Nicole at the start. We set up another appointment to meet with her and her mom but it fell through. We kept trying to set up another appointment but for some reason they kept avoiding us. We haven't taught them since that first time...it's a bummer. They are ignoring us for some reason. I just wish people would tell us if they aren't interested so we aren't wasting our time.

What about the mother and her son? 

     The mother and son referred to here is our investigators, Patricia and Vicente. We are still actively teaching Patricia but her son has kind of lost interest. We are attempting to rekindle the interest... We had a great lesson with Patricia and set up a new date for her baptism. She also attended church, which means only once more until she can be baptized. We brought a member with us to our last lesson and he suggested that she should be an example to her sons and not wait for her son to catch interest before she is baptized. She agreed to do that! 

What kinds of food are you eating? 

     We eat a lot of rice, salad, meat, pasta, and empanadas. They put mayonnaise and ketchup on everything! It's sooooooooo good! Also, they have this sauce called, Ajì! Dad, you would love it! It's got a GREAT kick and flavor. I'll bring some home for you. 

Do people do your laundry or do you do your own? 

     We are responsible for doing our own laundry. We don't have a dryer (too much energy to run it) so we hang up our clothes to dry. It takes about a day or two to get all of the clothes dry.

Does your area only cover one ward?

     My sector, or area you could say, is one ward yes, Consistorial. The sector is divided in half, which means Elder Frost and I are in the bottom half and Elder Pagalo and Elder Cuadros are in the top half.

What is the Bishop like and ward mission leader? 

     The Bishop here is Obispo (which means Bishop in Spanish) Quintero. He has been Bishop for about 9 years. Long time eh? Haha, anyways, he's a good guy and he does his best to strengthen the less actives, care for the actives, and take care of his family through his work. Good guy! Hermano Moreno (ward mission leader) is a recent convert of about 2 years. The rest of his family is inactive, but he is there every week at church. He's a good guy too, very helpful and caring. Also patient with my spanish! :)

Are there some members that have taken you under their wing? 

     Umm...I'm not really sure about the meaning of this question. There are some good members in the ward but none are ... how should I say this ... I guess "under the wing" takers!?

Do you do a lot of tracting or do you have more referrals via member missionary work?

     We've been tracting a bit lately, trying to get some new investigators. The members are afraid to talk to their neighbors about the gospel and always say, "No, I can't really think of anyone who is interested."

Are you getting along well with your companion?

     Elder Frost and I are getting along great. He and I are really really alike and every day we find out something new. Sometimes our personalities clash because we are so alike but it never lasts more than a minute or two before we are off on something else again. We work together well and he's really patient with me. 

Are you cold at night? 

     It's getting a lot colder here! My sleeping bag is really keeping me warm and we have our space heater :) Don't worry mom, I'm doing good!

How are the shoes holding up? 

     The shoes are good! Laces are kind of falling apart but other than that good. My feet always hurt and I've developed some good blisters. Elder Cuadros said he had a way to help my blisters. He poured hot wax on them...didn't feel too good and I don't think it helped any... Oh well, he had good intentions :) haha! Maybe that's some Peruvian technique!

How often do you get to the mission home? 

     Never...ha!

Do you pick up your mail there or is it sent to you? 

     The mail is delivered once a week to our district meetings. The mail and packages and anything we ask for gets delivered then!

Are you doing any cooking? 

     We don't do much cooking. Basically Elder Frost and I, and actually most every missionary, just eats Lunch. Lunch is the big meal here and breakfast and dinner (which they call Once) are really small. So we usually grab a piece of bread with this stuff called Manjar for breakfast and for dinner sometimes another piece of bread with Manjar and juice...

Do you have any thoughts about what you need or would like for your birthday? 

     Need or would like...hmmmm... I'll be thinking about it and I'll let you know Mom :) Thanks!

Do you meet with other missionaries much? 

     Others than our roommates, no. We see them everyday. We see the other missionaries from our District and Zone once a week. On P-days we can ask President for "Permisos" to go and visit places in our mission. We can meet up with other missionaries from all over our mission. We do that every once in a while.

Have you seen the North American elders from your MTC district? 

     We have training meetings every two weeks and I see them. The stories we all tell are nuts. (I left out the stories...he can tell you about it when he gets home)

Now a little about my photos. Today Elder Frost and I went to the temple and to Providencia. We took photos, ate, and kinda chilled. Those are all the photos you see there. The other photos are from last P-day when we played soccer with our Zone. WAY FUN! The other one is a Berlin, one of the favorite pastries of Elder Frost and I. YUM! The other ones are Elder Frost and I's (??) reaction to P-day... I said, "Show me your p-day face Elder." Then I showed mine! Then just some random ones of me :)))

The hardest thing here is getting your investigators to really come to church. UGH! It stinks. Anyways, a couple of our investigators said they would come but didn't...hopefully they'll come next week. 

Spanish is still kinda tough...whew... :S

Anyways, that's all for this week! LOVE YOU ALL :)

Elder Adam Robert Bushman

A 1/4 eaten Berlin

Sunset in Santiago

Hmmmmmmm

Santiago Temple #1

Santiago Temple #2

PDAY!!!!!

PDAY!!!!!!

  

Look at those mountains...it almost looks like Utah!!

SOCCER!!!

From Mom: Elder Bushman was bummed that we didn't do our Father's Day program on Sunday. He sent a letter to his Dad to be read for the program and he wanted to hear his reaction. Oh well....he'll have to wait until next week! It was nice to get some answers to our questions...we got more detail than ever because of it! The stories he told were pretty wild and about specific elders in the mission so I opted to leave them out.


"Remember, brothers and sisters, we're not marketing a product. We're not selling anything. We're not trying to impress anyone with our numbers or our growth. We are members of the restored Church of Jesus Christ, empowered and sent forth by the Lord Himself to find, nourish, and bring safely into His Church those who are seeking to know the truth." ~ M. Russell Ballard