Week 41: This has been a FANTASTIC Week

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, CONGRATS to my good buddy, Trustin Chun, on his mission call! He's going to the Mexico Veracruz Mission! I'm soo excited for him and especially excited to talk to him in spanish a little bit when we both get back. Haha, anyways, this has been a FANTASTIC week. We saw a lot of miracles, we worked hard, and we were especially rewarded. Basically, in terms of numbers, I had the best week I have ever had in my whole mission. :D Here's a cool story!

We went by an old less active member's home and when we got there, a kid named C. came out and  said he wasn't home. He then asked if we would teach him English. We said if it was okay with his parents. So, we went back the next day, taught him English, and shared a little bit about what we do. He said he wanted to go to church and that he would bring his cousin. His parents were completely fine with it and said they would have him all ready. On Sunday they both came to church and after sacrament meeting, I ran down from the piano and asked two boys from the ward if they would take C. and his cousin (L.) to their classes. They took them and at the end they loved it and want to come back. L. was assigned the prayer in primary next week so we taught them to pray yesterday and when it was time to end with a prayer, L. and C. were fighting over who would say it. We settled on rock, paper, scissors. They both said a prayer and did it amazingly, just talking from their hearts. :D This week we are going to try and incorporate their families in our little mini lessons :) They are special little boys!

So here are some answers to the questions I was given this week: I would say my high point of the week was on Saturday. We were so blessed and guided that day to have six lessons (two lessons with a member present, two other lessons, and two lessons with less active members). We completed all the goals we had for that day! :) It rained that day and Elder Kern and I got soaked, but we were so very happy and content with how the day went!!! We are teaching a family that consists of three boys (all investigators), the mom (investigator) and the dad (less active). It's been really interesting. The mom is super prepared (C.) and the dad is really receptive. The boys are all really nice and fun. We are also teaching a mom (A.) and her daughter (A.). We found the daughter in that big group of kids in the street about a month ago! They are awesome and really receptive! One guy we taught was kinda drunk but he was teaching us A LOT about the love of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. If you guys met him you would have thought he was a drunk hippie but he really did open my eyes to the meaning of love and what we do when we love. :D Super awesome! I am not wearing sunscreen. It is SUPER expensive here and I don't burn if I wear my proselyting clothes...only if I wear a t-shirt will I burn...so I don't! :D I definitely prefer Chilean winters...ugh, cannot wait for winter! Elder Frost is not in my zone, he is in a zone at the top of our mission. I'm two zones down from him! 

 

This week I studied about the love of God and Christ's atonement. It has really opened my eyes what it means to "Follow Christ" and "lay down your life for Him." :D My favorite story is when Christ called his apostles and they had to "drop their nets and follow Him." In Spanish it says, "al instante"...which means they instantly dropped their nets and followed Him :) There is a good mix of friendly people and mean people. Some people we try to stop will just keep walking and say, "Nope, I don't have time." Others are very nice and will talk to us, even if at the end they say, "I'm not very interested." The church services here are quite similar I would say. One difference is that the people giving a talk sit in the audience and when it is their turn to speak, they walk up the aisle, give their talk, and then return to the audience. Also, everybody sings WAY faster than what the director is leading and what the pianist  is playing. That's really annoying. We usually have about 130-140 people at Church and we have enough young men so we don't have to pass the sacrament. Everybody socializes before the meeting just like they do in the states. One miracle I saw this week was on Saturday, when some of our lessons fell through, God put people in our path so we could still keep all our goals. We went to people we didn't plan for and we still got all the lessons we planned for!!! :) My Spanish study is going well. I'm learning lots of new words and it has been quite rewarding. I just hope that I'll be solid for the rest of my mission. 

Today we went back to the U.S.A. :D ...Well, as close as you can get, I suppose. We went to Jonny Rockets: The Original Burger. We walked in and it looked like a 40's dinner, complete with white tile, flourescent lights, and red booths. They were playing the Beatles; Elvis Presley; Earth, Wind, and Fire; etc., and everybody was dressed in dinner attire. I ordered a Coke, double cheeseburger, onion rings, and a peanut butter chocolate shake. IT WAS DIVINE! :) I sent photos! It was just like America! The only thing is that hey didn't have rootbeer from the fountain, otherwise I would've gotten that in a HEARTBEAT! I legit felt like I was back home, haha! In a good way, not a trunky way!It was really expensive in comparison to what it would cost in the states but it was normal for Chile. Food is really expensive here!!! BUT, it was soooooo worth it! It was at a mall up in Elder Frost's zone called Las Condes. We're talking like $28.00 in U.S. money for the meal...BUT, before you flip out, all the food is twice the price or more than it is in the states. A dollar burger at McDonalds is like $2.50 here.

Anyways, that's it for this week ya'll! Keep working hard, say your prayers with faith, STUDY the scriptures daily, go to church because you want to magnify your calling! :)

Love,

Elder Bushman

MY COKE

Elder Kern and Elder Lee enjoying an AMERICAN lunch :)

Elder Bushman and Elder Cottrell

My onion rings and BURGER!

"Your Heavenly Father has known you for a very long time. You, as His son or daughter, were chosen by Him to come to earth at this precise time, to be a leader in His great work on earth." ~ Russell M. Nelson, October 2013 General Conference