Week 43: If we do Good Things we are Happy, but if we do Bad Things we are Sad

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, what a week. With all things considered, it was a good week. Like all weeks there were hectic and down times but also with relaxing and happy times. The biggest downer of the week are all the people on vacation. It seems like February is the month in which EVERYONE leaves. Our church building feels so empty and our weekly results are quite low. The happiest thing this week was that we found some more new people and we had lots of spiritual experiences. :) 

So to answer some of the questions that I received this week, our families are doing good...they are on vacation but they seem to be doing well. We invited one family to church two weeks ago and they said they would come...didn't. We found out their oldest son was hospitalized the night before but went home Sunday evening. Anyways, that was understandable. They told us they would be at church no questions about it...didn't come again. Ugh! That was a bummer. The little boys have been a little sporadic.  C. didn't go yesterday but another cousin, M. went and he had a blast. We asked them what they learned and they said, "About the good stuff and the bad stuff." So I asked them what happens when we do good things and what happens if we do bad things. They replied, "If we do good things we are happy but if we do bad things we are sad." :D That was pretty cool! They were a little bored during testimony meeting (they are only 8 and 10 yrs. old) so they were looking through my gospel art book. They are good kids; we havn't shared anything with their families yet but we are trying. So there isn't really a way to beat the heat, we just try and stay comfortable with our fan. Nobody has air conditioning here and it is really rare to see a fan turned on in the homes so we are usually sweating during our lessons. They don't have swamp coolers either...AH! Dad would DIE! :S 

So one experience about following the Holy Ghost happened last night. We were walking and I had the impression to pass by an investigator family that Elder Frost and I had taught when I first entered the mission. It's been a good 6 months or more since I've seen them but I felt like we should go. We got there...nobody. But, I had an impression to write a note. So I did! We left the note and went home. As of now we haven't heard from them but I know by following the Holy Ghost we and this family will be blessed in some aspect. 

Another experience we had this week was a really spiritual lesson with an inactive member named F. He hasn't gone to church in many years and we've had struggles getting ahold of him this last few weeks. Yesterday we stopped by and he was home and invited us in. We sat down and he explained a little bit about why he was inactive, his story of finding the church, and how he feels right now. We helped him realize the difference in his life now and when he was participating actively in the church. We shared the scripture Mosiah 2:41; this is one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon. He told us that he believes that keeping the commandments is the only sure way to have happiness and he said that he just wants to return to our Heavenly Father's presense after this life. He has a disease (polio maybe) and is in a wheelchair. We talked about Christ's role as savior and sung the song, "I know that my redeemer lives." We invited him to come to church with us and he accepted. We gave him a new BofM because he lost his old one, and we left him with a priesthood blessing. It was really really spiritual and we could feel his sincerity in wanting to return to church. 

So we had a tender mercy the other day. We were going through the list of old investigators and while reviewing the list, a lady from the house of which we were standing in front of started to talk to us. We found out she is a less active member who recently moved from another community in Santiago. Here daughter (C.) was taking the lessons from other missionaries but when they moved, they lost contact. She told us we could visit her this week. We're excited to have another prepared investigator and a less-active that we can bring back to church. :) 

So the new missionary in our pension is Elder Osbon, from Michigan. He is a really cool kid and has really enjoyed his time with us so far. He has two changes less than me in the mission but he is a really nice kid and we all get along really well. I've been very fortunate to be with some many great people in the mission! 

Things are going well though, we are working hard and we aren't getting frustrated. We're doing the best job we can so far so hopefully that is good enough :)

That's all for this week folks...have a good one!!!

Love, 

Elder Bushman

“I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior of the world when he finds that his people do not feel confident in his care or secure in his hands.”
~ Jeffrey R. Holland