Week 26: Elder Jeffrey R. Holland is Coming to Our Mission

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, what...a...week! :) Haha, it has been absolutely crazy out here; this last week was probably one of the biggest and busiest weeks I've ever had out here in the mission. I got a lot to tell and a short amount of time so let's just get started!!! :)

On Wednesday we had our Zone Class where the whole Zone (my zone La Reina) gets together in one room and the Zone Leaders direct a 3 to 3 1/2 hour class on what the Mission President wants us to know! Anyways, it was fantastic! There were lots and lots and lots of things that I need to work on, which is good because that means there is a lot for me to do and get my focus on! Anyways, one of the biggest announcements is that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland is coming to our mission NEXT MONTH! AHHHHH!!!!! :) I'm so dang excited, haha, he is going to be such an inspiration to us and I'm so excited to hear what he has to say and what we as a mission and missionaries personally can do BETTER :D I'll keep you all updated!

Thursday was Elder Kern and I's first training meeting, where all of the trainers and trainees go to the stake center and meet with the president, his wife, and the assistants. Anyways, it was really awesome! Yet again I learned a lot of cool stuff, lots of really neat things that I can apply personally. One of the coolest things I learned is how important the Area Book we have is. Everything they said I had already heard before but this time I think it meant more because now I am a senior companion, I'm training, and the Spirit really told me that I need to improve in this category! I'm really really stoked to work on this with Elder Kern and get better :) We're going to see miracles! 

Friday we woke up at the crack of dawn to go and get my Carnet (or my Chilean ID card for my Visa). Technically without it you're kind of illegal...if a Carabinero (the Chilean police) stopped me and asked me for my card and I didn't have it, I'd probably be held for a while until the mission could prove that I had done all the paper work. Anyways, we woke up way early to go and get it. I had previously put the paper I needed in a book, in my bag the previous night to keep it safe and to make sure I wouldn't forget it the next morning. Well, the next morning I saw my bag and I thought, "I don't need all of this stuff, I'll take some out!" So, without remembering what I did the night before, I took the book out and set it on my desk, skipping off to the Civil Registry...without my precious paper. Well, as I was going into the Civil Registry I realized that I left it. Boy was I upset with myself. I went ALL the way there in vain and now I have to go this Thursday AGAIN to get my Carnet... Man, I need my dear, sweet mother to remind me about this stuff!!! :)

Saturday and Sunday were freaking AMAZING! We went to the church in La Reina, our stake center. It was awesome because in between sessions, we didn't go home because it would take about 45 minutes to get there and then 45 minutes to get back so it didn't make a bit of sense. Anyways, we got all caught up with the After Conference Report (lovve it!) and conference was just spectacular. A few thoughts related to the speakers I liked: Elder Bednar (tithing is essential and if we want the blessings, it is key to pay tithing. To gain a testimony of tithing is to live the law and THEN see the blessings. In Moroni 7, Moroni talks about miracles and how miracles aren't done until the children of men show forth their faith FIRST!), Elder Ballard (the missionary work is more essential from the perspective of the members than from the missionaries themselves. In order to expand the missionary work even further than what has been down by the youth in receiving calls, we as MEMBERS must raise the bar to a higher level)...those were my two favorite talks I believe :) Really neat! We invited a bunch of investigators, none of them came. :( 

The new companion is fantastic, he's just a fireball...a little shaky on the language side of the missionary work but he'll catch on quick as a cat :) He's awesome and he supports me a lot!!!

As for the investigators, I wrote in my journal that I feel a little stuck right now. I'm trying to do everything that I can to help investigators progress towards baptism but they just won't come to church. I finally figured out that what we need to do is just work on FINDING...finding, finding, finding! :) Hopefully it works out!

That's all for this week; love you all!

Elder Adam Bushman

Elder Bushman with his new comp, Elder Kern

Elder Kern

Elder Bushman showing his goofy side with Lois Waves

 “We should always embark in a good cause.”
. . . . . . . . ~ Elder Edward Dube

Week 25: All I Could Have Asked For

Dear Family and Friends,

WOW, what a week. Seriously, it's been nuts but a very good week all things considered. First off, I'm going to talk about my kid and my experience getting him:

So Tuesday morning, I and Elder Pineda (an Elder that I was doing splits with) headed for the mission office to go pick up our kids. We were pretty silent on the way over...we were both pretty thoughtful as to whom we would be training. Anyways, we were the first missionaries there so we waited for the rest of the trainers to come until finally the mission president told us all the trainees had arrived and we were needed to help take all the bags into the church. As we did, I was looking at all the faces trying to determine who would be my kid...didn't work, ha! Fortunately, President Wright assigned us our companions right away so we weren't waiting in anticipation too much. My companion is a gringo named Elder Kern. He is from Provo, Utah, is 18 years old and reminds me a bit of myself when I came into the mission field (I'll explain why a little later). I felt an instant love and connection to him right after our names were read and I am so excited to be able to teach him how to be a missionary, teach him Spanish, and have some success. Anyways, we were trained on a lot of good things and it was neat to see the things that my old companion and I didn't do as well last change that we are going to be better about now. Anyways, we started out for our sector and I noticed some things that reminded me of myself: Elder Kern wants to be very obedient and has been hoping and praying for an obedient companion. As we were riding the bus to the metro, he was flying all over the place with his suitcases! We dropped off his suitcases at home which we left to be unpacked later that day. We went to lunch at the Quezada family's house. E' Frost and I ate there on my first day too and just like me, Elder Kern didn't understand anything that Hermano or Hermana Quezada were saying! It was a little comical because I remember being there 4 months ago and as he told me his struggles and his despairing belief that he would never learn Spanish, I was reminded of myself and how I thought the exact same things!!! :) Haha, his legs hurt from walking all day and he was dead from the whole day's work. Anyways, I love Elder Kern, he's a good missionary, he's working hard, and we're being obedient which is all I could have asked for :)

We're working really hard with an investigator named F. We've taught him the first three lessons and he has agreed to be baptized if God helps him quit smoking. Anyways, we started focusing on that! :) He has a big smoking problem...like a BIG smoking problem! He usually smokes about 30-40 cigarettes a day and he says he can remember smoking like 60 cigarettes in a day before... It is NUTS! So, we created a plan for him to drop cigarettes each day! He agreed to the plan and we told him that the only way he can drop the habit is by reading the BofM each day, praying each day, and going to church every week. We're also calling him every day at 1:00 p.m. to check up on him. So far, Friday he smoked 6 cigarettes, Saturday he smoked 5, and we're still waiting to find out about yesterday. So far he is doing pretty good :) Haha, we're going to ask him about his wife and son and about teaching them. I was a bit nervous about it at the start but then it donned on me that this is the BEST way! Hope it goes well :D

Yesterday for Sunday School, the missionaries and the ward mission leader out here taught the ward about how to share the gospel. We taught using the talk: http://www.lds.org/ensign/2005/02/seven-lessons-on-sharing-the-gospel?lang=eng I taught the part about service. Conversion is all about feeling the spirit and recognizing it. Non-members usually don't feel the influence of the spirit because they are around a lot of non-members generally. Service is a way to bring the spirit and when there are a lot of people with the Gift of the Holy Ghost around non-members in an environment that brings the spirit, they're going to feel different...they are going to feel something good, something they want to feel again and they are going to ask members about it and right there is how we can start sharing the gospel. I would encourage you all to take the talk and read it in your families and start planning activities with your non-member friends and begin to share the gospel with them. Then call up the missionaries with a referral and help the missionaries get to know the people and help them through the process. 

Anyways, that's the basic run-down for the week! My companion and I are going to try and rock it like crazy this week! Hope it all goes well! :)

Love you all!

Elder Adam Bushman

Zone Conference: I Spy Elder Bushman....4th row (2nd from the Right)

"The missionary work of the Latter-day Saints is the greatest of all the great works in all the world."
 - Heber J. Grant

Week 24: I Alone Cannot, but with Him I CAN

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, this week has been CRAZY... Honestly, that's the only way to describe it. It's insane at how fast things change in the mission and how quick you find out that things will be A LOT different from here on out. Anyways, I'm going to start with the most crazy changes and things from this week and just go down the line:

First off, my companion and good friend Elder Frost has been transferred. He just completed a year in the mission and Friday night during a visit we got a call from President Wright. Elder Frost has been moved to a sector called La Florida 3 in the stake La Florida. He is going to be the senior companion to an Elder Deal who has one change less than me in the mission (just six weeks). President has called me to train, so tomorrow I'm going to receive my kid! I'm going to have a SON :) (It's a boy, ha!). Haha, I'm excited but nervous as well. In a few weeks we are going to get our whole posterity together to take a 4 generation photo, here's the family tree so far:ç

Elder Cofré -- Elder Frost -- Elder Bushman -- ??? 

I'll send the photo when we take it :) Also, President said that I will be serving as a district leader in my zone. Wow, that calling has brought even more humility than I had already had... Haha, honestly, I don't understand how I'm supposed to do this... My district is full of Elders who have more than a years worth of experience in the mission and I am their leader. I feel very young and incapable. I do, however, know that this is a calling from God and that He knows I can do this. I alone cannot, but with Him I can. President said, "Elder Bushman, I have a lot of confidence in you." I want to make my Heavenly Father proud of me and I'm going to do the best I can. I hope my companion is a Latino and is from Venezuela! For those of you who don't know, one of my best friends is from that country and I would love to learn more about him through a Venezuelan companion. But, I'll accept the will of God, whatever it may be. :)

So a report on the Zone Conference. The song me and my companion were supposed to do went well. I was SOOO nervous, as was Elder Frost, so we began to pray that we would invite the spirit, plany/sing well, and that people would like the song and be inspired. The song felt a bit choppy, I felt like I didn't sing as well as I could of and Elder Frost thought the same about his playing. We were both a bit down thinking about how we failed but when people started talking about how it sounded good and how we really brought the spirit, I realized that we succeeded :) After that I was content and very happy with the job we did!!

Thank you for sending me the video, unfortunately, I cannot watch any videos that aren't directly related to the Church. Anyways, I'll just wait 18 more months to watch it, it's nothing, honestly :) Thanks so much though!

Yesterday O. was confirmed a member of the church.When visiting his house afterward, his non-member mom said she felt so good during the confirmation and that she opened her eyes to see what looks like swirling light around us and she couldn't believe it. We told her that the feeling she felt was the Holy Ghost and that the light she saw might have been some outward manifestation. Anyways, she is getting a lot more interested in the Church and hopefully she will be an investigator soon. Osvaldo can't wait to turn 12 so he can receive the priesthood and pass the sacrament! :) Everything is looking up really well; I'm so very excited!!!!

Well that's all for this week, everything is good, lots of changes, but what's new, life is full of them :) Love you all, take care!

Love,

Elder Adam Bushman

 

"The servants of God have truth, and nothing but truth, to present to the world, that the world may be sanctified by the truth. The truth needeth no polish to make it lovely and desirable to those who love it." - Brigham Young

Week 23: We had our Baptism on Sunday! :) Whoohoo!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, my mom sent me a few questions through email today that I'm going to respond to, and after that I'll talk about the week and how it all went:

My siblings wanted to know if I still sing in the shower...and the answer is yes but not as much as I used to. I've forgotten so many of the songs I knew before the mission and now I just sing songs from MoTab... But the thing is that my comps don't like constant singing, so I'm dropping that... And yes, I get bugged about the mmmming. I guess it is something I need to change so ... I'll work on it! Tell Trustin to tell me where he goes when he knows! :) Tell him I'm super proud of him and that he is a stud! :D Christmas is coming soon so it won't be too long until we can all Skype! We just had lunch with a young couple in the ward and they said we could Skype there if we wanted. I think I'm going to do that, and I'll introduce you to the husband, he knows TONS of English. He could carry a conversation on EASY CHEESE! You guys would like him! :)  

Well guess what everyone ... We had our baptism on Sunday! :) Whoohoo!!! Little Osvaldo finally was able to get baptized this last Sunday. Last week we finished teaching him everything and then we set up an interview with the Zone Leaders. I was a bit nervous for him to go into the interview. I was confident that we taught him everything he needed to know but I was concerned that he would forget. My worrying wasn't helped when Osvaldo and the ZL, Elder Schwartz, came out of the room. He and Osvaldo were laughing but he turned to me with a serious face and gave the sweeping of the hand across the neck motion saying, "It didn't go well, we got to stop filling out the paper work, he can't get baptized." Fortunately afterwards he smiled and said JK before I started breathing into a brown paper bag (totally joking people, wouldn't happen!). Anyways, the worst thing was trying to find pants for him. We called everyone, searched everywhere, and got tons of pairs but it wasn't until an hour before his baptism that we were able to find pants that would fit his waist (yes he is short but he's a bit large around the middle...yeah). Anyways, he wanted me to baptize him so that was a neat experience. The water was warm and I was able to memorize his name (five separate names...HOLY). It was fantastic and we had amazing support from his family and the ward. The baptistry room was filled and there were even people out in the hall. They all congratulated him and welcomed him into the ward but the best thing was when he told us he felt happy after his baptism :D Unfortunately, I don't have my cable with me to send photos but I promise I took them and I'll send some next week!!!

Another thing that went on this week was we had a CVC or a Centro de Visitantes de la Capilla (Visitors Center for the Chapel). It was for less actives and non-members to come and learn about the church and how we do things. There were little mini tours that went on throughout the building. Elder Frost and I were dressed in white outside the baptismal font talking about baptism. By the end of the day, Elders Pagalo and Cuadros got 22 references and Elder Frost and I got 2. But it was a very successful event and the ward helped out a TON :D The youth and everybody were excited to be out on the street in front of the chapel inviting people to come inside and take a mini tour. It was so awesome and we felt the spirit so strong! I can't wait until we do it again!!!

Right now we are teaching a guy named Francisco. We contacted him in the street and he told us we could come by. Each time we did he wasn't home. We had almost given up on us but one day we decided to pass by out of the blew. We did and he was there. We found out he liked learning English so we said we would help him. We have been sharing our message and helping him with English for about a month now and he is amazing. We found out that before we talked to him he had stopped believing in God and everything. We've taught him the first 3 lessons and he is now a believer in God, wants to increase his relationship with him, and wants to quit smoking. We asked him if he would be baptized when he knows that these things are true and when God helps him quit smoking. He said he would! :) We are stoked for him! He has a wife and a son and I'm sure they would get baptized if he did :) Elder Frost and I love this guy!!! 

So those are the big things that happened this week! Thanks for everything, love you all, ciao!!!

Elder Adam Bushman


PS - YES, I got mail - 29 letters :) Haha, everyone started FREAKING out, seriously :D It was fantastic! I especially loved the Choir Tour letter! How neat! I miss Mr. Swenson, say hi to him for me!

"We say to our friends of the world, we love and admire you. We are grateful for your resolve to be righteous in an increasingly wicked world. Bring all that you have that is good and wholesome with you, and let us add to all that you have, that which we have-the fullness of the gospel and the even greater blessings that can follow unto you through membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!" - Spencer W. Kimball

Week 7: Instant Friends

(Photos Below)

Hey Family,

So I am almost out of time...sorry. But basically here's the most important things:

1. We're teaching a mom and son the lessons. They are Patricia and Vicente. We extended a baptismal invitation last night and they accepted. We got a date with them in the middle of June. Hopefully all goes well and we'll get them baptized!!! :)

2. Our area is big and ghetto. But cool! There's lots of really amazing people here and tons of work to be done. I'm excited to get down to business and begin to work and change some lives man.

3. I am so tired. This 16 hrs. everyday is wiping me out. But I am getting used to it and getting past the blisters and sore legs and fatigue. What doesn't kill ya makes you stronger...that's kinda been true out here on my mission, ahah! :)=

4. Elder Frost is awesome. He is helping me get adjusted, he is giving me opportunities, helping me with Spanish, and is just a great companion. We are supposed to work together and get work done. I am glad he wants to work and wants to make a difference and be the best missionary he can. That's my goal too! Whoot!

5. So the days before I left the MTC: I lead all of the meetings, sacrament meeting, priesthood, and devotional. Those were some of my duties as a zone leader. It was all in Spanish and kinda tough but it worked out okay. Also, Elder McGary and I did a duet, Nearer My God to Thee. We did a duet on the piano and sang together, switching off melody and tenor harmony. We killed it, it was awesome! Sister Allred, MTC president's wife, LOVED it...McGary is awesome. I have a feeling we could be comps later!

6. We have a good ward here, lots of good members...there is a bit more than 1100 members here! But on a good day, our sacrament meeting is about 80 people...shows how much work there is to be done. Elder Frost and I are gonna be busy!!! :)

7. Right now it is raining in Santiago, it's kinda cool. Different, because normally you wouldn't think of it raining in a Latin American country.

8. Elder Frost said that it is likely, very likely that we could be companions for three or more changes. So as in, companions until like September or October. He was with his trainer that long and President Wright is extending the time of companions with trainers and time with the same companion in general. I would be totally fine with that! :)

9. Here are some photos!!!! One is our whole group, the whole group and President and Sister Wright. These are the people that came into the mission. LOTS OF PEOPLE! The other one is me on the day into the mission field going to get my trainer. The other is me and Elder Frost... I don't know why it doesn't look good ... We'll get some better ones later.

Some Addendums (separate emails):

I did get the package, AMAZING! Thank you for the calendar, the hoodie, the goodies, photos, and the sweet letters! 


So about the letters. I have an hour in a half to email out here in the mission field. So I can get to pretty much everything. Send longer updates through the pouch, preferably typed letters and sent yourself because Dear Elder takes FOREVER :S Anyways, keep sending stuff through the pouch, longer updates and spiritual insights everyone has.
The new companionship is awesome! Elder Frost and I are so much alike and we became instant friends. He's teaching me a lot and he says I am teaching him which doesn't make any sense but whatever. We've already planned some stuff to do when we get back from the mission. He'll get home about October of 2014 which is about 5 months before I get back. He's awesome and we're kicking butt down here ... spiritually speaking of course ;) Our area is north east of Santiago, about 15  minutes away from down town in a ward called Consistorial. It's nice, pretty ghetto if that makes sense, haha! The first week has been a hard adjustment but very very rewarding. I really am enjoying the work here! We've been having some success and some disappointing things happen. But overall, we're doing really well. President and Sister Wright are awesome, really cool people and I like how they do things. REally cool people!!!
I'll send a bigger letter in a sec! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Elder A.B. 

Entering the Mission Field

Companions! They look more like TWINS!

Here are some photos of me and Elder Frost... This is a grafiti wall here in Santiago Chile. One of the soccer teams, Colo Colo is really big here. They are the "Crazy Indians"...both me and Elder Frost are "Colo Colinos", meaning we are big fans!!!! :)= So here is a wall for Colo Colo, our team!!!

Elder Frost

Elder Bushman

From Mom: We found out so much information this week! It is so nice that I can "talk" to him each week as I'm usually working on my computer in the morning or afternoon when he checks in. And finally, he got the package we sent! It's exciting to hear about the work and that his companion is such a blessing to him. He had to go 6000 miles away to meet the guy that lives a mile away in AF. With only 80 in Sacrament meeting out of 1500, they really have a lot of work ahead of them. I think these two Elders are going to ROCK!
 

"Get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and work." - Gordon B. Hinckley