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

He made it! First Letter...

Hello Everyone!!!

I miss you all and I wish I could see you all... Right now I am in Chile Santiago at the MTC. It's really nice weather here and I am having a pretty good time. There are lots of other missionaries, both white and chilean, so it is cool to interact with them. The flight from SLC to Atlanta was kinda boring. I sat next to a lady who drank beer and wine a lot so it was really weird. I kept thinking of you all so to keep my mind off my feelings for you all I tried to study the gospel and it took my mind off of it for a while. We arrived at the airport and we kinda just sat around. We lost one of our companions, Elder Nelson, in the airport. haha. He went off to look at a vending machine and we didn't know so we took off without him. Anyways, while waiting I talked to a guy who was fluent in Spanish and English. Interesting guy, a Mr. Schilow. We talked about Santiago, the church, and various other seemingly intellectual topics. It was an experience. Anyways, he said he'd follow your blog mom, haha!! Anyways, I was totally sad on the plane from Atlanta to Santiago. I missed my family, my home, everything I knew, everyone I knew... I missed Eliza a ton too... anyways, I wrote about it a lot in my journal. The flight was long, they served us food (yucky food mind you, don't think surf and turf). I had a decent sleep and arrived in Santiago. We traversed customs and immigration okay but we had to wait at the airport almost an hour for someone to come and pick us up. We were looking everywhere before someone came and took us to the MTC and church office building. We've been taking tours and such for the past little bit, settling in and getting ready for our stay at the MTC. I can't send photos now but I will make sure to send several of our whole company, where I'm living, the food I've got and other things. 

Love you all, I'm safe, talk to you soon! I get to write on Tuesdays so expect it then!!!

p.s. Correct my grammar... the keyboards here are terrible and not the same at all. That's the reason for the poor grammar, capitalization, etc.

From Mom: I corrected his letter as requested so you won't see the mistakes. So happy to hear from him today!!

"The first convert you want to make in this church is yourself. When you are sure you have him/her converted, then you start on somebody else."  

- Harold B. Lee