Second Week in California

Sent: Monday, August 12, 2013 3:33 PM
Subject: Re: Happy Second Week!

Hello Everyone!

Parking lotting went a lot better but still no one to teach from it. I'm glad to hear you got the pictures from president Smart. Our companionship is free from sickness now and we are doing great! Elder Carboneau is awesome. We get along so well and work great together.We haven't changed apartments yet but will most likely change within the next week and a half. The weather is great and we haven't run out of water or electricity so that's good. I'll have to brag to Savannah and Taylor when we all get home. ;) I'll let you know the address once we move. I haven't gotten any letters from you guys since the package at the MTC but we haven't checked mail today yet. Brian and Louretta got baptized yesterday! They had to be interviewed by President for some serious things but in the end we baptized them!!! It was wonderful. That would be awesome if you guys would pray for our investigators.

I'm glad you got most of the shopping done for school. I remember how crazy that is. Seminary will be great for you. I am so excited for you. Oh and I am sending you guys a letter today also so you can time that too. I'm so happy to hear that the Martinez's got to go to the temple. Tell them congrats for me and I love them. They truly are a wonderful family. Let me know dad if Javier gets any more ideas for work. We still get to go to the temple once every 3 months! So our first trip is this Thursday! We are taking a 11 man van so all the elders in our zone are going to ride together to the Redlands temple. I'm so excited. There are so many new things going on! To hear about the Lubbock Mission is super exciting! Just so you know, from my just two weeks experience, the members are way more important than the missionaries in missionary work. As wiered as that sounds it is totally true. I'm glad you guys had Kaitlyn over. It's good to hear that her and Sarah have been doing things together. I hope I get to see some pictures in my next letter of you guys, Jasher, and KayDee. That's awesome that the Gray's are back now! I'm glad you guys got out to the neighborhood. Too bad it rained but I bet it was nice.

Thank you for sending stamps. I can't wait to get them because I only have a few left. I figured Nana and Papa were staying so that is awesome to hear that they really are! They are such good examples to all of us. I got a letter from them a few days ago and wrote them back. I don't think I can print off my emails. Until I find out that would be great if you printed them off for me. Thank you. Don't forget to write me once a week. Letters are like the best thing of a missionaries day so please dont forget.

So my week went like this. Sunday my companion was still sick so for dinner he stayed at the Grossmans while their son Jessie went with me to go contacting and to dinner. Oh just so you know my first two weeks apparently are not normal for a missionaries first two weeks. First week my companion gets sick and we get kicked out of two parking lots. Sunday I contacted and went to dinner alone with a priest. So Monday was even crazier. Don't worry. None of this was bad. I'm having a blast. It's just not the norm for missionaries. So Monday our PDay started with doing service for the entire morning which we never do on PDay. Next at 6 we go on exchanges. So I went with another greeny to his area on bike for that night and the entire next day. Then during the day on Monday a fire started on the mountain that I was on exchanges in. So all of our plans went out the window because everyone was being evacuated and so we just biked up and down the streets asking everyone if they needed any help. For a good hour we helped an investigator hose down his home that was on the side of the street. We watched the fire climb down the mountain. It was so COOL! We were within a mile from the fire before most of it was put out. It was an awesome experience. We helped a lot of people and now the whole area knows we were out there helping. Because of the fire being basically across the street from our home we stayed the night with other elders. So it was 6 elders in one home! Even more unusual. Tuesday morning during our studies, the homeshare fell off his ladder in the garage below us and was bleeding from his head. We gave him a blessing and wrapped him in towels until the ambulence came. He was more worried that we shut the grage door than getting the bleeding to stop. I was queasy the whole time. We had a powerful district meeting afterwards and then Elder Baker and I rode around the area and found some awesome potential investigators. Tuesday night we went back to our normal companionships. Wednesday was a slow day but we taught Brian and Louretta. Our problem with them was we couldnt get jumpsuits big enough for Brian. He is 6 foot 6 and over 360 pounds. Big guy. I have pictures from the baptism. Thursday was their interviews and Friday was our missionary interviews with President Smart. We were there from 9 to 3. Because Brian and Louretta had to be interviewed too. It took forever. We have been trying to talk to as many less active members as we can. We need referrals. This next week all we are going to be doing is finding people to teach. Luckily Friday night the ward went to the SanDiego Temple and our Bishop got a 5X suit for Brian. When we showed it to him we were still scared it was going to be too small. Saturday night was our ward party which was great and then we went to Pie night at this awesome 70 year old man's home. Bill is hilarious. We were laughing the rest of the night. Yesterday was the baptism. It was awesome. We got a Samoan man in the ward, Joe Morris, to do the baptizing since no one else is big or strong enough. I have never seen 700 pounds of man in a font at one time. It was literally almost too small to fit them both in. We are so excited for them. Brian is talking to Bishop next week about getting the priesthood and hes excited about the idea of being able to baptize his 5 year old twins when they ar eold enough. They will be confirmed next Sunday. They are awesome people and I am so glad I got to be a part of their conversion. Today is Pday. We've already gone shopping and are at the church playing ball and just having a good time together as a zone. I love it here. The work is great and so is the ward. The gospel is so true. I know it and I'm beginning to learn how to truly live and become it.The Spirit is so strong. Later today we are doing some service and this week I go on two more exchanges. I'm super excited.

I love you guys. Don't forget to write me each week and email once in a while. I can't wait to hear again from you. Stay strong and live the gospel. Let the Spirit guide you.

Love,

Elder Bushman