A New Start

Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 6:42 PM
Subject: A New Start

Hey everyone!!

 

I'm doing great! I hope you are as well. This week was a lot better than last so I am thankful for that. Suprisingly I actually do miss the windy dusty weather. Although I do have the heat right now. I'm glad Tanner and Dad got their cards. . . . Sounds like a good date and I'm impressed he was able to get so much for free. That's the way to do it! Haha That is SO cool that Branson got his call and that he is going to Guatemala! I'm so stoked for him! Can you please get me his mission email? And Taylor's. I want to talk to them to see how things are going. I'm excited for this transfer too! I have a good feeling about this month and in my interview with President this week he said he did too! We already get an Ensign but thanks. They actually give each companionship one every month which is nice to have a change in reading material every now and then.

Well My week wasn't to crazy but it was definitly more productive than last week thank goodness. Most of the week we just tried to drop by most people that we wanted to see so I'll give you the highlights. Tuesday was our District meeting. Wednesday we finally got to see D again although Z wasn't there. She's been working literally all day long and really hasn't had time to meet with us. We are trying to help her look for a new job through the church's work program so we will see how that goes. Please keep her and Z in your prayers. That night we saw A and R again and it is still kind of the same story. Just waiting for her mom to give her permission to be baptized. However, R has started showing somewhat of an inclination to finally come to church. We will see if we can nourish that idea and get him to come soon. I think it will happen soon. Thursday after weekly planning I got a call from the O'brien's (the music people in our ward) and she asked if I would sing in sacrament this Sunday. I said yes as long as someone could get a piano player for me and they did. So right before church on Sunday I practiced with brother O'brien and sang for sacrament yesterday "I Stand All Amazed". It went fairly well for the time we had to practice. I bobbled a few times but overall was pretty good.

Friday our Zone had interviews with President Smart which went well. It was kind of a sad moment though because that was our last interview with him since he is going home in June. I love the Smart's. They are the most amazing people I have ever met. They are so incredible and loving it's amazing. So Saturday was the best day of the week I think. We started off the morning helping a member move and the best part of the day was at 5pm. That is when the Elder's, that we share the ward with, got their investigators D and C married! It was SO cool! Bishop married them in the Relief Society room at the church. I'll have to tell you their story sometime. It's amazing. Similar to B and Ls. Who, by the way are now in Mississippi and went through Midland on their way to get there! On Sunday D was baptized and at the baptism Elder Albright and I gave a 5 minute Restoration lesson while D was getting dried off and dressed. It was a way cool baptism and President Smart even came! I am so excited for them! Oh! and before the baptism we had two dinners and the first one was a huge Poly party and there was a TON of food. I wouldn't have been suprised if it really was literally a ton. As we left they gave us a huge tray of food! It was amazing! So much for my diet right? Hahaha 

The past week the McDs have been gone to Idaho for their sons graduation from BYU-I so we've had the house to ourselves. So naturally we built a fort in our room and have been sleeping in our fort for the past few nights! Be Jealous! I also mowed their backyard this morning with the most old school mower you can think of. It took forever. I'll send a picture when I get one. Other than that I'm just enjoying my PDay today and can't wait for the new week. I hope you have a great week and get a lot done. Have fun! I love y'all!

Love,

Elder Kendell Bushman

Transfer 7

Sent: Monday, April 7, 2014 7:35 PM
Subject: Transfer 7!

Hello everyone!

 

I hope you have had a great week. This will be a small email due to the limited time I have since it is indeed transfer day. I can't believe it is here already. I am staying with Elder Albright so I am super excited about that! I know that we are going to get a ton of work done here this transfer!

General Conference was amazing! My favorite talks were Holland's and Oak's! They were amazing. There were a ton of great talks and lessons learned. I loved it all. I hope Dad and Tanner had great Birthday's and got my cards. Happy birthday you two!

That's crazy what happened with Chan and Logan. I hope they are doing alright! I'm glad you had someone to take care of them. Don't worry I am still concsious. ;) Haha I did send in the deferral letter. And bsides biking we have started a diet this week along with intense workout so we will see how that goes this week.

Other than that this week was pretty uneventful and actually pretty hard. Most everyone cancelled and it was hard to find things to do and people to see. I am stoked for this week to start. This is going to be a great transfer! I can't wait. Well I gotta go. I'll email more next week. Sorry. Hope you have a great week and stay out of trouble. Love you!

 

Love,

Elder Bushman

Another Month Gone!

Sent: Monday, March 31, 2014 7:13 PM
Subject: Another Month Gone!

Hey Everyone!!

I'm doing well! The bread is still good. It was great to get a package like that. Thanks a bunch! Sounds like you had a good week. I'm glad you got to visit Chad's grave. I miss being able to do that. 

I'm glad that you guys a great time at the Women's Conference. Congrats Chanler! That's great! That's sad to hear about Justin's mom. I hope they are doing well. That's crazy what is happening with Braden and Rachel. I hope everything is okay. I'm definitely keeping everyone in my prayers.

So this is going to be a shorter email cuz I don't have a ton of time but this is how my week went. It was a little slower again. Mostly due to the fact that we had to travel to Riverside shortly after our district meeting Tuesday afternoon for Albright's MRI. Wednesday we had a great lesson with N and S again. That night was pretty good. We got two dinners and then had a lesson with A which went well. Thursday we contacted a refferal from some Spanish missionaries and ended up picking up an awesome new family as investigators! N and her son R are awesome! They are super cool and we should be meeting her husband this week sometime. As long as he is down to take the lessons I already know that they are going to get baptized. She has already accepted the Book of Mormon as Scripture and Joseph Smith as a prophet! It is amazing to see how much the Lord has prepared this family. She has already quit smoking and there should only be small issues with drinking and coffee. I am so excited! That night we picked up another investigator named R that has been taught before and I'm looking forward to teaching her this week. Oh and we had to go back to Riverside to pay for Albright's appointments. Friday we finished our lesson with N and R since the first was a little hectic. Oh! Probably the craziest thing that happened this week was Friday night around 9 I was laying in bed and all of a sudden my bed started shaking. I looked down to see if Elder Albright was shaking the bed and then the whole room started to shake and sway from side to side! I experienced my first earthquake! It was so cool! A little scary but still super cool! I loved it! 

And then Saturday we had J...... J.....So our excitement for him has been pushed back for another month and a half back to his original date of May 23rd. I'm pretty upset about it. Everything was working out so well. Well I have to count my blessings and be happy that he is still wanting to learn and be baptized. I just wish it was sooner. So keep him in your prayers. To top off the week we didn't have anyone show up for church which was a real let down, but that's how it goes sometimes. I know that this week will be a ton better and I am super excited for the next month, transfer, and General Conference! It's going to be great!

Today has been a super good day so far. We woke up super early so that we could bike up Skyline again. Yeah I know. I can't believe I did it either. It was totally worth it though. This time it was just me, Elder Reed, and Elder Catch. We had a blast and made it up faster than last time which was a cool accomplishment. The view is amazing up there. Oh! And I didn't biff it this time! That made me super happy! Haha Afterwards we went and played some ball and shopped and now I am about to pass out. I am so exhausted. Elder Reed and I can barely walk around. We're so worn out. I'm looking forward to a nice nap in a bit once I finish emailing before PDay is over and I have to go to dinner. Well I hope you guys have a great week. Stay safe. I love you! This is God's true church. I know it is. 

Love,

Elder Bushman

Doing Work

Sent: Monday, March 24, 2014 4:57 PM
Subject: Doing Work

Hello Everyone!!!

This week has been a pretty good week! I'll tell you more in a sec. Soccer started huh? That's pretty exciting! It's gonna get busy again! Haha I'm glad Tanner is reffing. That will help a lot. I can't believe Mo Ranch is already here. That's crazy!  Good luck Logan. It's gonna be a blast. I remember when the end of seminary was close. Haha I was always jealous of those kids that let their commitment and sleep levels dwindle. Looking back though I am grateful that I went every day (even if it was because you made me). It's helped a lot. I just finished reading 3 Nephi. It blew my  mind. There is so much in that book. It was so powerful. I can't wait to read it again. I'll try to send more pictures. I know. I've been pretty bad at that. I'll get better. Promise.

So this week was a lot better than last. It really started Tuesday after our district meeting. I don't remember if I told you about N and S T. but we found them from our potential investigator list last week and came to find out that N is a super inactive member of the church already who still believes everything, just hasn't come to church since he was 14, and S is completely open to learning about the Gospel! They have a 3 year old son and a new baby. Coolest family ever. They have a big family tree on their wall and under it it says Families are Forever! She picked it out because of the tree not the saying which is so ironic. I know that they were sent to us from the Lord. We had a great get to know you lesson that afternoon and set up a time to come back that next Thursday. That night we got to go on splits with Bishop and a few High Priests and were able to accomplish a lot of work. It was a great way to strengthen our relationship with the ward. Wednesday we saw L and found out he is moving this week to Riverside and we had to sadly drop him as an investigator. It's pretty hard to do that. We went on splits again that night and Elder Albright was able to teach A and R and they are still progressing although she didn't show up for church this weekend which was a big bummer. Thursday, after weekly planning, we had a lesson with N and S in which we talked about what the Book of Mormon is and why it is so important. They both agreed to read from it and pray about the truthfulness of it. They are so cool and I can't wait to continue getting to know them and teach them more about the Restored truth.

Thursday night we had an awesome meeting with the A-R family that just moved into the ward. Their son W was baptized two years ago and wants nothing else to serve a mission when he turns 18 in two years. He is a super cool kid and has an amazing Spirit. Brother A was baptized in January and is a great man continually willing to learn and strengthen his testimony. They have a daughter that just left on a mission to Houston, Texas and I am so excited to get to know them more and work with them. Friday we got to meet with J and guess what!! He agreed to move his baptismal date up to April 6th! Although it is General Conference weekend, his girlfriend will be here to visit, his family can come, and Elder Renner (my last comp) will be able to come back once more to visit and see the baptism before he heads to Australia the next day because he just got his Visa this week!!! I'm so excited!! Things are starting to happen! After that the Grossman's from Temescal Canyon came to take us to lunch at a nice burger place called Islands. It was so nice to see them again. I miss the people there so much. It's hard to explain how much I really came to love them.

So Saturday we woke up early for another stake meeting/breakfast. It was such a pointless meeting but whatever. It's all good. They fed us and talked about using Family history in missionary work. Which is a great idea, the only problem is that they needed to teach that to the members, not to the missionaries that are already implementing it. Afterwards (we were on exchanges) we went and helped a family in the ward put laminate flooring in their garage and they fed us pizza for lunch. Then we went to a less active lady's house. She had called us and said she needed help moving some boxes in her backyard. Little did we know there was a lot more involved. We ended up moving around a spider infested fridge, washer, and drier, organizing the trash and bags that had been just thrown in the yard, and then raking up the loose green waste. I've never felt so dirty in my life. It really made me appreciate the way I was raised and Although I am glad we could serve her, I was super happy to get out of the backyard. It was bad. But because of it she came to church yesterday and should be coming a lot more often so it was definitely worth it all. The rest of the day I biked around with Elder Cochran in his area. Sunday finished it off with nothing too special. 

So all in all it was a pretty good week. We are focusing on getting the ward and it's leaders more involved which has been difficult but I know we can do it. Keep us and our area in your prayers please. Especially my comp Elder Albright. We are going to Riverside tomorrow to get him an MRI for his knees that might both be pretty messed up. Well I hope you all have a great week! The Gospel is true. I testify that it is. I love you!

Love,

Elder Bushman