Sept 29, Okay It's Not Really October....Is It?

Sent: Monday, September 29, 2014 6:28 PM
Subject: Okay It's Not Really October....Is It?
 

Hello all Y'all!!!

It's great to hear from you! And way to go Lee! Good job Tanner and Logan! Due Logan way to be and get 2nd chair!That is so sick! I'm stoked for you! And Tanner if you get to take someone else's spot work hard and you can be right there with him! You guys are doing awesome! Can you send me the names and chairs of everyone that made it? That's awesome that Kenzie is getting more into the singing thing! I'm excited to see what everyone is like when I get home. It sounds like you are all changing and growing a lot. Especially Chan with his Spanish, chess, and yearbook interests. I love and miss you guys so much. I do remember us trying a little bit to memorize that. I don't have all of JSH 1:15-20 but I do have the First Vision portion down. I absolutely love quoting that in lessons! Nothing else brings the spirit more than those words recounted by the boy Prophet Joseph Smith! Good luck with that and I'll try to remember to ask you about it every now and then. I hope McKenzie is feeling better. That's too bad she had to miss the Conference. It seems like there were some great topics talked about. That's a lot of damage done at the Scout Camp! I'm sure they needed all the help they could get. Isn't it great to know Dad is such a great guy that he would go out there to help?! What a great example for the rest of us! So I can't believe October is really here already. This is my last Halloween on the mission! That blows my mind. What's even crazier is that depending on when Logan puts his papers in I might not see him for 4 years!! I don't know how much I actually like real life starting. Haha It's crazy!

Well this week was a pretty decent week. Tuesday we had a super long service project helping a member move. Wednesday I emailed you and we had our first District Meeting of the transfer. I have three companionships besides Hoyt and me in my district. 2 sets of elders and 2 of sisters. It's weird having a bigger group but I think I'm gonna like it a lot more. I will be able to have more conversations and others involved. It'll be good. That night a member took us out to Sizzler's (a steak place) that was super good. Thursday was when the real good work started. We stopped in on E- and had a short meeting with her. She seems like there is a lot of potential for her to accept what we have to share. She's been looking a church lately and I told her this is the one she's been looking for. After dinner that night we got dropped off at the C--'s home (family in our ward) who's daughter's boyfriend, D--, has been coming to church for the past 3 weeks and finally accepted to take the lessons. So we got to teach him the first lesson. It was a rough start. Because of all the service and random things that kept poking up this week in the mornings we hadn't been able to study as effectively as we should have and we could feel the difference. And Elder Hoyt was really struggling that whole day. He has a stuttering problem that stops him from teaching as clearly as he wants to which means I usually take over the lesson once he starts having a hard time getting his point across. In this case Brother C-- was able to step in and help and get D-- to understand what we were trying to put across to him and after that point we both said a prayer in our hearts and were able to bring the Spirit in and invite him to be baptized after which he said yes! It will be the third week of October if everything goes well. I learned a lot from that lesson. No matter what, we are going to make sure we study every day. After the lesson we drove to the church and Elder Hoyt asked me to give a him a blessing to help with his stuttering. It was a very very special, spiritual moment during which I know without a doubt that God spoke to him through me and there is no way I would have known to say what I did unless I had been listening to the spirit. The Priesthood is real. I testify of it's power and authority. It is the power and authority of God given to us and I am so grateful that I have the blessing, privilege, and responsibility of holding that precious gift. I finished and with tears streaming down his face Elder Hoyt embraced me with a huge hug and said "That was beautiful." We grew a lot together that night. I will never forget that experience. And I testify that because of his faith and the words that came from God through that blessing, Elder Hoyt has already begun to be more confident and talk mush more easily. After Nana and Papa sent me a letter in which it talked about using your Priesthood instead of just holding it, I have truly started to understand just how much power and trust Heavenly Father has give me by letting me use His Holy Priesthood. We can perform miracles. We can heal those that are sick. We can make the blind see, the lame to walk, and raise the dead! We literally and truly do ALL THINGS if we but have faith in our Savior Jesus the Christ. He has given us the tools to do so! Never again will this power be taken from the Earth!

Saturday we did some more service, this time weeding the yard of an older couple in the ward.  Sunday was slow to begin with. At church D-- and I-- came to church and really enjoyed it. We will be meeting with D--  again on Thursday this week. At church Brother L-- invited us over for dinner and a lesson with I-- which we were expecting. As soon as church was over we went home and prayed and studied and role played for our lesson with I--. We knew we wanted to focus on baptism with her and help her understand it  and right before we went over we knelt down and prayed to know what day we should invite her to be baptized on. It came down to the 12, 18, or 19. After our prayer Elder Hoyt said that he felt really good about the 12 and so I said okay lets do it! Dinner was really good. Brother L-- is a great cook. We had steak! Oh by the way, this is probably important to know haha....Brother L-- proposed to I--  on Saturday!!! They are gonna get married soon! We talked with them and I think it will be this October! I'm am so excited for them and you can just see how happy they are together! It's awesome! And what's even better is about to come. So beforehand I told Hoyt that this was his time to really lead the lesson. I wasn't going to start it. It was all him. And he did a really good job! I was impressed. I had also told him that when it was time to invite her to be baptized I was going to tap his foot and he was going to be the one to invite her. Well we explained everything and she really started understanding and you could just tell she wanted to commit. So when the Spirit said to, I tapped Hoyt's foot. In my mind I expected him to do the normal thing and lead into the invite cuz it was in the middle of our discussion. Obviously that was not what was going through his head though. Instead he looked at I--  and said (with only a slight stutter, "I--....will you be baptized on October 12th?" I have to admit my heart dropped a bit and I was so scared! Haha It was so abrupt that it caught not only me but everyone else of guard and we all looked at I-- to see what her response would be. She took a moment and then said that she wanted to be baptized but couldn't on the 12th because she has work. Then she said that she would have the next weekend off. I looked at Hoyt trying to give him the look that would say "Then invite her to be baptized on the 19th!" Well he was already there and right on top of it. And as we sat there in silence waiting, I could see the Spirit change her countanence and as a smile crept onto her face she said "Yes I will be baptized on the 19th!!!" I tell you what I was so happy and so excited as was Elder Hoyt! We got into the car and the first thing he said was "Can we go to the church I need to use the bathroom." He had gotten so excited that he almost peed his pants!! Haha We were on top of the world that night and we will be meeting with them again Friday afternoon to teach the rest of the lessons to her! I love it! I feel like the Savior did with the love that I have grown for I-- and Brother L---. They are just amazing people and there is nothing like being able to be a part of the Spiritual changes in someone's life towards Jesus Christ! 

We celebrated that night by playing mini pool at our apartment and just having a great time! I am so looking forward to this week! It's going to be great! I hope that you all have a wonderful week and really try to make the difference in someone else's life each day wherever you are. Keep up the great work! Practice Practice Practice Logan, Tanner, and Kenzie. Good Luck! I love you guys!

Love,

Elder Bushman