Transfer #10 Aug 11

Sent: Monday, August 11, 2014 3:11 PM
Subject: Transfer #10

Hey Everybody!!! 

I hope you had a great week. We sure did! It was super super busy and a little chaotic towards the end but I think it was a great last week of the transfer. I'm glad you figured everything out for the slide show. That's going to be a great party tonight! I'm a little jealous. I can't believe school is starting so soon. Have fun with your last few weeks. That's cool that Bro Rynearson came for a little while. They are so cool. I miss them. That's awesome that Abi and Brother Dent got to do that trip. That's so cool to hear!

Well I have a lot to share from this week so hopefully I can get it all in before my time is up. Monday we had dinner with Bishop Barney after our PDay and got to chat with him a little bit about the work in the ward which was good. Tuesday started the business of the week. Tuesday morning we left to go to the temple again! It was absolutely amazing. I learned a lot this time around and I already can't wait to go again. I never want to leave the Celestial Room. I wish I could stay there all day long. After the temple we had our traditional Cafe Rio trip for lunch and then got the chance to go to the CTR Bookstore close by. And I saw some CD's that I really would love to have but didn't have the money to get them. I could really use a little bit of a change in music. (hint hint. wink wink)  Anyways...Wednesday we had DDM which went great and I got super pumped for my district for this month. Afterwards we had a lesson with A and E. We helped them realize that they are ready for baptism and they did great! Thursday we had to go to Riverside for a reason that has a story too long to tell and get some stuff for our truck. Everything is all good now. Afterwards we took Z with us again to a lesson with C. I don't remember if I told you about her and her husband M S. I think I did. But yeah it started off another bash and got a little tense for a while, but we were able to turn it around as I realized I needed to start testifying more and by the end she had felt the Spirit and although she still doesn't agree with us, wants to learn more and invited us to dinner this week and is allowing us to share a lesson with her and M. So we will see what happens. Friday we had Free Food Friday (it started back up) and then A and E had their interviews and they totally passed! That night was the Stormin' Mormon Baseball Game. 

The Stormin' Mormon Game actually happens all over the country apparently and this year we got permission from President Mullen to go! The game is obviously centered around Mormons and it's essentially Mormon night at the Baseball stadium. The church got discounts on tickets and the stake presidency threw the first pitch. And yes I had a role in the opening of the game as well like that text from Sister Ragle said. She was in charge of my role. So the other night I got a call from Bro Valenzuela from our Bishopric asking if I was going to be at the game. When I said yes he handed the phone to one of the members of the Stake Presidency he was with who then asked if I would be willing to do a 60 second interview at the game to explain who I am and what we as missionaries are here to do. So after some ticket chaos and us arriving a little later than planned (but still thankfully in time) I was given a microphone and they had all of us missionaries walk onto the field and I spoke for us all about what missionaries are all about. It was pretty dang cool! Throughout the game all the little games that happen in between innings were done by missionaries. It was a blast and a great way to help end the transfer! Saturday morning we did some service for the L family by helping them clear out their garden of all the weeds and unwanted plants. At church Brother L told us that when he took it all to the dump it had added up to 1,540 pounds!! They treated us to Little Caesars pizza afterwards for our help. 

Sunday was super busy too. I had to prepare a lesson I taught in Gospel Principles at church. yesterday was also M's farewell talk. he left this morning for his mission. I'm gonna miss him. It was a blast getting to know him and having him come out with us to teach. He gave a great talk on Sunday and is so ready to be a missionary. After church we had the Baptism for A and E! Other than me accidentally forgetting to change the date and spell E's name right on the program, it went great! (I thought it was E oops) I got to baptize E and Elder Tui'one baptized A. It was a great moment in my life and in theirs. They are so amazing and I am so excited for them! After the baptism we headed straight to the Ps for M's farewell party and spent the rest of the night there just having a good time with everyone there. 

So today begins my 10th transfer. I can't believe I am in the double digits now! It's so crazy. So we had transfer calls on Saturday and let me tell you...President Mullen turned the mission upside down and changed just about every companionship in the mission! It's a good thing I think. I think it will help kick the mission back into gear and get us rolling again. Anyways Saturday morning we got a call from President Mullen and Elder Tui'one was asked to be a trainer! I'm excited for him and sad that we wont be comps at the same time. Then he handed the phone to me...... President Mullen was still on the phone and asked me to continue in my calling as District Leader. And then he asked me to train! I'm gonna train this transfer!!!! I'm so excited! I have wanted to train for a super long time and I get the chance now! At the same time I'm also a little scared, nervous, and stressed because of all the responsibility President has given me. It will require a lot of prayer and obedience on my part but I know that this is going to be a great experience for me! Now all I'm worried about is if my greenie is going to be like Elder Calhoun from the Best Two Years! ;) Haha I'm stoked! So other than that, after our bonfire with the other elders in the zone Saturday night we got the calls to know where everyone is going. I am staying here and Elder Carbonneau is still living with me. Elder Tui'one and Sweeney are going to Lake Elsinore. And Elder Folau is going to my last area in the Prado View Ward! I'm excited to see the work that he gets done there that I wasn't able to do. Maybe he'll have an effect on Brother M!

This is going to be a great transfer and there's a lot to happen soon. I'm going to pick up my new companion at the Trainer/trainee meeting in Riverside tomorrow and the new transfer will officially begin for me! Please continue to send your prayers this way. I'm going to need them. 

I hope you all have a great week and I'm excited to hear about the changes in the Stake next week. Hopefully everyone gets their work done this week so you can all enjoy your last weeks of summer! I can't wait to hear from you again and tell you about how my first week with a new comp/greenie and new district (of only sisters) goes! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Bushman

And August Begins - Aug 4

Sent: Monday, August 4, 2014 2:29 PM
Subject: And August Begins

Hello Everybody!!! 

I hope your week was pretty good. Ryan got married?! Good for him! Tell Tanner he better get working on his Eagle. Otherwise it wont happen. I know I'm preaching to the choir though. ;) That's so cool that Sabrina's family was baptized!!! Tell them congrats for me. I'm glad Kenzie had a good time at the volleyball camp. Good luck with the Musuem! Let me know what happens with the Stake Conference. 

This week was pretty good for us. Some good and some disappointment. We took out Z and M most of the week. They are two young men preparing to go on their missions. Tuesday I got a break from training since we didn't have District Meeting due to our Zone Meeting on Friday. Wooo! Tuesday was a pretty good day. We met with A again and this time her daughter E joined us for another great lesson! We taught most of lesson 4 and then had the plan to go over plan of salvation with E but that didn't go as planned. Because she already knew it! A had taught her  at home everything we taught her already and when we said we wanted to go over that lesson E almost quoted everything the lesson has to teach! It was so cool! She is one of the smartest 9 year olds I've ever seen!

The disappointment of the day/week was when we called S to schedule our next meeting and she told us due to everything that is going on right now she wants to focus on finding a job and postpone the baptism until she is ready. There wasn't much we could do so hopefully she comes around soon. It's hard for people to realize how much the Gospel will really help them if they don't have it already. She'll come back though. Wednesday I was on exchanges with Elder Moyer, one of my zone leaders, and we had a bomb day where we got 7 lessons and had another great lesson with E and A. They are so ready to be baptized! Thursday was a long day. We were volunteered by the other elders in our ward to do some service with them at  6 in the morning on a five acre plot of land! Not too happy about that but oh well. It was a good 5 hours of work and I know  that Brother G really appreciated it. Plus he bought us tacos afterwards and watermelon. Who can say no when there is food involved? Any ways Friday and Saturday were kind of our slow days this week. We were able to meet with A and E both days though and that made my day each time. Every time we come out of a lesson with them I am so happy! I love it! Something I learned over again this week also is that there is absolutely no point in bashing. While we were OYMing at Walmart on Friday a man approached me (which was my first sign that that's all he wanted to do was bash) and began to explain how he thought that the Book of Mormon was false and all these other things that if he had sat down for a few minutes and listened to himself he would have realized just how wrong and little sense he made. However, although I had an answer to every one of his statements and questions, and no matter how right I was, the argument had driven the Spirit away and he was not listening to anything I had to say. Finally I just walked away with the repeated notion that 1) Bashing never solves anything and 2) He strengthened my testimony with the knowledge that my beliefs don't come from physical evidence or science. But they are just that...a belief. A faith. I my faith is stronger than anything anyone can throw at me. I know that this church is true and I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and restored not only Christ's one and true church, but he also restored the Priesthood. The Authority and Power of Almighty God! And that is our message to the world as members and missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! What a beautiful message. I love it! I love being a Mormon and I love being a missionary! This is the work of the Lord and there is nothing else like it! 

Saturday started off with another morning of service moving some furniture for a lady in the ward. During our lesson with A on Friday she showed us around the Mortuary which was pretty cool and creepy at the same time. haha Our lesson on Saturday was at the church and we showed them the baptismal font and helped them understand just exactly what the baptism would be like so now E isn't so scared. And guess what?!! Elder Tui'one and I are both going to baptize them! A asked if we could each baptize one of them! I'm so excited! It's such a wonderful feeling to know that I have the chance to perform the ordinance of baptism to help one of God's children make that step through the Gate towards their salvation! I love it! their baptism will be this next Sunday right after church! Sunday A and E came to church but had to leave after sacrament cuz E wasn't feeling well. Sadly I did not come. Not sure why yet but Brother l said not to worry. She is still interested and wants to continue learning. So we will see what happens this week. S was busy this week so he did not come to church and wants to meet with us this week. More updates to come next week. 

Well that's about it. I hope you have a great week and stay safe. Good luck with all the back to school stuff! And keep up the awesome missionary work! Can't wait to hear from you guys! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Bushman 

What Happened to July? July 28, 2014

Sent: Monday, July 28, 2014 4:47 PM
Subject: What Happened to July?

Hey everyone!!! 

I hope you had a great week. I haven't gotten your email yet so I'm just going to write my part and hopefully soon I hear from you before I have to go. This week was pretty good. We were able to teach a lot of lessons this week and had some progress on our investigators. I can't believe it is already the end of July and the downward slope of time is already happening. Does anyone know how to stop time or reverse it yet? I wish. Two more weeks and this transfer is over too! That's so crazy!

Well Tuesday was District Meeting and right after we had our first lesson with A. A....what do I say about A...well she has to be one of the most prepared people ever to receive the Gospel! A was a referral from the Spanish sister missionaries. She walked into their sacrament meeting four weeks ago and after another week of going to their ward she decided she preferred to attend an English ward which meant she was to be taught by us! She has a 9 year old daughter named E who we met yesterday at church. A has a co-worker that lives in Riverside and works in Lake Elsinore that is a member and he is the one that introduced her into the church. The cool thing about A is that...wait for it....we teach her at her work which is.....a mortuary! Yeah that's right, we walked in for our first appointment with her and as she took us to her office there were coffins and earns all over the place! It was kinda creepy but really cool at the same time! Haha So yeah we teach her there and have been able to do so twice this week (one of those we took one of the kids from church and you should have seen his face when we told him where our lesson would be!) Tuesday we taught the Restoration to her and she understand and accepted everything! To tell you a little of how amazing our lesson was with her, to start off she forwarded all calls coming in to a different room so we wouldn't be disturbed. As we got to the Book of Mormon part she gave her testimony of how she had already received a witness that it was true and then we asked her if she would be baptized and without hesitation she accepted the day of August 10th! What made that even better was as I was giving her an explanation of the chapter we had left her to read, she tore out a piece of paper and wrote down the chapter and underneath that she wrote "August 10th-baptism" Wooooo! She is amazing! Amy has such a great testimony and desire to learn more. To end the lesson we asked her to pray and after a moment of hesitancy and a little fear she started to pray. In the middle of the prayer THE PHONE STARTED RINGING! The same one she transferred at the beginning of the lesson all the calls. Satan is good at what he does. But not good enough for A. After she finished the prayer amidst the phone ringing, and her picking it up and hanging up and it still ringing again, we looked at us and said "That didn't feel right. Can I do it again?" Tui'one and I looked at each other with a big grin and said yes of coarse you can pray again. Her prayer was beautiful and heartfelt. She is so ready to be baptized and accept the Gospel! We had a great second lesson with her on Friday during which we taught her the Plan of Salvation and Word of Wisdom. It went well and she accepted to live the WoW. She drinks coffee and a lot of it so that will be her one challenge as she prepares to be baptized but we have been reminding her every morning not to make or drink any and so far she has been able to withstand the temptation and do so without the headaches she thought she would have! She enjoyed church on Sunday and so did E. Our ward seemed to really accept them so I'm super excited for her and E!!!

Wednesday we stopped by M S's house and met with just his wife, C. We brought a team up with us again and he experienced his first bash. C is the member but is against the church and so as we got to the part in our conversation that included the Gospel she immediately began to throw anti at us. I've never been so calm in a bash before and we were able to, by the end of the meeting, turn it into a teaching opportunity and although she might not admit it yet, she has the desire to learn and understand the truth. There is a lot of potential and this week we hope to meet with them both again. We had a lesson with S W that day as well. When I was on splits with Bishop the other week he agreed to take the lessons and so we taught him the first lesson and he committed to be baptized on the 10th as well! Sadly He didn't come to church though and so we will have to push his date back. But he'll get there. He seems like a good kid (21) and we'll see his progression soon. That night we met S at the church for a lesson. S is the one that showed up at church saying she wants to be baptized. We walked into the chapel and you could tell she immediately felt the calm, peaceful, feeling of the Spirit. Our lesson of the Restoration went very well. Just as good as A's and S agreed to be baptized on the 3rd!!! We met with her again on Saturday and taught Lesson 3 and the Word of Wisdom. We found out that she smokes and drinks coffee, but as we taught her she expressed her testimony of how the Lord helps us give things up in our lives and he has done it for her multiple times already and she knows and has the faith that she can give it all up before her baptism this Sunday. I know she can too. I've been praying and fasting for her and I know she will get baptized when she needs to be. If she is not ready this week I know she will be by the 10th. Friday we had our individual interviews with President Mullen! It was really great to talk with him about his expectations for me, gain some advice from him, and talk about our connections to home with each other! He's a great man and I am so excited to serve under his council and direction. As we waited turns for our interviews, we got to sit in the waiting room with Sister Mullen and talk some and get to know her more as well! She is awesome! She reminds me a lot of Nana Bushman. And according to her I still have the Bushman looks! ;)  Saturday night was our Stakes Pioneer Day and we got to enjoy a band and some "normal" music for a little while which was a lot of fun! Sunday was a great day and we were able to end our week off with high hopes for this coming week! 

If all goes well this week S will be baptized and we will get to meet with Brother L's girlfriend, I again and make some steps with B as well. I hope you guys have a great week and enjoy it since school is going to start soon! I can't wait to hear from you again! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Bushman

One Year - July 21, 2014

Sent: Monday, July 21, 2014 5:19 PM
Subject: One YearHey Everyone!!!!

 

So after this trip is the summer traveling over? You guys have gone everywhere this summer it seems like! I'm glad your drive up went so well. Tell Grant and Branson I say hi if you are still there when you get this. It would be cool to have Branson's email. If you can, try to get it for me please. I'm so glad that Sis Greathouse is doing well and the funeral did also. I'm so excited that Pres Zant is now officially part of the family! haha That's awesome! It's good to hear you haven't forgotten your mission plan. Things will be back to normal soon once school starts. 

Well this week was a super good week! One of the best I've had in a while. Mostly because we were able to get so much done. Monday started our week off with a normal PDay. Tuesday started off the week really. I trained on the standard of excellence and focusing our weeks on hitting that mark of 20 lessons, 7 member present lessons, and 4 investigators at church each week. It was good and I hope that the elders will take it to heart and we can see the success in our areas improve. Something cool that happened that day is we all did a special fast for one of the elders we serve with. I think it was Monday when this elder tweaked his knee pretty bad. So bad that he could barely walk on it and it now pops in and out of place. He's pretty stubborn though and refused to get it checked out until we basically forced him to do so. Keep in mind that a year ago or so, he tore his ACL in this same knee and was still somewhat recovering from his previous injury. The results were that he tore his meniscus, and another tendon in his knee that I forget the name of. After talking to the mission nurse we found out that he had a very big chance of having to go home to have surgery and recover there before he could come back out. It would have been a long process and he didn't want that at all. So he asked us to fast with him this last Tuesday. Before DDM he asked for a blessing and then went to his appointment with a surgeon to see what would need to be done. He came back from that visit later that day and told us that the surgeon could find nothing wrong with his leg. His knee was okay and there was nothing wrong with it anymore. WOW. If that doesn't give you a testimony of faith and fasting then I don't know what will. It was a pretty amazing experience and I will never forget it. I know and testify that fasting brings miracles to those who do so in faith and with true righteous purpose. 

Tuesday afternoon we had a short lesson with B and her family about reading the Book of Mormon. It went well but I wish we would have been able to talk with her more. We visited our ward mission leader's (Bro P) home that night and as we were leaving he brought up a 13 year old brother of some recent converts that is not baptized and asked if he could come with us to see him and invite him, K, to church and mutual. Of coarse we said yes and went by. K is a really cool kid. His older two sisters were baptized about a year ago but he was not due to his dad not giving permission. It was a good first meeting and later on Friday night we were able to stop by and give him a Book of Mormon and found out later that right after he left he called the Ps and told them that he wants to take the lessons from us! So cool! So as long as his dad gives the okay then we are going to start teaching K soon! Oh and Tuesday marked the last day we had to go to Bradley Auto Shop! (hopefully for good) Wednesday we visited a part member family. the only member is the dad, B, and his oldest son D. His wife is not and the only child on the ward list was their 12 year old daughter M. When we went by we were surprised to find that they have another boy, R (8), and daughter, A (9). We approached B and as the conversation went along we asked if they would be interested in coming back to church. B you could tell was not really interested. Nice guy, just not interested. His kids however, as soon as they heard me say church, all started to get excited and M looked at B and said "Daddie, I want to go to church. It's fun." I heard that and got super excited. But we still had to go through the parents which in this case let us down. he asked us to come back later in the week after he had the chance to talk to his wife about it. When we went back Sunday night we had a really good conversation with him alone and learned a lot about him and his personal history. Sadly he and his wife are not willing to let their children explore the Gospel right now. I left that meeting feeling sad for him and his children. There are so many people in this world that don't have the blessings of the Gospel in their life and don't know their Savior Jesus Christ or their Father in Heaven. That is why it is so important for us to open our mouths everywhere and at anytime. The world needs us. Our brothers and sisters need us to share the Gospel with them and although they might not know it, they are crying out to us for help to find the truth. It's our duty to help. I've gained an even stronger testimony of that this week. 

Thursday was a super good day. We met with the K's agian, although B wasn't there. And were able to teach J the third lesson. We aren't sure how solid he is though and we might have to drop him soon seeing how he keeps missing appointments and hasn't come to church yet even though he says he will every time. We had some bomb chicken tacos for dinner that night and then contacted a former investigator Se V. He told us he would call sometime and let us know if we could come back so we will see how that goes. Friday we went to contact a referral and realized the name was in our ward list as a part member family as well! We had tried there before but the gate was always closed and we didn't have a number to call. This time, the gate was open. We knew it was for a reason. We drove through and I'll tell you what I've never seen a drive way that long. It had to have been a quarter mile long. Anyways, pulling from around the trees we pull up to a super nice home. And after Elder Tui'one coaxing me into getting out of the truck with a few dogs around barking and growling at us, we made it to the door and the most amazing thing happened....No one was home. Haha Just kidding! Instead one of the nicest men I have ever met opened the door, asked how we were doing, and without giving us time for introductions invited us into his home and gave us a nice cold glass of water. As we began to talk with M we found out that his wife is a less active member, they were married by the Bishop a year or two ago, and right now they attend Harvest (a huge Christian/born again church out here). His wife C is not too fond of the church right now and as we talked we found that M wants to be a member and has for a long time due to the LDS people that have worked with him for so long and their examples to him. But we have to, as he put it before we left, "work on my wife first." This week we plan to do just that and see what happens. I am super excited to find out what happens. Saturday was our slowest and most boring day of the week. We found no one home and weren't able to get any lessons. Sunday was probably my favorite day of the week. Funny how that happens on a mission. Saturday becomes the most boring day and Sunday becomes the best! Haha 

Our dinner that day was Brother L. Remember he is the one that we had an awesome lesson with him and his niece at dinner about a week or two ago? Well That morning we asked when we come come for dinner and he responded saying "5 works. I'm bringing my girlfriend I to church today. First Lesson after dinner?" I'm telling you that is music to a missionaries ears! Our response was "Yes! Of course! We'll be there." We had a great sacrament meeting. One of the members gave a, what I would call, general conference worthy talk, I taught Gospel Principles again (lesson was on fasting, go figure), and at dinner we found out that Ivette really liked church. She had a lot of great questions for us and afterwards we were able to teach her the message of the Restoration. It was great and Brother L is a boss at teaching and testifying as well. When Baptism was brought up she was a little hesitant, but agreed to work towards being baptized on August 10th! I'm super excited for her. And what's great about I is that she isn't doing this just for Brother L. She is genuinely interested and wants to know the truth. To top off our week, besides getting 21 lessons and 7 of them being member presents!, we had one of those super cool missionary miracles happen to us at church. You know, one of those experiences that you hear missionaries talk about and you hope that it will one day happen to you? Well my day finally came! A woman named Sa B showed up to church yesterday. She, like I thoroughly enjoyed church and actually spoke up in class. After church was over, one of the members grabbed me and pulled me over to talk with her and said she wants to talk to you guys. I looked at her and she said " I want to take the missionary lessons so I can get baptized" I held in the desire to jump up and down with joy and tried to contain myself as we set up a time to begin meeting with her. What a miracle. Another week full of answers to prayers and fasts and studies. 

I am so excited for this week to come. I can't wait to see what happens with all of these people we have been able to meet and begin teaching. I love it. I can't believe that I hit a year this last Thursday! It's been so short and so long at the same time. I have grown more and learned more in this one year than I ever thought was possible. I was able to make some new goals and changes to my missionary life and work and desire. I can't wait for this year. It's going to be absolutely amazing. Thank you for all of your support and prayers on my behalf. I pray that you can find the same joy I have found, by helping someone come unto the fold of the Lord Almighty. I love this Gospel. I love my mission. I love my Savior. I love my Father in Heaven. I love my family. I know the things that I am teaching are true. 

I hope you have a wonderful week and stay safe as you have some of your final fun before school starts. I can't wait to hear from you again! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Blaine Kendell Bushman

This Weeks Theme: Truck Drama-- 7 14 2014

Sent: Monday, July 14

   Hello everyone!!

I'm glad you so enjoyed your uneventful week! Haha I bet Dad really appreciated all the help at work you gave him. That tree-less  tree house sounds like a great idea! That would be such a fun project! I'm sorry to hear about Brother Greathouse. He did have a great, long life. I'm glad that Sister Greathouse is doing well. And I'm sorry to hear about President Zant as well. That's terrible. He has such an amazing testimony and outlook on life and the Gospel. I love the message he sent through his letter. I will continue to keep him in my prayers. Miracles can always happen.

Well this week was a pretty good week for us. Monday night we blitzed our area with the other set in our ward and were able to pick up a new investigator named R who was a refferral from some other missionaries. He can only meet on Monday's and Tuesday's due to working the rest of the week in Fantana. But after our lesson with him tonight we should know how muc potential he has and how serious he is about learning. I'm excited! Tuesday was another District Meeting and it started our vehicle drama for the week. So if you remember, the truck we have now, we just traded for the other week with some other missionaries. Which I understand now means, we have to deal with all of the problems with it now. There's only about 10,000 miles left on it before the church will sell it. (Usually mission vehicles are sold at about 50,000 miles) So Tuesday wasn't necessarily for us but it set the tone for the week I guess. We took the other guys to the Auto Shop to get their tire fixed. Wednesday morning as we were driving around out in the boonies trying to find a name from the ward list, we got a pretty bad flat tire. So we drove to the nearest parking lot and started to fix it when we realized that our newly given truck does not have a jack therefore we couldn't put the spare on. So we got a ride from Carbonneau and went home for lunch while we asked around the members for a jack to borrow. Once we found one we were able to switch the flat for the spare and by this time it was already 4 and there wasn't any point in driving all the way to Menifee to the Auto Shop again so we decided to wait until Friday. We saw the K's that day as well. They are doing alright. We weren't able to have a real sit down lesson with them though so no word yet on B's progress. Wednesday night was pretty cool. For the first time, our Bishop gathered together the Bishopric and other priesthood leaders and we all went out on splits to see families. Total during that hour we were out we were all able to see about 9 families. From that, we talked to two different part member families that invited us back for the missionary lessons! The J's and W's. So there will be more updates on them soon to come.

So Thursday was weekly planning and Friday we drove to the Auto Shop and had them put on 3 new tires. As we drove home, our check engine light and low tire light both came on again. So we waited until Saturday morning to go back. I don't know if I ever told you about Friday's here in this zone, but we have what is called Free Food Friday. A member in the stake goes to a bunch of stores at the end of the day and they give him all the food and such that otherwise they would just throw away and on Friday morning every week he has all the missionaries come over and take what we would like and need for the week! It's great! It definitely saves us money for other food. So Friday morning was the perfect time for us to go back to the shop. Sadly we found out that that was going to be the last Free Food Friday due to some issues the stores had had with other people doing the same thing but selling the food they got which I guess is illegal. Bummer, but anyways back to the truck story. So Saturday morning we went to the Auto Shop after doing some service moving a less active family from another ward, and asked them to check out everything that was wrong with it. After a little wait Paul (we're pracitcally on a first name basis with the guys there now since we see them so often now ;) haha) told us that he had some new for us. First, somehow we had a huge piece of metal sticking out of the inside side of one of the tires so they have to order another new tire for us and second their is something wrong with our air pump which is why our check engine light was going off. So tomorrow we are going back, hopefully for the last time, to get our new tire and the rest of the problems completely fixed. 

Just a long week of car problems. It was fun though. Thankfully when we weren't getting our truck fixed, we were able to have a lot of success finding and teaching. We taught a lot more lessons this week! Another highlight of the week was Saturday afternoon we were out trying to contact some referrals we had and we went to find a man named J. We had gone by his home multiple times but weren't ever able to get in due to the big gate out front. Luckily this time he was outside and we were able to talk with him. Come to find out he had talked to missionaries in Lake Elsinore 6 months ago (when I was there) and hadn't heard from them since. He was waiting for us. He is out of a job, has no car, and is trying to finish up school to be an electrician to get a job to take care of his 8 year old daughter. He is also divorced and lives with a brother and his parents. Sunday morning we set an appointment with him and taught him the first lesson, The Restoration! It went great and we had M, one of the guys in the ward who is leaving for his mission in a month. We put J on date for July 27th and he committed to do everything we asked him to do including pray, read, and go to church....Well church began and J wasn't there. I got a ride with one of the members to try and pick J up but he wasn't home either. I was pretty disappointed, but hopefully this week we can visit with him and get him to church this next week. I ended up having to teach gospel principles again and got a surprise invite to help teach elders quorum as well. I was not prepared at all. haha It went well though and somehow I got through with it and the class did too. ;) 

Well that was my week! It was good and I'm looking forward for this week's potential and surprises. This morning we played about an hour and a half of soccer with the rest of the elders in the zone which gave me a huge workout. I was super tired, but we had a blast. We're probably going to be doing that every PDay from now on. Other than that, today we have done some shopping and relaxed. It's going to be a good day! 

I hope your week goes great and you are able to catch up on work! I can't wait to hear from you again! Until next week..

Love,

Elder Bushman

Start of a new Transfer! June 24

Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2014 5:12 PM
Subject: Start of a new Transfer!

Hello everyone!!

Sorry I didn't email yesterday, it was transfer PDay and things were hectic so I get to email today. I don't have a whole lot of time so this wont be a very long email but I'll get to the important stuff. 

I'm glad that you got so much rain! That's awesome! I haven't seen rain in forever. And definitely not a storm like that. I miss the lightning. They don't have that out here. I like what you did to the trailer and the box. That's pretty cool. you are going to have so much fun out there! I am pretty jealous but that's okay. Haha I'm glad that you were able to find a place to stay. That's too bad that the ride ended right before Logan and Chan got on. But it sounds like you guys are having a ton of fun with everyone. I'm glad Holly is doing okay. Just so you know the only picture that I got from you was the one of dad and Tanner on the zip line. None of the other ones actually sent ( they were just blank emails). 

No wonder I didn't recognize any of the girls. I was hoping that was the case and that I just hadn't been there for so long that that many new people had moved in. I'm glad you had such a good time with the girls. Thanks for sending me the song. I like it a lot. There is a lot of lessons to learn from it and even more deeper meaning to it all. It helped. While this week didn't bring a whole lot of success, I was able to learn a lot and now have a new found motivation and determination. I'm super excited for this transfer.

So this week was nothing too special for me. Just the same old same old. One of the Spanish missionaries in our zone finished his mission today and is now on the plane home, so we had a little party for him this weekend. On Wednesday we had multizones where the Smarts gave their outgoing testimonies to us as they are leaving at the end of this week. During their training, President and Sister Smart taught us the top 10 things to achieve happiness in life and prepared us for the transition for President Mullen to come in on Monday. During that meeting Elder Tui'one and I did a special musical number where, get this, I played the piano and he sang. Yeah I actually played the piano for something! Haha I was nervous but it was good. We did "God be With you till we Meet Again" as a tribute to the Smarts. It was a really good meeting and I gained a lot from it. 

This week I began to really engulf myself into my studies so much more than I have throughout my entire mission. I have a goal to read all the standard works, "Jesus the Christ", "Our Heritage", "Our Search for Happiness", and Preach My Gospel all the way through. So far I have read our Search for Happiness" (with Carbonneau), "The Book of Mormon" (that was when I was with Albright), and this week I finished the "Pearl of Great Price" and "Our Heritage" and have started the "Doctrine of Covenants." I plan to finish with that by the end of week 3 of the transfer. As I have been reading I have learned a lot and seen the blessings and happiness that have strengthened me as I have focused more on my studies. I plan to implement this for the rest of my life. 

This transfer I am still with Elder Tui'one and we still live with Carbonneau and Sweeney. I'm super excited for this transfer. There are still a lot of changes coming with President Mullen coming in, and we all have a strong desire to make this transfer a lot better than last. I can feel a change in me and my work and heart and I can't wait to let it fully evolve in me. I'm ready to really hit the pavement. 

Well I gotta go now. I hope you have a great week and time with all the family out there. Tell them I say hi and I love them! Send me pics! I'll talk to you next week. Until then, I love and miss you!

Love,

Elder Bushman

Happy Father's Day Dad! - June 16

Sent: Monday, June 16, 2014 3:22 PM
Subject: Happy Father's Day Dad!

Hello everyone!

I did finally get my package. I found out that the Zone Leaders had had it and forgot to give it to me. I gave them a little bit of a hard time for it but it's all good. Thanks a bunch. I am enjoying it already! 

So we didn't have a whole lot of success this week finding anyone, but we were able to reorganize and make a more concrete plan of action and I think we have somewhere to go now. And due to all of this I have made some personal goals and hope to be able to finish them soon to become a better missionary and servant of the Lord. 

 

It sounds like you girls had an absolute blast at camp this last week. What's scary is that I don't recognize any of the girls in the pictures you sent. Are they all new? How many youth are in the ward now? boys vs girls. I miss camping a lot. And it sounds like you guys did it the right way too which makes it even better! I love the way that the Lord works on us while we join together as youth and are in the natural beauty of the earth that He created. I'm glad that you were able to have such a great time and feel of the Spirit and help those girls gain a better understanding and testimony of the Spirit. And I am super jealous that you guys are going to Colorado! And for a reunion! That's going to be so much fun! Tell everyone there I say hi, I love and miss them.

 

What!? Brittany had another baby?! I didn't know that she was pregnant! :) That's so cool! I'm glad they are doing well and I'm sure Cooper is super excited to have a new brother! I'm super sorry to hear about Holly. I will definitely keep her and the family in my prayers. I hope everything works out okay soon. That's terrible. :( I'll remember President Zant as well. 

So all I know about our new mission president is his last name is Mullen, he is from Oakland, and when he gets here next week he is going to be touring the mission with his wife to meet all of the missionaries. It's a scary time. I'm praying our mission stays on top of the game with all the changes that are going on. And yes I am grateful I am consistently staying the transporter for Urgent Care patients rather than being the patient. 

 

I bet Tanner had a great time on his trip. It sounds like he did. Hopefully he lets more know more about it soon. Hopefully you guys get the letters and package I sent soon.  And I really apologize for how late they came. I'm glad Dad got some new toys and is doing well. Happy Father's Day Dad! I love you!

 

So my week consisted of the normal things I've been talking about this past transfer which is finding. It's been tough I tell you. But I know the fruits will start showing themselves soon. God told me in my studies yesterday that I just need to work on being patient and as I strengthen my habits of pray, study, and fasting, that I will see success. So that's what I'm going to work on. Other than that we have literally just been finding and finding more. 

Well I gotta go now. I can't wait to hear about your trip to Colorado! Hope you all have a great week and stay safe as you travel. I love you!

Love,

Elder Bushman