Short & Sweet! July 27, 2011

Well, I tried sending pictures again, but for some reason the computers refuse to read my memory card half the time.... so, maybe next week.

So, this week we had another AWESOME ward activity, where we made a ton of progress, expecially with Luca and his two kids. Luca's two kids (Ana and Marco, 13, and soon to be 12) normally stay with their mom, but for these couple of week they're with him, and he was able to convince them to come to this activity, despite the fact that they're fairly against us as misisonaries, and this church in general. When they arrived at the church at 8:30 in the morning they were wayy tired, and just looked not happy, at all. Responded with one word answers, and just gave us nothing. The good thing though, was that fairly quickly, they warmed up to us, and were laughing and having a blast by the end of the day! Luca is still on track to be baptized on the sixth of August. Unfortunately our branch president and several others are on vacation in the USA for several weeks, so they're going to miss it, but he's ready for sure.

Nick and Omas also have baptismal dates for the 27th of august! So we're super excited for them.

Umm.... not much else to say.... everything's going good in Ravenna.

Sorry it's really short today, I've been trying to figure out this picture thing, and it's not working... I'll make sure to write more next week though!

I love you all, take care!

Anziano Bushman

The field is white! July 20, 2011

Wow, things are goin great here! I love hearing from all of you guys!

Well, let me update you on Luca. Luca, is a freaking stud. He has accepted everything, and is trying everything that we tell him. We talked to him Sunday after church, and set a baptismal date with him for August 6th! He is just awesome. We talked to him last night about it, and he shared some experiences he had. First he told us about his mom, who is super catholic, and has started to bring Luca into Catholicism now that he's talking with us. He told us that she has started coming over and reading the bible to him, and Luca told us that after she read the bible with him, he read from the Book of Mormon with her! He's told us tons of other experiences too with him doing missionary work like this. And he's already working on inviting his kids and mom to his baptism, it's awesome! It just amazes me at how quick he is to share the gospel, when a lot of members are wayyy timid about it... And even further, Luca we feel still doesn't have a testimony about the gospel. He follows all the commandments, and is changing his life to the gospel, but hasn't seen a change yet. And regardless he's still being patient. He's just super bravo. That's all I can say. The only thing is, the reason he's not seeing the blessings yet is because he's not asking. He's super honest with us, so when something comes up that he struggles with, he tells us. And he's told us for a couple weeks now that he doesn't really feel the need to pray. He feels that because God's Will will be done regardless, what's the point of praying and trying to change it? So we explained last night that the purpose of prayer is to align our will with the Will of God, and also to ask for the blessings that God is just waiting to pour out upon our heads, but can't until we ask for them. So we committed him to at least get into the habit of praying, even if he doesn't feel it, to just get  in the habit of praying morning and night, and he said that he'll do it! We're going with him tomorrow to each lunch at the Branch President's house, so we're way excited about that as well!

Eddie is also doing awesome! His wife (Ester) is still not coming to church, but Eddie has started to make a more concerted effort to come to church, and came at 10:20 instead of his usual 11:30! So he got to experience Gospel principles class and sacrament meeting, and it was a way good experience!!!

Nicolas is another man from Nigeria, and he started coming to church I believe 4 weeks ago because one of our members told him it would help (he was kinda depressed, and out of work) and the tuesday after he came for the first time, someone in our ward found him a job, and he's been working ever since! He's also come to church every week since. We finally were able to meet with him and his wife for the first time on saturday, and we talked about the first vision, and the restoration of the church. They loved it! Anziano Bona and I were about to invite him to baptism, but the memebr that we had with us (Colombus, also from Nigeria) mentioned that we will not rush anyone, and that we will take things piano piano. So if we went and invited him to baptism that kind of would've made a liar out of Colombus.... BUT after the lesson Nicolas walked us out to our bikes, and asked us what he needed to do. We looked at him a little confused and my companion asked <<need to do for what?>> Nicolas responded <<for baptism>>. So we quickly told him that we would love to talk about baptism the next time we come over. And in fact, Anziano Mendel and I (on a scambio) went and talked to him yesterday about baptism, invited him to baptism, and he accepted it! We left him with a baptismal calendar, and he said that he will talk with his wife to choose when, but yeah, he's super legit. The only thing now, is we need to figure out how to get his wife more on board. 

ALSO, another super legit find on monday. Anziano Mendel was at Ravenna wih me, and the lesson we had planned fell through. So, we just rode around for a little bit until we found some palazzi that looked promising. So we knocked on all the doors, and got absolutely nothing. Tried the one next to it, and still nothing. BUT at the last floor there was a girl sitting on the staircase, so we started talking to her, and found out that she had already been talked to. Even further, she had had a baptismal date, and told us that she just got too scared. So, we asked if she'd like to talked some more, and figure out what happened, and so she gave us her number and we went on. When we got home, I checked our area book and found her progress record. She was investigating the church in 2008, and from what the missinoaries wrote, was super golden!! But, just like she told us, when it came down to being baptized, 5 days before the scheduled date, she just got too afraid, and the missinoaries didn't write anything else. So now we're in the process of trying to get ahold of her, but I'm super excited! It didn't look like she had any problems with the gospel, just got afraid, so yeah. 

Like I mentioned, I did a scambio with Anz Mendel yesterday, and it was way fun! I probably mentioned him before while I was in the MTC, but he was in the group that I helped welcome into the MTC, so he got here to italy  weeks after me. But yeah, he's a wayy cool guy! And it was wayy different being companioned with someone that has been out less time than me. But, things went way well. 

But yeah, this zone, is the best zone in the mission. I also saw Anziano Ramjuoe (sp?) and Anziano Free at interviews on monday, so it was fun getting to catch up and everything (both of them were also in Anz Mendel's group)

SO, yeah! Life's going great! Finally figured out how to work this dang oven without burning suff lol, and now I'm working on repairing the rest of the apartment lol. 

And thank you so much mom for the package! I love it! And the music is super awesome too! My companion also wanted to thank you for the song <<One Day>> hahah he loves that song!

I love you guys all so much!

Stay strong, and scegliete il giusto!

-Anziano Bushman

Some of our members here in ravenna at that activity where we gathered up in the mountains and read and sang together!

Me and my comp, Anz Bona!

Me and our 2nd counselor, Colombus.

The view that we had on all sides of us - it was awesome!

Me and Luca, our investigator. 

We visited a new convert that lives near the beach! Man, I miss the beach....

Heading to climb up that tower (Bologna) for p-day! 

Inside the tower, Anz Bona and Anz Dunshee
(our zone leader, and Anz Bona's MTC companion)

On top of the tower, super legit! 495 steps to get to the top!!!

The view outside of the tower, for 360 degrees!

Working hard, Feeling Good! July 13, 2011

Heyyyy! So, I didn't realize how many times i used the word <<legit>> last week until mom and dad both quoted me in their emails saying <<legit>>... lol mah bad. COMUNQUE, to answer a couple of questions, the verb <<scappare>> means to leave/escape/get out of somewhere. So when I say we scapped, it's just like english italian saying that we got out of there. When we travelled to ravenna, we took the first like 2 hr train ride with about a dozen missionaries, and then the final hour stretch to ravenna was just me and anz bona. I have started exercising again, now i just have to get my companion to go running with me! The physical area is about the same size, but the only work we do is in the city of ravenna itself, whereas in muggiò we had a bunch of cities way close to us that we were able to bike to and what not. Here we only travel outside of ravenna every now and then to visit members. It isn't quite as hot out here as it is in AZ, but the humidity is pretty uncomfortable, and we're constantly sweating! 

We do have another progressing investigator, his name is Eddie. Eddie is from Nigeria, and has two daughters and one son. For a while it didn't seem like anything was going to happen, but then Friday, he brought his three kids to our ward barbecue, and they loved it! His wife didn't come cause she was way tired, and just wanted a break from the kids haha, but everyone loved to see them there, and it was awesome! Unfortunately Luca did not come to the barbecue because he went to the dentist earlier that day and had a huge cavity, so he couldn't necessarily eat anything... BUT we also then had a lesson with eddie the next day, and we feel that he is making some huge progress! He finally read the chapters that we have been leaving him, and this time his wife actually sat in on the lesson! (His wife had originally heard that LDS are  some kinda devil worshippers, and so she was afraid to even listen to us) So now even she is starting to make some progress! We left her a Book of Mormon, which she was way excited about and said that she would read it for sure! But, she said that she won't start coming to church until she sees some changes in <<this man>> (pointing to her husband). Hahaha and Eddie's response to that was kinda funny, he asked her <<What do you want me to change? Do you want me to be white?>> lol So we tried to convince her that she would be supporting her husband a lot if she came to church with him, but she wouldn't budge. Vediamo. But Eddie did come to church again, granted he came super late, and only caught the last 30 min of Sacrament meeting, he still came. He told us Sunday mornings are the only opportunites he gets to play soccer with his buddies... so I'm afraid that's the reason he keeps showing up so late....

Luca is still super awesome, came to church again for all three hours, but still isn't feeling anything. He trusts us, so he does the things we ask him to do, cioè read the scriptures, and follow the commandments, but he doesn't see the blessings. aaaand so yeah. Also, he doesn't like to pray on his own. He prays when we're there, but for some reason he won't on his own... And I'm about 95% sure that that's the only thing he's missing. So keep him in your prayers!

Well, right now I'm in Bologna, at the end of a 2 day scambio, so we've got 6 missionaries here and we're all wanting to go out and do something fun, so sorry this letter's kinda short.... 

The missionaries here are super awesome! It's so much fun, and i'm learning a ton! Also, every single new missionary that I meet and do any work with has complimented me several times on my italian, so I guess the language is going pretty well! Well, I will try and write more next week! 

Prendete cura e divertitevi!

-Anziano Bushman

Ravenna! July 6, 2011

Well, my companion is way legit. His name is Anziano Bona. He was born in Italy (his dad is italian) but grew up in Provo. He was sick the first couple days, so that was kinda rough, but we're pickin it up now and it's goin great! The branch is awesome! There were about 40 people in church on sunday, and they were all super legit! Also sunday night our branch had an activity where we went up to the mountains and read the scriptures together, and then prayed togther. It was wayyyy cool! And we had an investigator with us there, and he loved it too!

Ravenna is super small, but it's way legit. All the people know who we are here, some even by name. My companion told me that we are about a 30 min bike ride to the west of the beach, and I've been feeling the beach breeze, and I'm lovin it! It feels so nice here! My comp thinks it's hot, but he's from utah.

Our investigator that came to the mountain activity with us is named Luca. He's Italian, about 35 yrs old, and is separated and jobless. But unlike a lot of jobless people, he's not just looking for religion to fix his temporal needs, he knows he needs the spiritual healing as well. He's already accepted baptism, but he doesn't have a testimony yet, but he's close. We talked about recognizing the Holy Ghost, and he's starting to realize that the holy ghost has been guiding his search lately, and so we're wayy excited for him! Luca reminds me a lot of like a mix between Uncle Jerry, and Getty Lee (sp?) at least as far as appearances go. He has long hair that he puts back in a pony tail every once in a while, and glasses, so ya. lol.

Umm... anything else... Oh yeah, some more about Anz Bona. He's way legit, and way spiritual and takes things way seriously when it comes to studies and everything, but during our two hrs of lunch time, and any other free time, he's way relaxed. President has changed the music thing again to being whatever music so long as it's not bad, and so long as everyone in the apartment agrees on it, so Anz Bona has a TON of music. It seems kinda strange, because I've noticed that the rules we're asked to follow as missionaries are the same as those asked of members, it just seems more enforced as missionaries.... Idk, I may not be making sense, but like with the law of consecration, we should be devoting our LIVES to the Lord. But so often misisonaries, and even our leaders have rationalized it, saying that it's not reasonable for us to not ever have a break. And I know we don't need to be running at all times, but, idk, I just feel a little weird about it. None of the music we listen to is bad, but it's definitely music from home. Idk. I think I'll be fine so long as sundays and study times stay sacred...  Also, because we had a lot of dead time when Anziona Bona was sick, we've played a lot of chess. And we have a competition going on now lol. It's fun. Keeps us sharp.

Well, that's all I've got for now. Our apartment is way lacking in a lot of things. It's way spacious, but the only work out equipment is an excercise ball and a pull up bar, and their cooking equipment is virtually nonexistent. SO I'm gonna be getting pretty creative here lol. I do have a double bed though, (two twin beds put together) so that's super legit. I'll try and send pictures next time. I need to buy a card reader first...

Well, i gotta go. I love you guys! Take care!

-Anziano Bushman

P.S. Almost forgot to tell you about my last day in muggiò! It was intense. We passed by our neighbors, Abelle and Lucia, who have fed us twice on sundays, and who say hi to us everytime we leave our apartment, and they were wayy sad. They're an older couple, and they even started crying a little bit... But they were confident that the two new missionaries would be good as well. We also gave out pictures of us to a couple people, and we wrote notes on the back and what not. We then went by our Egyptian amici and told them the news, and he was way not happy. We left them a picture as well, and he told us he was going to hang it up on the wall lol. He then made sure that we gave him our email addresses. It was pretty sad. Then later that night we saw Carlo, and then biked about 40 min. through some intense rain to see the Ligas family. We had a great night with them, we taught a little bit, then they fed us one last dinner, and then we took pictures and what not and then Marco gave us a ride home. Man, those missionaries are so lucky.....Muggiò is freaking awesome. I'm gonna miss it there.

Well, that's about all I got. It was intense trying to carry all of our luggage through the bus and then the metro lol. Normally it's not too bad because only one person is leaving, and the other person can help carry your stuff. But like whenever we hit the stairs, we had to make two trips up and down the stairs to get all our stuff. BUT we survived. Transfers happen at Milano Centrale (the train station) and we just met there, like 40 of us misisonaries, and ate burger king, and waited for our trains, and then scapped. I saw about 10 of the missionaries from my group (those that came here to italy with me) at transfers, so it was fun hangin out again.

Well, that's it. Pace!

Transfers! June 29, 2011

Well, I'm gettin shipped off to Ravenna. It's in the Bologna zone, and on the east coast of Italy. It's a beach city, so it's one of the places where everyone will be going for these next few months. The only thing is, they will probably all be there just for vacation. So we'll have to meet them, teach them, and baptize them relatively quickly =) My companion will be Anziano Bona, who everyone is very jealous of, so it should be fun! I always said I wanted to stay in Muggiò (which is still true, Muggiò rocks!!!!), but I also had gotten to the point where I wouldn't mind leaving, and I would be able to trust the area to Anz VanAuker becaue I've gotten to know him pretty well, and he's earned his stripes by now. But, when we got the call last night, literally this was the one thing I did not want to happen, we're getting whitewashed. Which means Anz VanAuker is also getting transferred. A friend of Anz VanAuker, Anz Delloso will be training a new missionary in muggiò. Which means they will know nothing about our exceptionally large area (except what we can communicate through sticky notes before we leave) and none of our investigators or ward members. So last night I was very, very, unhappy for at least an hour. And my companion kept telling me that it's for the best and whatnot, and then an hour or two later we switched and I was trying to comfort him lol. As of now I'm just going through the motions. Packing up, and getting ready to say goodbye to everyone. Still not too happy, but we're movin on. Man, I know that the Lord knows what he's doing, and that he's not going to let anyone miss their chance to be baptized, it's just wayyyy hard to trust missionaries that I've never met, with people that they've never met. 

ANYHOW, F.llo Romani is doing great. We weren't able to see him again last week, but he did finally come to church! Haha and they even asked us if we could come over to have dinner with them on thursday, so the new missionaries are going to have a dinner appt their first night. Lucky.

We saw Marco and family again saturday night, and this time with F.llo Alaimo, our recently called Ward Mission Leader. F.llo Alaimo always tends to ramble, and take over the lessons, and kind of just says whatever he thinks is important, so that's always interesting. But, we were able to steal some time to explain the last half of the plan of salvation, cioè what happens after death and what not. We did not get a Baptismal date set yet, and in fact when we called earlier the wife told us that she thinks that it's a little early to be pushing a baptismal date, but Marco seemed totally chill with it, so we think she's just a little crazy, but yeah haha. 

Hmm... not sure what else there is to say... my brain is a little mixed up today with trying to get everything done before we leave... We have been seeing a lot of success with talking to people at the door, and getting in, so that has been good, oh! and we had some pretty positive interactions with J-Dubs (Jehovah's Witnesses, JWs, J-Dubs) that I wanted to share! The first one was sunday when we were going door to door, we met a young italian man, of about 19 yrs or something, and he started talking to us in english because he recognized that we were american, and he had studied english and been to america and whatnot. But anyways, he kept us there, at the door, for about 20min and just kept on asking us questions, and essentially trying to prove to us that our religion is not logical. He started pulling random interpretations of Bible scriptures about what a shepherd is, and who Jesus's other flock was, and thus <<proved>> to us that his other flock is not in the america's, or even on earth, but in heaven. Or something like that. But anyways, we remained fairly calm, and when we were just plain tired of standing there, and needing to leave, I decided I wanted to bear my testimony, and then scap. (Oh, and background info real quick, I have been trying to work on asking questions lately, and even went all day thursday just asking questions, the entire day, in attempts to get in that mindset). And so as I was about to bear my testimony, a question came to mind, and so I asked him <<How did you come to know that the bible is the word of God?>> he responded by saying he has analyzed it, and has seen proof, and talked about how logical it is, and so I interupted and asked him if he has prayed about it. He quickly responded saying he has, and then I told him that we have too. And that we also have prayed about the Book of Mormon, and that we know, deep down in our hearts that it is the word of God. His entire countenance changed, and he realized that he was not going to be able to convince us of anything. He accepted our biglietto, and we told him about the website, so hopefully one day he will check it out, and remember how he felt talking to us that day.... Idk, we just felt good after talking to him. The spirit bore witness of our message. It was awesome. 

So, yeah. I want to issue a challenge to all of you. In every moment, wherever you are, remember that you are a disciple of Christ. Don't waste time bible-bashing, or arguing. If someone tries to argue about you and your beliefs, say a quick prayer, and follow the spirit. Usually the spirit will tell you to testify and walk away. I know this church is true, with all my being. I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to dedicate two years of my life to building up God's Kingdom here on earth. I know that God loves each and every one of his children, and that our older brother, Jesus Christ will always be there for us. I say these things in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

vi viglio un saccone di bene,

Anziano Bushman

My district this transfer! in the front there is S.lla Chambers and Walton, then me, then in the back Anz and S.lla Rampton, my companion, the our Capi- Anz Lesa and Anz Maughan.

Carabinieri, with swords!!!!

Our amazing Family Ligas! With Marco on the left next to Anz VanAuker, then Giorgia (shorter) and Alessia and S.lla Ligas.

Making our last pizza at Rami's place.