Pres. Monson is a True Prophet! Sep 19, 2012

Well, this week was pretty cool. Mathias is an All Star. Preparing him for baptism, and going through the lessons, we recognized a trend in our teaching patterns. We noticed that when it comes down to the baptismal interview, and we ask our investigator if they believe that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet, they always respond with doubt. And we can't blame them either, because it's not in the strict missionary script to talk about the teachings of Pres. Monson, so normally at that point we go over a talk or something, but I always feel guilty for not having talked more about him earlier. SO, this time, we caught on. We watched a clip from last General Conference, and then talked about how to know if a prophet is a true prophet or a false prophet, which in the end comes down to prayer. So we challenged him to ask our Heavenly Father that night if President Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet or not. A couple of days later we asked him how the prayer went. He told us that when he was walking home that day from the lesson, that he just felt really good inside, and that he recognized that as the answer to his prayer! So he decided that he wants to get baptized on the 29th of September! We're super excited for him!!!! 

Also! The family from 10 yrs ago that the former missionary brought to church when she came back the other week came to english class, and is interested in learning more about the church! In fact, there are several people from english class that are starting to open up to the church! It's awesome!

Well, that's all for this week! I love you all! Take care!

Anziano Bushman

10 years later... Sept 12, 2012

Heyyyy Well, things are starting to get back to their normal, busy schedule. English class is in full swing 2 days a week, and our Family Home Evening dealio is starting to get more and more popular!

Pretty crazy miracle in church on sunday. An former sister missionary was back visiting with her husband, and she came to church this last sunday. And although she hadn't been in italy for the last 10yrs, she was able to convince some people she had met 10yrs ago to come to church that sunday, and the whole family came! It was super cool because the entire ward just swarmed them and was talking to them a lot. Only bad part about that was it was literally impossible for me or my comp to talk to them, and so I didn't even know who they were untill asking the former missionary after everyone left. But her story was pretty cool as she told us how this family was never willing to come to church in the past, but now, 10 yrs later, they finally came! So that was just a cool little miracle. I tried to get contact information, but to no avail. The family has our number, so now it's just up to them.

Other than that, Mattias is making huge progress, and has committed to baptism on the 29th of September! He reminds me a lot of Felix when we were teaching him, so I have very high hopes for Mattias!

Well, that's all for this week. Vi voglio tutti un sacco di bene! Take care and stay safe!!

Anziano Bushman

Do Not Ignore the Holy Ghost! Sept 5, 2012

Hey guys!

This week has been pretty dang awesome! But, before I get started on this week, I forgot to tell you about another thing that happened last week. 

So, last week coming back from District Meeting, we had to buy bus tickets on the bus, because no one else was selling tickets. So after buying my ticket, I pulled out my wallet to keep my ticket in my wallet and, like a dumb, I just left my wallet on my lap. The thought even came to me: don't leave your wallet on your lap, you'll forget it and lose it. But I quickly disregarded that, thinking how could I possibly forget my wallet??? I've never forgotten my wallet in my whole life! Well, after the bus we went to buy train tickets, and no walllet. I checked my backpack super quick about 30 times hoping I had thrown it in there, all the while remembering full well that I had left it on my lap, and therefore it must've fallen when I got up. So I called Anziano Lynch, our Mission Financial Secretary, and we figured out a plan, and he went to go cancel my mission card and was going to call you , Mom, once it was about 7 am AZ time to cancel also my personal card. In the meantime, I was not happy. I recognized that it was the Holy Ghost who had warned me, and who I had completely ignored, and I regretted it. A lot. Our plan was to wait for the bus we were on to come back, and then we would check to see if it was still there. To our complete surprise, it was still there. Someone had turned it in to the bus driver. Although they had taken the 10 euro (13 dollars) that was in it, both of my debit cards, my permesso (card that allows me to be in italy) and everything else was still there. So, first order of business was to call Anz Lynch back super quick to tell him to not cancel the cards (which he hadn't done yet) and then I offered a prayer of thanks, because only by the hand of God would something like that happen. So, needless to say, I will not be ignoring the Holy Ghost again, ever. 

This week- Felix is doing awesome! He has received the Aaronic Priesthood, and is now passing the sacrament every week, and he's a stud! 

We have a new investigator that just showed up in church 2 sundays ago. His name is Mattias. He is from the Ivory Coast, so he speaks french as his native language. At first he wouldn't set up an appointment with us, and so our first appointment wasn't untill this monday, and it went super well! He understands everything very well, and just like Felix he doesn't accept everything right away, but after asking some questions and praying about it, then he knows that it's true. So we had our second lesson with him yesterday, and he accepted baptism! He definitely still has a lot to learn, but he believes these things are true. 

Also Mohammed has made some huge progress. He's been coming to church every week, but we've had to cancel any baptismal plans because he couldn't give up smoking. Well, this last sunday he came up to me and said "Hey, you can set a new baptismal date for me, I'm ready!" and that was all he told me lol, so I imagined he meant he was ready to stop smoking, and after hearing the rest of it that he told my companion, it went down a little like this: So Mohammed likes to flip open to random spots in the Book of Mormon every once in a while and choose a random verse to see what it tells him. This last time he did this he landed in Alma 5. Which for those of you who are not familiar with Alma 5, it is the great self evaluation chapter, that has 37 questions asking if you're ready to meet God. So after reading this random scripture, he decided to read the entire chapter, and verse 37 really hit him...

O ye workers of iniquity; ye that are puffed up in the vain things of the world, ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice!" 

and he decided then and there to stop smoking, and has been going strong ever since!

So, yeah. Those would be the highlights of this week. Pretty awesome, huh? Yeah. The Lord's work will not, and can not be stopped. And I am eternally grateful for this opportunity I have to be a part of it!

Well, I love you all! Take care, and read the scriptures, as they will tell you all things that which ye must do! =)

-Anziano Bushman

Open your eyes and see the miracles!!! Aug 29, 2012

Hey!! 

What's up?

I'm doin pretty well, thanks for asking! 

So I'm just gonna go straight into miracle time, no more intros.

So I bought a new bike a couple of weeks ago because the one I was riding was falling apart. And then, this last sunday we had 2 other missionaries over on exchanges, so I let one of them use my new bike and I used the old one. Well, after riding all across town all day we were finally heading home, and BAM my back tire blew up. Still pretty far away from home, and with every intention of throwing away the bike once we got back, I decided to just keep on going even with the flat tire. So now this rickety old bike is sounding like two trash can lids bangin' against each other, but we keep going. Then, my back tire just completely stopped. So, I look down to see that the rubber inner tube of the tire had come out of it's thick rubber covering  (that popped) and had caught ahold of the chain, and wrapped itself around the chain enough times to completely stop the wheel, and the last kilometer we just had to walk. Now, the miracles are 2: first, the bike lasted us until our work for the day was completed. Second, I had bought a new bike just in the knick of time! If I were to have ridden that bike another day or two and had had that happen to me, I would not be nearly as patient about it as I am now!

Due to pure exhaustion, this email is going to be very short- just know that I love you all, and I pray for each and every one of you! vi voglio bene!

-Anziano Bushman