Building our Teaching Pool! Oct 24, 2012

Alrighty! My feet hurt. Not a big deal though. We've turned Gorizia from a biking city to a walking city, mainly because we don't have a pump to pump up my tire, but also because with only 2months left, my suit pants wouldn't be able to handle the wear and tear that comes from riding a bike everyday... ALSO! We can talk to more people if we're on foot!  

So unfortunately, we don't really have any investigators.... But, there are a couple of promising people. 

JeanJacques we found last week, and have only been able to teach once, but he's super cool, comes from Cameroon, and has no religious background but wants to learn about Christ. I don't know about you, but that's just music to my ears! We should be seeing him again this week, and so next week I'll have a better update.

There was also an italian couple we met on sunday which resulted in a rather interesting contact. The wife didn't want to talk to us, but the husband made her wait, and told her to just hear us out basically. They liked our message, and want a copy of the Book of Mormon, so we tried setting up a return appointment. I don't even know how many times the wife tried to say that they're not interested, but the husband won out again when he said thursday they're not doing anything! The coolest part though probably happened on Monday while I was on scambio in Trieste. My companion said that they ran into the wife again on the street. She told them that she looked up the website that was on the pass along card and, well, still didn't seem quite as interested as her husband, but (using the "conversion scale") she went from a 1 (not interested, and even actively against) to about a 5, so I'm super stoked for tomorrow's lesson!!!

The third prospect is a friend of a new convert. This friend's name is Mattia, and he's just like any other 24yr old. Pretty cool, but doesn't have the best standards. Well, his friend and our new convert (Ivan), said that he'd been asking about this new church that Ivan is in, and so on Sunday when we were over for lunch Ivan invited Mattia afterwards, and we got talking about the Plan of Salvation. It didn't seem like much, but yesterday talking with Ivan, Ivan told us that Mattia was asking all kinds of questions about the pamphlet we gave him, and how he wants to learn more! So, yeah!!

That's about the jist of it. I'm loving it here! And I can't wait to see you all when I get home!! vi voglio bene!!

Anziano Bushman

"What I need, Peter, are Disciples!" Oct 17, 2012

So, Gorizia is awesome. Even though I feel like I have been there very little.... In fact, in the last two weeks I have been away from Gorizia at least 6 full days what with exchanges, general conference, and training meetings. The branch is way cool as well! Like the other branches I've been in, there are only two young adults, and one of them is moving to america in march to get married, so they'll be down to one. BUT! They're super cool! We even had a super intense foosball tournament the other day. Our apartment is pretty nice also. Some construction guys just came by today to switch all the heaters in the apartment complex to be able to be controlled individually, instead of like in the past when all of the heaters in the apartment complex were regulated centrally, so that's exciting news! I don't have to wait till november to be warm again (last year the heaters didn't turn on till november, and it had been winter for a month already)! The apartment was pretty  dirty when I got there, and I was trying to clean it up, but it was just demoralizing trying to fight it, but then I got a super awesome surprise when I came back from the exchange last night- my district leader, Anziano Rodriguez (who traded spots with me for a day), stayed up the night before so that he could clean our apartment. And let me tell you, it is not recognizable as the apartment I moved into! It's SUPER clean!!! Man, I already knew that Anz Rodriguez was a boss, but this just confirms it even more!

We had another super awesome zone conference on Monday, this time where President Wolfgramm talked to us about "real intent". He used some great examples of how life would be if we understood what those two words mean. One example in particular that he used was our workout time. A missionary that volunteered commenced working out there in front of us, but being trained/pushed by another missionary (who just happened to have a large football background). President then continued talking to us, and after a couple of minutes when the poor missionary was about to collapse, he stopped them, and had them come look at how much time had passed. It was only 7min. We were then easily able to see how if we really intend on working out, we can make those 30min go very far. We also talked about how without real intent, there's no purpose in a lot of things. And after some self-examination, I recommitted myself for the 'nteenth time to give the rest of myself to the rest of my mission. And it's strange, for the first time it seems like, I feel completely in control! It's awesome!!!

Also, I wanted to note to you guys, that that same talk that Elder Holland gave in General Conference is the same basic talk that I heard several times in the MTC, and then saw live in the MTC, and then saw a recording of the one I saw live in the MTC, a couple of months ago. So that's now the 5th time that I've heard this talk by him, given 4 different ways, and it gets me every time! I especially love the dialogue that Elder Holland adds between Jesus and Peter:

 To which Jesus responded (and here again I acknowledge my nonscriptural elaboration), perhaps saying something like: “Then Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me.”

This truly is a marvelous work, and I am grateful everyday for the immense fortune I had to be born to two loving parents who had already found their way, so that they could in turn teach it to me. I know why I am here on this earth. I know without a doubt what I have to do to get back to our Heavenly Father, and it's all thanks to the gospel of Jesus Christ!

I love you all! Take care! See you soon!

-Anziano Bushman

What A Crazy Week!!! Oct 10, 2012

Heyyyy! How's it goin?? 

This week was definitely one of the crazier weeks I've had in the mission! But before I go into it, let me describe a little bit about my comp and new city here. My companion is great! He's very much trunky though (this is his last transfer). But I have to admit, out of the three missionaries now I've served with in their 16th transfer, he's definitely doing the best! He has a very big desire to finish strong! AND I knew him in the MTC, and a little throughout the mission, so we get along great!!!

Gorizia- Is the second most eastern city, second only to Trieste. Let me tell you real quick though just HOW far east Trieste is. For most of Italy, we have the Ligurian sea on the west, and then the Adriatic sea on the east. Trieste is so far east, that the Adriatic sea is on the west for them. And then Gorizia is right next door. Interesting fact though- the city is physically divided by Italy and Slovenia. So I proselyte within 2km of our mission boundairies. Crazy, huh? Gorizia is also the 2nd prettiest city I've seen. It's not fair to judge against Siena, but Gorizia truly is beautiful!!! And it reminds me a whole lot of Siena in fact. It's a small city, surrounded by beautiful mountains covered in trees that are actually green! One of my favorite parts about Gorizia so far though, is how italian it is. Siena had a lot of culture, but Gorizia doesn't have tourists, so EVERYONE we talk to is italian. It's great!!!!

So, why this week has been so crazy. Well we started off with last thursday. I didn't actaully get to Gorizia until 10:30pm. Despite having left at 1:30. We just ran into all kinds of late trains, and it was not fun.  So no unpacking got done on thursday, as I went straight to bed. Friday I unpacked and we did our weekly planning, went shopping (in some intense rain) and had a little bit of time to do some finding work. Saturday we had no time, because we had to take a train over to Trieste right after lunch so that we could watch general conference. We stayed the night saturday night so we could also  watch sunday's general conference, and got back to Gorizia around 10pm sunday night. Monday we had to take yet another train to Pordenone for a zone meeting, and then we had a scambio with the zone leaders right after, and they only just now left. So, needless to say, I'm a little exhausted. And my companion just informed me that this interrnet point is closing, so I will have to write more next week!

I love you all! take care!

-Anziano Bushman

Jon in his new area, Gorizia, we think...

The Heal Family

I'm Off to Gorizia! Oct 3, 2012

Well, I'm getting transferred to Gorizia, where I will hopefully finish my mission. I will be companions with Anziano Winward, who will be going home after this transfer (I met him in the MTC). I don't know much about Gorizia, other than half of the city is in Slovenia. And it's really, really far away from Milano. BUT! It's also in the same zone as Venezia (Venice) so I'll finally get to go see it!!!!! WHOOT!! Also, Anziano Rockwood is getting transferred to Genova, so two new missionaries will be taking our place, and we have to prepare everything for them now so that they can learn the city quickly. So needless to say, we've been pretty busy today.

It's definitely very bittersweet... I've grown to love Modena a lot in these last 3 months, and I'm really going to miss it. And Anz Rockwood and I have also grown a lot together, and it'll be sad not being with him anymore either. But, as you know, I LOVE change, and I love meeting new people, so this is going to be great! It is very weird however, knowing that I only will have 3 months with these people that I am going to meet... That's always been a guessing game in the past - I would assume I'm in a city to stay, so I would work hard and build relationships with members. But now I know I can't be there more than 3 months. I don't know, it's... weird. Unsettling. BUT! I know I'm going to love it, and I'll find a way to still win their hearts!

Well, on a happier note, Mathias' baptism was AWESOME! Mathias is such a STUD!!!! Man, I can't believe I was lucky enough to be a part of that. Anz Rockwood did the baptism and I did the confirmation.

Also! We got to go back to the Heal's house on Sunday for lunch, and they are just super awesome!!! (I'll send a picture) They're from England, and here in Italy because he's working for Ferrari's Formula 1 division. Sis Heal is from Brazil, but they met in England. They have 4 kids, with the oldest being 9 yrs old and with the coolest name EVER- Jonathan! But it was just nice to have fun with english speakers who weren't dressed up in a white shirt and tie, and also kids that spoke english! It's almost a foreign concept to me, a child being able
to speak english. I'm just used to them speaking some incomprehensible italian!

So, yeah, I'm going to miss this city and everyone in it, but I know the next one will be equally awesome! Thank you all for your continued support! I love you!!
-Anziano Bushman

New Investigators...YIPPEE! Sept 26,2012

Well, this week has just been full of scambi! (exchanges) I think I was only with Anz Rockwood for a total of 3 days last week.... crazy!!! ANYWAYS, this last scambio, yesterday, was super awesome!! We were just seeing miracles left and right! It was a huge blessing, because it's been a while since we've found any new investigators, and Mathias is about to be baptized, so we're not going to have anyone to teach after that. BUT, we just got about a dozen more people from the last two days alone, and a lot of them seem super interested!!! 

One of the guys that was super cool, we met yesterday morning. We were walkin around in a nearby park trying to talk to people about the gospel, and not having any success, at all, and we were just about to go and try a different place. But then we saw a guy sitting on a bench on a little hill, and felt a strong impression that we needed to go talk to him. So, we did. His name is Luigi, and he's pretty awesome! It took some extra explaining on our part to help him understand, but he was honestly very interested in the things we were saying, and we even learned that he was just about to go to a Bible study session (he's young, only about 25, and it's not too common that young people care enough about religion to spend time at a study session) so that's why he was so interested in the things that we were saying. In the end we exchanged phone numbers, and we're going to give him a copy of the Book of Mormon tomorrow!

Even knocking on doors we found a lot of success! We found 3 families in the same building who all set up return appointments with us! It was awesome!!!! 

Probably my favorite part about yesterday though, was how many times we saw people's countenances change. In each of these dozen cases, there was a specific moment when they realized what exactly it is that we're talking about, and then they realized what exactly that means! It means that our purpose really is to return to our Heavenly Father, and there is a sure way to find out how to get there. And that's through prayer. We always explain these things to everyone we talk to, but I think it was the emphasis we put on prayer and the Book of Mormon that really made the difference for these people. And so this week should be full of even more miracles when we go back to see these people again.

This work truly is awesome!!

I love you all! Stay legit!

Anziano Bushman