Help....by the Beatles! Nov 9, 2011

Well, just a quick update for this week-

My new comp, Anz Palmer is way cool. We're still trying to get used to each other's teaching styles, but we get along really well! Oh, and we set up our Christmas tree (we have a christmas tree!!!!)!!!! So that's been fun. Ummmm not much else. He's cool. It's different every time I get a new companion though, so yeah.

Our branch is all at the Swiss temple this week, and Tina (baptized in September) is with them as well!!!! So that's super exciting! We're still working with Tina's friends, but it is slow going because they are hard to get to (the bus only passes twice a day...). They did come to church again this week though!!! So that was cool!

Oh haha funny story that happened sunday- we were going around th city knocking on doors, and from 100 ft away from a building we heard some singing Help! (by the Beatles) at the top of their lungs! So, we decided to see if we could find them, and sure enough after a couple tries, and following the tune of Let it Be, and Hey Jude lol, we found her, hahaha and when she answered the door she apologized that she didn't hear the door because her headphones were in, and Anz Palmer had the guts to say something along the lines of "oh don't worry about it, we liked the song" or something like that, hahaha and she freaked out! She didn't realize that anyone else could here her hahah we decided to leave out the part where we heard her from 100 ft outside her building. But it was funny. So we set up a lesson with her to meet her at the church, but then something came up, so hopefully we'll be able to reschedule! 

Alright, best for last-

Lorena and Bianka are awesome!!! They have met with us about 5 times since we met them, and they always read several chapters of the Book of Mormon before hand, and even talk about it with each other, and they search the church's website all the time, man, they're perfect!!! We talked to them about baptism this weekend. Lorena has been telling us even since before we brought it up that she wanted to be baptized. She said that neither of them have been baptized yet, and so they've been trying to find the right church to get baptized in, but for some reason each church that they went into just didn't feel right... untill now!! Lorena has also told us several times that she wants to get baptized -not just to say that she's been baptized- but because she really feels it!! Her sister, Bianka, isn't quite as sure yet. She likes coming to meet with us, but she just tells us that she doesn't quite "feel it" yet, so she doesn't want to jump into it without really feeling it. Lorena was talking to me after the lesson and said that Bianka is still just a little nervous because she doesn't know what is going to change with her friends, and studies and what not, and she doesn't know how anything could change either. But that's completely normal, to be nervous. And we explained that to them, and told them that we're not going to make anyone do something that they don't want to. Bianka also keeps telling us that she "feels it" each time we're together talking about it, but when she goes home and talks about it to Lorena, it's a whole other story. So, as of now, Lorena is planning on getting baptized on the 26th of this month, and Bianka we're not sure yet, but they're awesome!!!! We're seeing them again tomorrow!

Man, I'm glad to be a missionary. 

i love you guys, I hope you're all doing well, and staying healthy and warm! 

-Anziano Bushman

Italian's, African's and Albanian's, Oh My!!! Nov 2, 2011

Well, I'm getting a new companion tomorrow morning! But first I wanna talk about this last week.

SO first I would like to direct your attention to any news sites from last week (last tuesday and wednesday). In Liguria, Italy more specifically in La Spezia and Cinque terre, there were some MASSIVE floods. I talked to Anz Bona afterwards (he's serving in La Spezia) and he said that tuesday night the water was up to their calves, just out on the sidewalks. So, the reason I bring this up, is because for the last month or two we have ben planning and trying to get to Cinque Terre (really close to La Spezia) for Pday, becasue it's supposed to be super amazing. So, this last week we had it all figured out, and Wednesday Morning around 6am we had even made it all the way to Firenze. But, our next train from there was over 30 min late, and was going to make us miss our only train from Pisa to La Spezia/Cinque Terre.So, we didn't go. And instead we just went to Pisa then back to Firenze for the day. So, yeah. Cinque Terre (5 Lands) got kind of destroyed, and reduced to 3.5 Terre, And won't even be reopened untill the next summer. So, missed out on that chance. Crazy, right?

Alright, now some better news. We met with two of Tina's friends, Mafwenn and Bright, and had a good quick lesson with them. They were looking for a place to go worship God, and the next day Mafwenn, Bright, and two more friends (Harrison and Valentine) came to church! So that, in combination with the 20 BYU students, and an american family in visit, and another investigator, the church was kind of completely packed this sunday! It was awesome!!!!! We haven't got to meet with Mafwenn and friends again yet, but we did have a good lesson with them in church before sacrament meeting about the Restoration. Hahahahah and my companion felt it necessary to teach them how to pray (which normally I would agree, but most africans have already grown up praying the same way we do). So, he taught them by writing on the chalkboard 4 things: Address Heavenly Father, gratitude, questions, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. And we prayed for them at the beginning of the lesson, but at the end we asked one of them to pray, and this was his prayer (word for word) "Address Heavenly Father, gratitude, questions, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."  =) it was pretty great.

Alright, so now even better stuff. Lorena is the name of the Albanian that we met a week and a half ago. I don't remember if I wrote this part last week, but Lorena sent us a text about a week ago to set up an appointment to meet with us, and also asked if she could bring her sister, so we were already SUPER excited! Alright, so we had a lesson with them on thursday, which went great! Her sister's name is Bianka. When they came they had both already looked at a lot of the things on the church's website, and were very excitied to learn more. They didn't grow up going to church or anything, so a big thing was that they were wanting to get to know Jesus Christ more. So yeah, first lesson: Awesome. We then set up to see them Saturday. Saturday was equally, if not more awesome. Lorena had read all the way through the intro stuff, and testimonies, up to 1 Nephi 4, and had some questions. Apparently the albanian translation has some things that are a little unclear, so we gave them italian copies, and it helped a lot. In 1 Nephi 4 they had some questions about why Nephi was commanded to kill Laban (which she had understood from the Albanian trranslation to be Laman, Nephi's brother). So, we read the chapter together, and  talked about how it said that it was expedient that Nephi did those things, and how everything fell into place with being able to get the plates, and even bringing Zoram with them, because and only because he followed the spirit. So, awesomeness. They loved it. One thing that Lorena said (and Bianka confirmed) is that she just wants to follow the Spirit. She just wants to do what is right. She accepted baptism when we invited her, but Bianka was a little worried, because she wants to first know what happens after baptism. SWEET! second lesson: awesome. Next appointment was just yesterday morning. We talked about the Plan of Salvation, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they were just super excited to be learning all this! Bianka started reading as well, and they just already have such a great testimony of the things we are teaching! In fact, they even started this last lesson by giving us souvenirs that they had picked up in Sissi (maybe south italy?) for us! It was super thoughtful!!! They got us these little plaques of the St Francesco prayer, which is kind of a little catholic, but they don't know any better, and it's the thought that counts, right?  SO yeah, they are freaking awesome. We're seeing them again on friday!

So, transfers. Anziano Lehnardt is going to Padova, and Anziano Palmer is coming to Siena. Anziano Palmer is going into his 14th transfer. He's from Mesa, AZ and went to Mesa High even! So thats pretty cool, I'll have a fellow arizonan with me! I've actually already gotten to know him pretty well from when I was in the same zone as him in Ravenna, and he seems like a pretty cool guy! So, yeah! Anziano Lehnardt was super sad to leave, but with this whole Tina thing, we kinda knew it was coming. So yeah.

Oh, and we actually did get to have a pretty fun Halloween party, thrown by the BYU students! It had some musical chairs, some other fun games, and then ended with some homemade caramel apples, that were AMAZING!

So, yeah. That's all for this week! The work is goin great!!! I'm loving it here in Siena!!!

Take care, and stay strong! And send some letters this way!! =)

allora, vi voglio tutti un sacco di bene!
-Anziano Bushman

Be Prepared! Oct. 26, 2011

Oh man, this week has been awesome!!!! We taught a LOT!!!! and saw a lot of miracles as a result. So, first I'll start off with Enrique. 

Enrique is a less active member from Colombia. He's about 40 yrs old and super cool, but he's always just not seemed too dedicated, and he never took our invites to read the Book of Mormon seriously or anything. He was super rich, before someone committed fraud on him and he lost his job and house and nearly got kicked out of Italy. And he has told us the whole story about 600 times. But, he has been meeting with us (despite his rough living situation) and he has been coming to church every week. BUT we've been really wanting to get him fulfilling his preisthood duties because we only have three active priesthood holders in this branch. So, we had a lesson about priesthood, and about his duties as a Priest. And it all went normal. He seemed to understand, but it still didn't seem too important to him. A couple days later he asked if we could open the church for him because all his luggage and clothes and everything are there for now. So we let him in because we were already heading there for an appointment. And, by the time we were finished with our lesson in the church, we went to go see what Enrique was doing, and he was all decked out in cleaning equipment, gloves and everything, cleaning the bathroom. No one asked him to either. And it just really hit me that he is really trying to fulfill his calling. He even told us that he had found all of his sunday clothes except for his white shirt, so within a week or so he'll be passing the sacrament for the first time!! I don't know, but it made me really happy to see him taking the initiative like that. 

Next is Salim and Cucci. Salim is Tina's boyfriend, and we've been trying to work with him since before Tina was even baptized, but it never really worked out because his other african friends were too close minded. So we finally got Salim and Cucci (also lives with Salim, they are all refugees from Lybia, Cucci speaks Bengledesh and a little bit of english) to meet with us becasue they seemed to have the most interest. So we talked to them about the Book of Mormon, and gave them both one (even a bengledesh one for Cucci). Oh man, and if you could have seen the look on Cucci's face when he saw that book in his own language!!! He was so happy!!!! They're both super excited to read it and talk with us about it on Friday! And so are we!!!

So, another miracle we saw this week was last friday night we were outside contacting people, and we met an Albanian woman at a bus stop. So we started just with small talk, and asked her some questions, and then we asked her if she felt that there was anything missing in her life, and she just burst into tears. After about 5 min of us awkwardly standing there, she told us that someone very close to her had died, and then her bus came. So, in the rush we gave her our card with our information on it and asked her to give us a call so we could talk more, she willingly accepted and got on the bus. So, we kind of just sat there for about 10 min trying to figure out what had just happened, and also waiting for her phone call, but nothing came. So we moved on, figuring nothing was going to happen. Until another 10 min passes by and we got a text message from her!!! Hahaha oh man, that was probably one of the happiest moments of my mission!!! We very rarely find people that are so willing to contact us. So we called her the next morning to give her sometime and  found out that we wouldn't be able to meet for a week or so. So, we went about our way, and today we got another text message from her, setting up an appointment with us!!! And she said that her sister wants to come!!!! This may seem small, but this does NOT happen here in Italy. At least not often. And when it does, it means good things. It means that they are open to the Spirit, and wanting a change in their life. And I am SUPER excited for studies tomorrow morning when I get to figure out how we can help her!!!

ALSO Tina gave 7 more African boys as referrals, who all said that they want to come to church with Tina! So add those 7 to Salim and Cucci, and to Mercy (another friend of Tina's that she referred us to) and to Patricia (Mercy's friend that we met while teaching Mercy) and that's 11 investigators Tina has given us. We are going to make this little branch of Siena an African branch!!!! hahaha but really, we are super excited!!!

I was "rebuked" by the Spirit pretty badly today. We were on our way to Pisa this morning, and despite being in recreational clothing, we managed to get into a pretty good religious discussion with a man on the train sitting next to us. Got to what makes our church different, and I talked to him about prophets and then the Book of Mormon. I then found out that none of us (there were 4 missionaries on the train) had a copy. So, when he asked where he could get a copy I had to refer him to our information, and gave him the number of the missionaries in his area. Then as if that wasn't enough he added jokingly that it's a shame that we don't have one right now, because he would have loved to read it on the train. I am never going ANYWHERE again without a copy of the Book of Mormon. EVER. I'm sure he will still call those missionaries and get a copy, because he sounded really excited about it, but it would have been so much better (for him, and even just for us to experience) if we had  had a copy with us. Never again.

So, my invite for you all is to never leave home without a copy of the Book of Mormon. It doesn't take up much room, and if it does, all the better, because it will remind you that it's still there. If you carry a Book of Mormon with you, the Lord WILL use you as his instrument to bring the gospel to another. Can't say it will happen right away, but if you don't have one on you, you could regret it. Mannnn the Book of Mormon is so awesome anyways, just bring it everywhere so you can read it in your spare time! Read it while you're waiting in line at the bank, while you're waiting for classes to start, there is so much free time during the day, and the Book of Mormon is a GREAT way to fill that time. 

I love you all, and I pray for you all each night! take care, vi voglio un saccone di bene!!!

-Anziano Bushman

The castle at monteriggioni. these things are everywhere in Tuscany!!!

on the way to said castle

Enrique, our super awesome less active that was taking us to a store and to see this castle

So monday night we were in Prato helping out the other missionaries there, but then once we got there we found out that we wouldn't be doing an exchange until the next morning because they had a dinner appointment. SO me and anz lehnardt were in a city that we knew very little of, and just left to do our own thing. Then, after meeting some cool people, 9 pm came and it was time to come back home. So, we got to their apartment and they weren't there, so we couldn't get in. Called, no answer. So, we went to a nearby store, and grabbed some DELICIOOUS yogurt and some water, cause we were starving. Then these pictures took place when we realized we didn't have a spoon to eat the yogurt with, and we're just using the tinfoil lids. We felt very much like hobos lol. Anz Lehnardt above and me below.

Holding up the tower:)

In the lovely city of Pisa, on our way to see the leaning tower.

Piazza dei Miracoli - the Leaning tower of Pisa is the last building you see here.

Me and Anziano Scheurn. Man I love that guy!!!

The Book of Mormon - keystone of our religion! Oct 19, 2011

oh man, things are starting to pick up.... 

So, first I'll talk about this FHE that we just had on monday. It was awesome!!! Anz Lehnardt and I have been wanting to get the BYU students here to start talking to the families that they're staying with about the gospel, and turns out they already are! They're super awesome! We did a little activity where we kind of role played how some different opportunities may come about to talk about the gospel, and gave them each a chance to try. Hmm... I don't know if that made sense... I'm losing my english here... ANYWAYS it went really well! They were all way excitied and enthusiastic about sharing the gospel! It was awesome!

Then yesterday we had a super awesome day!!!! Filled with amazingness and miracles!!! For lack of time I'll just talk about one though. So, we met this guy named Jacopo (yah-koh-poh). he says it's a native tuscan name. Boh.  So we talked with this guy, and he was super legit! He told us that the most important thing to him is respect, and then went on to list all the things that are wrong with this world, and basically told us that he's living all the standards of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was legit. His only problem is, he doesn't have the gospel. And he doesn't want to be influenced by other people, or books. (we tried to give him the Book of Mormon). BUT in studies this morning we came up with a really good game plan for him, and we're just super excited! He's a way bravo guy.  Haha sorry this isn't very detailed. My fingers are cold lol. It's already below 50 here!!! It's ridiculous. Haha I spent a good half hour trying to read our users manual for the heater. Its on now though!

We've also seen a lot of miracles with the Book of Mormon lately. People know it's true. Even if they don't believe in this church, or anything else, they can't deny the truth of the Book of Mormon. It does nothing but invite others to come unto Christ. It's awesome!!!! hahaha we talked in district meeting one day about the book of mormon being our sword, and the other's out there (Jehovah's Witnesses) are still carrying around clubs. And it's true!  The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion! If it's true, then Joseph Smith was a true prophet. Either Joseph Smith was a true prophet, or he was a crazy, egotistical man that wanted to write a book that would invite people to become like Christ. And that doesn't even make sense.

OK now I'm just rambling, but I know that the Book of Mormon was written by ancient prophets of God. It is the Word of God. And we need to listen to (read) it.

I love you all! Take care!!!

-anziano bushman

Pictures will have to do! Oct 12, 2011

***Computer problems got in the way this week, so pictures will have to do!

So, this is a human being. He stands there for hours on end, just perfectly still. THEN, when someone puts money in his little bucket on the ground there, he starts going back and forth all slowly, rolling the camera wheel, kinda just like a robot.... it's creepy, and very interesting all at the same time!

AHHHHHHHHHHH they were playing chess! In the middle of the city! With a HUGE chess board!!! BAHHHHHHH it was very very tempting to play......

This is on the Firenze Duomo, and that middle guy there reminded me of the video game Assassin's creed that Zac plays all the time, so i thought I'd send this picture for him =)

The morning of General Conference, I made homemade cinnamon rolls! (and orange rolls!!) We found a Betty Crocker cookbook in our apartment... go Betty!!!

Anziano Bushman has taken to cutting his own hair!!! He says it looks fine, but you can't really tell from this angle... So we are asking for better pictures!

Stretching Our Limits of Sacrifice! Oct 5, 2011

Ciao tutti!!

First I want to start off by talking about how awesome conference was!!! One of the talks that really hit me was Elder Eyring's talk in Priesthood session. He talked about sacrifice, and shared MANY instances in his life where he was taught how to sacrfice his time and energy. He talked about several instances where he would be just getting to bed late after a long day of exhausting work, and then he would get a call requesting his help. So, after continually responding in the affirmative, it got easier and easier. He emphasized the importance of <<stretching our limits of sacrifice>> so that when the time comes when a lot is required on our part, we will be ready to do it, even if it's more than we ever thought we could do. Our district leader on Monday's district meeting then decided to talk about this as well, and we did a cool activity that helped burn this whole concept into my mind a lot. He first asked my companion, and then someone else to volunteer with him, so after no one else volunteered, I said I would. So, what he had us do was push ups. So we took off our jackets, and just did push ups until we couldn't do anymore (we got somewhere over 60-70 each). Then he asked us how we felt, and 3 seconds later said that he thinks we can do 10 more. So we did. About died. And then the same thing, after a brief pause we did 10 more, and then down to 5 more, until we had done over 100 pushups. Then we went and sat down. He then compared it to this talk, he talked about how there's always that little bit more that we can do, and as we make that a habit, it gets easier. Just like working out, you work hard until it's easy, then you make it harder. And that's how we get stronger. I know that this principle is true, and I know that God will help us as we sacrifice more and more of our time and energy for him, and I'm way excited to put this promise into action!

I don't think I said anything last week, but we got a call from our new convert the sunday before last, and long story short, she's in love with my companion. hahahahah it was probably one of the more awkward things in the world (and she's 36 yrs old), so we called President to see what we should do. To our relief he said that he doesn't feel that Anz Lehnardt needs to be transferred. But instead, he just advised us to make use of missionary exchanges, and try and do one each week, and teach this lady without Anz Lehnardt being here. So, we've been doing that, and just this week Anz Merrill came in to Siena with me. Anz Sam Merrill is from Chandler, AZ and turns out he went to CGCC the year after I did, and was even in choir! Consequently, he got to meet Emily, and a lot of my other friends from that choir, and even Jordan Clark, and a few other kids from GHS that came to CGCC! Hhahah so that was crazy. Oh, and even further, I went in to visit the choir like 3 or 4 times, while he was there! And I went to each of their concerts! He said he thought he recognized me, and he realized that it was from those. Hahahah it's a small world!

Our less actives are making a lot of progress! Enrique found a place to stay finally! (he's been homeless for over 100 days now) and Paolo and Saverio are both coming in to do genealogy during the week, and just seem a lot happier!

We've already got our entire week booked with appointments, and finding work, and things are just going great! It's starting to get a little cold now, so that's fun.

Oh! And, if I could I would send some pictures (hopefully next week...) but I made cinnamon rolls and orange rolls on sunday before conference, and they were freaking delicious!!!! I don't know how it turned out so well, but they did! And they were pretty cheap too! Sweet! So yeah, that's my cooking update =)

Well, vi voglio bene tutti!

-Anziano Bushman

We love Conference! Sept 28, 2011

We are SUPER EXCITED for conference this weekend! And way ready to hear our prophets, seers, and revelators reveal to us the will of God!

Transfers were this last week, and Anz Lehnardt and I are very glad to both get to stay here in Siena for another transfer!

Not much going on though... We talk to people, they accept us, and then they don't answer our calls. It's frustrating, but we know that it will all work out in the end. We did get a hold of Alessandro though! He answered our call finally and turns out that he's just been super busy with work! We were getting kind of worried that maybe he had found some anti-mormon stuff, but he said that in october his schedule should be freed up some more! So we're super excited about that.

Other than that, we're doing a lot of work with the branch, and the less actives. We're hoping that we can get more people coming to church, that way everyone will get more out of it.

Well, I love you all! Take care!! Watch conference! It's going to be awesome!!! Oh, and you should also read Pres Uchtdorf's talk in the ensign this month about conference, it's a good pump up!

vi voglio un sacco di bene!

Anziano Bushman