An Awesome Miracle! April 24, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm nervous. Really nervous. I guess we all are at times. I don't know how to get my inner desires to become actions. But I guess that is the test of this lifetime, the 'proving' that God has told us about in Abraham 3:25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;

Please pray for Elder W., my companion.  He is really depressed and I don't know how to help him. He's scared of his own shadow and needs CONSTANT approval or encouragement or compliments. And I'm not good enough at it apparently. I'm doing ALL of the talking. But when we aren't in a lesson, he talks my ear off. And it's usually him complaining about not being able to speak in the lessons because "I don't let him." (Bologna.)

We are moving on May 4th to a better neighborhood. They have been looking for a place for us since our bikes were stolen out of our current place. But we're moving a mile away from everyone else... and up three flights of stairs... but we'll have a washer and dryer!

We had an awesome miracle this week! We had ward conference this sunday which was phenomenal! And a lady from our ward came up after the first hour and said "There is a man in jeans and a white shirt holding a bible in the foyer and he looks lost." So we introduced our selves and he said his name is Shannon Wright and he is trying to stay clean from alcohol and drugs. We promised that the gospel would help him and he committed to baptism on May 4th! This Gospel is awesome!

Love,

Elder Zachary Evan Bushman

Conference Was GREAT!!! April 15, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,

Thank you so much for your emails and letters!! Thank you for your faith in me and your love and prayers! I love helping people (members and non-members) to prepare themselves to enter the holy temple and make sacred covenants with Our Father in Heaven! I love realizing that the Temple is the ultimate goal in this life.

 

Conference was GREAT!! At times it felt like they were talking directly to me!! Scary but great!

 

My new companion is Elder W.  He is nice enough and we get along pretty good so far. He talks nonstop when its just us but when we talk to other people, he doesn't say a word. Trial of faith #2,342,135. And yes, we are in the same ward/area.

 

Curtis is doing awful. He knocked on our apartment door Saturday night smelling STRONGLY of alcohol saying he's not going to come to church because he's intoxicated. Heart. Wrenching. Then LAST night, I was outside on the phone with President and Curtis was outside walking so when Pres. and I were done, I went up and talked to him and he said "I don't know what's keeping me from ending my life right now." It brought tears to my eyes as I testified to him of the Atonement and the love that both the Savior and I have for him. He's almost as stubborn as me though. Pray for him.

You know being on a mission is not all fun and games. It is HARD at times and there are trials and humbling experiences that happen daily. But I know that I can do this. "Thank you, Mr. Gardner, for cutting me down; for loving me enough to hurt me." (Hugh B. Brown, "God is the Gardner") I know God loves me! And I am where He wants me to be!

I hope everything is going well back home! I love you!!

 

Elder Zachary Evan Bushman

At Least I'm Alive! April 1, 2013

April 1, 2013

Family and Friends,

Well, this week has been pretty rough… I’ll throw the bad news out first then hit ya with the good stuff. March 28th, we wake up and Elder S. says, “Elder Bushman, where is your bike…?” You guessed it. Someone broke into our apartment a little after 4am and stole both my bikes (one that Elder E., our zone leader, gave me that was only worth about $20, and the one I JUST BOUGHT). Elder S.’s $500 bike was sitting right next to mine but no, they just had to take both of mine! So dumb. I don’t even know what to do. Elder H. is letting me borrow his bike for now but transfers are April 10th so I may be out of luck! Talk about a trial of faith…3 bikes stolen in a little over 4 weeks. Needless to say we’re moving apartments.

Update on our investigators:
Curtis – We took Br. P. with us to go see him and we decided that we’re never bringing him with us again. He is very bold and not shy at all (which is great) but he talks too much and teaches false doctrine. For example, he was saying that very, very few people are going to make it to the highest degree of glory. In his words, he said, “I assume the Prophets…maybe some of the Apostles will make it to the highest degree. But I don’t think guys like you and me have a chance! We’ll probably be in the Terrestrial Kingdom.” You can imagine the look of horror that was on my face. On the positive side, Curtis is really enjoying the Book of Mormon, Church and the Gospel Principles book he got! He still doesn’t feel worthy to be baptized.

Jerry – I don’t know if I told you about Jerry or not. But it doesn’t really matter because we dropped him. We just couldn’t get him to be serious.

Aaron – He’s moving to Northern Iowa to play football at the end of April! We’ve got to get a move on!

Jay – I was on an exchange with Elder W. (one of the zone leaders) and we stopped to go to the bathroom at our apartment. We got a knock on the door and a man (Jay) asked us if we were from the same church that Jesus came from. Perfect! We taught him the Restoration and committed him to be baptized on April 27th! Only one problem… We don’t know how to get ahold of him. Bummer…

Now for the good stuff! I love the music you sent me! Which makes me say something I thought I would never say… “I think I might have a new favorite a cappella group…” ECLIPSE! They’re insane! But I’ve only heard one of their songs, I Believe In Christ. Oh. My. Gosh. Overtones Galore! At least I hope they’re overtones! Incredible chords, killer dynamics, buttery soloist. Just phenomenal. Don’t tell Vocal Point… Also, we’re having a zone cook-off today and we (I) are making Pineapple Chicken and Cake Mix Cookies with the cherry chip cake mix! (I hope it works out!) Hahaha I’m gonna be on my own on this one! Elder S. isn’t much of a cook… Haha Also, Pres. Gelwix called an emergency Zone Conference for last week and pretty much changed how we do things entirely. We used to have Zone/District “standards” (for example, one week we focused on at least one baptismal invite/day) but President vetoed that and said that all we are responsible for is one baptism per month per area. This should be interesting! I love you all! Thank you for your love, support and prayers! (Mom, don’t freak out about my bike’s being stolen or our apartment being broken into. At least I’m still alive!:) 

Love, Elder Zachary Evan Bushman

P.S. So, I accidentally used chicken breasts instead of thighs for the Pineapple Chicken…and I forgot to put the sauce on before cooking it the first time. I blame Elder S. for not helping me one bit. But it still turned out delicious! I didn’t even try the cookies. Speaking of, thank you so much for the package! Everything looks great!! And thank you for that music! I can’t wait!