Useless Passalong Cards and Tommy Bussino

Dear family and friends,

 

           I can't say that a whole lot went on in terms of special stuff. Elder Adona and I keep trying to find people. It's the same old story for missionary work. We're getting a member-missionary class set up for the South Mountain ward. We've been trying to get it up and running again after the sister missionaries left but we've been dragging our feet. It's a great program it just needs work and attention. Transfers come up April 4th. By the end of this transfer I'll have been in this ward for six months! Wow! Time sure goes fast!

 

          Our normal pass-along cards are useless now that the church wants EVERYTHING to go onto mormon.org. The funny thing about that is that we heard the word after getting a couple boxes of those very same cards! Now Elder Adona and I fling them at each other because there's nothing else to do with them besides making bonfires which we don't want to do. I'm looking forward to General Conference at the end of this week! It will be very refreshing! I've enjoyed General Conference a lot since I've been on my mission. I'm sure I'll enjoy it again.

 

          Right now I owe a lot to Tommy Bussino. He's the guy that sent a whole bunch of books to Dad. He's been helping me and Elder Adona out a lot. We've gone to his house for a couple of p-days and he taught us how to play God Storm Risk and Cashflow. Not only have I had a lot of fun over there I've received a lot of spiritual insights from him and his love for us is unbelievable! I consider Tommy, McKenna (his wife) and their son Moroni as family now. They owe a lot of my gratitude. Here's a little bit of a description of Tommy: Extremely knowledgable about the gospel (his library is HUGE), he loves Superman and real estate and he's a really big smartmouth. Well there's a little tidbit about him for you.

 

            That's all for now. I appreciate your love and support.

 

Elder Boothe

Card Games and Nice Weather

Dear family and friends,

 

      The weather right now in Phoenix was phenomenal! Yesterday it was dark, cloudy, gloomy and rainy. It even hailed! This is the one time of the year that this happens so I'm counting my blessings and hoping that the weather stays this way. Everybody complained about the heat earlier in the week but 80 something degrees is nothing especially in comparison to what the summer's like. I don't understand why people in Arizona complain about 80 something degree weather. For me that's a breeze! Literally and figuratively.

 

       We had zone meeting this week which means that President Taylor and Sister Taylor speak to us. We also watch annoying safety videos. I don't know why they show car safety videos in this zone and not bike saftey videos. Out of the 22 missionaries in our zone only six drive a car, the zone leaders and the sisters. The rest of us ride bikes. After the meeting we took a picture so you can see me and the rest of the other missionaries in my zone. In that meeting President Taylor introduced a new concept that he wants us to use when we knock on doors: He wants us to offer prayers to people inside their homes. At first the idea seemed very uncomfortable but it made sense after a while. Most other Christians are used to praying in public settings over homes and things like that. For them it's comfortable and natural. Elder Adona and I haven't seen any success with this approach but I'm sure there's a better way to do it. 

 

        Elder Adona and I play a lot of card games and we've been playing a lot of Uno. Right now we start off with 20 cards in our hands so there's room for a lot of Draw twos. Elder Adona was on the receiving end of that nasty chain. It was so hilarious that I had to put a picture of that up. In case any of you are worried that I'm slacking off, I want to make it clear that I am not. Us playing card games does not interfere with the work.

 

         Anyway not much else happened so thank you all and I love you all so much.

 

Love,

 

Elder Boothe

A week filled with awesomeness!‏

Dear family and friends,

 

        This week had some pretty cool stuff that happened in it in which I am soooo excited to tell you all. One is that on Saturday I went to the temple with the original intent of seeing one of my investigators from Surprise get sealed. I say "original intent" because the couple didn't getting sealed, they got their endowment. I was told that their sealing was a month earlier than what it really was. It was still a really good feeling there! One of my other investigators from Cottonwood got sealed prior to my arrival, which was fantastic! I got to see the members that I lived with when I was in Cottonwood before heading in the temple. We talked for a little bit and it felt really good! When I arrived at the endowment (I barely got there in time) I sat next to the bishop in one of my wards in Glendale. His son was getting married and the bishop's soon-to-be daughter-in-law was going through her endowment. Wow! I couldn't believe it! I had all four of my areas represented in the temple that day! That was pretty amazing! The people in Surprise demonstrated the thoughts that they felt that it hadn't been that long since I was last there. It's been about a year since then. There were a lot of good memories on that day. Brother Bussino, the "brother from the ward" that Dad alluded to in his letter, was excited to share the joy I felt that day. I was extremely excited. Rest assured it was an amazing experience.

 

        Elder Adona and I made a fruit pizza earlier in the week. It tasted pretty good. I also received a trench coat from my district leader about two weeks ago that I forgot to mention. Originally I told Elder Stephens that I was going to buy one when I got home but he said that he wasn't going to need one when summer came around so we struck a deal. I buy him dinner, since he was out of money because this happened at the end of February, and he gives me the trench coat. I couldn't pass up such an awesome deal! Later on that evening Elder Catlett lent me his shades and we took a picture of it. It reminds me a lot of one of my favorite movies of all time: The Matrix. 

 

          This morning Elder Adona and I woke up with the Spanish missionaries and joined their district on a sunrise hike. I didn't like waking up extra early but I like hikes (they're really easy for me) and I liked watching the sunset. Since Elder Catlett's mom literally gave him $50 worth of McDonald's gift cards he treated his entire district out to McDonald's. That was fun! Later on today as our district activity we're going to play card games and board games at the church. I'm really looking forward to that! 

 

           Yesterday Henry got the Aaronic Priesthood! YAY! I felt so happy and excited for him! He's been looking forward to getting the priesthood for a while now. It's been amazing to watch him grow and progress. What's even more amazing is that HE knows that he's changed a lot! This is the biggest reason why I came out on a mission in the first place and it's so awesome to see my investigators improve and progress in the gospel, whether it be through getting their endowments or whether it be through getting the priesthood! The funny thing about Henry getting the priesthood is that we had a lesson on the priesthood during Elder's quorum. What timing! Before Henry received the priesthood Elder Adona and I were asked by the Young Women's president to share our testimonies about how missionary work has changed our lives to the Young women. I prayed hard for the Spirit to speak through me. I'll share with you the points and highlights from it:

• I brought up how being on a mission has caused me to realize that this Gospel is very real and that Christ is a very real influence in our lives
• I brought up how grateful I am for my mother bringing me up the way she did
• I shared my plaque scripture: 2 Nephi 25:26
• The Church should not be taken for granted and that we are very blessed to have that solid gospel anchor in our lives
• The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the greatest thing that's happened to mankind. It's power in my life is very real and I've made it a point to let it change me and to let it help me become more than what I once was

         The Young women talked about having another "missionary social" which sounds like a fireside where they bring non-member friends. It feels really good to see the members imporve and progress in their missionary efforts. I hope our testimonies inspired them to do something. I still wonder that. I felt the Spirit very powerfully when I bore my testimony and it's caused me to do a little bit of reflecting as well. It's awesome to see how much trust we've gained in the ward. When World War with the Ward happened last week Brother Bussino was involved and he had some kind of a talk with the bishop after Elder Adona and I met with the bishop and Brother Torres and he reported back that Bishop Osborne likes us. We must have made a good impression or something. Whatever the case our trust level with the members is increasing and that has been a very wonderful thing to see since that gets drilled into our heads from the moment that we hit the field.

 

That's all I can remember for now. I love you all and hope that you had a good week!

 

Love,

Elder Boothe

Don't get mad Boothe, don't get mad Boothe!

Dear family and friends,

 

        This last weekend was very stressful. Eric and Ikea did not get baptized. Elder Adona and I just fought World War 3 and it was emotionally taxing. We're going through some struggles that have brought me very low. I felt like blowing up at a lot of people but I didn't. We had a meeting with the bishop and with the ward mission leader. There was a lot of things that were said in that meeting and Elder Adona just kept saying "Don't get mad Boothe, don't get mad Boothe". I had an anxiety attack or two over this but when we got into the meeting we started off with a prayer which set the meeting straight and the Spirit was very strong. I said all the things that I wanted to say without getting angry. I was clear, I was bold, I was candid but I did not succumb to my anger. It's ironic that I was celebrating my recent victory when it finally occurred that I did something really stupid to someone I really cared about and the stupid action was about the very thing I thought I had overcome.

 

 Moral of the story: Don't succumb to anger and don't be too quick to judge!

 

         Recently Elder Adona and I attained an unlikely ally: Brother Bussino. He's a guy that's worked with over 300 missionaries on their different problems, be they personal or companion problems. Many of his friends were missionaries that he's worked with. He doesn't have a calling he just likes helping missionaries. He's been helping me and Elder Adona  A LOT! He's been very helpful not only in increasing our doctrinal knowledge but he's also worked with us on how to help each other and ourselves. He's into real estate and he's very intelligent. He has a superman bike and a clone trooper helmet. Anyway I've only gotten to know him since the beginning of this transfer, about three weeks ago, and he's alrady made a dramatic difference in my life. I feel like I've overcome a lot of different trials nad obstacles with his help and right now I need to make amends to someone.

 

Outside of that this week has gone by really fast. We haven't found anyone new to teach though.

 

Love,

Elder Boothe