NIACIN. SPIDERS. BEDBUGS. HOORAY.

My fellow Americans,

This past week was tremendous.

Much service rendered, many bedbugs euthanized, and many large spiders uncovered. 

The week went something like this

SERVICE: We cut a forest of a lawn, and used the whimpyest weedeater I have seen in my whole life to get the grass down. It was interesting. 

Here is a picture of us on the way to cut her lawn

​and, as you can tell, there is never an inopportune time to shave. My beautiful companion and I gettin' ready to hit the town or hit the yard, as they call it here. 

We also got to eradicate bed bugs from the apartment of some elders in our district. This included improving my plastic-wrapping skills. I got to wrap 2 mattresses, a beanbag, a couple of pillows, and we almost wrapped the gentleman in the red shirt in the back seat of our car. 

While going to visit other missionaries in our zone, we stumbled upon a rather large arachnid. This specimen measured no smaller than the palm of my hand. I have large hands. This spider was larger than a chips ahoy cookie. Straight up monstrous. 

Niacin time. So, this past week I was, well, tricked into taking a Niacin supplement. Niacin is a natural mineral that helps with bloodflow. For all of you gym junkies out there, you can probably imagine how this one went. I took my 2500% daily value of Niacin that day and pretty soon my whole body was on fire. It wasn't too bad, but then I decided to take a nice warm shower. I almost passed out and was dizzy for a little while. However, about 3 hours later, I was my normal pale self again and forgave my harassers. ​

This past week was a good one for missionary work. We played scripture Jeopardy with a young 10-year-old investigator, and she got up in church and bore her testimony of the gospel. She was very strong. There is a girl in our branch who is going on a mission to Yakima, Washington, and she is a really powerful influence on this branch. It was amazing to see how powerful her testimony was and how it changed the outlook of the branch. We have our spanish classes every week, and we have been getting a good number of people to attend regularly. This last week, we had about 20 people show up, and I taught the class solo again. It is pretty nerve-racking but super fun. We have made some new investigators out of the students in the class, so that is really exciting. 

So, cool spiritual experience this last week. Here we go.

 

So there are these eternigators (a.k.a. they have been investigating the church for an eternity) that we were going to visit, and we weren't being very optimistic. Like we love them and all, but they don't progress or come to church or do anything because they are kind of lazy. So, we get there and we are talking to them (small talk) and then he tells us that he died about two weeks ago. This man, Pedro, installs AC units and was killed with 240V of electricity coursing through him. It should have just blown him back, but for whatever reason, he held on to it and died. He was dead for 18 whole minutes and then was shocked back to life by a defibrillator after the 5th try. He has no brain damage, no effects, nothing. I asked him if he could remember anything from those 18 minutes and he went on to explain to us that he left his body and was flying out of the earth and he could see everything like the universe and all of that stuff. He said that it was pretty crazy and then it all just ended when he was brought back. He went on to explain that he was perfectly fine and then told us of a  car crash that he had been in two years ago. He had been going like 100+ in his truck on the freeway going through Texas and somebody t-boned him. His car rolled over 10 times and then he got out and walked away. I was sitting there dumbfounded. After the car crash is when the missionaries had found him the first time, and that was when he got really serious with the gospel. I asked him what his purpose was or what he thought it was. He was like hmmm I don't know, but I know that there is some reason that I am here. I asked him what he thought it was and he said that it was to spread the gospel. I then knew that I had to find a scripture, but had no idea where it was. It was the scripture that says "this life is the time to prepare to meet God." I wasn't sure where it was, but I prayed really hard in my head and just cracked open the scriptures to the very page that it was on. It was really spiritual. We are going back this week to visit him again. 

So, I thought that was pretty cool. Anyway, I love y'all and hope that you have a fantastic week. My email address is matthew.busi@myldsmail.net so hit me up if y'all want!

Have a BLESSED week!

Elder Matthew Busi

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This week's special: Cloudy, with a chance of South Korea

So, this last week was awesome. 

Not a lot of time to write, but it was fantastic because we had an experience with a church that originates in South Korea. They tried to correct a lot of our doctrine, which was not very cool with me. I held my tongue, though, and the account is as follows:

So this last week, my companion and I went to this church thing (as mentioned earlier). We were OTM'd (or contacted) in a QT by a flock of young girls all inviting us to their house church so we were a little sketched out. We were in a house church (already a different environment) and we were not sure quite what to expect. We walked in and were immediately greeted by two young men who looked as old as we, and to our great surprise, they were the preachers or leaders of the congregation and would be leading this bible study. We were greeted by about 20 other people with remarks like "Hello Brother" and "God Bless You Brother" and "Welcome Brother" and the like. So, we were already beginning to be weirded out. Then, they take us into a back room and sit us down with both of the preachers. One of them leads two of us in a Bible study and the other does the same with the other set of Elders that were with us (tonto elderes de ingles). They were like "what would you like to learn about?" To which we replied "uhhhhh whatever I guess." They were stumped so I was like "tell us what is different about your church." Then, the fun began. It started off with some bible readings from the King James Bible. So, in the Bible, it states multiple times in the New Testament that Christ gave the parable of the Fig Tree. This is true. Israel shall be condemned like a Fig Tree and then shall be gathered back or junk like that. So, we know how to read scriptures and understand doctrine, but he starts twisting a little. It was really uncomfortable. Spirit=not present and we all felt weird haha. Then he explains that a prophecy was fulfilled in the bible when Israel was established as a state in 1948. I thought I knew where he was going, but then he took it farther. He went on to explain that all things in the Bible do not contradict with learned knowledge. Therefore (example time) when Christ states that he will come in the clouds and that he will come with fire, we understand that he will come two times because clouds are made of water and water and fire don't mix (duh). So, yeah, about Israel circa 1948. So, Israel established as a state following WWII. That same time, in fact in that same year, Christ appeared in the East. What is directly East of Israel on the same Latitude? South Korea! Of course! So, their church originates from South Korea and Christ changed his name and they all celebrate all of the Jewish holidays and call the sacrament "passover" because to do otherwise is an abomination in the sight of God. 

​So, after that, we regrouped and read some scriptures. It was pretty funny after the fact, but I learned a lot from it. It shows us that what we have is very precious. The Gospel is a Pearl of Great Price and we know that we must share it with all that have ears to hear. 

I love this gospel. I love the Lord. I love this church.

Stay classy my friends,

Elder Matthew Busi​

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WEEK (wait where are we now...) SOMETHING: WEEK OF FANTASTICNESS

So, here is an account of my companion and our travels in the foreign land of Tulsa OK.

As y'all know, this past week I was transferred from the place of my birth in Fort Smith, AR to my new home in Tulsa. Things are very different here. The people, the ethnicities of the spanish-speakers, the grid system, and the size of the city. 

This last Sunday, instead of the run of the mill 15 members at church, we had 100 members. Yes, pushing it in to triple digits. It was really cool. It is a different world. The city is about 7 times the size of Fort Smith (masomenos)

This past week, we met a lot of families and had the opportunity to meet with the branch presidency. It is going to be a good couple of weeks/months. 

So, crazy things have been happening back home, I guess. Rumors of flames and charred remains of houses and terrible things like that. Some people lose everything when these things happen. Everybody is a little bit chaotic, and scary things happen. But the important thing to do in this situation is to keep moving forward. Man, how cliche can I be... In times like this, the only thing that we can do is have faith and HOPE. If you feel like you are down, confused as to why the Lord would permit something like this to happen, be of good cheer. Christ has atoned for us and knows perfectly how you feel at this very moment. 

Hey, y'all are the best ever. Here's a piece of eye candy

Did you think to pray?

Love y'all

Elder Matthew Busi

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WEEK 24: THE WEEK OF THE GOODBYE

So, this week we got the news of the who, the where, and the how. 

I will be moving this transfer to a faraway place called Tulsa Spanish. There, I will serve with my new companion, Elder Williams, and we will be jolly and have fantastic times together! My new address, as noted in the left-hand column of the blog, is as follows:

10847 E 33rd St #62

Tulsa, OK 74146

Elder Williams... I know absolutely nothing about him, his family, tastes, preferences, hair color, amount of dirt under fingernails, anything at all. He hails from I'm not sure where, and he will be a terrific Zone Leader. Oh, that is another thing! I will be serving as District Leader with my companion as Zone Leader! It is kind of odd, but the whole mission has changed very rapidly and interesting things are happening all over the place. I am just excited to be a part of it!

This past week was spectacular, with a good time at church and some good quality time spent with members. The work is slowing down in this area a little, so we decided to focus more on less active members. It is awesome to be able to work with leadership in the area and get real work done!!!

Elder Millett has been an awesome companion. From teaching me how to solve a Rubik's cube to quoting Les Miserables to each other all of the time to listening to Hugh W. Nibley in the car, I couldn't have asked for a better brother to serve with haha. This next transfer, he will be staying in the FORT and being a District Leader over the missionaries in the Fort Smith District. He will keep a close and friendly eye on them for darn sure! 

I am going to miss this area, the FORT because this is where I was born, but it will be a bittersweet change, as I will grow and learn more in a new area with a new companion. Sometimes change is scary. Like really scary. But it doesn't have to be. With the help of the Lord, change can be nothing at all. It happens everyday, everywhere, and there is nothing that we can do about it. 

Hugh W. Nibley is very inspiring. He is the kind of speaker that I love to listen to because he is really fast-paced and very very intelligent, therefore very fun to listen to. He gives a lot of talks about the life of Brigham Young and in one of them, actually all of them, he states the theme of Brigham Young's life. It is kind of like this (paraphrased and in my own words so really why am I writing this disclaimer when I am going to botch it?) WHO CARES. Things are going to happen. Some of them good, some of them bad. If the mob comes to my house and burns it down, it was meant to be. God has a plan for all of us, so just let it happen. I LOVE THIS. As long as we keep the commandments and do our part, we have no need to fear ANYTHING. 

Well, I love y'all and hope y'all have a BLESSED week!

From the last time in the South (at least for a while)

Elder Matthew Busi, Esq.

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