This is the map. Each week or each transfer there will be a new pin.
March 25, 2017
March 15, 2017
La Despedida (Farewell)
Friends, Acquaintances, Everyone involved-
It is with satisfaction that I report that my full-time service as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints comes to a close on Friday, March 17th.
I would like to use the following space to share some things that I have learned during my time of dedicated ministry to the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us
Because our Father loves us, he sent his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. The joy and peace of His Atoning Sacrifice are made available to us by participating in saving ordinances, the repentance process, and constant communication. The expiatory power that our Savior offers us is without end, limit, or understanding. It works. For everyone.
2. Hard work is a necessity for a successful life.
The satisfaction of seeing the fruits of your labors, the fulfilling mental and physical tiredness at the end of a long day, the peace of knowing that somehow, somewhere you contributed to a cause that is greater than you- it all comes from good, hard work.
3. Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies.
As all returned missionaries can relate, in the beginning, at various points during, and even at the conclusion of a mission, each missionary is underqualified. I bear personal witness that the Lord has, in my case, filled my mouth "in the very moment, (with) what [I] should say"
4. The Law of the Harvest- You get out of your experiences what you put into them.
The Lord was very specific in his parables, and I have seen exactly that. At times on my mission, I was more lax in my approach; not an overall laziness and lack of desire, just a reduced effort. I found that when my effort was reduced, the results decreased in direct correlation.
5. Missions are just dang fun.
Any young man that reads this, whether in the next 3 minutes or the next 30 years, needs to know the truth about missions. They are a whole lot of fun. There is nothing to compare it to that you have yet participated in. It is just awesome. Try it. If you are hesitant, try going out with the missionaries or a mini-mission or something. Get a real taste.
In all, this experience has been a developmental experience for me. I testify of the divinity and reality of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I witness that His Gospel has, in fact, been restored to the Earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Furthermore, I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is God's Kingdom on the Earth today, the same organization that existed when Christ performed his earthly ministry.
May we all focus more on coming closer to Christ is my solemn plea in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
It is with satisfaction that I report that my full-time service as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints comes to a close on Friday, March 17th.
I would like to use the following space to share some things that I have learned during my time of dedicated ministry to the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us
Because our Father loves us, he sent his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. The joy and peace of His Atoning Sacrifice are made available to us by participating in saving ordinances, the repentance process, and constant communication. The expiatory power that our Savior offers us is without end, limit, or understanding. It works. For everyone.
2. Hard work is a necessity for a successful life.
The satisfaction of seeing the fruits of your labors, the fulfilling mental and physical tiredness at the end of a long day, the peace of knowing that somehow, somewhere you contributed to a cause that is greater than you- it all comes from good, hard work.
3. Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies.
As all returned missionaries can relate, in the beginning, at various points during, and even at the conclusion of a mission, each missionary is underqualified. I bear personal witness that the Lord has, in my case, filled my mouth "in the very moment, (with) what [I] should say"
4. The Law of the Harvest- You get out of your experiences what you put into them.
The Lord was very specific in his parables, and I have seen exactly that. At times on my mission, I was more lax in my approach; not an overall laziness and lack of desire, just a reduced effort. I found that when my effort was reduced, the results decreased in direct correlation.
5. Missions are just dang fun.
Any young man that reads this, whether in the next 3 minutes or the next 30 years, needs to know the truth about missions. They are a whole lot of fun. There is nothing to compare it to that you have yet participated in. It is just awesome. Try it. If you are hesitant, try going out with the missionaries or a mini-mission or something. Get a real taste.
In all, this experience has been a developmental experience for me. I testify of the divinity and reality of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I witness that His Gospel has, in fact, been restored to the Earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Furthermore, I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is God's Kingdom on the Earth today, the same organization that existed when Christ performed his earthly ministry.
May we all focus more on coming closer to Christ is my solemn plea in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
January 16, 2017
Miracles from Mizzurah
Family, Friends, Fellas
Our last week was one for the books, a great one on the Lord's part. It seemed that our every action was guided by the Lord. I am happy to be a part of this great and marvelous latter-day work!
They were predicting the worst ice storm of the decade, but it missed us by about 20-30 miles. We woke up and our car was covered in ice, but it wasn't bad. Up where we go to church though, tree branches were snapping and everything was covered in ice.
Here is a photo of the twisted beauty of the deadly storm (grainy quality thanks to point-and-shoot photography)
Not nearly as bad as the 2007 ice storm up here, apparently. We had power, only a flicker once.
We had some pretty cool experiences this week.
We have been trying really hard to find more people to teach.
We found some different people through different finding methods. We had met a lady with Elder Bayles while tracting. She was nice, took a copy of the Book of Mormon, and said we could come back sometime. She gave us her number. We tried following up a couple of weeks later, but it was unsuccessful. Then, earlier this week we had finished some appointments and I was just thinking. I remembered her. I gave her a call, and she had been reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and pondering it. She wanted to talk. We go back this evening to meet her again!
Another guy we found was pretty cool. We made some Bible flyers (I probably told you last week) but we are doing some DIY media referrals. Normally, we wait for people to click on advertisements online requesting a Bible, but I got tired of waiting. So I made some flyers and we have been putting them up on bulletin boards all over town and in laundromats and in apartment laundry rooms. We had our first call (which made all of the work worth it) and we got to meet a nice man named Kirtis. He had lived a hard life, and was in the process of quitting smoking. We told him we had a program to help him. We also gave a copy of the Book of Mormon with our Bible.
And then the last (and coolest) of the stories this week.
We were looking in our former investigator list and found a family that had been taught a lot, really well fellowshipped by the ward, and had a LOT of people there. So we went and checked it out.
We'll call them "La Familia Grande" just to reference them. Every Sunday, Kika (the grandmother) and Jaime (the grandfather) get all of their 5 kids and many grandkids together under one roof. They love the missionaries, and were happy to see us. We had a lesson with 12 adults, all of whom participated. They were interested in the gospel and in learning English. Just having that many people in a room is more than all of the spanish members in this area- almost too good to be true. They are a really good family, and we plan on visiting them weekly.
Other cool experiences include meeting Tom and Yvonne. Tom was outside picking up sticks that had fallen in the ice storm. He's an older man, bald, a pretty goofy guy. He started talking to us in the street, and then it was 10 minutes later and then we were inside his house and then he introduced us to Yvonne, his wife who taught school and then realized that it would be important to learn Spanish, so she did. She was impressed by our spanish and we talked with her about learning spanish for a long time. Tom was very excited about sales and politics. He loved talking to us about it, but we didn't give very much away (not allowed to talk about it). They were super nice, and I gave them my email and phone number. We gave Yvonne a Book of Mormon in Spanish. It was cool. They really liked me, like a lot. It was weird. Like I knew these people for 35-40 minutes, and they were just really attached. I felt like a grandchild again haha
Anyways, It was a really good week.
We learned in our Zone Traning meeting about "The List." Elder Lynn G. Robbins came to our mission and instructed on a lot of good stuff. He was an executive at Franklin Covey before he was a general authority, and gave lots of good advice about how to be successful. It really just confirmed a lot of things to me.
Things that I have been working on like gossiping less, working harder, procrastinating less, etc. I came to the following conclusion:
We are told in all of our classes, studies, etc. to fight the natural man, even to kill him. It is a lifelong approach. However, what we are less apt at is identifying what he looks like, or perhaps just doing it often. An important part in any war, with any enemy, is to know what they look like, to identify their attributes, etc. So a big part of understanding how to defeat the natural man is understanding what he looks like. The attributes on "the list" are a pretty accurate description of what to avoid or fight off.
In all, a really empowering and helpful week.
Today marks under the 60 day mark until home. Pretty crazy that it comes that fast.
One more picture- this was last week tracting in 10 degree weather. Not too successful, but makes for a good picture :)
Have a blessed week, world :)
Elder Busi
Our last week was one for the books, a great one on the Lord's part. It seemed that our every action was guided by the Lord. I am happy to be a part of this great and marvelous latter-day work!
They were predicting the worst ice storm of the decade, but it missed us by about 20-30 miles. We woke up and our car was covered in ice, but it wasn't bad. Up where we go to church though, tree branches were snapping and everything was covered in ice.
Here is a photo of the twisted beauty of the deadly storm (grainy quality thanks to point-and-shoot photography)
Not nearly as bad as the 2007 ice storm up here, apparently. We had power, only a flicker once.
We had some pretty cool experiences this week.
We have been trying really hard to find more people to teach.
We found some different people through different finding methods. We had met a lady with Elder Bayles while tracting. She was nice, took a copy of the Book of Mormon, and said we could come back sometime. She gave us her number. We tried following up a couple of weeks later, but it was unsuccessful. Then, earlier this week we had finished some appointments and I was just thinking. I remembered her. I gave her a call, and she had been reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and pondering it. She wanted to talk. We go back this evening to meet her again!
Another guy we found was pretty cool. We made some Bible flyers (I probably told you last week) but we are doing some DIY media referrals. Normally, we wait for people to click on advertisements online requesting a Bible, but I got tired of waiting. So I made some flyers and we have been putting them up on bulletin boards all over town and in laundromats and in apartment laundry rooms. We had our first call (which made all of the work worth it) and we got to meet a nice man named Kirtis. He had lived a hard life, and was in the process of quitting smoking. We told him we had a program to help him. We also gave a copy of the Book of Mormon with our Bible.
And then the last (and coolest) of the stories this week.
We were looking in our former investigator list and found a family that had been taught a lot, really well fellowshipped by the ward, and had a LOT of people there. So we went and checked it out.
We'll call them "La Familia Grande" just to reference them. Every Sunday, Kika (the grandmother) and Jaime (the grandfather) get all of their 5 kids and many grandkids together under one roof. They love the missionaries, and were happy to see us. We had a lesson with 12 adults, all of whom participated. They were interested in the gospel and in learning English. Just having that many people in a room is more than all of the spanish members in this area- almost too good to be true. They are a really good family, and we plan on visiting them weekly.
Other cool experiences include meeting Tom and Yvonne. Tom was outside picking up sticks that had fallen in the ice storm. He's an older man, bald, a pretty goofy guy. He started talking to us in the street, and then it was 10 minutes later and then we were inside his house and then he introduced us to Yvonne, his wife who taught school and then realized that it would be important to learn Spanish, so she did. She was impressed by our spanish and we talked with her about learning spanish for a long time. Tom was very excited about sales and politics. He loved talking to us about it, but we didn't give very much away (not allowed to talk about it). They were super nice, and I gave them my email and phone number. We gave Yvonne a Book of Mormon in Spanish. It was cool. They really liked me, like a lot. It was weird. Like I knew these people for 35-40 minutes, and they were just really attached. I felt like a grandchild again haha
Anyways, It was a really good week.
We learned in our Zone Traning meeting about "The List." Elder Lynn G. Robbins came to our mission and instructed on a lot of good stuff. He was an executive at Franklin Covey before he was a general authority, and gave lots of good advice about how to be successful. It really just confirmed a lot of things to me.
Things that I have been working on like gossiping less, working harder, procrastinating less, etc. I came to the following conclusion:
We are told in all of our classes, studies, etc. to fight the natural man, even to kill him. It is a lifelong approach. However, what we are less apt at is identifying what he looks like, or perhaps just doing it often. An important part in any war, with any enemy, is to know what they look like, to identify their attributes, etc. So a big part of understanding how to defeat the natural man is understanding what he looks like. The attributes on "the list" are a pretty accurate description of what to avoid or fight off.
In all, a really empowering and helpful week.
Today marks under the 60 day mark until home. Pretty crazy that it comes that fast.
One more picture- this was last week tracting in 10 degree weather. Not too successful, but makes for a good picture :)
Have a blessed week, world :)
Elder Busi
December 19, 2016
Season's Greetings from the Icy Midwest
'Tis the season, brothers and sisters!
Merry Christmas to all back home, out and about, and serving on missions.
I have been pretty inconsistent with this blog/email thing, so I'll be surprised if anyone actually reads this one.
This past week, month, and year have been pretty interesting, to say the least.
We were informed this last Monday that our Mission would be relinquishing (might I add reluctantly so) the three stakes of our Mission that are in the Tulsa area to the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Mission.
It is sad to see a place that I served knocked off of the list of places that will be open to serve the last leg of my mission, but there are certainly a number of happy missionaries further West of us 😊
In other news, last Saturday and Sunday, I was blessed with the opportunity to experience -2 degrees Fahrenheit. They cancelled church, and we only almost slid off of the road a couple of times. Sorry, Mom.
I certainly would not recommend such weather. We have it good in California!
And a California Christmas we had out here in Missouri. It was 70 degrees on Christmas day, with some thunderstorms into the evening. It was beautiful, and it felt just like home.
And a California Christmas we had out here in Missouri. It was 70 degrees on Christmas day, with some thunderstorms into the evening. It was beautiful, and it felt just like home.
❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄
As my mission draws to a close, I find myself thinking often on the subject of those that I have met, the experiences that I have had, and the opportunities to grow that I have taken.
As the 13th Article of Faith puts it- "[I] have endured many things," yet I have had much joy.
The joys that I have experienced, the hardships, the trials, the exhaustion have been for my benefit, and I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for his powerful and guiding influence on my journey.
In my studies, I have been researching a little more about what it means to be a good leader. There are plenty of self-help books out there, plenty of seminars and classes about how to develop good leaders, plenty of people trying to give their two cents. As a future leader, servant, and brother in Christ, I thought it best to seek out learning from the best books, and the results that I am finding are astonishing.
When we think of a leader, we ofttimes focus on people that we see in the public perspective. People like Presidents, Judges, Businesspersons, and so on. What we forget, on occasion, is that there is One who rules supreme; One who has more followers than any political leader, any motivational speaker, any Hollywood hoax.
His name is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, the Anointed One.
I add my testimony to the billions of believers today that I know that he is the Only Begotten of the Father.
Jesus Christ lived a life of absolute love and sacrifice for us. He showed us through divine example the actions, lifestyle, and comportment the medium to return to our Father above.
He is the Creator of all, our elder Brother, our Exemplar.
To all I wish a Merry Christmas, and may we #LIGHTtheWORLD with His love this winter season, and throughout all our lives.
Keep warm, and remember that He loves you, regardless of what season of the year it is 😊
Love
Elder Matthew Busi
matthew.busi@myldsmail.net
matthew.busi@myldsmail.net
November 14, 2016
In Other News
Ladies and Gentlemen, the drought has ended.
It has been many moons since last I wrote, and a long time since I have last sent a huge group email. Let it suffice to say, life has been unpredictable.
I will go over some highlights that have happened between the last time that I wrote and now. This is more for myself and my personal recording purposes, so bear with me and my shorthand. This my be incoherent, but hopefully it will not be illegible.
I have been many places and seen many things since last I wrote.
To name a few,
I have been inside the Sam's Club home office in Bentonville
I have participated in a worldwide missionary broadcast (the first in over 10 years)
Some other updates on people that I taught, found, and loved out in Rogers.
I love all of these people and was happy to be a part of the change that they made in their lives. It was sure an awesome time in Rogers. I left rogers in late June/early July.
I have served in the entertainment capitol of the midwest, none other than Branson Missouri, home of the live shows. Many of the members have their own shows or perform. To name a couple,
Among others. It was a pretty cool ward. I loved the members there. It was a trying place, but we were able to have some cool experiences. We met, taught, and baptized some incredible people. I love them lots and lots.
To protect their privacy, no last names, but they are some of my favorite people ever!
DJ! She is so cool and so faithful
Stacey! She is so awesome!
I had the incredible opportunity to train some new missionaries. My first 'kinda' trainee was Elder Noriega all those months ago in Rogers, but since then I have had the opportunity to train the following Elders
But life in Branson was good, and difficult. We were on bicycles for a little bit. That was rough. We made it through though.
I am now in Aurora Missouri, a sleepy little Route 66 town in the heartland of America. It boasts a population of 7,000-ish inhabitants and is next to the similarly-sized town of Monett. It is about as diverse, if not less, than my good little town of Ione.
My new companion is Elder Bayles, a cowboy from Colorado. He is a good one. A picture will be included in the near future.
Anyways, enough about me.
I was snooping on mormon.org and found this video. It is the funniest church-produced video that I have seen in a long time. Check it out!
Love y'all!
Have a blessed week!
Sorry for the information overload, but had to catch up somehow!
Love
Elder Busi
It has been many moons since last I wrote, and a long time since I have last sent a huge group email. Let it suffice to say, life has been unpredictable.
I will go over some highlights that have happened between the last time that I wrote and now. This is more for myself and my personal recording purposes, so bear with me and my shorthand. This my be incoherent, but hopefully it will not be illegible.
I have been many places and seen many things since last I wrote.
To name a few,
I have been inside the Sam's Club home office in Bentonville
 |
| Call me a supplier :) |
I have participated in a worldwide missionary broadcast (the first in over 10 years)
Some other updates on people that I taught, found, and loved out in Rogers.
 |
| Magdalena, Ana, Davina, David, and I |
 |
| Ana's Baptism |
 |
| The Aguirre Family and Elder Noriega |
 |
| Elder Noriega and Jose! |
I have served in the entertainment capitol of the midwest, none other than Branson Missouri, home of the live shows. Many of the members have their own shows or perform. To name a couple,
 |
| Six Brothers (the Knudsens) |
.jpg "The Brett's show Branson") |
| The Brett's |
 |
| The Hughes Brothers |
 |
| The Duttons |
To protect their privacy, no last names, but they are some of my favorite people ever!
DJ! She is so cool and so faithful
 |
| Myself, DJ, and Elder Fielding |
 |
| Elder Fielding, Stacey, and I |
I had the incredible opportunity to train some new missionaries. My first 'kinda' trainee was Elder Noriega all those months ago in Rogers, but since then I have had the opportunity to train the following Elders
 |
| Elder Fielding and I at Liberty Jail |
 |
| Elder Hutchings and I |
 |
| Elder Butler and I |
But life in Branson was good, and difficult. We were on bicycles for a little bit. That was rough. We made it through though.
I am now in Aurora Missouri, a sleepy little Route 66 town in the heartland of America. It boasts a population of 7,000-ish inhabitants and is next to the similarly-sized town of Monett. It is about as diverse, if not less, than my good little town of Ione.
My new companion is Elder Bayles, a cowboy from Colorado. He is a good one. A picture will be included in the near future.
Anyways, enough about me.
I was snooping on mormon.org and found this video. It is the funniest church-produced video that I have seen in a long time. Check it out!
Love y'all!
Have a blessed week!
Sorry for the information overload, but had to catch up somehow!
Love
Elder Busi
March 28, 2016
La semana de la PASCUA
Happy Pascua folks🐇🐰
This last week was really cool, and also really hard.
Every returned missionary will tell you that a mission is a hard thing.
I heard it lots of times
But here is why
You love people, and want the best for them, and work so hard, and they make choices other than to do what is so good for them. This last week, we were expecting 8 investigators to come to church, and 0 showed up. It was a little devastating, but it was Holy Week so most of our investigators were celebrating with their families the different catholic traditions.
But this past week was awesome because we got to celebrate The Miracle, the greatest of all. The atonement and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Some things have happened this past week, including the Brussels Bombing. I can testify that I know that my savior lives and that he loves me and each of us. Scary things are happening all around us, but if we hold strong and follow our Lord and Savior, we will have no need to fear. Those 4 missionaries that were injured in the explosion... My heart goes out to them. No parents ever want to see missionaries come back less than they were before. Props to the missionaries for serving full missions and for their testimonies of the Savior as well.
This last week we saw some miracles. Some of our investigators that didn't come to church, but we went to their house for a lesson shortly afterwards. We had an awesome lesson and invited them to come cycling with us today. We are excited to see how it goes.
Y'all have a blessed week! I have been out for 1 year as of last friday, and one more great year to go! Thank y'all for your support!
#Hallelujah for the Ressurrection
Love
Elder Busi
March 21, 2016
This week, on WALMART channel
So this last week was way cool. Some cool bicycling stories happened, and here is one for y'all:
These last two weeks, my companion and I have been getting on our bikes a lot. It is not fun sometimes, because they are slow compared to a car, and you have to be to different places on time. But we have been doing it anyways. So it was getting late and we wanted to go get dinner, but we were far away from our car and we wanted to go stop by a family that hadn't been to church in awhile and ask if they had any food. So we started riding and turned on the road. We turned left and went down this huge hill for like 2 miles and ended up at some random old redneck gas station. We found out that we had turned on the right road, but the wrong way and were now in a different city. The only way to get back was to go back up the ginormous hill. I was fine with it, but my companion was like nooooo please nooooo. So I rode behind him all of the way up the hill. He had a hard time making it to the top, but I did alright thanks to my love for bicycling before my mission. It took us like 30 minutes to make it up and it only took us like 10 to come down. We got back up the hill and started riding our bikes the right way down the road, trying to find the house of the people we were going to ask for dinner. We were about to go through a stoplight when I was like "no, lets go to that gas station and ask for directions." So we went there and in the gas station, we saw the person who we were going to ask for dinner. He said that he wasn't home, but he pointed us the right way anyway. So that was a little miracle because we were lost and he was right there. We biked to his house because there was another family in the neighborhood that could give us food if we needed it. We got to the first guy's house and didn't know where to go. All of a sudden, a car pulled up next to us and it was the family that we were looking for!!! They were like "where are you going?" We were like "to your house" they said "no your not haha" and we said "yes we are haha" and we followed them to their house. We got there just in time because the husband of the family had just gotten home from work (you can't go in a house without an adult man present) and he was on the roof and cutting down a tree. He needed some help, so we helped him cut down a whole tree and then they gave us dinner. He took us and our bikes back to our car at the end, and it was the coolest thing ever because we had no intention of doing any of these things when we started. The Lord guided us to exactly where we needed to go and at the right time too. If we hadn't gone down a hill for 2 miles and gotten to the gas station at the right time, or hadn't stopped for a 5 minute break or biked to get to the house at exactly the right time, none of that would've happened.
These last two weeks, my companion and I have been getting on our bikes a lot. It is not fun sometimes, because they are slow compared to a car, and you have to be to different places on time. But we have been doing it anyways. So it was getting late and we wanted to go get dinner, but we were far away from our car and we wanted to go stop by a family that hadn't been to church in awhile and ask if they had any food. So we started riding and turned on the road. We turned left and went down this huge hill for like 2 miles and ended up at some random old redneck gas station. We found out that we had turned on the right road, but the wrong way and were now in a different city. The only way to get back was to go back up the ginormous hill. I was fine with it, but my companion was like nooooo please nooooo. So I rode behind him all of the way up the hill. He had a hard time making it to the top, but I did alright thanks to my love for bicycling before my mission. It took us like 30 minutes to make it up and it only took us like 10 to come down. We got back up the hill and started riding our bikes the right way down the road, trying to find the house of the people we were going to ask for dinner. We were about to go through a stoplight when I was like "no, lets go to that gas station and ask for directions." So we went there and in the gas station, we saw the person who we were going to ask for dinner. He said that he wasn't home, but he pointed us the right way anyway. So that was a little miracle because we were lost and he was right there. We biked to his house because there was another family in the neighborhood that could give us food if we needed it. We got to the first guy's house and didn't know where to go. All of a sudden, a car pulled up next to us and it was the family that we were looking for!!! They were like "where are you going?" We were like "to your house" they said "no your not haha" and we said "yes we are haha" and we followed them to their house. We got there just in time because the husband of the family had just gotten home from work (you can't go in a house without an adult man present) and he was on the roof and cutting down a tree. He needed some help, so we helped him cut down a whole tree and then they gave us dinner. He took us and our bikes back to our car at the end, and it was the coolest thing ever because we had no intention of doing any of these things when we started. The Lord guided us to exactly where we needed to go and at the right time too. If we hadn't gone down a hill for 2 miles and gotten to the gas station at the right time, or hadn't stopped for a 5 minute break or biked to get to the house at exactly the right time, none of that would've happened.
The Lord has a special hand in our lives, if we just let him
That is the theme of the new Easter video that the church has released. If you have read this far in the post, you definitely have 2 minutes to watch it. The website is way cool and it is called followhim.mormon.org
I would invite y'all to share any of the videos on Facebook or anywhere else. They are a great way to remember the real reason for easter, not the bunny and eggs.
Love y'all
In Jesus Christ, I have found NEW LIFE (click on image)
Love
Elder Busi
--
January 4, 2016
On the first day of... the NEW YEAR
Resolutions.
Never.
Work.
That's why this year, something that we've been trying with every family that we teach and with ourselves is a solid gameplan with tracking
Hugh Nibley has a good little bit about our limits.
[paraphrasing]
"Our boundaries are like dogs; if we turn and flee, they chase us, however if we face them, they run away from us."
"Our boundaries are like dogs; if we turn and flee, they chase us, however if we face them, they run away from us."
This year, my New Year's Gameplans are simple and concise.
1. Become more familiar with the Scriptures
2. Become completely fluent in Spanish
For all of you dieters and exercisers out there, there is hope.
This past week, we have seen a level of success that I haven't previously seen. We switched from having active member lessons most of the time to really focusing back on our investigators. With the new member trust pushing us forward, we have found that the referrals are coming like a dumptruck filled with sand dumping all over us. It is the best thing ever.
We have done a lot of work as of late trying to pump up our members to do their own missionary work. I have probably already written about the levels of missionary work, but we are getting both of our areas to level 3's. It is way exciting.
Anyway, for this new year, I've also made the choice to be completely committed to the cause of our Lord by aligning my will more with his.
I would invite each of you to do the same.
I love y'all and hope that you had a terrific first week of the New Year!!!
Love
Elder Matthew Busi
December 28, 2015
Week of JESUS
This past week was one of interest.
Let me just do a little definition for a minute
Pagan- the worship of idols or false gods
Pagan Holiday- a holiday where the celebration includes the worship of false gods
Christmas- So, here's where there is a little problem
Christmas is made to be the one holiday that we can all count on. Each and every year, we have the opportunity to praise the Lord by dedicating an entire day, even an entire season to him.
Ready for the cliche? Christmas is not a season of Santa and gifts and all of that stuff. Being on the mission has made me realize that, and Spanish culture has helped me to see the difference. You see, Santa doesn't necessarily visit Mexico
So,
In Spanish Culture, they celebrate Christ, and the reason for the season. Every 24th of December (the Buena Noche, or "Good Night") is celebrated by staying up until 12:00 at which time everyone gives and opens gifts. The celebration includes the making of Tamales or other foods and a lot of singing. It is terrific.
January 6 or "Three Kings Day" is when the gifts were brought by the magi from the East. Gifts can also be opened on this day.
Christmas lights are not taken down until February 2 which is the day that Christ was able to rise, 40 days after his birth. Not quite sure why it is chosen, but some good symbolism in there.
So,
Santa- good guy, fun tradition, but if too much focus given, probably not a great thing.
Presents- sign of love, lots of fun, but too much=probably not great
Jesus- Everything
Anyway, I was just kind of tired of people saying pagan holiday, so I did a little research and just found out why people think it is like that.
This last week was great. I got to skype the family on Christmas, and dig a firepit for a member in our ward. We had a lot of fun.
Then, the next day, there was a tornado or two that hit Missouri like a couple of minutes from us
and today there was snow
The weather here is volatile
Anyway
I love it
Life keeps on going
Learning how to play ukulele slowly, but it is quite fun
Love y'all
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
Love
Elder Matthew Busi
--
December 22, 2015
The Week Before Chrismas, And All Through the Mission
Not a creature was stirring, not even (word that rhymes with mission here)
So, successful week this last week. Rogers is literally Zion. This place is bumpin' and we find out new stuff everyday. I love it.
The YSA branch that we cover is doing very well. We have been pumping them up lots and lots and just got everyone to put their pictures in the Ward Roster so now it looks really pretty. Highlights include a baby picture that someone put up haha.
Anyway
This past week, we saw success in a couple of different ways.
First, we ran into a number of people at exactly the right time. I like to go through our phone. It is pretty alright. So, things I look for are less actives and recent converts that I don't know, and then ask my companion if he knows them. It is usually unsuccessful, so then I just shoot out a text. Pretty easy. So about 5 of the last 7 times that I have done this, we have found success. Usually the subjects of this technique are waiting for us to contact them, and a number of times, we have found that
a. they have just got Sundays off of work
b. they have been waiting for a call from the missionaries
c. they are ready to be active again
or
d. all of the above.
Second, we went caroling with the YSA Branch. It was way fun, and a couple approached us and told us that they were going to get married in the Dallas Temple that weekend and were going to be members of the Spanish Branch, which is way cool. We need them, and there are no coincidences that we were there at that time or that Elder McKenzie and I were late (don't get mad at missionaries for being late. We're still on the Lord's schedule) and that we spoke some spanish to each other jokingly. Everything happens for a reason.
It is crazy to think that someone was ready at the exact time that I was here and looking through the phone and at the exact time that they got Sundays off or were thinking about church or whatever the case is.
The Lord works in mysterious ways
We had a mission-wide conference yesterday, which was spectacular. My companion got up and sang a remixed version of Hallelujah made especially for Christmas with the lyrics rearranged to talk about the savior's birth. It was way cool. President Loveland and family all played dodgeball with us and it was way fun. President goes for the kill haha probably a good way to relieve some stress at certain elders jkjk
Anyway, it's been awhile since I've actually made a thoughtful post/email, but just wanted to bear my testimony. I know that we have a Savior that lives and cares for us. He is none other than Jesus Christ, the son of God. He was born about 2016 years ago and died about 33 later. It doesn't matter exactly what day or where or what Mary was wearing, but I can testify that I KNOW that it happened. I love our savior and he loves me. He died for each of us and suffered for each sin and weakness that we ever have or ever could experience. He knows us individually.
I love him
Love y'all and have a blessed Christmas.
Love
Èlder Matthew Busi
December 14, 2015
Roger, Roger
Sorry for no letter last week, but we were cleaning for quite literally the entire day.
I have been transferred to Rogers, AR and it is a fantastic place here. My companion is from Vacaville California, which is not very far from where I live.
We cover a spanish ward and a YSA branch, and the work out here is bumpin'!
Hey
Not much time
Love all y'all
If you are thinking about letters or anything, the new address is on the blog in the left-hand column
have a blessed day!!
Love,
Elder Busi
November 23, 2015
This week, on Busi
This past week was turrific
We got a lot done, and we helped out our zone and district quite a bit. We were suffering there for a while, but we really managed to step things up by a lot.
I hope that y'all are doing fine in the outside world haha. Also, who even saw thanksgiving coming?! It snuck up on us pretty quickly, didn't it? We have a good little weekend lined up, and it should produce some interesting results. To be continued, I guess
Fun story
So, we email in the Family History Center at the church. The family history consultants that "work" or "are called" (I'm not sure which is more proper) in the family history center hate us. They locked us out, changed the locks, barricaded the door, everything. In their defense, there were certain missionaries in the past that broke rules, littered the room, etc. but everything had been forgiven. Apparently not forgotten. So, we have an incredible stake president that understands that hey, missionaries actually like to email their mothers and contact their families. He gave us a key for today so that we could do just that. We were confronted by one of the staff, but then continued to email. And then, just as we were about to pack up and leave, 4 hispanics approach and ask us to come and teach them. If we had left, or hadn't been there, or even still been emailing, they may have just left and never thought about it again. So, lesson of the story
Let the missionaries email their loved ones
Blessings will come
hahaaha but really though it was a pretty cool experience.
Y'all have a blessed week!
Love
Elder Matthew Busi
November 16, 2015
Week of WORK
Heyya
This past week was pretty spectacular. We went to Kansas #otravez and taught a lot of hispanic homies and then came back.
It was really a good week, but not a lot happened that was out of the ordinary. We taught a lot of good investigators. One was kind of a new one. We went to go and teach a less active woman who had been taught by the elders for many years, and it just so happened that her husband was there, who had never had any of the missionary lessons before. And to think, missionaries had been teaching her for YEARS and this was the first time that he had heard us. Pretty crazy that people like him kind of fall through the cracks. He is pretty solid and a cool guy in general.
A lot happened in the news this past week, or so I was told. Apparently my home girl Rhonda Roussey LOST?!?!?! I am not sure who permitted her to lose... But oh well haha
On a more serious note, France... It is really sad to hear that our allies have been hit in such force by our common enemies. This is unacceptable and everybody knows it. This is a time where both political, religious, and cultural divisions mean nothing. Finally everybody is on the same page, and against a common foe. My heart is with the victims of those who suffered and were killed by these barbarians and with the entire country of France while they are mourning their losses. On a spiritual note, we have no need to fear. Those who were lost in this attack have a new, safer place to call home. They are in the spirit world right now, awaiting the resurrection where they will be reunited with their perfect bodies. It will only be a matter of time until we see them again.
Hey, life out here continues on and the work of God always goes forward. I love y'all and hope you have a spectacular week!
Love
Elder Matthew Busi
--
November 2, 2015
CARRY ON MY WAYWARD SON (Kansas pt. II)
Kansas.
Rain.
Painted Fingernails.
Yup. It rained all day this week when we went to Kansas. We worked hard and spoke our spanish.
We went to a rest home in Kansas, and to our great surprise, some ladies wanted us to paint their nails. We were very surprised, but willing to take on this different type of challenge. All I can hope is that someday it will come in handy when I have some little girls. I now know how to correctly paint nails, and how to carry a conversation while doing it. It only took me about 5 ruined fingernails to get it down haha
This past week was pretty awesome, other than that. We played some Football with our branch, and it was pretty great. Not to brag or anything, but uh guess who made a touchdown reception? ME. haha #tooswole #bulkingseason
Hey, I love y'all and hope that you have a wonderful week!
Many much love
Elder Matthew Busi
October 26, 2015
The week, in the past tense
So, this last week happened.
Transfers took place and missionaries did their little jingle jangle switch-a-roo thing that they seem to do. I remained District Leader over my crew of 3 other companionships, and that was sweet.
Our Zone/District hasn't been doing very well. But that is about to change. We are WINTER SOLDIERS and will perform as such. A popular phrase around the District is "The Lord's SWOLDIERS" because we are SWOLE as a district.
Life carries on and the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'.
Spiritual thought for today:
Alma 8:15
15 Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy first message from him. Behold, I am he that delivered it unto you.
We always have reason to rejoice. Alma had it pretty bad. Sometimes we have it pretty bad. But we can rejoice because of our blessings.
October 19, 2015
This week: cooler with a chance of a 70
ALERT: Member of the Quorum of the 70 came
ALERT: He came to our ward council
ALERT: Complimented me on my Spanish (probably being nice because I am white and can't speak a lick of it)
ALERT: psych only three alerts this week haha.
Hugo Montoya (A.K.A. a member of the 70 that spoke in this last conference CLICK HERE) came to our branch and shared many things with us. First, he offered a fireside on Family History. That was pretty terrific. He shared stories on people in his personal family line. Some of it was very interesting, but I was busy translating for the man next to me, so a lot of the content was a little lost on me.
He then came to our Branch Council. He sat, listening for a good long time, and then spoke up. There were some Less Active members of the branch that we were speaking about and we were troubleshooting some ideas of how to best serve them. He was pleased with this, but then asked who had given these members a priesthood blessing. When nobody could offer a response, he became a little frustrated. He went on to explain that the blessings that the Priesthood could offer should be made available to those people, and that somebody needed to go and do that quickly. A direct quote from him:
ALERT: He came to our ward council
ALERT: Complimented me on my Spanish (probably being nice because I am white and can't speak a lick of it)
ALERT: psych only three alerts this week haha.
Hugo Montoya (A.K.A. a member of the 70 that spoke in this last conference CLICK HERE) came to our branch and shared many things with us. First, he offered a fireside on Family History. That was pretty terrific. He shared stories on people in his personal family line. Some of it was very interesting, but I was busy translating for the man next to me, so a lot of the content was a little lost on me.
He then came to our Branch Council. He sat, listening for a good long time, and then spoke up. There were some Less Active members of the branch that we were speaking about and we were troubleshooting some ideas of how to best serve them. He was pleased with this, but then asked who had given these members a priesthood blessing. When nobody could offer a response, he became a little frustrated. He went on to explain that the blessings that the Priesthood could offer should be made available to those people, and that somebody needed to go and do that quickly. A direct quote from him:
"Por Favor, USEN su Sacerdocio a bendecir los hijos de Dios"
"Please, USE your Priesthood to bless God's Children"
So that was pretty intense. Then, the council moved on to other issues. These included activities, projects, and other stuff. Elder Montoya was not having it. A good quote that I picked up from Bishop Jerry Eddington of the BYU 51st ward is [about ward council]:
"This Meeting is about People not Activities"
So, Elder Montoya basically said that to our Branch Council. They probably felt a little bit chastised, but that is the way that it has to be.
Lastly, he taught a class during the second hour about, well, a lot of things. He went on to tell a story. To save some time, I have pasted it below from an account that I related to some good friends of mine:
He shared his story of how he was kidnapped and held at gunpoint by sons of his clients at his tortilleria in Mexico. There were four of them: two holding them at gunpoint, one wandering around, and one in the doorway out front. From where they were, they could hear the one in the front yelling "Matanles, Matanles" (kill them kill them). He prayed in his heart that he would be able to live to provide for his family. His wife was held at gunpoint next to him. In the end, the thieves took his car and left after assaulting them. Scary. Then his wife goes home to be with the kids. So she's at home. He fixes things up at the tortilleria and heads home to find that his wife and daughter are at the hospital because the daughter's health has taken a turn for the worst. He goes to the hospital and his daughter is having an operation. He leaves the hospital and goes back to work, because he is about to be down a couple mil dolares and then while he is working without the usual assistance of his wife, two "angels" show up (his home teachers) and help him make tortillas. He said that they didn't know what they were doing, or how to make tortillas, or anything, but they said that they were there to help him. He gets home and all of his shirts are pressed and his house cleaned spotless and hot food ready and his truck recovered by police and sitting in front of his house. His daughter is fine and the three thugs' mothers came and apologized and then brought each of their sons in to apologize.
So, his story has two points, as I see it. One, in our church, in our gospel, in everything that we believe, our responsibility is to help each other. Without this, the infrastructure of the church would be nothing. When people fall, it is our duty to help them out. When we fall, others will be there to help us out. It is really an amazing thing. Secondly, the power of prayer is incredible. Those thugs had every ability to kill them. One of them even shouted to kill them from the doorway. But through the power of prayer, they were preserved, and he lives today.
Hey,
I hope that y'all enjoyed hearing what I so much enjoyed
Love y'all
Hit me back!
Elder Matthew Busi
October 12, 2015
This week in review
So. Here we are again at the end of another fabulous week.
A lot of things happened, and a lot of pictures were taken (click the link below to see them ;))
We went to fair on Monday, which was AWESOME!!! We walked around, didn't get to go on any rides, but it was great! We went back on Friday to do service and pick up recycling. It was cool to see the different exhibits and how big the State Fair was.
We had a lot of lessons this week, which was great as well. A lot was accomplished, although right now I can't remember exactly what. I went on exchanges with some elders in the YSA area and that was really great.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I know that this church is true. I know that the Lord is with us, whenever we need him. No matter what happens, he is there watching, waiting for us to reach out to him so that he can pick us back up.
If you need help, turn to him. Pray to him. He will answer
And with that,
Adieu
Elder Matthew Busi
October 5, 2015
WEEK OF THE WOODWORK
So, this past week was good for a number of reasons. And thus begins the weekly
RIGO: So on Monday, we had our preparation day. It was fantastic, and when we got home, we did some planning for the approaching day. This was routine, and we were just trying to decide what to do. So, here comes the miracle. We had been sent a referral through the internet, and we had kind of neglected to contact them. We figured that we would plan it into our schedule in case something fell through. So, I suggested that we put it in after an appointment.
Tuesday came, and our appointment ended early. We didn't have an appointment for a while, so we went to our next backup. Our backup, a 12 year-old boy named Abraham, was always at his house at this time, but he proved to be absent. Needless to say, we were a little confused at what to do next. We were about to head to someone else's house when we remembered the referral. We were in the area, so we drove the 6 miles to get there. When we arrived, we noticed that there were children in the yard. They all ran inside and the family peeked through the blinds. Not usually a good sign. We approached the door, which was slightly ajar, and they invited us in.
Rigoberto Flores had been taught by missionaries for a long time, but due to some issues, he was not able to be baptized. He was frustrated at this, and ended discussions with the missionaries. He said that he had not filled anything out online or asked for the missionaries. We were very confused, and the internet said that it was an anonymous referral. His wife was a member, and one of his children as well, but they had not come to church in a long time. She was talking to us about some issues with their marriage and family and earlier that very day, about 1.5 hours before our visit, she had narrowly been missed by a pickup truck that had been t-boned and flipped multiple times through traffic, careening past her. She said that it had been going over 100 mph and it was incredible that it hadn't struck her.
Rigoberto and his wife said that whenever crazy things happened to them, the missionaries always showed up, and there we were.
We consoled them and tried to help them. They said that they recognized the light in the gospel and the presence of the Holy Ghost in their lives when they went to church, but since they had stopped, their life had been in limbo. They wanted to get baptized and are getting baptized soon. Crazy how the spirit can work in such interesting ways.
There were a number of other interesting things that happened this week, but this was the most important.
Love y'all and have a blessed week!
Love,
Elder Matthew Busi
September 28, 2015
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
September 21, 2015
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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