Ich bin dankbar fur ...

(Title Translation:  I am thankful for ...)

EUCH!

Happy Thanksgiving, lovelies! I don't know if it was the amount of turkey we ate, or the combination of thinking about what I'm grateful for in combination with my ever-nearing release date, but I did a lot of thinking this week. I'm really grateful that I came out here. I think I've learned a lot about what it means to serve, and what God wants from us. God isn't expecting perfection from us. He's not angry when we slip and fall. He is ever-encouraging us to get up again, face the sunlight, and, linking arms with someone who's feeling a little weaker, try to follow the steps of Jesus Christ the best we can. Yes, it's easier said than done, but I think the happiest moments of my life have been the ones when this has felt crystal clear to me. Everything is in perspective - and I realize how much God loves me, and how much potential I have in my life and in eternity. You just want to jump up and rejoice! Sadly the adversary knows this, and tries to sneak muck in without us realizing it. But with the power of the Atonement, we can always wash that mud off and cast it away. And that is incredible.

Lots of fun food this week, as you would expect during the week of Thanksgiving! I brought Mom's classic Southern Pecan Sweet Potatoes to the meal that we and the Elders were invited to (although the German who invited us to eat ate them for dessert because he thought they were so sweet) :) Also, they weren't made with pecans...they were walnuts that one time we found on the ground. But it worked, haha. :) Elder Gantner, our awesome Swiss visa waiter headed to California finally got his visa - but flew out to fit with the transfer day in his real mission, and therefore flew to the states like, 3 days after American Thanksgiving. Hahaha. He'll get it next year, right? What's REALLY crazy is that Elder Gibbs is coming back to fill his place for the rest of the transfer. Just like old times! Also, an awesome family in the ward taught us how to make Knödel, which is SO GOOD and I can't wait to make it for the family...on my third or fourth try, because I don't know if I'll be able to make it work on the first few tries. :) It tastes a lot like American stuffing, but it's in balls and you can eat a variety of different sauces with it or can fry them with bacon and cheese inside...waaaaaaaay good. I'm not sure if I'm ready to adjust back to American cuisine just about yet. 

Elder Gantner (before leaving for California),
Elder Faux, Sister Bushman and Sister Bishop

Snow has continued to flirt with existing this week, but hasn't quite committed to a serious relationship. We had a lot of barely-not-freezing rain, which I've decided is much worse than snow. Snow is pretty and will just kind of bounce off of you. Rain gets into all the little crevices and is cold. Sister Bishop and I have both decided that we would have made awful pioneers and are glad that we were saved for this day and age.

We went to Altötting's area again to sing for some people in an old folk's home, which was so fun. We've been learning a bunch of old classic Bayerisch and Deutsche songs. There was this funny moment when we showed up. The member of the Neuötting branch who had organized the event went down the line of us missionaries, and when he got to one elder, he was like, "And here is Elder Red*, who is obviously the most attractive/schönste of our group." And one of these old ladies from the back of the room calls out, "Der Elder Blue* ist der Schönste!"(*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.) It was pretty funny; we all laughed quite a bit at that. We'll try to not tease him too hard. :) After we were all chatting with them afterwards, there was this sweet old man who kissed the back of my hand. So that was also pretty cute.

All in all, I'm feeling good. I have moments where I can't see everyone, and moments where I just can't think about leaving or I feel like I'll cry. So I'm grateful for every day.

I love you.

Sister Bushman

More photos:  Christmastime in Passau . . .

Sisters B & B at the Christmas Markets

These stores were turned into a gingerbread house!

In matching Christmas pajamas!
Sisters B & B celebrated early as Sister
Bushman will leave Germany in 12 days!

. . . and then there were Bison?

Hey, folks!

So, a couple of fun stories from this week. 

This one needs a bit of background. So Passau is called "die dreiflüßestadt" (the City of Three Rivers) because 3 rivers come together, and Passau is built on the peninsula of said rivers. In other words, major flooding is a thing that happens every couple years. In the summer of 2013 it flooded super badly, and ever since then I think people have been more emergency-preparedness-conscience. In other words, we have gallons and gallons and gallons of water stored in jugs under our water heater in our apartment. 

SO. Our water heater broke this last week...again. So we had no heating and no hot water. It was funny because it had barely been repaired a few weeks later, and here's the funny part. So last time, when the people came they were there for like, 45 minutes and tinkered with it until it ran again. (And it started acting up like, that same day again.) This repair guy came this week to look at our water heater and was there for over three hours, but replaced like, five different parts in our water heater. But what was funny is that at one point one of the jugs broke and he was like "...why do you have all of this water?" (Keep in mind, these jugs are super beat up, and some of them are completely broken and crushed...and dirty...etc.) And we were like "...uh, in case of an emergency?" And he was like, "If you drink that water, there will be an emergency!" And then before he left, he was like, "so what do you believe exactly?" So we grabbed a Book of Mormon off of our shelf and talked to him about it before he left. Afterward, Sister Bishop was like, "I don't think I've ever missionaried in my pajamas before!" (We were holding out on showering in case we had the opportunity to shower with hot water.)

Second of all, we have a really large area. Not the largest area in our mission by any means, but it's about 80 km in diameter...so basically, our area includes many little dorfs (villages). (I literally do not understand the state-side missions where your areas are so small. What can you do??) We got a referral through the mission for a girl who lives in one of those random little dorfs - and there was no phone number. So we would just have to trek out there and try and find her. Hmm. We looked at lots of bus and train options, and eventually decided on one that was only 45 minutes and went directly - not bad. 

So we take the bus on the appointed day, and Sister Bishop and I get off in the appointed city, and looked at our little google map we printed out. Turns out, we needed to walk about a half hour south. So we go there, and then do you know what happened? Do you? False. You are all wrong.

WE FOUND MINI AMERICA. 

It was literally the strangest thing, ever. This is in the middle of nowhere. And basically, we found this country-western-America-themed vacation destination. There were American flags with Harley Davidsons printed on them, Texas flags, and confederate flags (um?) everywhere. We looked over the fence and we saw a playground complete with teepees, stagecoaches, and conastoga wagons. Literally, what on earth?

And there were Bison. REAL BISON. IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE IN SOUTHERN GERMANY. I sang a rousing rendition of "Home on the Range", no worries.

So that was pretty weird. And the referral we were looking for? It turns out that she barely moved to München. Bummer. But we got the phone number of someone who should have her phone number, and we'll try and get her hooked up with the sisters in München. :)

All in all, a good week. We showed the Restoration video to this lovely lady and asked her what she thought of it. She said that she completely believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet. The Spirit was super strong in that lesson. It was way cool.

And it snowed yesterday. And today.

I'm content. I just want to make sure I accomplish everything God wants from me before I can leave. :)

Love,

Sister Bushman

Therefore, they hushed their fears

Hey folks.

I'm really sad to hear about what happened in Paris. In actuality, I haven't heard much - people tend to assume I already know what is going on in the world and therefore only tell me tiny pieces of news...but I've eventually pieced it together. Disturbing stuff. I've been praying for the families of those people since we heard of it; we were in the mall today and they had a moment of silence, all across Europe. It really was beautiful. These moments are the ones that really strengthen my faith, though. Because in these kinds of situations, the Gospel is the only thing that brings comfort. I read David A. Bednar's General Conference talk from this past Spring, "Therefore they Hushed their Fears" about dispelling worldly fears through Godly fear this morning. It brought me a lot of comfort. It took me a while to read (it's pretty dense doctrine,) but I encourage you to study it this week. What I really love the most about the Gospel is the fuller understanding of our purpose in life here on the earth. It just puts everything in perspective. Here it is: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/therefore-they-hushed-their-fears?lang=eng

Our week wasn't the most exciting we've had, because I got kinda sick. And then Sister Bishop got sick too. We were homebound for about 3 days, which is an eternity if you are a missionary. We were so stir crazy by the end of it! And we had to cancel some appointments, which was a bummer. But we both feel a lot better now! And Sister Bishop was basically the cutest person ever and took care of me so well, so I have no complaints. :)

Before we got sick and incredibly boring, we had Zone Training! And then we had tausch! I got to go to München again with Sister Brinkerhoff, Sister Berry's new companion. She is super cute and was just trained by Sister Angeloudis (who is from my group and I adore,) so it was fun hearing stories and stuff about how she's doing. :) 

With Sister Brinkerhoff in front of the
statue that welcomes people to Passau

At Zone Training with Sister Cherrington (her "daughter" who she trained)
and with Sister Miller (her "granddaughter" who Sister Cherrington trained)

A few weeks ago as I had my interview with Präsident Kohler, he invited me to start thinking about things I've learned on my mission. He'll ask in my exit interview. I've been pondering that a lot this week. It's hard to put a year and a half into simple statements and words. I'm still feeling pretty scatter-brained, but I think one of the most long-lasting, impactful lessons I've learned is about faith, and what faith is, and what it is not, and how it can strengthen us. I've come to learn that faith is one of the most powerful things on the entire planet. That, and I have learned that faith is a choice. So often we want to see miracles to strengthen our faith - but really, when we truly believe and know that God is there and believe in His majesty and abilities, that's when the miracles happen.

Just a snippet.

I love you so much.

Sister Bushman

More photos: . . . visiting castle ruins outside of Passau last P-day.

Durch kleines und einfaches

(Title translation:  "By Small and Simple")

Guten Morgen!

We're mixing up the time that we're emailing today, because we're going on an adventure today - we're hoping to go visit some good ol' castle ruins. We pass them on the Ostbayern bus we take every week to teach someone...so we finally figured out how to get there and we are hoping that it'll work out!

This was another really good week work-wise. We were able to teach a lot of cool people - and a lot of those people we've been meeting with have been starting to read in the Book of Mormon and pray more regularly! Hooray! That's one of those really exciting moments - when you go to an appointment and it turns out that whoever you're meeting with did what you challenged them to do. Yay! 

But, through all of this, my testimony is getting strengthened almost every stinking day that how through "small and simple things", great things happen. (Alma 37:6.) I'm sure I've talked about this in my emails before, but I seriously can't get over how true that is - especially in regards to spiritual matters and missionary work. We actually sent the Gemeinde an email about it this week (We email them every week.) Passau Bahnhof is currently under construction - and it's far from being completed, but we love the days when we have to roadtrip out to some dorf, because by the time we come back that night, there has always been some kind of progress made! And by these small and simple things we get a new Bahnhof. It's way fun. 

It's a lot like that with the Gospel. Like, the best way to show people that the Gospel is wonderful is not shoving it in people's faces through something outlandish and crazy - it's just living it. And then people can see it. Or, the way we read the Book of Mormon is one verse at a time. We meet with one lovely lady who has issues concentrating - so we send her a verse every day to read and think about, because that's a lot easier for her. Yet, slowly, she's reading the Book of Mormon! Alma 37:6 is so true! 

On Tuesday we had interviews and training with Präsident Kohler. It was my last interview before my exit interview, which was weird. It was nice, though. We just had a good chat. He challenged me to think about who I wanted to become when I first came out on my mission, and to think about where I'm still falling short of that, and to work on those things this last transfer before I go home. He also challenged me to start making a list of "things I've learned on my mission", because he'll ask me about that in my exit interview.

It's a 2 1/2 hour train ride between Passau and München, so that makes for some pretty great roadtrips with the Elders. A pretty funny thing happened on the way back...there's one stop about 45 minutes away from Passau where the train typically stops for like, 15 minutes instead of the usual minute-or-so. Elder Faux was dying of thirst and really wanted a soda, and so he told Elder Gantner to hold the door, and when we made it to the stop he bolted from the train. (We were watching their stuff.) After a minute or two, we hear the conductor's voice on the intercom asking everyone to stand free of the door...uh oh. And another minute later we hear Elder Ganter call, "Sisters!" We ran over and he said, a little flustered, "Uh, can you get our bags? He's gone!" So we ran back and grabbed their bags, but by the time we got there Elder Gantner had to get clear of the door, and the door wouldn't open again...meaning that we were left with all the Elders' stuff, (including Elder Faux's suitcoat, and it was so cold that night) and went back to Passau without them. The trains only come every hour! We met them at the train station when they eventually got back to Passau so that they wouldn't have to walk in the cold without coats...but it turns out that one of their investigators was on that other train, so they got to teach a lesson. So everything works out somehow! It was pretty funny.

I've been really inspired and humbled this week by how God uses the meek and simple to do incredible things through His Spirit. I strongly believe that half the time when we're really inspired...we don't realize it like, at all. I've seen so many examples of that in the past year, as well as in this past week especially. Sister Bishop and I had the feeling to shoot someone a text of love - just a passing thought, so we did. And it ended up being significant for them. We didn't think we were doing anything that out of the ordinary, but it ended up being that for someone else. I've tried writing about these types of moments in my journal, so I'll never forget how important it is to act on those passing thoughts. I truly believe that having a casual thought to write an old friend on Facebook or bring cookies to someone you know isn't casual at all - that could be just the day when they need a message of love from Heavenly Father. But he needs us down here to be messengers of that love. :) It's so incredibly humbling that He, in all of His greatness and majesty, can work through beings as awkward and as clumsy as humans.

I found a new favorite scripture passage this week. I knew it was there because it's the favorite passage of some people that I love, but I really love 2 Nephi 4:16-35. It just brought me a lot of comfort.

Ich habe euch Lieb. :) Ich würde euch so gerne umarmen, wenn ich dass machen könnte. :) (I love you, and I would like to hug each one of you, if I could.)

Alles Liebe,

Sister Bushman

Sisters Bushman and Bishop built a tower to represent
how great things happen through small steps . . . 

. . . and then they destroyed the tower!

GO ROYALS!

Hey world!

I'm pretty cut off from the world, but through emails today, one thing is for certain....

GOOOOOOOOO ROOOOOOOOYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was a really fun week. First of all, we had a lot to do. We have a big list of investigators - but often it doesn't work out to meet with everyone. We met with basically every single person we know this week, minus one - because we met with her last Saturday! We had one afternoon where we went by on a couple of people (very often nobody is around or wants to meet with you) and every single person we went by on was there, happy to see us, and let us come in to teach them! It was so cool! No idea if all those lovely people will want to see us again this week - but we had a lot of fun during this past week. :) 

We did a lot more with dooring students this week. We didn't quite have as much success this week as we have had in weeks past...but we had some funny experiences, as one would expect. :) We knocked on this one door and we heard somebody inside, but it took a second for them to get to the door. Eventually, this guy with a pony tail opened the door, and there was kind of a funny smell coming from the room...we asked if we could share a message with him (or something like that, can't quite remember that conversation super well) and he just stared at us with these super wide eyes. Eventually he was like, "Ich.....glaube.....nicht" ( "I ... think ... not") and then slowly closed the door. He was 100% super drugged. He looked kinda scary for a moment, but we laughed about it later.

I'm so grateful for the Spirit. We had Stake conference on Sunday, and since München is 2 1/2 hours by train, our stake is too big to all fit in the stake center probably, they broadcast it to Landshut and Augsburg in addition. So we only had to go on a train for 1 1/2 hours for it. :) To be honest, I wasn't super excited...I feel like when I've attended locally-broadcasted church meetings in the past there are technical problems more than not (dang it, Satan!) that get in a way and are frustrating. But, it ran pretty smoothly - and it was cool, because a couple of the speakers talked about how although we were in different locations we could all take part of the same renewing Spirit. I totally felt that. There was this super cute college girl who spoke and told her conversion story and I literally got shivers half way through - she talked about how she was invited to a baptismal service and just cried. And she had no idea why and felt like an idiot but it just felt so good to be there, and she couldn't stop crying. And it made me think about the spiritual experiences in my life, and how I've felt pieces of that. I'm so grateful for how the Holy Ghost can renew and heal us in that way. 

We carved pumpkins for FHE last week, and they rotted after like 3 days, because this is Germany and they do that here. Hm, what else. It's really foggy at all times and in all things and in all places in Passau, we've learned.

"A foggy day . . . in Passau town"

Passau in the fall

I'm grateful to be alive. I'm grateful for the strength that comes from exercising faith. It's not that we exercise faith and then miracles happen that strengthen us - the very act of holding to faith and hope and love buoy and strengthen us in themselves. I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and how he's felt everything - and how though Him, we can become clean and always start again. 

Love,

Sister Bushman