Staying positive

Hey readers,

This last week was a hard week.  I was sick, I wasn’t sleeping well, my job has become very confusing, but the biggest thing was that I had a big goal I was getting close to achieving that did not pan out.  I hate to admit it because we’re not supposed to feel discouraged if we have faith, but I was seriously having a hard time staying positive and finding the bright side of things.  That all changed when I had a few conversations that put me into a positive mind set again.  I think it’s amazing that talking to just a few people can take a terrible week and turn it around so that the next few days become the best I’ve had in a long time, even though my head still hurts.  I am so grateful that the Lord blesses us with friends and family who can be exactly what we need at the moment we need them.

I have never been a fan of talking on the phone or Skyping, but I am slowly changing my view of that.  There is still so much interaction that is missed in the conversation, but if you think about it, if you avoid the conversation completely then all of it is missed.  And the difference that is made seeing someone’s face as they talk to you is so much better than texting or looking at pictures.  Pictures are great sometimes but other times you miss someone so much that a picture just doesn’t cut it.  We really have been so blessed to live in a world where you can talk to a computer and talk to someone hundreds and thousands of miles away and have the whole conversation be in real time.

I don’t have much more to say today so I’m going to leave you with the quote of the week.  My dear friend Jenny quoted this scripture to me after she heard about the tough time I’ve been having: “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” (Romans 8:24)  I love this because to me it means that when we have difficulties in our lives we don’t have to just overcome them, we have the opportunity to endure them.  To endure doesn’t mean to begrudgingly complete a task or righteously live a life, it means to relish in the chance we have to make hard, but correct, choices and reap the blessings of those choices.  We can walk away from our hard times and feel like we didn’t just pass through them but that we became more than we were by experiencing them.  Everything that is hard in our lives is for our good, we just have to search for and find the good in them.  That is one of life’s biggest challenges.

Yours,

Drew

Journal Excerpts from Brazil

Hey everyone,

Not much has happened this week, so instead of trying to come up with something witty or clever to say I’ll instead just copy some excerpts from my personal journal from while I was in Brazil.  For six weeks while I was in the CTM I wrote in my journal and have some things I had forgotten and they were beautiful experiences.  I should keep a journal better…

4/4/12 – “…The real thing I wanted to write about happened at my last meeting of the day.  The Second Counselor in the presidency of the CTM was talking about the rules.  When the presentation ended he asked for a volunteer to pray.  I felt a strong impression to volunteer, so I did.  I was introduced as Elder Bushman, gave my prayer and sat down.  Afterwards a man came up to me asking if I knew a Ken Bushman.  I answered that he was my father.  The man told me that he had been mission companions with Ken and that he was a truly great man.  What a small world it is but what a huge blessing for my personal life.” It was nice to hear some new things about Ken because I didn’t have the opportunity to get to know him very well before he died when I was 9.

4/11/12 – “…I love the Brazilians.  They are such a great people.  Our roommates are really funny and they work with us to learn more Portuguese.  I end up playing translator because my Portuguese and my deciphering skills are the best in our group.  It’s hard sometimes because at the end of the day all I want to do is to write in my journal, say a heartfelt prayer, and go to sleep, but I end up playing translator for half an hour.  I should be excited to help, but this is the only time I have to unwind.”

4/12/12 – “…Something really amazing happened to me tonight.  While we were having snack before bed we met some cool Argentinian Elders.  When we were done eating we started walking up the stairs.  I was humming and they told me to sing.  They followed me up the stairs, listening to me sing while clapping and walking to the beat.  The Spirit filled the stairwell and I felt really great.  It was a singular, unifying moment for all of us.”

4/21/12 – “I love my Brazilian roommates.  Tonight Elder Shipley got into an argument when he accidentally said he was going to steal and marry Elder Nunes fiancé.  I was laughing so hard.”

4/23/12 – “We were at snack and my Brazilian roommate is leaving tomorrow so we were taking pictures.  After the pictures I went to give Elder Nunes a hug.  He pulled me in tight and whispered in my ear asking me to sing.  His favorite song for me to sing is “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”  As I began singing he pulled me tighter.  When I finished the verse we let go.  We both had tears in our eyes.  I truly have come to love that man.  I will miss him very much.  Even though he is leaving and I will miss him, at this moment my joy is absolutely full.”

I am so grateful for the opportunity that we have to look back on our lives and remember the beautiful moments.  In this life I will probably never see almost anyone that I knew in Brazil, but I will certainly carry them with me forever.  They have imprinted themselves on my heart and my life.

Love,

Drew

Connecting to the Scriptures

Hello Everyone,

I’m sorry I didn’t post last week.  I was having a rough week and I was feeling like my life was boring (which it is) and I couldn’t possibly have anything interesting to post.  That’s okay though, because I feel like I have so much to say this week to make up for last week.

I was going to keep this a secret until I had completed a little more of it, but I have started a new project.  While I was in Brazil I read the Book of Mormon in eight days.  It was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had with the Book of Mormon and I appreciate it in a more full and beautiful way than I did before.

I started thinking of other ways to more fully and deeply understand the words of the prophets in that book.  I read about Elder Scott, as a huge Christmas present to his family, recording his voice reading the Book of Mormon and then he distributed a copy of this to all of his kids and grandkids.  I loved that idea, but I didn’t think that was what I needed to do at this time.  I thought about going through and reading it again, this time with a focus on putting quotations around when people are actually speaking and paying special attention to the words that the Lord spoke, but again, that didn’t sound quite right.  After lots of reflection and prayer I have decided to hand copy the Book of Mormon.

To read the words of the prophets and copy them in my own handwriting will be a monumental task and will take months of concentrated effort, but I have been feeling for weeks that I lack purpose, that I have nothing to show for my days, that I am not accomplishing anything.  That is not to say that I don’t have goals and that I’m not learning and growing, working and playing, and studying and praying, but I have felt like I was without direction.  The idea of copying a 531 page document by hand is slightly daunting, but monks used to copy illuminated versions of the Bible, and so I can take a few months to connect to the Book of Mormon like never before.  I eagerly look forward to the opportunity to fall to my knees at the end of my project and thank Heavenly Father for the chance I had to undertake this great work.

 

The quote of the week comes from a devotional at BYU Hawaii in 2006 J. Alan Walker.  He said “Feasting upon the words of Christ is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. To truly understand why the Lord asks us to feast upon the words of Christ, I believe that we must first see the bigger picture. It is then that we will really come to understand its true significance. "Seeing the bigger picture," means that we must look at something from a larger perspective. In this case, that perspective is our purpose in life. When we see our existence through this larger purpose, picture, or vision, we can separate the unimportant from the important. With the bigger picture of eternity in our mind, we will come to see that the daily act of feasting upon the words of Christ is essential in order to reach our potential and achieve our eternal purpose.”  This project is an opportunity for me to feast on the words of Christ like I never have before and may never again.  I am so excited to learn from the prophets as I read, study, and write.

Drew

 

 

Family

Hello everyone,

First, I’m sorry for the delay in my blog.  I have decided to switch the day I write my blog from Monday to Tuesday.  It is too difficult to figure out a time to write it on Mondays because I work so early in the morning on those days.

I think it is an interesting shift when a friend becomes family.  I often say that close friends are the family that you get to choose.  Whether it is your close buddies, your “girl friends” or your spouse, they are the people who entered your life at a time that you needed them and have left their eternal mark on your soul.  I truly believe that often the Lord sends us to each other to be His hands in helping others.  I know that there have been countless times when someone has said, “Hey, just thinking about you,” and it has made all the difference to me on that day.  The difference between friends and family is that family has to love you no matter what.  They can go months and years being bitter, angry, and not talking, but still love you.  It’s amazing how sometimes we can take these valuable relationships for granted because we know that no matter how hard things get, eventually our family will come back.  On the reverse side, friends have the option to walk away.  They can stop loving you if they no longer like you.  This is heartbreaking because it is our friends who are so often our confidants and who we feel closest to.  There are some wonderful exceptions, but in general when people enter their teenage years, there is a very deliberate shift from the family to a focus on friends and independence.  We need these formative years to develop and learn to govern ourselves, but they pull us away from our families.  As we continue to get older many people relearn to value their families and learn to juggle friends as family, and family as friends.

I have the wonderful blessing of being adopted.  When I was much younger I did not see it as a blessing, just as a part of my life.  I had a difficult childhood, but I am so happy for it because it has brought me to where I am.  I was adopted when I was 10, and so as much as my parents didn’t fully understand what they were getting themselves into they had an idea, and they chose me.  It took a few years, but eventually I chose them too.  I call my adoption a blessing because in all reality my family and my friends were all hand chosen by me to be a part of my life, and I was chosen by each and every one of them to be in their lives as well.  Not many people have this privilege and I feel so greatly blessed by the Lord to be able to say that my family includes my birth family, my adopted family, my extended family, four additional brothers, and one additional sister.  That is a great family filled with nearly a hundred people who have selected each other to spend their eternities together.  What a beautiful thought.

"Sometimes in life, you find a special friend. Someone who changes your life by being a part of it. Someone who makes you laugh until you can't stop. Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world. Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door just waiting for you to open it. This is forever friendship. When you're down, and the world seems dark and empty, your forever friend lifts you up in spirit and makes that dark and empty world suddenly bright and full. Your forever friend gets you through the hard times, the sad times, the confused times. If you turn and walk away, your forever friend follows. If you lose your way, your forever friend guides you and cheers you on. Your forever friend holds your hand and tells you that everything is going to be okay. And if you find such a friend, you feel happy and complete, because you need not worry; you have a forever friend, and forever has no end."

I know that this is in relation to a spouse, and someday when I am ready to be married I will look for all of these qualities in my future bride, but for my purposes now it is about family members.  As I continue to get older I know that I will lose some of my friends, but I will absolutely collect more family.  This life may be a difficult one, but it is also a blessed and happy existence if we choose it to be.

Love,

Drew

The Master Artist

Hello my friends,

You know, relationships are hard.  Whether they are personal, family, romantic, or any other kind, it is always hard.  We say things like, “I don’t like that kid, but I sure do love him,” or “I just miss you so much it hurts sometimes.”  Why do we put ourselves through the difficulty and pain of caring about people?  That answer to that question is the crux of why we exist.  “…men are that they might have joy.”  Despite of the pain and difficulty I cannot thing of a single place, thing, or idea that makes me happier than relationships.  The innocence of a child, a family prayer, a Sunday afternoon birthday party, they are all a part of our greatest memories.  I am so happy to have so many great friends, acquaintances, and family members.  The really bug me sometimes, but I don’t remember specific bad times, I can only recall the specifics of the good and great times.  I am so grateful to the Lord for allowing so many wonderful people into my life to lead and guide and love me.  I hope that we all value our family as deeply as they deserve, and if we don’t now, that we can learn to.

On a completely different note, on Saturday I went to a craft fair.  I love craft fairs, not because of the things to see, or the things to do, but because of the people you meet.  I really enjoy art and these people at these fairs have a talent, a skill, or an offbeat idea.  They become enthralled in their work, feeling their materials talking to them and they are able to make normal things amazing.  I can’t afford to buy many things at these events, and even if I could I don’t have space to store or display them, so for me, going to events like this is about the experience, not about the purchasing the amazing products.

One of the first booths we stepped into was filled with birdhouses.  They were made of gorgeous wood, stunning copper, and beautiful slate.  We walked in and there was no one inside, but as we looked around a bit a woman came over and started telling us a little bit about the artist, and then he walked up.  We asked him about his pieces and where he draws his inspiration.  His response was simple and magnificent, he said that all of his materials are recycled, the wood, the copper, and the slate, and he doesn’t design any of it, they talk to him and tell them what they should be made into.  He allows them to show him what they want to become, and he shaves some here, glues there, directing their growth into what they need to become, going from a rough piece of wood into a brilliant masterpiece.  When I referred to his art he said, “This isn’t art, it’s therapy.”

Are we not like the wood, and the Savior as our artist?  He sees the broken and twisted pieces that we are and He hears our prayers and wants to help us become something beautiful.  Sometimes he must shave back faults, and fortify our strength, but as he shapes us we truly get taken apart and then put back together into something new and wonderful.  That is what I think of when I see my grandfather.  He was not born into the church, but was converted when he was young man and after a lifetime of humility and church service he has become a masterpiece.  As with everyone on this earth, except for One, faults exist in all of us as long as we are here, but he is truly magnificent.

The quote of the day has a story attached.  President Hugh B. Brown once bought a plot of land with a currant bush that had grown wildly out of control.  He cut it down and shaped it.  Figuratively the bush asked him how he could cut her down while she was growing so well.  He responded, “Look, little currant bush, I am the Gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”

I hope that you and I will be humble enough that when the Lord cuts off our rough edges, we will see the beauty of what we are becoming.

Love,

Drew

Trials

Hello,

I don’t like being angry.  It doesn’t happen very often.  In fact, anyone who knows me knows that from time to time I am a lot of things, distant, quiet, loud, sad, restless, confused, bothered, but in reality there are only a couple of things and people that make me angry.  I don’t like this feeling.  This darkness, the fire in my belly, the coldness of my eyes as I look at everything, I don’t like this.  I wanted to talk today about some of the wonderful things that have happened to me this week, the friendships that have been strengthened, the chalk festival I went to on Saturday, but I can’t seem to focus on the positive right now.  I am very aware that the initial anger cannot be avoided sometimes.  We are human and get angry.  Sometimes we need to walk out to avoid a conflict, and sometimes we need some time to calm down, but I am also very aware that holding onto that anger becomes my problem.  I am working hard on finding an internal peace, some balm to soothe the burns on my heart.  I am still unsuccessful.

It’s very difficult for me right now.  My emotions have been through the wringer the last few months.  I have felt extended periods of sadness, apprehension, guilt, pain, stress, fear, and a million other emotions.  It all came to a head last night when I stormed out of where I was, ran a mile to the park, and collapsed into the grass.  I cried, I prayed, I cried some more.  I talked to my mom and some friends, but as much as they were helpful, it has not yet been enough.  I am not making an excuse for myself.  I should not allow myself to feel like this, but I suppose there has been so much that I have been holding for so long I was bound to break sometime.  I have been told that it will get worse, much worse, before it will get better.  I don’t want the people in my life to need to walk on eggshells around me.  It’s hard to imagine me being the one that people are wary of spending time with.  I will spend much time in meditation, prayer, and I may even fast soon, because when we give up food and feel that strain our spirits are elevated that much closer to Heaven for a moment.

I know that our trials are for our good, and they will be but a small moment.  Intellectually I know that, but emotionally this feels like it is bound to last forever.  The quote of the week is a long one from the scriptures.  This was written by a great prophet who spent his life serving our Savior, Jesus Christ.  He was struggling with something in his heart, and his anguished soul cried out these words:

2 Nephi 4 “26 O then, if I have seen so great things, if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath visited men in so much mercy, why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions?

27 And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy?

28 Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.

29 Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.

30 Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.”

I can feel the peace that comes through the Savior’s soothing love.  I can feel the Spirit guiding me.  I love my family, and I am so grateful for my friends.  I truly am happy.  Maybe not at this moment, maybe not this week, but life is too difficult already to waste my energy feeling sorry for myself, or angry because someone offended me.  I can feel peace.  I will feel peace.  I look forward to that moment.

Drew

Serenity

Hey,

For those of you who usually check my blog earlier on Mondays, I apologize for my tardiness.

This week has been truly wonderful.  I made some new friends, enjoyed myself out and about, and started my second job working with the kids.  It always fascinates me, which things affect us in ways we’d never anticipate; how a seemingly meaningless moment is the key to everything that comes afterwards.  I sometimes wonder at the love and care that our Lord has for each of us.  How He, while still allowing others their agency, puts just the right moment in our path to give power to us in our desperate moments of need.

At work there are a couple of the kids who do not speak any English, only Spanish.  The girl I work with is fluent in Spanish and I could leave it up to her to communicate with them and give them instructions, but that is not in my nature.  While I was in Brazil it was very obvious that often children are drawn to me and so one of the jokes that I shared with people is “I may not speak Portuguese, but I can speak child.”  That would set members and investigators at ease knowing that this really big guy who didn’t talk much had a soft spot for their children and would take the time to use hand gestures and broken Portuguese to make their kids laugh.  Anyway, at work I use my Portuguese when talking to these kids and they speak to me in Spanish.  I don’t understand everything they say and they definitely don’t get everything I say, but they understand enough.  He sees my efforts and appreciates them.  About half of the kids speak Spanish so they are all working together to help me improve.  It is an absolutely beautiful thing.

For the quote of the week I have a friend who is having a really rough week and so I shared with her “The Serenity Prayer” by Reinhold Niebuhr.  He was inspired to say

 “God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.”

I know that this is an inspired message.  This has provided me with peace and a sense of love in my life.  I thank the Lord every day for my many blessings.

Peace be the journey,

Drew

Happiness

Hey readers,

It has come to my attention that some people think that I am fighting depression or having other emotional problems.  I would like you all to know that is not the case.  I am truly glad that some of you out there who experience those challenges have been able to connect to my words and find inspiration and strength.  I will explain how I created my sense of well-being, and hope that others can find happiness through this pattern as well.  I understand that what I will say sounds a lot easier than it is. I am not brushing off legitimate health conditions, but know that I have been through this process, fought my demons, and come out victorious.

When I was 14 I was taught that each day is a new day.  It doesn't matter what happened yesterday, happens today, or will happen tomorrow, because today can be its own.  There are many people in the world who believe that "other people" are happy because they have money, or that doing things or going places that makes “those people” happy.  It is really true that the greatest joys are found in the family, but that doesn't mean those joys come without work.  Believe it or not, true and consistent happiness is hard; it's one of the hardest things in life to find and I believe it is every person's goal.  I suppose that in the end, that is exactly what makes it so wonderful when you achieve a state of real happiness.

From the time I was 14 until I was about 16 I woke up every morning and decided to be happy.  I didn't decide that something or someone was going to make me happy today, but that I would be happy no matter what.  With a smile on my face and a willing heart I faked through it every day.  Eventually I realized that I wasn't faking it and the smile was real.  I was happy.  After years of hurting every day, and then several months of feeling nothing, I was now actually happy.  A lot of the time.  I worked on this until I was 16.  I built friendships that are still meaningful today with a great group of people, and friends I had during middle school continued to become better friends.  My life was great.

One day I realized that I was so happy that I was being selfish; I wasn't sharing my inner joy with people as effectively as I should.  I would share it with my attitude, and when I talked to people one-on-one I could describe it to them, but that wasn't enough.  I needed to dig deeper and try harder to make the people around me understand.  I began developing habits of waving to strangers, smiling at people who looked sad, and finding specific kind things to say to people on a personal level.  I served people more and became so much happier than I'd ever been.  I was always filled with a manic energy and I could not contain myself.

While growing up I have had several difficult experiences and things that have shaken my foundation.  I am now so much quieter than I was before that some people have mistaken my calmness for unhappiness, but that is not the case.  You can be silent and contemplative, but still feel a deep burning joy.  The keys to being happy all of the time, even during very difficult experiences, is to 1) choose to be happy, 2) share your joy with others, and 3) work at it.  The best things in life don't come free or easy, but they do come.

I love you all and am so grateful that you take the time to read my blog.  It means the world to me that I can share something with you that is so dear to my heart.

The quote of the day is from an unknown source of wisdom: "When I was in grade school, they told me to write down what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I wrote down happy.  They told me I didn't understand the assignment; I told them they didn't understand life."  Happiness is a goal, a difficult, wondrous, and extremely powerful thing, but a goal nonetheless.  Seek after it and work at it, and you can be truly happy in everything you do.

Peace, joy, and love,

Drew

Peace

Dear Friends,

Life is so great right now.  Difficult, long, but every moment is worth it.  I have not had a lot of life experience, but enough to know that every step of the journey is necessary and enriching.  Things happen in our lives for a purpose and in the direction of the Lord’s will.  We are often taught that in the moment that we turn our will to the Lord’s (the only gift we can truly give Him) then the blessings flow, the peace comes, and the growth accelerates.

My studies this week have been on peace.  I have discovered that regardless of the fact that we are busy, stressed, tired, or otherwise occupied in our time and our energy we can still have peace if we diligently seek after it.  In your divine nature as a child of God is the potential to have full confidence in all of your decisions – that they follow the will of God.  When this trust is formed between you and Him peace comes.  We will not always choose right or well, but as long as we have the Spirit with us it is okay to make mistakes because that sweet Spirit remains and leads us back to Him. 

On Sunday at church I was talking with a friend of mine about life. The conversation traveled quickly across the whole spectrum of topics. We settled for a while on the random things we know and the way they bless the lives of others. We talked about how sometimes in college we take random classes that have nothing to do with our major and we learn things like the cat’s ear has 32 muscles, or why sometimes the limit line at the stop light is curved backwards. We talked about how occasionally we are able to share these facts to make someone else happy, assist someone with a problem, or just amuse the crowd. My friend has been having knee problems for a long time and they have finally worked that out and now life is good again. I’ve had my fair share of knee surgeries and injuries, so it was nice to be able to commiserate with my friend.

The quote of the day is a scripture from John 14:27.  It reads, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  When we can begin to understand our nature it becomes easier to find peace in life.  I love the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Their plan is perfect.  We are not perfect, but their plan for us is absolutely perfect.  If we follow that plan there is nothing we can’t do.  We may not accomplish it in this life, but we truly can have all that God has and become all that He is. 

Drew Bushman

Good to be Home

Welcome friends and readers,

It is so good to be home.  I knew that I was kind of a homebody before, but spending 4 months away really put it into perspective.  I find myself needing the social interaction of going out, but only really wanting to stay home.  It has become quite the predicament.  Maybe soon I will begin to feel compelled to venture from my house and explore the world of friends and society...but today is not that day.

Several miracles and wonderful experiences have occurred this week.  I went from not having a job to having three in just two days.  I will be working with my dad filing and scanning paperwork.  That should be enjoyable and tedious at the same time, but I look forward to it because I will be able to listen to uplifting music and words, the money is good, and I will have some time to spend with my dad.  This will be a wonderful opportunity to bond and learn from each other.  My other job was received while at the grocery store.  I saw my old employer and she ran over to give me a hug exclaiming that if she had known I was around she would have hired me for a job.  I told her I would be around for a while and she said that was something she could work with.  She called me a few minutes later telling me that she had two job opportunities and if I wanted that I could have both.  I worked my schedule at my dad's office and now I have several jobs.  I start all of my jobs this week.  I will be working many hours a week, but doing wonderful things and making good money.  I should have some interesting stories to share over the next few months.

I am still in wonder about the amount of love and support that is being poured out to me.  There is a woman in my ward who knows that I love her desserts and so she made me some as a welcome home gift.  I had another friend come down and spend the day with me to show that they were here.  I have even had several friends write me very touching letters of love and support.  I have had many great conversations and have been edified by my friends, my family, my ward members, and just acquaintances many times.  Thank you for that.

I continue to learn about the blessings that come from making righteous choices.  Coming home was the hardest decision I have ever made, but at the same time I know that it was the right one and I am at peace.  I am told that it will get harder, much harder, soon, so I am anticipating that.  I fear that I am not ready, but I am preparing in the Lord and so I know I will be.  The quote of the week comes from my mom.  I was on my way to take the ACT in anticipation of applying for colleges.  I was nervous and she was aware that I could not perform at my top capability if I was not calm and so she sent me a text message with just a few words.  She said, "Relax.  Take a breath.  Sing a song.  Smile at a stranger.  I love you."  Hearing her words as if I were hearing them from my Father in Heaven, a peace fell over me and I have repeated those words to myself many times when facing difficult decision.  I am happy.  I hope that you are too.

Love,

Tyler "Drew" Bushman