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