Missionaries serve those in need~

PROVO — Elder Austin Evans used to work at a pizza place, checking the clock constantly to see how much time had passed.

On Thanksgiving Day, thousands of miles away from his family amid people he's just barely getting to know, Evans said he had no idea how long he'd spent packing lentils into a bag to turn into a stranger's lunch or dinner.

"When you start serving the Lord, you don't think about time," he said. "When you are serving others, serving God, the time just goes by."

Just 19, Evans and about 1,800 young men and women just like him at the Missionary Training Center learned first hand the lesson of faith, charity and giving on Thanksgiving Day by packing up lentils, rice and other hearty ingredients into 350,000 individual meals that will make their way to the Utah Food Bank.

Lon Nally, president of the MTC, said outside of natural disasters, the holiday efforts at the MTC represented The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' largest humanitarian endeavor undertaken.

"It's an incredible thing," he said, as the first "shift" of 900 missionaries assembled the meals.

The "casseroles in a bag" will be distributed through the Utah Food Bank's BackPack Program in which packages of nutritious, non-perishable food are provided to Utah schools and then sent home on the weekend to feed disadvantaged families.

Thousands of LDS missionaries assemble 350,000 meals Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013 in the Missionary Training Center in Provo Utah. (Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)

Lest the idea of lentils leaves one wondering about taste, Rick Foster said the blend of high fiber, high protein lentils, rice and dried vegetables is a nutritious and tasty meal he tested on his own family.

"They loved them," he said.

Foster, who is manager of the church's North American Humanitarian Services, said the Thanksgiving Day service project for the training center's missionaries represents an effort by the church to build "giving" around community.

"We're encouraging them to serve within their community, to identify needs and come together with community partners to meet those needs," he said.

For Sister Jennifer Bement— destined for England — the time spent packing the meals provided an opportunity to help someone else and forget about any homesickness she might be feeling.

"We are meeting new people, we are forgetting about ourselves and just going to work," she said. "And on Thanksgiving when we might be a little homesick, that has been really nice to just forget about ourselves and get into the work and start helping other people."

Read more at http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1284&sid=27822133#AKsGoCDm2j6wj0c7.99

Week Three~

Buenos Dias!

So it's wednesday which is a day earlier than I usually write because tomorrow is Thanksgiving so my zone gets kind of hosed since it is on our p-day.. So they told us just to do our laundry and email sometime when we can fit it in so I wanted you guys to have an email from me for thanksgiving, but I also figured people would wait to email me until Thursday so we are doing half of our email time today and half on Friday.

We are going to be super busy tomorrow, especially me and Elder Howe because we got assigned to be zone leaders this past week and all the zone leaders are in charge of the big service project that we are doing tomorrow. So in the morning we have a devotional from one of the Apostles which I believe will be Russell M. Nelson so that will be awesome! And then me and Elder Howe and all the Zone leaders have a bunch of training meetings and setting up meetings for the service project. We are going to be leading assembly lines that are putting together bags of dehydrated soup for hungry kids in the community.. Like hungry hungry.. not just like they get hungry for lunch hungry.. Apparently there is a big need in Utah and a lot of kids are going hungry so we will be putting together 350,000 meals which is pretty incredible. It's going to be a huge project, but it will be a lot of fun and we get to be involved in leading that which is exciting. We are working with some organization that helps members of the community provide for their own community rather than creating food and sending it elsewhere. But it should be a good way to spend Thanksgiving!

So yeah as I mentioned, me and Elder Howe got assigned to be Zone Leaders.. really not a super big deal, but it is a good opportunity to lead the zone and be an example to all of the other missionaries. We are definitely held to a higher standard and the standards are already high so it's tough, but i'm glad that I have that to push me to be the best I can be. We are even busier than we were before and we are taking it seriously even though it's really not a huge change.

The two districts that were older than us both left this past weekend so that was sad. They were all super awesome.. It's amazing how fast we all become best friends in here, I know I have probably said that before, but it's really true. So yeah our zone is pretty small now, but it's good! 

We got a new Hermana in our zone that joined us this week which is kinda weird cause we're already halfway into it, but apparently she was here for the whole six weeks earlier in the year and then got sick and had to go home so now shes back. It's kinda awkward cause she thtinks shes better than all of us cause she has been here before.. If only she knew how amazing we were.. Last night I ran into a person I knew from the outside world for the first time. It was a kid named Isaach Catchatoorian, he is from NC and was in my efy group from a couple years ago which is super random but it was awesome to see a familiar face and catch up with him..

 Alright here come the highlights/stories from the week:

Elder Creighton (I sent a goofy picture of him home first week I believe) Chugged a whole can of cheez-wiz just by itself cause I told him too hahaha it was awesome/disgusting. He almost threw up at one point but he powered through so I gave him a dollar. 

I got chastized by some random guy for tie trading. Every missionary does this.. We were having a tie trade with the older districts before they left and I had literally been zone leader for like four hours and then this guy comes up to me and says,"is tie trading unbecoming of a missionary?" and I honestly had no idea what unbecoming meant so I stood there like a goober and didn't say anything and then he said,"you should probably go have a talk with your branch president about that" and I was like okay.

Honestly I had no idea that was a rule cause it's not written anywhere or ever told to us so i dont know how we were supposed to know, but i actually felt super guilty about it cause I had just been called as zone leader and I was already breaking rules. Everyone told me not to worry about it, but i felt pretty bad. And then I realized that it was pretty funny that I was at a point in my life where breaking a silly rule like that, of which I had no knowledge of, made me feel that guilty.. So I feel good about the point that I am at, and I am really not worried about my obedience. So don't worry either haha, I am doing my best!!

What else? Hmm my pant's leg ripped which was sweet. I put them on one day and all the sudden my right leg was like half a foot longer than the left because it turns out that Joseph A. Bank didn't even hem them! They hemmed one side and I guess they took a vacation that week or something cause they didn't even hem the other side! So let the record show that I don't support that franchise anymore.. but no sweat, one of the sisters labored over my pants for like 5 hours and fixed them which was super sweet of her.. (perks of being a zone leader) haha just kidding.. I know I have said zone leader like 19 times in this letter and I probably sound like a tool, but I am really not I promise..

I lost four pounds this week! so I am back down to like 170 which is good. It doesnt make any sense though cause I ate super healthy in weeks 1 and 2 and gained 10 pounds and then in week three I gave up and ate whatever I wanted and lost 4 pounds. So I guess the lesson to be learned here is that if you eat cheese dip every night for a week you will lose four pounds..

I had a lesson with this teacher (Hermano Avila) and he taught us about Patriarchal Blessings and our divine potential and all this super awesome stuff and it seriously changed my life. Patriarchal blessings are amazing and such an incredible gift we have. If we study it and live righteously, all of those blessings and more are ours. I plan to study my blessing more and more and I encourage you to do that too!

Me and Elder Howe have been on fire lately with our teaching. We have really learned how to ask questions and connect with the people we teach and because of that we have been able to have such a strong Spirit in our lessons. We had to teach one of our teachers in front of an audience of 8 other missionaries which was kind of scary, but we totally nailed it and she told them that we were examples of how they should teach. She was the same teacher that totally humbled me a week or two ago and it's so cool how we were able to be humbled, learn and grow, and then become great examples of teaching in her eyes. So yeah I guess we are getting a little cocky, but we know that it is not our own strength. The Spirit does all of the teaching, and I really do believe that.

The hardest part of my mission you ask?? Getting two shots last week. It was the worst! Turns out I was missing two immunizations so yeah. We basically just sat in these chairs and watched people get their shots and then they'd call us up and we get our shots done in front of everyone, it was weird. I had everyone cheering me on because I made it known that I hated shots so everyone was watching me and I told the lady that I was kind of a girl about shots so afterwards she gave me a pink camo bandaid for being so tough.. Now everyone is scared of me on campus.

Alright sorry my emails are always so freakin long, I figure you like to hear the stories, but if I need to chill out just let me know.. I'll get back on here on friday for a little while to see your emails, but this is my big email for the week.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Week two!

Here's another detailed update from week two (probably in a random order of thoughts so i apologize):

This week has been awesome just like the first! I continue to be humbled every day and learn so much, its crazy. I don't remember what day it was specifically right now, but me and Elder Howe were teaching a lesson to one of our investigators (a teacher) and she basically stopped us mid lesson and told us all these things we were doing wrong and I didn't realize how bad we were until she pointed all these things out and then she made some more comments in class in front of the district and I felt like a total turd. Like all my confidence in teaching went down the drain and I was feeling pretty crappy about myself for a couple hours and feeling super bummed and then when I was talking to some of the Elders about it, I totally realized that the night before I had been praying that I would be humbled... All the sudden I realized that God had answered my prayers exactly the way I had asked and I hadn't even realized it, so after that I realized I needed to be grateful for the opportunity to learn and become better. Every failure in here is immediately followed with more blessings and more capacities as a teacher or even just as a person and I am realizing more and more that I need to pray for adversity and trials so that I can become better. I think that applies to me outside of the mission too, we become better because our trials.. People always say that, but I never really understood the truthfulness of that until I got here. 

This week we have had way more teachers paying attention to us and teaching us awesome lessons so that has been great, all of the teachers here are the most incredible and inspiring people, its awesome. I have been getting sleepy a lot though, waking up at 6:00 every day has started to wear on me, but I think I might be getting used to it now. New missionaries came yesterday which was super exciting for some reason.. I think it was mostly because we were happy to not be the youngest ones anymore, and we are excited to help them adjust to the missionary life, since we're such pros now..

The spanish is continuing to progress at a miraculous rate. Elder Howe and I are trying to learn 60 new words a day which is pretty tough, but we are learning tons of new vocabulary so it's nice. Me and him are learning a lot about teaching and how before we do anything we have to connect with the people we talk to and really make them feel our love for them, otherwise all the stuff we say is meaningless. I have also learned that I need to not be so serious when I am teaching. I forget to be happy and smiley when I start talking about the Gospel, especially cause they think I don't know a butt-load of crap about the gospel, but I DO! Funny story: we were teaching and the person asked us how our missions get paid for and apparently he didnt understand the person so he starts just bearing his testimony about the scriptures or something hahaha and I knew what was going on, but he didn't really give me a chance to speak so I was just trying not to laugh.. I feel bad that all the funny stories are about Elder Howe, but I really haven't said anything too embarassing.. FOr some reason i can understand like way better than most people when it comes to listening to their accents and stuff.. ALso in one of our lessons Elder Howe was talking and he said the word "correctamundo" hahahaha instead of using the word correcto or wahtever the real word is and I was holding it together, but the teacher we were teaching just started cracking up so then I started cracking up and then the lesson was over..

One last story: We were teaching our main teacher Hermano Weist pretending to be our investigator named Raul and we were starting the lesson with a prayer so before we prayed I explained to him how we do it and I had heard that he would say stuff during other peoples prayers like halleluyah and praise Jesus and stuff so I made sure to explain that we are silent during the prayer to listen to the words and feel the Spirit and stuff and he just gives me this sly look like he knew what was going on.. So Elder Howe starts praying and Raul is like whispering these words like repeating the prayer and I just start laughing and by the end of the prayer I am cracking up, so it was kinda awkward and then I just started fake coughing and told him I was sick.. Pretty believable... Hopefully that story made sense. It was funny to me so that's all that matters I guess haha. 

We went to the temple today which was the last time we get to go cause the temple is closing so that's a bummer. But the temple is awesome. 

We had a devotional on tuesday that was super good and theres a scale that everyone goes to to weigh themselves so we went there and I weighed 175, which means I have put on a couple pounds which doesn't make any sense because I have been eating super healthy, but whatever. I'm not bitter about it as you can tell. 

Next week is Thanksgiving which will be interesting.. especially since it's on our p-day and we don't get p-day potentially. I'm not sure yet.. Hopefully we still get to email and stuff, but an apostle will be coming to speak to us which is awesome!

THe oldest district left this past sunday which was sad to see them go, they were awesome guys, but it's also super exciting and I know that time is going to be here before we know it. We have another two districts leaving this weekend so pretty much all of our buddies in the zone will be gone which will be weird, but we'll be like the oldest ones so I guess that will be cool. 

One of the Elder's in my apartment had his birthday last week which SUCKS for him, but we tried to make it a somewhat good birthday. I made him a cute little candle out of paper and crayons and put it in his cake for lunch, so that was sweet of me..

It has been super cold and rainy this week which has been cool I guess.,.. It snowed one morning during our gym time so me Howe, Hansen, and Zapata played beach volleyball for like 30 seconds and then said scr*w this and went inside.. come to find out, we were allowed to stay inside.. Missed that memo. 

Well that's all I got for this week, let me know what you want to hear about. I love getting all the letters and emails. If people write me the letters through mtcdelivery, I can't write them back unless they send me an email address or physical adress to respond to so let them know that. But those are definitely awesome to get during the week.

Just want you and everyone to know that I love this work that I am a part of. I know the message of Jesus Christ that we have to share can and will change people's lives. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, just like the Bible and it is tangible evidence that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. I know that we are given trials and weaknesses to learn and grow and become better for it. Thats the whole point of this life, so embrace life and keep pushing forward. Say hi to everyone, let them know I love them and thanks for all of the letters and packages.

First letter~FINALLY!

Hi Mom,

Me and Elder Howe!

This is my big letter so im probably just going to send you my main letter each week and then you can share it with the family and post the parts that you choose to share with everyone else!

First  day was crazy. I was immediately being sent from room to room getting books and my name tag and then being sent to the bus to ride over to the west campus of the MTC.. I don't actually live in the normal MTC which is weird because all of the spanish speaking missionaries have their own campus over in the wyview apartment complex. but its awesome because everyone speaks spanish. So first day I dropped my stuff off at my apartment which is super nice and its two rooms so we have all four of the Elders in our district in our apartment, were all good buddies so its fun..

After i dropped my stuff off, we had class and met one of our teachers and then had a devotional or two and we did a practice teaching with investigators which was super cool and spiritual. 

My companion is Elder Howe (Hunter), he's from Huntington Beach, California, he loves soccer as much as I do and he's definitely a good player. He just graduated high school so he's 18 but he's a total stud. He is a falcons fan which is really random, but honestly were like exactly alike, which for us has worked out super well. we are already best friends and I can tell we will be friends for a long time. He has an awesome spirit about him and we push each other to be better.

Elder Howe, me, Hansen, Zapata~The district

The other elders in our district are elder Zapata and elder hansen. They are both 18 as well and are both really cool guys and fun to be around. They can be a little immature sometimes to be honest, but they also bring a fun youngness to the district that can help make things more fun. They're companionship has seen a lot more frustration and pride and struggle than mine and elder howes. The Hermanas in our district.. that means sisters... said that me and elder howe are like the newly weds in the honeymoon phase and the other elders are the old married couple hahaha, its pretty true. We have a trio of sisters in our district and they are super awesome. We all do a pretty good job of uplifting each other and being open about our thoughts and have fun together. I was called as the district leader last thursday which has been an awesome experience for me. Its been a trial for me to be able to encourage the district to work hard and stay focused without sounding condescending or being a dictator, but I really do love all the members in the district and I really want to just work as hard as we can and encourage an atmosphere where we can love each other and have the spirit. I think they all recognize that i am trying to do my best.

Lets see.. the food is actually really good here. I{ve pretty much enjoyed every meal, which is frightening because i don't want to get fat, but honestly I think i have lost weight here. I wish I knew how much i weighed before i came in, but i really just try to eat healthy and not eat to much.

I started getting sick two days ago so thats been a little annoying, but last night elder howe gave me some health fruit and vegetable  powder stuff that you put in water so I drank that but it was super nasty and when i was downing the last gulp, i threw up. so that was awkward.

It turns out that I am in the intermediate spanish classes which i wasn't expecting, but its nice because were like the only ones that are intermediate in our zone, so we really are miles ahead of everyone else spanish wise which gives us a little bit of confidence or cockiness.. But we know that its all about the Spirit and the strength of our testimony..

The first three days really weren't hard for me.. I think maybe because it was all so new and exciting.. but the next two days were kinda tough because the lack of sleep started to wear me down, but other than that, it really hasn't been too bad for me. I really do love it here..

We taught an investigator in spanish on our second day in the MTC which is crazy but me an Elder howe honestly have no problem talking to our investigators for an hour all in spanish, which is amazing to me.. We have learned so freakin much here and it is amazing how much we are able to learn and remember when we have the gifts of the Spirit helping us out. I{ve been able to memorize a bunch of scripture references and I have memorized a shortened version of the first vision in spanish as well as our purpose in spanish and my vocabulary has just shot up like crazy.. Spanish is so fun to learn, I love it.

Elder Howe and i really haven't had any super embarrassing experiences, but during one of our lessons Elder howe was bearing his testimony to them and He goes.. Soy un profeta. hahaha he said I am a prophet.. which technically is true because we have the spirit of prophecy but you don't necesarily want to say that to an investigator. I Was sitting there trying not to bust up laughing because i knew the lesson would've been schruted so I just powered through it like a champ. 

On tuesday we got to go to a devotional by Elder Tom Perry which was super awesome and inspirational. His abilty to bring the spirit to a meeting was amazing.

I have honestly had so many powerful rock solid spiritual experiences while i have been in here and i am writing them all in my journal and there are so many little miracles that happen every day, but one in particular i will share,.. I was studying on sunday I believe.. and I was so sleepy and couldn't focus at all so I got up and went to the bathroom and said a little prayer in there asking that the Lord would give me energy so that I could focus on my study and be able to really learn and prepare for our investigators and pretty much Immediately I felt this like surge of energy in my body and from then at around 2 p.m. until bedtime I didn't get tired once.. It sounds silly but it was really real to me and to not be tired in the mtc is a very rare thing. I know the Lord will bless me when I align my will with his will. The trick is being willing to submit to his will sincerely and give it your all..

Hopefully that covers most of the details of the first week that you want to know.

Thank you so much for my letter and package. Getting mail is seriously the best thing in the world here, I think I would take a letter from anyone over a lofty sum of gold.. 

Please encourage people to write me using Mtcdelivery.com or dealelder.com because then I get letters that day which is super nice.

I have learned a lot about the Character of Christ in here and something that he did that is so amazing to me is that even in his hardest trials, he turned Outward and looked to serve others. Such a hard thing to do, but i am striving to be better.

Love you lots and lots! Don't worry about me, I am doing amazing. Send my love to the Family and let them know that I miss them.

Also I'll try to send some pictures

This is Elder Creighton. He's in our zone. Reincarnation of Chris Farley. Funniest kid on earth!

Week 1

Week 1 and no word from Elder Cushman so far?!  I've been told that he may not be able to access email while he is in the MTC so we have two options~

Good old fashioned mail

Elder Connor Jamon Cushman
DEC15 ARG-ROS
2023 N 900 E Unit 852
Provo UT 84602


OR you can go to

MTCdelivery.com

Type a letter and it will be delivered to Elder Cushman's mailbox at the MTC
Departure date~ DEC ARG-ROS
MTC Mailbox  #852

The Missionary Training Center(MTC)~

Learn a little about the Missionary Training Center

At the Church's Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah, young men and women as well as retired men and women from around the world come together to prepare to serve the Lord. The purpose of the MTC is to provide an atmosphere of peace, love, trust, confidence, and respect in which missionaries can prepare for missionary service.

Missionaries dedicate 18 months to two years to missionary service. Approximately 52,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are currently serving as full-time missionaries. They are called to serve in one of 334 missions in approximately 120 different countries around the world. Missionaries begin their service at a Missionary Training Center, where they prepare to become messengers of the Lord, bringing glad tidings to families around the world. As representatives of the Church, missionaries believe that people throughout the world can obtain life's greatest happiness from following the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Each Wednesday several hundred missionaries enter the Provo MTC. The eager missionaries enter an exciting world of learning. The MTC curriculum consists of up to 12 weeks of studying doctrine, learning to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively, and developing excellent communication skills. When missionaries are called to serve in foreign lands, their training also includes learning a new language. The Provo MTC is well known for its language teaching program. Approximately 50 languages are taught at the Provo MTC. The teaching staff is composed largely of former missionaries, who are well acquainted with missionary life. Using state-of-the-art language training technology, the Provo MTC fulfills the prophecy that "every man shall hear the fullness of the gospel in his own tongue . . . through those who are ordained unto this power" (D&C 90:11).

The Provo MTC is a beautiful campus designed to accommodate up to 4,000 missionaries. The facility includes a large gymnasium, cafeterias, a medical clinic, a bookstore, a mail center, laundry facilities, classrooms, and residence halls. A day at the MTC can involve many different activities, including visiting the cafeteria, enjoying some exercise in the gym, and engaging in personal study. Missionaries spend much of their time in classroom activities.

Although the MTC has excellent facilities and an outstanding training curriculum, missionaries feel that the spirit of the MTC is their best learning and teaching aid. The MTC experience is the fulfillment of a life-long dream for many missionaries, and yet they anxiously await the day when they will depart to their assigned missions. After weeks of training, missionaries leave prepared to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people around the world.

For more information about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or to request a visit from missionaries, visit the official Church "Learn More" site, or call toll-free at 1-888-LDS-7700 or 1-888-537-7700.
http://www.mtc.byu.edu/themtc.htm

Day 1~Entering the MTC

Today Connor Entered the MTC(Missionary Training Center)

There were a few tears

Lots of hugs~

Connor's a great big brother, always looked after his little sister.