August 22, 2018

hello all! its me again. 

How is it already another week gone? this mission is going by too fast.

but actually things are slowing down here quite a bit! we went from having like 820 people visit Carthage in a day to now like 64 a day. So thats quite a contrast! Nevertheless. I am still happy to serve here and bear my testimony to whoever comes here. 

also surprise! on Labor day i will be transferred back to Nauvoo. so thats coming up(:

my little thought for today is a quote from a lady who I gave a tour to. she got it from somewhere but I dont know where so im just giving the credit to her haha. if it is your quote, please step forward to be recognized because it has made my week. anyways, here is the quote:

"Sometimes the Master calms the sailor, not the seas." 

Please read that again and let it sink in. We all go through stormy waters, and sometimes all we want is for Christ to come and say "be still" and the waves to calm. But sometimes what we really need is for Him to say "be still" to us, and calm us. Calm us so that we can have the courage, strength, and grace to sail through the storms calmly. I want to add my testimony that I know He is the Prince of Peace. and as we turn to Him, He can help us be still, even in troubling times. 

(for further study, if you want you can read Mosiah 24:13-15, D&C 101:16 and Mark 4:37-39.) 

have a great week! 

Sincerely,

Sister Bush

email to family:

"to bring thousands of souls to repentance"

that line is from alma 26:22, and this is what the whole thing says: 

"Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance." 

when i first read this verse in my mind i thought wow thousands of souls to baptism! what a promise! and then this week i realized that is not what it means. repentance means turning away from sin and to God. that can be done by either giving up something bad we are doing or by starting to do something good that we havent been doing. repentance = progression. so really my job as a missionary is to help people progress and come closer to their Heavenly Father. and Carthage jail can be a huge step in their progression. so i can testify that that promise in the scriptures is true. this week ive been focusing on really caring about the people i give tours to and bearing pure testimony. its made quite a difference. this week i will be focusing on using the gift of discernment as well as the principle of revelation to testify to their needs specifically. im already trying to put this into practice! for instance... things have been super slow around here. on pday we only serve at the jail for 3 hours. well we hadnt given a tour and our time was almost up. i started praying that we could have one. well some people showed up! but they showed up at 10:45ish. and a tour lasts 30 minutes. my companion didnt want to use up 15 minutes of her pday giving a tour (cuz the next part of our pday is emailing time). but the spirit told me i needed to be on this tour. so after debating with her i ended up taking another sister with me and still doing the tour. i know i needed to be on that tour, bearing testimony to those specific people. nothing crazy happened but i know that i followed the spirit and therefore fulfilled my purpose. sorry that it cut into emailing time. (but really its just computer emailing time cuz we are allowed to email from our phones all day. so its not that big a deal.) dont worry your email wont be cut short haha. 

so this week i was sick. nothing huge, but a cold. and a frustrating cold haha cuz i just felt like i was in a fog for a couple days. but i got some rest and im feeling better now. 

in a tour this week sister swaney lost it and started laughing cuz of something i did. i dont know what but for some reason she lost it haha. we are getting closer! 

this week i gave a tour to a family from spain, and another from the netherlands. im so inspired by these people! they dont know english super well but they come because they want to see the church history sights and gain stronger testimonies. wow. 

this week their were two YSM birthdays so we had a party on saturday night to celebrate. so that was fun. i snuck over to sister Paystrups place (since she is their neighbor) and covered her room with mustard packets i got from the YPMs that left haha. it was hilarious. i need to get that video from sister Green and add it to the share!

in carthage we are now serving with the Hills, nielsons, and Adams. so cute but all of them loooove to talk haha. so senior dinners take a long time haha. but they are so sweet and have such good life stories and lessons to share. im so grateful for them and the chance to get to know them better. 

so! transfers! haha dont worry not just yet. but this week we found out that on September 3rd, all the ysms here in carthage will be returning to Nauvoo. so that is sad. i will miss carthage, but im excited to return. i dont know if they will be switching us up with new companions or not, i just know that ill be returning to nauvoo. so yeah. 

also i think next week my pday will switch to tuesday. i think. haha so just a heads up.

because its so slow now i used to feel discouraged that i only give like 3 tours a day (or 1 like today) but i realized that i am blessed because in other missions the missionaries can be working hard all day and not see any success but over here if we arent getting tours at least we can study while we wait! so that is a blessing. Heavenly Father knew i needed to come here where i could continually be learning from the scriptures(:

i love you guys so much and how much you inspire me. im so so grateful to be your daughter. it is a huge blessing. 

love love love love love

Sister Bush