September 24, 2018

Thats right, never! "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved!" 

That is a quote from my friend, President Monson. It has become my life motto. However, this week I discovered more ways to apply it(: You can just fill in the blank with anything. 

Never let your desire to eat that cookie become more important than a person to be loved. 

Never let your phone become more important than a person to be loved. 

Never let your personal goals become more important than a person to be loved. 

Never let your fear or shyness become more important than a person to be loved. 

That's right, you can put lots of things there. Because there is nothing more important that helping a person feel loved! That's the biggest thing I've learned this week. 

I've also had tons of fun! I've spent my time waiting for tours, making Brazilian fudge, diving deep into the Book of Mormon, finding out that my companion is secretly a squirrel and listening to the spirit. All great things! I sure do love this place!

Have a great week everyone (: 

Sister Bush

To the Family:

on tuesday our mission president held a meeting and encouraged us to double up our efforts as missionaries. plus gave us lots of news! (no i dont know where im going on outbound yet haha) he told us that october 22-26 is the mission presidents seminar, happening here in nauvoo. so elder andersen of the 12 as well as other general authorities (70s and others) will be here touring the sites, training these future mission presidents. big deal! president told us we need to make sure our minds and all our efforts are focused on nauvoo, especially for that so even though he has our outbound calls before then, he will not tell us where we are going until a like a few days before we leave.... !!!! some sisters are frustrated with this but im fine with it. i trust that he knows what hes doing. plus this seminar is a big deal! also i think as we work harder to be better missionaries here in nauvoo it will help us when we are outbound. president also made sure we understand that whether we are giving a tour to a general authority or to a member family or to other missionaries or to non-members, we should do it about the same. not memorize a tour, but give the guests, no matter who they are, the same amount of love and respect and thought. which is so important. im glad i get to learn this and have this experience! 

on wednesday, i served for the first time in the print shop! and let me tell you i love that place. i love the process of writing as you know and so it was so neat for me to learn and explain to others how they made writings available to the public back in the 1840s! so much work. but worth it, just as it is today!

also this week some people in our mission started this thing called the Book of Mormon sprint. its to read the book of mormon in a week. 76 pages a day. i was excited about this because ive never read it that fast and i was sure i would get some insights with the big picture. so ive been reading a lot. the first day i got all 76 pages. the next, i didnt finish all of them and the day after that i didnt even do half. at first i was bummed that i hadnt stuck with my page goal, but ive learned a valuble lesson. remember that quote by Pres Monson? "never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved" its kinda my life motto. well these past couple of days there have been a lot of people needing love. and instead of giving them a tiny amount of love so i can speed read through the book of mormon, ive decided to not let a page to be read become more important than a person to be loved. when i did that, i learned that you can subsitute anything in that space! never let _______ become more important than a person to be loved. so actually, im still reading fast to try and get the big picture, but its not about the pages anymore for me! so i think what ive learned most about the big picture is Gods love. 

speaking of opportunities to love people, i have to tell you that many of our sisters (and some seniors too) arent doing too hot. it breaks my heart. some of these sweet sisters have been struggling this week with deciding to go home early or not. to go on outbound or to just go home. they all have different reasons and struggles but no matter what it is, it makes me sad to see so many that i love going through such anguish. i know that it isnt bad to go home early if your mental health wont allow you to stay out, and that it is between you and the Lord. but its so so so hard to make that decision. and if it isnt mental health and its family or its something else that is still super painful! i wont mention anyone by name but please pray for my fellow nauvoo sisters. ive been praying for, fasting for, spending time with, listening to, hugging tight, crying with, making Brazilian fudge for, serving alongside, eating dinner with, and bearing testimony with and to these dear sisters. they really are my sisters. family is family so im asking my other family back home to help with this family. cuz change is always hard and there are going to be a lot of changes around here. some good changes and maybe some not. 

plus also transfers will be taking place on friday, since that is when the 7 sisters who started last summer will be going home! im going to miss them all so much they are my role models. they leave on friday so on wednesday president is going to announce who will be moving where and which companions will be with which and then the transfer will take place on friday. so i might send some pictures as hints on wednesday when i find out haha. also because of transfers on friday, i have no idea when my next pday will be. i think ill be allowed to email pday change on wednesady so you can have a heads up but who knows haha. sorry for the craziness, its just part of Nauvoo!!! 

on thursday i served at Heber C Kimball again! i love that place and i love that family. they have such faith!!! their stories are so inspiring. the only thing was that because it was slow we only gave 1 tour all day hahaha. so we were there from 10am to 5pm and gave one, 10 minute tour during that time. the rest of it, we read the book of mormon, talked, joked around and i faked a tour haha it was great. we are getting along way way better than before. not that we didnt get along but now we have quite a bit of fun together. i have nicknamed her jurassic squirrel because of those random noises she does. also she seems to think its funny when i call her rat goddess for some reason haha she has this thing about rats i dont know hahahahahaha

also on thursday i was a part of a focus group with a researcher from salt lake. we talked about how to improve the site guide here and helped brainstorm some things for the next and improved version that will come out next summer. so that was a really cool experience to be a part of that.  

on friday we served at lucy mac smith with sis Oldroyd, and it was her last day there before going home. she is a powerful person. 

also that day i found out that Heidi had a stroke. she is being as strong as ever but it is physically difficult now, especially to talk. i got to call her for a bit though and help her know that she is loved and we are cheering for her. she definitely reminds me of Job. her integrity is unflinching. 

on saturday i was on the wagon! i worked on making puns for people to laugh but also making it personal. that way they can see my testimony as i talk about all the different saints and their homes. it was lots of fun, just cold! 

it is getting chilly out. im not used to wearing sunday clothes all the time so im not sure how to stay warm... i know i need a coat for sure. and some other winter accessories like beanie hats and scarves. im planning on buying these next pday maybe, but you can research online too! send me pictures of things you are considering, and if i like it you can use my card to buy it. speaking of, how much is on my personal card? and savings? cuz president said we will probably go somewhere cold on outbound haha so i want to be prepared. 

on sunday, my companion gave a talk too! her talk was about revelation and it was super super good. sis swaney is still the Alma to my Amulek! im hoping she will finish typing it up so you can read it too. then we served at family living center with sister Jones and Yamamoto! we only had one tour. and it was at 4:55.  we spent some time studying of course and then when we got tired of that we learned how to sing different hymns and such in different languages! ill send you the video of us singing i am a child of God in english, japanese, spanish(; and french haha. oh plus we had a mini pretzel food fight. the sites can be boring haha but im glad i got to give that one tour to that family that came in at the very end. im grateful for every opportunity to give tours!

then we had the sunday concert! us young sisters have been working on this for awhile. and on sunday we got to perform! we pretty much teach the first lesson, the restoration in song form. we read scriptures or quotes that work with each topic in between songs. these are the songs we sing: (check out PMG if you dont know all the points in order for the lesson) 

God is love, love at home, I saw a mighty angel fly, i stand all amazed, where can i turn for peace, Joseph Smiths first prayer, the iron rod, sweet hour of prayer, i believe in Christ.  it is amazing and i love it so much. i quite enjoy singing to testify(:

i love love love love love love love love love love love you both so so so so much!! haha 

Sister Bush