October 29, 2018

Hello all! 

This week has been quite exciting, with the inspiring mission president seminar, fun Halloween celebrations, beautiful fall colors and frantic preparations for our outbound assignments! There are many embarrassing stories I could tell, great people I could talk about or spiritual experiences I could share.... But after much thought I've decided to tell you this: 

This week, a dear friend and fellow sister missionary went to the hospital and I accompanied her in the ambulance because her companion had responsibilities at a site. I don't really want to go into the details, but it was serious enough that the doctors decided to life flight her in a helicopter to Iowa city. As the helicopter was taking off, all I wanted in that moment was someone to be with her. It didn't have to be me, I just wanted someone, anyone who cares about her to be there by her side during this. 

I distinctly remember these 4 words coming into my mind. I know they came from Him who is all powerful and all loving: 

"She's in my hands." 

In this moment, watching the helicopter rise in the air, I realized with a sense of peace that there could be no one who loves her more by her side. She's in the hands of the one Being in the universe who cares the most about her. She is in His hands. (That phrase was also repeated in a priesthood blessing I received that night.) 

I've been pondering those words all week, and realized that it applies to all of us, no matter what situation we are in. God is our loving Heavenly Father and He is watching over us. Whatever happens this week, please remember who's hands you are in. You are in His hands. 

"Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God?" (Mormon 5:23) 

"They may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." (1 Nephi 21:15-16) 

We can trust Him. I know that there are no better hands we could be in. He hears and answers our prayers.

Speaking of prayers, please pray for sister Done. She is getting better but still needs our faith, love and support! 

Until next week! 

Sincerely, 

Sister Bush

October 22, 2018

Quick. Hurry. As soon as possible i need you to do this one thing! 

It's really really really really important.

And it will take less than 5 minutes. 

Promise me you'll do it?

First take 30 seconds: sit still, close your eyes and think of someone you know. It could be anyone. Someone you are barley acquaintances with, someone in your family, your worst enemy, someone you love a bunch, someone who is a good friend to you or someone you work with that kind of annoys you - doesn't matter. Pick that person in your mind. 

With the remaining time out of your 5 minutes I want you to serve that person. 

With the first service idea that comes to mind. Doesn't matter how little it is. It can make a huge difference for them!

So please! Do it! today! 

"Never suppress a generous thought." 

And I promise you won't regret it (: 

That's the main takeaway from my week this week. I've been trying to act on generous thoughts by going on cookie runs, sharing compliments, smiling at people, visiting homes, giving hugs, praying for people and trying to think of others more. 

It's the best thing in the world. That's why you've just got to try it. 

Sincerely, 

Sister Bush

October 15, 2018

Hello all! Great news! 

This week we discovered where we will be assigned for our outbound transfer. 

*insert drum roll here* 

I'm going to the Colorado Fort Collins mission!!!!!! 

Sound familiar?!?!? 

That's because my older brother, Jonas, just returned from serving there in Febuary! I'm so excited to serve where he served and teach the wonderful people there! I'll be gone from Nauvoo from October 30th till April 1st. 

How. Cool. Is. That. 

It's actually very cool...... Very chilly. Very cold! This morning I checked the weather for fort collins and it was 11 degrees. WHAT. I'm going to freeze. Literally. 

But you know what else? I'm going to be happy. This week I had the opportunity to serve in the Riser Boot shop. When that couple learned about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and wanted to be baptized, not even the frozen river could stop them. They just cut a hole in the ice so that they could get baptized! Now why on earth would they do something like that. Or why on earth would I be so excited to go to a place that is so freezing? 

I'll tell you a secret. It is because the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. And that is something to rejoice about! I remember one time I went Christmas caroling with my family and forgot to wear a coat. (I had a sweater but still!) At first I hated getting out of the warm car and knocking on the door and singing a quick song before I could run back to my comfortable seat. Well, by the end of the night I wasn't even cold anymore. Maybe I was but at least it didn't bother me like before. And that's because I was singing and serving and sharing and smiling and that was the best feeling in the world. 

So don't worry too much about this little El Paso missionary heading out into the blizzard of snow and icy wind in a couple weeks. Because it's worth it for me! And though I may be uncomfortable at times, I will be smiling about, serving because, singing about and sharing to all that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. And that is something to rejoice about! 

Love you all! Stay warm and stay happy! 

Sister Bush 

Ps this doesn't mean I would mind if you decide to send me hot chocolate or scarves or hand warmers! Because I definitely wont. please do! That would be great! :D

Email to Family:

On Tuesday we Served in Brigham young and I just love that home. 

This week I've been reading the Book of Mormon the way president Nelson invited us to! Coupled with the goal in PMG about highlighting every reference to Christ, his attributes, actions and words. So I'm really enjoying that. But right now I'm in 3rd Nephi so I'm highlighting whole chapters haha. It's great. 

Sister Andersen has gotten into making beanies! I'll send a picture of the one she made for me (: 

That night we had a mission training about how this month is a good month to be flexible. There is a lot going on and a lot will change. I found a lot of connections with what he said and the talk "Willing to sumbit" by Maxwell that I told you about. Have you read it yet? Yeah I'm bringing it up again haha cuz it's life changing for me. I've made some huge changes this week and they can't be seen on the outside as much as they can be seen in my heart. So I'll keep bugging you about it until you read it and tell me what you think haha. 

On wednesday we served in the Print shop so that was fun for me. I like the print shop because it's so cool to see all the type and how they used the printing press. It's so cool!!! 

We made muffins and doorbell ditched them but caught! Embarrassing haha. But hopefully the sisters we gave them too liked the muffins. 

I got an email from Mike! He is the first person who I've invited to read the book of mormon, emailed and that he is number 1 actually emailing me back and number 2 actually reading. So I'm really excited about that. He's a great guy! I emailed him back the other day and I hope he's still reading and learning too. 

Okay so thursday is the day we found out our outbound assignments!! We just showed up at the seventies hall and I noticed the whole presidency was there. That's when I started to get the butterflies. I was pretty sure we were either getting our assignments or something else big was happening! 

President decided to pull a Brigham young and just call out names and where we were going. It was nerve wracking and exciting! As soon as he said my name and the Fort Collins Colorado mission I literally burst into tears. It felt so right and they were tears of joy. I'm not all too excited about the cold, but I know that the Lord has things for me to do, lessons to learn and people to meet there.  Who knows what areas I'll go to, and if they will be the same as his. I don't know why I've been assigned there just yet but I know I'll find out. It is no coincidence that a member of the quorum of the 12 assigned me to go to that mission. So I'm pumped!!! FOCO mission all the way! 

That day we served in Wilford Woodruff home,  and that was cool. It was kinda hard to focus because all I could think about was fort collins but it was okay I used it to my advantage cuz his home is about missionary work (: 

Friday was an interesting one because sister Andersen felt sick and stayed home with sister Whitmer who wasn't feeling good either. So I served with sister Miskin in the Cultural hall and so that was cool! She's a great missionary. We got to talk to some nonmembers about the term mormon! They asked if it was offensive to us or not, and we got to explain what President Nelson taught at conference! Way cool to see the Lord's hand in everything we do! 

There was a Japanese tour group that came through that day too. Sis Yamamoto took them to all sorts of sites and gave tours. She had to work and practice with me a bunch on how to translate back to her native language haha. But she did good! And also she taught me some phrases in Japanese to say to the tour group and it went well! They were happy I could somewhat talk to them. One of them even asked how I learned japanese! They thought I spoke good haha so that made me happy. 

On saturday we served at the Bakery and gave like 31 tours! It was busy day! (Around this time of the year anyways haha) 

In my spare time at the bakery i worked on a Short story for lucius scovil. It's turning out pretty good! I never thought I'd be into writing Historical fiction haha but I guess things change on the mission (: 

We had District council that night and discussed goals before outbound. We decided to all work on "never supress[ing] a generous thought"!!! So that's what I'm doing and I love it. 

Things are cold here. I cant tell you how many hot chocolate packets I've downed this week or how many times I've run from car to house because I'm freezing. We tried to turn on the  heater after district council and well. Literally 2 seconds after sis andersen turned it on, the fire alarm in our apartment went off!!! Hahaha it was an adventure. So that was fun. My ears were ringing for like an hour after it was so loud and crazy. At least I now know I wouldn't be able to sleep through the fire alarm going off!! 

That night sis Andersen and i had a deep talk. We were discussing how everyone has some sort of wall up, thin or thick. And so we asked each other: What made you build your wall? It was a good convo. 

On Sunday it was Stake conference! With the Nauvoo stake (: 

There was this one talk I super loved. It was about the power of yet. He said he was at a little kids school and saw this board with these phrases: 

I can't do it 

I don't know it 

This doesn't make sense 

I don't know the answer 

I'm not good at it 

And in the middle of the board it said YET 

then he talked about how the word yet is really us and the atonement of Jesus Christ 

Ye + the cross (even tho we don't use that symbol a lot in our church he said it could still be meaningful if we pondered it.) 

He used these scriptures too: 

John 11:25 

1 sam 3:7 

Matt 19:20 

Luke 15:20 

John 20:17 

JSH 1:17 

And article of faith 9 

He told a story about his kids and the phrase "are we there yet?" 

And how we ask that about ourselves 

Then he had us think of our own spiritual power of yet board for the stake:

I can't forgive this person 

My prayer is not answered 

I don't  hold w current temple recommend 

I don't feel God's love 

I can't break this habit 

My family isn't eternal 

I'm not charitable 

I'm not a good minister 

I don't feel welcome at church 

YET. 

"THROUGH THE ATONEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST, THE BEST IS YET TO COME." 

We have to have faith in Him, and believe that our yets will come! 

I just thought it was a really well written, well delivered talk because the spirit was able to teach me a lot! So thought I'd share (: 

Then we served in the boot shop which is one of the best sites everrrrrr 

Had dinner with the Munns and performed in the sunday Concert 

Stopped by the Robisons to cheer them up, and ended Sunday night with some emotional pow wows with some of the sisters! Quite a Sunday! 

Plus also! We found a bunch of ugly and weird yarn that no one wants so sister Whitmer and I are crocheting this ugly blanket and it's so fun. It's gonna be huge and crazy with different yarns and stuff! I'll send pictures (:

It was so good to get to talk to you, if only for 10 minutes! The best part was seeing your reaction to where I've been assigned haha (: 

Love you so much!!

Sis Bush 

October 8, 2018

Sister Andersen and I went to a little pumpkin farm thing and it was so cute! One of our favorite senior couples took us (the Munns.) They are just the best. So enjoy the pumpkin pictures. I love pumpkins!

As for other adventures this week we have had a worm infestation, some glorious card game championships, tours for people from all over the world, a make over (Sis Andersen did my make up! I know, shocker!) And general conference!!!

There are so many more things I could say about general conference. So many talks I could reference, thoughts i could add or connections I could share. There are so many spiritual impressions that I felt and so many answers to prayers. So much that I don't know how to pick one to emphasize or bear testimony of!

So I guess all i can do is repeat President Nelsons encouragement: Study the messages of conference, beginning this week! They are the mind and will of the Lord for His people. Today.

No wether you got to watch all of confefence, only saw a few minutes or didn't even know it was happening, I want to share with you that those messages are inspired and they are from God. I want to encourage you to try listening to, watching or reading them! You will be amazed at what can happen if you only spend a little bit of your time seeing what they have said. Lds.org is where you can go to check it out! I encourage you to do so. It has made a huge difference in my life and I know that these men are Prophets, seers and revelators, just like the prophets of old in the bible.

Well, enough of me yammering on about conference! Just go see for yourself! :D

Love you all, have a wonderful week!

Sister Bush

Ps if you have any tips or ideas on how to get rid of worms I wouldn't mind you sharing......

October 1, 2018

Okay I'm sorry! My emails aren't normally this long...... but I learned something really cool this week that is changing my life so i want to share it! You don't have to read it if you don't want to haha. 

Quick thoughts:

- Transfers happened! I have a new awesome companion Sister Andersen, and she is just the best. I will share more of our adventures in the weeks to come! 

- We had to say goodbye to some of my dearest friends and biggest role models, the sisters who went home. Sadness. But also happy because I'm excited to see what they do! 

- And of course even though it is slowing down here in Nauvoo I don't love it any less. In fact I love it more! It allows us to give more personal and meaningful tours. So my life is pretty much wonderful right now (: 

Now for what I learned: 

Do you know the story about Moses and the children of Israel, when the flying firey serpents came and infected them? Then Moses was commanded to make a brass serpant on a cross and whosover whould look upon it, would be healed. First of all, my personal opinion is that those sound like dragons.... which is awesome. But besides that I hadn't given it much thought earlier in my life. This week, I decided to dive a little deeper. 

Why did Moses use a brass serpent? 

If you have ever been bitten by a poisonous snake (and I havent) you would want an anti-venom. How does one make anti-venom? Well you take a strong animal, inject it with the poison, and it's blood will create an anti-venom. Then you use that blood to heal others. (Sound somewhat familiar to the Atonement of Jesus Christ? He took our poison upon Himself and His blood can heal us.) 

What are we required to do to be healed? In the story, all they had to do was look. 

"And as many as should look upon that serpent should live, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal." (Helaman 8:15) 

What does it really mean to look? 

In the dictionary we learn that looking has lots of meanings. Here are some:

1) perceive with attention, direct ones gaze towards

2) spend time trying to find, search for

3) be oriented in a certain direction 

4) look forward to the probable occurrence of, await, expect

5) have faith or confidence in, depend, count on 

So this week I have spent time looking for Christ, looking to Christ and looking forward to Christ. He is my Savior and Redeemer from all the poisons that afflict me. And I know that if you will but look for Him and to Him, you can be healed! Maybe not all at once, but you can be healed. 

I love you all! Take time to LOOK this week! 

Sister Bush