February 6, 2019

I Put Chic-Fil-A Sauce in my Alfredo Noodles.....

This week has been awesome! Awesome and busy. Hermana Escobar and I have served at a food bank, 

had an employee of a restaurant try to flirt with us, gave away many copies of the book of mormon, 

cleaned a church building by ourselves, drove 2 hours to teach a family about the plan of salvation 

and spent plenty of time laughing in between. Life is good here in Sidney!! 

About the title of my email...... Let's just say I've done a lot or substituting in my recipes this week haha. 

(Ps it was actually really good) this week I also made banana bread! 

And also tasted some new recipes from members and my companion. 

And so, consequently, I've done a lot of thinking about recipes. 

There are recipes for a lot of things! And not just food..... 

There are recipes for good grades, recipes for strong friendships, recipes for staying warm on a windy day ect. 

Do you see what I mean? And in recipes there are usually subsitutes. (Like my chic-fil-a sauce haha.)

So here's my point: 

In the recipe for a joyous life, there is no substitute for living the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Nothing else will work in place of it. Some of the other ingredients can be altered a little, but not that one. 

Why? Because it is the most important thing to add and mix in. Your life just won't be the same without it. 

How can I always be joyful even when life is hard? The answer to that question is by turning to Jesus Christ. 

Following in His footsteps, trusting in His teachings and loving Him the way He loves us. 

I know that He lives and that He loves you! 

I know that no matter what other ingredients you are putting into your recipe for a joyful life - 

that if you make sure to add His gospel and His love, it will turn out wonderful. 

Always remember Him! For He certainly always remembers you. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Have a great week everyone! 

Sis Bush 

From email to family:

Select stories from this week: 

So we were trying to find Spanish people for hermana Escobar to teach and we went to 3 margaritas, 

a family Mexican restaurant and this one employee seemed interested! 

So we went back for dinner to try to develop a friendship and try to give him a book of mormon. 

Welllll hermana Escobar went to the bathroom and while she was gone he (his name is oscar) 

came up to the table and as like "you are really pretty by the way" 

And I was like AHHHH HERMANA ESCOBAR COME BACK 

But I just said oh thank you and then he walked off. 

Well we invited him to church but he didn't come cuz he has to work 

but he won't stop texting us and telling me he has a crush on me and asking if it's okay to date and 

I'm like no it's hilarious because we keep seeing him. Maybe he  will come to church sometime! 

Who knows. Lol 

I was trying to make mom's banana bread recipe on tuesday and thought I had sugar 

but I actually had powdered sugar! 

So we decided to use the opportunity to get to know our neighbors in a friendly way by asking for sugar. 

I thought it was genius but it didn't go the way we expected! 

We talked to some neighbors and they didn't have sugar. 

Then we knocked on this one door and the guy was super rude and didn't even answer the door but yelled 

that He didn't have sugar and to go away basically. Anyways I was like well he's friendly. 

20 minutes later he knocked on our door and was there to apologize. 

He had a package of sugar and gave us the whole thing. 

That guy taught me a lesson in humility and apologizing that day. 

He was very humble and said he wanted to say sorry. 

He didn't know where we lived so I'm assuming he just knocked until he found us. 

It was a tender moment with that package of sugar. Idk, it's hard to explain but I learned something from him. 

We gave him a loaf of banana bread later (: 

We served at Table of grace a food pantry and my favorite part was after I trained hermana Escobar 

how to do it she was not afraid to take people through the bank on her own. 

We are in the same room but assigned to help different people.

 I loved watching her serve and do her best and love the people. It was awesome to see. 

During our lesson with the Marquez we taught them the plan of salvation. 

Beforehand I wrote out my testimony and hermana Escobar translated it for me so I could practice it. 

Well I bore my testimony about david. And in the moment I felt the spirit So strong. It was crazy. 

I was bearing my testimony in Spanish and the spirit was speaking to me but I felt it in spanish. 

I am very far from being fluent or even being able to speak Spanish without practicing first. 

But it was a tender mercy to be able to do that and feel that. 

This upcoming week is going to be crazy. For some reason everyone we asked if we could meet this week said yes! 

So our schedule is jam packed with lessons and appointments and service and almost no time for any finding

or studying haha. So when I found that out I was reading my scriptures and praying on Sunday like 

how can I get through this week without stressing out?? My answer came in 3 Nephi 20. 

First the savior teaches about always praying in our hearts, t

hen he reminded me of the sacrament I just took and how if I remember him, I will be filled with the spirit. 

And then he talked about the gathering of Israel and how he will be in our midst. 

It was a comforting chapter! I'm so grateful for the power of the Book of mormon. 

I'm so grateful that God answers prayers.