Hello everyone!!
Nauvoo is alive and well. Okay maybe not super alive. I only had like 4 people come visit my site yesterday.... But it's okay because I can feel the summer business creeping up on us! This week I served in the Wilford Woodruff home, Tin Smith Shop, Riser Boot Shop, Sara Granger home, the Seventies Hall, Scovil Bakery and the Lyon Drug Variety Store. It feels to good to be back.
Also my companion is hilarious. Within two hours of being companions she told me that we should make up our own language. This week we pretended our bikes were horses, I hid under her bed and scared her, and we made so many puns my companion had to leave a tour she was laughing so hard. Fun times haha.
This week I came across a scripture (and shared it in a tour) that became very meaningful to me. Alma 29:10:
"And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me."
One of the biggest miracles that comes from missionary work is the miracle that happens inside the missionary. When I share the gospel of Jesus Christ, I grow closer to Him. I see His hand in the lives of others and am able to recognize Him more in mine. The blessings I have received for serving a mission out weigh the sacrifice. If there is a blessing you need in your life, an answer to a prayer or trial you are struggling with - become a missionary. You don't necessarily need to put on a nametag, but it's as simple as sharing the truths that have changed your life and your love for the Savior Jesus Christ. It will change and bless others, but I promise it will also change you. It is the miracle of missionary work!!!
Well I hope everyone has a great week! Thank you for all your support, prayers and emails!
Sincerely,
Sister Bush
PS.
To help myself envision and appreciate the sacrifices of the Saints more, I decided to write historical fiction for Nauvoo. I will include pieces at the end of some of my emails - you can read them if you want! Just please know that it is not official from the church and though the stories and some of the quotes are factually accurate, the rest I made up. So yep. Please let me know if you have questions haha.
This time I wrote about Lucius Scovil, the owner of the bakery in Nauvoo. He was originally from Connecticut but traveled to Ohio and he and his wife Lury were converted to the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ in Kirtland. They showed their faith in many ways and had quite a lot of challenges. No matter what challenges, they trusted in God and pressed forward. What I've written jumps forward into Lucius' story, up to what I think may have been one of the hardest moments in his life. After coming to Nauvoo, serving missions, in the Nauvoo legion and by helping build the cultural hall, he lost his son Joel at age 14 and then the twin girl newborns and a little bit after that lost his wife. The fact that shows his faith is one little line in our site guide: "Just days after his wife Lurys death, Lucius was in the Nauvoo Temple."
Based on that one line, I wrote the following excerpt.
Later, Lucius even drew a picture of the Nauvoo temple and had it made on 150 dozen plates to sell to the people he taught in England. What an inspiration.
Please let me know your thoughts and feelings about what I wrote. (Sorry its just a rough draft)
Have you ever been in a hard situation like Lucius? How did you get through it? How was your faith strengthened?
He just stands there. Numb to it all. Numb to the crisp, chill wind that stings his nose and ears. Numb to the aches in his bones that have come from many sleepless nights. And most of all, numb to the deep, devastating pain in his heart. Who knew that coming to Nauvoo would mean being asked to give up so much.
And so he stands there, a broken man in front of 4 snow covered graves, his body as still as the tombs that he states at. He doesn't have the desire to move or to be. He could just freeze here, and it would be more bearable than leaving his wife's side. Lury. Just thinking her name opens the floodgates of his memory and he closes his eyes to see her in different stages of their life together. He sees her in a plain blue dress on the night they first met, a sparkle in her eyes. He remembers her in another dress, her wedding dress, walking down the aisle with a beautiful bouquet of flowers in her arms. He thinks back to when she was working hard to load their belongings into a wagon before they moved to Ohio. He watches her in the kitchen, in the middle of cooking but pausing her stirring to read out of the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. He also sees her come up out of the water on her baptism day, a look of pure joy on her face. And then the memories begin to turn grey as he sees her calming the children when they were afraid of the mobs. It gets darker still as he watches her grieve at their 14 year old sons passing. Finally he remembers the way she held his hand and laid her head back down on her pillow for the last time.
Lucius opens his eyes and the 4 graves glare at him.
Joel. Mary. Eliza. Lury. How I will miss you.
Lucius is pulled from his thoughts when he hears his name.
"Brother Scovil."
He turns and sees Heber Kimball, who puts a hand on his shoulder. "You need to get out of this cold. Why don't you join me and Vilate for dinner? She can cook us something warm."
Lucius doesn't know how to say no to Heber's kind invitation so he just nods and follows Heber away from the burial grounds.
All evening, Lucius feels like he left his heart in the cemetery. Heber, Vilate and their kids talk and laugh about what happened that day and what the neighbors were up to. Lucius looses track of the conversation, still feeling empty.
"Sounds reasonable?" Heber says, jolting him back to the moment.
"Sorry, to what are you referring?"
"I'm attending the temple the morn after next, would you care to join me?"
"I don't know if I'll be able." Lucius replies quietly, studying his shoes. Brother Riser did a decent job on them but they are in need of a few repairs.....
Heber looks at him thoughtfully. He then turns to Vilate. "Don't you think it's time these youngsters retired to bed?"
She laughs and nods, gathering the 6 rowdy ones and taking them out of the dining room. As the noise fades, Heber sighs. "Brother, we must go together into the Lord's house."
"I just can't bear going inside.... without her.... I just need time to grieve-" Lucius tries to explain.
"The temple can heal your soul, don't you believe that?" Heber asks.
"In my mind I know it does. I know that it helps, or at least that it is supposed to... but I don't feel like it does." Lucius looks up, meeting Heber's gaze.
Heber smiles with empathy. "I know what you mean by understanding but not feeling. Not too long ago, when I returned from my mission in England, the Prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation and an instruction for me that I did not wish to obey. In my mind I knew it was the will of the Lord, coming through His prophet, but in my heart I did not feel any such feelings. I paced the floor day and night, it troubled me so!"
"And what did you do? Did it pass?" Lucius wonders.
"My wife Vilate plead with God on her knees to know how to comfort me. She was shown a vision of the celestial kingdom."
Lucius can tell by Heber's reverent tone that he doesn't just share this story with anyone.
"She described to me the glories of it." Heber continues, nearly whispering. "The next day I worked on the temple. As I pondered over what she said and prayed over the matter which was paining me, the feeling I desired came."
They sit in awed silence and a smile comes on Lucius' face.
"That is truly remarkable."
"The holy spirit works best in holy places, Brother Scovil. You must come to the temple with me. It is the ultimate source of revelation. I do believe if we go in a spirit of fasting and prayer, the Lord can comfort your aching heart and heal your wounded soul."
Lucius nods. "I appreciate your sincerity. I will accompany you to the house of the Lord."
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To be continued....
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EMAIL TO FAMILY:
My district is me, sis daugherty, sis green, sis taylor, sis Baldwin and sis wilson. Sis green and Baldwin were in my MTC district so that's awesome!!
"Your mom is literally Mary Magdalene" - sister green to me haha
Another random fact: the handsoap my companion bought smells like you dad hahaha
This week has been quite the week. There's too much so I'm just choosing like 1 or 2 things from each day that were the highlight.
Wednesday
Site: Wilford Woodruff
Highlight: Learning about sis Daugherty
Sister Daugherty has a very unique story. Without going into crazy detail, she was in a million foster homes before being adopted at age 9. She went through A LOT of other hard family things but has always trusted in the Lord. And has worked hard and eventually came on a mission. I gained a lot of respect for her as we talked and I learned about her life. She has also matured a lot on her mission. Before I came back to Nauvoo I prayed for a companion that has a strong desire to be obedient. When I got sis Daugherty I was a little surprised. When we served together in Carthage she was always giggling about who knows what and a bit boy crazy. Lol in our first companion study in Nauvoo however, she bore her testimony to me of obedience and shared with me her earnest desire to obey out of love for the savior. I love her so much and I'm grateful that we can laugh our heads off but also work hard to bring the spirit into our tours. #goldencompanionship
Thur
Site: Tin shop
Highlight: there were some nonmembers that came to our site and we got to answer their questions about the temple! Plus I shared a scripture from the book of mormon (2 Nephi 25:26) to explain why all the saints and why all the people in Nauvoo today are so happy. We rejoice in christ! (:
Fri
Site: Riser boot
Highlights:
Sis Daugherty leaving the tour because she was laughing so hard (I started using a terrible joke lol. What was George risers favorite hymn? "There is sunshine in my soul today!" Haha )
District council: we went to Carthage and didn't get to go inside but had district council in the car, talked about how we will put what we learned on outbound in our tours and how we will be better missionaries this summer. It was very good for us to talk about.
Sat
Site: Sara granger! Yes we had to serve in the sites. We were supposed to be able to watch conference in between tours but the Wi-Fi at our site was broken! So after missing 30 minutes we texted president Lusvardi and he said to go to the visitors center. We biked there, watched conference, biked back for tours (gave 2) biked back to the visitors center for the 2nd session, biked home. Boy my legs were so sore!!! But it was so worth it.
Sun
Site: bakery
Highlight: Conference!!!! Conference was AMAZING.
Favorite talks: elder hollands, president Nelsons from the priesthood session, Sister eubanks, and elder rasbands. Sooooo gooood haha
Favorite quotes: I don't know if these are all direct quotes or what the spirit changed th3equotes to be so they would help me more haha it's just what I have in my notes since I don't have good internet access....
"All heavenly father asks of us is to do the very best we can every day." Ballard
"Our quest is to bask in the light of Christ, which will bring peace, joy, and happiness." Ballard
"We can know the things of god as we seek them with spiritual eyes." Anderson
"He makes it possible for us to hear and follow his voice" homer
"Such a moment demands our respect" Holland
"This hour is the most sacred hour of our week" Holland
"Christ sees us in our tree" eubank
"If you don't find it here, you won't find it anywhere" christofferson
"Zion on earth being joined with Zion above" christofferson
"The saviors atonement saves us from an inevitable crash landing" calister
"I need to feed my spirit" little boy/pres Nelson
"TIME IS RUNNING OUT" pres Nelson
"Christ redeems. And his atonement is real." Oaks
"Knowledge of these things can only be gained by experience." Bednar
"As vital as learning and growing in our homes is now, it will be even more vital in the future" bednar
"We are at a war with Satan for the souls of men" Rasband
"Christ centered homes are fortresses of faith" rasband
"Never be the reason a woman cannot receive her temple blessings" pres Nelson
[In speaking of honoring the priesthood] "this will be the only way you will protect your families in the days to come." Pres Nelson
"We all need to repent" pres Nelson
SO GOOD. SO FLIPPIN GOOD.
The quote I want on my shirt...... ummm..... I don't have a lot of quotes yet! Cuz I don't even know how accurate mine are and can't read the talks over again yet.
When do you need an answer by?? Could I give you my choice next week?
Mon
Site: Seventies hall
Highlights: Fhe with the Lusvardis. We have spent almost every evening with the lusvardis this week and they are my favorite ever. I went up to pres Lusvardi when we first got here and told him that if he ever knows of someone who needs extra fellowshipping or friendship that I would be happy to help. He was like "well what if I need a friend? Can you be my friend?" Haha so now I'm his friend and we've kept that going it's so cute and funny. He has given such amazing trainings this week I wish I could tell you everything I've learned.
Plus also he has told us a lot of stories about his life and it's so cool!!! I'm currently compiling a list of reasons why they are cool . I also asked him who the other 2 nephites are and he just laughed haha
Also i introduced Grunt piggy grunt grunt to my district. Hilarious as always!!
Tue
Site: Lyon drug
Highlight: Nearly zero tours all day (we only had like 1 1/2. but! I had a really great study so it was an awesome day. Yay!!!
Anyways I hope Kelsey finds her ring!!! Also I was happy to hear all the crazy updates on people haha
Also glad that you enjoyed Lord of the rings haha so fun.
Can't wait to talk to you in 30 minutes!!!
Love
Love
Love
Love
Love
Love
Love
You
All
Sister Bush
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