August 28, 2018

This week has been wonderful! And i have learned many, many things (as usual) 

This is one of the many beautiful truths I have learned, this is one that I want to share with you: 

"In the ancient Japanese art of kintsugi, broken pottery is mended with gold. The cracks, instead of being hidden, are highlighted to show respect for the vessel’s history and showcase the beauty of a broken thing made whole.

What if we could learn to do the same? To celebrate the person we have become, not despite our struggles but because of them?

The poet Robert Bly wrote, “Where a man’s wound is, that is where his genius will be.” Our wounds inform our experience and shape our journey. They teach us things we can’t learn in a classroom. Our moments of brokenness inspire us to turn to the Savior for healing, to humble ourselves, to rely completely on Him. They allow us, bit by bit, to become more like Him.

Jesus Christ would not be the Savior if He had not endured His brokenness. And you would not be the glorious person you are becoming if you were not required to endure your own. When you recognize that, you can say with Paul, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). You can finally thank God for the gift of your brokenness." (August 2018 Ensign) 

I testify that the Saviors Atonement can mend you with gold. His sacrifice wasn't so we could press a magic reset button on our lives, but rather, become new, better people. That is why repentance is a JOYFUL thing. I'm so grateful that all of my broken pieces can be mended by His perfect grace. 

Have a great week everyone! Thank you for being you! 

Sincerely, 

Sister Bush

Email to family:

Hello!  

Don't worry about pday haha. The way it works is if that week it changes to a new month than my pday changes that week. Does that make sense? So because we begin september on saturday, my pday changed this week. Haha I know it's confusing, I didn't get it for awhile too so its partly my fault. 

Anyways, great to hear from you! ready for this jumble of thoughts? you may needs Reubens help in putting my week together haha

i looooove that picture of the temple and im so glad reuben did that puzzle!! so neat!! and beautiful. wow. 

ill go to Nauvoo the day after labor day. im not sure if ill still be with sister Swaney or not. probably im thinking we will. 

haha i hope the house gets fixed up soon! we neeeeed our pipes to be fixed here in carthage cuz the water tastes like swamp water. im suspecting its the reason i got sick in the first place.... 

all that yard work makes me think of repentance! i know, im a missionary haha. but its true. you cant do it on your own, its hard work but its also very satisfying and fulfilling. and there is always more to do! thank you for your example of putting your mind to something and working on it! 

you are doing just what i knew you would. having faith, but acting too! doing all you can. its kinda like Hinckley says. pray earnestly and tell Heavenly Father our needs and desires and then get up on our feet and go to work. otherwise He doesnt have anything to work with and cant answer our prayers! man you guys are awesome. 

BREAKING NEWS: STEVEN SHARP NELSON IS IN SISTER SWANEYS HOME WARD. When she told me this I about passed out. He played at her farewell. She often dogsits for them. Like her family is good friends with their family. What! She calls him steve! How crazy is that. I just can't believe it!!! They might come to Nauvoo and that would be so epic. I'm hoping that because she knows them I can somehow hire him (or all of them) to play at my wedding. That would be a lifelong dream. Wow. So that was first on my list of things to tell you haha. 

This week has been quite an adventure. First of all, it's getting a little bit colder here but I know it's getting a lot colder in utah! And I was thinking about how cold the first winter might be for you mom haha. I'm happy to hear you feel prepared. Also, I've taken some time to crochet you and dad scarves. I call them conference scarves because I work on them whenever I am listening to conference talks! I hope that you two go to a conference session and wear them! In fact I will extend that invitation to you- either just you two or take the family to a session of conference in october. I feel like that would be an awesome experience! Anyways, I will be sending those scarves soon. I just need to add the finishing touches and find time to go to the post office haha. I hope you like them and that they keep you warm! I love you both! i wont send pictures cuz i want to surprise you(;

Sweet tour moment this week: 

There was a special needs girl who came to Carthage and it was touching to watch her. She asked her mom for help so that she could touch the door. Very sweet. 

Comparing zoramite prayer with almas prayer, from alma 31 was really cool this week- it was one of my neat studies, seeing the difference in prayers. how they were both "praying" but only Alma was communicating and conversing. love it! 

There is a new preach my gospel!!!! The paper version won't be out for another couple months. But the electronic version is ready for the using! Something pres Lusvardi has told us to do is get a fresh copy of PMG and study it side by side with the electronic new one. Write in the notes of all the changes. And as I've been doing this I've learned so much!! They are changing lots of words. Getting rid of words like: investigstor, less active, proselytizing, meeting, doctrines, ect. You should check it out if you wonder what those have been changed to! Or go side by side through the whole thing like I am. You'll learn a ton, I'm telling you. I feel like I'm learning a lot about missionary work but a lot about President Nelson because I'm doing it. Man I love it. 

Sis Swaney and I have had 100% companion unity in the martyrdom room a few times this week. One time was with these two women and I felt the need to share some of the trials I've been through, testify of how the master calms the savior and promise them that He can calm them during the midst of their struggles. I wasn't sure if it was right. And then sis Swaney bore testimony of how Heavenly Father comforts us during our afflictions. And I knew it was right. So I did what the spirit said. Afterwords, the lady said she recently lost her husband, doesn't have a house right now and other things. So it was exactly what they needed to hear and I'm glad we both listened to the spirit!! 

Okay so its hard to not gain weight here. Right now I'm eating really healthy on my own, I don't eat anything with added sugar (and I'm doing good with that!) And staying under 1500 calories every day. BUT the seniors are always inviting us over to eat way too much food and bringing goodies all the time. It's so hard! Not just to resist cuz it tastes great, but because it's the way these couples are trying to show their love for us haha so to help them feel appreciated we have to eat their food. It's hard. And I've heard outbound is even worse! So I'm doing what I can to stay healthy haha. And besides the seniors in really proud of how I'm doing. Normal meals are like eggs, oatmeal, chicken salads, soups, spaghetti squash or mashed cauliflower. I have usually 1-2 fruits and veggies everyday. So I think I'm doing good besides the seniors hahaha 

We went to alfanos as a district in carthage! Alfanos is a the only place to really eat out in carthage. It's pretty lame but hey it's Italian haha. Sis Swaney and I shared pasta and BBQ pizza. It was pretty good. The pasta tasted cheap tho. But that was a lot of fun! The hard part was that the radio was playing and we were half wanting to dance and the other half of us wanted to plug our ears haha. 

So our mission took a vote  (under the direction of president) and he decided to move mission trainings to the evenings cuz it worked better for the majority of people. Apparently there was some complaining so he canceled mission training for a bit so that he could talk to those people. He was trying to follow the counsel of Mosiah 18:21-22. On Sunday the subject in sacrament was obedience. And sister Owen. A senior sister got up and was a complete savage! She chastised the mission as a whole for complaining and murmuring against our leader who is called of God. Not directly like that but she applied her message specifically to the mission training situation. It was quite a sacrament meeting haha. Luckily, we have resumed mission training so I guess it worked! 

my sundays and studies have all been way more enriching since i have been trying to write down every piece of revelation i receive. it makes my hand hurt but i have found it makes me learn way more and connect more with the spirit! so its worth it! my journal is filling up faster tho haha. 

did you find a gold chain for my personal progress and charms?? ive been missing mine and i hope i get a replacement soon haha. you can use my money i just need a chain (:

i have felt bad for sis swaney this week a little cuz her back has been hurting. sadness. we dont know what it is but she doesnt want to go to the doctor again... so yeah im just doing my best to help her with that struggle. 

even though we arent getting a lot of tours im still as busy as ever, President used the scripture DC 84:85 and told us that right now is a time to treasure up. he said that our Heavenly Father is aware of the extra time we have and we are to use it wisely. i think that applies to life as well, kinda like you said dad. sometimes we are given periods of time in our lives to work on treasuring up and things so that we can be ready for what Heavenly Father next asks us to do!

Chaismus in the book of mormon. (examples: the whole book of 1st Nephi and alma 36) 

"Chiasmus, sometimes called an inverted parallelism, is a Hebrew literary form where words or ideas are arranged in a certain order and then repeated in reverse order. This repetition emphasizes important ideas and words. In addition, the writer’s main idea is often located at the center of the chiasmus.

Alma used chiasmus to tell the story of his conversion to his son Helaman. The presence of Semitic literary forms such as chiasmus in the Book of Mormon is an external witness that the book is what the Prophet Joseph Smith taught that it is: a translation of an ancient text written in a Middle Eastern language." (institute manual) 

Now. i know you guys knew about chaismus already and probably know what im about to say but it was really cool for me to discover this and plot out exactly how everything works together, verse by verse. then i realized that the writers main idea is often located at the center of chiasmus. so. i deceided to find the exact center. i counted all the lines, words, and lines in the old version of the book of mormon too. (first edition copy we have here at carthage). and the exact center is the same for both editions. so that isnt a coincidence. 

there are a total of 194 lines in the current edition of the book of mormon. and line number 97 says "the coming of one Jesus Christ". finding that out really hit me for some reason. Alma chose that line on purpose to be the center of his chiasmus. why? because it is the exact turning point for him. it is the moment when he remembered the teachings of his father about a savior and found hope in Jesus Christ and His atonement. what a lesson for us all! everything just sort of clicked after that. and i feel like i know not only alma on a more personal level but the Savior Jesus Christ as well. it was quite an aha moment for me and i know for a fact that the spirit was very involved.  

as for the whole book of first nephi here is what i found: 

"By far the most subtle use of chiasmus in any work is its role in creating the structural design behind longer passages and entire books. Consider briefly the outline of the First Book of Nephi and how the order of Nephi’s narration revolves around his vision of the Spirit of the Lord:

a) Lehi’s dream leads him to prophesy warnings to the Jews (chapter 1)

b) The departure from Jerusalem (2)

c) Nephi accomplishes a great feat emphasis>in obtaining the brass plates of 1 Nephi 3:7; the brothers are confounded (3–5)

d) Ishmael joins the group with his daughters (7)

e) The tree of life (8)

f) Lehi prophesies about the Old World and the coming of the Lamb (10)

g) Nephi and the Spirit of the Lord (11)

f) Nephi prophesies about the New World and the coming of the Lamb (12–14)

 

e) The tree of life interpreted (15)

d) The sons of Lehi marry the daughters of Ishmael and Ishmael dies (16)

c) Nephi accomplishes a great feat by building a ship of 1 Nephi 17:3; the brothers are confounded (17)

b) The departure from the Old World (18)

a) Nephi warns the Jews and quotes the prophecies of Isaiah (19–22)

More than ever before, we are now in a position to admire the purposeful and stunning unity of Nephi’s message. The long-neglected principle of chiasmus unfolds the fact that when Nephi revised the record of Lehi, Nephi’s mind was clearly organized and his heart was intent upon expressing the central importance of his great vision with the Spirit of the Lord. He achieves this expression via chiasmus. By understanding this, we can point to the concerted power of Nephi’s style, and we can get explicitly to the point of Nephi’s inspiration." (new Era, feb 1972)

woah. how amazing is that. Nephi also chose to put at the center of his chiasmus, his discovery of the savior and who Jesus Christ really is. 

so now i am pondering what the middle of my spiritual chiasmus is. and considering writing one! according to my testimony. some form of poetry. idk. i hope all of that made sense hahaha

We gave a tour to a family from Thailand. so that was cool. But get this: they moved there not for the dads work or anything, but because they felt like their kids needed to experience more of the world outside the US and the spirit said Thailand so that's where they have been living for a year and they are going back for year two! They had never been their before, didn't know the language or anything. So that is just crazy to me and is an example of obedience. I was impressed by this family! Made me think of all the times you guys have followed the spirit in raising us! Thank you for being in tune with the spirit when considering how to teach us(: 

So! We found out our outbound will be after October 26th. We will most likely leave the Monday after that. And it will probably be for about 5 months. I don't know where I'm going yet but last year the sisters found out a month before they left! So I should be finding out pretty soon! That is exciting (:

So this week I've been studying in Alma 32 and it's probably one of the most complex chapters in the Book of Mormon! 

My perspective changed when I read a quote by elder Holland when he said (about Alma 32) "Christ is the seed, the tree, and the fruit of eternal life." 

And I was like woah. Hang on. I wish I had time to type out all the crossreferences I found and things but my favorite was in Alma 34:36. It mentions how the Lord dwelleth in the hearts of the righteous. 

So that's how He's the seed. 

And He's the tree because as our relationship with Him grows and we nurture it, we can feel Gods love. 

And He's the fruit because in Him we can have a fullness of joy. and theres so much more to learn about that so check it out!

sorry this email is so long haha and crazy random, i wish i had time to organize my thoughts better. just know that i love you all dearly and im so happy when i get to hear from you. you guys mean the world to me. you make everything worth it! and i super duper love being a missionary! every second of it :D

ps what are you guys being for halloween????? 

yours truly,

Sister Bush

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

August 15, 2018

Please insert your name:

"Behold, thou art _______, and I have spoken unto thee because of thy desires; therefore treasure up these words in thy heart. Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love." (D+C 6:20) 

If I have learned anything this week (and i have learned A LOT) it would be that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are so willing and ready to reveal things to us and encircle us in the arms of their love. I have learned this because I have been in need of revelation and love this week. and as soon as I reached out to them, they reached out to me. Realizing how much they love me has given me extra strength this week. Love is a powerful thing!

So please remember this one thing from my email today: You are loved. I know i have a lot of people on my email list, and this might not feel personal but i hope it does. because today i actually took the time to go through my email list, think about, pray for and feel Gods love for each name. each of you individually. So as a representative of Jesus Christ, I can testify that He really does loves YOU. 

I dont have much else to say. This week has been a blessing as ive met inspiring people, stood up to argumentative guests, joked with little kids, learned the stories of senior missionaries, shared the Book of Mormon with someone who has not yet read it, comforted a wounded soul, pushed myself a little harder, dove a little deeper and sung a little louder. 

Have a wonderful week and remember you are loved! 

yours truly,

Sister Bush

email to family

Here we go! good luck interpreting my word vomit, you might need the gift of tongues haha

but yeah This is gonna be a really random email so I apologize:

Sunset is over. Sadness. We watched it for the last time on our last pday. Good thing I can see it next year! 

And now the ypms are gone :( so that stinks. Nauvoo and Carthage seems awfully quiet now. Their singing and dancing is definitely missed. We got to say goodbye to them at the mission dinner on Monday night. 

So on Thursday was mission training and let me tell you! Wow! President Lusvardi is literally the coolest. He has so many connections haha. We got a sneak peek at the new master the tempest is raging video, which is like a bible video, except people who have been in stormy waters are telling their stories too and how the Savior calmed their seas. So that is way cool. ALSO ALSO ALSO we got to see Christmas videos for this year! Haha I'm so lucky! They are doing light the world again, except instead of a new one every day it is four weeks of light. 

4 weeks of light the world: 

Light your Family 

Light your Faith

Light your Community 

Light the World 

So I'm really excited about that. I'm sure you will come up with something cute and matchy matchy around Christmas time for the family mom! So I hope I get to hear about that. 

Random question! What are you guys doing for halloween?? I want to know so I can figure out what I should do haha. I don't know if I'll be on outbound by then or not but we shall see! If not they usually do this thing called Boo-tiful Nauvoo and that would be fun (: 

yes i will probably still go to BYU-Idaho when i get back. i still feel like it is the right place to be. who knows, maybe that will change over the course of my mission but right now i still feel that byu-i is right for me. don't worry, i plan on visiting utah quite often! like once a month probably. 

"I bet he said a lot of prayers in here" this is a quote from a little girl when we were taking a tour of the jail. I thought it was very sweet and true. I'm sure Joseph smith did say a lot of prayers in there and I know his prayers were answered. 

"That man really loved Jesus didn't he." Another quote from a little kid. A boy talking to his dad about Joseph smith at the end of a tour. So cute!! And so simple. I love it. 

also there was another little girl that kept winking at me during the tour and it was so cute!! man i love kids. 

So in case i didn't tell you when i was comps with sister Moss, she doesn't have toenails. She got them taken out before the mission because of how often she gets ingrown toenails. So haha when we told sister Yamamoto that sis Moss doesn't have toenails, she was confused. So we started pranking her and telling her that in America if your feet stink, the doctors will rip your toenails out. She was so shocked and scared hahaha I think I sent the video! We eventually told her the truth and she was so relieved!!

we gave a tour to a lady named Millie Garcia this week from tempe AZ, and she was so sweet. we got talking in the martyrdom room and discovered that 3 of her kids are atheists and go against the church they were raised in. it is really heart-breaking for her but she talked about how she is doing her best to love them, strengthen her own testimony and be a good example. man i love meeting faithful saints who cling to the gospel in hard times. amazing. 

i've been doing yoga this week with sister Jones! at first i was like meh, sure. i could be more flexible so ill do it. but now i love the way i feel energized at the end! its become more of a physical and spiritual exercise in the mornings (or evenings before bed) and i love it. it helps me refocus on whats important while stretching and strengthening my core. yeah!

okay so the doctrine and covenants!! i think i underestimated its power before but now that i am studying it and pretty much living in church history haha it has been so amazing. i love the d and c and i think members of the church should take advantage of it more often! 

so this week we met a man named Barry, and he was interested in learning more! we talked to him about the book of mormon and he said he wants to read it. we also got his email so we can follow up with him. i'm so excited about that! 

so a couple days ago sister Yamamoto was having a hard time. we were doing a district study meeting and she got frustrated and started to cry. well i did my best to help! we have gotten pretty close over the past couple weeks so i knew what might help. she loves sloths so i got my sloth card that says hang in there on it and then used google translate to write i love you in japanese. i gave it to her and i could tell it meant so much. she said i wrote it good too! so thats a plus. well anyways she also said this about reading it: "by this it says to me that Jesus Christ loves me." i felt so good to know that my love for her helped remind her that the Savior loves her. kinda like what you were talking about mom! which by the way i appreciate all of the love you send me because it gives me strength throughout the week(: and mom your re-written primary song is so cute. i never knew you did that! made me feel all fuzzy and warm inside haha i'm so grateful to have a mom like you!! you are my best friend and i miss you a ton but for now i will just try to love you from afar. 

ive been thinking about jonas and his mission this week too! first off, this week i friended elder tippets and elder coleman on facebook. and also! i met president Davies from the fort collins colorado mission presidency. it was so funny. he said they were from a part of Wyoming that jonas served in and i asked if he knew elder Bush. he was like oh yea! i love that guy! and i showed him my badge and said "well i'm his sister!" it was really cool that we got to talk a little bit and i got to give him a tour. i love being called Elder Bush's sister. makes me happy. so that was neat. 

one of the days this week sister Swaney got like 2 hours of sleep and so she took some time to rest and i got a lot of studying done. it was way nice to have some time to relax and focus on the scriptures. 

we had mission dinner/testimony meeting this week! we not only are loosing the ypms, but a bunch of the senior couples are leaving this month. so we had to say goodbye to a bunch and that was sad. the hughes leave this week and i might cry when they leave cuz i love them so much. they kinda remind me of you guys so i will miss them. 

soooo we had an interesting, not so good tour the other day. there were non-members with us, two RMs and another man. this man was questioning and arguing with almost everything we said. especially in the room where we talk about what lead Joseph to carthage and was asking all sorts of questions about the legal stuff and laws and getting into the dirty details and stuff he'd read online. it was pretty frustrating, it made sister Swaney cry. but in the martyrdom room i had the chance to bear my testimony. i told him that i hadn't had time yet to research everything about the laws back then, but i had had time to research the book of mormon. i've read it over and over, spent time studying it, pondering it, applying its teachings in my life and praying about it. and that i know its true. i know Joseph smith was called of God to be a prophet and that he restored Christs church on the earth. i know that Jesus is the Christ.  i know those things for a fact. it was a good way to finish the tour strong. pure testimony trumps all!!! later, elder hughes asked if he was a member of the church and the man said "loosely." what the flip does that mean? sadly there are a lot of loose members out there. so don't be loose! hold tightly to the iron rod and don't fall away into mists of darkness!! the book of Mormon will always keep you on the path. 

hmmm not a lot of patients. that seems rough im sure its easy to wonder what is going on. but just keep having faith! you are good at that. its kind of like how the saints left nauvoo and they didnt know how it all would work out, but they just had faith that it would. and thats how you are. you are a hero to me! keep pressing on, and God will bless you tremendously. he will pour out patients that you wont have enough room to receive them(; try reading the account when Christ tells them to re-dip their nets on the other side of the boat. that just popped into my mind and it might be helpful. 

also keep sending me your scripture studies! i love it so much its always a highlight for me!! i get so excited to learn what you are learning. i wish i had time to respond to all of them with my thoughts but alas. pday is short. 

also mom thank you for your thoughts on obedience. very helpful. i will try to put them into practice. 

also that quote about education is bomb. i love it. new favorite. 

today for pday we cleaned like the whole house. so that was nice. also we got to pick up a bunch of free food that the ypms left. i don't even really have to go shopping! i just need a few things so that is nice!! 

plus i got my package today! the boots you sent are super cute. and they fit pretty good too! so i'm impressed with your skills. 

i am doing well. i'm learning and growing a lot, i wish i could find a way to express that through this email enough. one of the ways i'm growing is also in my love for you guys. you two mean so much to me. i don't know how to explain it! but the closer i come to my heavenly father, the closer i feel to you guys too. the more grateful i feel for Him, i realize my gratitude for you is also growing. man oh man i love the gospel. and i love my Savior Jesus Christ. He is everything to me. 

keep being amazing. hey next email can you update me on all the kids? or have them each say something to me? i miss those guys! i was planning to address each of them personally this week but idk if i'll have time. 

love you all!!!

yours truly

Sister Bush

August 8, 2018

Hello all! 

the title of my email today is a quote from the Nauvoo pageant, and it is Brother Lairds way of describing the gospel. it tastes good. I decided to quote him for many reasons. 

first reason: pageant is over. for this year anyways. and im super bummed about that! but i am excited for next year, im already counting down the days haha.

second reason: this week i have learned a new truth in the gospel of Jesus Christ and it tastes so good to me! I shall explain in a series of quotes, scriptures, experiences and thoughts. sorry if its boring, i just gotta tell someone!! 

have you ever wondered why God doesnt seem to answer your prayers? I know I have. and i realized the fault is not on His end, its on mine. 

Moroni 7:9 states "And likewise also is it counted evil unto man, if he shall pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such." 

God receiveth none such? when reading this i suddenly realized that if we do not pray with real intent, He doesnt even receive our prayers! so how could He answer them if He does not get them? and so i wondered why we have to be sincere for Him to receive them.

 the answer came when I was again reading in the Book of Mormon, this time in Alma 7:21.""And he doth not dwell in unholy temples; neither can filthiness or anything which is unclean be received into the kingdom of God;" 

 if you arent praying sincerely, with real intent, your heart is not pure and your prayer cannot make it to heaven. it would be against all the laws of heaven and earth for your prayer to be received by a pure, perfect God if your prayer is not sincere and pure. learning this truth just astounded me! I realized just how many prayers of mine never reached heaven because i was not sincere. i now have a goal to not just say words when i pray but to have real intent, a humble and sincere heart. 

everything is summed up well with a quote by elder wirthlin which says:

"Prayers that do not demand much of your thought will hardly merit much attention from your Heavenly Father. When you find yourself getting into a routine with your prayers, step back and think. meditate for awhile on the things for which you are really are grateful."

wow. what a new perspective i have on prayer. it is meant to be a conversation with our Heavenly Father, not an order for blessings. I have so much ive learned about it I could go on and on. 

anyways! i invite you to evaluate your prayers! if you arent sure how to, try looking over the evaluation in preach my gospel on page 95. it is awesome. 

well, sorry for going on and on about prayer! but it just shows how much I love talking to my Heavenly Father! 

and i love talking to you guys too. have a wonderful week!

yours truly,

Sister Bush

email to family:

Hello!!!! 

I'm so so so so glad you guys are officially moved in haha. And I'm excited to look at the pictures of the house!! 

Sister Swaney is very cool. When we give tours together, she is the Alma to my Amulek. She has a strong, sincere testimony that always compliments mine. So that's great.  This week we have been working on bearing pure testimony. It has had a huge effect on me and I can tell it makes a big difference to the guests. The difference between a testimony and a pure testimony is explained in a conference talk by elder ballard. Check it out. Oct 2004. 

I do miss sister Moss but I got to see her quite a bit this past week so that's good! Now that pageant is over tho we don't see each other as much :/ 

So! This week elder Brent h neilson of the 70 came to visit! He gave some REALLY awesome talks and trainings. I was very inspired. I'll send some of my notes your way haha cuz their talks inspired me to study further and it's been cool. 

We've been pretty busy here at Carthage, on Sunday from 12-5 alone we had like 670 visitors! Crazy. But then our numbers dropped to like 150 on Monday because people left since pageant is over. So now we are decently slow. And it will get even more slow as soon as the young performing missionaries leave... (sadness) 

When I sang in British pageant for the last time I cried a little. I can't believe it's already over.  The show ends at like 1015 but we all stay and have to put up all the chairs, clean up trash, put away equipment from the stage and stuff and help clean up the stage! We didn't get to bed until like 1 or so, and we left early. Then we had church at 730 the next morning and it was fast Sunday and we had a million tours. Man we were exhausted haha it was crazy. 

In Carthage on the tour, one of my favorite favorite parts of the tour is when I get to recite the first vision. The spirit just fills the room to testify of his experience. I love it because the kids calm down and we are able to start off the tour with the spirit. 

This week we had a little girl in our tour that bled where Joseph bled! Outside the jail, by the well, her older brother pushed her and she wacked her head on the stone. Blood everywhere. It turned out okay cuz she just cut her lip but it was a kinda scary moment! 

The abeytas came this week! Boy was I surprised when I walked back in the VC after a tour and I saw them waiting there! I got to give their tour and it was super weird! But so good to see them at the same time. I love those guys. They said they will come back next summer since they aren't too far away(: 

There was a really cool tour I got to give with a brother and sister (old folks) who couldn't climb the stairs to the martyrdom room. So I got to give the virtual tour, and instead of playing the tape that plays in that room I got to read it. It was so powerful. I sang the song that plays too. We were all crying, the spirit was so strong and these two were so sweet. Moments like that just make my mission. 

On Sunday we had dinner with the hughes! They are so great. And funny too! Sister hughes kinda reminds me of you mom haha we also watched 17 miracles with them. Sis Yamamoto is really fun to watch movies with! 

We also had a cool tour with the Wilsons. A couple that had just dropped their kids off at efy. They had already taken a tour but told us they wanted a second one! That's rare! So we took them through again and at the end we were all crying, the spirit was so strong. It was a long story but they basically said they felt they needed to go through it again because they needed a tour from us- to hear our testimonies. It was amazing. 

I'm teaching sis Jones and Swaney how to budget lol. I'm actually doing pretty good with eating healthy and still budgeting! So I'm proud of myself. 

Another cool tour! Sis Swaney and I got to give a tour to a bunch of missionaries in the Iowa mission who are about to go home. I felt prompted to testify of the Book of Mormon, invite them to cling to it and promise that it would give them guidance in what they next needed in their lives. It was pretty cool. 

This week I called Heidi to see how she's doing! It was good to see her, encourage her and update her. We talked a lot about seeing the Book of Mormon with new eyes. I love it...

 I love you guys so much!! 

You mean everything to me (: 

Your loving daughter and missionary 

Sister Bush 

July 31, 2018

Welcome to my channel where i tell you about my mission! 

Just one example of how weird it is to live here, is the title of my email today haha. I'm living with a Japanese sister, sister Yamamoto and she is hilarious. There are a lot of misunderstandings in the English language! She asked that question when we were having a discussion about what kissing was hahahaha I feel bad for her haha but she is doing well and I'm so proud of her. She's cute and funny! I will include a video of her being funny haha 

Okay so the other part of why its so crazy here is because serving here in Carthage has been life changing. I can't even explain it. The spirit is so strong, and I am developing a relationship with Christ that I could get no where else, doing nothing else. It's amazing. Also, I really do know that angels visit here. 

I don't have time to explain what I mean in detail, so please read the talk Aaronic Priesthood and the Sacrament by Dallin H Oaks from October 1998 and pair it with the scripture 3 Nephi 7:18. 

Have you had any angels minister to you lately? 

Love you all! 

Like and subscribe haha ;P 

Sister Bush

Email to family:

hello! i know its only been 4 days but i am happy to talk to you nontheless haha. 

yay Ainsley!! i cant wait to meet her. she is so cute. i'm glad you had that wonderful opportunity to witness and be a part of that mom. I know sis Pena told me about how much a miracle birth is and what an honor it is to be a part of it. i cant wait to participate in bringing Gods children to this earth. i cant imagine how sacred of a feeling that would be. it helps me realize why the law of chastity is so essential and important. 

i haven't had to use my foam roller too much, maybe like once a week or once every other week. it hasn't been too bad. i hope your back feels better soon! how annoying to have it not feel good right when you need to be moving boxes and stuff. 

i love Reuben oh my goodness what a champ. and jonas too. wow just all the kids are awesome. i hung up my pictures of the family just the other day and i realized how much i love you all more and more each day!!! it just keeps growing, i'm not sure how it works haha. i would love more pictures though, these pictures i have are getting outdated and i want more recent ones i can hang on my walls. 

mom! your hair! i gasped in shock when you sent me that picture haha i even showed my companion sister Swaney because i was like woah! it surprised me that you did that but i'm also proud of my momma! it looks so good and i'm so happy for you! you are the most beautifulest momma in the world (:

i love your question goal. i know you've wanted to do that for a long time. you'll have to tell me how things go! i'm working on improving my relationship with heavenly father and Jesus christ as well. i'm starting out by keeping track of spiritual promptings. i'm making categories of what the spirit feels like in different situations, so that i can more clearly understand what He is trying to tell me. 

these past 4 days have been awesome. carthage is amazing, especially the martyrdom room. its interesting, the spirit is always in there! even when i show up early just to clean the jail. when i walk into that room, whether i am by myself about to sweep the floors or with a youth group giving a tour or taking a picture for a family in there- the spirit always witnesses to me of certain things. that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. that the Book of Mormon is true. that God answers prayers. that Jesus is the Christ. that the priesthood is back on the earth. that heavenly father is aware of all of our sacrifices. the list could go on and on. i love it. the spirit always tells me to bear testimony of something different in the martyrdom room and so i know that i am doing my best to testify of what people need to hear. 

ive been giving a lot of tours by myself this week, because sister Swaney has a hurt knee. we cant figure out why it hurts but she's been resting it and so hopefully she can give tours now. sis Swaney is great. she's a weirdo and i love that. but she is also one of the most sincere people i have ever met. there is nothing fake about her, she's always real and doesn't hide it. and she's super sweet too- the other day she started crying and i was like are you okay? she told me it was because she just loves the scriptures so much. she had been studying. isn't that so cute and sweet! i love her testimony. 

going to church from carthage is so tiring. church starts at 745 and we have to drive 30 minutes to get there.... so thats pretty early. 

but on sunday we got to watch this awesome devotional by Elder Holland to the missionaries. it changed my mission and my life haha. i'm so grateful that pres Lusvardi is close with the 12 so he can get permission to show us stuff like that!!! man. 

also on sunday we watched our story goes on and that was beautiful as always. that is only performed 2 times a year so it was awesome to see it one last time

last night i spent a good 5 minutes skimming through my mission journal and i'm shocked with how the time has flown. its going by so fast! cant we just pause time so i can get more out of this? serve more people? learn more history? i'm pretty sure ill be visiting nauvoo and carthage like all the time the rest of my life. because i love it here so much. 

the only problem here is that we don't have as much study time as other missions. i wish i had more time to study... but its okay. i know that i'm being blessed for serving so much! 

Heres an example of being blessed for serving! I was giving a tour in Carthage to a youth group. We were in the martyrdom room and the spirit asked me to ask a youth to bear their testimony. I was nervous what the reaction would be like, but I chose to have faith in the prompting. I just said "the spirit is asking me to ask someone to bear their testimony. Would any of you like to bear your testimony in the same place where Joseph bore his last testimony?" 

Everything was silent. And then a hand went up, a young girl stood and bore her testimony to the other youth about Joseph smith and Nauvoo and the saints sacrifices. She cried and so did many others. The spirit was strong. I concluded with my testimony and then ended the tour. As all the youth left, I thanked her for being willing to share. She looked at me and smiled. With tears in her eyes, she said "I have been wanting to do that all day." 

It was a sweet moment. 

Also in Carthage everyone crochets blankets and scarfs so I'm working on a scarf right now! So that's a skill I'm working on. Another skill is braiding my hair. I hope you are proud mom haha cuz I'm getting better. I can do Dutch braids now, and I like doing a Dutch braid from my left side all around my head and ending over my right shoulder. It reminds me of a crown braid, except easier haha. 

Also I'm working on eating healthy like always. It's so hard with the seniors. They make it so hard. But I'm determined to not gain weight on my mission! For breakfasts I have either a protein shake or oatmeal plus like a kiwi or banana.  For lunches and dinners I usually have either salad or soup or scrambled eggs or Greek yogurt and fruit or chicken and mashed cauliflower. I feel like I'm eating a lot better than I have in the past! It's a great feeling. 

I don't have much else for this week! Life is pretty good! 

Pageant ends this week though. This is the last week of it. So that's sad. 

Well I love you both so much! Thank you for everything. 

Love love love 

Sister Bush 

 Ps check out Elder Oaks talk called the Aaronic Priesthood and the Sacrament from Oct 1998 paired with the scripture 3 Nephi 7:18 

I feel I am getting very close to having angels minister to me daily. There are many angels here in Nauvoo and Carthage! I know that they sometimes influence tours and the people that come. Wow. 

And you guys are angels to me also. 

LOVE YOU 

Sister Bush

July 26, 2018

Hello all!

First of all, surprise surprise because ive been transferred to Carthage. woah. I had to say goodbye to my bestie sister Moss and I am now companions with sister Swaney! pretty sad but hey its a new adventure! and i am so excited! 

Carthage is amazing. for those of you who do not know, it is where the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred for their beliefs. there is a special spirit there, and it is an honor to serve there. It is always a powerful experience to have the opportunity to testify of the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ in the same place where Joseph Smith bore his last testimony.

Also also also before you stop reading, please check out this video. It is a new song called I will be what I believe, sung by these children. It is so precious. My invitation is to be what you believe! I know I'm working on it. 

My new mission motto! Especially at carthage: 

I'll have faith like brother Joseph 

And the strength of the pioneers 

I'll be brave as the stripping warriors 

And how Nephi persevered 

I will spread Gods love to all I know and serve 

I will plead with my father on my knees

I will be what I believe (: 

https://www.facebook.com/iamldstoo/videos/2246030555625188/ 

and thats all from this crazy nauvoo/carthage sister! 

like and subscribe, comment if you want to visit me in carthage! haha

Yours truly, 

Sister Bush

Ps here's two great selfies from me and my past companion sis Moss! Soon to come will be pictures of me and sis Swaney (: 

Have a great week! 

'

July 20, 2018

Hello! Nauvoo is crazy around pageant time. let me give you an example of what our days are like here! I will use yesterday as an example....

I woke up at 7am, said a sleepy prayer. 

I got ready for the day, ate breakfast and listened to a conference talk before we went to a zone meeting at 745 at the chapel. Then we zoomed over to john Taylor's home, cleaned the site and almost died while killing a huge spider! There wasn't a senior sister with us, so after reading a verse or two in the book of mormon, sister Moss and I started giving tours. (930am) we continued to give tours to larger and larger groups of people, and it almost never stopped. There were always crowds waiting outside the door to learn about john taylor and see his home. We had just a few minutes to scarf down our lunch around 1 and then answer the door again. We kept up a good pace until 530 when we closed the site. I probably sat down twice. My feet hurt, I was surrounded by flies, my voice was almost gone from talking so much, I hadn't seen my companion most of the day, I had to deal with rowdy kids, bored teenagers, and large groups. I didn't have time to drink as much water as I wanted so my body was dehydrated and I had a pressing headache. We count up the numbers (50 tours, a total of 480 people! One tour of 30 peoole i did by myself....) After closing up the site, we rushed home, found nothing in the mailroom, made a quick dinner, ate it and changed quickly just as we heard a tornado warning. So we waited to see what would happen and then headed over to pageant in our rain jackets and umbrellas to hand out newspapers and greet people as they showed up to pageant. I forgot bugspray.... We tried to not get stressed by the protesters and their anti-mormon newspapers as we welcomed families and youth groups. Then we went to a singing practice at the visitors center. Last of all my companion and i came home to write in our journals, read a couple scriptures and say a prayer of gratitude before falling into bed. (1130pm). 

After all this exhausting work, day after day and week after week - I am still smiling! And it isn't a fake smile plastered to my face because I'm a "tour guide". It is a real live actual genuine smile. One that you don't have to think about or force. One that starts comfortably in your chest and then springs to your face and is evident in your eyes. One that can only come from pure joy. That joy is fuelled when I feel the spirit testify to people through me. Or when I tell an inspiring story of the saints that changes someone's life, or a youth bears their testimony to me or I hear pageant music. 

So yes, I am exhausted haha. But there is an amazing energy that comes from living as Christ would. His atonement empowers me and His true doctrine lifts me up, filling my soul with a happiness that can only be found by living the gospel. I'm so grateful to be a missionary. Smiling has never been so easy! 

So if you feel exhausted, whether physically, spiritually or mentally (which I feel all three) my advice is the same. Rely on the Savior Jesus Christ. With Him you can be truly happy. This doesn't mean you won't face disappointments or challenges, but it does mean that you can find joy in any circumstance! I invite you to do something this week to focus on the joy of following Christ. I can promise that you will experience a deep and abiding happiness that will carry you through your hard days (: I can promise that not only because I have experienced it, but because I am a representative of Him. 

Keep pressing on! 

Yours truly, 

Sister Bush

Email to family:

on saturday we served at the log school and home with sister Judd. she is hilarious. one of her quotes is that she told us that on the mission, "boys are trees. youd look pretty dumb talking to one." hahaha idk why but that made me laugh. i love serving with the seniors and getting to know them. elderly people are my favorite and are becoming some of my greatest friends! 

also on saturday on pageant grounds we got to talk to a lady for a longer time than usual because her knees hurt and she was just watching her grandkids play. so we got to get more in depth than just like the normal conversations we have. she began to feel more comfortable with us and told us what she is struggling with. so we were able to testify of the savior and encourage her along her way. it was really cool. i dont know if ill ever see her again but i know that i was an instrument in the Lords hand in that moment! and thats all that matters to me.

so lately we havent been riding our bikes because we dont have time. cuz we close the sites at 530 and need to be leaving our house for pageant at 630ish and that gives us an hour to go home, make dinner, eat it, change and stuff. so riding our bikes would take away like 20 minutes of our hour so we usually just ride in the car with sis T and B. 

wearing only 2 outfits and not washing them is sometimes annoying but it is also easier because i dont have to worry about choosing what to wear in the morning. i only have to decide what to wear for pageant. and about the boot thing, im sure the ones you picked out mom will be perfect. they look good. i cant wait to get them! i always look forward and hope for mail haha if i get anything at all, it always makes my week. im grateful for anything you decide to send me haha

sister moss and i get along sooooooo good. i love her dearly. we are worried about transfers haha

on sunday, my companion and i taught sunday school. which has like all the missionaries so it was almost like doing a mission training haha with some guests there too. we taught about temples! i loved it because i love temples. we learned about solomans temple and read some of his dedicatory prayer and then applied it to us and read some of the nauvoo temple dedicatory prayer. then we got a discussion going and it was just super awesome. at the end we sang i love to see the temple. i was happy with how it went! 

okay so monday was wacko. there was a huge mixup on where we were serving. our schedule said wagon rides. and for wagon rides you dont have to be there until 945 instead of 845 so we were excited to have some extra study time. so i studied while sis moss showered and then we would switch and then go. well, at 840 as im wrapping up my study and sis moss is getting out of the shower we get a call that our schedule is changed and we need to be at the family living center in 5 minutes. so in a flurry of activity and we made it there on time. except that we didnt have time to make our lunches. and when we got to flc, the seniors had more than enough people for the stations. so they were confused. so we hung out there for an hour and then went and asked wagon what was going on and they said that they could use us. but because it wasnt busy in the morning they said to go make our lunches and come back before it got busy. so we got permission from a sister at family living to go make our lunches and then came back and the site coordinator was mad at us for leaving and long story short it was a crazy day. plus sister moss wacked her head on a poll haha. so it was just a wack day.

plus that night sis T broke out her sloth mask and was going crazy and everyone was doing weird stuff and trying to scare sis moss and I! it was just a weird day haha. hence the title of this email. 

so on tuesday, wednesday and thursday we have been serving at the John Taylor home. boy do i love their stories. him and his wife are so cool. the problem with serving there is how busy we are! haha on wednesday we had 63 tours- 450 people came through. on thursday we had 50 tours- 480 people came through. yesterday i led a tour of 30 people through the house on my own. cuz when it gets that busy, sis Moss and i have to split up and not do tours together. its sad but its just the way it is on the mission here! so yep life is crazy haha. if you knew how small the john taylor home was i think those numbers would be even more astounding to you!! pageant season is pretty hectic. but i just like to think about how many people the savior met and taught when we came to the americas. 2,500 souls right? and each one her ministered to personally so that they could feel his love. i dont have time in a tour to do that when others are waiting, but these past couple days ive really been putting in an effort to love every single visitor that comes through the doors. to love them, listen to them, and give them the best quality tour that i can in the time that i have, as if they were friends or family. speaking of friends and family i ran into samantha mitchell! which was so cool haha. i only got to talk to her for like 2 minutes on pageant grounds but it was so cool to see her. i also got to give a tour to the smiths from el paso. they were so shocked to see me haha

this week i got my first contact! i met a nonmember in John Taylors home, her name is Ashlee Ren. i will soon be friends with her on facebook. we had a good tour, a nice discussion after and then we met her at pageant that night and watched it with her. she left quickly so i didnt get to find out what she thought but hopefully we will stay in touch and she may take the discussions! that would be cool. 

pageant! pageant is going great. there are ups and downs to it haha. i get to see the work of the Lord being furthered but also the adversary. there are these people called hecklers, and they stand just off pageant grounds and they give out anti-mormon stuff and are not... nice. theres two types. theres the friendly ones that give out fake nauvoo pageant newspapers and talk nicely and then get the youth into conversations about Mormonism and stuff. then there are the crazy ones who have disgusting signs and yell terrible stuff. also they try to video the missioanries to get them to say something wrong and all sorts of stuff like that. its pretty stressful to be assigned to an entrance because you have to deal with that. but anyways. back to the good stuff! pageant is wonderful. i have recently downloaded the music and can listen to it all the time! the actors and actresses are amazingly talented and i just love what they do. testifying about the gospel through song and dancing is so powerful. plus the whole thing uses preach my gospel principles! it uses pmgs tips and tactics for teaching about the doctrines of the gospel. its the best. ive had the privilege of watching many times, singing in British pageant, talking to people and seeing hearts changed. lives influenced and decisions made. amazing. there is a line in nauvoo pageant where parley p pratt says "when youre here, were here." and i love it. because its true. we can really feel the saints here with us. and im lucky to not only be here but be a missionary here because that means i am working along side the saints. and i can feel them because we all have the same purpose here. it is here in nauvoo that the prophecy "millions shall know brother Joseph again" is coming true. because so many people each day are coming to actually know him and the type of person he is. 

"Are you exhausted?" BOY AM I! YOU BET YOUR BOTTOM DOLLAR! haha its insane how pageant season can drain you. but also energize you! ill be talking about it in my weekly(:   

soooooooo i love you. just in case you needed the reminder, it is always there. i think and pray for you guys every day. and i cant wait for you to come to nauvoo and see how amazing it is someday. 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH 

SO MUCH

SO SO MUCH

yours truly,

Sister Bush