December 18, 2018

Hello everyone! 

Just for your information I am now in a trio in Sidney Nebraska! It's a great place to go if you want to live far from a walmart, smell cow poop every morning when you walk outside, have Nicholas Cage as your bishop and see miracles every day! That about sums up my missionary experience here haha. I've been working hard and seen so many blessings. Also with Christmas, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about light.... 

 

Even during the holiday seasons, sometimes life can get dark and dreary. In a spiritual sense, gloom settles in and clouds cover the skies. But I want to tell you that there is hope smiling brightly before us. 

"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." 

When times have gotten dark for me, He has always been a light in my life. Jesus Christ is a light that never darkens, fades or flickers. I know that we can always rely on Him. 

There's a quote by C S Lewis that I've always liked: "I believe in Jesus Christ like I believe in the sun at noon day. Not because I can see it, but because by it I can see everything else." 

I agree. He is my light. Brighter than the Christmas lights on temple square. More brilliant than the stars that stretch across the sky. Even more glorious than the sun at noon day. 

Winter can be a hard season, sometimes cold, dark and lonely. But I have learned that no matter what season of life you are in, you are never too far from the light of His love. I know that He is our Savior. I know that He lives. And I know that He loves you. 

I leave this simple testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Have a very Merry Christmas! 

Plus also, I know some of you wanted to give me something for Christmas. If you do, please send me an email or letter with your testimony of Jesus Christ along with one of your favorite artwork selections of Him. 

Sincerely, 

Sister Bush 

Email to Family:

So! Sidney Nebraska! It isn't nearly as windy here as it was in casper, but it sure is different. We cover a huuuuuge area. (We are teaching a lady who lives an hour away who is still reasonably in our area.) All the way across I think our area is up to 3 hours. Idk but its crazy. We are an outcast area so we don't actually really see other missionaries lol. For district council we FaceTime in. Even our interviews with president will be over facetime. (We are the only district who gets that haha) we just live so far from everyone else. Another thing! Is that every morning when I walk outside I am greeted by the lovely smell of cow crap. Sometimes it's stronger than others haha but that's just part of living over here! The locals call it the smell of money hahahaha 

We have a little ward. It might actually be a branch. It's super small. In a minute I'll tell you some of the people we work with. Missionary work is a little different here, tracting isn't as effective cuz there's just not as many people. So we focus mainly on service and helping returning members and stuff like that. 

Being in a trio again is good. A different dynamic than me and sis jones and sis moss or me and sis fuge and sis van camp. Haha always different. 

Sister Carrasco is from Argentina but has lived in the us for like 6 years. She is super smart and has many talents.  She also takes pictures of EVERYTHING. Haha I like her willing attitude about things (: 

Sister Walker has been out for quite a while but is still working hard. We are trying to figure out how to train together. Neither of my companions have been in a trio before and this is my third haha. So we are all figuring it out together. She is from Springfield Oregon and likes to have fun with missionary work. I love how easy going she is and her ability to connect with people. 

On Transfer day.... It was quite a day. I spent most of it I spent in a van squeezed between missionaries driving haha. But! Highlights include that I had chic fil a for the first time in over 8 months! That was awesome! Plus that night we had dinner with the bishops family, and one of their little girls was so funny. We were talking about puberty at one point (for some reason I don't know) and our topic for our dinner message was light the world. So later I said "hey you do a good job to light the world with humor!" And the little girl was like "um I haven't hit humor yet...." It was super funny! I told her she definitely had 

We served at Table of grace this week, and got to help a lot of people get food. It was so cool. I love working at food banks and stuff. 

Since serving here I've made a change in my prayers. I used to pray as soon as I got up or right before I went to bed. But when I pray then I'm super exhausted and already sleepy so my prayers are either super short or I drift off or whatever. Now I pray in the morning after I've woken up a little bit (worked out, or ate ect.) And I pray at night right when I get home (before I change or brush teeth or anything.) It really helps me stay focused during my prayers and not rush them like I used to. I love it. 

Also! Alma 8:27. This scripture applies to this area. A few transfers back this ward had disobedient missionaries and so the members are still learning to trust us. So we are spending more time with members than normal trying to help them learn to trust us! 

Random side note: I fell off the last two rungs of the bunkbed this week haha I hate the top bunk but so does sis Carrasco so I let her have the bottom! 

We spent about an hour the other day ringing bells for salvation army at the front of a store! I thought it would be miserable but we actually had so much fun!!! We rang the bells and danced and complimented people and oh plus also we made a parody to Rudolf the red nosed reindeer. Except it's about the restoration. Haha I'll sing it and add it to the share it's pretty funny. 

Okay people we are working with: 

Bradley!!!! We went to visit a possible person with interest who met with missionaries in the  past. Her name is carol. She got offended by the disobedient missionaries I think. Not sure.  We went to visit her and her friend Bradley came in to check on her. (She's super sick.) So we introduced ourselves and I felt prompted to tell him that we not only serve people but we teach them about Jesus christ. He was about to leave but he literally closed the door, walked back in and started asking us questions! I can remember 4 questions of the soul that he asked during that conversation. So right then and there we gave him a book of mormon and set up a return appointment to teach him on saturday! At carols house! So she will hear the lessons again! So excited. Miracles every day 

Grandma! She doesn't let us call her anything else haha. She is an older lady in the ward who's husband passed away. We visit with her and help her wrap her chocolates and candies that she makes! She sells them to keep busy. 

Judy has cancer and is at a nursing home. We visit to read the book of mormon with her every once and awhile. She can't read with us right now but she just asks us to come and read to her. What a fighter! I want to be like her when I grow up. 

Sara is a single mom who is trying to come back to church. She has a goal to read the book of mormon so we try to go over almost every day to read with her and spend time with her kids. 

Bryan and Chesley. These two teens are recent refugees and converts from Honduras. So sis Carrasco is teaching them the new member lessons in spanish! I got to bear my testimony in Spanish and that was the first time I've ever done that. It was so neat. 

Velma! I haven't met Velma yet. She lives an hour away (but still in our area) she came to church the Sunday before I got here and also has been reading the book of mormon. This week she will probably commit to baptism!! 

Herb is a recent convert who is going to get the priesthood soon (: 

Sister Pierette is a lady who just moved in and her husband is deployed in Afghanistan. She is so solid I love her faith. 

The Jones family is super cool but brother Jones is coming back to church. They fed us deer! My first time eating deer haha. He was like stirring the meat in the sauce and was like "yesterday this baby deer was alive! How crazy is that! Shot him around noon." I was like uhhhhh crazy. People weird me out haha. 

We are going to decorate cookies and Christmas Carol with them on christmas eve which makes me happy. 

The bishop! Also. If you want to know what my bishop is like, just imagine Nicholas cage. NO JOKE. HE IS NICHOLAS CAGE. Plus also he gave us "the talk" this week on sunday for like 3 hours on how we need to work together to help the work progress and establish zion. He's pretty cool. He's like santa cuz he says he will help us with anything haha. 

This week I was also reminded of the hard part of taking care of doggos! We do service at adopt a dog and we spent like almost 2 hours cleaning up their poo. So nasty. 

Anyways that's just about my week! Things are going well here and I'm a happy missionary! 

I love you both SO SO SO SO MUCH!!! 

December 11, 2018

Hello all! 

I have made some pretty darn good memories these past couple weeks. 

Highlights include buying a lopsided Christmas tree from the thrift store, cuddling with puppies, attending sweet Jaydens baptism, making (and tasting) fudge, bearing testimony of Jesus Christ to a woman who feels lost, handing out free hot chocolate to tell people about light the world, being bitten by a baby devil dog and serving as many people as I can! I'm so grateful to be a missionary! 

This week I was pondering what it means to give as He gave and serve as He served. I found an example in the bible about Christ healing a woman with an issue of blood. In this story, found in Luke 8:41-48, Christ is asked to come heal a girl who is dying. He is heading there to perform this miracle and is surrounded by a crowd. As he walks through the crowd, a woman touches the hem of his clothes and Christ feels power go out of Him. He asks who touched Him. The woman tells Him that she touched Him because she has been sick for 12 years with a disease. She has spent all her money on doctors and is left on the streets. Christ then takes the time to comfort her and tell her that it is by faith that she has been made whole. This beautiful story teaches about faith and healing, but it also teaches us about service. Christ was already on his way to go heal someone who was close to death! Talk about important. But even though He was busy and on His way to do this very important miracle, He stopped to take the time with this woman and serve her. I love this because it meant the world to her! We are never too busy to serve. If anyone was busy and had important things to do, Christ did. But He always took the time to serve. Give as He gave by taking a minute or two out of your busy schedule to serve someone this week! Who knows, you just may light their world. 

"To the world you may just be one person, but to one person you may mean the world!" 

Sincerely, 

Sister Bush 

Ps! I'm being transferred to Sidney Nebraska! I will miss Casper Wyoming and sister Van Camp dearly, but I know that Sidney is where the Lord wants me to serve right now (: 

December 4, 2018

Okay so I typed out this whole email and then saved it for a moment because I only had a little left to write. Then had to do something and when I came back.... it was all gone. So this is the second time in typing it out which is super frustrating actually. Soooo yeah. But I'm writing it all out again anyways haha 

Wednesday 

Book of Enos thoughts! So I read the book of Enos on Wednesday, and this time as I was reading it I just was thinking about the pattern of prayer. That it always happens over time. Where does it say that all of Enos' experiences with prayer happened within 24 hours? His first prayer was for that long but what if after he got that answer he went home, was still pondering it and then felt a desire for more and then continued to have spiritual experiences with prayer as he continued to grow? That's how it has been for me. So I think it might be likely it was that way for him too. Just some food for thought. 

We met sister Fossey this week! She is working on coming to church and she is literally one of the coolest people I've met. Her faith is rock solid even though she's been through so many things. 

Also this week I learned that distraction is one of Satan's greatest tool. We had several lessons where the families were being distracted or in a distracting environment. They weren't being distracted by bad things because they were actually good things. But Satan uses good things to keep our minds of the best things. I've learned that this week. 

We bought a Christmas tree! We found one at a thrift store for 20 bucks. The box said it was pre lit but that was a lie haha and then when we set it up it we discovered that it leans all the way to the left hahaha. But at least we have a tree! All we need now is some lights and decorations haha. 

Thursday  was a no drive day, which means we spent most of it either outside walking around or inside planning things so we didn't want to be outside. 

We had a lesson with Lisa and her friend Steve was there. He was strange because he acted like he wanted to bash but then he didn't. So oh well. 

Bob the mailman! While we were walking around I felt prompted to talk to the mailman and it was good cuz we got to talk to him about light the world (: 

Then we had dinner with the liskas. We showed them the light the world video but sis Liska didn't like it because she said it seemed political. With like creating empathy for Mexicans or something? Can you guys tell me what's going on in the world? And maybe why she would think that? And also how to address it? Haha I have no idea. 

Friday 

We basically Spent all day contacting people on the part member family list, and I can't remember much else. 

Saturday! 

It was the Worldwide day of service, but also it was another No drive day. We did service for sis Allen and her friend, cleaning her house because her parents had died and she needed to sell their home. 

We also did a free hot chocolate booth on main street! We talked to people about light the world and it was awesome. We handed out like 80 cups of hot chocolate and like 50 light the world pass along cards and gave 1 book of mormon! So it was good. Freezing but successful! So we will probably do it again(: 

We had dinner with the Langi family and they are my favorite. Sis Langis husband is deployed in a somewhat dangerous area for a year and she is taking care of their 5 kids on her own. She is a champ and we love her!!! She said that she feels like we are in this ward because of her. I think that may be a reason too (: (: (: 

Sunday 

Dan, Zoe, Jayden and Jim came to church! 

We went to primary to have them announce Jaydens baptism which is on December 8th, this Saturday and all the sudden we were teaching! Sister parks, the primary president was like "OHHEYIMGLADYOUAREHEREWEHAVE3CLASSESWITHOUTATEACHERCANYOUUSETHISROOMILLGOGETTHECHAIRSTHANKSBYE" 

So we randomly got to teach the 11 year olds about light the world hahahaha it was fun. 

Jayden made us cookies our lesson that day! So cute. Except it was fast sunday so that was kinda sad. We just ate them later. We taught about word of wisdom and law of chastity! I have never taught that to a kid before but it went well haha.  

Lesson with Teresa was good. She's from Nigeria and knows it is true, she's been going to churc for 2 years but won't commit to baptism because her family isn't here.... 

No Christmas Devotional for me, we have to wait a week or two to watch it. But that's okay. 

Monday 

We met Bear. She is on the records of the Church but says she is catholic. Her dog is devilish. She bit me.... So yeah. But I'm alright haha.  

Animal shelter with ninja kittens! 

Movie time. We watched Joseph Smith the prophet of the restoration with Dan and Zoe it went super well. I love those guys. 

Lesson with Jayden again! We taught about eternal families and temples. I think it was the best lesson so far. It's cool to see their progression. Hers and her dad Jim! He used to not participate or anything but now he offers to pray and helps us teach! Ahh I love the gospel!! 

I'm pretty nervous for transfers. We will find out Saturday night what will happen!!! Ahh. Rumor is I'll be training. We shall see. If I do, I hope I stay here so I don't have to stress about training as well as being in a new place. 

I can't believe it's already so close to christmas!!! I can't wait to call and see you guys. I love you all SO MUCH 

Sis Bush 

November 26, 2018

Hello! 

This email will probably be shorter than usual because of how hectic things are this pday.... 

We are finishing moving in to our new apartment, my companion is doing the application stuff to apply to be a young performing missionary in nauvoo! Sooo we have a lot to do in a small amount of time haha. 

Because of this shorter email, I'm going to send a few selections from my journal so you don't feel deprived haha. I hope my handwriting isn't too terrible haha. 

My thanksgiving was pretty good! We had two dinners, one with the Coleman's and the other at the Church with a bunch of returning members and stuff. So good but I was SO FULL. I'm glad we didn't have 4 dinners that would have been too hard for me and my small stomach haha. I had a really cool thing I learned right before thanksgiving though, we were on exchanges the day before  (so I was with Sister Fuge) and we went to visit these people they are teaching. At the time, this couple didn't have the best living circumstances. They were living out of a van with a tiny flashlight, a meager amount of food and thin blankets. And yet. This couple was so happy! Martha was so kindhearted, humorous and grateful to her heavenly father for what she had. I definitely learned this thanksgiving that our circumstances doesn't change our gratitude, but gratitude changes our circumstances. I was pondering the story of the ten lepers and realized that Christ said "thy faith hath made thee whole." But He only said that to the one who came back to thank Him. Is it possible that without gratitude, our faith isn't whole? Our faith isn't complete unless we are grateful for what the Lord has given us. 

Thank you for both of your thoughts on gratitude as well! 

Okay this week we had to clean this DISGUSTING house. I almost fainted at the sight of it and I'm still debating how much I should tell you about it because it was so gross. The lady had the health department called on her but the sisters in her area didn't want to call the health department again because they didn't want her to hate the church... (sigh) so we cleaned up part of this nasty place. There are more details in my journal. I will send that one and you can choose to read it if you want to. Haha just don't read it when you are about to eat or something. 

I met this awesome family this week! The cooks. They are a young married couple and they are super missionary minded so it's the best. They invited us over for thanksgiving evening to share a spiritual thought with their extended family. So cute. 

Prayers would be appreciated for Dan.... We actually haven't seen him since his confirmation. The devil is hitting him hard and he seems to be dodging meeting with us which just breaks my heart. I think at the root of the problem is his Ex wife that won't let him see the kids if he goes to church cuz she believes he's joined a cult or something. We barely got to see him for a minute today! He helped us move some boxes. We are setting up a lesson with him soon. He seems to be doing alright but yeah please keep praying for him. 

Also! New person I'm gonna talk about! Cameron is a junior in high school. We met him when we were contacting possible people of interest and the people we were trying to contact didn't answer the door. We saw him standing out on his driveway, just in a t-shirt even though it was like snowing! We decided to go talk to him. Apparently he came outside so he could talk to us!! He didn't even know what church we go to he just knew we were missionaries. He said he loves hearing about people's stories of faith, and learning about Christ. So we showed him a book of mormon and he said he would read 3 Nephi 11. Well, later this week I felt like we should go visit him so we did! He opened the door, let us in, cleared off a spot at his table and we all read 3 Nephi 11 together. He loved it and was applying it to his own life, all by himself! Who does that! This guy is awesome. He said we could come back later. Then, during weekly planning a day or two ago we felt we should text him so we did. We sent ether 12:27 because we both thought of it. Then he responded saying it was just what he needed and that he wants us to meet his girlfriend, who also loves church. We are so excited about that! 

We also had another lesson with Jayten and Jim this week. They are both so cool. Jim is warming up to us! He was joking with us, being comfortable sharing his thoughts and comments and praying too. And Jayten is such a sweet girl. I love her so much! 

We also had fhe with the Liskas. I can't remember if I told you about their family or not but just imagine a bunch of Monica Bergs who love to talk a lot. It's crazy hahaha but they have recently gone through some really hard things. They have gotten out of an abusive relationship and are trying to start a new life. So sis Van Camp and I spend quite a bit of time with them to help strengthen the kids testimonies. But they are so fun haha. 

Anyways that's all I can think of off the top of my head for this week! I didn't bring my journal so I can't remember everything. I'll try to send journal entry pics tonight. If not you'll have to wait till next week! Also I'll try to send a video of our new appartment!! It's SO SUPER NICE 

So yep! That's about all for this week! 

I love you both immensely and I'm so grateful to have you as not only my parents but my best friends :D 

Sister Bush 

November 20, 2018

Hello people! 

This week I was able to feel what Elder Holland describes in this quote about missionary work: "This is eternal life. This is the salvation of the children of God. Eternity hangs in the balance. … It is the most important path [a person] will ever walk. But if he or she doesn’t know that, at least you do!"

We had a tug of war with the devil this week - and it had eternal significance. For me, for my companion, for the person we are teaching and for all of his ancestors as well as descendants. His name is Dan and we had scheduled his baptism for saturday. Everything that could go wrong went wrong! Everything. Everything that is, except our faith. And because of that faith, God gave us the strength to win and for it to be glorious! 

When Dan came up out of the water on saturday morning he raised both arms in the air to show that triumph. His smile said it all. The only thing my little Nauvoo mind could think was "HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!" It was an experience beyond description. 

Sometimes in life you may feel like you are playing tug of war with Satan and that you are losing. Life can get that way, trust me, I know. But I'll tell you what i told Dan. 

Have faith! "You have the Savior of the world on your side. If you seek His help and follow His directions, how can you fail?" Keep pressing forward, trusting in Him. And when you win, the happiness that you feel will be beautiful and pure. Faith in Christ can conquer anything. Because He has overcome everything. So even if it feels like Satan has more leverage and that you are about to lose or even that you have lost already - don't give up! Remember who is by your side. More joy than you've every experienced awaits you, so just keep going! You can win! 

Until next time, 

Sister Bush 

1 Nephi 4:1 

November 13, 2018

Hello!!!! 

So sorry today our emailing time is pretty limited because we spent some time napping and then shopping for warmer clothes haha. So I apologize! 

Tuesday 

We had our First snow! 

Sis van camp and i bought matching Grinch sweaters, which is awesome because I have my grinch pants! So now I'm all decked out in grinch stuff. Lol how did this happen 

Ping pong at STLs was part of our pday and that was fun. That's also where we saw the hangliders, one of the members flies them professionally! 

That night we drove to Cheyenne, for trainers meeting and interviews. It was a late night 

Wednesday 

Training! President McMurray is awesome. He taught us about the doctrine of Christ. He taught us that the foundation of Christ's doctrine rests on priesthood authority and His atonement. So cool. 

Sis van camp is considering applying to be a YPM in the summer! That would be so cool. She's still deciding tho haha. 

I tried antelope for the first time at the hoopes house for dinner! It was in the spaghetti. Haha so many people hunt here.  

Thursday! 

We did some service hours at salvation army, helped some people get food for their families. That was awesome. After that we had a  lesson with Lisa! She's someone we tracted into the other week, and we got to teach her the restoration! She's super nice and has two kids. She's a single mom and is interested in strengthening her family through belief in christ. So she's pretty much golden haha. 

Also on Thursday we had a cool experience! We were going to go tracting and my comp and i prayed where we should go. Then for the next minutes we looked at our maps on our individual devices, not speaking. When we both looked up to see where the other person was on the map, we noticed we had both zoomed in onto the same road!! We new it was a sign. So we drove over there. 

Well. Funny thing is, we get to the area we felt prompted to go and there are no houses. It's flat. Nothing. Just a dirt road leading out into the Wyoming plains. But because we felt inspired when we chose where to go, we kept driving. Well! We didn't knock any doors. But we ran into a guy, sitting in His truck. He was hunting, looking at the elk through his telescope. And because he was doing that, his window was down and so we started talking to him! His name was rick. We didn't end up getting any of his contact information, but he let us read a verse with him from the Book of Mormon and accepted a copy! 

The cool thing is that he was the only person we ran into on that road. A miraculous sign from God that he cares about the one. And He knee that that one would be alone, hunting (possibly pondering) on that one dirt road. And as we prayed to know where to go that day, God sent us to him. Way cool!!!! I hope he reads it and talks to his wife. (He said his wife was a member but he had never been interested.) I'm grateful his heart was softened that day on that dirt road and that we could be there. It was awesome. 

Friday 

We did weekly planning which took up a lot of our time haha but it was good. That day, because of a miscommunication, we were 30 minutes late to our dinner! So embarrassing haha but oh well. They were still nice. 

Also we had a lesson with Dan again. We talked about baptism and how it would feel and he started crying. He said it would be so nice to feel clean and be able to make that promise. He is such a tender human being! Also, we told him that for him to get baptized on Saturday we'd have to have a lesson with him like every day. Or that we could move his baptism back by like a week. He was like oh no i don't mind meeting every day let's not push it back! So great! He just rocks. 

Saturday 

We helped someone move and pack (I was well qualified to help with that haha) 

There's this little boy in the ward that I love so much. His name is Tommy and he is the best. He loves to compliment people, he has contests with his mom! Love it. 

Sunday 

Got to go to ward council for th3 first time! It was the best because everyone is so missionary minded!! Yes. 

Both sis Van Camp and I got up to bear our testimonies, so that was cool. 

Teaching Jaden, the 11 year old girl is so great, she is so wise! Especially for her age. We were talking about faith, and I shared alma 32:21. I asked her what she understood about faith from this scripture. Her response: "faith means believing in God and trusting that blessings will come even if they aren't immediate." 

Okay wow. Profound, simple and true! 

I learned from her that day. 

After that we had another lesson with dan. We had been told by someone that knows him to do word of wisdom because he smokes and drinks. So we were worried about if he could get baptized on saturday. Well! Dan is just a boss and he agreed, said it all made sense and committed right away. So cool to see the spirit working in him. He said he knows the Book of Mormon is real, not just any other book. What a guy. 

Monday

We drove to the church to practice savior redeemer of my soul. An elder is playing the voioin, another elder is doing the piano and sis Van Camp and I are singing. It's for zone conference (friday!) So that's cool. Nerve wracking but cool..you know how much I love music. I'll send a recording or something once we sound decent haha. 

Then our lesson with Dan was good. We talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy (he works on Sundays sort of. He is a real estate guy and those are some of the best days for showings.... But he's so great he said he'd talk to his boss and pray about it too!) Plus also the law of chastity. He has no issues there either. He's just the bomb!! It's really quite indescribable to see his progress and be on this journey with him. Wow. And Zoe his girlfriend (returning member) is awesome. They named their puppy sam after Nephi's brother!! Yessss 

We spent more time working on trying to find an apartment (cuz we currently live 8 miles out of our area and that is killing our miles!!) Plus we spent some time working on our thankful booth idea! We are going to do a thankful tree (thanks mom for raisin me right haha (; ) and put it on main street, as well as give out free hot chocolate for a few hours on Saturday. We hope to talk to a lot of people and  even give out some books of mormon!!! 

I'm excited about that.  

Love you both so much 

Sis Bush 

November 6, 2018

I've been swept off my feet! Litterally! By this wind! Haha the wind here in Casper Wyoming is pretty crazy.

Here are a couple other facts about serving here in Casper. 

I almost always have: 

- a cold nose 

- cat or dog hair all over my clothes 

- a book of mormon in my hands 

- dinner appointments on my calendar 

- a Christmas song in my head 

- static-y hair 

- a testimony on my lips 

- and tender mercies / miracles given to me throughout the day! 

So basically I'm in love with the work over here haha. I'm so in love with it! Here's an example of why I love it so much: 

This cool thing that happened is from yesterday when my new companion Sister Van Camp and I were tracting. (By the way she is so amazing and just plain fantastic!) 

We contacted a member who hasn't been to church in awhile, and then felt like going to a couple houses on the street. I felt a pull towards a certain direction so we went that way. There was a lady outside smoking and sis Van Camp told me we should go talk to her. So we did. She didn't seem super interested but her 11 yr old daughter was super cute and had been going to bible school so she was taking to us. Right as I was bringing up the book of mormon,  another lady came outside. The spirit told me to just keep talking about the book of mormon. I explained what it was, another testament of Jesus christ. This lady's eyes got so wide and let me tell you. I have never seen someone so anxious to grab a book of mormon out of my hands before. I couldn't even finish my sentence of asking if they would want one before she was holding it!! She teared up and said she had been going through some hard stuff and wanted to turn to God, so she had opened the bible last night. She had been praying to get to know Him and knew it was a sign that we had come. The little girl also wanted a copy. I was just struck with awe at how prepared this lady was. And also how quickly God wanted to answer her prayer.

The very moment that she turned to Him, He responded with more love and help! The very moment.

 I want to testify to all of you that our Savior Jesus Christ is just waiting with His arms open for us to turn to Him. For us to grow closer to Him. That is His greatest desire! And the moment we humble ourselves and take a step of faith, He responds. I promise that He does. Because He loves you. 

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." 

So take some time this week to turn to Him! I know that He loves you and can help you with whatever you are going through right now. 

Until next week! 

Sister Bush 

Ps. my pday is on Tuesday for the next 5 months. What a blessing consistency is going to be for my pday! Haha 

To Family:

Hello from casper!! 

I love hearing about your week and thank you for the pictures!!! 

Tuesday was chaos haha. 

My group had to leave earlier for the airport than planned because another group of sisters needed us to help drive their luggage to the airport cuz it wouldn't fit in their van. So that was exciting haha. It also gave us extra time at the airport which means I got to eat at chili's!! Yay! 

Another tender mercy was that sis Johnson, Jeffords and I all got to sit next to each other on the flight. Plus we found out that we all have the same favorite scripture: 2 tim 1:7. Which is not common! So it was a comfort from the spirit to remind me of that great verse. 

President and Sister McMurray! They are awesome. It's been so great to meet them. 

That night I found out in with sis Van Camp in Casper Wyoming(: 

Wednesday 

Transfers took place! 

Driving to Casper and getting to know my comp was fun. We had quite a drive so that was long haha. 

Then we went Shopping! A miracle was that we ran into the bishop at the store! Our area book hasn't been working so it was a tender mercy to be able to talk to him. 

That night for halloween we had to be in by 6pm so we had special permission to watch 17 miracles! It was great. 

So on Wednesday and throughout the week I have been following the counsel of Elder Holland. In conference, he said: 

"We thank you for following our beloved prophet in this wonderful endeavor and suggest that you not wait for many more instructions. Just jump into the pool and swim. Head toward those in need. Don’t be immobilized wondering whether you should do the backstroke or the dog paddle. If we follow the basic principles that have been taught, stay aligned with priesthood keys, and seek the Holy Spirit to guide us, we cannot fail." - Elder Holland 

I applied this to my missionary service! Who cares if I fumble on my first door approach or don't do exactly the right thing when meeting members. Just jump in and swim. 

Thursday! 

I'm quickly falling in love with all the ways I get to share the gospel here: roleplays service meeting members contacting and tracting 

Area book started working! So that was good. 

Spent the day contacting and meeting members and a little bit of tracting. 

First door I tracked into, I got to meet a lady and her husband who love christmas. We talked about Christmas and Christ and the Book of Mormon. It was great and we actually might meet with them later!

That night we had dinner with the bishop and his wife so that was good. 

Friday 

Weekly planning for the first time haha. 

Animal shelter service!! One of my favorite service things we do is go a couple times a week to the shelter and give the kittens social interaction time so that they will be more likely to get adopted. It's the best. Doesn't even feel like service haha. 

Asian Buffett that night! 

That night cuz we were at the mall we decided to try mall contacting! It was a neat experience. At first, super awkward cuz we had no idea how to stop people and talk to them. They all had places to be! But we prayed and then the spirit helped us out. Long story short we talked to a bunch of people and even ended up giving the restoration lesson in the mall to some people! Haha God is a God of miracles. 

Saturday! 

We Met a lot of inactive members, and shared messages with them. 

We also helped the RS Pres with funeral dinner and stuff. So that was cool plus we got to talk to some nonmembers at the funeral dinner. So great. 

Sunday 

Broadcast! We had that regional broadcast and it was so good. Listening to leaders talk about ministering, temple and family history work, Sabbath day worship and gathering israel! So good. I have lots of notes. 

After church I experienced the Wind in full force!! Almost fell over haha as we dashed to the car in the rain and wind. Crazy. Press forward saints! 

Later that night i had one of the coolest experiences on my mission. Dan is a person we are teaching and we hadn't met him yet but roleplayed the plan of salvation and were considering inviting him to be baptized from what the elders told us about him. We went in that lesson with the spirit. During the lesson, I was given exactly what to say and when to say it. I invited him to be baptized and set the date for the 17th. He actually started crying. He said he felt so special that we would invite him to be baptized. I testified to him it's because God loves him and knows him. He said all his life he felt something was missing, and he hopes this is it. I can't describe the experience of asking him to be baptized. It was electrifying and the words were not mine, they were the spirit. I was full of so much joy and happiness. It was the best. 

Monday 

We went to the Animal shelter again, got Subway. Also that's when we had that experience tracting that I talked about in my weekly. So cool!!!!! 

Then we had a lesson with Jaden, an 11 year old who wants to get baptized. She's amazing and so cute. We set her on date for the 8th of december. So good!!!! 

Anyways that's the basics of my week! I love my new comp. She's from American fork utah, has mad piano skills (enough to rival troy and maybe beat him. Maybe. Id like to see a competition haha.) She's super sweet, obedient and easy to get along with! I love her.  We are already sharing clothes so that should tell you how well we get along haha. Also how we are tired of our own closets lol. 

I miss miss miss you guys 

I love love love love love you guys 

Sorry if this email seems rushed! It's cuz it was! Hahaha but know that I love you so much, I'm so grateful for your support, prayers, updates, emails, pictures, love and smiles. You are the best ever. I miss and love you a ton! 

Sister Bush