April 25, 2016

This week has been a good one, it seems like it has really flown by.

We've been able to teach a lot of really good people and have great
spiritual experiences with them. We have a few people who are now
preparing for baptism next month, so that is definitely exciting to
see that change come into their lives.

I have had a couple of cool experiences where I have been able to just
boldly testify, which feels so good. For example, yesterday, we were
tracting, and we came across this guy who was making fun of Joseph
Smith and the Book of Mormon. He started spouting off weird theories
which were totally bizarre and had no basis of truth. In closing, he
told us to have a good day, and said that he prayed that the veil
would be lifted from our eyes, and that we would be brought to a
knowledge of the real truth, and that we would boldly go forth with
that truth we had found for the rest of our lives. In that moment, I
just opened my mouth and then "went forth boldly with the truth I had
found". I testified of the Book of Mormon and of its divinity and of
Joseph Smith as a prophet. Instantly, he could not argue with what we
were presenting anymore. It was such a great feeling to bear testimony
and not try to bible bash with this guy. I am so grateful that I
opened my mouth and the Spirit filled it, as promised in D&C 33:7-10:

"Yea, verily, verily, I say unto you, that the field is white already
to harvest; wherefore, thrust in your sickles, and reap with all your
might, mind, and strength. Open your mouths and they shall be filled,
and you shall become even as Nephi of old, who journeyed from
Jerusalem in the wilderness.Yea, open your mouths and spare not, and
you shall be laden with sheaves upon your backs, for lo, I am with
you. Yea, open your mouths and they shall be filled, saying: Repent,
repent, and prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths
straight; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

One great thing that I am learning is just how incapable we are
without the Spirit. When we are teaching, answering questions, asking
questions, studying, or even listening, it is absolutely crucial to do
so while following the Spirit. Questions that are asked by the Spirit
can change the course of someone's life- the Savior taught by asking
inspired questions, and He is the greatest teacher in the history of
ever, so I think it's a pretty good plan. Another super important
thing is to listen by the Spirit so we can understand what someone is
truly trying to tell us. The Spirit and the Book of Mormon are the
most powerful tools for conversion we have, according to Preach My
Gospel. I am definitely experiencing that here on the mission, in my
own life and I am seeing it in other people's lives. It is truly
amazing.



Love you all appropriately
Elder Bush

(And from his email to mom...)

The white handbook says "Visits from family members, friends, and acquaintances are against Church policy. The impact of such visits may extend far beyond the visit itself, both before and after the visit and among other missionaries. It can often take some time for missionaries to refocus on their callings and their work. While expressing your love and your desire to share your experiences with them after you have been released, help those who may want to visit you to understand the importance of maintaining singleness of heart and mind on the work of the Lord". So when grandma called I was like ohhhhh noooooo..... But she called the mission office and they said it would be fine if they just took us out to lunch and it didn't interfere with our schedule, so it turned out alright. It was really good to talk to them and figure out that Leslie was totally lying to me about the car....   we went to lunch at chick fil a and that was pretty fun. I got your package for me with all the balloons and my speaker!





The Atonement turns bad things into good things as we repent, and it turns good things into even better things!This week I have been trying to study the Atonement more, and understand it more, because as I understand the Atonement better, I can better invite the people we see to repentance. One things I've noticed as I've been studying is that the Atonement overcomes all kinds of death, which is, put simply, any kind of separation. Physical death is separation of body and spirit, and spiritual death is separation from God through sin. I think that is so cool to realize that Christ overcomes all kinds of death. It is also interesting to see that every ordinance (and by extension every covenant) in the church also accesses the power of the Atonement to unite. The sealing ordinance, the endowment, receiving the priesthood, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and baptism, and the sacrament, all unite us with God and those around us. To a certain extent stent, they even unite us with ourselves sometimes. That is so cool to see that everything in the church points towards accepting and applying the Atonement of Christ into our lives! 



This week we have been able to be very productive, and meet with lots of people. We have had a lot of really good spiritual lessons, especially with this teenager named Devin. In our first lesson with him we asked him to pray afterwards, he did, and then he put his hand to his chest and said "oh, I feel good!" It was great. That lesson we just talked about Christ and about our Heavenly Father and invited him to read the Book of Mormon. This next lesson, we taught about the restoration and he prayed again, and in his prayer, he said "dear Heavenly Father, thanks for- wait, actually, I do have one question for you. I want to know if what these guys have been teaching me is true. I'm really curious, and so I just want to know." Afterwards, he was like "oh I feel good again!" It was such a cool experience to see that change come over him, and it has been cool to see lots of other people have a change of heart.



I'm learning a lot about how to be bold with love, as you can see from my weekly email. That was a cool experience as well. We are being very blessed. Ron pushed his baptismal date back, but he moved it to his parents anniversary in June because he wanted it to be on a special day. So that's okay, because he still wants to get baptized, and he understands the importance of it, which is sweet. The family of 4 is still progressing, they struggled a little bit last week, but we met with them and were able to give the mom a priesthood blessing, which was a coo, experience. My studies are also going really well, I'm even beginning to learn a lot from Isaiah chapters, which is cool. I've noticed that the house of Israel can mean the church, and so whenever it talks about Israel being gathered, it applies to actual Jews, and the House of Israel, or the Restored Church! It is very cool to be able to apply it to my life in that way. 





Love you mom! Im learning so much!  Thanks for the pictures, and send more slo mo videos of disc golfing, so we can learn from the twins techniques. E. Farnes and I need to learn from the experts ;)





Love ya!



Elder Bush




Me right before we moved out of the Wagner's house...
















Our new place in the basement:
























A time lapse video of me doing laundry!













Our district before transfers:





One of the members we had dinner with had a bearded dragon:







Elder Farnes taught a lesson with it on his shoulder the whole time.

















Our new mission car...  

(Uncle Jimmy's car!)















I actually tasted this, it is fiery to say the least!

Elder Farnes likes hot stuff and it was too much for him.