July 11, 2016

This week has been hard but still rewarding. Many people in the
Lakeside ward are getting ready for baptism within the next couple of
months. The members are really starting to step up and get super
involved. With the temple open house coming up, many people's hearts
are being opened. It is really cool to see.

In other news, it's been kinda hot outside. Not super fun, but we're
dealing with it.
Sadly, Elder Domnikov will be leaving this transfer. He is headed to
Fort Collins to be a zone leader. I know he'll do great. I'll be
getting a new missionary this transfer, so that will be fun. Updates
on that coming next week.

Cool story this week: the people we live with live kind of out in the
boonies, so there is a danger of rattlesnakes. Well, while I was on
exchanges last week, they finally encountered one out on the sidewalk.
The Sister we live with (Sister Smith) shot the rattlesnake in the
head. Twice. That took care of the problem. The best part was that she
was in cowboy boots and a nightgown. Picture included below.

 One thing I've learned this week is that it doesn't matter how good
you sound when you're inviting people to do things, or when you're
testifying of something, it doesn't matter how well you word things.
What matters is if you sincerely mean it and if you sincerely believe
it. That has been a great lesson for me to learn and strive to apply
this week.

My testimony is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. He completed
the Atonement for us, and there is no sin, sadness, or trial, that He
can't lift us out of. I know that the Book of Mormon is absolutely the
word of God.

Appropriate love!

Elder Bush

What a week! At the beginning of this week, I was kinda sick, with a sore throat, but I did get over it pretty quickly. Then towards the ending of the week, elder domnikov got the flu or something. Crazy. We also had exchanges in the middle of this week. It has been a week of lots of learning. 







Now the news that you've been waiting for.....maybe.




I will be staying in this area that I'm in now, but elder domnikov is leaving. Apparently I will be training a new missionary and I will be a district leader. I'm super overwhelmed! It is going to be crazy. I'll probably be in this area for 3 transfers total then. I am very humbled because I have no idea how to train a new missionary. Please pray for me :) 

I am super excited though. It is going  to be awesome! I'm super excited for the missionary work in this ward too. 

This week we struggled a little bit, but  things are definitely gearing up for the open house. The temple is in our stake, like a 15 minute drive, so that is super nice, and lots of people are really interested in the temple, which is super cool! Amanda and Spencer are doing really well. In church this week they stayed for all three hours and when volunteers for projects were asked for, Amanda and Spencer both volunteered for things. It was super hilarious because we went with Spencer to elders quorum and then we went to find Amanda afterwards. When they met in the hall it was awesome because the first thing Amanda said was that she volunteered them for something. Spencer then told her that he had already volunteered them for something else, and they just laughed. It was really cool to see them want to contribute and participate. They volunteered for hard things too! Amanda volunteered to give a bed-ridden sister a ride to church, and Spencer volunteered to help with the parking at the temple open house. They are absolutely amazing. 




I'm going to include a really neat picture that we found this week. Amanda and Spencer came to dinner at the bishops house with us, and while we were there, we learned that Amanda's sister had taken a picture of her talking to us the very first time we met her. Her sister took the picture as a joke, but we absolutely love it because it captures the first moment that Amanda was introduced to he gospel. Amanda sent the picture to us in an email- and she captioned it - "May 31st, 2016, the day my life was changed for the better" 








 









And today we just figured out that I am going to be the DL over a district that is all sister missionaries. So I basically was called as the relief society president xD it'll be good though. I just hope that my son isn't apostate... That would be tough.




We did get our conference shirts, and E. farnes loved his. 



I am also almost finished with the Infinite Atonement, and I just read that section on grace. I think it is so awesome! I never thought that the gifts of the Spirit were so connected with grace! I never out two and two together I guess. This morning I read Moroni 10, and now it makes so much more sense to me, because before, I would read Moroni 10 and think... Okay so we can know this book is true, gifts of the spirit? What? Random tangent there... Okay come unto Christ and be perfected. That's cool. But now, I can see that Moroni talks about gifts of the Spirit so he can invite us to seek after those gifts and be perfected. I never realized that before, and it was super cool. 



Realizing that remembering is a principle of the gospel is pretty cool. When we truly remember Christ, we are trying to emulate His example and follow Him. It is a super important principle of gospel, because if we always remember Him, then we will have His spirit to be with us. It reminds me of the talk by Gerrit W. gong. 



Anyways, I am super busy today, because e. Domnikov has a lot of stuff to do that he wants to travel all across town for and I don't have wifi. I absolutely love all of the pictures and videos! Troy and Micah, those were some super cool flips. Next up, they'll be doing quadruple back flips and punching through walls and hearing a butterfly's wings flap hahaha 



Sister Smith, (the smiths are the people we live with) shot a rattlesnake in the head though. On exchanges, e. Domnikov and e. Coleman (the one who screams like a girl, I think I sent you the video) were walking out the door of our house and saw a rattlesnake on the sidewalk coiled up and ready to strike at them. E. Coleman screamed and flipped out. E. Domnikov tried to kill it with a shovel. Sister smith got her pistol and shot it in the head. Twice. It was pretty hilarious from what I've heard. I'll include some pictures of that too hahaha 



This week I've learned a lot about repentance. Not only is the Atonement an Infinite Atonement, but it's a continuous atonement. President McMurray said this- "Repentance is not an event! Repentance is the process of continually changing and becoming better. The Atonement has no time restraints." That was a really good thing for me to learn this week because I often think of repentance and remission of sins as an event. But it is not! It is a continuous process of becoming better and purer before God. I love that. 





Anyways, I love you so much Mom! I will let you know how training goes next week...