February 20, 2017

General e-mail:

This week we've seen some cool miracles-
We've seen some people who just showed up at church want to be taught,
and we've seen some cool miracles with less actives who have softened
their hearts!
I think some of the coolest miracles I've seen on my mission have been
the softening and changing of hearts, including my own!

Elder Prescott and I are getting along great. We are doing our best to
work hard every day and help others to do the same!

Other than that, I don't have much to say, other than the fact that
missionary work is awesome.
And.

Repentance is a beautiful thing. I am grateful for the opportunity to
start over every day. I testify that repentance is real and that we
all have the power given to us to change.

I love you all very much and hope you have a great week!

Appropriate love,
Elder Bush

Photo Update:  

To Mom:

Musical firesides are definitely a great way to share the gospel with others! In the photoshare I included a video of me, Elder Prescott and Elder Judd singing brightly beams our fathers mercy. It's not the best but we are performing tomorrow at Zone Conference, so that will be good. 

I love that. Love, worship, and trust. They are so important and crucial to our continuing conversion. Trust is something I've learned a lot about recently. 

Story time. 

Thursday night, we drive up to the church. We were on exchanges, and we saw some other missionaries at the church, also Elder Prescott and his temporary companion. We had all just so happened to be at the church at the same time, whether for bathroom breaks or for wifi to look up an address or to start an exchange. To make a long story short, there ended up being 5 companionships at the church because they were starting an exchange too. We started joking around for a second, and then it turned very quickly into a game of tag pretty much, which sounds pretty harmless, especially because it lasted less than 10 minutes. But cars were involved as well... nobody got hurt, but it started to make a scene. We reigned it in pretty quick, but before we knew it, some members came over to us and started chewing us out. I felt pretty bad because I had a big role to play in the horsing around. We apologized, but I have since realized that a simple apology isn't going to build their trust back. They called the mission president about it and everything! The members were pretty upset about it, although we had seen it as just harmless joking around that got out of hand. I felt pretty bad because we had not only hurt the trust with members, but also with the mission president. More importantly, I realized that I had harmed the Lords trust for me. I realized that I need to be more careful with what I say and do, and that horsing around as a missionary isn't a very good idea. 

So, after that long story, I have realized that I need to take my mission more seriously. Not that I haven't been taking it seriously, but I need to take it more seriously. I have only one year left to serve my Savior Jesus Christ, and I want to make sure that I serve Him with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. 

 I am also learning about how important the doctrine of Christ is. The doctrine of Christ is the center of everything in the gospel, because it's all about love and the Savior. Faith in Jesus Christ and His redeeming power motivates us to repent and change to do things in line with His will, which we can't fully do without the covenant of baptism, made under proper priesthood authority. When we have made that covenant, we are then blessed with the companionship of the Holy Ghost to guide us and teach us more, line upon line, until we are perfected in Christ by continuing to live the doctrine of Christ. 

It is all so perfectly intertwined! It truly is a gospel of repentance, without which we cannot be cleansed and sanctified by the Atonement. 

I love the gospel. ️️️️

I love you guys so much! Right now we are at the home of our WML. His son is getting ready to enter the MTC so of course I'm having bunches and bunches of flashbacks lol 

I miss you guys! Give everyone hugs for me :)