May 29, 2016

I've actually thought about a couple of those very things this week, and I love listening after I pray and even while I pray. It should be a conversation with the Lord, not just a list of things we want to say. The mission has really helped me start praying from the heart with almost no repetition. I have found that when I am sincere, I start praying for very specific things and thanking Heavenly Father for specific things as well. Like today I prayed that the hearts of the people we meet will be softened so that the Spirit can testify of the message we bring. Just a random example, but I've noticed the Spirit sooooooooooooooo much more in my life when I pray with sincerity. It is such an awesome feeling. I can say as Alma the Younger did, 

"And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?

Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me."

Alma 5:45-46

This past week I have been so grateful for the prophet Joseph Smith and the First Vision. There are so many things that testify of the reality and divinity of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It is such a tender mercy that we have so many witnesses of Jesus Christ, and that I also am called to be a witness of Jesus Christ and His Atonement. 

Recently I started carrying a pocket sized Book of Mormon in my front pocket, and it's been awesome because I marked some of my favorite scriptures and I can just have them right there. Of course I have my iPad, but it's nice to have the paper copy of the Book of Mormon right in my pocket. (Don't worry Leslie, I still carry your letter too) 

As far as studying the doctrines of the gospel to improve behavior, I completely agree. However, in the words of President Uchtdorf, "Obedience is a cherished concept in the gospel of Jesus Christ because we know that “through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.'" 

One favor I have to ask of you. Nashville Tribute. I need the Redeemer album and their Joseph Smith album. So if you could buy that on Dad's iTunes account, I can download it onto my iPad. That would be awesome, because they are so good! I've never heard of them before.

I'm sad to leave this area... And I'm going to miss all of the people we have been teaching, and the members are so awesome. But Elder Domnikov served in the Longmont zone last transfer, and he is a pretty awesome missionary from what I could tell. So I won't be serving with someone I don't even know, which is cool. He has been out for about 10 months. It's going to be awesome in Loveland.  I will include pictures of our investigators with some extra info on them and how they are doing. Some of our investigators we didn't get to take pictures with, but all of the ones I'm pretty close to we were able to. Ron almost cried when we said goodbye. It was hard, but at least I will be close by so I can hopefully still come to his baptism!

Anyways, I have almost no time, and I haven't packed at all yet. I love you so much Mom! Also could I get some more protein? Okay that's it. I love you so much!!!

Love, 

Elder Bush

Transfers are this week, craziness. I will miss Elder farnes and the wisdom he has imparted. But I am excited to continue serving elsewhere, although I will miss everyone that I am leaving behind. A lot. 

This week, I have been strengthened in my testimony of the First Vision. I am eternally grateful for the fact that Joseph Smith had the faith to turn to our Heavenly Father in prayer. 

I have studied a lot about the prophet Joseph Smith this week, and my testimony of Jesus Christ as our Redeemer and as the Savior can be attributed significantly to my testimony of the First Vision. 

In the words of the Prophet Joseph F. Smith- “The greatest event that has ever occurred in the world since the resurrection of the Son of God from the tomb, and his ascension on high, was the coming of the Father and of the Son to that boy Joseph Smith, to prepare the way for the laying of the foundation of [God’s] kingdom--not the kingdom of man--never more to cease nor to be overturned.

And to quote D. Todd Christofferson-- "I love and bear witness of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Through his personal association with the Lord, his translation and publication of the Book of Mormon, and the sealing of his testimony with his martyr’s blood, Joseph has become the preeminent revelator of Jesus Christ in His true character as divine Redeemer. Jesus has had no greater witness nor more devoted friend than Joseph Smith." 

I bear my testimony as well. 

I know that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God to establish the kingdom of God again on the earth, never to be taken away again. I know that although he was not perfect, there was no error in the revelations he taught. 

Because of the prophet Joseph Smith, I know that Jesus is truly the Christ! He is the Only One who can redeem us from our sins. I will stand by the prophet Joseph Smith in declaring that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that the Church of Jesus Christ is His church on the earth again. 

Appropriate love

Elder Bush

Ron is planning on getting baptized on June 25th. We are so excited for him! He is such a great guy, and he is going to be a huge blessing in the lives of many people in the Rinn valley ward. 

Amy and Jason are still going on strong and getting ready for baptism. Their faith is so inspiring, even though they are going through tough times. 

Jacky and Harold- we do a bible study with them. They are suuuuuuper nice. They probably won't be getting baptized any time soon, but they are awesome people. 

This is the Bingham family. Bishop Bingham is awesome! Erik (the one right next to me) is getting ready to go on his mission soon to Spain. 

Bishop Glover is a great bishop! He is so involved with missionary work. I think you guys already saw this picture because he texted it to you. 

When you're too short for the sink, use the stool. 

Our final district picture. 

And an absolutely hilarious picture that caught elder farnes freaking out because I dropped his name tag. That is elder Morris in the foreground. 

An old WW2 veteran gave us a ride in an old Nazi Jeep! Original! From WW2! It was an awesome experience. I took a video in the car too.  It was super cool. The floorboards were wooden and everything. 

 

May 23, 2016

This week is the last week of the transfer, so by Saturday we will know where we are going and stuff. I will most likely not be with E. Farnes anymore, which is weird! But things are going well, we are having a lot of progression, which is amazing to see. Another really cool experience this week was the fact that Ron came to the baptism of an 8-year old. He was moved to tears. The Spirit was so strong! It was very awesome. After the baptism, he went up to the newly baptized 8- year old and shook his hand. He got choked up and said "I am honored to be here". It was touching. Ron is progressing a lot. Ethan is still doing well, and although we weren't able to meet with Alfonso this week, he still wants to meet with us, which is awesome. We have had a couple of interesting experiences with other people in his neighborhood though. Whenever we drive by they like to yell "church of Satan" which is the church they claim to belong to. Not super pleasant. E. Farnes and I have dealt with the problem by quoting Joseph Smith at them.  " Silence, ye fiends of the infernal pit!"  Well, inside our car. If they could hear inside our car, they would be like, "whaaaaaaaaat?" 

Some cool experiences this week were finding investigators in places we didn't expect, like the mother and grandfather of an investigator that we already had, and also being able to do service for a less active sister and her husband. We pulled a stump out of their yard, which was fun. Those 2 new investigators that we had were pretty interested too, which was very cool. Amy, Jason, Alex, and Jason are still struggling with health issues, but their faith is still strong, which is something we are so grateful for. Thanks for your prayers, they have been very helpful. We have also been able to do lots of service at a horse farm, which has been awesome. We have been building jumps for horses and stuff, which is cool. Because summer is coming up, we are doing lots of service which is so awesome! 

One experience I had that taught me that happened while we were on
exchanges this week. We were driving to drop by a less active sister
and her non-member husband, and as we were driving, we started to
drive past a neighborhood that we had worked in recently. Instantly, a
thought came to my head: "Go see Solomon". Solomon was a potential
investigator that we had been trying to make contact with in that
neighborhood. Previously, we hadn't had much luck. I almost
rationalized the prompting but at the last second decided to follow
it. I turned into the neighborhood and we went to visit Solomon. We
caught him at the perfect time, and discovered that his family would
be moving out to St. George for a new job that he had got, and that
they would be moving in the next couple of days! We were able to have
an amazing lesson with him and his wife, they were both touched by the
First Vision especially. After we invited them to read the Book of
Mormon, they asked us how they would be able to contact the
missionaries in St. George. We got their address and sent their
information to St. George so the missionaries could contact them. 

It
was such an amazing experience and really taught me just how important
it is for us to follow promptings from the Spirit! I almost justified
it and rationalized that thought away, but if I had done so, we
probably wouldn't have made contact with them at all and would have
missed the opportunity to introduce them to the truths of the Restored
gospel.

That taught me a very valuable lesson to never rationalize promptings.
I am so grateful that at the last second I turned on that street. 

 The Church is so true! Jesus is truly the Christ, the Only Begotten of
the Father, and He loves us infinitely. 

May 16, 2016

We are having stupid weather again here. It was good for a couple of days this week, but then it started getting cloudy and rainy again... Quite gloomy. 

What a great Sunday! And that is so true- I have definitely noticed that so far- because there are some days where we don't get to do our studies, and the rest of the day just feels off, kind of like a sinking feeling- because if we aren't progressing forward then we are moving backward. Yesterday was such a good day- both sacrament meetings were good, and we had 5 investigators at church so that was very cool. Amy, Jason, and Alex were there, they are still encountering struggles but they are still having faith which is so awesome. Then Ethan, a new investigator came to sacrament meeting as well. He is a friend of some of the youth in the ward, and he wants to join the church. He is very excited to learn and to continue growing in the gospel.  That member family has been such a great example for him. It is very cool to see that. Currently he is set on date for June 11 for his baptism. We might have to change the date, he is  excited about baptism, so that pretty neat. He is about 16 years old, and the ward is doing a good job of fellowshipping him and stuff which is very cool.

Ron is also very excited about baptism. He has been asking us questions about it, like what he will be wearing, and who will be baptizing him, and stuff like that. It is pretty cool to see the hope and purpose that has come into his life from the gospel. We also met with Alfonso this week, and talked with him some more about the scriptures. We talked about the Plan of Salvation as well, and it went really well. Brother Smith came with us to that one, and he is a really good guy, he understands how to teach and how to help investigators understand things, so that was awesome. Yeah, he told us he was going to email you guys, and that was simply just embarrassing because we didn't really do anything remarkable at all. But it was good.

We also went on exchanges this week with the Zone Leaders, and that was awesome. I got to learn a lot from them, and I got to have some fun in a different area. 

I also taught a lesson with a parakeet on my shoulder when we were at a members house. It was only a little bit distracting when it started nibbling on my ear. 

Fishing again

We had ginormous burgers at an elder quorum activity on Friday. Ron came to that, so that was cool.

They were 2/3 beef, 1/3 venison. They just put it on the grill and then smashed it into a patty. Wayyyy delicious! They also cooked eggs and put them on the burger too. I don't know if you can see that in the  picture of my hamburger. It was really good though. 

Everything is going well, there are always those days that are harder, but I take solace in the fact that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all things can be overcome. It is such a privilege to be engaged in this work, and to see the blessings that come from it. It really testifies to me of its truth. This week I have been studying about grace, and what that means, and how that applies to us. The parable of the vine and the branches really helped me with that, (John 15). I thought that was pretty cool.  love how the Atonement motivates us to change and can change our desires and our very nature.  I'm here to serve the Lord 100%, not 96%, with the other 4% focused on something else. 

May 9, 2016

What a week! I don't have a lot of time, but it is truly amazing to
see all the miracles that the Lord blesses us with. One of them, for
example, was our meeting a guy who has been searching for the true
church his whole life. He has studied the bible and made a list of
things that he believes the true church needs. He asked us a bunch of
questions, and discovered that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints has all of the doctrine and organization he has been
looking for. We were truly guided by the Lord to meet him. That was
just one of the many miracles that we saw this week.

I can testify that the Lord is in this work. He loves all of His
children and I am so grateful to be able to carry this message of joy
to the people in the Colorado Fort Collins mission.

Appropriate love,
Elder Bush

(from Elder Bush's email to Mom...)

That was very awesome. Too bad we don't have more time to talk! Thanks for letting me talk to each one of them individually, it was really good. 





I thought about you guys a lot when we went to someone's house for May the 4th, and I realized you guys were probably having your Star Wars dinner, it sounds very fun and delicious! I don't remember celebrating revenge of the 6th with you guys before but that sounds pretty fun as well.



That sounds like an absolutely crazy experience! And scary too!!! I'm glad they found the little boy, and that he was safe. I think that is a great metaphor for how the work should be-- it really is first and foremost the responsibility of the members to invite their friends. When members invite their friends, the work always goes sooooooo much better. The family of four that we are teaching was found by their friends, and many others that we are teaching are the result of invitations from members. Missionaries can knock doors all day, but it is simply just a fact that people don't trust us as much as they trust their friends.  I think you guys do a great job of missionary work, and I think that Heavenly Father will continue to guide you guys as to what you can do to invite other to experience the joy of the Atonement in their lives.



That sounds like a good Mother's Day, but I wish I could've talked to you more. I can't even begin to express the gratitude I have to you for being the Christlike example of charity that you are. Yesterday during studies we watched Jeffrey R. Hollands talk "behold thy mother" and he said that the love that comes closest to the love that was expressed by our Savior through the Atonement love of a devoted mother, and I believe that is very true. Seeing how you love and care for us has helped me learn and understand more the love that our Savior has for us. Thanks for being such a great example of Christlike love and service. I love you mom, and I know that you love me and all of us kids. I can't even begin to describe how thankful I am for you.



I am also studying and looking for tender mercies in the Book of Mormon, among other things, and I noticed that too- Nephi really loves to point out the Lords tender mercies because it shows just how much the Lord loves us! I studied today in mosiah where the people of limhi and the people of alma were delivered from bondage. Besides being actually delivered from bondage, there were lots of tender mercies in the lives of those people. I'm learning also that we have to be humble and have faith, otherwise we won't recognize those tender mercies for what they actually are. Pretty cool.



This week was very good, we had lots of lesson with lots of people this week. We really haven't had a lot of time to go finding in our area because we are trying to keep up with the investigators that we already have. It is very awesome and inspiring to see the Lords hand in His work. I told you guys about that investigator who has been looking for the true church through study of the bible, and that was very very cool! We are excited for him. Another really cool thing that we have been able to see is a sister that was less active is now coming back to church and even going to classes after sacrament meeting. It is cool to see the change that is coming into her life. 

The other night was pretty cool as well, we stopped at the lake on our way home because it was a beautiful night, and we met some Mennonite missionaries who were going out for 6 month missions. We talked to them and exchanged contact info, they seemed interested in hanging out sometime and talking about God, so that was very cool. We have also been able to do lots of service this week, and we dug a drain pipe for one of our investigators, and she got very emotional as she thanked us for helping her, and she said that she knew that God sent us to help her out. It is a very cool experience for me to see how service really helps people see that we truly care about them. It is what Christ would be doing, and that is a cool experience.



I

May 2, 2016

This week has been a good one. Colorado weather needs to make up its
mind. Last week it was warm and sunny, and this week, it has been
snowing and cold all over the place. It has been pretty grey and
dreary honestly. But the work is going great. 

 One thing I have learned this week is the importance of diligence and
faith even when times are rough. We cover two wards, and in one of the
wards, it is really hard to find new investigators, and we have been
struggling, while the other ward has been booming. This week we made a
conscious effort to try to spend lots of time working in the
struggling ward, with little success. Then, a couple of days ago, we
found a trailer park (aka new investigators and humble people galore)
that we had never noticed before! Since then we have been able to set
several return appointments, and we have seen several miracles. One
very cool one was when we were tracting and we knocked on the door of
this lady who wanted nothing to do with the church because of bad
experiences in the past with her family. As we talked to her and
helped her see that we honestly cared about her, her heart softened,
and she told us that we could come back some other time. It was an
amazing experience. 

 One last thing that I have learned is the importance of following the
Spirit. In the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 50 it says " Verily I
say unto you, he that is ordained of me and sent forth to preach the
word of truth by the Comforter, in the Spirit of truth, doth he preach
it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?
And if it be by some other way it is not of God.
And again, he that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it by
the Spirit of truth or some other way?
If it be some other way it is not of God.
Therefore, why is it that ye cannot understand and know, that he that
receiveth the word by the Spirit of truth receiveth it as it is
preached by the Spirit of truth?
Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one
another, and both are edified and rejoice together."

We cannot teach without the Spirit, because we have a celestial
message, and it needs to be shared in a celestial way. (by the Spirit)
or else it won't be received into the heart. As my MTC teacher Brother
Balzer said: "A telestial messenger cannot teach a celestial truth."
If we don't follow the Spirit, then we really can't teach the way we
should. In my work I'm trying to really focus on not just inviting the
Spirit into lessons, but following the Spirit in everything I say and
do.

Because I have been striving to do this, my testimony has really
gotten stronger. I know that Jesus is the Christ, and that the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is His kingdom here on earth. I
know that the priesthood has been restored to the earth, and that
Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life and happiness in this
life as well. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a true pattern
for living that brings true joy and change. I know that the Book of
Mormon is the word of God. 

 Appropriate love to you all,

Elder Bush

A member of the bishopric is a beekeeper.   

More snake pictures!

Re: May 1, 201

It is amazing to see just how much sincere prayer influences us- I've noticed that as I humble myself and approach my Father in Heaven with a sincere heart, he always answers me, and I have been able to come very close to Him. I've recently started trying to always keep a prayer in my heart, and that has really blessed me so I can always have the Spirit guide me and bless me. I am so grateful for the gift of the Spirit, it is simply amazing. Christ said in the scriptures, specifically in 2 Nephi 26:13 "And that he manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him, by the power of the Holy Ghost; yea, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, working mighty miracles, signs, and wonders, among the children of men according to their faith." As we come closer to Christ through repentance and show our faith in Him, He manifests Himself into us by the power of the Holy Ghost, which will come into our lives and we follow Him. I think that is simply amazing. 

Mosiah 4&5 are really good chapters, I think that is very true- as we feel our Saviors love through the Atonement and the principles of the Restored gospel, we just want to share it with others. 

It truly is a blessing to be able to have the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Sometimes in our efforts to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon, we forget that the bible is also the word of God.  As missionaries, when that happens, we often end up sliding into an argument we never wanted to get into, because when we try to promote one against the other, it leaves us with a dark spirit, because contention is of the devil. That is why bible bashing is so unproductive and leaves you with a terrible spirit- you try to use Gods words to argue against Gods words! It doesn't work, and it is never productive. I have a testimony of both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, but specifically the Book of Mormon as evidence of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! 

It came forth the way Joseph Smith said it did, and it has a power that no other book on earth does. The Bible brings us closer to God, it is true, but the Book of Mormon has the power to bring us to our loving Father in Heaven. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only church on earth that had the power of godliness. Many Christians try to argue with us and say that they will get to heaven, and they will! Their idea of heaven is being angels in a peaceful state. Our message is that there is something eternally more than that! We can become like Him and become par takers of eternal life! This is something that the Book of Mormon directs us to, and this is something that can only be found in the Restored Church of Jesus Christ, here in the earth in the Latter Days. What a blessing we have, and what a message we carry to everyone. Eternal joy and salvation rides on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and of its divine origins. I testify that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and with the prophet Joseph I stand as a witness that it is the most correct book of any on the earth, and that by it and through the principles it teaches, we can come to our Savior Jesus Christ, and be cleansed from sin, to dwell eternally with our Father in Heaven.

I love this gospel. It's simplicity and the blessings that come from living it are so wonderful, they cannot be described using any earthly tongue. 

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.

April 18, 2016

So we have been very busy over these past couple of weeks.

All I have time to say at this point is that the Book of Mormon is
true. I know that it is true because I have studied it and I have
prayed about it.

Because I know that the Book of Mormon is true, I know that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God. I know that our Heavenly Father lives and
loves us. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet.

I invite all of you to read the last chapter of the Book of Mormon this week, and
get down on your knees and pray about it, even if you already have a
testimony. I promise that your testimony of the Book of Mormon will be
strengthened as long as you pray in faith, believing that you will
receive.

The work is good. Elder Farnes is still a boss.

The Book of Mormon is still and always will be true. God himself has
sworn that it is. (D&C 17:6)

Appropriate love,

Elder Bush

  An investigator went fishing with them...  

And Elder Bush kissed a fish...  Gross.

Holding a tarantula......................................      A new haircut and a new Colorado shirt!            

April 11, 2016

The weather has been super good this week so we have been biking as much as possible. This week we have probably biked about 30-40 miles since we got a bike rack, which was Wednesday. On Friday, we biked about 15 miles, and that was after planning for 3 hours. I love biking because we get to talk to way more people. It's great. We have been finding two new investigators every week- so now we have... Drumroll please....

25 investigators! 9 of which are progressing. This week we already have 3 appointments scheduled that should help us get 3 more investigators. The Lord is blessing us so much, because we are not super good at finding or teaching. Well, I'm not. But as we've been trying to become consecrated missionaries, the Lord is trusting us with more of His children. We open our mouths to as many people as we can. We aren't perfect, but we are trying to work harder every day. It is such a blessing to be able to find these people who are ready to hear the gospel. My testimony is strengthened every day. It is truly wonderful. 

This transfer is a seven week transfer, so we wouldn't hear if we were transferring until Saturday night- but we will probably both be staying in this area because I'm still getting trained- and the 12 week program doesn't finish until week 12. Obviously. So usually two transfers. But it's crazy to me how fast this transfer has flown by. I only have 16 transfers!  It's crazy to me, because that doesn't sound like very much.

I am marking my copy of the Book of Mormon with 4 different colors- Christ's words, His attributes, His doctrine, and references to Him and Heavenly Father. That is what our mission president has challenged us to do, and I usually read about 10 pages a day because in an hour, we have plenty of time. Hahaha

I love conference so much, the things we learn and apply on our lives bless us so much!  It reminds me of Elder Hollands quote from conference, that the first great truth of the gospel is that God loves us eternally! That is the greatest truth that we have in the Restored gospel of Christ: Our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ love us infinitely.  That is what we get to bear testimony of every day and it's amazing!

One of my favorite quotes from conference is the one from Elder Oaks- "some things can only be learned by faith" and Elder Gong's "to be worthy does not mean to be perfect."

My companion's favorite quote is the one from President Monson- "choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong."

I love you so much! Thank you for your prayers and support and all the packages and stuff.