BUSY BUSY BUSY!

Hello Everyone!

I hope you have a great week! 

Our week went by super fast again! 

Not much to report this week. 

We have been contacting so many people, we have been given over 100 names of people that the ward members want us to visit! BUSY BUSY BUSY!

An eye opening experience from the week. We met a lady who use to believe in God now she does not. She explained that God (Children Stop Reading this) is like a certain character Santa, where it is a nice inspiring, uplifting belief. But that is all it is. So to her it is just a story :(  It just makes me sad that people don't believe!

 2 And now I, Nephi, write more of the words of Isaiah, for my soul delighteth in his words. For I will liken his words unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children, for he verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him.

 3 And my brother, Jacob, also has seen him as I have seen him; wherefore, I will send their words forth unto my children to prove unto them that my words are true. Wherefore, by the words of three, God hath said, I will establish my word. Nevertheless, God sendeth morewitnesses, and he proveth all his words.

 4 Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him.

Anyway, have a great week! Love you!

Love,

Elder Rush

"When you face adversity, you can be led to ask many questions. Some serve a useful purpose; others do not. To ask, Why does this have to happen to me? Why do I have to suffer this, now? What have I done to cause this? will lead you into blind alleys. It really does no good to ask questions that reflect opposition to the will of God. Rather ask, What am I to do? What am I to learn from this experience? What am I to change? Whom am I to help? How can I remember my many blessings in times of trial? Willing sacrifice of deeply held personal desires in favor of the will of God is very hard to do. Yet, when you pray with real conviction, “Please let me know Thy will” and “May Thy will be done,” you are in the strongest position to receive the maximum help from your loving Father."

Haircut day! Thank you my Idaho Angel friend, Janette Woolley for taking care of our missionaries!

On Exchanges with Elder Roberts.

Elder Rush, Roberts and Brother Hall.

We found a cat in a basket!

Saying goodbye to Elders Dalling and Banez who are now in the new Idaho Idaho Falls Mission.

We Seem to be Really Good at Making People Cry!

Hello Everyone!!!

I hope you had a great week! Our week flew by, we were really busy! 

I really have two cool stories to share this week.

1. Julia

2. Dani

1. Julia was the lady from last week that we found that was looking for church to go to. This week we gave her a tour of the church, she came to church and we had another lesson with the bishop. Saturday when we gave her a church tour she showed what with a shower cap on. She explained that she was conditioning her hair for church the next day. It was pretty funny! Anyway as we walked around the church she said she felt something different, felt peace and comfort. We went into the chapel and discussed the importance of the sacrament. Julia expressed to us how she felt the need to be at church and partake of the sacrament. It was a spiritual experience. Sunday morning we were waiting for her to show up at church. She came but 10 minutes late. After sacrament meeting she ran home to take some medicine. We waited for her again but no show. Finally at the beginning of the third hour she came back and went to Relief Society by herself. We were really excited to see her. After church Elder Ramirez, myself and Julia met with Bishop Mayer. Bishop tried to get to know Julia and in the process she just opened up to him about the trails of her life. A few months ago her husband just got up and left after 18 years. She told us how she felt so alone, depressed and began to isolate herself. She lost all her friends and her family won't talk to her. During the process she was crying, and told us that we showed up and she knew it was an answer to prayers. Since then she has not felt alone. Going to church for her was really hard, all these things kept trying to stop her from coming. She said " I know that Satan is trying to stop me from being here. I will be here every week."  She expressed how grateful she was to be here. It was awesome! 

2. Dani was another lady that had been though a lot of tribulation in her life. She stopped going to church for a long time but felt she needed to go back. She was mad at God for a long time. We talked to her about how much God loves her and that she is a child of our Heavenly Father. She started to cry (we seem to be really good at making people cry) and told us how bad she wants to know that God cares for her. It was a good reminder to me that God's love brings peace and happiness to our lives.

And lastly from my studies this week, I ran into a few profound scriptures. Very Simple and to the point.

Luke 5:26-27

 27 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt         of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.
 28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
 29 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of                   publicans and of others that sat down with them.

So Levi, other wise know as Matthew was invited to follow the Savior just like we are. I love what Matthew does 3 simple steps. He Left ALL, Rose UP, and Followed HIM. We can do that to in 3 steps. We have to decide today to do that when the time comes. I also love what Matthew does right after Christ invites him to follow. Matthew serves Christ. A part of following Christ is service! Anyway I love it!

Hope you have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Rush

Selfies with Sister Stoddard's phone! So blessed to have Dan and Barbie Stoddard, Aka mom and dad, take care of my boy!

Breakfast with mom and Dad Stoddard, our Idaho Angel friends!

Elder D Todd Christofferson

Hello Everyone! 

This week was nice. Transfer week always seems super long when you are transferred! 

We cover 4 wards in the Pocatello North Stake. We live at 5265 Kymball Dr
Chubbuck, Idaho 83202 with the Merrils. Holy cow they are an awesome family. They spoil us so much and are a great example of love and service. We are so lucky to be living in their home! Elder Ramirez is a fantastic missionary. I am excited to see what happens in these next 3 months!

We spend most of the last few days contacting ward members and meeting the people the Sister Missionaries were teaching. One experience that was pretty neat. We were teaching a man named Don. He has been taught by missionaries for a long time. He was outside cleaning his yard so we helped him. As we served he opened up and asked us questions about the Priesthood and why we have it. We had a good discussion with him. The best part was after that. We were leaving to head to another appointment and a lady was walking into her house. We asked her how she was and she said okay. She went into her house and we headed to our appointment. We felt the need to go to see her. a strong impression to go back so we did. Turns out she was looking for a church to go to and has been wanting to meet with missionaries for a while so now we are meeting with her! It was pretty cool! 

And on Saturday Elder D Todd Christofferson held a meeting for all the missionaries. It was super cool to meet an Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ. I learned some really good stuff! 1. God qualifies the people he calls. 2. The importance of understanding. So often we are quick to judge. Quick to assume something that is not correct. Quick to be offended. I learned the importance of taking a step back and trying to see the situation from their eyes or understand why someone would say the things they say. I think it is something that we all know but often forget. I hope to be better at understanding this week.

Well I hope you have a great week!

Love you!

Love,

Elder Rush

Our MTC group at the meeting with Elder Christofferson.

Last picture in Montpelier with the Jensens!

A happy surprise from my nephew Jonathan!

"Hey Aunt Laura,  I hope that you are doing well.  I just got this picture from an Elder whom I served in Norway with and thought that you'd enjoy it! Mitchell is in "Elder" Marley's ward right now.  I thought this was great!

Love you!"

I'm Getting Transfered!

Hello Everyone! 

Hope you had a great week!

I am getting transferred. 

Our week was fun! With school just getting out and Memorial day weekend, no one was really home. So we went about the town of Montpelier and found a 30 pound cat. It was quite the cat.  

I went on exchanges on Tuesday with Elder Harrs. We met each other for the first time 15 months ago and tomorrow he goes home. Crazy how time flies! Elder Johnson and I headed down to Cokeville for a lesson with a new investigator family. They were sitting at their dining room table waiting for us and guess what...they had a giant plate of cookies just for us. No wonder the average weight gain in our mission is 40 pounds! We talked about diets, ironic right? We discussed the idea that we only know a diet works if you try it and do it consistently. It's the same with following Jesus Christ. You never know until you try.  We had a lesson with Amber the next morning. On her path back to activity in the Church it has been awesome to see her change. In the 3 weeks that we have met with her, her countenance has become lighter and you can see the increase in happiness. The happiness that God blesses us with is real! Thursday, Friday and Saturday we did a lot of service. We moved two families out of their homes, we planted a garden and cleaned up a lawn. We had a lesson on the Sabbath Day and I realized how important it is to keep it holy. Life gets hard but God gives us tools to deal with it. To keep us strengthened against temptation and the world we can go to church and partake of the sacrament.

Doctrine and Covenants 59

 9 "And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;"

We had the opportunity to meet with Bettie again. We talked about the tree of life and the desire we can have to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others! 

1 Nephi 8:10-12

 "10 And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy.

 11 And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen.

 12 And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit."

It was great to see her open up to us and express her desires for her family to be happy! 

Friday we had to pack to move out of the Vilts for a week and we found out that I am getting transferred. I will be going back to Pocatello with Elder Ramirez in the Pocatello North Stake! 

This has been my 4th area that I was only in for 1 transfer. I already miss Montpelier. I have been telling people that I will be back for the Star Valley Temple open house in September! So prepare for a road trip!

Since Sunday was Fast and Testimony Meeting, I was able to bear my testimony twice! I was contemplating obedience and Jesus Christ's life during the sacrament. I thought it is so much easier to not go to church, to not pray, and to not believe in God but it is so much more rewarding when we do. I thought of it as a bank account. When we are breaking the commandments a lot of the time it is because we want fun now, we want pleasure now. Like a checking account we may get paid then we go and buy a large screen tv or a new boat because we want to enjoy it now! Unfortunatley, the money will run out and we have to pay the consequences. In 2 Corinthians 4:18 we read "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 

Eternal blessings cannot be seen. The blessings that obedience brings are not always evident but they are there. As we are obedient we put more in our savings account and enjoy the blessings a lot longer!

Anyway, I also thought about a mission. We spend so much time forgetting ourselves that we learn so much more about ourselves.That is what I think Christ is talking about in Mark 8:35.

 "35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it"

The more I learn about myself the more I learn that I am full of weaknesses and truly nothing. I know I have things that hold me up from serving God perfectly and I want to serve Him perfectly. I want to rid myself of all my shortcomings and trials then I came across another scripture from 2 Corinthians 12:9

"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

I LOVE the whole scripture but I want to focus on the last sentence! I realized I should be happy with my weaknesses because when I know I overcome them, it is not me that does it but the power of Christ. I, Elder Rush, another person of the 7 billion on Earth get to experience the power of Christ in my life because HE wants to help me and love me enough and everyone of us to sacrifice His own life for me. So I could experience God's love for me. So I could feel the eternal joy that leads me to be better, to keep the commandments, and to share the gospel everyday. I know with out a shadow of a doubt that God lives and sent His Beloved Son Jesus Christ to atone for our sins and make up for our weaknesses, pains and sufferings! I love them and I know they love me!

I hope you have a great week! Keep reading the scriptures and praying everyday!

Love,

Elder Rush

P.s. I have been studying a lot about Pride and President Ezra Taft Benson's talk " Beware of Pride" has opened my eyes! I invite you all to read it. It is helping me become a better person.

Elder Rush and Brother Sorter. 

Brother Sorter called me and wanted me to know that he has worked with missionaries for 60 years. He said in all those years he has not found a better missionary who exemplifies Christ then our Elder Rush. He wanted to adopt him😂! So proud of my boy! It made this mamas heart sing!

On the way to Geneve