People are Always Watching; Week 21

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well! 

This week was full of adventure. So it is a goal as a mission to teach 20 lessons a week and it is not a easy thing to do in some areas. Since I have been here in Pocatello we were lucky to teach 10 lessons. Elder O'Brien and I have been working our tails off and this last three weeks we have taught 21, 20 and 20 lessons. We are so exhausted every night we hit our beds and sleep like rocks. I love it!

We were teaching this family and the husband never sat in on our lessons. He has had many bad experiences with Mormons and does not really like us. But the other day we got a call from his wife saying he had prayed and was told by God he needed to be baptized. It was pretty cool! 

 Another cool experience was we're teaching this lady who was a claimed Atheist but she came to church and now she wants to come back again! EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!

 Oh Boy I am very grateful for the the opportunity to serve a mission. I love learning about the Gospel of Jesus Christ everyday!

 So this week I was thinking about the example we are to people even when we do not think people are watching. So in the Book of Mormon, one of the Prophets, Alma is teaching his son to choose the right because he has lead people astray by making mistakes, so people do not belive in the words of Alma.

 11 Suffer not yourself to be led away by any vain or foolish thing; suffer not the devil to lead away your heart again after those wicked harlots. Behold, O my son, how great iniquity ye brought upon the Zoramites; for when they saw your conduct they would not believe in my words.

People are always watching our actions and words and habits. It is important  to remember that as we conduct ourselves.

I love you all. Take Care

Elder Rush

Elder Rush with his district.

Adorable Elders!

Transfer Calls! and GuessWhere I am Going!

Hello Everyone! 

I miss you and love you all so much.

So this last week was transfer calls and it turns out I am staying here with Elder O'Brien! I am excited to be staying here in Pocatello. The work has really picked up and we are so busy that we are running to appointments. I think one of my favorite experiences from this week is that we had 3 new investigators come to church this week. Here is how we found them. We were tracting some apartments so knocking door after door. And this lady answered and told us she was not interested but would listen to what we had to say. She told us she was atheist. From that we taught her and slowly she changed from atheist to agnostic and now she is coming to church! It is super awesome. Anyway I am excited and grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission and it is going so fast!

I was reading in Alma chapter 39 verse  8:

But behold, ye cannot hide your crimes from God; and except ye repent they will stand as a testimony against you at the last day.

I have been thinking a lot about repentance lately. It truly is a gift from God to be able to find relief from the mistakes we make in our lives everyday. Our Father in Heaven wants to forgive us and HE will. Turn to Him and our Savior in times of trouble and weakness.

I love you all!

Elder Rush

Mitchell said he fed his new four legged friend bacon and he won't leave him alone now.

Kaelie wants to make Mitchell's new friend a collar with a tie and name tag, "Elder Meow"

Love my kids!

A quick e-mail to me from my favorite Mitchell. He touches my heart!

Hello mom!

 I am doing well just exhausted. There is no catching up on sleep when you miss it and we are very very busy. Elder O'Brien and I are staying here in Pocatello, so I will be here for 6 months after this transfer! CRAZY!  But I love you mom, I hope you are doing well and thanks for being an awesome example of service to me.

Happy New Year From Pocatello!

Hello Everyone!

 Thank you for the updates and please keep sending them! I love hearing about how you are doing! Oh and Happy New Year! What are some goals you have for this year?

 This last week was crazy with the holidays and everything but we were about to teach many people. Last night, Sunday night, it was 8pm and we needed to be home by 9. We wanted to teach 3 more people that night and all our appointments had cancelled. So we prayed and asked our Father in Heaven to help us find 3 people. After that we walked down the street and felt impressed to stop at a few houses so we did and we ended up teaching 4 lessons! It was pretty cool. 

Really I have been thinking a lot about time. It is crazy that I will be out 6 months next month. In 2 Peter 3:8 it tells us that 1 day of the Lord's time is a 1000 years of our time. So that means my mission is only 3 minutes in the eyes of God and if you live for 90 years then that is 2 hours and 15 minutes in the eyes of God. We really do not have that much time here on this Earth. We need to make the most of it. We need to do our best everyday and truly need to prepare to meet God in this life. This quote has helped me focus on my goals. 

"We don’t have to be fast; we simply have to be steady and move in the right direction. We have to do the best we can, one step after another...The only thing you need to worry about is striving to be the best you can be. And how do you do that? You keep your eye on the goals that matter most in life, and you move towards them step by step...That is easy enough. We don’t have to be perfect today. We don’t have to be better than someone else. All we have to do is to be the very best we can." -Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

I invite you all to focus on goals this year that will help you become a better person and allow you to help others.

I know a goal I have is to read the Bible and Book of Mormon all the way through this year.

I hope you are all in good health and doing well. Continue to read the scriptures  and pray everyday. This next week is transfers so I may be leaving Pocatello.

Love,

Elder Rush

In another email,  Mitchell said he was unable to attend my cousin, Bill Haskett's funeral which was  in one of his wards, because he was on splits in another area. He actually had a car, he was not walking. He said the funny thing was as they were driving he recognized grandpa's car in front of them. He saw grandpa but didn't think grandpa saw him.  Im sure my dad was on his way delivering the homemade bread and jam he had for Mitchell. My parents spoil my boy! I wish he could have attended the funeral to meet all my family. I would say next time, but 2 funerals in 5 weeks time are more then too many!

Relaxing time!

Nerf war!

Make Sure You Pray Everyday!

  

 Christmas Day in Pocatello! 

Elder Rush and some of his Zone.

Hello Everyone!

This last week was pretty crazy with Christmas. I hope you all had a very Merry CHRISTmas and remember the true meaning of Christmas. 

So we were given 3 hours Monday to email and shop, 3 hours Wednesday night, because no one wants missionaries in their home Christmas eve ); and Christmas day was all day P-day. The schedule is the same this week. But it has thrown me off. I cannot wait for things to get back to normal.

Nothing really happened this week. Friday morning we were all happy and finalizing the details for Jacob's baptism but we received a text from his mom saying she did not want him to be baptized for 6 more months. I was sad because Jacob understands the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He's not even baptized but asks questions about serving a mission and has a desire to serve one! Hopefully things will change for him.

Saturday we got to go through the temple with a lady we have been teaching. Two years ago she was in a terrible place. No job, no place to live, and had an addiction to drugs. Seeing the healing power that the Atonement of Jesus Christ has on someone is amazing. If anyone reading this is having trouble with an addiction it is possible to overcome, when you turn to your Father in Heaven, He will help you through all your struggles. 

Well in conclusion for this week. I miss you all! I really do! I hope you are doing well and would love to hear from you. I am sorry I have not respond to your letters lately but Thursday I am sitting down and writing letters! And whatever you do make sure you pray EVERYDAY. It is one of the most important things you can do on a daily basis!

Love you and Happy New Year!

Elder Rush

Elder Rush and Elder O'Brien's Christmas tree.

So excited! Christmas morning!

Chatting with our amazing Elder Rush on Christmas afternoon! He still does his Mitchell faces! Miss my boy!

Only someone from Canada would have a snowball fight in shorts! Burrrr! Wish there was a picture of my California boy who doesn't like the snow but loves the white stuff on the beach! California winters!

Love Elder O'Brien's head gear!

In the back ground is Hawthorne Middle School, my Junior High School many many moons ago!

Miss Mitchell's beautiful blue eyes!

Merry Christmas to All!

Hope you all are having a safe and happy Christmas season!

It is crazy! Christmas is in 3 days and it still hasn't phased me. Usually the 25 days of Christmas take forever and you are anxious counting down. I thought yesterday was the 3 of December so this time has gone by really fast!

Things have finally settled down companion wise. Elder O'Brien came in on Tuesday and we have been working non stop ever since. Three days in a row we forgot to schedule dinner because we have so many appointments to run to and we literally have been running from appointments. I have never taught 20+ lessons in a week and we broke that this week and we only had 5 days to teach this week! It has been awesome! We get home at night, exhausted, hit our beds and are out. Then we get to do it again the next day! I LOVE IT!

Anyway, here is information on Elder O'Brien! He is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Loves music and guess what else...hockey (not trying to stereotype Canadians haha) He goes home in April. He is a very great missionary and we are very very similar in many ways except the great missionary part. I am still trying to get there :) 

This weekend we are going to the temple to take an inactive member who we helped return to activity in the church for the first time. I am so excited for her. Elder Rash actually taught her in his first area two years ago but then her life was a mess and she disappeared after ELder Rash gave her a blessing. I thought it was pretty cool that the last lesson Elder Rash taught was with her and he got to see the fruits of his effort from two years ago. 

Also we have a baptism on Saturday with a boy named Jacob! Oh man he is so ready! I asked him why he wanted to be baptized and he said because he wants to get closer to his Father in Heaven and return to Him one day. It was awesome!

In this months Ensign there is a talk titled " The Reality of Christmas". I encourage you to read it.  https://www.lds.org/liahona/2014/12/the-reality-of-christmas?lang=eng. It is an awesome talk on Christmas and here is a piece of it!

"“It causes us to contemplate our relationship with our Father and the degree of devotion we have for God.

“It prompts us to be more tolerant and giving, more conscious of others, more generous and genuine, more filled with hope and charity and love—all Christlike attributes. No wonder the spirit of Christmas touches the hearts of people the world over. … For at least a time, increased attention and devotion are turned toward our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”2

This Christmas, as the spirit of the season permeates our hearts, let us do something that expresses our feelings in an outward way, showing that we understand that the babe born in Bethlehem is the real Redeemer. President Howard W. Hunter (1907–95) gave some practical advice that helps us do that:

“This Christmas, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again.”3

Without Christ, there would be no Christmas. Without Christ, there can be no fulness of joy. Without His birth and His Atonement, we would have no Intercessor, no Advocate with the Father, and no Mediator who makes it possible for us to return to the presence of our loving Heavenly Father and live together as eternal families."

Love you all. Be Good and keep me updated on your lives,

Love Elder Rush

Elder Rush with his new companion, Elder O'Brien

So proud of my Elder Rush! He is such an example to me!

New record! 5 companions in 2 weeks!

Week Teen-something 

Hola EveryOne! I hope you are all doing well. Thank you for the letters and support! Please keep me updated on your lives!

So once again my week was crazy. After the chaos of my companion being emergency transferred, I received another companion whose companion was sent home. So we were a trio for 5 days. And I get my real companion Elder O'Brien tomorrow. Things have been hectic and it is wearing on me. I guess I set a new goal with having 5 companions in 2 weeks. The work here has been going along. Smoking is an awful habit. Do not start it. The people here that are trying to quit are going through a tough time. The change they are going through is amazing. The atonement of Jesus Christ really will help us overcome the challenges we face in life. 

We were teaching a lesson to a new investigator named Jacob and he asked us what we did before our missions and I could not remember. I thought I had always been on my mission. Then I remembered. Anyway Jacob is really cool. He has a baptismal date for Dec 27 and will be baptized then!

On Sunday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting! I spoke about the Stripling warriors especially on Alma 56:47   

"Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them."

They went into a situation that they never experienced before, without fear, looking to the example of their fathers for strength and relying on what they had learned at a young age to help them overcome their trials. May we all have the faith in God we need to accomplish miracles. And may we all remember the true meaning of Christmas and everything Christ has done for us. 

Continue to read the Book of Mormon daily and for those that have not,  pick it up and try to prove it wrong. 

I love you all and miss you much. Keep up the good work.

Elder Rush

Elder Rush with 2 of the 5 companions he's had in 2 weeks! Elder Rash and Elder Santos.

They are wearing the matchy Christmas penguin ties I sent!

Elder Rush and Elder Cox, 1 of the 5 companions.

My Elders Christmas Stockings! Love my boys!

Elder Rush with his District as District Leader.

I'm District Leader now, Yikes!

Dec 8, 2014 

Well Hello peoples, 

How are your lives going? I would love to hear more!

 So this last week has been pretty hectic! Elder Downey's health started to pick up but then he was transferred away. My new companion, Elder Cox, does not like Pocatello so he found his way out of here. He was transferred to Blackfoot just now and now my companion for a week is Elder Rash, then Elder O'Brien after. It has been pretty crazy.

The work is slow and people don't like us still. That is okay, I still love them! 

Anyway if you have time check out www.mormon.org/christmas. Remember what this holiday season is about and remember what Christ has done for you!

Love you all!

 I am also a district leader now. Yikes!

Transfer day, saying goodbye to Elder Downey who went to Idaho Falls.

Watch out Pocatello West, Elder Rush and Elder Rash, the Big Jud's humongous hamburger eating missionaries, are companions until December 17th when Elder Rash completes his mission.

Elder Rush staying healthy!

Decorating their Christmas tree!