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

Dear Children of God!

Dear Children of God!

I hope you had a great week!

Ours was quite interesting! 

We spent Monday in Garden City, Utah. Elder Beck, our district leader, was getting emergency transferred back to Pocatello because of a bunch changes to do with the new mission! We said good bye to him. Tuesday we went to Cokeville. Now everyone makes the joke that Cokeville is 99% mormon do there is no need for missionaries there. Well ya the town is probably 99% LDS BUT does need missionaries. I have learned in this area that people, even myself, give up on sharing the gospel with people because they have lived here forever. However, there is always, always people that need the hope that comes from Christ even if you have tried to share it before. So we went around Cokeville and you will never guess what we found a new investigator family that wants to learn more! It was pretty exciting. We went to Pocatello the next day for a Zone Conference. At this zone conference Elder Wilford W. Andersen of the Quorum of the Seventy visited! It was quite the experience. It was also great to see half the mission again! Some of my favorite quotes!

"Great Missionaries have great vision.” 

I think that applies to the rest of life as well. We need to have a vision of our eternal goal!

"Our great goal of life is to develop righteous desires"

What stuck out to me the most was the discussion on covenants. A covenant is a sacred agreement between God and a person or group of people. God sets specific conditions, and He promises to bless us as we obey those conditions. 

D&C 82:10 " I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise."

Covenants bring us power in our lives. As we keep our covenants we receive the blessings God wants to give us!

Anyway I have many thoughts in my brain. We were out contacting people and we knocked on a door. A lady opened and said she was busy all the time. Pretty much we don't want you to come over. Elder Johnson and I took the chance to declare the truth to her in just a few minutes. As she felt of the spirit and applied what we shared with her in her life, she became pretty emotional. She was beginning to once again feel the love of God! I wish everyone could feel that! She invited us back! MIRACLES!!

We gave talks in the Cokeville 2nd ward, two weeks in a row. I had the opportunity to be the last speaker, so I had 30 minutes both weeks and spoke the whole time. I only cried a little bit. I spoke on worthiness this week. Since Star Valley Wyoming is getting a temple soon! I shared some quotes from Elder Scott's talk The Power of Righteousness. 

"Continually bless your life with the power of righteousness. It builds confidence. It engenders trust. It yields enduring, worthy achievement. To be righteous is to seek intently to be obedient to the commandments of God. It is to be clean in thought and act. It is to be honest and just. Righteousness is shown more in acts than in words. A righteous life requires discipline. Discipline is that characteristic which will give you the strength to avoid giving up what you want most in life for something you think you want now. It is a friend, not a harsh taskmaster that makes life miserable. Discipline is easier to acquire when it is rooted in faith in Jesus Christ, when it is nourished by an understanding of His teachings and plan of happiness."

"By making choices consistent with eternal truth, you will develop righteous character and increasing strength to resist temptation. You are assured of the help of God in fulfilling your worthy decisions. You qualify to be led by the Spirit, to choose the correct path. It will warn you of temptations you might not otherwise recognize. The correct decisions you now make will help you prepare to be sealed in the temple to a worthy companion and to form and nurture your own eternal family. All who qualify for those blessings will, in the Lord’s due time, have them here or in the next life."

I hope you all have a fantastic week! 

I am working on Declaring truth so this is not only my testimony but truth.

God lives

He loves each one of us.

He has restored the truth through the Prophet Joseph Smith 

The Book of Mormon is evidence of that truth!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Rush

P.s. You should read 1 Nephi 13 this week in the Book of Mormon.

Elder Rush and Elder Johnson found back roads from Dingle to Pegram.

Cool Experience from Cokeville!

Hello Everyone,

Hope you had a great week!!!

Cool experience from Cokeville. We had a ton of referrals to contact but people were never home when we went over. We asked God to provide us with an opportunity to meet all these people and guess what they were all home! When we got there they were either sitting outside or pulling into their driveways. I know God leads and guides us as we seek his help. One lady told us she was too busy to talk to us because her dog was in the sink. She was giving it a bath! hahahah That night we stopped by a house to meet a lady named Margaret. She has been a mormon her whole life but never practiced. At her house we learned the importance of testifying. She invited us in to meet her 13 cats! LOTS OF CATS! As we talked to her about Jesus Christ, we realized she had never read the Book of Mormon. She keep telling us all she wants to do in life is follow God and learn about Jesus Christ. So we offered her a chance to read another testament of Jesus Christ (The Book of Mormon) and learn more about Him. She told us no because the book was write in todays times not in Christ's time and before, and normal people wrote it not prophets of God. We cannot prove the divine origin of the Book of Mormon to anyone, they have to read it and ask God if it is His and He will let them know. They have to take it on faith but we can bear testimony of its truth. Faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of those who have faith. We explained to her that the Book of Mormon was written 600 years before Christ's birth and 400 years after. We testified of prophets called of God directed to write His word. We showed her scriptures that spoke of what we told her. A few moments later she said " Wow, I need to read this." It was a really cool experience to see the Holy Ghost bear testimony to someone's heart and change their countenance.

We gave talks again this week. This time in the Pegram Branch. They meet in a church building but it is super small. The chapel had 5 benches to sit on. Way different. 

Sunday we were walking around Montpelier to find people. We met the Hackey family and Sister Hackey told us she did not really want to talk to us. However her husband came to the door and asked for a priesthood blessing. We gave him a blessing and after, his wife's countenance changed. They invited us back! It was really cool! 

Anyway! I hope you have a great week! 

Love and miss you a lot!

Love,

Elder Rush

A visit from The Stoddards. Elder Rush's other mama and dad.

I love Elder Rush's and Elder Johnson's ties!😂

Ribs for dinner! They left clean!

An e-mail conversation with my boy

I am good! Sorry I took so long to email. We helped someone brand calves this morning!

   Oh fun! Were you ok doing that with your tender heart?

Ya I did not help. I know I do not want to be a farmer or rancher when I grow up. We were in Liberty on the way to Preston. I am doing better now. President Hancock called on tuesday and we talked about me being sick. Brother Sorter called him and told him I was not looking well. So I went to the doctors and got a blood test. Guess what! I fainted when I got my blood taken! hahah! Anyways when I talked to President, he said do you want to train because I need another zone leader. That made me feel better. I felt some relief when he said that. I like Montpelier but I do not like small towns very much. I guess I am not use to them. I miss lots of people.

    I knew you wouldn't be able to brand them!

    Oh my dear, my boy😂😂, how are you going to go to medical school?

    Did they find anything out with your blood?

Well my doctor who is also our bishop said he faints when he watches his blood drawn so...but I have been thinking a lot lately about Dentistry or Optometry or Radiology or Oncology! So we will see. They took four samples they had two checked. So far all is normal!

Love you mom!!!! Hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Rush

I Hope We Can All Learn Our Divine Nature.

Hello Everyone!

I hope you had a great week!

This week was great for us! Things have been improving and moving forward!

As we tried again to meet as many people as possible we ran into a boy named Trayson. His brother had been meeting with the missionaries for awhile but he was never interested. As we talked to him he opened up to us about how he felt that he is a good person but something was missing. He had a hole inside of him that he did not know how to fill. He told us about his family problems and his little sister's death. It was amazing amazing amazing to see as we discussed our relationship with God (we being his children) he just lite up. And adding our testimony of our Savior, Trayson just wanted to learn more. He had question after question. It was an awesome experience to see the change in him, in just a few minutes! 

I had my interview with President Hancock this week. It was nice to see the Hancocks again. I really miss working with and seeing them weekly. Anyway, we discussed the idea of extending and President told me I have to go home sometime. So I probably won't extend my mission unless invited to do so by my Mission President! 

We had the opportunity to give a talk in the Montpelier 4th ward. I talked about the Godhead (Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost) and the relationship they have to the Plan of Salvation! I really enjoyed learning everything I did from preparing that talk!

My favorite talk of the week was from Elder Donald L. Hallstrom "I am a Child of God".

Great Talk! I invite you all to read it!

Here is a quote!

"In one of the most remarkable spiritual events of my life, I was taught a profound lesson that day. We live in a world that can cause us to forget who we really are. The more distractions that surround us, the easier it is to treat casually, then ignore, and then forget our connection with God. The Saints in Liberia have little materially, and yet they seem to have everything spiritually. What we witnessed that day in Monrovia was a group of sons and daughters of God who knew it!"

I hope we all can learn our divine nature!

I love you all!

Have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Rush

Companion ties 

Julie Tonga from Cokeville Wyoming, had Elder Rush and Elder Johnson over for dinner. She told me Elder Rush was Heaven sent. She said he is a great missionary. So positive and humble. It made my heart sing!

Happy Birthday Elder Rush

Happy Belated Mothers Day!
Hello Everyone!
Hope you had a great week!
This one was good for us! We traveled a lot! But the week went really fast!
We had a cool experience in Cokeville! We meet a family that is all non Mormon! Now Cokeville is 99% Latter day Saint so finding people that are not members is pretty rare. So we met Amanda outside her house. She has two little kids 1 and 6. Anyways she started the conversation with I am not Mormon and not interested. So we got to know her and shared with her that she can have an eternal family. That she could live with her little kids and husband forever. And that she will be reunited with love ones that have past away! We told her about Family History Work and Temple work for those that have past on. She actually talked to us for 45 minutes or so. We are going back next week! Another awesome experience. I asked our District Leader, Elder Beck, to give me a blessing because I was in need of some direction! During the blessing I learned that I need to work on remembering our Savior more, my pride, and gratitude to God. I made some plans to improve. I read Elder Gong's talk from last General Conference! It was great! I invite you to read it again! Here are some great quotes!

"Prophets ancient and modern implore us not to let human foibles, faults, or weaknesses—others’ or our own—cause us to miss the truths, covenants, and redeeming power in His restored gospel. This is especially important in a church where we each grow through our imperfect participation. The Prophet Joseph said, “I never told you I was perfect; but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught.”

"Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness invites us to be humbly at peace on our life’s journey to someday become perfected in Christ, not constantly worried, frustrated, or unhappy in our imperfections today. Remember, He knows all the things we don’t want anyone else to know about us—and loves us still."

I love it! Another thing I did was write down the tender mercies I experienced during the day! That helped me feel and think more gratefully!

So we had a good week and It is always nice to talk to my family on Mother's Day! Thank you mothers for being awesome! Thank you for your eternal maternal role in God's plan!

Hope you have a great week! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Rush

A quick letter to me from Elder Rush!😍 Boy do I feel loved!

Thank you for being the best MOM in the whole entire world! I love you so much and cannot wait to see you! I will talk to President Hancock on Wednesday about extending! I feel that I will not be extending but I am not 100% sure yet! I realized I probably gave people the wrong phone number for you the whole time I was in Pocatello this last time! I love you so much! The Vilts do have a hat collection and that is their house!

I love you so much!

Love,

Elder Rush

The many hats of Elder Rush. 

The Vilt's hat collection and our birthday boy!

Elder Rush and the Sorters. Happy Birthday to you!🎉

Same suit, one is turning purple from 1 3/4 years of  constant wear.

Family Skype session with our Elder Rush! Best day ever!

I Ended Up in Montpelier

Hello Everyone!
Hope you had a really really good week.
Our week was pretty good. We had transfers this last week!
I ended up in Montpelier South with Elder Johnson. He is from Missouri
and has been out on his mission for 1 year. He is an awesome guy. I
have definitely learned from him the importance of humility and the
willingness to change. I am excited for this transfer. Montpelier is a
small town with 2500 people. We cover Dingle, Geneva, Pegram and
Cokeville. All these areas are farming communities. Super small.
Everyone knows everyone and they are all related! It is quite a lovely
place. I have learned that I like populated areas. Like California.
The graduating classes here are 30 or less. People are shocked when I
tell them I had a small graduating class of 300. The people here are
so willing to help the missionaries. We had fast and testimony meeting
yesterday. One of our investigators actually got up in front of the
ward and bore her testimony. It was awesome! I had the chance to go up
and bear my testimony and guess what I cried. Super Manly I know. But
I shared with them that April 30, 2 days ago Miles Murdoch the lady
that was baptized back in my first area, Pocatello West II, was sealed
to her husband in the Logan Utah Temple. I was so excited and still
am. I felt so comforted and reassured that families can be together
forever if we follow Heavenly Father's Plan. Obedience to the
commandments not only bring blessings but they bring eternal Families!
I know that God lives and loves us so so so so so so so so so so so so
so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much! I hope you
take the time to figure that out for yourself. And if you already know
figure it out again. I know I am a child of God and I matter to Him.
This has given me a purpose and a direction to my life. I know this is
true because of the Book of Mormon. I invite you to find out for
yourself to know it it true!
I love you all so much!
Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Rush

Alma 34:32-41

32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God;
yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their
labors.

33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many
witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do notprocrastinate the
day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life,
which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not
improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness
wherein there can be no labor performed.

34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I
will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this;
for that same spirit which doth possessyour bodies at the time that ye
go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your
body in that eternal world.

35 For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance
even until death, behold, ye have becomesubjected to the spirit of the
devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord
hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath
all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked.

36 And this I know, because the Lord hath said he dwelleth not in
unholy temples, but in the hearts of therighteous doth he dwell; yea,
and he has also said that the righteous shall sit down in his kingdom,
to go no more out; but their garments should be made white through
theblood of the Lamb.

37 And now, my beloved brethren, I desire that ye should remember
these things, and that ye should work out your salvation with fear
before God, and that ye should no more deny the coming of Christ;

38 That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye
receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble
yourselves even to the dust, and worshipGod, in whatsoever place ye
may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving
daily, for the manymercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon
you.

39 Yea, and I also exhort you, my brethren, that ye bewatchful unto
prayer continually, that ye may not be led away by the temptations of
the devil, that he may not overpower you, that ye may not become his
subjects at the last day; for behold, he rewardeth you no good thing.

40 And now my beloved brethren, I would exhort you to have patience,
and that ye bear with all manner ofafflictions; that ye do not revile
against those who do cast you out because of your exceeding poverty,
lest ye become sinners like unto them;

41 But that ye have patience, and bear with thoseafflictions, with a
firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

Elder Rush and some monkey friends

Elder Rush found a look alike Butterscotch! (His dog) 

Elder Johnson and the monkey friends!

I'm Going to Bear Lake!

Hello Everyone!

This week was pretty good. Elder Dalling and I dropped everything that was holding us back this week and God blessed us a lot. He placed 9 new investigators in our path! That was awesome and we were able to set up 15 lessons for Elder Dalling and Elder Welling this week! So that means I am getting transferred on Wednesday. The first time in 8 months!  I will be going to the Montpelier South Stake. So I will be covering the east side of Bear Lake, all the way to Cokeville, Wyoming!

It will be pretty exciting! Elder Johnson will be my companion! We said good bye to people and taught people. Hopefully we can have a good week! Hope you have a great week! We have to prepare for transfers now!

Love you,

Elder Rush 

“Do you want to be happy? Forget yourself and get lost in this great cause. Lend your efforts to helping people. … Stand higher, lift those with feeble knees, hold up the arms of those that hang down. Live the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

–President Gordon B. Hinckley

President and Sister Hancock. The sisters that went home.

The office staff

They opened a Rita's in Ammon! Best day ever!

Mama Stoddard

Training the trainers.

Elder Welling

Waiting for the new missionaries at the mission home.

One last visit with the Stoddards. They gave Elder Rush his very own Sentsy! Oh happy day!

Elder Dalling and Elder Rush looking good!