HELLO MY LOVVVVVEEEEssssssS! :D
So, I finally sent a snail mail today and I'm praying it will make it fast and goodness it is going to be very confusing because it's written over the course of 6 days or so. Anywho, hopefully this email won't repeat what I wrote. Oh and thank you so much for the letters, I got dad's and of course loved them, it's amazing the inspiration you have daddy, there were a lot of things I needed to hear. And Kirbys, ha ha I loved the letters and they made my day, I will also hopefully get a snail mail off to you, lol well to everyone. Oh and for letters they are strict on family just writing the mission office address and then they forward the letters from there because it's the easiest way to do it, apparently.
Ok, funny things about Florida, well Gulfport, Florida. The houses are hilarious and if you thought Amy and Karl's house was unique in Hawaii, you ain't seen nothin yet. There are so many different colored houses here, it's incredible. Oh and another delight, mailboxes are a huge thing here, I swear it's very rare to have a normal mailbox. They are either painted or made into something creativish/tacky. It's intense and I'm hoping to send you pictures of the dolphin mailbox, muah ha ha.
Another hilarious thing, our apartment is in the neighborhood of the land of gays and lesbians I've never seen so many rainbow flags in my life. But luckily we haven't had any problems and have actually had really good encounters and positive conversations, so that's been nice. I think the biggest thing I find entertaining is how it seems like 2 completely different worlds just right across the street from each other. Gulfport (where we are) has a mix of nice houses and middle class houses and down right hickish houses and then across the street on the other side is St. Petersburg which the majority... well... how to put this kindly... ghetto? :D We love St. Petersburg though, seriously, the people are so much kinder and a lot more humble and a lot more receptive to having prayers and what not.
Another hilarious thing, our apartment is in the neighborhood of the land of gays and lesbians I've never seen so many rainbow flags in my life. But luckily we haven't had any problems and have actually had really good encounters and positive conversations, so that's been nice. I think the biggest thing I find entertaining is how it seems like 2 completely different worlds just right across the street from each other. Gulfport (where we are) has a mix of nice houses and middle class houses and down right hickish houses and then across the street on the other side is St. Petersburg which the majority... well... how to put this kindly... ghetto? :D We love St. Petersburg though, seriously, the people are so much kinder and a lot more humble and a lot more receptive to having prayers and what not.
My first week here, by the way this email and most of my emails will be random and jumbled as I cruise to write. My first week was a whirl wind of emotions and experiences. Sister Jenkins is a great trainer, I love her!!! She is a little on the strict side but I'm grateful for a companion who knows all the rules and strives to be as obedient as possible, so it's good and she is fun, we have a lot of inside jokes already and have found a lot in common so it's really nice. Her first name is Deborah and it always makes me laugh to find out missionaries first name, it feels like a big secret and I always feel shocked to find out or give my first name. Ha!
We are the only Sisters as I think I mentioned before, we're opening up the area for Sisters I guess is more like it. We talked to Over 50 people my 2nd day here. And in our first week we already have someone who said yes to baptism. It's pretty exciting but a lot of ups and downs. Sweet Thomas, who is the man who said yes to baptism, definitely needs prayers, he has a girlfriend who's saying negative things about the church and we have a lot to clear up for him and just pray that he will stay true to the feelings he has felt, we know he knows and we are praying for him to follow through for May 15th as the Baptism date. A lot of tender mercies have happened already and I love Sister Jenkins perspective. When our appointments fall through and people aren't there, instead of being frustrated she says, "The Lord makes our schedule." It is truly His schedule and His timing.
I won't lie, last week I was fighting the natural man side and kept having thoughts of, "grrr, I don't want to be on a mission, I miss my family and I miss dance and music and school and I want to go home." I was having a hard time but luckily Sister Jenkins and I had a lot of cool experiences and one even included saving a man's life. We were riding our bikes (oh we mostly ride bikes, last week we got a car but we switch off with the car with the other elders) and we were going to be early to an appointment (quite early) when we rode past this man who was locking up a gate. I heard distinctly in my head, "Go Back." I thought, was that just me or.....and immediately the words, "Go Back." So I called out to Sister Jenkins, "Sister, we need to go back." She's wonderful and we turned around and the man had started walking down the sidewalk. I road right up to him and stopped stuck out my hand and asked, "Hi, What's your name?" He was very friendly and said, "I'm Rambo" ha ha. I introduced myself and Sister Jenkins said we were representatives of Christ. He said he was a soldier for Christ too. We asked if we could pray and he was very enthusiastic about it. So we said a prayer and after when I looked up he had tears running down his face. He said he was stunned, he had been thinking about God and really questioning him if He even cared and was about to give up. And he just kept repeating, "And you two showed up, why did God do that? You two just appeared, why did He do that?" It was very sweet and the whole time he tried hard not to cry as we both testified to him about God's love and that He specifically had a message for him. We gave him a Book of Mormon and said it was true and it's unfortunate because he's moving but we gave him our number and he took the book. And kept thanking us over and over. It was very powerful. I also loved that right after that we met a a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk and we got off our bikes and just sat by him not caring about what anyone else would think, it was awesome.
There are so many stories I want to share, but until I can, pray for Jessica, Danesha (by the way so many hilarious sterotypical black names out here, also a lot of fake names that people give us, we have had so many people think we're cops, it's ridiculous) pray for Thomas, and oh man there's a lot. We taught over 25 lessons last week and this week we're focusing on Less Actives because we realize this branch really needs to be strengthened. Pray for the Gulfport Branch.
How are all of you? Oh and I spoke in church last week, on Christ-like Attributes, look up Uchtdorf's talk on "christlike attributes- the wind beneath your wings" and John 13:1-17. I found it very symbolic that when Christ washes his disciples feet, the sash he is washing with is girded around his waste, I'll talk more about that later. Oh and I wish I could tell you about the neat experience about Eileen Hilliard, she's a recent convert and we love her. We had a very powerful visit with her on Saturday and she called us her two daughters, "I have two daughters now." This woman is amazing and has had it rough, two of her children have been murdered and she is just incredible. Prayer for her to overcome her alcoholic addiction. That and tithing is the one thing she struggles with. At our visit we were really working with her and she just said, don't worry, I'm working through it and Sister Jenkins started to cry, and I started to cry and then we all did and she was so sweet and just held us while we cried. I love her and it was good to have a good cry because I feel so much more happy to be here and more determined in the work and I am happy I'm here.
I love you all, I really hope today I can get some snail mail sent to all of you, I love you, I love you, I love you more then I can express and if sister jenkins and I can get our apartment down we will be able to write more. Oh you would love her, she's great! Oh and we found a manatee mailbox!!!! SOOO coool! Ok
I love you, My eternal love!
Sister (Tasha) Bush
