Learning To Go With The Ups and Downs

Hello Hello Loved Ones!

This week has had it's ups and downs but at the end of the week it ended on an up. Sister Jenkins and I have been extremely blessed as we have worked hard on our companionship and with the Lord. So happy note, it was such a tender mercy to have Sister Sloat and her husband attend church together for the first time in a long time. She is an investigator who has been ready for baptism for quite some time and now is finally the time. I know the Lord's timing is beautiful.

So before I go on I want to share the gratitude I feel for soldiers who sacrifice so much for our freedom and well being. I felt a deeper appreciation and connection to our veterans and soldiers when I realized that missionaries relate to soldiers in the sense of sacrificing everything for the well being of others. They see people die physically whereas we see people die spiritually. The fight is similar in the sense of wanting to bring people home. I am grateful for the Savior's example and pray that we will remember more fully to show our gratitude and strive to follow His footsteps. President Summerhays related soldiers to the Savior in his weekly letter and it made me think of putting our hands over our hearts when standing up for our Nation's flag and that made me think of a personal experience I had. When I put my hand over my heart I reflect on the thought that my heart is in the Savior's hands. I think of the piercings on His hands when I have it on my heart it reminds me of His love for me and again that my heart is in His hands. Thinking about Memorial Day and the deep appreciation I have for those who fight, I now can make that connection of thinking of the Savior and my country whenever I stand up for the flag and put my hand over my heart. I can think of the person who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our happiness, my Savior, Jesus Christ. 

So, where do I begin? I always feel so frazzled in writing because I don't feel like I update everyone thoroughly enough. There is so much that happens within one day and Dixon put it great recently when he said 1 day feels like a week and a week is only 1 day. It's crazy how happens!  Last week was full of ups and downs, but I can happily say once I got through the downs (even with how crazy it is) I am finally loving it!!! I love being on a mission, I love this work and of course I miss you all like crazy, but I love being here!

Here is an example of the ups and downs and the true reality of a mission. 2 weeks or so ago, Sister Jenkins and I met a woman named Theory (oh random note before I forget by the way Sister Jenkins is majoring in ASL and had the brilliant idea of starting an ASL class at the church, fantastic sneaky missionary tool).  So we met Theory 2 weeks ago and were riding past a house that she was sitting out front and we waved and said Hi cheerfully. As we were riding away I just felt like we should go back and talk to her, so we turned around, introduced ourselves and asked if we could say a prayer with her and if there is anything she needed prayers for. It was a really neat experience because as we got talking to her about the role God and faith has played in her life she told us of an experience she had where she had a heart attack and was passed out by herself in her house for 3 days. Her nephew couldn't get a hold of her, got worried and checked on her and found her on the ground at home unconscious. Luckily the doctors brought her back, but that experience showed her that God still needed her here. It was awesome and perfect because the spirit brought to my mind the story of Alma and how he was unconscious for 3 days, so I brought it up and read her his experience with seeing Christ and testifying of the happiness the Savior wants for us and that there is nothing that Christ can't fix or take care of. We gave her a Book of Mormon and prayed with her and it was a really neat experience, she was so receptive and touched. Well we got her address, planned to meet and were very encouraged by her when she said she had been feeling down, stressed and overwhelmed when we had waved to her, said hi and smiled at her she said it made her feel special and she said it just melted her heart like a marshmallow and made her day. She felt great about everything we talked about and Sister Jenkins and I testified it was the spirit witnessing to her God's love and truth. So it was a very cool experience and encouraging but it's so sad, we have never seen her since then and can't get a hold of her.  We have called and called, and tried to find her address but have had no luck. It is so much more discouraging when the spirit is there so strong and you know they know. It got harder after that because that Sunday we were planning on 5 or 6 investigators coming to Church and we were positive that they were going to come, but none of them came to church - super let down. After I had another rude awakening with that side of the mission, during studies on Sunday, I had a lot of awesome insights and Sister Jenkins was great in reassuring me and comforting me that this is part of the mission :) ha ha! She is awesome and has such a strong positive testimony. We were blessed from the Lord that day and things seemed to turn around again.

One of the best blessings last week was when we were looking for Theory's house and didn't have luck, because the house address didn't exist on the street :) whether that was a mistake or on purpose, who knows. Either way Sister Jenkins was firm in knowing that we were in that area for a reason. So we prayed and knocked on about 4 doors with no success, we prayed again, decided to knock on 2 more doors and then go on our way. It was so cool! The next house we knocked on we met Tamika Thomas and asked if we could say a prayer for her and she was ridiculously receptive and excited and such a sweetheart, a beautiful spirit, it caught us completely by surprise and I was stunned by how strong the spirit was. She automatically opened up about her life and all that she was going through (she's a mother of 3, her dad died recently, her mother is struggling and isn't even going to Tamkia's oldest daughter's graduation from highschool, is going to nursing school, and basically has a lot on her shoulders) and we testified to her truths from the spirit of God that she needed to hear. We said a peace and blessings prayer with her and I was a little intimated because Sister Jenkins asked me to say it and goodness, the spirit was strong and we all cried. After the pray we cried more as she told us that before we came she had been praying to Heavenly Father that morning for help and she had just made a cup of coffee and then we knocked on the door. It was so cool and even cooler that she recognized that we were sent from God! And before we could even offer to teach lessons and meet with her again, she was asking when we could come back and teach her children and their friends and her and my jaw just dropped. Ha ha! She was making our job easy. It was such a tender mercy and she is prepared and we are soo excited to teach her and feel very strong that she will get baptized - just praying with all of our hearts though. :) I know that there are no coincidences in life.  We meet people for a reason and God's timing is orchestrated perfectly, we just need to be open and ready to follow along with the conductor's hand. Then we can be in harmony and find the beauty in the last notes that lead up to the glorious ending of life's song. The main melody that keeps the piece complete is Christ, He is the center piece to life's plan.

In relief society the teacher had a neat object lesson. She told the story of Peter and Christ walking on the water and asked why did peter fall and begin to sink? Because he looked down, he took his eyes off the Savior. She then handed out peacock feathers and told us to try and balance it on 1 finger. She said you can always balance a peacock feather when you look and focus on the eye of the peacock feather, it's pretty neat and fun. She then completed it by asking where is our focus? When we focus on Christ our lives will be balanced. I know this to be true and have seen the immense difference in my life especially on my mission. I know that by small and simple means of scripture study and prayer, they make the biggest changes and affect the course of our lives when we choose whether or not to read them and pray. I know when we focus on Christ all other things fall into place and the happiness is found. And if you happen to look away or get distracted, don't panic, just like Peter turn and cry out to the Savior and He will be there to lift you back up again. Focus on Him, make the small effort to put aside your pride and ask him to help you, allow yourself to partake of the enabling power of the Atonement and witness for yourself the wonders and miracles that can happen in your life. Ether 2:24-25 and 3:2-6, 9-14.

It is learning to go with the ups and downs and finding joy of life's roller coaster, the end result is returning home and you can either enjoy it or painfully endure it. If it's up to me, I choose to enjoy! It doesn't mean it's always easy and there are definitely frustrations.  Sister Jenkins and I have had to try really hard to work with each other. We have had our moments of aggravation with each other but it's been great because we both are sincere in our relationship with the Lord and we both desire to be lead by His spirit and have unity in companionship to bring about greater blessings and work from the Lord. To bring His sheep to the fold but we need to gain His trust and work together. It's nice because we talk to each other about everything when we're mad at each other. We try to get to the bottom of things and we both are willing to work on our own parts that contribute to whatever the problem is at hand. You have to when you are with someone 24 hours or you will boil over to insanity. We laugh about it a lot because we have had to work hard with each other because we are so similar and it's hard, but I am so grateful for her and the improvement and strength our companionship has made. We have fun and love each other but it doesn't mean we don't have to work at it. The best part is, we try to put the Savior and the Lord between us when we have frustrations so that we take contention and anger out, which isn't of God and focus on what needs work. It was beautiful when one of these times we were having a hard time and were talking through things and she stopped and said a prayer and it was awesome because it brought the spirit and it's the best to have God's love at the head of everything. It's a process but it is worth it in the end and things can be dealt with just like the Savior did. I love what one of the other missionaries said at a district zone conference, he said, "Us and trust can't be spelled without "U"." Awesome right? It does come down to trust and I like to ask myself daily now, "Have I trusted today" or "Have I trusted in the Lord today?"

Well I love you all and I need to run but remember everything happens for a reason and I love you all so much!!!  Oh and last happy news (and why this week ended on an up), we have 3 baptism dates set!!! We reached our goal for the week, they are Sister Sloat, Robert Janjanin, and Theresa.

Love you all so much, my eternal love, God speed,

Sister Tasha Cosette Bush