The Tree of Life

Dear Familia and Friends,

What a wonderful week this had been! I am just astonished, grateful, and overwhelmed at the love of God and how this life all works out, it's truly astounding.

Where to even start!  I guess I'll start at the beginning of the week with something a little more silly then serious. For our P-day (January 6th) we went to Weeki Wachee to see the famous Weeki Wachee Mermaids! What a weird but cool thing all at the same time. The swimmers were super impressive with what they do and how they've had to train themselves with the under water oxygen thingy and swimming in mermaid tales and what not but oh man I was suppressing laughter during the little mermaid show they had. They had the old recordings to it which needs to be updated because it was really weird as the voice over head dramatically described the battle between the prince and the sea witch (as they fought underwater which because of the water was hilarious slow motion fighting for them) and the overhead voice, "They tumble and they fight and LOVE conquers All."  It was super entertaining. But what was cool, in one of their routines, "Fish tales," they had Enya playing and it was pretty "magical," and weird. So was it worth $13.00 - heck yes! We were thoroughly entertained and had a lot of fun and lots of laughs. I sent pictures to mama, and I got a video of different parts of it that I can't wait to send home for you all to see. Oh I forgot to attach a picture of the prince and sea witch.  Oh well, next time. :) 

So, we started the week great with Weeki Wachee and had a really sweet experience with a family in our ward. It was a grandmother and her 3 granddaughters and one of them is less active and knows it's true but is caught up in her life style and not wanting to give that up yet. It was so nice to boldly and sweetly testify to her of God's love for her and true happiness being found in the gospel. We got along really great and we invited her to church and she said she'll think about it, but wasn't going to make any promises. It was powerful to see her younger sister's testimony and her younger sister was right on with everything she said and it touched my heart as this sister started crying (the one who was expressing her love to her less active sister). And the Grandma bore her testimony of the promise she made to her Grandpa that she would keep them strong in the gospel and how she wants that for them. Oh and I can't believe I forgot about this, wow, at the start of the visit/ dinner with this sweet family there was a picture of the Grandpa, he had passed away from cancer a few years ago and they had framed a picture/ birthday invitation of his which he ended up dying on his birthday. Guess what his birthday was? July 3rd, my birthday, when I heard and saw this I expressed my surprise that we shared the same birthday. The less active daughter was surprised by this as well and I know that there aren't coincidences. I am excited to work more with this family and help motivate their fellow sister and granddaughter. It meant a lot this Sunday (which by the way this Sunday was one of the Best Sundays I have ever had on my mission) when this grandmother came up to Sister Kitchen and I and showed us the piece of paper her less active granddaughter wrote. On it she had written to her grandmother to try to wake her up for church, not making any promises but that she might come and that she loved her. The grandmother said this has been the most progress she has seen in 4 years and that she knew it was because of our visit. She gave us the paper to have. 

On Tuesday we had the blessing of teaching and inviting Monica Brummett to baptism for February 9th. She's accepted and it was so comforting to see her come to church and she contributed to the gospel principle's lesson and had a great comment and stayed for all of church. I love her and she has 4 children and it's really neat because every time we come over to teach the kids will be involved with other things and yet they always just come on their own and join our lessons. It's really amazing to see especially from the younger boys who could be playing outside or watching tv and yet we find by the end of the lesson they are all sitting down listening. The spirit of God is powerful and people are drawn to it and long for it. 

Speaking of people being drawn to the spirit of God, we had the BEST District meeting ever on Wednesday. Elder Barry and Elder Murray are wonderful and sniffle for Elder Murray this is his last week of his mission, he is awesome and it's weird to see realizing that that day is coming up fast for me, I'm already half way through and it just is flying now. Anywho, they had us all get blindfolded and follow this string that they put through out the church (Like the iron rod) and only instructions we had were to follow the string and the light. It was really powerful exercise for me because there were a lot of symbolism personally for me and it was hilarious because some how Sister Kitchen and I got mixed up in the Gym and wound up going back all the way to the beginning again (and through out it we would get tempted by the other missionaries who were being like the devil) and at one point there was a flash light and I got confused because we were suppose to follow the string and the light and the light was flickering and the other missionary whispered to follow the light and so I did and then it went black and I screamed and ran back to the string and then eventually Sister Kitchen and I made it back and to the end. Ha ha, it was not only fun and entertaining (they got a video of me too, punks) but really powerful. Oh and they had a different light that didn't flicker and they used that example that satan will mimic the light and try to mislead us but the Light from God is consistent and will not confuse. There was a quote I read recently that I love, it said, "Keep it simple the devil loves complexity." That was a big eye opener for me. Anywho, I love the tree of life and know that God will never leave us in the dark or mislead us, that we have the tools and map and direction to get straight back to Him. 

I know this email is getting super long and I'm out of time but oh real quick we had another lesson with the Decasta family, it went great. And I pray that the dad will take time for the missionaries in Texas when he goes back for work. Luckily we found out he'll be in town just a little longer so we should be able to teach him more of the lessons and woot! I can't wait for him to fully accept this!!!

Ok, last thing real fast that has changed my life. This Sunday was amazing and again was one of the best Sundays of my mission yet. Sister Kitchen and I talked and we were on fire as and I think we gained a lot of trust from the ward, it was great. The children in the ward love us and just warmed my heart when after church cute little Evey exclaimed in the hallway, "It's the missionaries!" With a big grin on her face and her cute little voice, awww I just love them! Oh and her brother's name is Desmond!!! 

The thing that really has impacted me deeply and I will never be the same, I didn't expect my heart to be healed so fast in this moment, was when a women, Ami Maikoski came up to me and expressed what she did. She thanked me for serving a mission because I was the spitting image of her sister who had passed away from cancer about 9 years ago. She said I had no idea how healing it was for her to see me and she let me know that everything I do from my mannerisms to my personality was exactly like her sister. She told me of how her sister had served a mission and while there, she was diagnosed with cancer. They had 6 beautiful years with her before she passed away but I was overwhelmed by how strong the spirit was and stunned. She said when I first came to their ward and she saw me she was shocked and leaned over to her mom and said, "Mom, it's Mindy." She thanked me for what I've done for her and for being able to tell her children that never met me that I was Mindy. I am grateful, I had never planned on serving a mission and I know this is what God had planned for me but wow I never knew how needed I really was. This was healing for me, I will be forever grateful for this women, she helped me see how wonderful it was to be me. I've been in pain for a really long time and I am baffled about how this has pieced so many things for me. Is this the Atonement? Is this how it works, we were both healed in just a moment of talking with each other. I stand all amazed at His love. God used us to heal each other and this specific time and place and as I expressed my thanks to Ami and what she had just done for me she said it wasn't her but it was Mindy. I can't wait to meet Mindy after this life and give her a hug for what she's done for me, I am so deeply honored and finally can love myself, I can love who I am and be happy with who I am. 

God's love is stunning. I'm overwhelmed. "God does notice us and He watches over us. But it is usually through another person that He meets our needs." - President Spencer W. Kimball

I was having a hard day on Saturday and was happy and healed and having the best day ever on Sunday. I love God, I love this life, I love that He is so aware of us! I love Sister Kitchen, I love this Area and I love you!!!!

Look for God's love today, He loves you all so much! 

Love,

Sister Tasha C. Bush