Blueberry Egos

Dear familia & friends,

Wow what an awesome miracle filled week!!! I have to start out with one from Saturday night. After dinner Sister Kenagy was calling & texting potential investigators & investigators that are the hardest to get a hold of :) One was Emily & miracle she answered! It just so "happened" to be a really good time for her & told us to come on over. I haven't had the chance to meet her yet, we've stopped by her place a couple of times this week & had no luck but woot woot finally we did! Emily is 25 & has had a hard life but she sincerely wants to find &
know truth. She had so many good questions & opened up to us a lot about her life. She is practically Mormon on many of her views, she likes modesty & her perspective on a lot of things are just spot on with what the gospel teaches. She is prepared!!! I can't wait for our next lesson. And Sister Kenagy was totally sent here for her, they have a lot in common & are both 25 & both have birthdays in March (ok not like that has anything to do with it, it's just cool ha ha). I love seeing why other missionaries are called specifically here, warm fuzzies.

We also had 3 investigators at church this Sunday & it was a break the fast after church so perfect opportunity for some fellowshipping! Love that! Our stake president was visiting, President Shipley & Sister Kenagy & I put on our YSA Facebook page that we were looking for some bongo drums. President Shipley rocks & he brought us a big bongo drum!!! Stay with me here folks, Sister Kenagy plays the bongo drums & we got permission from President & I'm going to play my violin while she drums at some college campus's as well as parks & where ever downtown in Sarasota & Bradenton. Our YSA rocks & they want to be involved too, they saw Sister Kenagy with the Bongo drum on her back & of course had to ask what was it that she had, wouldn't you? After she explained a
bunch of them wanted to help & not this Tuesday but next, they will be singing hymns while we play & handing out Mormon.orgcards/pamphlets. Best YSA branch EVER which we are building into a ward!!!

It's amazing what the power of fasting can do, the branch is getting more involved & better at fellowshipping.  There was so much love & kindness yesterday in church. The testimony meeting was really nice.  There is this awesome guy who just moved into the ward. His name is Elliot & he is so cool, he bore a very powerful testimony in church & after he came up to us to let us know when he is free & that is would love to help in anyway he can. I was so grateful & excited, what ward members just come up to missionaries & say here is when I'm available, I would love to come teaching with you guys & please let me help, oh & I have a car & would be happy to give rides for whoever needs one. Can we say a missionaries dream member come true?!?!!!!! What's a tender mercy & blessing from God, every missionary needs members to be more involved & it's just cool that we didn't say anything, he owed up to the covenants he's made with The Lord & is just doing what we should be doing. I really hope I am like that when I get back, again please hold me to my words that I am going to help the missionaries & the Lord's work when I return.

Ok other stories. David Nardeil will be baptized on Mother's Day, May 11th, happy early Mother's Day :) although I didn't do anything, this has been set from before I came to the area. Anywho, I am proud of him for putting up with us, he works on Sundays but every Sunday Sister K & I stay bold with him & are sure to let him know that he NEEDS to come to church & he does!!!! Keep him in your prayers, he is 23 or so & is nervous because of what his family will think. His mom doesn't know yet & he's working on telling her, she's Catholic & isn't going to be very happy. So please keep him in your prayers to continue to have the courage to move forward with this.

Jose is progressing as well, he is finally reading the Book of Mormon & he came to church for the 1st time yesterday!!! He has been to institute 3 times now & really likes it & we think he liked church. We are hoping to set a date with him for June 7th. Hopefully sooner if he puts forth more effort.

Let's see we are teaching our relief society president's cousin. His name is Ivan & he is doing well, he came to church yesterday too & we're teaching plan of salvation this Tuesday, I can't wait for it!!! He said he would be baptized when he knows it's true. I'm hoping this lesson we can set a date, his cousin Arisbeth, she has such a strong testimony & bore a powerful one last time of being able to be reunited with her father that she has never met because he passed away not long after she was born. The spirit was really brought into the room as she testified of families.  It testifies to me how needed members are in this work because their experiences are needed & are powerful in this work & mean more to people because they're people. We have advantages & disadvantages as missionaries with our name tags, some people get the unrealistic idea that we are perfect so it's harder for them to connect to us, sometimes it helps more but just depends on the situation. Member's at lessons provide real people in a sense who can show they've lived life & are better because of the gospel. They are living proof & examples. So needed. We are all so needed & we are all to make it back to God & be in His kingdom. We are each needed or the Kingdom is not complete.

Other blessing for the week, we had exchanges on Thursday & I was super nervous because I was to stay in the area & Sister Kenagy was going to the other area. I just got here last week so Yessum it was a tad stressful not knowing the area or people extremely well yet but thank heavens for Sis K's gps. It was a huge blessing that all 7 lessons didn't fall through, it was a good day & we definitely saw God's hand in it. We were able to have 24 lessons this week, yay! Also mamas package came & that really brightened up my day too.

Oh by the way there is this awesome Amish food market place & restaurant close by called Yoders. :)  It is great & I love it!

Anywho, there is so much more that I haven't even gotten to, yikes!!!! I'll be more on top of it this week but basically I feel like I'm getting closer to the top of my mountain, I feel like I'm really enjoying the view & have gotten through a lot. I am just trying to find confidence in God's love & giving back that love in confidence of God. I am grateful for a deepened relationship with The Lord & the
courage He has in sometimes hurting us so they we can come to a deeper truth of His love & wisdom in knowing what's best for us in life the what we think is. His will is so much better & I love it! Everyone needs to go on a mission or find that mission God needs you to serve. For my sisters - being a mom is an honorable mission & follows the pattern Christ's mission. I am grateful for you.

Ah, I gotta hurry & write my email to President Cusick! I love you
all! much much loooovvvvvvvveeeeeeee!!!!!

Love,

Sister Bush

P.s. Everyone needs to read Elder Holland's talk missionary work & the
Atonement. Amazing!!!

Hello Sarasota!

Dear Familia and Friends,

So luckily the YSA Branch hasn't been as scary as I thought it would, this has been great! We cover the whole Sarasota Stake so our area is massive huge!!!

The first day was fantastic, I love Sister Kenagy, she has a lot of attributes of different family members so it's really fun & weirds me out at the same time, she reminds me a lot of Don Juan Gabedon. Anywho, first day together we had the miracle of in our first lesson of visiting a lesson active we got a new investigator. His friend Marisa who was there for the lesson just started opening up like none other and asking a ton of questions and she really just wants to know truth and she was so cute, she grabbed a note pad and pen and asked what does she need to do. It was so cool, we gave her the basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ and reschedule for when we could teach lesson 1. We saw her again on Saturday day and she loved it. Unfortunately she didn't come to church on Sunday but we are praying & hoping to teach her more this week and hopefully this Sunday she'll come. 

So also from the first day we met with Jose another investigator and he cracks me up he calls Sister Kenagy Irish Smiles and he said I reminded him of a British person and then he called me Snow White. Ah, whatever floats your boat. 

We had a really good lesson with a recent convert/ less activeish girl, Gabby. She isn't positive on the basics of her testimony, but really it's because of a stupid guy she is dating who she only is confused when she spends time with this fellow.Grrrr it is frustrating and can I just say I am so sorry family for when I dated a stupid fellow who gave everyone stress, I tell ya what it is hard being on the other end watching the problem but knowing they have to make the right decision, you can't force any one to choose the right, they've got to figure it out themselves. Anywho, Gabby does this cool thing were she writes her prayers to God because she has a hard time saying/speaking it out loud to him because she feels that she is talking to herself. She'll pray out loud with us but on her own she finds it feels more sincere when she writes it out. I think it's pretty sweet. We had a really good lesson & it's funny because she says she done't know if things are true yet she is thinking about serving a mission and is talking to the branch president about it....??? I know she knows it's true i just think the problem is her boyfriend, arggggg. Oh and it was really sweet, after the lesson, Sister Kenagy said she thinks that one of the reasons why I'm here in this area is because I'm needed for Gabby and to help her. She said she felt that strong in the lesson and after I felt it too. I felt a huge confirmation the first day I came to this area that this is where I'm suppose to be serving right now. It feels so good and I'm really thrilled to find and meet the other people I'm suppose to in this area. Anywho, cool miracle, Gabby texted us later that night and let us know that she has been looking for her patriarchal blessing and hasn't been able to find it. Guess where she found it? In a journal she was going to use for writing out her prayers. If that's not a confirmation that the church is true i don't know what is, sooooo coooollll!!!

Another nice blessing of this area is we get to go to institute because that's one of the things for YSA and we try to get our investigators to go. The teacher is amazing and I'm really grateful to God for how He answers prayers. I had been hoping to learn more gospel and bible stuff and this insitute teacher is also a history teacher and she always connects things from the bible and what not. I am so happy and grateful we get to attend. Another random blessing, I had been hoping to get more into shape, not saying I'm fat, I just wanted to be better working out wise and woot Sister Kenagy has the team beach body Insanity dvds. She has permission from President Cusick to have this work out dvd, well a lot of sisters have permission to, just poor elders don't.  Insanity has been awesome in the mornings and I drip sweat every morning, it is killer and woot I feel like I am finally getting muscles.

Anywhoville, I'm running out of time ok, sorry this email is short and there are so many more cool stories. I will have to write two long emails for next week. 

Quick cool thought, the 5 things of the gospel of Jesus Christ all have one thing in common, They are Action - all things that are action/require to be acted. Love it. 

Ahhhh ok, promise either later today I will send another email or next week on more things. Love you all so much! 

So much Love,

Sister Bush 

New Address

Tasha's new mailing address:

2566 10th st. Apt 207

Sarasota Fl 34237

Picture Update

Tasha's new haircut

Being silly with her companion

The sisters with their ward mission leaders - the Carters and Brother Bargar

Sister Bush with Austin and Debbie (who was very sad to see her go)

Inexpressible Joy!

Dear familia & friends,

Get comfortable this week is a loonnnngggg email!

Sooooo transfer calls were last night & holy guacamole I was not
expecting this but I'm getting transferred Again!!! I felt a huge
confirmation from the spirit that this was suppose to happen &
couldn't be sad because it felt so right. After the group conference
call we received a phone call from the APs with the news that I was
being transferred in the Zone (to save miles & time they'll call
missionaries if it's in the zone usually). I am being transferred to
Sarasota to (one of my fears that I never thought I would be picked
for) the YSA branch, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. But joyous screams my companion
is the Most epic Sister in the mission her name is Sister Kenagy!!!! I
remember meeting her when I first came out on my mission & I just
thought,"wow she is the coolest missionary, dang to bad I probably
won't ever be companions with her, she is sooo epic." Ha HA guess what
we're going to be companions!!!!!!!!!! So I will be adventuring there
tomorrow & hopefully I can get that address today so you won't have to
wait!

I'm really going to miss my companions Sister Beck & Westberg, I love
them so much & I'm just grateful for the opportunity to have served
with them & to have really found a best friend. I learned sooooooo
much from them, I don't even know where to start. I guess the biggest
impact truly was the power of obedience & trusting in The Lord. Time &
time again we had so many blessings & miracles & I loved their love
they have for the work. Best trio ever & I can't wait for after when
we can reunite, so many fun times & ha ha that will be a weird
transition to be back to two. Ha ha no more being in the middle &
having our beds inches away from each other where no matter where I
turn, my face is about 1 foot away from my companions, hilarious.
Awwww so many fun memories at night when we would all chat & give back
rubs & just laugh & laugh & laugh. There were frustrating times our
sense of humor didn't match up all the time or was misunderstood that
would sometimes then create tension or hurt feelings but you work
through it because there is a bigger picture & we have souls to bring
to God, there is no time to be waste over the small things. So yes, I
love them & look forward to all the updates I'll miss out on :)

Everybody sing!!! "The Jesus in me loves the Jesus & you, sooo happy,
sooo happy to have you here, so happy," Say amen about 20 more times &
recite the 4th commandment for the sabbath day! Ha ha we attended the
7th day Adventist church on Saturday & wowza what a strange experience
I tell ya what. We were invited by a sweet elderly women named Joy, we
met her while we were walking in Avon Park & saw her watering her
plants. Sister Beck crossed the street & offered to water her hanging
plants & the remaining plants. We had a good talk about faith & she
made it very apparent that she was a sabbath worshiper not a Sunday
worshiper. We had a good positive interaction & exchanged phone
numbers & this week we were invited, so we decided why not! It was a
mix of emotions of an experience :) I learned how scary it must be for
our investigators when they first come to our church because I & my
companions were a little bit nervous. I was looking forward to it
because I have never really attended another church. Oh man was that a
let down. It was so hard because the spirit was off & it didn't feel
good At all!!! They were kind but it was forced & not sincere. They
had all of us visitors stand up & introduce who we were & where we
were from & after that song I quoted was a strange experience, they
walked around the room & greeted us singing that song & ha ha the
pastor & other preacher guy came & tee hee not positive what was going
through their heads. Anywho, I couldn't believe how sad it was as they
read scriptures before they passed the golden bowls to collect money &
then they had the children go around & collect money. That was
disturbing to me oh & they had on the wall a big thermometer on the
wall showing how much money they needed by a certain year to pay off
their mortgage. Oh & don't even get me started on the sermon preached,
the preacher took The Lord's name in vain 3 or more times, it was a
joke they obsess over the 4th commandment & yet they are over looking
& not abiding the others? Makes real sense. I was stunned with the
prayers, I felt like we were witnessing the Ramiumpton. grrrrrr ok I
am going to stop ahh not the coolest thing that happened this week.

What was a wonderful highlight for the week was our many visits to our
beloved investigators! :) We were blessed!

Starting with the Coghiels, we were like Alma, ha ha seriously it was
a chilling goosebumps moment (in a good way) when we realized our
experience mirrored theirs. Here's what Sister Westberg wrote about
the experience,

"We've also had a few EPIC lessons with the Coghiel family. They ask
the very best questions. Weird questions about strange doctrine
occasionally, but awesome questions. But here's the thing - they
listen to our answers. We find scriptures in the bible and Book of
Mormon to show them pure doctrine and they like it. They want to learn
and they will probably be at church on Sunday. As we were talking
about it, Sister Bush made the connection that she felt like Alma,
teaching the humble people rather than the proud. Plus, we've never
gone inside, but always teach them outside, and there are never any
chairs for us, so we're always standing. I dunno, but we always feel
like we're teaching and testifying with a power that's not our own
while we're there. Anyway, I then made a cool connection to Alma -
just a few weeks ago, we were teaching the people across the street
from the Coghiels. They were definitely NOT humble. They were always
drunk, and didn't want to change at all. However, it was after one of
those teaching visits that we turned around and found the Coghiels. We
haven't been back to the other house since. (Alma 32:4-7) The coolest
part is that I also remembered that Marvin and Cory had told us of
being kicked out of positions in their church... ... ... Crazy stuff!

So, the Coghiels are awesome. And they're going to be  baptized. All
of them. Cory told us that before we came, he wouldn't even talk about
the Bible to anyone because he's had such bad experiences with
religions. They all agreed that anytime religious people talk to them,
they just wish they'd go away, and they don't usually open the door
again. But Marvin said that each time we come, something makes him
want to listen and hear more. Um, that would be the spirit! Oh yeah,
and Marvin's been reading the Book of Mormon. He even started
retelling us the story in his own words, which was spot on with what
happened.

However, on Friday we went back to teach and only Marvin was there.
He'd just read 1 Nephi 4 when we walked up... And he didn't like Nephi
killing Laban. We tried to explain it, but he didn't agree and went
back to how we'd explained the spirit to him. He said it didn't feel
right in his heart that god would ever command someone to kill another
person when they weren't in battle. We tried to explain, but it's hard
to not come across as trying to convince them it's true. All we can do
is exhort them to seriously pray to know if it's true. So we did. And
we're praying mightily that he starts feeling better about it. "

I LOVE that family & it breaks my heart that I'm not going to be able
to teach them/ see them get baptized but I'm looking forward to
staying in touch, they are the best. Oh & we saw them last night &
finished teaching the plan of salvation & they said the sweetest
things when they found out I was leaving. When we were about to leave
Trisha said, "oh man, they're taking our joy away." And sister
Westberg & Beck said something funny, ha ha I can't remember but
Trisha said, you guys are nice too but not as bright as Sister Bush
is. And Marvin said, "yeah she is our sunshine." Ohhhhh it broke my
heart!!! I love them so much! Ha ha my companions are great but after
they joked a lot about how they aren't as cool as me which is NOT
true. There were other people that got along better with them then me,
that's just the way of the mission, you find some people that you are
deeply connected to then others.

So another person I am really going to miss would be our sweet
neighbor Debbie & her sweet, adorable 10 year old autistic grandson
Austin. I really feel a connection to her & yesterday she gave me a
present with a card that said "my best friend" on it, heart strings
are being pulled everyway possible, it kills! I love these people so
much!!! Anywho earlier this week we had a really cool experience, ha
ha again in the words of Sister Westberg,

"On Thursday our neighbor Debbie called and left a message on our
phone. She said that Ruth (another neighbor) had something in her
bible she wanted to show us and have us explain it to her. So, Friday
morning we did just that. I have no idea exactly what version of the
bible Ruth gave her, but it wasn't the KJV... There were random pages
throughout that were little essays on random questions - "Does
Mormonism agree with Christianity?" It was absolutely ridiculous. I
don't think I've actually read very much full-on anti-Mormon stuff,
but this was it. It basically tried to prove that we aren't Christian
because we don't believe in the Trinity. They also tried to prove that
we were a cult because we tried to add additional scripture to the
Bible. Absolutely ridiculous. But it was cool because after we read it
out loud, we asked Debbie how she felt. She said she felt awful. She
talked about how yesterday was such a good day - she'd gone to the
gym, she was in high spirits, so she felt like she should go visit her
lonely neighbor, Ruth, who showed her this and ruined her day. She
said she just came home a cried. Then she read the Book of Mormon and
decided to call us. We helped her see that God would never ever make
her feel that way. The peace that she felt now was how God wanted her
to feel, and it was the Adversary who was trying to tear her down. She
agreed. We then continued teaching her more about the Plan of
Happiness and she was crying most of it - she said she just loved
having us in her life and loved the feeling she got every time she was
with us. We'd taken her on a church tour with Austin on Wednesday and
she talked about how much she absolutely loved the spirit in the
church and that Austin felt right at home. So... We set a baptismal
date with her for May 10th. It's happening. She keeps talking about
how she wants to make sure this is the right thing and that this is
what God wants her to do, so we testified that her feelings of peace
right then were exactly God answering her prayers. She agreed. It was
amazing!! Oh yeah, and Ruth had let her borrow her bible and she
didn't want to go back for a while, so we offered to take it back for
her... I think Ruth was a little surprised to see the Mormon
missionaries at her door with her anti Mormon bible, but hey, kill 'em
with kindness, right? :)"

Isn't that fantastic!!!!! Debbie is so sensitive to the spirit & I
can't wait for her when she is able to go to the temple. She & Austin
came to church yesterday & she was really nervous that Austin was
going to miss behave & we told her it's be great & that we would be
more then happy to take care of him in the nursery if things got
crazy. Lol, oh man did we have a good laugh when in the first few
minutes of the meeting he kept getting up & walking out towards the
nursery. Sister Beck was sitting with Debbie & Sister Westberg & I
would go & bring him back. We had a coloring book & a toy & ha ha I
handed him the coloring book & SWOOSH he threw it in the air while
Bishop was making announcements & it went high in the air & landed
right on the ground in front the pulpit. There were a couple of
audible gasps & Bishop laughed & continued on not missing a beat :)
Austin laughed & stood up & went to the nursery where we followed &
stayed. Goodness did we have a good laugh though, what a delight & a
great start to sacrament meeting. Hope that kept everyone awake for
the rest of the meeting. It was so sweet to spend time with Austin & I
loved seeing him get excited over a piece of paper & watch him smack
the paper in the air over & over again immensely enjoying himself. It
melted my heart. While playing in the nursery & walking around the
church & back to the nursery & walking around the church again I
reflected on how incredible Debbie is to have the strengthen & energy
to take care of Austin by herself. Her husband passed away from cancer
& Austin called him poppy, she tells him all the time that  someday
Jesus will come & take them to Poppy. I will always treasure them &
will have that memory with me always. I am so grateful for Austin, he
would randomly grab my hand & just walk with me holding my hand, I
felt like I was in the presence of an angel & he strengthened me. I
loved hearing him read the words on a paper in the nursery, "families
can be together forever."

Goodness, there are so many people to write about! Argggg but I know I
have gone on forever, I will have to write about Amir & Colleen's
priesthood blessing another time really neat experience. Anywho, so
much I can't believe it!

God is real, this IS HIS church share it with everyone. Oh please
please please go to mormon.org/becauseofhim share it with
EVERYONE!!!!!! The church bought the YouTube ad banner for the week
with this video on it, share it share it shhhhaaaarrreeeee it.. Well
watch it first because it is beautiful & powerful!

Much LOVE so much LOVE I never want to lose this feeling of God's
love, what inexpressible joy,

Love,

Sister Bush