Fishers of Men and Rainbow Trout

Hello everyone!

Sorry this email is a bit late in the day; Elder Markert and me, as well as some other Elders from Idaho Falls, went out fishing today at Birch Creek with one of Elder M's converts. It was amazing! It was a new experience since I've never been fly fishing before. And it was so great to be outside somewhere beautiful. I enjoyed being able to just sit in the shade and fish around for a few hours. I even managed to catch a couple trout! How cool is that?

There was one that really didn't want to let go of the fly, and I got fed up and said to the fish "Look, either you let go of that fly, or you're going to be on a wall plaque singing 'Don't Worry, Be Happy' for the rest of eternity." Amazingly, that worked, haha.

Well, in other news, life is good. We've being working with a really nice kid out in Newdale who's been an amazing investigator. He is super receptive and always has good questions for us when we come to teach. Unfortunately, he's currently on probation, so we won't be able to invite him to get baptized until next month. For that reason, I won't be giving his name.

We also received a couple referrals for some less active members in our area that we're going to visit as soon as I finish up here. I love you all so much and I pray for you every day. I hope that life is being good to you all.

Mom, I know that you can survive a few more weeks until the end of school. Dad, I'm sorry to hear about your shoulder, and I'll be praying for you.

Until next week,

Elder Bush

Life, the Universe and Everything

Hi everyone!

So, it's time for another email. Here goes.

So, I realized that I forgot to talk about my companion in my last email. His name is Elder Markert, he's from northwestern Pennsylvania, and he's a pretty cool dude. He's big into the board game Risk, which has resulted in several district activities being a game of Risk.

Not a whole lot else has happened. We have, however, found a few part-member families who want their kids to be baptized and need to take the missionary lessons first. We also have an investigator out in Teton named Dustin. He's eighteen, and is very interested in the church, but has problems with chewing tobacco. We've been very supportive as he is attempting to quit, but I think it will take time for him to be able to stop completely.

I love you all so much, and I appreciate your support and your prayers.

Until next week,

Elder Bush

P.S. So it looks like our calls home are going to be taking place at around 6 pm our time, and we should be able to skype. I'll let you know it that changes.

Live from Sugar City

Hi there, folks at home!

I am having an amazing time here! I love my new area; Sugar City is beautiful, and it's full of beautiful people. Plus I can see the Tetons from there; it's magnificent! We're living in a little apartment over a member's garage, but it's still bigger than the tiny house we were living in over in Ririe, haha.

We haven't really been having much luck in terms of teaching; a few transfers ago, the elders over this area baptized pretty much the whole stake. Pretty much, we've just been going around and getting to know the members, the ward mission leaders, etc.

But we had a pretty great experience the other day. We were walking down the street, and a car stopped by us, and the driver rolled down his window and asked if we were the missionaries for the area. We told him we were. He said that he doesn't go to church, but his daughter does, and he has another child who wants to be baptized who is nine, so they need to meet with us before that can happen. We exchanged contact info, and set up an appointment. It was amazing!

Well, I don't have a whole lot else to say, so I'll just say I love you all and I hope you're doing ok.

All my best,

Elder Bush

Transfers

Hi, Everybody! So, I have some big news this week. I'm getting transferred! Can you believe it? I was honestly expecting to be in Ririe for at least several months, but I guess the Lord has other plans for me.

I'm being transferred to Sugar City. It's a little town north of Rexburg, and I've heard it's a great place. I'm looking forward to meeting my new companion, finding new people, and looking for ways to spread the gospel.

We had another baptism this weekend. His name is Sean Scott; his wife is a member, and he was so excited for his baptism. He had a massive smile on his face during the whole baptism service. The spirit was so strong there, and everyone was so happy for him. His son is getting baptized in a few weeks; he's waiting until he has the priesthood so that he can perform the baptism himself. How awesome is that?

There hasn't been a whole lot else happening lately, so I'll just finish by saying I love you all, and I'm so excited for what the future has in store for me.

Until next week, Elder Ian

P.S. For this week's allotment of cute, here's a picture of me with a kitten.

Surviving...

Hello, everybody!

Well, this last week has been rather difficult, I must admit. I suppose everyone runs into this at some point on there mission. I've been feeling pretty discouraged, but I'm still here. I've been receiving lots of support from the other elders and sisters here, and got a blessing from Elder Arrowchis to help me stay hopeful and to be able to endure. Things have been going much better since then, and I'm more determined than ever to be successful.

But things lately haven't been all bad; I went on exchanges with another Elder in my mission, Elder Abbot, and that was a lot of fun. We visited a member in his area who raises chickens and got to see some eggs hatch.

In other news, Arrowchis and I were able to take a recent convert to a fireside at the temple visitor's center in Idaho Falls. We got to hear some speakers talking about Latter-day prophets, and it really touched our investigator.

Idaho Falls Temple

Well, that's about it for now.

I love you all, and I look forward to finding more chances to teach.

Hugs,

Elder Bush

Raining (but I'm not singing)

Hi, Everybody!

The work is continuing here in Ririe. Not a whole lot has happened since our baptism last week. We do, however, have two other baptisms coming up. I'll tell you more about them as they get closer, but I'm very excited.

It's raining here. It's kind of gloomy, but also very pretty at the same time. I'm excited for everything to be getting green.

I loved General Conference this weekend. My favorite talks were President Uchtdorf's talk in Priesthood session and President Monson's talk Sunday morning. Their talks really hit home for me, and helped me realize several things:

One, that I am truly where the Lord wants me to be, and I am doing His work, and that is the best thing that I can be doing right now.

Two, I am important. I don't mean that in a prideful way, but rather that I know that my soul is of great worth, both to my Heavenly Father and to my fellow men.

Three, obedience to all of God's commandments will make me happier than doing anything else.

Oh, I also realized what a powerful teaching tool Les Miserables can be. :-)

Well, that's all I've got for now. I look forward to continuing to teach the gospel, and can't wait to find more people to teach.

Sincerely,

Elder Bush

P.S. Here is a picture of a puppy for your weekly allotment of cute.

Easter

Hello, Everyone!

It's hard to believe I've already finished the first month of my mission. It didn't go very quickly at first, but now it's just flying by.

Well... not a whole lot has happened. I'm not feeling very chatty today, so I'll be brief. I've had my first baptism this weekend. It was an amazing experience to see someone following through on their commitments and joining the church and knowing I had a hand in it.

Easter was yesterday; we were fed three separate Easter dinners, all of them involving ham. And everyone insisted on giving us dessert. We both had stomachaches by the end of the day. Good times. :)

Today is April fools; in celebration, my companion and I swiped our DL's spare stapler and put it in Jell-O. It was hilarious. Fortunately, he also thought it was pretty funny.

That's all for this week. I'll probably have more next week, and a longer letter.

Until then,

Elder Bush