May 12, 2009

I wanted to share some of this letter because I thought it was kind of entertaining...

"Hey Family:

It was really great to talk to everyone Sunday. I found out that everyone else spoke for three hours! But I wouldn't have been able to talk that long. It's great to know that everyone is doing great.

On Monday we had a lessong with a less-active member where my companion taught us how to do a little chain mail. We tied the lesson into the armor of God. Tnoight we had a lesson with Sister Jennings who has been attending church for hears with her family but isn't baptized because of concerns about teaching of the prophet Joseph Smith. We felt that she needed to come to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Brother Selee, our new Ward Mission leader had the same prompting. Tonight we read 3 Nephi 11 and then watched the last chapter of the Testaments. The Spirit was so Strong! We committed her to read and pray about the book of mormon and she said she would. I'm really excited for tomorrow because we have Brittany and Brianna, the grandchildren of Sister Hansen. They have both grown so much while we have been teaching them. Last week they didn't know if they were ready to be baptized we reassured them that they were by going over the baptismal interview questions. We also have three lessons with new investigators, hopefully they will be home. :)

How great is my Calling!"

Sounds like Elder Rushforth is hard at work. (And maybe playing a little...seriously? We're using chain mail now as a teaching tool? So funny!) He's always such a good example to us and in our individual notes from him, he encourages us to better ourselves through prayer and scripture study!

As families of Missionaries, we truly are blessed in so many ways!

Mother's Day

It was nice to talk to Elder Rushforth on Mother's Day! It sounds like he's doing great and loving the work!

Because we're all so good at writing, we didn't have a lot to update each other on, so it was a brief conversation all around!

Transfers are coming up, but he thinks his companion will get transferred, but he'll stay put. As you will tell from the letters, he's doing quite well!

May 5, 2009

And more letter:

Dear Family:

I can't explain how much my mission and the Restoration of the Gospel means to me! I'm so thankful to my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ, who lets 19 year old boys go and do such a marvelous work. I am learning so much from this ward I am in, they (the ward members) are amazing.

Well, the work is going great! Brittany and Brianna's baptism was bumped back to the 23rd of May due to some scheduling problems for Brianna's family. I love watching the change that has taken place seeing the big smiles and watching them become more confident with answering questions. They are amazing!!

Sunday was an amazing day. In the beginning I was discouraged but part way through the sacrament meeting one of our investigators showed up and my joy was great. George Segundo is amazing he is looking to learn and grow closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. There ar emany others I could talk about if I had the time. :)

How Great is my calling!!

April 28, 2009

Yet another exerpt from a letter:

Dear Family:

What a wonderful week it has been. I'm so excited to wake-up every morning and be able to have study time and then to bear testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.

I love being able to see the change in people as they grow closer to the savior. I realize that just as much as I am excited for investigators to be baptized I love seeing Less-Active members come back to the gospel. Right now we are teaching the Deitricks who are amazing! They have such a love of and a desire to learn more about the gospel. Their goal is to go through the temple and be sealed to their two sons Kaden and Carter. Besides the Deitricks we are working with a lot of investigators 8 of which are progressing. The work in this ward is coming alive quickly. This past Sunday we had one of our investigators show up to church and the best part is that he had a hard time finding the building but he didn't give up.

I know that as I trust in the Lord, Jesus Christ, I will be led to those who are ready to hear the Restoration gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for being so kind and loving to me. :)

"I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you." -C. Schwindel

April 21, 2009

I'm a little behind on updates, mostly because I live out of state and thus do not always have access to the letters he sends home, which are far more detailed than the brief emails I get. So here we go with some catching up.

Exerpt from a letter from Elder Rushforth Dated April 21, 2009(I promise to try not to edit them, even though the grammar and sentence structure makes me want to pull out my hair!):

Dear Family:

How are you all doing? How is the weather? It is nice and hot up here but it is supposed to cool down and rain for the next few days.

My companion Elder Collins is way smart with the scriptures he knows them really well. Back home we would make armor out of chain mail now he is making a chain mail tie. I am greatful that he is my companion because I can definitely learn a lot from him.

The work is going great! We have quite a few investigators we are working with. One tried coming to church this past week but couldn't find the building so this week we are taking him on a church tour. We also have lots of potential investigators so we will see what happens with them. One of the sets of Elders in our district are doing amazing there are so many out there that want to learn but don't know where to find the truth.

This past week on Thursday we had zone conference. My companion and I had the privlege of doing a training on tracting in front of two zones and the APs and mission President, it was nerve racking but went pretty well.

Love, Elder Rushforth