More sickness, more trials, more blessings.....

April 20, 2015

Dear friends and family,

   This week the most important lesson to learn is that trials are okay to have. We just have to accept and even love them if we are going to find success, otherwise every single trial is going to blow away our testimonies in the wind. Like the parable of the seeds thrown on different types of ground, let us hope we do not end up scorched by the sun because we have no root. 
  I mention this because this week we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I have ended up becoming the district leaders companion again, now that Elder Anderson is district leader of our 4 man district including us and our sisters, and the Hammond and Albany districts are combined minus us, we had our first district meeting with our zone leaders present. It was actually a really good meeting, and Elder Anderson, despite no training, did a fabulous job as expected, and our sisters where prepared like they always are. After our very good meeting all about unity, we separate for exchanges and I go with Elder Fowler (he came out with Elder Anderson) to go back to Denham Springs North! I was really excited to visit this area and possibly see some people I knew. We get there and we work real hard the whole time gettin one lesson after another cancelled but still going on and getting stuff done it was pretty great. I actually met this investigator who is kind of not interested anymore but his best friend who is over all the time is very interested in the church and in quitting smoking. We end up going there and teaching primarily his best friend and his cute little 2 year old girl. It wasn't hard for her to warm up to me, then she was all crazy, like little girls are when they like ya, but it was nice to have her get up all next to me just to see the scriptures and see the pictures and ask all kinds of cute questions. It was a successful lesson.

    The main part in this is exchange is that my eye starts to bother me....a lot, like excruciating irritation in the eye. I originally thought it was my contact or something in there but I checked and it wasn't, and this was reaffirmed as I couldn't sleep all night and woke up with a burning red, inflamed eye of straight up pain. In the morning its near sealed shut and feels grainy. It was miserable and so I call the mission nurse and of course...I have pink eye, and then Elder Fowler starts emptying his stomach because he caught flu and then Amite comes up and gets me and they don't have meds for my eye at Walgreens and then I get home and throw up all day soooooooooooooooooooooo I got way sick and it was fun, you know as in not fun. Sorry everybody I got sick again, haha, oh well right? I am now okay, obviously. Therefore all is well.

   The sweet principle learned this week, is don't lose faith in yourself merely because you're afflicted. Like Sarah and Abigail said, its all about having faith in ourselves and our ability to overcome through the Saviour. Sure enough, we are going to have some pretty rough afflictions and weaknesses, but that's what makes us special as Latter-Day Saints. We don't just say "that's who we are" or "that's how it is" we change ourselves and change our environment to better ourselves and, therefore, we overcome the world. It's a huge challenge but we become more fulfilled as God's children, we are his offspring and therefore can always continually go upward, there are no real limits, only the ones we give ourselves and the ones that Satan deceives us with. We have an investigator who can't get baptized because of false court charges and lots of hard tings have been happening that would weaken anyone with little faith, but he comes to church every single week, no matter what, because that is where he should be. Where are we? We are temples, so does God reside in us? I sure hope so.

   I hope you are all well, I love you dearly and miss many of you, more so as time passes by and I remember the history of goodness I have enjoyed with many of you. It is a great gift to be charitable, sometimes we think that giving all of ourselves to everyone and to God will tear us down when it will only build us up, we can never grow tired from having charity and love one towards another. In Jesus name amen.

love,

-Elder Joshua Dean Rush

(this was to his sisters, but I want it included in my blog book, so here's a cute extra)
 First of all before my letter, I am absolutely proud of you two little sisters of mine. Those talks are printed and saved and I am gonna put them up somewhere I can read them. They really touched me and its real cute that y'all quoted me..I am nothing to quote but I surely am glad that the things I say are of worth. It is as if I needed to hear those words, especially from my little sisters, to realize how amazing the Spirit is, and that even in their cute little mouths it comes out with power. I love ya so much girlies!