Hermana Bush´s super duper semana

Well it has been a really great week.  Last week I told you that we got a reference when we went to the fireside.  So, we went and it was incredible all the things that happened.  We were on divisions.  I was with Hermana Clark and Hermana Ramirez was with a member.  We went to contact the reference and we rang the doorbell but no one answered so we went to ask the neighbor.   And while we were talking to the neighbor, a white pickup pulled up and the neighbor said ¨Here they are¨.  So we walked over and this lady and her daughter get out of the truck.  We talked to her and how we got their names and where we were from.  She said that at that moment they were just stopping at the house and they had to leave again but we were welcome to come back later that night.  So, when we were reunited in our trio, we headed back to the house.  The lady (Claudia) welcomed us in.  She is a doctor (pathologist I think is what it is called.  She looks at tumors under a microscope and says if the are malignant).  She has an office in her house and we sat down and we were getting to know her.  Claudia was very open with us.  She said that 3 years ago they were attending a church but dropped it.  They looked for a church for 2 years and then she got tired of looking.  So a year ago she prayed and said that she wasn´t going to look anymore but asked that God sent someone to her.  And she has been waiting for a year.  She said that she got really excited when she saw us contacting the neighbors but then didn´t think that we were going to talk to her.  She said that she knew that God answered her prayers.  She was crying and very emotional.  I have never been in a lesson so inspiring and upliftling.  It really was a huge testimony builder and faith builder that people really are out there.  Claudia is super positive.  She always has a ton of questions and that first lesson we left her with a ton of pamphlets and a Book of Mormon.  When we came back, she had read all the pamphlets, read the introduction of the Book of Mormon and the testimonies of all the witnesses and had started with first Nephi.  Really, I have never been in a more spiritual lesson. Claudia also had questions about the word of wisdom.  She doesn´t like coffee but asked why we couldn´t drink it.  Hermana Ramirez went to answer the question and said that coffee is really bad for you because if you think about it, it goes into your body brown and comes out yellow.  She said ¨where does the brown go?¨ Before she went any farther I had to say that I had never heard that before.  It is a really good point:) but I couldn´t let false doctrine go on.

Yesterday we went with Claudia to the church to give her a really short tour.  I think I told you how small the chapel is, so it really was a short tour.  She met a lot of members and we are going to a members house tonight with her to make pupusas.

Well, there was more that happened this week, but I don´t have anymore time left.  I love you all.

Hermana Bush

FYI from Judy: Amanda's mission call arrived in the mail today. We'll be opening it tonight. Crystal has permission to call and find out where her sister is going on her mission!

Welcome to El Salvador

Hola!

Well it has just been another week and so many things have happened. Well first things first, we received our new companion on Tuesday night. Her name is Hermana Clark and is from Washington (the state. Most people here don´t know that Washington is a state. They only know Washington DC). She is really great and is not shy at all. She is relieved that she doesn´t have to be the mission nurse now and can have time to learn more spanish. She said that she met Abby (my cousin) in the temple and Abby told her that I was with the nurse and so Hermana Clark just assumed that she would be my companion. It is funny that we are companions but not in the nurse´s position. So, I have been talking a little bit more english than I have in the last 3 weeks and actually it is starting to hurt my head to have thing in the two languages to talk to my companions. Yesterday at the end of the day I just didn´t want to say anything because I was tired of thinking in two languages. An interesting fact is that I now have had 4 gringa companions and all their last names have been one syllable and so is mine.

This week we had Elder Martino come talk to us! He is from the area presidency. There was a fireside on Tuesday night and then we had a multizone conference on Wednesday. The fireside was for members and so Presidente Lopez said that we could go IF we had an investigator. You don´t know how hard we tried to get an investigator. We looked the whole day and finally at six o´clock we were giving up but then in the last minute, we called a 13 year old boy who is the nephew of a member and he said he wanted to go! We were so happy and we ran to their house and we arrive at the fireside all sweaty but ready to listen. It was great because it was in the building of my old area and so I got to see a lot of my old people and my converts from Las Palmeras. It was a reunion. And I was really happy we went because I said hi to a lady and she said who are in the elders that are in Miramonte right now. And I was so happy because that is ME! She had a reference for us and she said we can contact them saturdays in the afternoon and they want to hear about the church because they think the church can help their marital problems. I am really excited to go tomorrow. It is fine contacting people but it is much better teaching people that want to hear our message.

At the multizone conference we had, I had to give the opening prayer and I was super scared. But now, I have given a prayer in front of a general authority. And then in the conference, Elder Martino asked Hermana Cash a question and called her my name! She said she was a little offended :) but I know she liked it.

So I think that I already told you but we are in the city and I would have thought that it is the area that we would have to walk the least but it is quite the opposite. There are a ton of buses in the area but no buses that just drive around the area, only through the area so there is no sense in riding any buses to get to our appointments. Sometimes I wish I could just fly or warp myself places because walking is such a waste of precious time. But it is good exercise so I will live with it.

I feel like I don´t have much else to say. But one thing that everyone should do is look up what the national bird of El Salvador looks like because I have seen 2 of them! There is a park in front of the bishop´s house and there are some of these birds. They have very strange looking tails and so I was really excited to see them.


Well, I love you all. Thanks for writing me. I am glad you didn´t forget about me in El Salvador. I can´t wait to hear where Mandy is going. I hope she gets her call soon because I want to know.

I love you all!

Hermana Bush

It´s a girl

So it has been a very interesting week.  We have been walking a ton! Our area is huge and there are no reliable buses so we end up walking everywhere which is fine by me.  We are still getting to know the area a little bit.  Our goal is to try to get Bishop to like us.  He is kind of a strange guy and his sense of humor is different than any other person.  So one day we brought him cookies and we have gone out to visit with him. On Monday I was thinking what else can we do. Then I remembered that we hadn't given him the progress report for the week because we hadn't made copies of it.  So we went out made copies and the last thing we did that day was stop by his house.  No one was home so we left it in his "buzón" or his little mailbox thing and left a sticky note so that he would look in his mailbox.  Little did we know that there was a meeting with the bishops of the stake and the President of the mission the next day.  So in the meeting, bishop told President how great we were because we took him the progress report and that he was really impressed that we left it at his house.  So pretty much we are great missionaries:) No, but really we are happy to know that the bishop respects us. Two days ago we went out with a member who is 19 years old and has said that things have happened in the ward and now he doesn't want to serve a mission.  But we went out and were trying to help him find the desire again.  So, naturally all of our appointments fell and we had nothing left to do but contact or visit members.  So I wanted to contact people but then the member would say that the man was crazy or that he is a drug addict.  Something like that so we wouldn´t contact. Finally I just wanted to contact someone so we went to this man that was washing his front driveway thing.  And what do you know, he was crazy!  He kept saying "man" in the middle and the end of his sentences.  He really likes the USA and would say "Viva Los Estados man" and then with another "Viva El Salvador man".  I tried to get him to appreciate Guatemala too for my companion but he just didn´t want to say it for Guatemala.  He would then list 10 different cities in the states and say "viva ..... man".  What a friendly man.....man. So, everyone that I wanted to contact was crazy and I gave up on the contacting for a while. We are having some success in the area but there is still a long way to go before we are going to have a baptism.  There are some positive people but they need to go to church.  So, we are still working hard. We are teaching this lady named Blanca and she is ready to get baptized but hasn´t gone to church yet.  She wants to get baptized but has to work Sunday mornings so we are trying to get her to go to church Sunday afternoon in the same building but it is a different ward.

So the big news right now is that we are getting a new companion tonight.  She is coming in the middle of the transfer and is going to come work with us.  We didn´t know till yesterday that she is coming with us and only this morning did we find out that she is coming today.  We have a lot to do because our house is only equipped for 2 people and we have to get another table and another thing to put clothes on and another bed by tonight, but everything is possible. She is a nurse too but she isn´t going to be the mission nurse right away.  She is going to get some mission experience before she goes to work in the office.  So, we are really excited. So a lot of things have happened this week and my testimony has been strengthened a ton.  I really know the truths of the message that we carry.  I know that through the gospel of Jesus Christ we can have more joy than we have ever experienced.  The church is true.

I love you all.

Hermana Bush

General conference

This week was general conference which was such a great break from normal life.  General conference in the mission is like having a little vacation.  I also heard that the priesthood session was really good.  Me and my companion talked about borrowing suits from someone and cutting our hair and going to the priesthood session but then  we decided against it.  It is weird because we have now been in our area for a week and a half but still haven´t gone to our ward so we still feel a little lost in trying to meet members.  But so many people have helped us so far in the area.  The old ward mission leader drove us around in his car to show us the boundaries of the area and it took an hour to drive around the whole area.  How crazy!  After that, we decided that we have a long way to go and a lot to learn about the area.  Working in the city is really different because there are no fine line as to boundaries.  Half of our area is bordered by the East Mission and then on the other half of our area touches 4 other areas in our mission.  But it is super confusing because they are just normal streets that separate the areas.  Me and my companion hope that one day we won´t just wander into the other mission.

This is my first time in my mission that I haven´t had church at the stake center.  Our chapel is supposedly one of the first chapels in El Salvador and it is kind of old.  They don´t even have pews.  Sacrament is in just a little room and they have to set up their own chairs.  We have church at 9 in the morning and the other ward that meets there has church at 1 in the afternoon.  I thought it is weird that they don´t stagger the wards better but apparently there isn´t enough room in the building for 2 wards.

So this week has been good.  We are really hopeful that our investigators are going to go to church on Sunday.  We have one lady that was so close to accepting a baptismal date but at the last second she decided that she wanted to see a baptism first so now we are going to be having field trip next week to see a baptism in another area.  Her name is Blanca de Martinez and for work she pushes around a cart around town and sells snow cones.  She is really sweet and has a real desire to learn.

This week we have met a lot more people of the ward.  One women is named Hermana Cunchita and she has a daughter that has down syndrome.  We went to go visit her and her daughter (8 years old) has a fascination with me.  When her mom was there she just wanted to sit next to me and pet my arm.  When her left the room for a minute, the girl just wanted to spit on me.  Every time I looked at her, she spat on me.  And, you know what, you think I would have learned but I just kept looking at her because the temptation was too strong.  I kept wanting to see if she was going to spit on me again.  I think that there is a really good spiritual analogy that can be made but I am still thinking about that one.  Tonight we are going to go work with our bishop and his wife to visit less active members.  We are excited because our bishop is so willing to help us and he likes contacting people.  So, it is a win-win situation.

I am glad that you got my pictures, I will go look for the memory card and see what I can do.  I will have to try to make another copy of it.

Thanks for everything.  I am really happy to here from all of you.

I love you

Hermana Bush

Transfers

Well, like I mentioned last week, I got transferred.  My new area is Miramonte in San Salvador.  And, like I mentioned last week that might be happening is...we´re opening an area.  I am with Hermana Ramirez from Guatemala. She was with Hermana Cash in Las Palmeras with me and Hermana Woods and we both got transferred together.  It is funny because we come from the same area and we have the same time on the mission so most of the questions people ask us have the same answer.   It really has been an adventure.  I thought my last area was city but I was wrong.  In our area we have malls and a mountain of fast food restaurants.  We really live in the city now.  Our ward is relatively small for a ward.  Wards are supposed to have an attendance of 100 people every sunday but ours is struggling at 75 people every sunday.  So, I had no idea how hard it was to open an area but now I know.  We had transfers on tuesday and a bus picks every one and drops every one off at their stake centers.  But the bus dropped us off at the mission office and then left and Hermana Ramirez and I just stared at each other and said ¨What do we do now?¨ After 5 minutes the zone leaders came with a member from their ward who dropped us off at our house in a car and then they said goodbye and left.  So again we were left with the same question.  So we were flipping through the area book and found the phone number of the bishop and had some interesting calls with members.  Pretty much nobody knew that the Elders were taken out of the area so when we come around it is always a surprise to somebody.  We have gone around part of the area with some members and so little by little we will learn more about the area. Yesterday we planned to go out with a young woman and we waited for her but she never came so we decided to go out and we were just walking around our own neighborhood and we got lost. We walked around and we had to ask a taxi driver how to get out of the area.  But we are fine and we had a good laugh about it.  I am glad that I am with the companion that I am with because she doesn´t care what we do or if we get lost, we can always laugh about something.  So even though we don´t know our members or have any investigators, we can still have a good attitude.  In our district, there are 8 missionaries and only one was here last transfer.  Our ward has been struggling for baptisms and they have only had 1 baptism since May. So, we have a lot of work ahead of us.  So, everything is just great here.  My companion is little but she has a crazy goal to gain weight in the mission.  She has already gained 20 pounds but is thinking she should stop because her stomach was hurting last night.  Our area is huge and none of the buses around our area are reliable so we walked a lot lately which I enjoy.  Before the mission going on walks was not my favorite past time but I think I might like it now if I could go on a walk at a leisurely pace.

Oh, one funny thing.  Before transfers I was asking President Lopez (of the mission) where I was going to go and who was going to be the next assistant.  He said I was very curious and told me to make 3 guesses which we did.  Then I said that he would be sure to tell me.  So on Friday night, President Lopez called and told me who was going to be the next assistant.  It was super funny.  I thought he was just joking about telling me but he is a man of his word.  He told me later on that once he decided who it was going to be he called the assistants, then the elder and then me.  How funny.  At least I know that President likes me, right.  But now I will be out of the loop again since I am not going to be in the office and I won´t see president as much (even though we are now in his stake).

I don´t feel like this email was very informative but I don´t really have anything to say.  We are working hard but still trying to know the area which we don´t know at all.  It is always an adventure leaving the house.
I love this work and I love being here.  Our bishop told us that some missionaries got caught up in the gossip of the world but all we need to do is preach the gospel.  I really know that there are people here waiting to hear our message.  We just have to have the faith to find them and fight for them.

I love you all so much!

Hermana Bush

Going to the zoo!

This week has actually gone by really fast and really slow at the same time.  So much has happened this week.  First of all, last week I talked about Luis.  He is 17 and the brother of my other recent converts in the ward.  We were going to have his baptism last week but someone told us that he smoked.  So after a long time of investigating and talking to Luis, we are ready to go with the baptism TODAY!  We are really excited.  When we went to talk to Luis, he looked at us straight in the eye and talked about how the last time he smoked was a month ago and that the reason he wants to get baptized is to show that he has truly repented of his past deeds.  He was really sincere.  We also had our the Elders talk to him and they also had the same impression. So, everything is a go.

Last week we found a kid named Douglas and we have visited him a couple times now and he also has a huge desire to become more spiritual and to learn about the gospel.  We also found out that his cousin once removed (or something like that) is our ward mission leader who got home from his mission at the beginning of this year.  So, we have had some great lessons and his mom is really nice too.  Douglas has a baptism date for October.  We have had a good laugh about that because Douglas is 16 years old and so we just keep saying that we are on a mission to fill the young mens program in Las Palmeras.  One teenager at a time.  The real reason is because the familia Osorio loves to do missionary work.  The grandparents always invite the friends of their grandchildren to go to church and then they give us the references.  When the members help us in the work, the work is a lot easier.  The tricky part is inspiring members to do their part.

So guess what!  Today we are going to the zoo with our zone!  The pday of the zone is on Monday but they changed it this week so that we could go to the zoo all together.  I am really excited about it.  I here that the zoo isn´t very good especially because the one elephant they had died last week!  What are the odds.  Luckily for me, I know what an elephant looks like and so I won´t miss out on too much.  At the zoo they have a ton of monkeys and hippos and other things I think.  To get inside is only 75 cents and so we´ll see how great it is.  I am just excited because I won´t break my record of going to the zoo once a year.

Other news this week is that we have cambios (transfers) on Tuesday and I am probably going to get transferred. We talked a little bit to President Lopez and he asked if Hermana Woods is ready to be by herself as the nurse and we both knew that she is ready.  It is sad to think about leaving Las Palmeras because it is here where I learned to love the people.  I really do love the members and my converts here.  But no matter where I go, there will always be powerful members and people who will love the work and the gospel.  I will give you all the gossip about me.  So when we talked to President he said that there are three sisters coming and no sisters are leaving the mission so an area will have to be opened and by the sounds of it that responsibility will fall on my lap!  I am super scared.  He told me that I am not going to go far.  A month ago he talked to us about maybe putting sisters in the Santa Tecla ward and so I thought that I was going to go to Santa Tecla but then he said that I might be sent to Zona Los Héroes in San Salvador to open an area (there is only one zone in the mission in San Salvador.) I don´t like being in the dark.  I don´t like not knowing where I am going especially because I don´t feel like I can tell people I am leaving when we don´t know for sure.  But where ever I go, I know that is where I am suppose to go and change is always a growing experience. Oh, another thing that was weird is President said it could be my last area! How weird.  I still have a long time left on my mission but when I look at all the sisters in the mission, I am one of the older ones! There are 22 or more sisters in the mission and only 5 have more time than I do in the mission.  Even though, I don´t have a year yet, the mission really does fly by.

We have had a good week and are expecting good things to come for the area (even if I am not going to be there).  It is amazing the spirit that can be felt when someone willingly accepts the gospel.  When I look at my converts in the ward I feel so happy. The gospel changes lives and there is nothing better than seeing someone choose to follow what the Spirit tells them.

Thanks for all your prayers and all your support!

Hermana Bush

Happy Birhday Sister Bus

Well, here I am safe and sound!  The gangs have dispersed and there hasn´t been a major gang threat since last week.  Well, I had a good birthday.  It all started last Saturday when 2 of the young women took us out to eat shakes.  There was an ice cream shop near their house and so we ate and read 3 Nephi 11:)  Then, my companion and the other hermanas that we live with surprised me with a cake at night time.  It was so beautifully decorated with the words ¨Happy Birhday Sister Bus¨.  Needless to say we had a good time joking about that and clearly was not written by a native english speaker.  (If you didn´t notice birthday and Bush are wrong).  But the birthday celebrations were not over.  On Sunday afternoon we went over to the familia Gutierrez (Jorge and Antonio were baptized in August) and they made us lunch which was really delicious and they also bought a cake.  And then right after we went over to another family´s house and they made me a cake too.  So, we just enjoyed the day eating cake. The best part was that it was all tres leches cake and so I enjoyed my soggy cake.  But really, I don´t like it when everyone wants to celebrate me and it just feels kind of awkward, so I am glad that my birthday is over.

The day of independence of all of Central America is the 15th of September and so this week they had a lot of activities and all the kids were out of school Wednesday and Thursday.  Here in El Salvador they love fireworks and they are always blowing them up so I thought it was ironic that their independence day is probably the only holiday that they don´t do fireworks because in the states it is the only holiday that we celebrate with fireworks.  But the definition of fireworks is a little different because here they are just things to blow up that make a loud bang noise.

On Wednesday was also the day of the dogs.  Pretty much every dog that could, wanted to kill us.  There must have been something in the air or else we just smelled bad, but almost every dog barked at us.  We really did almost die.  We were contacting from the ward directory and we needed to knock on a house.  There was a dog in front but we thought we see what happens.  All of a sudden the dog ran at me barking ferociously and so naturally I booked it, running as fast as I could.  I thought it was going to rip my leg off but then it stopped running after me and turned to my companion and took off after her.  The neighbors came out and tamed the dog, we knocked on the door and left, hopefully never to return.  And the day ended when we were walking home and two chihuahuas tried nipping at our heels.  I have never been so scared of every single dog on the street.

Well, just for family information, my companion started singing a song ¨the trumpet, the trumpet goes do dodoo.....¨ I started singing along and I said ¨How do you know that song?¨  And she said that she grew up watching Magical Musical Mansion!  We had a bonding moment talking about Wee Sing but it was a pity because that is the only Wee Sing movie she saw as a child.
So, we were suppose to have a baptism today for Luis (17 years old and brother to Alejandro and David).  I talked to the Young Men's President last night to remind him of the baptism and then he said ¨And he passed his interview?¨ So comes out that, one of the young men saw Luis smoke last week!  Our hearts dropped.  I don´t know how much we could do to help him understand and we don´t know why he doesn´t say anything ever when we ask him specifically if he drinks and smokes and he says no.  Luis knows and still chose to smoke.  But we just have to talk to him.  The young man said that he occasionally sees Luis smoke with his friends.  So, we still haven´t been able to talk to Luis because he is studying and so he doesn´t have time till 1 when we can call him on the phone.  This has just added a lot more stress to our day.  But so is the life of the missionary.  Really there is nothing more stressful or rewarding as a mission.  It is definitely true what it says in 2 Nephi 2 that we must experience the hard ships to understand the joys of the mission.  I know that Luis is ready, just making stupid decisions.  So we just got to put the smack down:)  We have a good relationship with him and so I think that we just have to have a good chat with him.

So, we are still enjoying our time here.  And we know that through trials we learn.  I don´t think that I have ever had as much patience than I do now.  I really have been blessed and that I just hope that I can help make a difference here on my mission.  The church has blessed my life so much and I just want to give everyone the same blessings.

Thanks for everything

I love you!
Hermana Bush