Hey yous!
We set up a Christmas tree
last p-day but Christmas is still months away... right? I should be eating
healthy and losing weight but I have a few months before I need to worry about
that too... right? It will be good seeing my family again but that is still
months away... right? It is going to kill me to leave my family in Australia
but luckily that is still months away... right?
Unfortunately though, that
is all just a week away. It really hasn't hit me. Even if it rained all week to
prepare me for the northwest (before the quick shift to the Provo cold, that I
am SO not ready for) I AM NOT READY TO GO! :( Some moments I do think it hits
me and then I feel like I did when I went to get a shot when I was younger...
you know the pain is coming and you just wanna hurry and get it over with? haha
Rip off the band aid per say. Then of course there is the whole Tangled analogy
of skipping- excited to leave the tower and then nec minute, sitting on a rock
crying wishing you never left the tower. So with all the different possible
emotions I can experience, I just chose denial. It isn't happening... right? :)
I guess the only way I can
describe it is in these lyrics of a song from the Brown Hymn Book (in dedicated
to my love of the Polynesian cultures):
Lord, I can't believe It's
finally happening to me
The day is come and now
I'm coming home so soon.
Have I done all that I
could along the way?
And acted just as He
would?
Months gone by so fast
Will these feelings last
throughout my life?
Please keep me near to
thee
Time is on my side (Oh, I)
Help me to make it through
somehow
I need thee now
Help me to walk thy ways
and live to show them how
These two years have been
the best of my life
Now its time to move on in
this journey of mine
But we had a wonderful,
wonderful week. We went tracting a whole day with our new senior couple. How
great are they?! And we had a lot of success!! We found a whopping 2 new
investigators! Angelica, who turns out has a brother that joined the church and
is now a Bishop and she can tell the change in his countenance! And then Trish
Mackenzie. Very grandmotherly and very nice. We love the small country towns
south of Narooma! We have our return appointments with both of them tomorrow :)
We had a great lesson with
Daphne who came to the Relief Society activity this Saturday and loved it! She
stayed an hour and a half longer than planned. Didn't come to church the next
day BUT is helping the young women make cards tomorrow night.
Said goodbye to Maxine. My
90 year old poetry friend :) We had a great lesson with a lot of inspired
questions and read the poems Pres Monson quotes in his talks together. She is
the only member of the church in her family and has never been to the temple. I
have never felt such an urge to do the work for the other side of the veil
before as I did that day with her.
Kathy, the less active
recent convert who I just adore, is still very sensitive to the gospel. But we
had a wonderful lesson with her and now are to the point where we can slowly go
through all the lessons again with her to help resolve the true concerns.
The Pickups had us over
for dinner. More second hand smoke and got to eat in a castle. Literally. Stone
walls, glass windows, and spiderwebs everywhere. haha Oh and waiting like an
hour for the very upset Lexy to pick us out the perfect outfit for us from her
closest haha (They are the couple where she has brain damage and her husband
has cared for her over the last 30 years since).
Lets see what else? We got
to phone in to my last Zone Training to save us 8 hours from traveling. We have
been having to drive to Nowra like every week for something we feel like,
including District Conference this weekend! Oh and then I have been diving back
into Jesus the Christ, which I started at the beginning of my mission. I was
feeling super optimistic about finishing it before I went home but I think I
will be more realistic and say Christmas or New Years haha AND I packed already
so I don't have to worry about anything this week and just work and be a
missionary. :)
I feel like my life has
been full of change. Yet this change is so different. I am now asking myself my
own Plan of Salvation questions (who was I before? who am I now? who do I want
to be?) and keep reminding myself to trust in the Lord. You know, just the two
main things I have taught the last 18 months!!! But easily summed up, I am
still me (I think haha) but now with the right priorities and perspective.
Before my mission, I felt like I had a lot of good priorities and God was part
of all of them. BUT He himself was not the first. Now, He is. He is the
umbrella over any other priority I could possibly have. As we are promised in 3
Nephi 13, when we first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first,
everything else will be added unto us.
I am so grateful to have
been set apart and trusted to not only wear His name but to represent my Savior
and my best friend. I am so happy that along this journey I was also able to
find many more of my friends and as I helped them on the covenant path back
home, I in turn was strengthened. I really do believe that I won't go a day
without thinking about my mission. It has been the greatest decision I have
ever made. I have no regrets. I only have a heart full of gratitude.
I can't wait to continue
to apply everything I have learned and gained to the rest of my life. I hope I
can load up this springboard as much as possible this next week and then spring
forward. Thank you everyone for being a part of this journey with me. I love my
Father in Heaven. I know he answers prayers. I know it is only through His son,
Jesus Christ that we can return to live with Him again. I also know that it is
His grace that picks us up, not at the very end of the race, but it is what
carries us day to day. The Holy Ghost is indeed real, it comforts us and
testifies of truth. It is my guide. I also know that the day of revelation and
miracles is not over. His gospel has been restored, in its entirety. Faith
leads to action. And I know that as we act and do the things necessary to come unto
Christ, we truly can be perfected in Him.
Lots of love and a full
heart from Down Unda,
Sister Rushing
P.S. I do promise I am
excited to see you all too :) to some extent... haha just kidding! maybe....
you'll never know!
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