Elder Rushton Christmas morning rocking his Life Eternal shirt!

Sparkling apple cider on Christmas - BOOM BABY!

Hello Everyone,

So this past week was a great one!  Christmas was awesome it was so fun to be able to talk to my family!  It's crazy to see how different home is from when I left!  My little bro Cody doesn't sound like a girl when he talks anymore and now he taller then me!  My sister is really really pregnant and that is really weird to see as well!  Anyway its really nice to be able to catch up I love those skype calls home!  So Christmas Eve is the best time to be a missionary!  Both Christmas Eve's I have been out I have told my self today we are going to be like Christ and serve people all day!  So that is exactly what we did!  We went around asking everyone we knew if we could help them that day and lets just say wow we chopped a lot of wood!  And man was that fun!  I loved being out there doing that for those people!  You could tell it meant so much to a lot of them!  Just the simple fact that they didn't have to go out and chop would on Christmas was enough to put a smile on their face!  Since I have been on my mission I have been able to come to realize what the  true meaning of Christmas really is!  I would be lying if I told you I didn't like getting presents cause I do!  But man the happiness that comes from doing something nice for someone else on christmas is far beyond the happiness that comes from opening presents!  Anyway it was a geat christmas!  It was a slower week a lot of people were out of town and stuff for the holidays but we are hoping to get back at it this week!  Love you guys hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Rushton

Hello Everyone,

So this week was a lot of fun!  I forgot to mention the mission christmas party that we had last week!  We had the gallup zone and the chinle zone get together and we had a fun little christmas party!  President and Sister Batt were there we had a little meeting in the chapel to start and then we went into the gym and started to play games!  It was a good time and a lot of fun i got to see some elders that i hadnt seen for a while there!  I had a blast!  So then this week on sunday me and Elder David walked into church and the second councellor in the brach presidency told us we were going to be speaking today haha that was a fun experience haha of course me being senior companion Elder David made me go last haha but we both gave great talks on christmas and it was a lot of fun! I also  had the opportunity this week to go to Tohlekai on exchanges!  Tohlekai is a little rez town right barely above gallup! I got to go with Elder Lowe down there while Elder Vickers came to Sheep Springs!  I love Elder Lowe and Elder Vickers they just understand exactly how to be a missionary they work hard and they have a lot of fun while they are doing it!  I love those two Elders!  Me and Elder Lowe had a great day!  It was freezing down there that day because it had just snowed that morning!  We had a full day tracting in the mud driving in the mud and almost getting stuck in the mud it was a blast! Elder Lowe is from Preston, ID so me and him get along great!  I love Idaho missionaries haha Anyway that exchange was great and we both learned a lot! Me and Elder David have stared this new thing where we have been going to the senior citizens center ever friday it is where all the seniors get together and just hang out all day and then they go back home anyway so this week we went and shared the christmas story with them it is so funny how much those old ladies love us!  We got done with the message and some of the ladies dont speak any english they only speak navajo so they didnt understand it so on lady stood up and started shouting SING, SING, SING haha before we knew it all of them were shouting it was like a riot it was so funny!  So we started singing silent night and joy to the world and jingle bells haha it was so fun they started to sing with us!  We have already seen some great things come from going to the senior center we ask a lot of the old ladies if we can chop there wood and then we go to there house and they introduce us to a lot of there families so then we can meet and teach more people it has been great!  It was a fun week im excited for christmas!  Anyway i hope you all have a great christmas take care and have fun!

Love Elder Rushton

Hello Everyone,

So this past week was a blast!  I am loving it here in sheep springs!  I do miss winslow, when your a missionary you say goodbye alot, and I think I'm getting used to leaving areas!  So this past week we had a district meeting!  It was so fun afterward we had a district lunch and we all brought something and we ate together it was a lot of fun!  We each got to know one another very well that was also the same day as my bday!  So my bday started out great i got a call from President and Sister Batt telling me happy bday and they even sang to me they are so awesome i cant imagine them doing that for every missionary they are great!  Then that night we had a branch dinner it was so fun we had a good turn out probably close to 80 showed up!  They sang to me at the dinner as well so i was well taken care of!  It was a great week! Lately we have really been focusing on the HE IS THE GIFT INITIATIVE!  The video that the church has came out with is simply amazing!  It is intended to bring the true meaning of christmas back into the world today! Christs birth trully was a gift from our heavenly father to us and that is what we celebrate!  If you havent gotten a chance to watch it got to christmas.mormon.org or type in he is the gift on youtube and you will find it! We have been sharing those card s with everyone we see! It has been very fun!  Anyway it turned out to be a great week and we had a lot of fun!  Im getting to know the area a lot and im also loving the people!  Take care and thanks once again for all the birthday wishes you guys are awesome :)

Love Elder Rushton

Cole's Countdown Christmas Tree from Mom!

Cole just loves Elder Carpenter, this was taken the day he died!

The Sheep Springs Church and Elder David.  Cole's home is behind the church in the fenced area

So happy to be back with my Navajo people!  I love them so much!

Hello Everyone,

So this week I spent my first week in Sheep Springs, NM it is so cool hereIi honestly love it!  I think I pretty much prayed every single day since I left Lukachukai that one day I could go back to the rez and finally it came true!  Its so weird to think about how I would rather be here in a one gas station town with almost 300 people in it rather then being in a big city!  I love the kind of work that goes on here, I definately love the people!  I remember my first couple of nights in lukachukai were tough I felt like I couldn't relate to the culture or the people.  I remember praying that the Lord would let me love these people and love the reservation.  Well he sure did that!  Its so hard to explain I just love what goes on here, the people are always so easy to get along with they will do just about anything for you!  The dirt and mud and everything that goes along with the rez is so fun to me i just love it here!  Anyway this week we were able to teach about 17 lessons which is the most since I left Lukachukai!  We were super busy and I can't wait to be able to try to keep reaching above that!  This area has a lot of potential to be even greater then it already is!  So funny story for this week, we were at a house somewhere way up near the mountain in a place called Naschitti!  Anyway Elder David says I know a shortcut we can take that we can get back to Sheep Springs with less miles haha so I'm like oh sweet alright lets take it.  So were driving down this dirt road and we go about 4 miles and were eventually just going up the mountain when the whole time I'm just like man I hope he knows where he is going haha we eventually end up way on top of the mountain and that is when I say Elder David are we lost???  he says ughhh ya!  haha I'm like oh shoot, cause by this point it is getting dark!  Anyway so were on a little tiny dirt road way out in the woods and its pitch black and im just trying to take whatever dirt road I can find that will take me north because I know that the main road that goes up the canyon is somewhere north!  So we are just taking every road that we could find anyway we came to a split in the road andI took a left well we followed that and we ended up in some sheep camp with no way out.  Anyway long story short we finally got out haha it was a fun experience but man I don't know about anymore short cuts with Elder David haha anyway I love where I'm at and I'm excited to start this new transfer.  We have an awesome district and its gonna be a fun one!  

Love Elder Rushton

Hello Everyone,

 

So this past week flew by!  It was transfer week which is always a weird week!  Anyway we received news on transfers a little bit early on Saturday!  Both me and Elder Gnehm received a call from President Batt!  I found out that I would be getting released as a Zone Leader which is sad I will miss all the fun things we did MLC, exchanges, zone conference training!  But on the other hand I am really going to like just focusing on the area a lot more and not being so busy all the time!  It has been an awesome 9 months.  I was blessed with some great zones and some great missionaries to work with!  It wasn't easy but it definetly helped me to become a better missionary!  Looking back I just have to give thanks for the time the Lord let me be in there!  I am now going to be a District Leader of the Sheep Springs, NM district I am super excited because that means that I will be going back to the rez.  I have missed every second of not being on the rez!  When I was in Lukachukai, AZ I loved the Navajo people so much I loved the kind of work that went on there and I am so glad to be able to be going back!   It is definetly something me and Heavenly Father have discussed many times!  :)  So as for Elder Gnehm (my old companion)  he is going to be staying in Winslow and training a new missionary which means there will not be zone leaders in Winslow anymore they are moving the zone leader area now to Holbrook!  Where Elder Chipman will be zone leader again and also Elder Cook!  Some crazy things going on this transfer but it is always exciting!  So as for Thanksgiving on Thursday we had a great one!  We were invited to 3 different dinners, the first one we went to was amazing we were really hungry and we ate a lot and it tasted really good!  At the next dinner we kind of went and picked and chose what we wanted to eat, and by the third dinner I honestly just ate a salad and a roll! haha Anyway I'm excited to see what this new transfer brings and the opportunity to go back to the rez! However I am going to miss Winslow, AZ so much I have loved being here,  there are so many amazing people I have met that will continue to be my lifelong friends!  I will never forget the miracles  have seen the gospel bring to the people here in Winslow!  Winslow will always have a special place in my heart and for that I am truely gratful!

 

Love Elder Rushton  

Elder Yazzie, Chris, Elder Rushton, Elder Gnehm

Very special day for both of these two!

Christmas Parade in Winslow

This picture was taken of Chris before his baptism.
Cole couldn't help but notice how happy he is and how he just glows!

Hello Everyone,

 

So this past week was awesome!  We had a Christmas parade here in Winslow!  It was huge the entire reservation comes down and it was just fun!  We ate some fry bread and just had a good old time!  There were so many vendors!  Selling everything from fry bread to Native American art!  It was cool!  Anyway it was funny, so the parade happened on Saturday morning and one of our investigators Chris who was supposed to get baptized that night was gonna help his daughter in her float and everything!  So his daughter was on the dance team and they danced in the parade!  Anyway all of the sudden we see Chris driving the NICE Ford Raptor down the street pulling the dance teams float!  I couldn't believe the smile he had on his face!  Anyway to be able to get baptized and drive a Ford Raptor all in the same day that is a dream day haha!  Anyway so on Saturday night we were able to hold the baptism for Chris.  Man he is an amazing guy who has came a long ways! I have seen him change his life around and become better father and person!  Anyway I had the opportunity to baptize Chris which was such an honor having him chose me to be the one to do it!  As Chris was coming down into the font he was crying and man at that moment there is no better feeling then watching your investigator come down into the font with that broken heart and a contrite spirit!  (Mosiah 18)  He is going to be such a help for the church he is already involved in the young mens!  He is a great guy and has become one of my life long friends!  It is amazing the people you meet on your mission and the relationships you gain with them!  I can't imagine what my life would be like if I didn't serve a mission!  I know that I was sent to the four corners area for a reason!  I love what I am doing and have learned so much! 

 

PS look at Chris's picture in the Ford Raptor haha look at that smile that was a couple hours before his baptism, he is just glowing!

 

Love, Elder Rushton

Hello Everyone,

 

So this past week was pretty good!  I had the opportunity to go one exchanges with one of my favorite elders that I have met on my mission Elder West he serves in Leupp, AZ with Elder Patterson and they are some great elders!  They have sure changed Leupp around and turned it into a great area!  Elder West is going home here in 2 weeks and it was nice to be able to have one last great day with him!  Its crazy thinking that when I got to Winslow Elder West had about 6 months left I'm about to my 7 months mark and about to be exactly in his place when I met him!  Its crazy how time fly's out here when your not paying attention to it!  Anyway things are going great here in Winslow according to plans we are going to be having a baptism this Saturday we are really hoping things go through!  Yesterday the entire state of Arizona got to watch the new Pheonix temple be dedicated!  It was an awesome thing!  It was now my 2nd temple I have seen dedicated on my mission the first being the Gilbert, AZ temple!  It was such a neat dedication! My favorite part of it all was watching the Prophet (President Monson)  at the cornerstone celebration as he put the mortar on it he was laughing and smiling and joking around with President Uchtdorf he cracked a couple of jokes and he was just being his self he then  went over to the crowd of people and chose 2 kids to come and help him it was so awesome man I wish that could have been me when I was little!  But it was good to see President Monson so happy and energetic it just reminded me that I need to stay that way too and try to stay away from being boring!  Anyway it was a great week and had a lot of fun!

So this past week was pretty good! There wasn't much that went on we went on exchanges with the Greasewood Elders so I was able to spend the day with my good buddy Elder Thompson from the MTC which was really fun we actually had a very productive day.  we picked up 3 new investigators on that day and 2 of them actually seem to be really solid!  We are scheduled to be having a baptism on Nov 22nd and as of right now we are still good for that!  He is an awesome guy who is really converted!  It has been an amazing thing teaching him!  He did have a few word of wisdom problems and so we were a little bit concerned about teaching him because of the last word of wisdom lesson we had didn't go too well anyway we had to do it so we did!  It turned out great he told us he would live it and stop doing everything he was!  You could really just feel the spirit from him knowing how converted he was instead of justifying things or trying to go around it.  He submitted to the will of the Lord and that is how you can tell how he is converted!  He is a great guy and we are super excited for him!  We also held aZone Training this week I did a training on being a consecrated missionary.  I have no clue!  i always told myself i would never train on obedience but when I sat down to write up my training the spirit was telling me to train on it so bad so I did!  I used a talk called "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary"  by Elder Tad Callister it was a great talk!  It went well and everyone learned a lot from the zone training!  Anyway things are great, thanks for everything and have a great week!

 

Love Elder Rushton

Sometimes if we try to do things on our own, its like chasing a pig!  With everyones help its easier to catch!

Elder Rushton with a couple of his favorite Trick or Treaters!!!!!  (So cute!)

Hello Everyone,

 

So this past week was great!  On Monday we had to drive to Farmington, NM once again for an MLC meeting!  We had to drop Elder Yazzie off in Greasewood that day with the Greasewood Elders!  It was weird driving the rest of the way without Elder Yazzie!  We just missed him haha!  Anyway we had a great MLC on Tuesday  we discussed many things and you always come away from there spiritually uplifted!  Tuesday night we decided that instead of driving all the way back to Winslow, AZ we were just going to stay with the  Wide Ruins and Sanders Elders and then go with them to there district meeting on Thursday!  So we did kill two birds with one stone!  We spent all Wednesday with those elders and met a lot of great people.  There are some awesome people in the Wide Ruins/Sanders area!  At there district meeting we had some fun, Elder Young was teaching at the district meeting did one of the best trainings I've seen yet on my mission and it was so fun!  He borrowed a pig from someone down in sanders brought it all the way to Holbrook and put it in a pen!  Well we had Elder Thompson my good MTC buddy (who is now in Greasewood)  get in the pen and try to catch the pig!  haha!  It was so funny watching him dive all over the ground and not being able to catch it at all haha!  To make it even better we told Elder Thompson it was going to bite him haha and he looked a little scared!  Anyway the training was on working with the Ward and Stake leaders!  So when Elder Thompson was in there trying to catch it himself he wasn't able to he tried and tried but he couldn't catch the pig!  Then we put a Elder Quorum President in there and they came close but the still couldn't catch the pig!  Finally we had to put a Bishop in there, so there were three elders in the pen and they caught the pig!  It was awesome we had a blast and it just goes to show that when you work with your ward leaders you can get stuff done!  Anyway Saturday and Sunday we had stake conference they did a special broadcast for the state of Arizona so we got to hear from President Uchtdorf and also Elder Christofferson, Sister Mckonckie was also a speaker and also Elder Bradley Foster of the Seventy who I met in Chinle when he was visiting that Stake Conference.  It was a great Stake Conference!  We also found out some cool news our
Stake President who lives here in Winslow, President Hancock, has just been called as a Mission President!  He has no clue where yet, all he knows is that he will be a mission president in June 2015.  I know him and his wife will do a great job together wherever they go!  I'm hoping for the Pocatello, ID Mission so I can pay him a visit when I get home!  Anyway it was a great week!

 

Love Elder Rushton

Dilkon District

Hello Everyone,

So this week went by super fast!  It was crazy!  last pday it was fun we went out to a place called Clear Creek and we did some hiking there is a canyon with a bunch of water in it out there so that was pretty cool to look at!  We had a rough time as well this week.  We had some investigators that were all ready to be baptized on November 1st and everything was going as planned.  They had told us that the church was true several times and they told us that Joseph Smith was a Prophet as well! So we had one last lesson to teach them, the Word of Wisdom well they refused to live the Word of Wisdom they ended up kicking us out of the house that night and now they won't answer our calls or answer the door anymore when we go there!  It is just crazy to think that just because of one thing, it can blow up your whole testimony and now all of the sudden the church isn't true anymore!  That is the one thing I just don't understand about the world we live in today!  I think I heard Elder Holland say this but he said "We live in a world today where God is created in the image of man, rather then men created in the image of God!" Its sad!  I wish people could understand that Gods laws never change!  As much as we may want them too they never do!  I have seen that time and time again throughout my mission, where people just won't accept the gospel because they don't agree with a commandment!  Gods commandments never change!  Anyway I'm super excited for this next transfer and the opportunity I have to stay in Winslow!  We have some awesome things that are happening here!  I am also super excited I found out this week that I get to be companions with my old high school buddy Elder Marcus Yazzie.  I can't wait! It definately will be a good time!  Anyway not much to write about this week but I hope you all have a great week and take care!

Love Elder Rushton

Best Buds, Elder Rushton and Elder Manumaleuna

Elder Rushton and home town friend Elder Norton

Hello everyone,

 

So this past week we had a lot to do again.  It seems like that has been the story these last couple of weeks!   It has flown by! It is crazy how all the days for like an entire week can just blend together while your on your mission!  On Wednesday we had Zone Conference in Tuba City, AZ man that is a long early drive!  It started at 9 oclock Tuba City time so that meant it started at 8 o'clock our time.  This different time stuff is really hard to get used to!  Anyway, so we ended up getting up at 4:30 on Wednesday morning and heading out the door by 5 so that we could be in Tuba on time!  Man that was an early morning!  Zone Conference was amazing though my favorite part was that we had the opportunity to watch Meet the Mormons!  That show was simply amazing!  It honestly just leaves a good feeling in your heart at the end of it!  The show really just goes to show how we as Mormons are normal people living normal lives!  We experience challenges just like anyone else but we also experience some of the happiest of times!  My favorite people in the show was definitely the football coach because he was just an awesome guy.  He had so much fun with his family!  I also loved the story of the missionary mom!  It just made me think about my mom back home and the tears, and how hard it was for me to leave and how hard it was on my family for me to leave! The movie really helped me to come to realize that I am out here doing exactly what I need to be doing right now!  It just affirmed that the church is still just as true today as it was the day I left!  I would definitely encourage everyone to watch it! So as for the rest of the week, we got to meet with both Stake Presidents this week again those meetings are always good!  Its amazing how much the Stake Presidents really care and pray for each missionary that is working within there Stake!  So I kind of have a sad, and also kind of funny story to tell.  This past Friday night in Winslow there were some 20 year old guys who decided to go around and burn down a bunch of random buildings.  On Friday night half the town of Winslow was on fire!  They ended up burning down some old historic houses and also buildings and also the only dry cleaners in Winslow!  It was kind of sad!  I hate to hear about things like that because its like those guys didn't have anything better to do then to burn buildings down???? So here comes the funny par!  There is an elder in our zone who serves on the reservation.  He asked us if we would take his suit to the dry cleaner haha, anyway yep his suit ended up burning down with the dry cleaners!  It was kind of funny having to call him and tell him that!  Anyway he is ok he is getting a new suit so everything will be good! Anyway  I hope everything is going well for everyone and I hope you have a great week!  Take care!

 

Love Elder Rushton

Ship Rock at Sunset

Winslow car show

Baby Blue!

Crashed on the bike and destroyed my shin (little boo boo!)

Friends Forever!

Hello Everyone,

So this past week was busy that is for sure!  We had our MLC in Farmington, NM on Tuesday and got to Sanders late Tuesday night then we did an exchange I went with the Sanders Elders and Elder Gnehm went with the Wide Ruins Elders!  We stayed with them until after there district meeting on Thursday!  It was a great exchange we had a lot of fun together!  We did a lot of tracting I love tracting on the rez!  It was fun we really emphasized the importance of the Book of Mormon and tried to leave one with every home we knocked on!  The next day was fun going to the district meeting I love going to the Wide Ruins Chapel haha because it is so rezzy! It was a great training by Elder Young!  So this week was also General Conference!  I love General Conference as a missionary because it is that one time of year you get to sit back on the couch and watch some TV I sure do miss my TV!  But General Conference was amazing I usually always have one talk that really stands out to me but this year I started to get a little worried I hadn't heard a talk that I thought really stood out.  There were a lot of good talks just none really stood out!  Anyway the last speaker was Elder Bednar and his talk was the one that was my favorite!  He talked about how as mormons we like to share our beliefs with others because they mean so much to us!  He told a story of his two sons and it was halarious, it made me think a lot of my little brother Cody and me.  I sure do miss that kid!  Anyway if you didn't get a chance to watch that talk I would definatly encourage you to do so it was a great talk!  The moral to the story is, we have something that means so much to us in our lives why wouldn't we want to share it with everyone around us!  Like I said that was the last talk given Sunday afternoon by Elder Bednar!  Anyway things are great, starting to cool down which is good!  I would like to wish my Grandma Rushton a happy birthday coming up tomorrow!  Love ya grandma!  Have a great week everyone!

Love Elder Rushton

Elder Krebs, Elder Rushton

Quilting Guild, Winslow, Arizona

Lots, and lots of rain!

Wood Hauling with Dilkon Elders and Elder Ghnem.  Cole's buddy Elder Kay and his companion.

Hello Everyone,

 

So this past week was really good we didnt have too many meetings and there was not much that went on!  We did end up going on exchanges with the holbrook elders!  Elder Chipman came to Winslow with Elder Gnehm and i had the chance to go to Holbrook with Elder Krebs!  It was great i love Elder Krebs to death this is his second transfer being out so he came out in July!  He is a great missionary i cant believe he has only been out for only 3 months! We had a very productive day in Holbrook and he taught me a lot!  It was nice to be able to get to know him a lot more!  He is from Logan, Utah!  The rest of the week we really just tried to stay working hard!  Something that me and Elder Gnehm have been working on is just talking to everybody!  It is amazing when you are able to talk to everyone outside they get more and more comfortable with you!  There is a guy we met on the west end of town that we went back and talked to 4 times before we even introduced the gospel to him!  Thats one thing that i have seen work really well is sometimes that first time is not the time to talk about the gospel so there is no need to force it just simply come back later another day!  It has been really cool we have been seeing miracles come from that from talking to everyone!  This next week we have a very busy week in front of us we have MLC on tuesday so were leaving for farmington today and then we are going on exchanges with the wide ruins and sanders elders on wednesday andthursday so we wont be back into town until friday!  It should be great and a lot of fun!  Im am very excited and looking forward! I was glad to hear about bishop watt being the new bishop back home he will do a great job i know he will!  I know his councilor will be great also!  Thanks for everything have a great week!

 

Love Elder Rushton

Hello everyone,

 

So this past week was pretty good it was definitely a different kind of week!  I started out by waking upon Tuesday with a bit of a sore throat I didn't think much of it so I just went through the day and then went to bed!  Well on Wednesday when I woke up I had a fever of 100 a really bad sore throat and some sinus pressure! So that morning I called Sister Batt and she told me just to take it easy that day and it would go away!  Well that day we had dilkon coming down to winslow for exchanges so while Elder Gnehm and Elder Kay went out and worked I sat in bed while Elder Hunter watched me haha It was the worst feeling the entire time when your sick on your mission you hate sitting there in bed you feel so terrible about it and you feel like you should be out working but you cant so the whole time your just fighting yourself and your frustrated! haha Its just no fun!  Anyway me and Elder  Hunter took off for Dilkon that night around 4 and we finished the day teaching out there!  So the rest of the week I lost my voice and I cant hardly talk!  That always is no good when your a missionary because that is all you do is talk! So it has just been a frustrating week but I am feeling better so that is good!  This week we spent a lot of a time tracting a part of town called south side!  Its on the other side of the railroad tracts and lets just say no one really goes out there!  Well we really felt like we would find success out there!  So we went!  We talked to lot of interesting people and didn't find much success!  But if there is one thing I have learned on my mission it is that when you show the lord that you are putting forth your effort  he will reward you!  It might night always be in the way your expecting but he will reward you!  So on sunday we talked to this kid that we met playing ping pong with at the seminary building the kid is a member anyway he said his dad is ready to take the missionary lessons!  So we went out and met his dad wow his dad is so prepared!  His wife just left him because he wasn't living the best like he wants to change and knows he can through the atonement he wants to become a better husband and father and that is exactly what this gospel will do!  Anyway Im doing great im loving my mission!  I hope everyone has a great week!  Take care love ya!

 

Elder Rushton

Hello everyone,

 

So this past week was busy man we had a lot to do!  We had to set up and take down for the fair!  We had to make sure each district in the zone new when to get to the fair, who they were staying with that night and how long they were gonna be there!  All in all I believe the fair turned out to be a great thing!  we had a lot of supplies there pictures of the savior, book of Mormons (English, Spanish, and Navajo) We had pamphlets and a referral paper!  It worked out really well toward the end of the fair we had the process down!  The way I found the most success is taking around the pass along card that shows Jesus appearing in the Americas to the nephites and I would just ask people if they wanted a picture of Jesus!  Of course they do everyone loves Jesus!  Then when they took the card I would start introducing the book of Mormon to them and telling them how Jesus Christ visited the Americas as well as jeruselum then we would say we would love to come visit you sometime and tell you a little bit more about it!  It went great we got a lot of people to sign up and it looks like we will have a lot of success from it!  There was one day at the fair that this lady come up to us and immediately she didn't look too happy!  She slammed this paper down on the table and told us she was a Baptist preachers wife who was here to prove us wrong! haha It kind of just cracked us up!  She started into this anti Mormon stuff that she found on the internet!  I was very impressed with our missionaries that were there none of them raised there voice none of them argued back we just testified to the lady that if she would read the book of Mormon she would know it to be true as well!  She didn't like it too much and she stormed off!  It just goes to show when your out there trying to do something good someone or something always has to try to come ruin it!  Im glad we didn't argue with her I have noticed on my mission one thing if your going to bible bash with someone it does absolutely no good both people are just going to walk away mad thinking they won and that the other is wrong and that doesn't do any good!  We ended the fair and had a great time doing it!  We had a couple tender mercies of the lord there (fair food,  cool booths everyone, and country music playing in the background!  haha which we didn't listen too)  :) It turned out to be great!  Me and Elder Gnehm had to meet with both stake presidents in our zone and tell them how the work is going in there stakes this week as well too!  That is always a big process we have to fill out a lot of paperwork for the stake presidents!  So its just nice to be able to sit back now and know that those things are done!  Im greatfull for the opportunity to be out here Things have been great and they are only going up from here!  Love you all take care!

 

Elder Rushton

Hello Everyone,

 

So this week was great we had the opportunity to go to one of our new district leaders district meetings!  Elder Young who is in Wide Ruins!  It was great he is an awesome leader and he will do a great job!  He is also from Idaho Falls, ID!  He trained about how to build companionship unity!  it was great!  I think it was awesome because almost everyone in our zone got a new companion this last transfer so it helped us out a lot!  I don't think Elder Young knows it but he might be doing that same training at the next zone training haha but all in all it was great!  Then the highlight of the week was definitely getting to go to Farmington and listen to Elder Jeffrey R. Holland on Saturday!  As me and Elder Gnehm went in and sat down I started looking around and all of the sudden I saw my Lukachukai friends there!  The Daines were there that was so cool to see them I have missed them so much and also paige norcross was there and what was so cool to see was Alison was there as well!  Alison is the girl who got baptized in march when I was in Lukachukai!  It was so special to see someone you taught the gospel to sitting in a meeting with you with Elder Holland!  We were able to have Elder Robins there of the presidency of the 70 and Elder Catcher who is in the chorum of the 70!  Elder Holland was so amazing to listen too!  It was cool to see when he walked into the room we all stood up and just watched him walk up to the stand!  That feeling was awesome! Elder Holland spoke and man he is a powerful speaker!  I took lots of notes that I will never forget as long as I live!  One thing he talked about that stuck in my mind was he said the phrase that "we are our own first convert" if we are not willing to convert ourselves fully to the gospel how do we expect to convert others!  He also mentioned that that is the number one priority of why we go on missions is to convert ourselves and by so doing it will convert our future families, wife, kids, etc.! The most powerful thing that he said to me was when he was closing he bore such a strong testimony he talked about how the church cant afford to lose one single one of us and how we shouldn't ever question going home from our mission early he stressed over and over again how important we are to this work!  Then he said this and this is what I will never forget for as long as I live he said "we cannot afford to lose one of you."  Then he pounded the pulpit not even kidding and in the most loving loud voice he said "salvation is at stake not only in your life but the lives of those you are sent to find" then with a finger pointing right at us he said "if at any time your testimony weakens I want you to fall on mine" then he testified of the savior and the church so powerfully and the words that I have had stuck in my mind ever since then is when he said "I DID NOT GIVE MY LIFE FOR A FAIRYTALE" he said "this work is real and I would not be here if it wasn't"  That phrase I did not give my life for a fairytale struck me Elder Holland has been an apostle for a long time now he has given a large part of his life to the church! He wouldn't just do it for a fairytale so that was cool!  I love Elder Holland!  It was awesome!  Anyway I heard there was some change back home to the stake presidency and all I can say is it sounds like a great stake presidency I am excited to be able to meet them here in a couple months! I would like to thank President Anderson, Hillman, and Thompson for all that they have done They have done a lot for the stake and they will be missed!  I would also like to thank Bishop day for what he has done for the Thomas 6th ward he and bishop Mathews are part of the reason im out here on a mission today so thank you for that you will be missed!  Hope all is well take care and have a great week!

 

Love Elder Rushton

Elder Rushton and Elder Phillips

Dirty after wood hauling

Dilkon District