Abbey's letter Sept. 16, 2013

Dear Family,

It has been a very good week! The leaves are starting to change here and fall is definitely coming! I am so grateful that everything with my nose is done! It definitely does not look quite like it used to but it is better. And honestly if I was hope I would probably be really concerned by I haven't been to worried this whole time. It has been a huge blessing. We went to district meeting on Friday and the poor elder that threw the ball was so concerned that it wasn't as straight as it used to be. I catch him staring at it quite often, poor kid. He keeps telling me that as soon as he gets home he wants to pay for me to have plastic surgery. haha I keep reassuring him that no one else can tell and that my nose was never straight to begin with. This last Tuesday we had our weekly planning session with the elders and made goals to find new people to teach, and it is amazing how blessed we have been. There are so many people in this area that are ready to hear the gospel that I sometimes wonder how it can all be done! But things always work out and we have been able to keep up with it between the four of us. This week we got to teach the Jansun family. They went to our temple in Boston and tried to go in. So their information was given to us. One of the young women in the ward wanted to go out tracking but we decided to take her to this appointment with us as a last minute decision. We went to their hope and sat down with them. They were so interested by the Mormon religion and just wanted to learn more. They moved from China about 6 years ago and have been in the states every since. They joined Christianity when they got here. He said that in China even though they are taught that there is no God, he said he always knew that there was a higher power. They are so ready for the gospel it is incredible, and I cant wait to teach them again. The moment the lesson changed was when Isabell, the young women we brought with us bore her testimony. He was very touched that someone so young could have such a firm believe in something. The youth in this ward are amazing. There are two young women that come to activities that are interested in the gospel, and a young man that is going to start coming. We were able to teach the mission prep class last night for them. I love the youth in this ward! There are 4 laurels in the ward and each one of them have agreed to come out with us every other week. We are the missionaries but it is really the ward that is doing the missionary work, just by being good examples and sharing the gospel with people they love. The Billerica ward has really caught onto this idea of member missionary work and really taken off with it. It is so amazing to watch. Me and sister White had the chance to go to our stake leadership training meeting with President Packard this last Saturday. It was all on how the ward can use the missionaries and the youth to do missionary work. My eyes were very opened.

This week me and sister White have had alot happening. we had two doctors appointments for me, and she was sick. We got a flat tire and had to go get that fixed. Our gps stopped working and when we got a knew one our power outlet in the car stopped working. It felt like many forces were working agianst us but we were so blessed this week, and we saw many tender mercies and miracles happen this week. I know that the Lord is very much in the details of our lives, and that there must be opposition in all things.  I love this gospel so much and everyday feel my knowledge and appreciation of it deepen. Life is so good. We have this goal to contact one person a day, and share our message with them. On Friday is was 9:00 at night we were on our way home and my companions throut hurt really bad so we stopped to get her a frosty. We had not contacted anyone yet so we approached a group of 5 guys that were sitting at a table outside the door. We just talked with them for a few minutes, told them that we were missionaries and asked if we could share a message with them. The whole conversation probably lasted about a minute and the whole time they were just laughing in our faces. We both walked away smiling because even though they thought we were ridiculous because we could feel the spirit with us. And it didn't shake our believe in the gospel because they didn't like what we had to say. It never ceases to amaze me that everyday I am uplifted with strenght to do this work. Our Lord is so merciful, and without his help this work would be nothing. This week we get to teach 3 investigators the lessons and are working with many others. I hope and pray that everyone is doing well. Have a wonderful week.

Love Sister Rushton