September 30, 2013
Dear Family,
I need to tell you before I forget that next week is transfers week so
p day will not be until Wednesday. So once every six weeks I will not
be able to email until Wednesday. It is such a blessing to hear that
Mark has been baptized. Life as a missionary is so great. Last Sunday our bishop asked us to extend the baptismal date of October 13th to
three people. On Monday our elders asked Ann Marie to be baptized on
that date and she accepted. Sister White and I were over there on
Thursday. Ann Marie was having a very bad day so we were over there
for most of the afternoon. She was telling us the pros and cons of
getting baptized and that she was not quite ready to give up coffee
and alcohol, and also lower her pool of eligible men to date. Sister
White felt inspired to ask her to be baptized sooner and she after a
few minutes of contemplating accepted. I was a little hesitant at
first, but Ann Marie's feeling of anxiousness of getting baptized have
turned to excitement! It felt like Christmas when she told me that she
was excited to get baptized and she gave up all of her coffee makers.
It is so cool to see how her life has been blessed since she decided
to get baptized sooner. So she is getting baptized in between sessions
on Saturday. I was on splits in Belmont on Saturday. But sister White
was able to go over to Cryss's house and give her a lesson. Cryss
asked how soon she could get baptized and will be baptized on
Wednesday the 9th. She is so amazing! On Friday night Ann Marie was
having an interview with President Haight, the second counselor in the
mission presidency. The elders and us were at the church entertaining
her little boy Scotty during the interview. We were supposed to go
have a lesson with Cryss but were running out of time so we had her
come to the church. She is preparing for many medical surgeries in
October. She has four rare diseases that make daily life very hard.
President Haight was able to give her a blessing. Before the blessing
he asked Cryss if she had the faith to be healed. She said that she
did but did not feel that she would be worth of it until after her
baptism. She said that it took her illness to come unto God and that
ever since then she has been going from church to church trying to be
healed. But realized a few months ago that her soul has been healed
from past experiences and that this is enough. So she was no longer
looking to be healed and then she met the Elliots who introduced her
to the gospel. In the blessing he basically promised her that after
baptism she will healed. We receive not the miracle, until after the
trial of our faith. On Sunday, we had testimony meeting. Marilene, an
investigator who was taught in another ward and has had hard feeling
about coming to the Billerica ward, bore her testimony. She has been
struggling with setting a baptismal date for a while. She bore this
very sweet beautiful testimony. Cryss also got up and bore her
testimony. She was very sick that morning and needed help getting up
to the pulpit. She bore her testimony that this church was true and
that Joseph Smith was a prophet and to never doubt it. It has only
been 10 days since she first heard of the gospel and Joseph Smith and
this was her first Sunday in church. We had one previous investigator,
one current investigator, and an inactive family who were in church.
Many of these individuals are struggling with their testimony and it
was a surprise that they were there, and I know that they were touched
by here testimony. We have been very blessed this week to be so
involved in the Lord's work. It never ceased to amaze me that these
individuals hear the gospel and instantly recognize it as truth, when
it takes many of us who grew up in the church to receive a testimony
of our own. I love this gospel, and know how much we have been
blessed. I am so excited for conference it is crazy to think that six
months ago I was not sure if I would even be serving a mission, and
now here I am. I know that the Lord is very much in the details of our
lives. Thank you so much for all of your letters.
Sister Rushton
I need to tell you before I forget that next week is transfers week so
p day will not be until Wednesday. So once every six weeks I will not
be able to email until Wednesday. It is such a blessing to hear that
Mark has been baptized. Life as a missionary is so great. Last Sunday our bishop asked us to extend the baptismal date of October 13th to
three people. On Monday our elders asked Ann Marie to be baptized on
that date and she accepted. Sister White and I were over there on
Thursday. Ann Marie was having a very bad day so we were over there
for most of the afternoon. She was telling us the pros and cons of
getting baptized and that she was not quite ready to give up coffee
and alcohol, and also lower her pool of eligible men to date. Sister
White felt inspired to ask her to be baptized sooner and she after a
few minutes of contemplating accepted. I was a little hesitant at
first, but Ann Marie's feeling of anxiousness of getting baptized have
turned to excitement! It felt like Christmas when she told me that she
was excited to get baptized and she gave up all of her coffee makers.
It is so cool to see how her life has been blessed since she decided
to get baptized sooner. So she is getting baptized in between sessions
on Saturday. I was on splits in Belmont on Saturday. But sister White
was able to go over to Cryss's house and give her a lesson. Cryss
asked how soon she could get baptized and will be baptized on
Wednesday the 9th. She is so amazing! On Friday night Ann Marie was
having an interview with President Haight, the second counselor in the
mission presidency. The elders and us were at the church entertaining
her little boy Scotty during the interview. We were supposed to go
have a lesson with Cryss but were running out of time so we had her
come to the church. She is preparing for many medical surgeries in
October. She has four rare diseases that make daily life very hard.
President Haight was able to give her a blessing. Before the blessing
he asked Cryss if she had the faith to be healed. She said that she
did but did not feel that she would be worth of it until after her
baptism. She said that it took her illness to come unto God and that
ever since then she has been going from church to church trying to be
healed. But realized a few months ago that her soul has been healed
from past experiences and that this is enough. So she was no longer
looking to be healed and then she met the Elliots who introduced her
to the gospel. In the blessing he basically promised her that after
baptism she will healed. We receive not the miracle, until after the
trial of our faith. On Sunday, we had testimony meeting. Marilene, an
investigator who was taught in another ward and has had hard feeling
about coming to the Billerica ward, bore her testimony. She has been
struggling with setting a baptismal date for a while. She bore this
very sweet beautiful testimony. Cryss also got up and bore her
testimony. She was very sick that morning and needed help getting up
to the pulpit. She bore her testimony that this church was true and
that Joseph Smith was a prophet and to never doubt it. It has only
been 10 days since she first heard of the gospel and Joseph Smith and
this was her first Sunday in church. We had one previous investigator,
one current investigator, and an inactive family who were in church.
Many of these individuals are struggling with their testimony and it
was a surprise that they were there, and I know that they were touched
by here testimony. We have been very blessed this week to be so
involved in the Lord's work. It never ceased to amaze me that these
individuals hear the gospel and instantly recognize it as truth, when
it takes many of us who grew up in the church to receive a testimony
of our own. I love this gospel, and know how much we have been
blessed. I am so excited for conference it is crazy to think that six
months ago I was not sure if I would even be serving a mission, and
now here I am. I know that the Lord is very much in the details of our
lives. Thank you so much for all of your letters.
Sister Rushton
(my personal note: I am including this letter that Abbey wrote her dad because she shares such a good message on true conversion)
I cant believe that Mark has been
baptized! And you got to baptize him! That makes me so happy. It is very uplifting
and exciting to meet people here and watch how the gospel changes and enriches
their life. But it is an entirely different kind of feeling to hear that some
one who you love back at home has decided to let the gospel bless their life.
And I know that yours and moms nonjudgmental support was crucial in his
decision to learn more about the gospel. If you see him please send him my love
and tell him how excited I am for him. I love this gospel and everyday I
realize more and more how blessed we are to have it. The topic of true
conversion has been on my mind a lot lately. It is hard to watch some people
who have served missions and yet are still inactive. I think that I have
decided that it comes down to true conversion. And that our own personal conversion
is something that we can never stop working at or stop protecting from the
attacks of the world. my mission president talks a lot about consecrating your
self to the Lord. We are forever consecrated. Even when I come home from the
mission I am still consecrated to the Lord and his work. I was always a little
timid to share the gospel before my mission. And Id like to say that when I
come home I will not be scared anymore. So everyday I pray that that will be
true. I love you dad, and am so grateful for the man that you are. Have a
wonderful week.
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