Abbey's letter July 22, 2014

Dear Family, 

This week has been a humbling week. We have seen so many miracles and tender mercies this week. Marcia is a woman that was a mormon.org referral. She has requested a free bible. We went to visit her a few weeks ago and she had some questions about the church. She said that she wanted to come see our church and we could come see hers. She was doing a presentation this Saturday on all of the missionary work that she is doing. So we asked the Zone Leaders for permission and they said that we could. It is a small group of Brazilians and the service is in Portuguese so we needed translators. That was a cool experience in itself to be a minority language and not know what anyone is saying. The church is called foursquare and it is a big christian church in Brazil. It was really cool. A lot of clapping and shouting and singing and standing. They were all so nice. And afterwards Marcia invited us to come to her home again this week to teach her more about our church. I have never thought of going to potentials as a way to gain their trust but I think that it helped Marcia to trust us more. As we showed that we are interested in knowing what she believes. It made me really appreciate other beliefs and religions. We do things a little differently but there are a lot of good people who are trying to worship God and doing the best with what they know. 

On Sunday church was about to begin and this unknown number asks when church is and what time it starts. So we were excited thinking it was someone that we had contacted in town. But a man walks in named Rick who is a member and had gotten our number from his friend. He is here for the summer and is from Gautama-la. We told him about Yanedra and he said that he would love to come translate for us. It was an answer to our prayers. We were so excited. So we went to visit her that night and we set up an appointment for this Thursday. And she is excited to learn more. She also invited us to go to her church with her. So we went with her Sunday night. And this one was in Spanish so we again needed translators. It was a lot like the other church from the night before. They had us stand up and sang us a welcome song. They were so nice. The Pastor came and introduced himself to us afterwards and his wife is actually a baptized member in Salvador. He was really surprised when we told him that we were Mormon missionaries. 

We also received a new investigator from the sisters in Boston. He has just moved here to Nantucket and they were starting to teach him there before he had moved. So we are really excited. His name is Tieroll. 

On Wednesday for FHE, Danielle who is a less active gave the spiritual thought. Sister Vaai felt like we should ask her to. She hasn't ever come to church her and has been to FHE once a few months ago. But she came and gave a beautiful thought on repentance and what it means. It was really cool. I think that people just need to feel needed.  

We were able to go visit Rosie this week. We had dinner with her on Thursday. She is such a funny lady. We asked her what her spiritual goals and she said that she really wants to serve a mission. Her husband lived with her here for 13 years and then decided to move back to the Philippines and has since been unfaithful to her. But she is so loving and forgiving towards him. She is such a strong woman. We really enjoyed getting to visit her again. Rosie Set up a lunch her friend Dida who has been coming to church and us on Saturday. We are really excited to get to start to teach her. We have been so blessed this week with things moving forward with our investigators and potential investigators. 

Lacy will be here on the island this weekend and will be coming to church. We are hoping to get to set a baptismal date with her while she is her with the group. We really feel like we need to keep her spiritually progressing before life wears on her too much and she completely breaks down. So we are hoping to help her set a date. She is so ready her life is just really crazy. 

We have quite a few summer visitors now. We have about 10 new people who come every week. And we love them. We have two young couples from Utah, two people who are here for the summer plays, Rick, and then Carolyn who comes here every summer with her husband. So it has been really nice. On Sunday Jackie, the woman we met on the bus, came to church with her fiance. We think he was a little overwhelmed with his first Mormon church experience being in a basement:) But we hope he felt the spirit! 

Patrick and Kathleen are doing well. Patrick came to church on Sunday by himself. He is about in his sixties but he is so fully of energy. And he has such a strong testimony of the gospel. We are hoping to have him come out with us to an investigator lesson here soon. 

Life is really good her on the island. We find out if one of us is leaving on Friday. We hope that we get to stay together for one more but we will see. I know that the church is true. And that all of us are apart of something incredible. I know that God has an individual plan for each of his children to return to him. I am learning that if we think less about how things affect us and more about the people around us that things get a little easier. It is easier said that done, but is true. I have found that sharing the gospel becomes hard if you start to think about how you are going to find more people to teach or how things are affecting you. And it becomes a lot easier if you love the people around you and focus on how much they need the gospel. I love you my dear family. I hope that you have a wonderful week. As Sister Vaai always says, "God is soo good." Have a wonderful Day. 

Love Sister Abbey Lou Rushton 

Abbey's letter July 16, 2014

Hey Family, Sorry I forgot to mention that I wouldn't be able to write yesterday. We had an all day long zone conference yesterday. So we are taking some time to write today, in between our service. We were able to go off Monday afternoon and spend the day with our zone which was fun since we don't get to see other missionaries very often. 

I am learning that the Lord very much has things under control. He knows where we plan to be and things work out the way it needs to. Being in the right place at the right time just simply means being obedient and doing what you should be doing. This morning we were on the bus going to the library and these two ladies on the bus recognized us as sister missionaries. They had no idea that the church was on the island. They are here for the summer selling designer bags. She started talking to us and said that her father is very into missionary work and has served a mission. Turns out she has been in active in the church for a long time. She took this happenstance of running into sister missionaries on Nantucket as a sign from God that she should go to church. She asked when church is and said that she will be coming every week.  It seems that every time we are running late and miss our bus we meet someone who has a lot of questions about the gospel or who has had a lot of exposure to the church who we would not have met had we been on time. 

This Sunday we were planning the Sunday School lesson on baptism. And we were really excited for Patrick and Kathleen to be there. So we had planned it around their needs. They had decided not to come. But Rosie's friend Dida came to church again. And we were glad that we had tried to make the lesson simple. Afterwards she came up to us and told us that she wants to learn more about our church! We are so excited:) 

We have an appointment to meet with Yanedra on Thursday and to start teaching her. We have decided that with Patrick and Kathleen we will start treating them as if they have a baptismal date and start preparing them for baptism. President Packard has his ten commandments of all the things missionaries must do for an investigator when they have a baptismal date. So maybe if we start working towards it, it will be sooner than later. We had a good talk about them with the Milsteads this week. We decided that it is better to love them and to accept where they are at then to push them away why wanting them to do things they don't want to do. It is terrible frustrating because they have such strong testimonies of the gospel and baptism would bless them so much. But I am trying to understand the Lord's timing in things. 

We were able to see Lacy on Monday. She had not gotten back to us for two weeks but we thought we would told her that we would be off island on Monday hoping she would be able to respond. She happened to be away from home when we texted and also was planning to be away again on Monday for appointments for Angie. It was such a blessing. We met her at a park with the cape cod sisters and she was able to meet them. We think going to church will be a little less scary for her now. She was terrified of the thought of going to a big ward with three noisy children and Angie having a break down in the middle and what people would think when she had to hold her down so she doesn't hurt herself. We told her we would find someone to sit by her to help her with the kids. Shes feeling pretty low. The rules at the shelter are pretty rough. And she is feeling very alone. If she could just make it to church then we think she will be ok. She said that she is starting to wonder if all of this is worth it. We pray that she makes it. It was heartbreaking to have to leave her. Sweet Lacy. 

Zone Conference yesterday was really good and just what I needed. It was all about retaining baptismal dates and that we as missionaries have more control over it then we think. President Packard talked a lot about becoming who we need to be. And to not let pride get in our way. He told us that we should welcome correction with open arms. Let everyone know our faults so that they can help us with them and that we should not be ashamed of them. Life experiences are meant to correct us and who are we to be offended by correction or to be hurt by it. Because that is how we become more like our Savior. We can't gain Christlike attributes if we don't find our faults and try to change them. It was a good reminder that becoming and changing and making mistakes is a beautiful and wonderful thing. I realized that if I am so busy at trying to be what I want to be and worrying that I am not, then I wont become who the Lord plans for me to be. 

I am starting to fall in love with the ocean. On Monday we took the ferry to the main land and sat outside on the side of the boat. My companion was asleep and I just sat there for two hours looking at the ocean. I think it is the best therapy and can take away any worry. 

I love you very much, and I hope that you have a wonderful week. I know that we are so blessed to live in this time and to witness all of the miracles of the Lord Hastening his work. I know that he is very much in control and will not be stopped and it is up to us to be a part of it. I love you all. Have a wonderful week. 

Love Sister Abbey Lou Rushton 

Abbey's letter July 8, 2014

Hello Family! This may need to be a short one but I promise to keep writing until my time is up here at the Library! This week has been a very adventurous one. We were off island when the hurricane came. We had gone off island on Thursday night for a zone meeting on Friday. And when the storm hit on Friday we ended up staying until the storm passed and went home on Friday. We stayed on the Cape with the Cape Cod sisters. The Martha's Vineyard sisters stayed with them as well. We had our meeting on Friday Morning and then the storm started to hit. Not a lot of wind but a ton of rain and it rained most of the day. Sister Packard was a little worried so after the meeting she asked us all to go home and stay in for the night. So it was kind of like having a little slumber party with three sets of sisters since we were stuck in the apartment all day. Nantucket got it a little worse than we did but not too much damage was done. They lost power for part of the night and had a lot of wind but there was only a few tree branches here and there that had fallen off of the trees. On Thursday night we were on the ferry heading to the main land and Sister Packard called and was worried about us and wanted to make sure that we were coming off of the island for the storm. She is quite the lady. You will never have to worry about our safety as long as she is here. She sure worries about her missionaries. Make us feel good that even though she has about 300 missionaries she was worried about us and wanted to make sure that we were safe. 

Our Zone meeting was really good. The theme was to let it go and to let them know. Almost all of us have heard that frozen song because many little kids like to sing it to us. So we all vowed to let go of any fears that we have about contacting and talking to strangers about the gospel, and to let every know about anything about the restored gospel and to bear testimony of it. It was a really good meeting. This weekend Nantucket broke their record for the number of people in Sacrament meeting. We had 32 people:) We had a family of 16 visit from Salt Lake. One man got up to bear his testimony and said that last week he was in a sacrament meeting of a 1000 people and the Prophet was there. And he said that the spirit that was there was the spirit that was here in our little group. He said this as he had to hunch over while bearing his testimony so he wouldn't hit his head on a pipe:) They were all pretty amazed with our little group and our humble meeting place. Makes me really proud of them. They all are truly amazing. Lorraine taught the Sunday School lesson and we got to sit in since we had no primary kids at church and it was nice to be able to sit in. She taught about agency and how we have the power to choose. She told about how Satan will influence us to choose not what the Lord wants us to. She said that when the mission contacted them and told them that they were getting sisters and they were asked to look for an apartment. Immediately her husband said that they could live in their basement. And she was hesitant because it needed some work. But after looking they decided that the sisters could live with them and they got to work. Things were going horrible wrong. And one day the basement had flooded and when her husband came home she was in tears as she said their is water in the basement, and I don't know how this is going to work and how they were going to pull it off. They were about to tell them that they needed to find another place for the sisters to live and then she had this thought that Satan was was working really hard for the sisters not to come. That he did not want them to be there. He did not want the work to progress here on Nantucket and he was going to do anything to stop it. She said that once she realized that things changed and they were able to figure things out. Sometimes when there is opposition all we have to realize is that sometimes there are things working against us and once we realize that the path seems a little bit clearer. 

There is not much more news on our investigators. They are all busy little bees working for the summer. Hopefully I will have more updates next week. I love you all and my time is up, But I know that the church is true. I love this gospel and this mission. We are having a mission wide fast tomorrow for all those learning about the gospel and I am excited. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week. Thank you for all of your support. 

Love Sister Abbey Lou Rushton 

Here is a copy of President Packard's letter to us this week. I wanted to share it with you. He is truly amazing. 

Dear Elders and Sisters,

Tomorrow we will all take part in our first ever, mission-wide fast. We will be fasting for everyone who is committed to baptism this month (95 people at the beginning of the month.) We want a unified and collective effort on the part of the entire mission. All of us care for these investigators. They do not “belong” only to the missionaries who are teaching them; they belong to all of us. We all pray for them, and we all rejoice when these people make and keep sacred covenants. 

As you have undoubtedly observed, the record number of baptismal dates is an extension of a more broadly experienced spiritual outpouring that we are seeing throughout the mission. Much of the influence of this spiritual outpouring is intangible and unmeasurable (such as greater consecration, greater companionship unity, a greater effort to open our mouths, and a greater desire generally to throw ourselves into the work with reckless abandon). However, the measurable indicators have also increased. For example, the number of new investigators is way up, member lessons have increased, member “helps” have increased, and non-members at church have increased. Now, it is time for baptisms to increase – significantly. The Lord has set the table for us by giving us all these investigators and baptismal dates, and if we do our part by collectively exercising our faith, the Lord will bless these people. In essence, we are going to work like everything depends on us, and pray like everything depends on the Lord. Of course, the investigators play a huge role in this as well, and some of them will inevitably let go of the iron rod and wander off, but we want these cases to be only after we have done all we can do, individually and collectively, to shepherd them into the fold.

This is a special time for us, so let us enjoy this Spirit and keep its rich abundance flowing in our lives and ministry. Let us not be “weary in well-doing, for we are laying the foundation of a great work.” (D&C 64:33). Indeed, let us “waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things… [and] let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed” (D&C 123: 13; 17). We really do have the “utmost assurance” that God’s arm will be revealed if we “cheerfully do all things that lie in our power.” Let us do this together!

Love,

President and Sister Packard

Abbey's letter July 1, 2014

On Thursday we went to visit Yanedra with Sandra. She had read the restoration packet and part of the book of Mormon and she wants to learn more but doesn't know how to formulate her questions into English. We were able to talk a little bit about it and bear our testimonies about how Families can be together forever and the Book of Mormon. She had already shared them with a friend who also wants to learn more. She is already sharing the gospel with her friends:) She is one step ahead of us. So we are working on getting Spanish translators. We originally thought that we would have some Spanish missionaries help us through Skype. But we feel that there are a lot of finding opportunities to have someone from Nantucket help us. Chelsie asked Ozni if he could help us. She said if he doesn't want to than she will try. And Celeste also speaks fluent Spanish so we are going to see if she can help us as well. We are very excited and very grateful to get to start teaching Yanedra the discussions. She is such a sweet lady. 

We haven't heard from Lacy this week. We just keep praying that she is OK, and has been able to figure out things with Angie. We also weren't able to meet with Blake but we have had some contact with them. We went to visit Patrick and Kathleen on Sunday because they were not at church. Kathleen was sleeping but we had a good discussion with Patrick. He talked a lot about how he knows that President Monson is a prophet and his two councilors are men of God. He has done a lot of research on them. He has such a sweet testimony of the Gospel and of the Book of Mormon. We extended baptism to him but he says that now is not the time. He knows that there is a difference in a person when they have decided to get baptized and that blessings come from the covenants that they make. But he doesn't feel that now is the time. He knows that he wants it to be in his future. But now is not the time. They have a lot that they would lose financially if they were to get married, and they are not ready to do that quite yet. So we are trying to be patient. But they are such sweet people. Patrick reminds me a lot of dad. He is really close to the spirit and he really feels things. He has got quite the sense of humor. We went to the beach for FHE on Wednesday and they brought their dogs. One of them is a rescue and he one has one eye and he is a white dog. He is carrying his dog to his car and he yells over to me, "Sister Rushton, Sister Rushton what if Jesus was holding a one eyed dog instead of a sheep." Oh Patrick, we all got a good laugh. He is quite the guy. He keeps us all laughing. 

On Friday Night one of the sisters serving in down town Boston was hit by a car. Her name is Sister Budvarson. She is actually the sister that took my place in Ellington. So was there for a transfer and then got sent to Boston to finish out her mission. She was crossing the street and got hit by a car going approximately 40 miles per hour. She was flipped in the air and landed on the other side of the median. She was ambulanced over to the hospital. And was checked for hours with cat scans and x rays for broken bones and internal bleeding but they couldn't find anything. She is very sore but the only injuries she has are a gash under her chin which required some stitches, a few fractured nasal bones, a black eye, and a little road rash. And she has no injuries where the car hit her. It is miraculous that she is alive and OK. She ends her mission at the beginning of August and will get to stay to finish. We are all very grateful that she is OK and the Lord was looking after his missionaries. It was a tender mercy for our mission. 

On Sunday the Milstead's were out of town for the weekend. It was good that it was high council Sunday because Tim is the only Melchizedek priesthood holder on the island. It was this man's first high council assignment, and he got the job of conducting the meeting and being in charge of speaking in Sacrament meeting:) We had more people than we were expecting. Rosie brought her friend with her. We had a couple come who are here to do the Oklahoma play in town and will be here for about 7 weeks.   

The High council man is from the New Hampshire area. He joined the church 41 years ago when the elders knocked on his door. He was newly married and said he would have never let them in but went along with it because his wife was interested. His wife was baptized and then he followed. 8 years later they were sealed in the temple together. He said that many years after that he was serving as the branch president he had a son on a mission in Brazil, and a daughter who attended BYU and was then married with a 2 year old little girl and living right down the street. He said that life was good and they were doing everything they were supposed to. One day his daughter asked him to give her a blessing because she was having a hard time getting pregnant. He said that her husband should give her one and she said no it has to be you. So he gave her a blessing and in it she was blessed that she would rise up and receive her eternal family. So he thought OK she is going to get pregnant. Two days later she stopped breathing. Her husband called her father who rushed down the street to give her CPR. She died in his arms as he was performing CPR. And he was reminded of what she was promised in her blessing. They found out she died from a rare heart disease which later they found out was passed down from him. So they brought their son home from his mission to make sure he was OK. He had the disease but was fine so they sent him back on his mission to Michigan. He was the first Spanish speaking missionary in the state. He trained 9 missionaries and opened up 11 Spanish branches. He returned home from his mission and later was also taken back to live with his Heavenly Father. He spoke a lot about the will of God and how things are played out. He looked me and my companion right in the eye and said that you only have to find that one person. Just that one and it will affect many generations and people. He talked a lot about those beyond the grave. And how much of a part they play in our lives. He said that his grandfather died before he joined the church and he has no doubt that it was his grandfather who brought the missionaries to him. And know his daughters little girl who was 2 years old when she passed is serving a mission in the highest baptizing area in the whole United States. She also has a heart problem and was starting to have some pain so they set her up with a doctor. She thought her appointment was a day earlier than it was so she went in on the wrong day. They sent her home but on her way out she started to get really light headed and dizzy so they took her in right then and found that something was wrong with her pace maker and if she would have done any cardiac activity it probably would have caused her to pass away. I bet that her Mom is looking out for her. 

Our lesson was on trials and Chelsie was sharing her story of how she is having to raise her two boys alone in the gospel. The other day she asked Ozni if they could say prayers together as a family and he got really made at her. She said that she was praying and crying and telling God that it was hard and she was having to do it all alone. And she got this strong feeling that she is not alone. That her and the Lord are raising the boys together in the Gospel. She got a blessing after church from the high councilman and was promised some pretty amazing things. I was reminded of how merciful our father in Heaven is. Even though Chelsie married a non member the Lord does not expect her to have to do it alone. And she is very blessed in her efforts to raise her kids in the Gospel. We went over that night to help her clean her house, because they were having an inspection on Monday, and then we had dinner together. We don't ever get to pray or share a lesson when we are there but we get to spend time with their family. Ozni is a very nice man, just doesn't like the church. But he is very nice to us, he teaches us Spanish whenever we have dinner there. And he always stops to talk to us when we see him around town. He is a good man. I think the church just scares him more than anything. I think that one day he will surprise everyone and decide he wants to be a part of the gospel. 

Sunday was a good day. It feels really weird to think that I am 22, but I am getting used to it. I had that Taylor Swift song about being 22 stuck in my head all day:) On Sunday Morning I woke up and my companion was still asleep. I opened up my card in the kitchen my self and had a good laugh. I was having my own little party. Sister Packard really likes birthdays and makes sure that every one knows that it is your birthday and sends out a little bio about you to all the missionaries in the mission. Their was five of us who's birthday was on Sunday. They make exceptions that anyone can text and call you on your birthday even if they are not in your zone. So I got to talk to a lot of missionaries that I served with in past areas which was really fun. It was a very normal but a good day. We didn't really get time to celebrate. But we are going over for dinner at the Milstead's tonight and she wants to celebrate then. They have two nephews living with them, who are working here for the summer. And one of them has the same birthday as me. I think that I will also make my cake today to, because you can never have too much cake. Thank you for the birthday package, it made me really happy. My companion is really excited for the light up start necklaces for the fourth of July:)

It has been a very good week, with a lot of good things happening. There is something very special about this island. I hope that I get to stay here for a while. I know that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the Lord's restored church on this earth. I know that he is at the head of it. I know he has planned a way for all of us to be able to return to Him and it is up to us if we want to be a part of it. I know that God loves us more infinitely than we know. When Elder Holland was here he told us that we are the Lord investigators. As missionaries we should want to do anything for our investigators to help them progress. And the Lord will do anything for us. He wants us to progress, he is patient with us, and he tries and tries again, and gives us as many chances as we need. He will never give up on us. I know that God wants us to be happy and to enjoy this earth life. The high council man talked about how in the Lords time most of us will only be on this earth life for about 20 minutes. Crazy to think that our earth life is such a small fragment of eternity. It kind changes things a little bit. I know that families really can be together forever. I am grateful for my family and to be a member of this gospel. I love you all, and hope that you have a fantastic week. 

Love Sister Abbey Lou Rushton 

Abbey's letter June 24, 2014

This week I had a thought. That I am on an island for a Summer. And even though I am a missionary I can still appreciate it. So I decided to look around me and to take it all in. And all in all it made me really happy. It is getting really warm here and starting to get pretty crowded. Everyone seems really happy, which is nice. Every one always seems to be having a good time. The harbor is starting to become full of boats. This island is unique because it is very New England. All the houses are made out of wood and weather in the sun which makes them gray. I was a little sad when i got here and all the houses were gray but I have grown to love it. Everyone is always eating ice cream. And a lot of the men here where pink, pants, Capri, and shorts exc. Which here is considered very manly. Kind of threw me off just a bit. There are no stop lights. There is a lot of diversity here. You have people that are well off who vacation for the summer. Then you have all of the wonderful people here who work multiple jobs to support their families back home and to make life enchanting for the people who vacation here. There are many people from Jamaica, El Salvador, The Dominican, and Bulgaria. Many of them ride the buses so we have gotten to meet a lot of them. I love these people! 

It has been an interesting experience serving here. There are times when I have felt less like a missionary because we are often scrounging around for something to do. And times when I have felt more like a missionary than I ever have. In both my past areas there had been missionaries there forever so most of the people where familiar with who you are. But since missionaries are a new thing here there are many who do not understand our purpose, and can not understand why we would ever choose to serve a mission. So it has been a good reminder to be proud of who I am and the gospel that I represent. And to show people that as we are talking to them. We get asked many questions. We have met a lot of people that thought we were paid to do this, or were forced to do it, or if we did it our schooling would be paid for. Many people can not fathom the idea that we are on an island but never go swimming. My companion got asked out on a date the other day by a man who she had met with her companion while contacting before I got here. He called the other day and wanted to take her out on a date. We explained that we were missionaries and could meet to talk about the gospel but, no Sister Vaai could not go out to dinner with him. He never called us back to set up a time to meet:) It was pretty funny. 

I love the group here. I have never experienced anything quite like and don't know if I ever will again. There is such a spirit here. I am certain that I want to stay in contact with all of them for the rest of my life. We were able to talk to Lacy this Thursday. We had texted her the day before and she texted us Thursday night. We knew that she was not at home because she is not able to have her phone on at the shelter for safety reasons. She said that things were rough and she asked if we could call her. We called her and she was at the emergency room with Angie her oldest daughter. She has Autism and has had severe physical outbreaks since they have moved off island. Many times a day Lacy will have to hold her down so she doesn't hurt herself. It got worse so Lacy took her to the hospital. They were there all night and into the next day but she was able to get in home therapy for Angie. Lacy had researched where the church is in her area since we are not allowed to know where she lives. So she is planning to go to church. So proud of her for doing it all on her own. Shows that she really wants this. Turns out that her branch just got sister missionaries last week. Which is a miracle in itself considering Lacy's situation. I really feel that those sister missionaries were sent there just for her. I have found out a little more about her past this week. It broke my heart. She has been asked to go through more in this life than I could fathom. Which has left her pretty scared and not feeling worthy for baptism. But the man who is doing her interview, President Haight, did the interviews for Anne Marie, Marilene, Raquel, and Chryss in Billerica. And all of them had things in there past and when they walked out of their interview you could see that a weight had been lifted off of their shoulders and they knew that the past was the past. The Lord had forgiven them and is aware of them and they are worthy for baptism. I can't wait for Lacy to have her interview. So that she can feel that peace that she has never had. To know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for her. She is so humble. I really want to be just like her. 

Patrick and Kathleen are doing well. We are still trying to get in their home to read scriptures with them. And we are trying to be very creative to figure out how to get them married. Kathleen's daughter Grace came to FHE this week so I finally got to meet her:) She is so cute. I can't wait till she gets back from her summer camp in a few weeks so that we can start doing YW with her again. Celeste came to FHE on Wednesday and stayed for a long time! She also came to church on Sunday. She is still just curious and not sure she wants to take the lessons but we are going to start teaching her husband English this week which is exciting!  It has been a slow week with the rest of our investigators and potentials because everyone is so busy. But we are hoping to have more success this week. 

I feel like our mission has kind of had a shift for the better since Elder Holland came. Things seem to picking up. President has done a lot of training on things that are really hard. Like seeking daily inspiration through prayer. I have come to realize that receiving eternal life through our Savior Jesus Christ requires prayer and seeking. We can't get to live back with God if we don't seek out his will through prayer. And it is hard. I have really struggled with it. But there is a reason why we have to work for it and why it doesn't come easy. Because we are trying to seek out God in a world that is so far from him. And its a foreign concept. We have to believe that he'll answer. We have to be humble to pour out our souls to him and ask for his guidance. Our hearts have to be ready to act on what ever the Lord tells us to do. Which can sometimes be a scary thought. President told us that him trying to seek daily inspiration through his prayers started on his mission, and he has never stopped. And I can tell that the man he is today and the way his life has been guided is because of that. He always says that the gospel is work. We can not be stagnant we have to work for it. I am really trying hard to be attentive when I pray. To make sure that I am praying to God and trying to have a conversation rather that just stating my prayer to be done. I know that all of our actions are effected by prayer. I still can't say a prayer until about an hour after I wake up because I know that I will fall asleep:) But I am trying. 

I have realized on my mission, how much I have to work on. And it makes me excited. I know that if we are looking for them the Lord will always give us spiritual experiences to help us progress. You don't have to go on a mission for that to happen. But I know that for me, my mission has been my saving grace. It kind of woke me up to show me what life is all about. And for that I am grateful. I know that this is the Lord's gospel on the earth. I know that he lives and we are powerless with out him. I sure love my family and I hope that you are all doing well. Have a wonderful week. 

Love Sister Abbey Lou Rushton 

Abbey's letter June 17, 2014

This week has been a good one. 

We were able to visit Janedra again this week and giver her a Spanish Book of Mormon and Restoration packet. She said that she would start to read them. We are not sure how much she will understand in English so we are hoping to be able to set her up with some Spanish missionaries over Skype so that they can give her the lessons. Thank goodness for technology. Blake was unable to meet with us this week but we were able to meet with him last week. We took Sandra with us and she bore such a sweet testimony. He had a lot of hard questions but we tried our best to answer them. We had no where to meet so we met in the gardens by the library. There was a lot of people around but it was still good. He is really busy but we hope that we can continue to teach him. 

Patrick and Kathleen are about the same. They have been unable to meet with us. 

We had a few visitors for church on Sunday. I guess that we get quit a few visitors every week, so that is exciting. Since we are a little group we are only required to have a sacrament meeting, and then a second combined meeting. And to not have every one giving a talk every week Tim usually mixes it up. So in honors of Fathers day we had a musical Sunday. Every one had to pick a song and share the history on it and why it meant so much to us. And then we would all sing it together. It was really good. We are now meeting in Micheal's basement. We haven't heard from Lacy this week but we hope that she is doing well

We have a new mission doctor, their names are the Braithweights. It was their anniversary this weekend so they were coming to Nantucket to celebrate. They came to church on Sunday and wanted to do some missionary work with us so they came to the old folks home with us. We go there every Sunday and we sit and visit with them. They really liked them. Yesterday they took us out to lunch. They took us to get lobster rolls. I was a little scared but it turned out to be pretty good. 

This month as a mission we are studying chapter 4 in preach my Gospel. How to recognize and understand the Spirit. It has been really good. We had a zone conference with President Packard a few weeks ago and it was all about seeking out revelation and how to pray. It was really good and I have been trying really hard to work on my prayers. I had felt for a while before that that this is something that I needed to work on. So I was grateful for that training. 

I am loving being on the island. I learn so much everyday from all of the members here. All 7 of them:) 

Well I have to go, but I love you all and am so grateful every day for my family. I hope that you all have a wonderful week! 

Love Sister Abbey Lou Rushton 

Abbey's letter June 10, 2014

I have decided that Lacy Casseaux is my hero. She has gone through it all. She came to the island yesterday for her court date with her husband so we got to see her. We visited with her last night at Chelsie's. She will not be able to tell us where the shelter is that she is staying at but she can not leave the shelter more so she will be able to start going to a local church. She is getting day care for her children, subsidized housing, food stamps, and programs to help her find a job. So she will be back on her feet. She is still going strong with almost all of the commandments. She had decided that she will wait a month to do her baptismal interview because she needs some emotional time to heal and get back on her feet. And then she will do the baptismal here on the island since all of her friends are here. She has a lot of time in the day to read and she wants to use this time to really connect herself to God so we gave her many church materials to read. It was so good to see her. She looks like she is doing really well. Yesterday we were at Chelsie's to have dinner. Lacy left to go catch the bus to go to the park where she was meeting her husband so he could see the kids. She was really nervous. Right after she left we went to the store to get things to make dinner. And we saw here walking down the road with her three kids. She had missed the bus because her older daughter her has Autism was hitting the younger girl and it stalled them enough where they were 10 feet away from the bus when it left. She was in tears and hadn't known what to do. So we gave her a ride to the park all crammed in this little car. I think Heavenly Father will forgive us for that one. Her oldest daughter has started to have violent outbreaks and poor lacy has bruises all over her. But she is going strong. She is my hero. 

Well family, I met a lady named Joy today in the library and she needed help with her school project. So I don't have much time to write. But I promise that I will give you more updates next week. 

I am loving the island. We will start having church in Micheal's basement. We cleaned it out last week and made a compilation of coach's, love seats and garden chairs for us to sit in:) But it is home:) 

This week we had a zone conference with President Packard. And it was all about prayers and receiving revelation. I realized that I do not know how to pray. It is not enough to ask him to help us. We need to be asking him specific questions for what we are needing. It is a struggle to learn how to listen to the spirit and find the answers that come but this is how we enhance our relationship with our Heavenly Father. President Packard said that the Lord will almost always answer our question when we are asking him "What can I do to help one of thy children." He wanted to make sure that we could find ways to turn the feelings that we had with our visit with Elder Holland into action. Sometimes it feels like there are so many things to be doing and so many ways that you can improve that you have no idea what you are doing:) But being a missionary is a Joy!

Our zone made a goal for each companionship to give away one book of Mormon every day. It has been a blessing. There are people that we would have just walked by but stopped to introduce the Book of Mormon to them and most of them had expressed interest in reading it. Goes to show that there are always individuals who are ready for the gospel. And if we feel like they aren't there we just have to go find them. The Lord truly is just waiting on us to get on board and be willing to do his work. 

Well they are kicking us out our time is up. Sorry I didn't get to write individual letters today! I'm a worm!!! lol But I love you all very much and think about you often. I can feel your prayers all the way over here! Have a wonderful week! 

Love Sister Abbey Lou Rushton