Howdy folks!
Things are great here in Vlad! This past week has been a fun one. I'm super jealous you're all watching the Christmas Devotional. We don't get that here. Although, we could watch it on the internet I guess if we wanted to watch it on pday. Real quick, I just wanted Grandma Gee to know that I got a letter from her today! Thanks Grandma! To answer your question, yes, I have had the privilege to meet and work with Elder Collinsworth. He's a great missionary. And super tall!
Anyways, during this past week, I started writing down little miracles that I see each day. It's been a really cool experience to see the Lord's hand in the work each and every day. We've had a lot of success these last few weeks working in the area book, which is the book where we keep all our records of past missionary work that has been done in our area. In fact, we've done something really interesting this past transfer here in Vlad. In the past, the assistants have spent a lot of their time dealing with taking care of all the little problems and have worked in the office along with working with president and leaders of the mission. And in this past transfer, we've had a returned missionary here in Vlad hired on to work as a driver for the mission and to work in the office, so we've been able to get a lot off of our desk and now we're able to get out of the office. In the past, the assistants have struggled with being able to work in a specific area because there simply isn't time or the possibility with all the other things they were being asked to take care of. But, this past transfer, we've brought back our area and have had the opportunity to do a lot more work in it to try to "bring it back" if you will. We found, or rather the Lord led us to, 4 new investigators this past week. It's actually a family that has a son who's a less active member. They are super nice and there are 6 boys in the family, which is super unusual for Russia! It's really really comforting to walk into their home and to see tons a little kid shoes in the entry way and to just feel the feelings you get in the home of a big family. They have a son living in America presently, in New York to be exact. I love getting to know people while here. People are so cool!
Some other really quick miracles: as assistants, we help President Pratt by translating for his presidency meeting held weekly by Skype. Since one of his counselors is on Sakhalin and another in Irkutsk, technology really comes in handy. I translated into Russian during this last week’s meeting, and I have really come to notice how much I love Russian. It's such a beautiful language. I know the Lord helped me so much to speak clearly, almost correctly, and loudly. (You’d be so proud of me dad, speaking loudly.) We often go to Subway for lunch or dinner when we're near the church. And usually, the service isn't the greatest. They're almost always out of things. And I mean like essential things to make a sandwich. Like cheese. But, this past week, they had great service! That was a miracle. And the sub was actually really reallyyyyy good. We also have had a lot of fun tracting. I'll tell you more stories once I'm home. Although, I will tell you really quickly, it was really neat this past week because we met with a less active member and then went tracting in a building not too far away and the first stairwell that we tried, there was a family that knows the member we had just met with and we're planning on meeting with them. I know the Lord leads this work. I have no doubt. We just have to have faith.
I love you all to death. You're all so awesome. Tell everybody back home I love them!
Love,
Elder Bush
