First Week of April

Morning everyone!

This week was a good one. We were able to get 6 member present lessons
which is the most I think I have seen so far! They were some good
lessons too, especially Amber's. Amber is only a couple years older
than I am and we received her from South Carolina sisters when she
moved up here. When she was with them she prayed about Joseph Smith
being a prophet and twice she received a yes answer from God, but she
doesn't like that she got yes for an answer and has a hard time with
Joseph Smith still. So Saturday we showed her the 20 min Restoration
DVD since she really only heard about the First Vision and the visit
from The angel Moroni. We hoped that by seeing more of his life Amber
would be able to relate to Joseph Smith and then his story wouldn't
seem so far fetched and out there to her, and sure enough, after the
video we asked her where she was at and she said that she had gone
from like 45% to 73% sure that all of it had truly happened. She says
it like much hasn't changed but we were so happy to hear that!
The thing is she likes to read the Book of Mormon and she thinks the
things in there really happened so we testified that if she would
continue reading and praying that her testimony of the Book of Mormon
would help her grow a testimony of Joseph Smith. I think of my own
testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and how it took so long for me
it seems to have come. All through my youth, while I never really
doubted I never felt like I could say with assurance that he was God's
prophet, but I held on to what I did know and that was that whenever I
read the Book of Mormon I felt good and that it pointed me toward God.
So eventually over the years (and I mean YEARS) I arrived at the point
where the Book of Mormon was in fact the word of God because it was
just completely consistent with what God has taught before to his
people; and therefore Joseph Smith did not make it up himself, he had
to have the divine direction from our Heavenly Father. If it was not
in fact the true church of Christ, it would not have withstood the
tests it went through with the early Latter-Day Saints, Joseph and his
brother Hyrum I do not believe would have given their very lives
leaving behind precious loved ones for something fictitious, and the
church would not have made it through its vulnerable moments in the
1800's with so few members who were brand new to this foreign
denomination of Christianity. But the glad news is that IT IS TRUE
which gives us cause to rejoice!

Wow, sorry that just turned into a lengthy testimony but I think it is
good to have a chance to just write out our testimony from the heart.

Ok so also we just got a couple new investigators from Harrisburg
sisters, Garrett and Jodi. I love them! They are a married couple in
their late 30s and expecting their first child this summer and they
are really excited. Garrett comes from a baptist background I think
and Jodi actually used to be an LDS member and she wants to come back.
We had our first lesson with them yesterday over at Jodi's sister's
home and the support of the family (also members) there was amazing!
They were all such a happy people in the room and it was refreshing to
be in their presence. We talked about Garrett and Jodi's thoughts and
feelings on conference and they loved it and Garrett expressed that he
couldn't say right off that they were prophets and apostles but he did
no doubt feel that they were close to God. He agreed with us that most
likely it was just because the concept of a living prophet was so
foreign a concept that it would just take getting used to. But he is
so golden! More to come on the both of them once we have taught them
more. I am so excited! :)

Also, we had zone meeting on Friday which ended up with everyone
laughing (that is really unusual). I guess the last couple months the
whole mission just kind of got in a slump so the zone leaders and
sister training leaders wanted to get us excited and pumped again so
there were balloons and exciting speeches. Oh if you had been there,
you would think his was funny but one missionary even talked about how
we need to take the "sticks of salvation" and rub them together until
we talk to people and light the "Yellowstone wildfire of the gospel"
and then all of a sudden our missionary work is being referred to as a
Dragonball Z character who has fire power or something. We were all
just rolling on the floor laughing but it worked and pumped us.

Well, Summer won't be too long here and I am starting to hear all the
horror stories, haha (mostly from sisters). But already this past week
got so hot! It actually wasn't even above 80 but the humidity kills!!
You just don't even know until you experience it and you think people
exaggerate but nope. So Mom, if you send anymore clothes I am
requesting only short sleeves or very material. And everything is
pollinating and blossoming right now. We walked out to our car the
other morning and there was literally a layer of yellow all over the
car! And all over the little patio table at our office, and do you
know what it was? Pollen!! Blows my mind that there are that many
trees to so and we aren't even in the country areas.

General Conference was amazing! Some of my favorite talks included
Elder Bednar's about spiritual traction and loads, Sister Reeves' on
building personal filters and to help protect the family and the
importance of FHE, family scripture/prayer, and Elder Steven's on our
"4 min" of our race here in mortality. I also later watched Elder
Oakes in the priesthood session because the elders made it sound
really intriguing and it was really good. :)
On Wednesday we have zone conference so I get to prepare a 5 min talk
on my favorite conference talk in case they pick me to give a talk
(although I am hoping not, it is scarier talking in front of the
mission than a ward).
Oh! And Orem Institute sang for the Saturday session which was
absolutely fun to see. I saw at least 6 faces I knew from singles ward
and school including Heather, Klarissa, Alejandra, Karli Rasmussen,
Ryan and Ben. I missed home a lot more that day but it was great and
made me happy to see them.

I think that is everything I have for this email.... I am going to
have to start planning out what I want to write home about because
there is so much to tell but then when I sit down to do it I forget
it.
I hope everything is well with you all! I love you.

Sister Amelia Rust

Sister Gunther and I trying spaghetti tacos at a member's house and
they are delicious!