March 3

Good afternoon!

So this morning Great Clips was having a sale and we live right next
to it so the four of us in the apartment all went and got our hair
trimmed. I hadn't cut my hair in I think at least 6 months so I was
due for some trimming to get rid of split ends and such, but I am
getting excited for hot weather so I cut my hair short again too. Now
it is nice and light for the spring and summer.

This week was a long crazy week! Sister Nielsen and I have two new
investigators who so far are considered progressing and hopefully
continue to be. It is kind of funny working with these AreaBook apps
because it has specific criteria and commitments extended to determine
what kind of investigator you have (progressing, former, potential,
etc). So where we might have an investigator who needs to take small
steps and work slowly such as just meeting us at the church for a
lesson, it won't show them as progressing because they didn't commit
and come to Sacrament yet. But if the person agreed to meet us at the
church and came for a lesson, I personally would count that as
progressing. I guess the tricky part is that what I would sometimes
consider progressing is subjective but when it comes to AreaBook
calculations it is objective? Anyway I am rambling on. One of our new
investigators is deaf! Yeah, crazy and she actually is just out of our
area but was referred to us because our ward has interpreters and word
got out that I know how to sign. Yikes! I haven't used my sign in over
half a year now and I never did learn any signs related to religion.
Her husband speaks Spanish and I don't know any of that, so this will
be an adventure!
Our other new guy is from New Jersey and Jamaica before that. He is
probably in his 50s and sounds involved I his church but has been very
welcoming and friendly about what we teach so far. His neighbor is one
of our members who referred him so they have been great to bring to
the lessons. The investigator has 25 different Bibles! And now a Book
of Mormon ;)

Oh my goodness and we went to an investigator's Bible study that she
and her husband did in their home. They are born again Christian and
this was the first Bible study I have been to out here but I
definitely like how much we learn and understand about the Bible from
our LDS institutes and seminaries. I didn't realize how much
Latter-day Saints know the Bible. So this was our first visit with
this lady and her husband (we met her at the boardwalk) but they were
very hospitable and even fed us dinner! They had a lot of concerns
about what we believe and are now praying that we'll find he truth.
And the husband was quoting out of the Bible but contradicting himself
and he has only read one random passage from the Book of Mormon. So
that was hard for me when he started talking bad about the Book of
Mormon when he hasn't even taken the time to try it out completely. He
said the Bible has withstood the test of time and made it through
things but the Book of Mormon will never stand on its own. He is wrong
on that point and dos not understand that it has already been around
since 600 BC and all the crazy persecution that it went through in the
1800s when the church was so fragile too. Then the wife asked us how
we know we aren't just reading a false book and being deceived. It was
an interesting night but don't worry neither party once raised voice
or got contentious so we were able to leave on an excellent note. In
fact the lady hugged us, invited us back, and said she felt like we
were friends. The next day we sent them an email to thank them for
having us over and sharing their faith in Christ and invited them to
continue researching our beliefs and the Book of Mormon. We did let
them know that there is a lot of misinformation out there though so to
come to us or check out the church websites. We invited them to start
with the talk "Ask The Missionaries!". And they totally read it! We'll
see how things go with them because they said it raised more questions
for them.

Phew! Oh my goodness this is a long email but it was a long week.
Ok last thing- this last week was studying hope. Hope stems from our
faith and they are very much interconnected. I read some interesting
things from an Ensign article on hope written by a psychologist. He
listed 6 things we can do to cultivate hope in our lives including:
associating with hopeful people/atmospheres, confidence, improving
self-control, rejoicing in life's small victories, and taking care of
ourself and being healthy.
I think the most interesting points were the confidence and improving
self-control. Confidence is a breeding ground for hope when we focus
on our effort and progress rather than on complete success and
realizing that failure does not determine our worth.
Also we can cultivate hope as we improve self-control by making
meaningful goals and plans to accomplish them. We might memorize a
quotation or scripture or establish a habit or control time, eating,
exercise or finances. Interesting concept, huh? This is kind of the
idea behind the 40 day fasts that we are doing in our mission.
This week study Charity and Love. If any of you are doing the
challenge too I would love to hear your thoughts on any of the
attributes of Christ!

I love you all and thank you for the prayers and support!
Love,
Sister Rust