Elder Steven Bush: The Big ONE

So, this is the one. The one year mark... Nothing was the same. Actually everything is the same nothing really changed.

I can now officially count down the months instead of counting up. That's coo.

So this week was a much better week than the first week. There were so many improvements from our lessons, to the service on Sunday and even to the apartment which we hesitantly call home. Let's start with our lessons.

As companions, we discussed how we could invite the spirit more into our lessons because we felt that there was a lack thereof. We decided that we really needed to focus on the people that we are teaching and less on the things that we have to say. One of the ways that we went about doing that was by truly focusing on listening to those that we are teaching and not thinking about what we want to say in response. I feel that I have gotten a lot better at that and I tried really hard to focus on others more this week. (I also feel that this will be a valuable skill to possess when I get married in the very distant future.) I thought we did a really good job of that and also extending our commitments more genuinely and lovingly. I thought we made great strides this week and all of us noticed the difference.

Aside from that, church was way better on Sunday. The generator wasn't working which actually made things kind of nice because it was easy to hear and the talks and instruction had sound doctrine. That was nice.

Our apartment got so much cleaner this week which made me so happy. Going to college and being on my mission has made me to be a much cleaner person because no one else cleans up and I hate when things get so dirty! I hate the filth. We got some clean water in our tank this week and I actually had some help cleaning the apartment! We cleaned up the kitchen, the bathroom, the back patio, the various rooms and just everywhere I guess. It looks so much better and it just makes me feel good. Thought I would let you know.

On February 18th, my one year mark, we had a little bit of fun in our compound which got a little dangerous but everyone is fine so it's cool. Some people came and cleaned up a ton of stuff that was in the compound and put it into a big pile. So, since we have 7 stupid boys in the apartment and one super cool one with great ideas (that's me) we decided to burn it all! So that's what we did. it got super huge and threatened a nearby guardhouse, but ultimately it was a success. I enjoyed it. I also made a cake and shared with the rest of the apartment.

Besides that, everything is normal and cool. I run to the beach every morning. Yeah, take that winter. It's beautiful, but I can't go swimming so that is super sorrowful. That's about it. It's very hot here. Every day.

Love you all, have a great week.

Elder Bush

1. One of my companions in our beautiful area