Elder Steven Bush: We Have a Bible!

And thus the prophecy was fulfilled...

Well this was a really great week in my new area, so far everything is going really well and I'm happy about the switch. First of all, the apartment is like a million times better than the one before. There is something called LEC here which basically means you pay money and they give you a certain amount of Kilowatt hours that you get to use or something like that. The LEC isn't always on, but for the most part it is consistent throughout the day which has been incredible! The best part is that we don't have a super loud generator making a ton of noise all the time. I hate noise. We also have city water sometimes which is pretty nice. We ran out of water in our tank and city water was off on Saturday and Sunday so we had to draw from our well to take our baths, but it's back now so everyone is happy.

My new area is really great! It is pretty small compared to my previous areas on mission, but still we are going to work to expand it and also improve on those parts that we already know. So far we have met or contacted a few different families that we hope we will be able to teach. It's only been a small amount of time, but I already feel we're making improvements. Another thing is that this branch was just made into a ward and I really enjoyed going to church on Sunday. It seems like the members are ready to work hard so that more people can be active and know the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I even attended a church meeting (other than regular church) for the first time since I was in Upper Caldwell. Yeah, my area before last...

I also felt happy that on Sunday we have the opportunity to help an elderly woman come to church. Getting her there is no small thing, but it's worth it. The problem is that Liberia was not made for old people. She has a really hard time walking up stairs or hills and she lives at the bottom of a massive hill. Nevertheless, we got there early and got her up the hill and then back after service so all is well. She is super cute and old. I'll send a picture.

Our last lesson yesterday was really interesting. We met a man named Matthew who loves the Bible like most Liberians do. We started teaching and talked about how God has a body and is not a spirit. We stayed on that one for a long time because he had problem with Joseph Smith being able to see God. He says that he's seen God but in the spirit because God is a spirit. We shared a lot of scriptures that confound this belief but he couldn't seem to find the truth in them... So finally, in order to avoid further Bible bashing (Bible bashing is fun and pride often comes in because I always think I can win--it's not really an effective way of teaching) I just told him that he needs to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it because he can then know whether or not Joseph Smith was a prophet because of the works in which he has brought forth. We then offered him the Book of Mormon and asked that he would read it, and for the first time on my mission, he declined taking the book from us. He told us that he has the Bible and that he needs no other book. And thus the prophecy in 2 Nephi 29 was further fulfilled saying that people would deny the Book of Mormon because they already have a Bible. I had him read John 21:25, but I really felt bad that someone would deny learning more about God and Jesus Christ. It just made me feel sorry that he could have such a limited and restricted view of the scriptures. I know that a lot of people deny any kind of scripture, but for a person to so readily accept one that they need not consider any other... It caused me to feel much sorrow for that man. But again! The work will continue and we'll try again another day.

I think that was about it for the week! I'm really happy and healthy and I eat peanut butter and jam sandwiches a lot. Yes, jam. I still don't know the difference between the two so if you could enlighten me that would be great but I currently have jam just so you know. Also, food last week to feed four persons roughly 5 or 6 times each cost about 2 or 3 USD. Thought you ought to know.

Love you all so much!!

Elder Bush

Photos:

Oh ma Dede