SWEET new HOME in ALABAMA!!: HALLO!

I LOVE SOUTH AMERICA!!!!!

Hello everyone! Perù has been so good to me! It`s summer here, so it hasn`t really been very hot. There have been a couple "rainy" days, which pretty much means that the air is full of water. So as you walk around, there`s constantly mist all over you. It`s pretty freaky. It`s pretty humid here, and paper always feels damp. It`s really weird.

Anyway, enough about the weather. I`m loving it here! It wasn`t really that way for the first 2 days, though. We always have some studying to do or some class to go to, every minute of every day (except meals). It really wore me out the first few days. But now I am more used to it and the language is coming along really fast, so I don`t have a headache all day :P Speaking of the language, Heavenly Father is really blessing me with the gift of tongues to be able to understand and speak Spanish. It`s really cool, sometimes when our teachers are talking to us or I am talking with a native, I can understand everything that they`re saying and I don`t even need to translate it in my head! Also, I can already speak so well and I can pray and bear my testimony without even thinking. It`s amazing what the Lord can help you with when you trust in Him :)

Last night we had our first practice lesson with an investigator! Okay, it was actually just our teacher pretending to be an investigator of the church. But man, she is a good actress! The point of it is to make it seem like it`s a real scenario, and it really did feel like that. The Spirit of the Holy Ghost was so strong in our lesson. Hermana Nazer started crying telling a personal story about the power of prayer, and I could really feel love for the investigator that we were teaching. It was a really powerful experience. We`re going to teach the second lesson tonight. Oh yeah, and it`s all in Spanish haha

One thing that is really different about the CCM than the Provo MTC is that here, if you`re learning Spanish, you can`t slack off and just speak English with the other missionaries and teachers and leaders. Almost all the missionaries, teachers, leaders, and cooks are from South America and don`t speak English. You have to learn it quickly so that you can communicate with anyone! It`s been fun/frustrating/confusing/exciting/awkward to try to talk with anyone. Especially our roommates. Thankfully we have one roommate who speaks both languages, so she translates whenever it`s needed. I love our roommates so much. They are tiny Latinas with so much life in them, and they are so loving. The first night we got here, we climbed into bed with barely sheets on our bed and one got up and gave me her blanket to sleep with. The Latinos are so personable. I love them!!!

Okay, so I`ve been writing down funny things as they happen, so here are some good stories:

On one of the first days, I was trying to say "Mediante el Expiaciòn de Jesucristo, podemos liberados a nuestros pecados," but instead I said the word "pascados". Meaning, instead of saying, "Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can be free from our sins," I said free from our fish. Hahaha!

We had a fireside the other night where the North Americans had to use headphones to translate. They started playing the prelude of a song, and Hermana Nazer and I started singing when we thought it was time to start. Well, either it wasn`t time to start or everyone else in the auditorium got the timing wrong. We were the only ones singing for a few seconds and we could`t even hear ourselves singing alone! It was embarrassing.

Okay there`s a lot more to say, but for some reason they`re cutting our time short. I`ll email again next Tuesday. I love you all! The church is true!

Love, Hermana Busath

(If you click on the pictures, they will open in a new page and be bigger, easier to see!)