I ate cow tongue!

Hola!

First....the pictures!!!

-The food I bought the other week, all for under $25. I don´t even remember how expensive stuff is in the United States... How much would all of that cost there??

-The member that we live with. She is a hoot. I think she loves her dogs more than her family members... hehehe

-BAPTISM! The man in the middle is my bishop, Obispo Pable Litardo. Next to him is Raul Pita, and next to him is Eduardo Dueñas. (And pay no attention at how gordita (fat) I am right now. It´s impossible to be in this mission and not gain weight. Here´s my excuse-- we don´t eat here like in the United States. The mamitas prepare the plates in the kitchen then bring it out to everyone. So whatever is on your plate, you have to eat. And some of the families, especially the poorer families like in Machala, give the best of their food to the missionaries, so it´s extremely rude to leave anything on your plate. I leave every lunch STUFFED, like Thanksgiving stuffed. And not only do they always give us a huge plate of rice, but also soup before every meal. And lots of times it´s a really hearty soup! So there´s my excuse.)

On to my email....

This weekend was great! We had 2 baptisms, mentioned above. They both bore their testimony at the baptism at the end, and it was really sweet. They´re awesome! After his baptism, Raul said to us, "Nunca pecará otra vez!!" (I will never sin again!) He is so awesome. He´s going to be a lifelong member for sure.

In other news, I ate a fat slab of cow tongue the other day. Thank goodness they didn´t tell me until after I ate it! (And thanks, McKay, for the practice in eating cow tongue before the mission!)

So our chapel is in a really sketchy part of our area-- the most poor area. Sometimes it´s really smelly around there. But the church has a big gate around it, like all the buildings and houses here, so no one can ruin the building. But anyway, there are always homeless men sleeping across the street in front of the building. One day Hermana Camacho and I were leaving the building, and this scragly woman who was standing next to the homeless drunk guys started calling to us and saying, "Vengan y prediquen a sus hermanos! Vengan! VENGAN!" (Come and preach to your brothers!) And we called back at her and said that we had an appointment to get to, and she pointed her finger at us and yelled, "Mentiras! Mentiras! MENTIRAS!!!" (Liars, liars, LIARS!) It was exactly like in that one movie (The Princess Bride? I think not... I don´t remember) where the girl has a dream and the scragly old lady yells, "LIAR! LIAR!" I guess you could say that living in Ecuador is just like the movies... hahaha

Well, I´m loving it here! It´s starting to get really hot, and the rain is going to start soon. But everyone is telling me that it´s not a cool, refreshing rain, but more like a sauna every day. And sometimes the rain hits the pavement and evaporates there. Can´t wait! Thank goodness I¨ve got rain boots. It´s incredible how fast the work moves here. I hope you´re all having a great week!

OH YEAH! To everyone: If you or your kids are dressing up for Halloween, send me pictures! I want to see what costumes everyone is using on Thursday! :)   (angela.busath@myldsmail.net)

Chao!

Love,

Hermana Busath