Feliz Navidad!

{Sorry, this is a few days late. We got to talk to Angela on Christmas day. If I can figure out how to put some of what we recorded on Skype here, I"ll do it. She is doing well, she is very happy and loving her mission!}

Hallo! Guess who gets to have a little face-to-face contct with the good ´ole U S of A in 2 days! Wahoo!!! I`m getting really really excited for that. And I don`t know how it is for the missionaries over there in the states, but here in Ecuador we have to be in our house at 6:00 on December 24, December 25, and December 31 because the streets are really dangerous on those nights. So we`re gonna be partying in the house with us 4 missionaries! Woot woot!

So this week was SO hot. It`s a good thing I like the heat... But even still, I was dying. And we had some pretty great experiences the last week. So we come across a lot of people every day that are really religious and when they see us, they come up and start talking just to preach to us and tell us what`s wrong with our religion. Welllll, on Saturday this one man started explaining to us that Jesus drank wine with His disciples, so it`s a sin not to drink alcohol. He flat-out told us we were sinning for not drinking. Loco. There`s always a first time for everything!

Well we`re just loving it here. My companion Hermana Jiménez is so sweet and awesome. She`s really humble and has so much love for everyone we talk to. She`s a lot more homesick than I ever was, but then again, in reality I hardly missed my family much haha (sorry mom). I think the fact that I lived away from home at college before my mission really helped with that. In central and latin america, almost everyone studies while living at home, and then everyone marries someone from the town they live in, and the all live on the same street. I think there are like 2 families in our ward who aren`t related to the rest of the families in one way or another. But I`m really glad that I can travel around and have experiences away from home and feel comfortable wherever I am :) Thanks mom and dad for helping me with that!

Not much else to report... I`m just loving it here! I`ve spent the majority of my mission here in Aurora, so I really really love it here. The ward is like my Latino Family. This Christmas will be one to remember. I am so grateful that I get to spend one Christmas in complete service to my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am hoping that this Christmas will help me gain a greater appreciation for all that I have and help me realize why we celebrate this day every year. Although I will be in a different hemisphere from my family this year, I am going to use this unique once-in-a-lifetime experience to understand more in-depth the Atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ and to look for all the blessings He has blessed me with. No matter where you find yourselves this Christmas, I invite you all to do the same.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Love to all,

-Hermanita Busath

{We thought we were recording the whole conversation, but turned out we weren't, so we got a couple of recorded clips at the end of our call. The first one she is speaking Spanish with Mike as he is asking her different questions, then she is expressing her testimony in Spanish and the second is a continuation of her testimony.}