La Luz de Su Amor

Well, we had 2 more baptisms this week! what a wonderful day it was. Children are so sweet an innocent-- I have always loved working with them and I really understand why Jesus Christ always invites us to become as little children.

I know that Heavenly Father watches over us. When we are obedient, He makes everything happen in a way that always leads us to happiness. Sometimes the journey is a little rocky, and we may not understand why certain things happen the way that they do. But I know and testify that God has His hand in everything that happens in the lives of His faithful children. The experiences may be hard and may really test our strength and faith. Sometimes we feel as though we cannot make it through life´s tests, and we don´t see the light at the end of the tunnel. But have faith and trust that there IS a Light. There is an End. There is Help and there is happiness waiting for us, just over the horizon. Jesus Christ is Him who awaits us. I firmly believe that the harder our experiences here in this life, the greater our reward in Heaven will be when we return back to the presence of our Father. I am grateful for the challenges I face in this life because I know that they are preparing me to receive that eternal give of life eternal with my Older Brother and Savior, Jesus Christ. Enos 1:27

I love you all! See you "ya mismo".

-Hermana Busath

¡Que Chévere!

Okay, tons of pictures! Here`s a little recap of what happened the last couple weeks in the pictures...

-Making lemon juice... oh yeah it`s called lemonade in English haha

-Saw Hermana Nazer and practically my whole group from the MTC at Consejo de Líderes!

-Hermanas Ynoñan, Macahuachi, and Ureta the night I left for Machala from Huancavilca. 

Hermana Ureta was really sad :( haha

-The 4 of us from Huancavilca with our awesome zone leaders, Elders Arriaga and Gates, in the bus station when I was leaving

-Me with the nurses from my zone

-Hermanas Llacsa, Peralta, me, and my compy Hermana Roncal with our Ecuador fútbol team shirts that we bought

-Me washing my clothes by hand. Every week. It`s torture. Thankfully I have a loving companion who usually comes to the rescue as my fingers start to bleed... haha! Kidding, mom! (Not really. They really bleed.)

-Me and my darling companion HErmana Roncal. SHe is awesome. We have so much fun together! ONe of the best companions I`ve had. I really love her so much. She`s from Peru :)

-I took a picture of something I`m pretty sure doesn`t exist in the states. Here, the people hang huge chunks of meat, sometimes whole dead chickens, and other parts of animals, in their little stores, or in their cart and just leave it there all day. The flies really love it. It`s pretty gross. This one is pretty clean-looking. I love Ecuador!

-I had a little photo-shoot in a dress that Hermana Paralta lent me. Definitely going to Centro (the center of Machala) to the sketchy huge markets today to buy some dresses. THey`re awesome. Happy birthday to me! 

-Hermana Balladares, me, Hermana Roncal, and Hermana Paralta. Great day :)

-BAPTISM! Mayra Jaramillo got baptized this week. She`s 14 years old and her mom is less-active. She is such a sweet girl and the baptism was awesome. We had tons of youth there, and it was just a really special day. I love Saturdays! Baptism days! :D

In other news, I am almost at 10 months on the mission! Crazy! Like my mom said, it`s going to go by so fast from here. I just know it. I`m going to take advantage of every minute I have left here. I really love being able to serve my Savior in such a dedicated way. I know that He lives and can change lives if we give up our will to follow His. 

Love you all very much!!!

-Hermana Busath

PICTURES!!

Hola!!
Okay, so I am sending some pictures today and they take a long time to upload. I don`t have time to write about each one, but there is a historical site about Christopher Columbus here in Machala, and we took a bunch of pictures there. Then here`s the story of the other set of pictures with all the artifacts: Here in South America, and in a few of the areas I`ve been in, they have found a ton of ancient stuff, like from the time of the Mayans and the Lamanites and stuff. Well, there`s a guy in our ward who`s awesome who collects that kind of stuff, and here you can buy it pretty cheap, the real deal. Well, this guy has a bunch of real stuff but also a bunch of knock-offs that look real. The picture of the box is a box full of knock-offs and a few real pieces. It`s incredible his collection. So, he let us pick a few to take home :) In the picture of me on the floor holding one of them is an artifact from 7000 years ago, and that`s not even the oldest piece he has. It`s incredible. And he has a bunch of books about the history of the Book of Mormon and where these places acually are. And this guy has a friend who owns a whole bunch of land in the middle of nowhere that has like ancient ruins and thrones of kings and like cities of these ancient people, but this guy doesn`t tell anyone about it because the state will come and take all the artifacts and put them in the museums. Or something like that. Well, he said that after the mission, when my parents come down or whoever else, we`re all invited to go there! He went and brought back a slab of stone from a throne that they found on this land. Seriously, it`s awesome.

And the picture at the table is of a ton of real artifacts that he has there at the house. I am just amazed by this kind of stuff. TOtally had nightmares that night of Lamanite attacks, but totally worth it ;) And  I learned that one part of my area in Aurora, called Verheles, is all built on a huge ancient cemetary. Totally makes sense with some of the creepy things that happened there...

Oh yeah, and I had transfers on Tuesday! I am back here in Machala! This time I`m in the ward Florida. It`s awesome. My new companion is Hermana Roncal. She`s great. We have a lot of fun :) So now in my mission I`ve been to Machala, Guayaquil, Machala, Guayaquil, and now I´m back in Machala. NOT sure if I`ll ever make it to Cuenca, Loja, Naranjal, or los Galapagos. We`ll just have to wait and see! OH and I completed 9 months, half of my mission, last week :) We took great pictures. I`ll probably have to send them next week. It takes FOREVER to upload pictures here. :(  More pictures and more stuff next week.

This gospel is amazing. It`s true because it works. It makes people happier. It brings families together and unites them for eternity. It protects us. It saves us. It really works. There are no flaws; it`s perfect because it`s the gospel of our Perfect Example, Jesus Christ.

One more thing, thank you for your prayers. I know that especially those in my family have been praying for me recently for all that has happened, and I am just so grateful for all your prayers. I am doing a lot better, and I know that I couldn`t have healed as quickly without the prayers that were given in my behalf. 

I love you all so very much!

-Hermanita Busath

Lost in His Love

First of all, thank you everyone for your great birthday emails! I`m sorry that I don`t have time to respond to everyone, especially this week (more on that later). I really can feel your love and am so grateful to have been blessed with such wonderful family and friends. My birthday was great! I`m hoping to send home some pictures today. Pedro (WHO GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!) and his wife cooked us lunch on my  birthday! They decorated the house with balloons and had a cake and it was great. I thought he was going to make us steak, but it ended up being fried beef with rice and beans, which is steak to these people. It`s the preferred food by almost everyone here. When I eat it, I feel sick all day. Haha, funny how that works. But it was so sweet of them to cook us lunch. Then we went to the doctor for my feet (which are doing better!) and we taught some lessons and then went to a really humble and sweet family`s house for another batch of cake. Brother Aguilar (the dad) bought a new disk for his video camera and was filming the entire night, so excited to be able to send the video to my parents. Wellllll, turns out he didn`t know how to work the camera and wasn`t filming anything from the night. It was so sad when he realized what had happened. So we filmed a little bit after that, but everyone had left and it was really sad. My companion smashed my face into a cake, so at least there`s that. ;) I hope he sends you the video, mom and dad!

Then on Saturday Pedro got baptized! It was so wonderful! He gave an awesome testimony in his baptism. He used to drink a LOT, but has really repented and now he was baptized for remission of his sins. There is such a powerful Spirit in the baptismal service of someone who has changed so much and who finally receives forgiveness of all the sins they have committed.

Then the next day, he received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and then he bore his testimony in testimony meeting. It was awesome. And my other convert, Carlos, blessed the sacrament. I felt so overjoyed to see both of them there doing such great things in their lives, and having changed so much for the better. Through Jesus Christ, we are able to overcome all sin and all temptation and return to live with our Father in Heaven. What a blessing it is to be able to share that wonderful news with others every day.

So today I have less time than normal because we aren`t allowed to be out of the house for much time. Why? I`ll tell you why. There is a holiday here called Carnaval. I`m sure you can find cool videos on YouTube of this holiday. So pretty much, everyone just throws stuff at the people in the streets. And there isn`t much you can do to avoid it. Usually they just throw water, but sometimes they go a little crazy and start throwing chalk, paint, eggs, mayo, and other really gross things... needless to say, we`re stuck in the house for 3 days until it all passes.

BUT we did have leadership meeting today in the mission! So we headed over to the stake center in Centinario and had an amazing meeting with President Torres. I got to see Hermana Nazer and lots of my friends from the mission who are in leadership positions too! The biggest thing that I learned today is that at the end of my mission, it`s not going to matter as much to me how many baptisms I had, but how much I have changed to become like Jesus Christ. It really is true what they say, "You`re biggest convert on your mission is yourself." Here in South America, there are so many baptisms that happen so fast, that it sometimes becomes the focus and the most important thing it seems. But I have really re-learned what misisonary work really is, and it has helped me a lot to be able to feel accomplished as a missionary. I can`t wait to be able to bear my testimony at the end of my mission about how much the Lord has changed me as I have lost myself in serving His children. That is my goal, at least. And that is my focus. I really understand so much better now how it is that God takes care of me as I lose myself in serving others. I am just trying to put all my trust in my Father in Heaven and love others as I share with them what is most important in my life-- the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that He lives, and that by learning of Him and following His example, He is able to change us into what He knows we can be-- what He knows is our potential.

I so wish I could just sit here all day and type away my testimony. But don`t worry, it`s all (mostly) written down in my journal. When I get home, I can`t wait to share ALL that I have learned with you all :) Ahhhh, how sweet is the joy and peace that I feel when I follow the example of our Loving Savior. I invite you all to learn more of Him this week by reading the scriptures and talks given by our prophets and leaders today, then pick an attribute to emulate and practice it for a week. I promise you that you will see good changes in your life. Even if you don`t completely (desorrallar--I forgot that word in English!!) the attribute, Heavenly Father will see your efforts and will bless you. I know that to be true. Have faith, and trust that our Father in Heaven looks after and blesses those who fervently try to follow the example of His Son. As we come to know our Savior, we will find ourselves lost in His love and constant care.

I love you all! Thank you so much for your support and love!

-Hermana Busath