Shawty

Hello! 
This is going to be short and sweet (shawty). Missionary work is so awesome. It´s tough sometimes, but totally worth it. If you´re preparing for a mission, keep on keepin' on, and know that no matter what you have to leave behind, it´s all worth it. God will make up the rest.

The only picture I have to send home today is one of a plan that we make with every one of our investigators to help prepare them for their baptism. I secretly love making them, haha. And I love working with my amigos here to prepare them for this important decision in their life.

Thanks for the Halloween pictures! Halloween here isn´t as big as in the States, but the next day, the Day of the Dead, is huge. The people go crazy this day. I don´t know why. But I´m really glad we weren´t out on the street much that night, haha.

I love you all! Thanks for your support and prayers! Ecaudor is so awesome. I love the culture and the people here, and I can´t wait to show it off to anyone who´s willing to travel here with me ;) 

Jesus Christ lives, and He knows us. If we work hard to become like Him, we will be happy.

-Hermana Busath

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

LOVIN' LIFE!!

(Apparently, her camera battery died and she will hope to have pictures next week.)

What a wonderful week! I have had some amazing experiences this week-- some really amazing miracles happened. If I could describe my week in one scripture, it would be 2 Nephi 5:27 in the Book of Mormon.

First of all, I will say that as missionaries, our purpose is to invite others to come to Christ by helping them prepare for and be baptized. Here in the city, it´s a little harder to find people to teach who are ready to take this step in their lives. Usually we have 1-3 people at any given time that we are teaching who are working toward a baptism date. Well, right now Hermana Camacho and I have 10 investigators with baptismal dates! One will be baptized this Saturday-- Raul Pita. He is amazing. He has a stronger testimony of the Gospel than many who have been members their whole lives! He loves to read the Book of Mormon and learn from us and from the Spirit. He´s really excited for his baptism. For lack of time, I can´t tell you about every other investigator that we have. But the week of their baptism I´ll write more about each one!

On Saturday night, we visited with a less-active member Vilma and her 14-year-old son Gabriel. Gabriel was baptized about a month ago, but didn´t go to church the next day to be confirmed. He changed his mind and didn´t want to be confirmed. So when we were at their house, they were fixing a grill to use the next day. They were trying to bend a clothes hanger to use in the grill, but couldn´t bend it. Gabriel said, kind of sarcastically, "Maybe Hermana Busath can do it with the strength she gets from God." I totally fixed the thing in 2 minutes, haha. Apparently that was the miracle that Gabriel was waiting for, because he said that if that was possible, he would be confirmed the next day. And he was!

Also, we had an amazing experience on Friday. We were walking to lunch at the bishop´s house, and there is one route that we always take to get there. But I had a small thought to walk a different way, so I told my companion. She asked me why, and I told her that I just felt like we should walk that way. We turned the corner and saw a guy painting his gate around his house. After teaching him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ for 15 minutes, he accepted a baptismal date! Yahoo!

I know that the success we´ve had this week has been a direct blessing from Heavenly Father because of our obedience and hard work. President Torres changed one of the mission rules last week-- now we can´t bring just a male member to teach with us, but he has to come with a woman. We have a lot of men in our ward that help a lot with teaching, but most of the women don´t have time in the week to come teaching with us. We knew this change was going to mean that we´d have less members to teach with us, but we made a goal to follow all the mission rules. And look what happened! Now we have 10 people working toward baptism.

I have been reminded again this week that we can do more with the Lord´s help that we can ever do on our own. By following the rules and keeping the commandments, I couldn´t see how it was possible to have more success than before, but I had the help of the Lord, and that is more powerful than anything I could ever do by myself.

Also, I have been contemplating how wonderful it is to have been born into an amazing family with awesome parents who always taught us to be faithful to God and follow His Son, Jesus Christ. Especially here in Ecuador, I have seen very personal consequences that come from following the temptations of Satan. I know that there are 2 very real and powerful forces that we cannot see, but that influence us every minute of every day. Our decisions determine which influence has more control over us.

It doesn´t matter how far you think you are from the help of Heavenly Father or how low you think you´ve sunken, one decision toward Him strengthens your ability to choose better the next time, then the next, then the next, until you rarely feel the influence of the adversary but have, in contrast, more confidence in your ability to choose good over evil. Most of the time, this shift from helplessness and hopelessness to confidence and happiness is a very slow one. But I promise you that it will come. I have really seen miracles from God. I know He lives. I know He is interested in our lives-- His work and His glory is to help us receive all the blessings He has waiting for us. He really lives, and He really listens to us. To all who are reading this, if you have a hard time believing that, find 10 minutes in your day to lock yourself in a quiet room and talk with your Father in Heaven. Listen and open your heart to feel His love. Take the challenge to, "Be still, and know that I am God." I testify that if you do this, you will know Him, and you will know that He is carefully watching and patiently waiting to help you. If you are consciously trying to be better and are focusing on your progress toward the Savior Jesus Christ and becoming like Him, I promise you that you will never be alone.

Keep on keepin´ on, and find joy in the journey through your relationship with your Savior, Redeemer, and Deliverer, Jesus Christ.

Love,

-Hermana Busath

Great Week!

Hello! What a great week! Highlights:

-We are teaching a man named Raul right now-- he´s amazing! He is so prepared to change his life and he understands everything about the gospel really fast. He loves to hear about the gospel and loves being at church. He is really excited for his baptism on November 2, but it will probably get bumped up to October 26. He is seriously a golden investigator!

-We got to spend 45 minutes with President Torres in his car on Wednesday night! The bad news is that we got this privelege because we were in the hospital all day and night. Don´t worry, it wasn´t for me. My companion hadn´t been drinking enough water, and she got really sick and dehydrated. It was an ordeal, let me tell you. But she is doing a lot better now, and it was so wonderful to chat with my amazing mission president. He had been up all night the night before picking up new missionaries at the airport and then having training meetings all day, then he took the time to come to the hospital and drive us home. Also, I´m pretty sure he paid for the medical bill out-of-pocket because my companion didn´t have her medical card. I am so grateful for him and his family and the sacrifices they make for us each day. And don´t worry mom, I drink so much water! I drink 2 bottles every morning before we even leave the house, then a ton throughout the day. You don´t ever have to worry about me being at the hospital for dehydration ;)

-This one isn´t really a highlight at all: So I thought it was bad in Aurora when a bird pooped on my head. Wrong. This week a bird pooped on my face. Luckily we were right next to a member´s house, so I could wash my face there. Lovin´ the wildlife here.

That´s about all I can remember at the moment. Remember that Heavenly Father loves each of you and has a plan for your life. You aren´t here to just wander aimlessly, working and studying until you die. There is a grand purpose that maybe you don´t yet know. Visit lds.org to find out what great purpose your life has :)

Love,

Hermana Busath

(This was for me, her mom, since I expressed my concern for her safety in the city of Guayaquil)

P.S. I am staying really safe, don´t worry. We always take good precautions, and we have an even greater power-- we have the direct protection of many angels and of the Spirit here in the mission. I know that there are angels around me. Thanks for your prayers; I know they bless me and my companion every day. 

Shortie Email :/

Hola!!
This is going to be a short one, sorry folks. I finished my 12 weeks of in-field training today, and transfers are tomorrow, so we`ll see if I get changed again! I`ll let you know next week. I`m loving it here and really becoming more like Christ every day. It is so important that with every decision we make, we are following the Savior`s example. THis life is meant for us to become more like Christ and to progress so that one day we can stand before Him and He will recognize us because we have taken upon ourselves His name (Moroni chapter 6).

I want to invite you all to read and listen to and re-read and re-listen to the conference talks that we were blessed with this weekend (at lds.org). Also, I would to hear from each of you which talk was your favorite and why, and what the speaker talked about. I wasn`t able to listen to all of the conference talks, and the ones that I did listen to were in Spanish, so I didn`t fully understand. I`d love to hear what was said and how it impacted your life :)

Speaking of Spanish skills, my Spanish is becoming so great! I really love the language, and I lvoe the people here.

Read your scriptures every day, love the Lord, and pray to Him to give thanks and to ask for all that you need. He is our Loving Father. He is waiting to hear from you. I know He lives, and I know that He is interested in our lives because we are His children.

¡Cuídense!

-Hermana Busath

ííHOLA!!

íHola!
On Wednesday, I was transferred to the ward Almendros in Guayaquil! My new companion is named Hermana Camacho. It was actually a pretty crazy transition. On Tuesday morning, Hermana Cambal and I left for Guayaquil so that we could take care of some business there. However, we didn´t know at that point that we would have transfers the next day, so we only brought one night´s worth of clothes to stay the night at the mission nurse´s house. So we took the 3.5-hour bus to Guayaquil, wrote our families at a Cyber (a place with a bunch of computers), taught lessons with the missionaries in the area, and slept at the nurse´s house. Then in the morning, we took care of our business then took the bus back to Aurora, where I had 20 minutes to pack everything to catch the very next bus back to Guayaquil. It was the craziest 20 minutes of my life! We raced back to the bus station and barely caught the next one back to Guayaquil. In the bus I got to call a couple of the members from Aurora to say goodbye. Then we stayed the night again at the nurse´s house, and in the morning I met up with my new companion and we took a taxi to the new area. And now I´ve been here for a week, and it´s great! The people here are a lot different from Machala. In Machala, and especially in Aurora, the people are really really poor. They live in shacks made from scrap metal, and the majority of the roads are dirt roads. Here in the city, most of the houses are 2-story nice houses, and all the roads are paved really nicely. The good thing is that there are hardly any dogs in the streets here! Knocking doors doesn´t really work here; we have to work only with references from the members or other people. So I´ve had to change my technique a little bit, haha. But I really love the city, and the ward is great. We don´t have  a ward mission leader at the moment, but a really awesome guy named Alejandro just returned from his mission to New York City, and we think he might be called. He speaks English, so it´s great to go teaching with him because I can ask him lots of questions about what stuff means. Hermana Camacho doesn´t speak a lick of English, like Hermana Cambal did. But it´s okay, because my Spanish is really progressing.

Speaking of my Spanish skills, I am speaking really well now! It´s actually hard to write my letter home because it´s hard for me to think in English, haha. I´m hoping I will still know how to speak English when I come home! Everyone here is surprised that I have only been in the mission for 2 months, so I guess that´s a good sign that the Lord is really helping me to learn Spanish!

Hope you´re all having a good week! I´d love to hear from you, and I´ll try to write back! :D

-Hermana Busath

Lots of pictures! I forgot which ones I attached, but there are some of Hermana Cambal and me, and 2 of us at the temple on Tuesday

:D The one where we have our hands on our hips, I was making fun of her for always doing that in pictures haha she doesn´t look very amused :P I also attached an oldie-but-goodie of Hermana Nazer and me in the CCM, and there´s one of the daughter of Hermana Sabrina from Aurora and me as well. I think that´s all... Disfruta! (Enjoy!)

Transfers!!

Well, I`m writing today from Guayaquil! I am being transferred today! Well probably tomorrow. I am going to be with a missionary named Hermana Camacho in Guayaquil! This is very bitter-sweet because I really enjoy working with Hermana Cambal, and I have such a soft spot in my heart for Aurora now. It`s been a really really great 2 months. I`ve learned a lot from my trainer, from the people in this area, and most importantly, from the Lord. I know that Jesus Christ lives. He really lives, and He really loves us. There really is a Heaven where Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father live, and I know that there are angels around us every day when we are following Christ. I know it. And if any of you don`t know it yet, find your testimony of the Lord, because it is so incredibly comforting to know that you are being watched over, and that you are never alone. Ahhh, I seriously love the work of the Lord. I love that I have the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I look forward every day to sharing the love of the Savior and the great news of joy and peace with the humble people here in Ecuador.

This week has really been great! We have been working with some new investigators and a lot with the members to help our investigators have friends at church. That is so key in missionary work. For all of you members of the church-- work with your missionaries to befriend their investigators! It really is the difference between a baptism and a life-long convert.

I don`t have much else to write... I did a bad job at writing things down throughout the week and now I can`t remember what happened this week haha but I hope you all have a wonderful week! Next week I`ll work on replying to everyone`s emails... Don`t worry, I haven`t forgotten about all of you! :)

Love,

Hermanita Busath

Pictures! :)

-Hermana Cambal and me with our view from our apartment

-My 3 converts (the fourth is in a different ward now)

-Hermana Nazer and me livin it up at church on Sunday :)

-Hermana Cambal and me in the Bishop´s car

-I spotted my first iguana! These things are HUGE here, and I was honestly scared to get any closer to it than I was in the picture, haha (click on the pic to make it bigger and look at the far right on the fence)

-Us with our investigator Klever and his motorcycle. The first time we had an appointment with him, he met us at a park and told us that he`d show us where he lived from there... on his motorcycle! Haha don`t worry mom, I wasn`t about to hop on his motorcycle. We took the bus and followed him to his house. SO many people here in Ecuador use motorcycles, and every day you`ll see a family of 4 or 5 riding one. The newborn is strapped to the mom`s back, the two little ones are in between the mom and dad, and one is riding in the front. It`s so incredibly dangerous, but it`s all they can afford to travel.

-The family in the house is another family of investigators that we have been working with. They are so wonderful and welcoming, and por fin have a baptismal date, as of yesterday :)

-Mayra is the woman with her 3 children. They are so sweet and awesome. Her husband (the son of our convert Nancy) died 2 years ago. She means a lot to me, and it`s been so wonderful to help her start a new life with her three children :)

-The 4 of us missionaries that lived together in Aurora this past month. I really love them all so much! Hermana Martinez is going hometomorrow, Hermana Cambal and I are parting ways tomorrow with new companions, and I don`t know where Hermana Nazer is going. But the 3 of them are so wonderful, and such great missionaries. I`m going to miss them :`(   (yes, my hair is wet, just got out of the shower!)

Hola from Aurora down South!

Hallo! This week has been great! I don`t have pictures to send because my camera is at a member´s house who is transferring my pictures to my jump drive. But next week I will send the one of Karem´s baptism!

Karem made it to her baptism, despite many bumps in the road on Saturday and then on Sunday as well. She was having problems with her family, but everything worked out and she was baptized and confirmed this weekend :) She is so wonderful! She´s 20 years old and has a very sweet personality. She is going to make a great Young Women´s president one day :)

On the other hand, Josué wasn´t baptised this weekend. He got really sick and ended up in the hospital :/ We´ve rescheduled his baptism for this coming weekend.

I really loved the talk that you sent me, Mom, and want to recommend it to everyone to read. It´s called Waiting on the Road to Damascus by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. I shared it with one of our investigators, Edith, this week, because she is having a hard time deciding what to do in her life right now. She feels like she needs a lot more time to learn more about the church and read the bible before she is baptized. Read the talk to find out why I recommended it to her ;)

So this week during companionship study, I was practicing testifying to Hermana Cambal of the Book of Mormon, in Spanish. It was a really spritual moment. I was explaining the history, and said that just like there were people writing the Bible in another continent, there were also people here in the Americas that needed to know the way to salvation as well. I asked if she remembered the story of Christopher Columbus, when he came to the Americas and found the indiginous people here. But instead of saying "indiginous people" (indigenas) I said "unworthy people" ("indignos")! We laughed for a good 5 minutes. Well, first Hermana Cambal laughed, and through her tears she explained what I had said. It´s a good thing that didn´t happen in a real lesson! :P

I invite you all to read the Book of Mormon, starting from the very first page, to read more about these "indiginous people". I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that it is the word of God. I know that the prophet Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God, and that Jesus Christ restored His original church again on the earth. His church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And if you want to see what sort of thing I do every day here in Ecuador, ask my mom or dad to get you in touch with the missionaries in your area, who will come to your home and teach you about what we believe. (Except I´ll be doing it in Spanish, not English like over there in the States :) ) Have a great week!!

-Hermanita Angela Busath

Lovin' It Here!

Hi All,

I`m sending an awesome picture of a sunset here-- they`re gorgeous! But that`s all that would work to send from this computer. More to come next week :)

I am really loving the work here in Ecuador! This week has been great. We have been working with Josué and Karem to prepare them for baptism this week. They are both really great and are prepared to make this amazing covenant with Heavenly Father, but they could both use a little boost of faith. Josué´s mom is a little hesitant for him to be baptized, and he`s only 14, so we have had to talk a lot with his mom. But once we told her that he will have an interview to see if he`s ready to be baptized, she opened up a lot. I think that was when she realized that we aren`t just 2 chicas teaching about Jesus and asking everyone to be baptized-- we are representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ and we don`t just baptize anyone who talks to us, haha.

Karem is 20 years old and lives with her sister. She is dating a boy named Edwin who is a member of the Church, and she`s been to church 3 times but in his ward, not her own. She came to church with us this week, and she is totally ready to be baptized. She still has a few questions about the details, but we are teaching her every day and answering all of her questions. She`s really sweet and kind and she`s going to make a great Young Women`s president one day ;) We have a Family Home Evening planned with both of them tonight with a family from our ward, so that should be great! I`ll send pictures next week of the baptism.

We`re also working with more people, but I don`t have time to write about all of them, haha. Last night we started teaching a family who are friends with a man named Louis in our ward. Familia Bermeo actually only consists of the mom and her daughter Julianna, who has Downs Syndrome. I am really grateful for the privelege to work with them. They are so down-to-earth and ready to learn. Last night Julianna cuddled up next to me during the whole lesson; she`s a really sweet girl.

So here are some things that I`ve written down during the week to write home about:

-Have I told you that I have been eating fish and shrimp here?? It`s a miracle! Some of it is really disgusting, but some is actually pretty good! Did you hear that, Dad? I actually like seafood! I`m a changed woman! It`s amazing what the Lord can do to His missionaries to help on their missions ;)

-In the ward here in Aurora there are some really great jovenes. Youth. I always think of Jeff and wish that he lived here so that he could be friends with them. (I guess he`d probably have to learn Spanish first, haha) One of them is my convert Kevin. They`re all really great friends and they come out teaching with us a lot. (By the way, Jeff, it was SO GOOD to hear from you! (StrongBad voice) I`m so happy to hear about your Patriarchal Blessing! It sounds like you have some wonderful blessings awaiting you in the future-- Be sure to always be worthy to receive them from Heavenly Father! I can`t wait to hear from you again in a week! ;) )

-One of our investigators, Louis, always wears a shirt that says in big letters, "CAN YOU DIG IT?" It always makes me laugh and think of Dad. The people here wear shirts all the time with English writing on them, and I know that they have no idea what they say, because they wouldn`t wear half of them  if they did know haha

-Something funny here is that the people keep cheesy Christmas decorations up all year. I don`t know if they just don`t have time to take them down or if they just love Christmas, but it`s great!

I`ve been thinking a lot about what kind of missionary Christ was, and trying to be more like Him in my teaching and in my relationships with everyone here. I think it`s always good to think about Christ and how we can be more like HIm. So that is my invitation to all of you this week-- think about how you can be more like Christ, and do it!

Love,
Hermanita Busath

Great News!!

(I think Angie may have tried to attach pictures, but none came through) 

So we had cambios last week, and we received 2 new missionaries in our ward. Guess who`s one of them?? Hermana Nazer!!! She and Hermana Martinez are living in our apartment with us for the next 6 weeks! I am so happy! It`s been really great to catch up with her and spend time with her :)

This week has been really great. We didn`t have any baptisms on Saturday, but we`ve had some rockin lessons with our investigators. We`ve used the story in Alma 22 about Aaron teaching King Lamoni a lot in our lessons. Read in the Book of Mormon (if you don`t have a copy, you can find the scriptures on lds.org) Alma 22:14-15. What was the king willing to give up to have the happiness and joy of which Aaron spoke? Then read verse 16. What did Aaron say was the price for this happines? Then read Mosiah 2:41. What do we need to do/what do we need to give up to have this joy? What do you personally need to do to invite this happiness into your life? I`d love to hear anyone`s thoughts/feelings that you have when you read these verses! :)

So yesterday we had a great adventure. We left an investigator`s house and caught the bus which we thought would take us back to town. One wrong turn turned into another and into another, and pretty soon we were totally lost haha But all the buses go in loops, so we figured we`d just stay on until it looped back to where we started. 10 minutes, we figured. Well, 10 minutes turned into 30 minutes, which turned into 1 hour, and we ended up being on that bus for 2 hours! We made it back safely, but it was such a horrible waste of time. I`m really sad about that. As we reached our city limits again, Hermana Cambal turned to me and said in English, "Never in my life..." hahaha As we got off, the driver said, "Thanks for the company!" I`m sending a picture from the bus ride. Definitely a story I will never forget!

The people here are so receptive to the message that have to share. We`ve had great success in finding people to teach; they are so humble and love to talk and learn about the word of God. We are teaching one girl, Nathaly, who is so humble and prepared to fix things in her life so that she can live in accordance with the commandments of God. She wasn`t able to go to church this week, but I have great faith that she will come to know of the truthfulness of the restored gospel and be able to bless many in her service in the church.

We have so much help from our members in the ward here. They teach with us almost every day and are great at fellowshippìng our investigators. I really love Aurora. I`m going to be sad when the day comes that I have to leave here :( The Lord has really prepared these people to find answers to their questions in the gospel. I am so blessed to be able to work as a representative of Jesus Christ to help others find true joy and happiness.

Oh, and Happy Labor-day Weekend! I`d love to hear what each of you did today for the holiday! Remember always that Jesus Christ always has His arm extended to lift you when you`re having a rough time. He knows you, and He is always waiting to help you. Have a great week!

-Hermana Busath