3 Months.....Check!

Today is my 3 month mark! I have been on my mission for exactly 2 transfers (12 weeks) and we had transfers yesterday.... I`m still in Aurora with Hermana Cambal! I am really happy about that because I am finally getting to the point where I can have real conversations and joke around with her, haha! It`s going to be a great 6 more weeks here in Aurora :)

We had 2 more baptisms on Saturday! Their names are Kevin and Dalto. Kevin is 16 years old and reminds me a lot of Jeff. He lives with his aunt and he is really quiet, but he has such a strong testimony. He loves to play soccer and is just a really chill person. After his baptism, he asked, "Am I allowed to shower before my confirmation?" :) He has a really pure heart and he is really trying to do what`s right. He`s awesome.

Dalto is 9 years old, and he such a sweet boy. He is so loving and really loves to hear about Jesus Christ and learn about the gospel. He loves going to church and is always so happy to be there. His familiy life isn`t very good, so it`s been great to get to know him and be his friend, and bring the joy and happiness of the gospel into his life.

One of the sweetest experiences here in the mission is when I get to experience with someone the joy that they feel when they are introduced to God`s plan for them. What I mean is, as a representative of Jesus Christ, I am able to look into the eyes of another person and feel the pain that they are going through, them I am able to testify to them of the love that Heavenly Father has for them and of the help that He is waiting to give. I get to testify of gospel truths and of the incredible act of the Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Then, I have the privilege of looking in their eyes and seeing the understanding that they have and the love and Spirit that they feel. I am the means of bringing consolation to their hearts and peace to their minds. It`s an incredible privilege.

I hope you all know of the Savior`s love and of your Father in Heaven`s love for you. They know who you are and how you feel. They have a plan for your life. We receive their guidance and love as we follow their teachings. Read the scriptures and pray every morning and night, and I promise you will be able to feel their love for you.

Love,

-Hermana Busath

-Me with the coolest thing ever-- a collection of banana stickers. The people here collect them (because there are so many bananas) so I started a collection of my very own!

 -A beautiful sunset here

-Hermana Cambal and me with a little girl in our ward. Her hair is a little crazy!

 -Hermana Harper and me

-Kevin and Dalto, our baptisms this week!

 -My zone

-The sisters in my zone

Baptism!!

Hola!!! I had my first baptism!!! It was amazing. Her name is Nancy and she has such a strong testimony of the Gospel. She just has so much faith that she believes everything we teach her the moment we teach. It makes sense to her; that`s how the gospel of Jesus Christ should be! We all have the Light of Christ in us, so when we hear the gospel of Christ, if we are prepared, our spirits recognize the truth. The Holy Ghost can testify to our spirits that it is true. 

There are so many people here who are ready and waiting to hear the truth of the restored gospel that I will probably have lots of baptisms here, so I`ll try to tell you a little something about each person when I send pictures. This week we have 2 baptisms planned-- Kevin and Dalto. I`ll send pictures!!

Mom, I really don`t drink that much coke like I thought I would. Like one cup a week, haha We drink lots and lots of water, and a little bit of natural juices from oranges or tomatoes. The thing that I need to eat less of is rice and bread haha It`s incredible how different the diet is here! Oh and could you tell Grams about the coke too? She emailed me last week but I don`t have time to email her back. And please tell her thank you for emailing me! And not to worry.

I love you all! Thank you for your support, emails and prayers. Have a great week!

-Hermana Busath

(I'm thinking Nancy is the woman in the middle?

Angela did not specify which person Nancy was in the pic)

(I believe this is one of her big lunches?

Again, she didn't label the pics, gonna have to remind her on that!)

Halooo!

HOLA!!!

I got a picture with One Direction at the mall!!!! (Check out the picture!!)

The other two pictures are from this afternoon when we made cake with one of my favorite sisters in the ward, Hermana Sabrina. Her husband is the ward mission leader. My clothes are all wet because an egg cracked and splattered all over me! I seriously don`t know how it could have had that much of a trajectory...

This week has been wonderful! We had a meeting with our mission president this weekend, then he spoke in our ward on Sunday. My mission president is awesome!!!!! His name is President Torres. He loves us so much! I really love him and his wife very much. He cries every time he talks to us, and when I had my initial interview with him, we both finished in tears. I feel like I barely know him because I barely ever get to see him, but at the same time I feel so much love for him and so much love FROM him. He always calls us "God`s angels" and cannot express how much of a privilege it is for him to be working alongside us. He came down to Machala this weekend to have a capacitacion (I don`t know the word in English haha) and told us that he`s going to plan for each of the zones to start attending the temple from now on!!!! How wonderful!!!! I cannot tell you how incredibly excited I was to hear that news. Then he spoke in our ward yesterday, and he had us 4 missionaries stand up, and he shared with the ward his love for all the missionaries and how we have sacrificed so much to be here and how we need the help of the ward members and how great of a work we are doing and a lot of other wonderful stuff. Definitely the best mission president there is ;) hehe. Before he sent me to my first area, he told me that my area is full of people waiting to hear the message of the gospel and that I have one of the best trainers there is. Our group from the CCM was his first new group, and he shared with us that before he was called to be a mission president, he had a dream in which he had many many more children, of many different races and they all looked different, and there was even a red-head in his dream. He wondered how that could be possible. Then he got called as a mission president, and he was waiting for us at the airport, and out walks Hermana Nazer (my CCM companion) from the terminal. Lo and behold, the red-head from his dream. He was crying before we even shook his hand! He is so loving. He is brand-new, but his focus, however, is on faith, charity, diligence, and humility. Ahhh, he`s amazing. I hope I get to know him a lot better in the next year and a half. I mean, 16 months haha.

Contacting people is great! We tract a lot, and the people are really receptive to hear our message. We get some REALLY devoted catholics, and then Testigos de Jehova, but other than that the people are really sweet and loving. We always invite them to be baptized in the first visit, and it`s amazing to me how many people accept it! The people here are just so ready for this message. They`re so humble. I love so much watching people feel the spirit for the first time, then praying with them on our knees and looking into their eyes as they feel the spirit testify to them of the truth of our message. I`m really trying to enjoy every minute!

Our baptisms didn`t go through this week :( Both Gerarda and Javier say that they aren`t ready for baptism. It`s really incredible how much Satan works on us right when we are making good choices in our lives. He doesn`t want us to be happy, so he will do everything he can to stop us from following God`s commandments. We need to always remember to stay on guard against the enticings of Satan! Remember that the Lord`s way always leads to happiness, and that we receive blessings after the trial of our faith.

I don`t have much time, but I recommend you should read Helaman 6:3 in the Book of Mormon this week. :)

Love, 
Hermana Busath

Greetings from Guayaquil!

Hola!

Guess who has an hour to write letters now! Wahoo! Maybe now I can respond to all the people who have been writing me emails and letters since I came out on my mission... Starting next week! Sorry about that....

We`re in Guayaquil today to finish up some VISA stuff. I love traveling to Guayaquil, but it puts a damper on our work with our investigators! Hopefully we will have time to visit a few of them tonight when we return back to Machala. 

Someone remind me next week to share the story about the lady with the bum shots... It`s hilarious. Bt I don`t have time now cause we`ve gotta catch the bus home!

The work is so great here! We have 2 baptisms planned for this Saturday! I will send pictures on Monday. Sorry I have no pictures today. And my Spanish is really progressing! How wonderful it is to have the Lord to help me learn this language. As I rely on His strength and serve Him, He blesses me in my efforts. I know that is the same for all of you. Rely on Him, and He will bless you. Follow Him, and He will make life easier for you. I know it`s true! I see it in my life and in the lives of my investigators every day!

Love, Hermana Busath

Mom asked me some questions, so here are the answers:

1. Give me an idea of what your day is like, what you usually do on the weekdays other than Pday, and also how far do you have to travel, and by what method, to get to a store for groceries? And do you have a "mamita", a woman who cooks for you? 

Every day is work, work, work. We wake up at 6:30, get ready until 8, study until 11 or 12, go to appointments, eat lunch with a member, and then tract and go to appointments until 9p. At 9 we plan for the next day for an hour, then get ready for bed and go to bed by 10:30. Lunches are HUGE, so we don`t usually get much dinner. We usually buy bread and fruit from the local tiendas (little stores) for dinner, but don`t really need more cause lunch is so big. And that is my day! Oh and Sundays are a little different. We wake up at 5:30 and leave by 7 to go around and wake up all our investigators for church. They won`t come if we don`t wake them up. So we spend 2 hours doing that before church at 9. Then after church is just the same as all the other days!

We have a mamacita for lunch. We don`t have to pay them, but a different lady every day of the week cooks lunch for us. Lunch is the biggest meal, so we get a lot of food!

2. What kinds of foods are you eating now that you are in Ecuador? 

I eat a LOT of rice. We get a heaping of rice with every lunch, then a side of something and a piece of meat. Also, before the main dish, we get a big bowl of soup. I`m starting to really use my exercise time wisely, because if I don`t, I will be very large when I get home! Let`s hope that`s not the case :) The food is not like what we usually have in USA, but it`s not bad or weird. It`s just cooked with different spices. And we are expected to eat every on our plate, which means practically licking the plate clean and eating absolutely everything off the bones. We drink coke with almost every lunch, and water the rest of the time. I have a really great water bottle with a filter that they gave us, so don`t worry about me getting sick from the water! And they DO eat with only spoons! It was true! The more wealthy families have forks and knives, but mostly we just use spoons.

3. Your pinky toe looked REALLY swollen and red in the picture of your feet that you sent last week. Was that a bite or was that from walking so much? I hope it's not like that anymore!! Made me really sad to see that!! 

Don`t worry at all about my pinky toe; I wore another sister`s shoes (she gave them to me while at the MTC because they hurt her feet...now I understand why) for like 15 minutes in the morning before we left our house. They fit weird and squeeze my toes, and that`s why my pinky toe was red. But I don`t plan on wearing those shoes, so don`t worry! The redness went down in like 10 minutes after that :)

By the way, I really like all the spiritual thoughts you send me! Please send them when you write me! It`s nice cause I print them out so I have them to read over and over. And I don`t really have any other way of getting quotes in English... It`s nice to get a little spiritual upliftment in English :) Thank you.

My New Home

A little background, I (mom) had sent her a package a few days after she left for Lima, with some shirts we had ordered & some treats. Every time I checked on the tracking, it ended in Chicago, there was nothing noted or documented after it left Chicago. I was worried it wouldn't make it to the mission home, but apparently it did. Chocolate and all. :)

================================================================================

¡Hola!  This week has been great. We have been working hard, and the hard work definitely pays off! We have 8 new baptismal dates, which means 8 more people who will enjoy the blessings of baptism, then hopefully the blessings of the temple as well! It`s been so awesome to be able to bring the knowledge of the gospel to so many people who are so ready to accept and utilize the teachings of Christ in their lives.

Mom! I got the package! Thank you so much!! The chocolate was a little bit melted, but still edible :) Thank you so much for sending that. And I happened to have your note with me during a lesson when I felt prompted to share one of the scriptures you wrote to me, so I showed our investigator Christian your letter! The scripture really helped him, and me. Thanks mom. And about my address-- so people don`t really have addresses here. It`s more like "the pink house with 4 pillars between this street and that one". So that means that if anyone wants to send me anything, it has to be to the mission home. Sorry! But I will get it soon enough. They`re pretty good at getting mail to us, I think. ;)

So this week a bird pooped on my head. First time in my life that has happened, and it was first thing in the morning. So yeah, that was fun!

So here, most people don`t have cars. They walk or take a taxi or bus if they need to go somewhere, or a family might have a motorcycle. Every day I see tons of motorcycles with entire families on board! Mom, dad, and three children, the youngest being a newborn in the arms of the mother. It`s not safe at all, but sometimes you just have to do what necessity requires.

Sorry to anyone who has written me and not gotten a response; being a missionary is a full-time job! I really love reading your letters, and I will try my best to respond as soon as I can.

Love you all! Keep the faith! Have a great week!

-Hermana Busath

Here are some photos!!

Getting off the plane in Guayaquil!!

Last picture with my first companion, Hermana Nazer <3 

 Our group picture with President and Sister Torres

My new companion, Sister Cambal, and me, in front of the Guayaquil Temple

This is a view from my apartment as I was eating lunch today

 This is my apartment

 Sore pinky toe and funny tan lines, although the lines aren't 

showing up so much in the pic :(

Greetings from Ecuador!

Hallo! 

I`m alive! I made it to Ecuador! My first zone is called Machala and (if you can believe it) my first area is called Aurora! How ironic! My trainer`s name is Hermana Cambal and she is really great. She is so patient with my Spanish and really helps me to understand and speak and teach. She knows a little bit of English because she is from Northern Ecuador, and the school where she is from teaches English. So all is well!

P-day for the whole mission is Monday, so you`ll be getting my emails every Monday now! So the way writing emails works is that we come to this computer place in the morning, print off all the emails we received, read them throughout the day, then around 3 or so we come back and write our emails. But we only have 30 minutes to write! Elder Will Carver told me that in his mission they have 2 hours... I`m not really sure why it`s so different. Anyway, I might start writing real letters more instead since I won`t have much time here. So please include your address if you send me an email or a letter so I can write you back!

This week has been so great! I am so in love with Ecuador. The people here are so wonderful, the food is delicious, we have lots of opportunities to teach, the ward is very big and loving, the culture is different but sweet, and the weather is gloriously hot and humid :)

So the way that a lot of people make money here is selling things from their homes or cars, or driving taxis. The taxis are just self-owned cars, but they are safe enough. The driving is crazy, but everyone driving only pays attention to driving-- people don`t talk on the phone or eat or anything. So it`s crazy, but it`s safe. Now about the people who sell stuff: in the town Aurora where I live, there are tons and tons of "tiendas", which are stores in the front of someone`s house. That`s where we sometimes buy groceries and snacks and stuff. It`s pretty funny. Anyone that wants to can just sell stuff out of their homes. It`s the same for restaurants-- many people just make a "restaurant" out of the front room of their house. It`s great! And then other people drive around and sell things, like snacks and produce and cotton candy and fried stuff. Think about the little cart that Nacho Libre drives around... That`s exactly what many people sell things out of. It`s so legit! But as missionaries, we aren`t allowed to eat anything sold on the streets or in those little restaurants. We eat lunch every day at a member`s house, and they stuff us full of rice! It`s incredible. And we have to eat the whole thing. On Saturday, I literally ate until I felt like I was going to throw up, and I had only eaten 2/3 of it. My awesome companion finished mine for me while the members weren`t looking. What a life saver! I haven`t eaten anything crazy yet-- just lots of rice and Coke.

So there are 5 of us living in one big apartment. It would probably be more fun if I could understand them better haha but they are all so nice and helpful. I`ll send a picture of the main part of our apartment. My bed is the top bunk. We`re on the fourth floor, so I can see all of my area out on our porch. It`s beautiful!

Today it rained for the first time, but I guess we`re not allowed to wear rain boots :( I at least have my crocs, so my other shoes won`t get ruined by the rain. Other than that, the weather has been really great. Me gusta the heat!

The missionary work here is awesome. On my first day we had 7 people commit to being baptized! Although only 3 came to church on Sunday. We need to work hard to get people to come to church. But everyone here is so welcoming. We haven`t really had any problem with rude people, and for the most part everyone is willing to listen to our message. I`m learning so much about the gospel here and how it can really bless and change people`s lives. Our family is so blessed to have the knowledge that comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ-- we can live forever with our families! And we have the opportunity to make such special covenants with God so that we can have Eternal Life and be happy. The Book of Mormon answers all the questions we have because it is the word of God. Our Savior loves each person very much and is very aware of our needs. When we turn to Him and change our lives to be in line with His teachings, we are blessed and receive the help that we need. I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ`s true church on the Earth today. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet who talked with God and Jesus Christ, and I know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet of the world today.

Keep your chin up-- you`ve got a loving Father in Heaven who watches over you! 

Love you all!
-Hermana Angela Busath

p.s. I tried to send pictures, but they didn`t work. I`ll send them next week.

No email this week, just a wonderful phone call!!

Angela left the Peru CCM (MTC) this morning. She called from the Lima airport, on her way to Guayaquil. She sounded very upbeat and extremely excited about the new adventures that await her in the mission field!

She told me about the last investigator she spoke with on Saturday named Luz, who looked directly into Angela's eyes and asked her if she'd ever see her again. Angela said she hoped she would, but if not in this life, then in the next. Angela then told me that she felt that perhaps in the pre-existence there were those who might have looked into the Savior's eyes before coming to earth and asking if they would see Him again. She imagined that He might have told them that they may not see Him on the earth, but they would meet those who have His light shining through their eyes, and that they would recognize that light.

I am so overwhelmed with the spiritual depth that Angela shows us each week through her letters. She has grown even more in the past 6 weeks as she's been in a place of spiritual instruction, while learning the Spanish language. I feel the love she has acquired for the people she will serve in Guayaquil, the same kind of love that the Savior has for all of us. It is unconditional, and it is never ending.

Hopefully, we will receive an email sometime next week, after Angela has settled into her first area. I'm looking forward to learning more about her experiences.

Have a great week all!
Becky

One More Week!

Hello there! Guess who only has one more week here in the Peru MTC?! I cannot believe the time has flown by so quickly! I leave next Tuesday morning for Ecuador to preach the Gospel to the children of God in Ecuador! I have learned so much here at the MTC. My testimony of the Gospel has been incredibly strengthened as I´ve watched miracles happen every day. My Spanish is 400 times better than it was when I got here, and I can have a real conversation with the locals! I can´t wait to go tracting in Peru one last time on Saturday

, then get out to the field on Tuesday. And my companion is amazing. Hermana Nazer and I are definitely going to be best friends for life!

On Sunday I bore my testimony in Spanish, and I was amazing that I could actually say all that I wanted to! I´m not struggling through conjugations and vocabulary anymore; it all just comes to me and I know that it is a blessing from the Lord to be able to learn this language.

I saw an awesome Mormon Message here the other day called "A Book of Mormon Story". It´s about an African American man living in England. Everyone please watch it! Mom, if you could attach the link to it on YouTube, that would be awesome :)

As I sat in the temple today, I was reminded of the love that Heavenly Father has for all of His children. He wants us to talk with Him through prayer, and He wants to talk to us through the scriptures and through the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. I know that He answers prayers. I know that He cares about all of our problems and hard times, because we are His children! He has a plan for us, and He will help us as much as He can if we look to Him for help. If you´ve never read the Book of Mormon, or if it´s been a while since you last picked it up, or if you read it every day, please read it today and take Moroni´s promise in Moroni 10:3-5. I know that the Lord will bless you for remembering Him and I promise that He will manifest the truth of all things unto you.

Love you all! 

Wish me luck in Ecuador, and I wish you all the best in these coming weeks!

Love,

Hermana Busath

(below is the video she wanted me to share)

(hooray, she explained the pics this week)
Pictures: A couple are from the 4th of July-- the cooks here decorated the cafeteria for 4th of July for all of us Americans and had a special BBQ lunch for us with vanilla ice cream and a huge American Flag cake! Then 2 pictures are from the temple and the other 2 are from our bus ride today. It kind of shows what it´s like-- crazy packed and really sketchy, and we are always standing. It´s a fun time every week! We love riding the bus!

Shortie Email

Welp, I just lost the entire letter I wrote to you. Yeehaw. I love
Peru. So this is going to be very short. Oh and the enter button
doesn´t work, so when you see a #, mom, please hit enter for me :) 

# A few awesome things happened this week! First, Elder Christofferson
came to the MTC to give a devotional! Does he know our family? I know
we know some of the apostles, but I don´t know if we know him. When he
shook my hand after, he called me by my name and he pronounced it
correctly! His devotional was awesome. I wish I had time to re-write
about it. But during the closing song, we made eye contact (I was on
the front row right in front of him) and we smiled at each other. It
was really awesome. I imagine that being somewhat like how it will be
when I look into the Savior´s eyes again someday. I felt very warm and

loved. Elder Christofferson is an amazing man.

# Second great thing: Hermana Nazer and I got called to be Sister Leaders! It is a calling
comparable to Zone Leaders, and it means that we are in charge of the
welfare of the North American sisters (about 80 of them). I´ll tell
you more about that in the next letter, hopefully, if my email doesn´t
get erased again :) 

# "So the "investigators" we are teaching, as we teach them, we

pray for them and follow up with them. We also receive inspiration
concerning them and their situations and I can feel Heavenly Father´s love for them as

I teach and listen to them. This week I had a special experience. As I
was teaching our investigator Teresa, she told us about a problem she

had, and she told us that she doesn´t think that God loves her anymore
because she feels filthy after what she has done. I was overcome by a
rush of the Savior´s love for her as she told us her deepest feelings.
To be able to tell someone, when they feel so low, how much their
Father in Heaven loves them, is one of the sweetest experiences I have

ever had. It´s amazing what you are able to feel for another human being when you
are doing the Lord´s work and striving to bring others unto Christ. 

# So I got a couple letters! On Wednesday I got 2 letters from mom and 1 from Bobby
Bell. I am sending some out today, but I can only write letters on
p-day. And I also got McKay´s email version of his dear elder mail

today! I am so happy to get mail from all of you. If anyone else has sent
me a letter, through dearelder.com, I hope it gets here soon! And I´ll try to write you back

soon. But from now on, only send letters to my mission address or my email address, not the MTC :)

I love getting letters! It´s true what they say, "to missionaries, letters are like Christmas presents!!"

# Sorry this one is short. So many great things happened this week, and I wish I could write more
about them. Look to the Savior and you will find peace. 

# Love,
Hermana Busath 

(No explanations on the pictures again this week)

Brrrrrrr!!!

Buenos Días!

What a wonderful week here at the CCM! It seems like I was just in this computer lab writing an email home; the time flies by so quickly here!

This week was really awesome. Hermana Nazer and I started teaching a new investigator who has a LOT of questions. It´s been a different experience from our last investigator, and it was really hard at first, but I´ve learned a great lesson about the Lord answering prayers. He can help us to love and He can help us have patience. He loves all of His children and each one is very special to Him. He has a plan for each of us, and if we pray to Him and follow His direction that He gives us through the Holy Ghost, we will be happy.

Oh and we committed our first investigator to baptism on Wednesday!! We still have a lot to teach her and a lot more to do before then, but Hermana Nazer and I are very happy :)

So if you´ve emailed me over the past couple weeks and I haven´t responded, I´m really sorry. I don´t have a lot of time here on the computer, so I´m going to try hard to make time to respond to all of you. But I can´t promise it´ll be long :)

We were able to all watch the worldwide fireside this week about missionary work! It was so awesome! If you didn´t get a chance to watch it, find some way to do that. It was a really cool broadcast and they used a lot of different types of media during it. I´m excited for some of the changes (even though not all will apply to me, especially the technology ones), but I know that the Lord has His hand in this work.

By the way, for anyone wondering, mail takes forever to get here, so probably don´t send any more letters here to the CCM or else I won´t get them. Start sending them to the mission home. I haven´t even received one letter yet... they come in kind of sporadically, so I´m sure I´ll get them soon. Hopefully I´ll get the ones you´ve already sent before I leave!

I´m really loving it here! It´s been really cold (like 50´s) because it´s winter here in Peru. Apparently Ecuador is never cold. I´ve looking forward to that this week.

I don´t know which pictures are going to send through, cause the internet is really slow here. But whatever they are, I hope you like them!

The last thing that I want to say is, if you are struggling with anything in your life, please look to Heavenly Father. He loves you. He knows what you need to be happy. Listen to the promptings you receive from the Holy Ghost, and follow them. If you ask God for help, I know He will send you comfort and love. Form a strong relationship with your Savior, and you will always find strength in Him.

Love,

Hermana Busath

(Because she didn't know which pictures came through, she did not explain any of them, therefore, no idea where these were taken or what some of them are of.)