Can I ent-ICE you to read the Book of Mormon

Well Hello All!

What a week its been(: Really though its been awesome. And can you believe that Christmas is on Sunday?? I cant! December is flying by. Itll be 2017 before we know it! Really i felt like i blinked and this week was gone. This transfer is going to zoom by. This past week was busy and so great! Ill try to explain it all with out sounding too gibberish!

Tuesday rolled around and we had an appointment set with Lina. She was an online referal we had received weeks earlier but we couldnt ever catch her. So we were excited for this appointment to finally roll around. I was super nervous she was just having us over to bible bash with us or something though because on the phone she sounded super cold! Anyways, we spent the morning preparing for her and praying that we could help the spirit be present so that he could be the main teacher. She let us in and after brief intros she said "well, what do you have to tell me?! What about this Joseph Smith guy starting his own church?" I explained a little history of the church and talked about how our church isn't reformed it is restored and it wasn't BY Joseph Smith but THROUGH him. At the end she said "Woah okay i like this!". We continued on with the restoration and she asked "what do i need to do". We were blown away by her desire!! We asked her to read the BofM and pray. She agreed. We ended up reading the last two paragraphs of the intro page with her and when we finished she said "Dont stop there! Give me something else!". So we read moronis promise. Her face was priceless! She said that she felt something in her heart and that she had never felt so relaxed. Thank you spirit!! She said she would come to church but was not going to wear a dress because she didnt have one and we told her that it was okay. We prayed (shes a prayer whisperer #YAS ) and left. I got in the car and cried and told sister carson that she is why we both stayed. It was such an answer to our prayers!!

We were out Friday afternoon doing normal missionary work and after we walked out of one of our appointments BAM!!! Slipped and fell on ice!! What?? The ground was covered!! We drove off and instantly started sliding. We went to visit a family in the ward and on the way we saw people sliding off the roads and crashing and stuck on top of hills. People just parked their cars and walked!! By the time we got the members home we got a call that cars were groudned and we had to go home. We made it home safe and the drive was fairly easy but as soon as we got to our little hill our car gave up! We could not get up the hill so we walked across the street and walked home. About half way through crossing the street i heard a scream and look behind me to see sister carson on the ground trying to get on her hands and knees and crawled over me to help her up! haha i was dying!! She is so bruised i feel so bad! But karma came at me for laughing because last night i ATE it down a fill and my skirt flew right up! Thank goodness for tights(;

That night at 1 am we got a text from Lina saying she finished to Joseph Smith story and found it "interesting". I panicked and thought she got antied so we asked if we could come over and hear what she had learned. Although the cars were still grounded from the ice! About 45 minutes before we had planned to head over our cars got undergrounded!! #miracle ! We went over and she sat us down and said she was soo excited that we asked to come over. She then gave us the spill. She found her testimony of Joseph Smith and said he is a prophet!! She also said she has been happier and stopped swearing for some reason! And that she was going shopping that night for a dress to wear to church on Christmas!! WHAT??!? I think those are my favorite parts as a missionary! The spirit obviously taught her a lot and warmed her heart. We just got to bring the BofM into her home and he did the rest! He's making my job way too easy(; 

Church was canceled sunday and we were so bummed! but we got a call sunday morning from the zone leaders and said that out of the whole county their church wasnt cancelled and we were all invited! So all 22 missionaries in the surrounding area showed up for church! haha poeple were so confused!! It was the best sacrament ever!! I think it made the sacrament that much more amazing to partake of. The talks were also just what i needed to hear and there was a father and son musical number. SO GOOD!! I focused really hard on the sacrament prayer that day and as it was being passed read where i left off in the new testament. As the bread came my direction i read of Christ blessing the bread and passing it. Then the wine. How amazing is it that the same way and by the same power that Christ prepared the sacrament is how we are able to partake? Those small emblems represent so much and give us unmeasurable strength. No matter where we have been in our life we get to have it all washed away by simply partaking. How merciful and fulfilling. 

Im so excited to continue this week in the Christmas spirit. I hope you all have a good week and are keeping up on the church Christmas initiative!!! 

Love you!! 

XOXO

Sister Bustillos

Love.

Happy Thanksgiving week!!

I totally did not know that thanksgiving was this week haha then someone asked us what we were doing thursday and i was just like "uhhh missionary work?" then i clicked!! Crazy that the holidays are already here. President Bateman put out a music policy for Christmas music and we get to listen to any lds artist christmas music so I have some James the Mormon in my head phones right now #sogood #yetsovirtuous 

Well this week was super great and a really good learning experience. We were able to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ a lot of different times and we emphasized what repentance was. A lot of people quickly assumed that it was a scary thing and that it meant we were a bad person. But we focused on the definition of it. Love, repentance is the outcome of love. For ourselves and for our Savior. When we love someone or something we are willing to change and thats the outcome of repentance. We recognize we want to become better and the Savior gives us love and grace to make that possible. How much faith does it take to repent? "Its not as much faith as it is to move mountains. Its not enough faith to speak in tongues or heal the sick" Its enough faith to feel remorse for our wrong doing and enough faith to feel love for our Redeemer. For the man who already took on our sins before we even repented of it. I think thats been one of my favorite things to teach/learn on my mission. Repentance isnt scary and it shouldn't be intimidating. It should be one of the most joyful experiences we have. We may feel pain from our sin but we will always feel love during the process. 

So this week we have been wanting to find new people to teach. We know there are people in our area ready for the lessons but who? and where?? We had no idea how to answer that question so we let Jesus do it!! We prayed and picked out 10 streets then we individually prayed and picked out 5. We had two in common and both agreed that they were the ones we had the strongest impressions for! So off we went. So many tender mercies on the street that He picked out. We didn't even have to knock 3 doors before someone let us in and invited us back(: We decided to try that everyday. We want the holy ghost to be the "senior companion" in our companionship. Its been amazing to let God lead my life. I didnt think i could let myself be this vulnerable and not be in control but more peace comes from his way(:

Oh this last week it also decided to get really cold!! Like actually cold... even though everyone says its going to get WAY colder 😱 My hands were so numb and it hurt to knock doors haha. Missionaries say to wear gloves and just keep a golf ball in your pocket to knock or an eos chapstick. Because its so cold though people either dont want to open their doors and let cold air in or are super quick to let us in and get out of the cold! 

This week my favorite thing I heard was at church yesterday. Everything was thanksgiving themed (duh) but it was a quote by Thomas S Monson... "To express gratitude is gracious and honorable. To enact gratitude is generous and noble but to live with gr attitudes in our hearts is to touch heaven. " The lady giving her talk went on to share how she had lost 2 children over the course of a couple years and how people would call her and ask how she is handling it so well. She said "choose gratitude to change your story". I thought about my mission a lot through out the talks and how truly thankful i am to be here in Missouri. Its not a normal opportunity to get to put life on pause to help the Lord in such a close way. Every person i meet and even every door that gets slammed is an opportunity for me to give thanks. 

Love you all have a good thanksgiving. 

XOXO

Sister Bustillos

always making friends with the animals

Potatoe sac dresses!!

Adios Mexico

Holy Cow this transfer has come and gone so quick! and its November? NUTS! Itll be Christmas before we know it! 

So the dreaded day has come and its time for me to leave Mexico ): It was one of the hardest things to be told that I am being transferred but after 6 months it was kind of inevitable. The weekend was full of goodbyes and lots of tears. I never thought i would come out on my mission and find people i consider family. It felt like i was leaving home for a mission all over again. Mexico will always have a piece of me and I hope and pray that i made a tiny difference there. I got my new call to Crystal City MO. I have no clue where it is. Just that its closer the St Louis, i guess! I know some sisters that have served there and have heard great things so I am stoked to be able to experience more of the mission.  Here is my new address:

3235 Richardson pl. Apt #8

arnold, mo

63010

Letters much appreciated (;

Okay so lets start with the funnies of the week shall we!?

First of all, who remember the shed we live in? Ya well the door fell off!! Like on the floor in the dirt off!! haha shed happens i guess(; But we had to wait around for the door fixer guy to come put it back on because we didnt want to just leave the shed with no doors on... plus the front door was hanging on by a screw...one screw!! haha it made for a funny story but the shed was covered in bugs!! Earlier that week we went to a members home for dinner but before we could go we had to drop off the daughter at riding lessons down the street and she insisted we bring bingo!! Whose Bingo?? Her pet goat! He is the cutest thing ever! I sat in the back with him on the 2 minute drive over and he just chilled by me the whole time! Someone get me a pet goat when i get back pleasse??

So Yesterday we got to have a pretty cool experience before we left Mexico. I taught a lesson in SPANISH!! Okay not really but we taught and a member translated for us. I was so so nervous going into this lesson because of the language barrier and was quiet the debbie downer with my negative thoughts. I didnt think the lesson would go well or that anything would be undertsood so i went dove in with the worst attitude! We asked sister loyd ( the member ) to give the opening prayer in spanish and that instantly changed the mood of the room. The spirit quickly softened my heart and gave me a reassuring touch. We jumped into the message of the restoration and the words flowed out of our mouths. The lady we were teaching seemed to follow along quiet well and had a lot of good insight. We were all able to watch the first vision video in spanish and it brought tears to my eyes as Heavenly Father said " " (thank you google translate  ) but the spirit touched me so strong as those words were said because i was able to get a little glimpse into how much our Heavenly Father loves us and how true this gospel is anywhere in the world. and im only in missouri!! Our Heavenly Father knows how great each soul is worth and He is able to show that love to anyone in any language. He loves us so much that He will give us every opportunity to feel that love. As the lady who we were teaching watched the miracle of the first vision it was made known to me by the holy ghost that no matter the language barrier He was going to make sure that this daughter of His felt His love and have the opportunity to experience more truth. With both me and Sister Ellertson leaving im not sure what will happen with her but i know that the little lesson we had with her planted a seed that Heavenly Father needed to be made. We walked away saying how cool of an experience it was to be part of something like that and for our testimonies to grow on how true this gospel is and that the truth has been restored!!

I am so so sad to be leaving Mexico but Im ready to go share my love for the Lord in Crystal City!! My mission is changing my life in ways i didnt know were possible and I can honestly say its because I have the chance to be around such amazing people and focus on them and not myself. I'm always so happy with the decision i made to come back out to Missouri and even more greatful to my Heavenly Father for directing me to do so.

 Love you all!! 

XOXO

Sister Bustillos

Do you have a boyfriend?

Good morning! Good morning!

Woo I am getting very distracted this morning with writting this mass email so sorry if its all jumbled. Ill try by best here😏

I guess i can start off with my subject line!! We volunteer twice a week at the senior center helping serve lunch. Ive gotten to know the seniors pretty well! There is this one man who came up to me a few months ago and asked me if i have a boyfriend and when i said no he was shocked and said "What!? Why not?? Dont worry...a girl like you Itll happen" hahah. Then everyweek after that he would come up and say "Sister, have a boyfriend yet?" I wold just shrug and say no haha. He went a few weeks with out asking then this last week my shift started with "Do you have a boyfriend YET?" I said nope but maybe in a year or so and he came back later to me and said "you know.. you dont need a man. They all lie!" haha me and sister ellertson laughed and laughed at the story that followed. That was my funny story of the week! Theres more but they are lame haha.

This week we spent a lot of time up in Columbia. I love it up there though! Real buildings and more than one stop light!! haha

But first we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. I normally dread exchanges because Im not in my area with my companion and its just unfamiliar but Ive grown on the idea and sort of like them now! Sort of..(; but i was with sister segner and we spent the day finding new people to teach and we found some awesome potentials and it just taught me that i need to try harder. Some days it feel like i cant try any harder but theres that last 5% i should be putting in and thats what i remind myself now in the mornings is to push myself and apply everything I have. The next day we had president interviews. We each go in one at a time and get to just chat with President Bateman. He is an amazing man and makes you feel so comfortable and loved! We had a really good discussion about my work and who i am/want to be as a missionary. I left that interview feeling really good about the person i am becoming and the missionary that ive worked to be. It was really rewarding to have someone acknowledge my work but makes me want to work harder to keep it up! We spent all that day in columbia for president interviews and then Barbra came down for her baptismal interview. She said it went really well and walked out with a big smile. Her baptism is set for this weekend but some issues occured with the building so keep her in your prayers and that Saturday will work(:

Sorry this email was short... limited time!

but i love you all!! Thanks for the prayers and thoughts! They dont go unnoticed. Love you all(:

XOXO

Sister Bustillos

On October 3rd, he asked me what day it was

"it's october 3d"

Happy National Mean Girls Day!! My morning has consisted of quoting as much mean girls as possible, wearing pink, and annoying Sister Ellertson with continuous singing of Jingle Bell Rock. It has started off a good pday(;

This week went pretty dang good if i do say so myself! Lots of tender mercies with our lessons and work. I love seeing prayers answered through other people. It was the first week of the transfer so made sure to go hard and set the tone for the next 5 weeks and we did just that(: For p day last week we took it easy because we were both getting sick but at our dinner appointment that night the kids wanted to play football and oh my heck it was freezing outside! It felt like winter but apparently winter is way worse than that haha but it was really cold and the grass got a little icy. It was a fun time though! There are no outdoor lights in the country so we put a big flash light on the outdoor table and played in the dark! I didn't hurt myself that time(;

Remember Cleo? Well we lost contact with her for a few weeks. She doesnt have a phone and she works two jobs and is going to school so she was like never home! We decided to stop by her house after a few weeks off. We walked right in because she saw us coming and said she was just thinking about us! We caught up with her some but she had to leave to get to class so we had a quick discussion about the restoration and focused on the b. of m. ! It was short and sweet but the spirit testified. She had a lot of questions. She studies a lot from the bible and said she read about how there was a book missing ( Ezekiel 37: 16-17) and was curious if the b of m was it. We talked to her about how they are seperate books but work hand in hand to complete the gospel of Jesus Christ. I invited her to read the last two paragraphs of the intro page of the b. of m. and before we could even discuss what it said she said she wanted to accept the invitation and read it for herself and if we had an extra for her to keep. How amazing!  Since she is so busy we wont be able to see her frequently but both me and Sister Ellertson left with the same confirming feeling that Christ would bring her to the truth when she was ready. He just needed us to plant the idea and resources there first. 

This Week we also had the chance to have dinner with a family who has been less active for years now. They have been inviting us into their home pretty often because they have a desire to be happy and recognized that they were the happiest when they lived the gospel. We shared the plan of salvation with them at the end of dinner and made it a discussion. We focused on our purpose here on earth. My ALL time favorite scripture to share with people who are looking for something is 2 nephi 2: 25. (for real sister ellertson knows how much i reference this scripture!) but its because its true. And i testified it to them. One of my sentences started " I think.." then I paused and said "No, i dont think, i know" and talked about our purpose here on earth. We discussed the atonement and asked them what that word meant to them. None of the family members could answer the question because they didn't recognize the word any more. The fathers voice was full of sorrow when he explained to us that he couldn't remember what it was. We lovingly explained the atonement and the huge role it plays in our daily life. He said "wow how could i have forgotten that?". That stuck with me a lot this week. Am i forgetting the atonement? I know the definition of it but am i remembering to use the action of it? The rest of the lesson with that family opened up their eyes and hearts to recognize that this life is more than going through the motions and surviving. Its finding pure happiness through the atonement of our Savior. Its allowing Christ to change our lives to a celestial potential. 

Then came the weekends of all weekends.... CONFERENCE! woot woot! oh my it was a different feeling than i expected. I learned so much and felt the spirit in so many different ways. Saturday we watched it at different members houses. I got so much out of those sessions and i knew that the following day would just over fill the cup. Sunday morning we watched it at the church and then the afternoon we watched it at Ashleighs home ( an Inv. ). I went into this conference weekend with one specific question and every talk given had an answer to it. But the best answers I received were to the questions i was too afraid to ask. It confirmed to me that Heavenly Father is aware of every feeling we have. He knows the depths of our souls. He "caste a light on the depths of my heart". The woman we watched it with said she got a few things out of it but didnt connect much with it but the more we talked about it the more she opened up and the more she realized she got out of it. She admitted to wanting happiness in her life and knew that it would be possible through Christ. We were able to testify of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it is through this church we can reviece joy. It was really cool adding my witness to the ones she heard that evening. During the morning session while Russel M Nelson spoke i couldnt help but write her name on my notes. We invited her to read that talk and that we would help her on her effort to find real joy. She read this line and agreed:  “When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation ... and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening — or not happening — in our lives”

Our spiritually high weekend seemed like it woudnt damper any mood and then we got to our dinner appointment... DUN DUN DUUUUUN!!! hahah i dont think ive ever laughed so hard on my mission. We got to dinner with a a woman and her family whose home we have never been in before. Maria (the 5 yr/o) insitisted on showing us her pet alvin. She returned with a giant black long tailed rat!! I stayed come because i knew what she was doing but sister ellertson screamed! Of course maria found humor in it and chased her with the rat haha we all laughed at her attempt to get alvins tail to touch Sister Ellertsons leg or arm. This went on and off for about ten minutes until Maria thought of something funnier to do. You could see the wheels spinning in her head and she came up to me and whispered in my ear, still holding the rat, "im going to kill your friend." At that point i got kind of worried but still knew she was young enough to just be playing. She started chasing Sister Ellertson again but this time when Sister Ellertson ran Maria chucked the rat across the room onto Sister Ellertsons back! The rat whipped its tale on her face and proceeded to hide in her hair and get stuck! hahah we were all laughing so hard we couldnt help her so she kept screaming and running around. I had tears come down my face!! hahah. Oh man thatll be a mission story i remember for ever!!

October has already kicked off so well here! I want to go on and on about conference but i know you all listened and got things out of it that you needed to hear(: This is going to be an AMAZING month, i can tell! love you all!

you go Glen Cocoa

xoxo

Sister Bustillos​

Wake me up when September Ends

Hey Sister Bustillos, guess that! You get to stay in Mexico!"

woot woot! best phone call of the weekend(: I get to stay in Mexico for another transfer! Gonna make it count since itll be my last one here.

Hey Fam bam!

What a week its been. It was SO dang hot last week. My flats tan line is coming a long very nicely haha. There was a walk back in time festival at one of the parks in mexico that we went to and helped a member show a hand cart he made. Sister Ellertson pulled little kids around and i applauded from the shade. haha jk i walked with her and told storied of pioneers. It was a cool experience. We even got home made rootbeer float ice cream as thank you for helping out #winning!

haha i just had to lean over to sister ellertson and ask "what did we do this week?" thats what kind of week its been. Busy busy! plus im coming down with some kind of cold flu thing that isnt really hitting me but just teasing me and playing with my immune system. Like, go away virus! We got to meet all of our investigators this week which was awesome! 2 baptism dates for October! We also got two amazing new investigators this week! Me and Sister E both agree that we met them in the coolest ways and walked away from the first lessons knowing that God prepared them for us. We are excited to continue to get to know them and help them come closer to christ. 

(okay side note: i think waka flaka just sat by me in the library)

We also had womens conference on Saturday. oh so good! Uchtdorf had me in tears by the end of his talk. Its amazing to know how influential missionaries can be and that if I follow Christ in the work i can become one. It was weird not sitting on the couch in pjs wrapped up in a blanket listening the the messages but there was such a power and spirit about listening as a missionary. Made me a little home sick but that feeling was outweighed by the confirming feeling that i am where i need to be. Carol (RC) was able to come and watch it at the church building too ( she was called to be in the RS presidency!!) and she had the biggest smile on her face the whole time! She would even look back and give us a wink anytime baptism or missionaries where brought up. Shes the best! We all talked about how it was really cool to watch the screen pan across the conference center and see all those seats filled and then to look in our little relief society room and see the chairs filled and then to think about how all over the world there are little towns and foreign countries all gathered together listening to the same thing. Listening the the same authority. The restoration made this possible! is what i kept thinking. I am so excited to watch the rest this weekend. I encourage everyone to watch and prayerfully ask a question before the next few sessions start and then seek out your answer. Some times our questions are hiding in the words of those inspired to speak to us. 

Friday we also celebrated our 6 month mark! We blabbed on and on how it feels like we have barely been out two months and how crazy fast then next 6 months will go. It was cool to think back on the last few months and think about where ive come and the things ive accomplished. It also put it into perspective how much we need to take advantage of the time we have here. We may get to serve the Lord 24/7 for 18 months but our time here will never compare to what the Lord did for us. This work goes beyond 18 months or 2 years. Its a daily effort that i will take with me forever. When it comes time to take the tag off it will truly be written on my heart forever. This work is something i never want to stop doing. Even those days in the heat where no one will talk to us. Those are the days i know that my Father above is cheering me on and helping me carry my heavy book of mormon loaded purse until i get to that "last door on the forth floor". 

I love this work because I love my Father and I love my Savior. They are the reason i put my face to the sun and work. 

Xoxo

Sister Bustillos

pics

bought blankets in 100 degree weather! best decision of my life. Mexican blankets bought in mexico! ( real mexico or not. still amazing!)

Sister Missionary selfies!

Our new 11 foot friend in front of the shed. Obvi october is about to get real fun!

at home pedicures!

If you aren't obedient enough, do you think you love Jesus enough?

OKay, we may be no Kanye West or Taylor Swift but its funny how often people notice us haha. We got the chance to go "hiking" last Monday in columbia which was awesome! and we got to the bottom and we heard a hey! where are you sisters from!? haha its funny how people recognize the tag with out the skirt! Its also cool to be able to just point out the LDS people around. They really do have a light!

Its nuts that this is the last week in the transfer. I'll be getting transfer calls this Saturday letting me know if i get to stay or not. Wherever the Lord needs me! Im happy to go where ever(: last week was busy and we were all over Missouri. So much driving. The funny thing about driving in Missouri is that it doesn't feel like your moving because when you look out the window all you see is corn and bean fields so its the same thing for the whole 2 hours haha. Also another crazy thing about the week was the thunder storm! okay, even the slightest sound of thunder makes me crawl up in a ball and cover my ears so imagine me being woken up 2 in the morning to the biggest crack of thunder! my first thought was "Cover your head we are being bombed!!!" haha the thing about living in a shed and thunder storms is that it not only echoes for an extra 30 seconds but also makes it feel like you're having an earth quake! Sister Ellertson ended up waking up to asking if i was okay. We slept with the lights and music on that night(:

We have been focusing on finding new people to teach the last few weeks and decided to go "spirit tracking". So sister Ellertson looked at the map and picked a street and i agreed on the feeling. We started on the top of the street and knocked getting the same reactions, No. We ended up knocking on this guys door who came out and talked to us for a little and agreed to have us back. He introduced himself at the end and i was like "hold up! I know you! have you met with missionaries before?" He met with missionaries like 3 years ago and i used to always look at his teaching record and want to teach him but we found out he didn't live at the address listed anymore and guess what! We found him tracking on a random street! Who knows how far we will get teaching him but clearly the Lord needed us to continue to "water" that seed that was left from so many years ago. 

On Friday we got to go to st louis for a mission tour. Elder Anderson of the seventy and his wife came to talk to our mission. Such a cool experience! The mood in the room changed when we all stood as he walked in. They had a lot of good advice for us missionaries but all of it was extended beyond just missionary work. It could of simply been applied to being a good lds person! Our mission president pointed out that we are a "covenant congregation". Meaning we all take on the same promises and need to live up to it. The work of salvation isn't just the missionaries job or the bishops job etc but everyone's calling. We shared that in ward council. Elder Anderson and his wife shared such amazing things with us i wish i could just copy and send my study journal to you to read it! Although my notes probably wouldn't make sense haha you'd get the gist of it i guess! One of my favorite things he said though was "If you aren't obedient enough, do you think you love Jesus enough?" BAM! talk about a wake up call! the easiest way we can show our love for Jesus Christ is following his commandments. Its really not easy at times but when we break it down to what Elder  Anderson said "do i love Jesus enough?" Ill be a little sass to Sister Ellertson when she's about to break a rule and say "hey sister ellertson, do you love Jesus enough?" She will usually just give me a big eye roll hahah it gets us thinking though!

well fam bam I'm off to do some farm work! haha seriously though i'm going to go help a member on their farm for pday. Woot! i love it!

love you all so much! thanks for all the love and prayers!!

xoxo

sister bustillos

4th of July

woah! Another transfer down! and guess what! I am staying in mexico with sister white!!! We are both super excited to stay here(: we have a lot we want to do and plan on making this new transfer count!

hmmm where do i even start? Last week we went to the st louis zoo and it was so fun! and so hot! but i loved every minute of it! We even got to pet and feed sting rays and sharks. It took me a while to work up to touching them but eventually I was touching any of them that got close to me! I didnt want to leave that section. haha i am such a 6 year old. We went to the st louis mall after for lunch and I felt right at home haha Sister White was teasing me about that. It was funny because the kids we went with were in shock with how big it was and how many stores there were haha they kept looking around with big eyes and pointing. its still so funny to me the whole farm life thing haha the members like to tease me and sister white about that. we just think its so foreign! For most of the week it just rained and rained and rained and was freezing! okay it was like 65 degrees but still i was so cold! i got used to the 99 days real quick! I am quickly catching on that i need to get a rain coat or something because i spent the week soaked!

We had austins baptism on Saturday which was so good! he had tons of people show up to it. Almost the whole ward plus his extended family who all drove here. He has been waiting 12 years to get baptized... 12 YEARS! crazy huh? he was so prepared for that moment it was crazy. I had tears in my eyes as i watched him come out of the water. Heavenly Father really is aware of all of us and our different situations. Even though Austin had to wait 12 years for that day he knew the God was preparing it for him. You can tell this kid is going to be an amazing missionary soon. I loved getting the chance to teach him the lessons. After we would just discuss what we had taught and he always had the best input and testimony to add. He reminded me to trust in the Lords timing.

Yesterday was the 4th of july as you all know! me and sister white got matching old navy shirts and rocked it until the whipped cream fight broke lose haha. i still smell like milk! or maybe thats just the cow smell you cant get rid of here...(; but because it was p day we got to spend the whole day at the Haubners! and we had a good old fashion merica party! barbecue and watermelon, flags and games, smores and fireworks. anything american we did it!! Me and sister white were in charge of the games and we had a ton planned and didnt even get around to all of them! but we had so much fun. We played a baseball game out in the hay field. The tricky part wasnt trying to run to our cardboard bases but trying not to step in the cow pie while doing it haha i dont think we could of got more american than that!

the library is about to close so i am cut for time but i love you all! have a good week and enjoy the beach for me (:

love,

Sister Bustillos

 

 

 

Pictures!

Father's Day

happy (day after) fathers day!!

goodmorning family!!

this week went by in a flash! I seriously do not understand how that keeps happening! But its true what they say...time flies when youre having fun! and thats really what i have been having! Dont get me wrong its a lot of hard work out here and i am dead tired at the end of the day but Its always a fun day! Me and Sister White really like to make sure our mission work is fun! We are getting along really well and continue to get closer. Its pretty cool to watch someone be one of your best friends in just a short amount of time! we kid around and say that this means im going to be cursed with sucky companions the rest of my mission because i started out with such a good one again!

This week we got to meet with a lot of our investigators and a lot of our less actives! We have a two families of three right now that we are teaching and they are progressing SO well! I swear they know more doctorine that me! haha One of the families already accepted an invitation to be baptized but are waiting until their adoptions are final (have i already mentioned this?) but they are the sweetest family ever! They always give us bags of food and the kids give the BIGGEST hugs! I love going to go see them! The other family we are teaching are super great! we spent a good chunk of saturday helping ashliegh (the wife..shes 25) making minnie mouse decorations for her 2 year olds birthday party this sunday! She started playing drake and rhianna for a while and not gonna lie it was pretty weird to hear it... me and sister white both agreed that it totally took away the spirirt and made it hard for us to keep our converstations chirst centered with her. It was a sucky experience to have those feelings leave but it was also really cool to gain a deeper understanding of the rules set in place for us. It makes me very grateful and a little more receptive to all the strict guidelines Presidant Morgan has set for us. Still we felt like we had to clean our ears out and motab as soon as we got into our car hahah. 

Fathers day came and passed SO quick! again, im sorry i keep saying things are going by so quick haha. Dad, i was told you got my little package!! I hope you liked it! the card totally sums up where i am serving and the people here agreed haha! Sacrament meeting on sunday was a bit different from what its like at home. Our earthly fathers werent really talked about and it was all focused on our Heavenly Father! it was pretty cool because it was confirming a lot to my prayers i had the previous week! One of the cool things that was focused on was that we are Gods work. He focus' on nothing but us! and that his love is perfect towards us. One of the speakers has us imagine returning to our Heavenly Father and approaching him at judgment day. I had alsways pictured my return to God would be him wrapping his arms around me and welcoming me back but never imagined what he would do during my judgment. The speaker went on to say that our Heavenly Father will take us in our arms and wont spend this time rebuking us but turn to the savior and allow him to take our past sins from us. Could you imagine that! We are going to remember every short coming we have had during our earthly life and Heavenly Father isnt going to be there and shake his finger at us but continue to express his love for us! I thought it was pretty cool to reflect on. Later in sacrament the primary kids sang and i know i should of been focusing on papa pancho during the songs but all i thought about was how its joaquins last time singing a fathers day song with the primary because hes going to be 12 next year!! and then i started crying because i missed him and then crying even more because i was so excited for what this next year has in store for him! I brag about joaquin all the time to people and i bet i wont even shut up about him when he starts to pass teh sacrmaent! Hes the best!! We'll like i said sacrament wasnt exactly focused on our dads here on earth so i did a little personal study on fathers from the ensign and read an artcile from President Uchtdorf (the homie. we had ice cream together once. well.. in the same room once.. same thing) and the article started off with our heavenly father and then lead into our earthly fathers and gave a list on what fathers should be fulfing on earth as a parent. I wrote down the list in my journal and checked off the ones i think my dad has fulfilled. No shocker here i checked off every little box! Lives and honest life, rushes to his childrens aid, at the correct time allows his children to struggle, and so on. Of course my dad could check off everything on that list!

Dad, you are amazing! and i have so much love and respect for you! You are such an example to all of us and are always so selfless in the way you serve others. Like i dont think i know anyone else who would get of his car on a main street to help a blind guy hahaha. But seriously dad! not a day goes by out here that i am not applying something you have taught me in my life!

For Fathers day we went to the haubners ( i know i mention them a lot but there are like 5 sets of haubners in the ward haha so dont worry i do switch off!) but we watched an amazing video on fathers!! and then we went around and shared one thing our earthly father has done for us and one thing our Heavenly Father has done for us. It got to me and i had a million things i wanted to say about both people! for dad i said he has taught me and has been the example of selfless work, Ill never forget the last things you said to me when we said goodbye at the airport! to just forget myself and get out there and kill it! those are my motivating words everytime i feel like something is a little too much. and for my Heavenly Father i said that he taught me and continues to teach me that he knows me better. He knows the women i am capable of becoming and he knows the way i am supposed to become her. 

I love you all so much!!

Xoxo

SIster bustillos!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-002-earthly-father-heavenly-father?lang=eng

this weeks favorite quote comes from the end of this video

watch to find out(;

pictures:

ashliegh our investigator!

and the new puppies!

Fishers of Men or of Fish?

Goodmorning Family!

Man this weeks been pretty great!! Im really trying to remember all that happened because..well.. it felt like a long week! but we got a ton done! but now that its monday i feel like this last week went by SO fast! Thats missionary life for you! hmm lets think. Well last monday we went fishing with a family from the ward! i caught 3 really huge fish!! Sister White didnt catch anything for like 2 hours and was getting pretty frustrated haha it was kind of funny and i told everyone that we couldnt leave till Sister White caught her fish! Like a half hour later we heard screaming from the dock and sister white screaming "i got one!!" haha she was so stoked and got a million pictures with it. When she went to go put it back in the water it had already died so just floated there ): but i mean the atonement works. We are pretty dang sure we got heat exhaustion that day or something because after we went back to grammys so the kids could swim and we lied under a tree and naped haha it was a good p day! the next day we felt like we got hit by a truck though! we are not used to this humidity yet. It feels like youre walking into a pool as soon as you walk outside! everything just sticks to you! haha luckily we have a car to get us from the 1st person in mexico all the way to the 71st(; 

our area is HUGE here! there are parts we dont get to go to a lot because we dont have enough miles on our car. We are in the middle of our area and it stretched about 45 miles each way around! its nuts!! We are working on a lot of less active work right now. Our attendance is only at 25%!!! ): it broke my heart to here that!! being in such a small ward makes me really grateful for the ward family i have at home. But most less actives will let us into their home and we can share a lesson but they are very open with the fact they do not want to come back to church... not because of the beliefs but because of the ward drama. Man, when you think of a "house divided" just imagine the mexico ward. Its really sad. and we want to help the ward but we cant get involved in the drama of it all. Im not even sure what its about but have just heard people say that the ward is really pitted against each other. We are also putting aside one hour of finding a day for new investigators. Our schedule is usually jam packed so its a little difficult to cram that in but we know that Christ just needs to see our efforts to bring people to him and he will make up for the rest. As a personal goal, i've decided to aim for exact obedience. Which is WAY harder than you think haha. Its not like im disregarding the white handbook haha its more of just small things i need to improve on. So i am aiming for that! to follow the rules set in front of me even in the tiny decisions i make. In my personal study this morning i focused on that. Obedience. Its really cool to able to pick one christ like attribute and search it out in the scriptures. its really cool. I was brought to the story in 2 kings 5 (?) where christ tell the king to bathe himself 7 times to cure his leprosy and at first the guy was like "seriously?? you want me to take a bath? no im not doing something that simple!" and storms off. He quickly turns around though and shows humility and obeys christ and washes himself and the leprosy is gone. That story really got me to thinking about when i receive an answer or guidance from Christ and i disregard it because its not what i was expecting or i think it wont work but then how he still gives me the chance to obey him and follow his will. So basically its the atonement and obedience in one! I thought of the times where i have prayed for an answer and didnt like it so i did it my way just to watch myself fail and then after the fact ill try Gods way and watch it transform my life. Ending that study I decided to always keep that story in mind when it comes to following the word of christ. To never second guess his "rules" and remember that the blessing of following in obedience will constantly pull through.

I always get so jumbled in my emails... just so many things i want to share! Sister White was diagnosed with strep throat this week (after i told her a million times it was strep and to see a doctor!!) so we had to slow down a bit for her to get better. But she handled it like a champ! there wasnt one day we didnt go out and teach. She would get so frustrated if i told her we should take a break for something and would just tell me "no! this is my time to be a missionary so i am going to be a missionary!" When i think of consecrated missionary it is TOTALLY her! she is so dedicated to her work, i know i am going to learn so much from her by the time we leave each other!!

Ive mentioned before the family we are teaching and oh my heck they are doing great! We just had the plan of salvation lesson with them and it really just clicked for them!! it was really awesome. The wife ended up opening up to us a lot and started crying because she said she never gets emotional or talks about it so it was so awesome to see her be vulnerable to us but most importantly to the Savior. Which is one thing we  pointed out to her! We are having an FHE with them tonight and continuing the lessons with them later this week!

You guys, I know its annoying i keep saying this, but i really am SO happy to be out here and so happy in my decision the come back out. The Lord has answered so many prayers of mine from before the mission and is continuing to bless my life. Its crazy how much peace i can feel out here. I am doing the Lords work and i can feel his happiness in me doing so. There is a purpose for where we are now and i love finding mine here.

Love,

Sister Bustillos

PS favorite quote 

"faith is like the price is right. You have to trust you have the right answer and then when they show it to you, you know!" -Carol Investigator

haha she didnt make much sense but it stuck with me

hola familia y amigos !

Estoy muy emocionado de que un correo electrónico hoy !!!

haha ok.. ill stop with the Spanish. Its kind of getting annoying to switch pages between google translate and my email. but seriously! i am so happy to be emailing everyone!

You're probably wondering why I am writing in espanol. Well you probably guessed. I am in Mexico Missouri!! Population 71 (73 including me and my companion). You guys, you have NO CLUE how much i love it here. It is so great! Let me clear up Mexico for you. Its this little podunk town, literally more cows than there are people, no one speaks spanish so dont let the name fool you, and the people are the most genuinely nice people you can ever meet. Me and Sister White are SO spoiled here!! Sister White is my companion! she is from Gilbert Az and is 23. Shes the greatest. we are having so much fun together! maybe even a little too much fun... haha but man we are getting work done!!

I guess i skipped a little ahead of myself so i will start from the beginning. My flights where awesome! my first flight i sat next to this hippie girl (dad im sure you saw her when we were checking my bags) but she stayed quiet the whole flight till about 20 minutes until we descended then she saw me reading preach my gospel and she was like "what you know Jesus Christ!" and we introduced ourselves and where we are traveling then she proceeded to HAND ME MY BUTT ON A SILVER PLATTER as she told me how wrong my church was and giving off bible quotes. I just sat there like oh.. cool... and she proceeded to call her self a prophet and prayed for me... out loud... on the plane! Needless to say i learned my lesson and haven't wasted one second in my personal studies! my second flight was great! first class baby! haha i honestly didn't know how to handle myself it was so boozy. But as we were about to touch down and i saw missouri tears filled my eyes and the greatest feeling of peace come over me and i felt at home. Who would of thunk! me thinking of missouri as home haha but i did! and those feelings answered just about every prayer leading up to my mission.

tuesday, wednesday, and, thursday where busy with unpacking settling in and zone conference ( i saw so many friends from the mtc!! ) so we didnt get to teaching till friday sorta but man... hold on to your keyboard because do i have story for you!

So there is a man in our ward, Chris, who LOVES to pull pranks on the new sisters. So called Sister white and gave her the low down. She wanted to prank him back though so she filled me in. Basically he was going to pretend to be an investigator who wanted to join our church because he wants to be a polygamist. we got to his house and i stayed quiet while they talked and eventually we got on the polygamist convo. and I like ten minutes in i was like "wow well... i havent even told sister white this but.." and sister white is like busting up laughing so i said "sister dont laugh this is serious... I was actually raised in a polygamist family" and i have never seen someones face look so embarrassed and ashamed in my whole life!!! haha Chris was like "oh..this was a joke.. dont say anymore.. uh uh sorry" and i started balling my eyes out and was just like "wait so i didnt have to say that!?" and sister white took me to the bathroom to compose myself haha and we decided to keep it going. we sat down and were just like "yeah i know sister white told you i was already out before and the reason i went home was because the church is investigating my family.." hahaha needless to say he feels really bad and still believes us! we are milking it so hard(;

On a serious note, i just wanted to share with everyone how grateful i am for everyone support theyve given me over the last couple months. I dont think i have ever felt this complete happiness in a long time. I dont go one day, scratch that, one hour without feeling the spirit in my life. The holy ghost is so strong in my life and any fear i had about coming back out to serve my mission is completely gone. I have ended my day every day telling sister white how happy i am and its so true!! I am smiling most of the day!

We picked up 2 new investigators yesterday! a husband wife and their 2 year old daughter. They really have a desire and yoou can tell they are going to go far.

Ill send some pictures in another email because sister white needs to send me pictures from her camera since i dont have a charger for mine... Chris has a bajillion and one different chargers so we are going to go see if he has one today! after we go fishing at there little river! everyone has one of those here...

Lots of love,

Sister Bustillos

P.s. My adress is 2134 e liberty mexico, Mo 65265

send lots of letters please!! i need proof of adress to come back to the library. Plus i just love letters!

P.P.s here are my favorite things ive heard this week

"Hey!! we've got a mexican sister for you!!" - Addie 9 y/o haha there are some hispanic kids in the ward and she was excited to introduce me to them!

"what!? you dont like to read the book of mormon!? thats how you get the blessings!" - Manny 11 y/o