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!!