"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
