Family…



Here it is. The final one, and I don’t even know were to start. It really has been the biggest, greatest roller coaster of my life. I wouldn’t change one second of these past 18 months. Right now my mind is in such a blur, so I apologize if this email is all over the place…

Remember when I told you that I felt like in the premortal world I had told some of my brothers and sisters that I would find them. Those that didn’t have the gospel, I would find them and bring it to them. Jennifer is one of those sisters that I told. This week I was able to get a little glimpse of that promise I had made at that time. We ended up moving jennifers baptismal date up to October 30th and then she will be conferemed on October 31st. her birthday! She was all for it and would get baptized earlier if she could. On Monday we had a family home evening with her at the lopez home and she loved every moment of it. Then on Friday we had her over to the varguez home for a fun pizza night. We didn’t leave till 9:30, she was having such a blast. And so were the kids! Sister varguez has 5 kids and is a single mom so it was great for Jennifer to see that not everyone in the church has this structured perfect life. She is struggling a lot with thinking that people will judge her for having 3 kids out of wedlock. I wouldn’t to say “GIRL! Do you know that we are in the capital of mothers having kids out of wedlock!” this Sunday actually, she got quite offended. I never really understood why or even how people can get offended. This Sunday I finally understood. And I am actually grateful that I had that experience. I learned so much from it and now feel like I can relate to those that leave the church for some reason or another. We talked Jennifer through it and she is trying her best to strengthen her testimony so that when she does get offended she will be able to just brush it off her shoulder. But this Saturday we had to take a walking day. Meaning NO car from the hours of 11-4.. hahah yeah I pretty much laughed at that to. That rule was actually inforced just 2 weeks ago. Perfect timing, right?! Good thing my companion is very obedient and loved the idea. So we walked all around Weslaco and got to meet the most interesting person. We met a man who has 7 acres of orange orchards and banana trees. He gave us some free oranges and told us that we were welcome to grab any whenever we feel like it. Well we ended up walking over to Jennifer’s grandmas house and had a huge barbeque with her extended family. It was a great success because her family was able to see what she has been learning and some members in the church. After we left, I guess that family was saying how much they loved us. Even the gay aunt, who really didn’t like us before. It’s amazing how the spirit touches people in such unique ways. I know that Jennifer is going to really impact her family on this decision she is making. She has sacrificed so much in her life these past 2 months. She is such an amazing example to me and I know that when we talk in a few weeks that she will be even more of an example to me then. She is such a strong women and I am so thankful for people like her. The lord really does know us and understand us. It was jennifers turn, and the lord knew it.

i am not sure if I told you about ela. if not, then you will hear it at my talk this week. But she is getting baptized at the beginning of November. She is accepting the book of mormon, the godhead and so much more. When before she didn’t even want to listen to us. She has now come to church twice and loves it with all her heart, she is even participating in gospel principles.

We also had a baptism this week. I didn’t talk about it to much before because it ended up being a spur of the moment kind of thing. It was for Cynthia, sister varguez daughter. The elders were teaching her and it just wasn’t going anywhere with them so they passed her off to us. The baptism was filled with a billion and twelve kids running around and screaming, but it’s interesting how the spirit is just the same if it were at a baptism with no kids running and screaming. It’s another one of god’s children covenanting with the lord, so the angels will rejoice just the same.

I keep hearing from everyone that the lord has more work for me to do at home. I hope and I pray that there will be just as prepared people as there are here, there back home in California. It still really hasn’t hit me yet that it’s time. We are off to say bye to all my recent converts tonight and I think that’s when reality will soak in. it’s all here for me, my life, my desires, my heart. My heart will always be here. I am still in awe that I finished this, that I even did this. The lord can work wonders, and he absolutely did this past year and a half. The greatest thing I have ever learned at this time, is that the Lord knows us. He knows us by name. out of all the sand in the seas, out of all the birds in the sky, he knows us specifically. The lord knows his children. It’s been a blessing to be able to watch the lord use me as his instrument. To find those crying out for him, or even to find those that didn’t even know they were crying out for him. I love it all so much, this work is so powerful and will never end. That’s what I love the most. That this will never end. My time in texas may, but my calling will not. Family, I wish you all were able to have this experience as I have had. To be able to watch miracles everyday, and to be chosen for it, leaves me in awe. I love my savior so much for all that he has done. I have loved watching peoples faces light up as I am able to testify of our redeemer, in Spanish and English. It’s here, the truth is here, our duty now is to bring it all of the four corners of the earth. My heart is here and will always be here! I love you all so much!



Xoxo

Sister bustillos

Family…



What an exciting week to be a missionary! I wish you all could just hop into my little missionary bag and experience all these things that are happening down here in south texas! One day we will all take a trip here and we will replay the past 18 months of my life. Kay?! J so this week I didn’t get asked if I was from Africa or if I had any black children, but instead I got told that I looked like a gypsy! We were contacting an old man out front of his house and he was saying how I don’t look Mexican but my companion does (my companion is super white ) he said a word in spanish I had no idea what it mean. He tried to explain it by holding out his hand and asking for money! Basically he called me a dirty begger! Hahah. I love what people think of me down here. This week of course satan had to inch his way in.. I am officially sick! I sound like a man and am not proud of it. I am coughing 24/7 and people think I am diseased when I walk into there homes. Our days have been cut a little short because I just have no energy to do anything. I have been popping cough drops like there is no tomorrow. But I promised myself I would not let it affect my last week here. We will see!



Jennifer is doing unbelievably amazing! I probably say this about everyone, but I think she is the most prepared person I have ever met. Last Monday she called to say she had done some research on joseph smith and the church and she knows it’s true, how can it not! She told her mom and grandma all about it and they to wanted to listen. We ended up having a lesson with them the following night and Jennifer was just a firecracker! She was pretty much taking over the lesson for us. Every day she goes on line and studies the history of the church. Her excuse for doing it: she wants to be just as knowledgable about the gospel as any other member of the church. She was telling us stuff that I’ve never even heard of! The other day she was saying how she doesn’t want people to offend our church and then she corrected herself and said MY church! She came to church this Sunday and it was a success! Or so it seemed to her, haha. I had brought my lovely handy church bag (thanks mom and dad) stuffed it with cheerios and granola bars and thought this would keep the munchkins at a decent level. I was so wrong on that one! Mom, why didn’t you ever tell me that having children in sacrament meeting is nearly impossible to do! They were running up and down the aisles, in and out of rooms, screaming and laughing, coloring on tables! The worst part is I can’t pick them up and set them on my lap. Instead I just have to watch with a big smile. Haha it’s okay, it’s teaching me for the FAR future J but Jennifer loved church and was involving herself in discussions a lot. I was so proud of her! She seriously calls us everyday to have us come over or to meet her for lunch or to go to the park with her and the kids. She is a class act. It’s so interesting how you become so close with the people you teach. She has become one of my greatest friends I feel like. Maybe it’s because at the moment my only friend is my companion, but hey the more friends the better, right? ;-) I’ll definently be missing her! Oh p.s. she is getting baptized November 7th and we decided we were going to via satellite it so I can watch the whole thing ;-)



For some reason this week our investigators have been super flaky on us. Maybe it’s the lord testing us on how well we will keep after his flock. We aren’t giving up on them and I know that sister sigler will keep trying with them after I leave. The lord is really aware of all of this children. This last week I was able to have an interview with my mission president. It was probabally one of my most spiritual interviews. I walked in and right away the spirit told him what needed to be talked about in those moments. I asked him how he knew that I needed to talk about these things.. he said, I didn’t, but he does. President traynor was right. The lord knows everything! In those moments, I knew that the lord knew me perfectly. Things I had taken to him the night before, he was giving me an answer the next day. But I know if I didn’t get on my knees and pour out my soul to him, then things would have been different in that interview. I am so thankful for the power of prayer and how strong it is. He really listens! I am so thankful that my prayers were answerd 18 months ago to serve a mission. What a blessing it has been to me! Prayer is more powerful than any worldly communication! I love you all!!



Xoxo

Sister bustillos

Family…



The weather has been beautiful, my investigators are more then I can ask for, the words of our prophet and apostles were just what I needed, and my companion is so amazing. Can life get any better?! It seriously can’t! I am loving it more then ever right now. The weather has been sooo nice out that I have actually gotten back to my normal “black” self again. Haha, this story proves it. Our investigator (Jennifer) came to GC on Sunday. She is Mexican and her children are half Mexican half black. (I’ve sent pictures) well I was walking with the little girl out to the car and this lady stopped us and started talking to me. She kept asking me all these questions about “my daughter” “oh, she is so cute, how old is she? What’s her name? wow, she is little for her age, right?” hahah secretly inside I was loving every moment of it, but I had to tell lady the truth. It was funny because Jennifer has 1 full Mexican boy (preston, 6 years old) and then 2 half Mexican half black twins (Eva and Patrick 2 years old) and during GC I took them out to the fouer because they were getting so loud and antsy. Preston was running infront of me and I was holding the twins hands. We went outside and played in a room and all the elders kept referring to me as there mom and how this is preparing me for my kids and that heavenly father was sending me a sign. I beg to differ at that part of the comment, only if he was sending me a sign that I would have cute little half black children like them haha.



Speaking of Jennifer. She is doing great. Problem is she is facing so much opposition from her employees. She is a home health nurse and goes from house to house and they all ask about her life so of course she mentiones that she is studying with the mormons and they just about give it all to her. She calls us after it happens, tells us what she says back to them and then asks us if that’s okay what she said. It’s super crazy because they are throwing things out at her that we haven’t even taught her yet, and her response back to them is as if we had already taught her about it. It’s difficult to meet with her a lot because of her job and the kids, so it’s super neat to see the spirit teaching her when we aren’t even around. I would also like to announce that I have broke my streak of not having any investigators at a general conference session. Jennifer came and learned so much, but she walked out of there saying she felt super horrible because she felt more of a sinner for all that she is doing wrong. We were a little worried about that because that’s not how she should feel. But Jennifer knows that the holy ghost has bore witness to her that it’s true, so she is holding onto that thread. I hope to see her be baptized before I leave. But It’s all up to her. Oh yeah and I told her that when I get released as a missionary I will come back and steal her half black kids and take them to Disneyland with me. Haha I am just obsessed with these two! Actually the whole family! My investigators probabally think I am crazy because I just love them so much and make sure they know it every second.



We had a really neat experience with aracely this week. She is one of the ladies we are teaching in Spanish. I can now say I am comfortable with my Spanish but there are times when I do get lost or they are using words that i never thought existed in the spanish language. This was one of those moments, or so I thought. At the beginning of the week we went to visit aracely and she had lots of questions about in depth doctrine, but for some reason my companion and I weren’t getting it. I kept trying to teach her about baptism but the spirit didn’t seem to be with me. I couldn’t figure it out because that’s what sister sigler and I had planned before hand on what to teach her. So I stopped and paused and asked aracely if there was anything she was having trouble understanding or just wanted to ask us. She started splirting off a bunch of different things. We listened intently and I tried my best to say back everything that I understood. She agreed with it all. So I sat for a moment and asked her if this was her question. She looked at me and kept repeating “SI! SI! SI!” my companion and I and aracely seriously cheered when we figured out her doubt. My hands went up in the air, aracely was clapping and sister sigler was laughing. I guess it had been something that aracely had been wondering our whole time we had been teaching her, but we never stopped to ask her if there was anything she had questions or comments on. So when we figured it out, the spirit filled the room and we were able to better communicate. It was a really awesome experience for me and my companion.

The rest of our investigators are doing good. Some are holding on just barely while others are grasping that iron rod. We are teaching this new little girl who is 9. Her mom was baptized a few years ago and the 9yr old, Cynthia has just been to scared to get into the water. The elders had been teaching her and weren’t having any luck and so they sent us over there and we set a Baptsimal date with her right on the spot. She later confessed that she was scared of the elders, I think she may have had a little crush on them. Well there are about 4 other kids sitting in and listening that are all younger then 8. And wow they are a sassy crew. So to get them all participating we were just throwing out questions for them to answer. Here is the response to one of them..
Me: How do we learn about the commandments?

4 year old boy: VEGGIE TALES!!!!!

I burst out laughing. After that they were answering questions left and right, all of them were correct to. So wherever they are learning, Veggie tales, church. It’s working! But how amazing was it to learn of the commandments of faith and repentance and love from our prophet and apostles this week. I can’t even begin to count all the times they mentioned faith in there. Sister sigler and I were thinking that they were speaking so much of it because perhaps soon our prophet will be asking us to do something and that’s when our faith will come in to “sustain our latter day prophet” with whatever he asks us to do. My heart was full after ever session. Most particularly, Elder hollands words. I loved every moment of that talk and applied it to my life the second he was finished. I really am so grateful for all of you, I have such beautiful memories of every single one of you, serving me. It is a blessing to me because you all have taught me so much. It’s great to hear people out here say “ you girls are such wonderful women, your parents must of taught you so well” I would like to agree with that. Not just my parents but everyone who has came into my life also. I love you all!!



Xoxo

Sister bustillos

Family…



I seriously can’t believe where the week went. I remember thinking at the beginning of this transfer that 6 weeks was still a long time and it was going to take forever. (I still think 3 weeks is a long time) but it’s seriously just flying by. It’s scary but exciting! This week I have seen my prayers answered so much. Sister sigler and I had been praying extra hard to be able to find some Spanish people to teach. We seem to be doing really well in the English part but lacking in our Spanish part. So we started praying Monday. We got a text that evening for a referrell of someone in Spanish. On Tuesday the elders called us saying one of the investigators wants sisters to teach them, she was also in Spanish. Then on Wednesday a different set of elders called us saying that one of there investigators just moved into our area and she happened to be in Spanish. Our prayers were answered and we are now speaking so much Spanish, that I can’t remember how to speak in English at times, or it all just sounds so much better in Spanish that I just explain it in Spanish. It’s a miracle a lone that I am speaking this language but it’s been a miracle to see how the lord has answered our prayers right away. I mean he could of tried and tested us these next few weeks, for us to go out and look for some on our own. But he has blessed us right away, which is even more of a blessing for my last few weeks! We even were able to set a baptismal date with one of the investigators, Arasely (the one who wanted sister missionaries) and the best part is during our lesson, she stops us and says “sisters, I am glad you came over, you speak way better Spanish then the elders!” hahah we kept that part out when telling the elders how she was doing, but I was very excited to hear that, since I feel like my TEX-MEX is all I got J



Priscilla got the holy ghost this Sunday, and of course I peeked a little during the prayer and as soon as they said “ we confirm you a member of the church of jesus Christ of latter day saints” a huge grin spread across her face. She even got up and bore her testimony after that. And during sacrament she leaned over to me and whispers “ sister, I have mole waiting for me at home and I am so excited. I remembered last night that I wasn’t going to be able to go out and get anything to eat today because it’s Sunday, so I made myself some mole to eat for today!” I felt like a proud mother. She understands completely what it means to keep the Sabbath day holy, when some members of years still struggle with understanding it. At the end of church she walked up to me and says that she found a ride and is going to go home with a lady in the ward. I was stoked she had the guts to go up and ask anyone for a ride home, she said that she is feeling more comfortable at church because she is getting to know a lot more people. She went to institute on Thursday to and loved it. After church she even went up to some of her friends she met that night. We are planning on taking Priscilla out with us this week to some lessons. She is a firecracker!



About 2 weeks ago, sister sigler and I were knocking on some trailor doors and we got to one and a 17 yr old girl, Samantha came out side and started talking to us. We taught her the doctrine of baptism and were able to set a baptismal date right there on the spot. She had the biggest smile on her face and kept saying how excited she was to tell her mom. Well, she ended up coming to church last week and this week! Sister sigler was sitting next to her during sacrament and I guess she was super antsy to go up and bare her testimony, but kept chickening out. It was so awesome because one of our other investigators showed up randomly to church that day and got up and bore her testimony to! Seriously, we are being blessed beyond belief with these people. They are so prepared and ready to hear the gospel! Samantha is such a doll, it’s her senior year and she is facing so much opposition at school with drugs, drinking , you name it. But she is staying strong and not falling into temptation and wants to be able to stand for something. She is planning on getting baptized my last Sunday here!



The fiscal family is doing okay, we weren’t able to see them to much this week because the mom kept forgetting our appointments. Well, we stopped by unexpected one night this week and were sitting in the living room with the whole family, when alma, the mom, made all the kids leave to other room so she could talk to just us. I of course start freaking out inside.. whenever mom or dad made everyone else leave the room except for me it was because I was in huge trouble for something. So I was expecting the worst. Alma starts out by saying that she needed to tell us something because then it would help us understand her a lot more. And something has been telling her to tell us this, and she knew she needed to listen to that prompting. She then told us of how her husband died. i wont and can’t go into details, but basically he was murdered. As tears were flowing from her eyes, I couldn’t hold back my own. She said she had never told anyone the story like that or even came out like that, but she felt like she could with us. I sat next to her and cried with her, there were no words that I could give for comfort at that time, except for feeling of the spirit. I sat there thinking of how we never, ever know what is going on in someone’s lives. Sometimes we like to assume, or just not even worry about it. But it’s something that we need to be in tune with. I was so thankful that that morning I had prayed, just like every morning, to be more in tuned with the spirit. Everything made more sense with this family. I love them even more, I desire for them even more to enter into the waters of baptism. It’s interesting, because during this whole conversation, I kept thinking “I know what will fix all this.. the gospel” but telling her that and then having her except that, isn’t that easy. I wish it was, but we all need to live and learn.our love for this family has increased so much over this past week and I know will only grow more and more as we teach them.



A few weeks ago we were knocking in some apartment complex’s and knocked on this one ladies door who happened to be moving out. Jennifer, she is the one with the black kids that I am going to adopt! Hehe.. well we had an awesome lesson with her on Monday night and we got a call on Tuesday saying that she prayed that night and read the pamphlet and as she was laying there in bed, she felt this overwhelming of peace come over her telling her to listen to this message, because it’s true. I was beyond excited when I got this call.. it seriously made my day! She wasn’t able to come to church Sunday because, of course, she got super sick, so we dropped of some soup for her and pop tarts for the kids. As people start to change, and come to realize that what we are teaching is really straight from our heavenly father, my love for them grows immensely.



I love the people here more then I could even describe. I was telling sister sigler last night that she needs to push me to find some more people for her and her new companion to teach, because right now I just love my investigators so much that all I want to do is be with them 24/7. To make sure all is well and they are being blessed. I know that it can’t happen, but I truly have grown to love and care for every person I teach. The people here are so unique and humble. I am so grateful for everything they have taught me. I pray for you all everyday to be able to have experiences with people like these.. it’s amazing to be able to see the lords hand in someones life! I love you and miss you all!



Xoxo

Sister bustillos

Hey family!!

This morning sister sigler and I decided to work out extra early and go straight to doing laundry at the members house then straight over here to email.. but the catch is.. I forgot my shoes!! So I am walking around in my lovely skirt and blouse with no shoes.. we are in a college so I have to hid my feet so I don’t get kicked out. I feel like the little Mexican kids here who run around with no shoes on. Haha. But I am loving the short freedom I have ;-) Family, this week was unbelievably amazing! Me and my companion have gotten super close this week, which has been great for our teaching skills. Sister sigler is really into rapping. She is a little white girl who raps in her free time.. so she is teaching me some of her lovely skills and we decided to bring it into some of our lessons.. hahah well kind of. When we go and visit some of our recent converts or investigators that we are really comfortable with and we are already done with our lesson and just playing with kids, sister sigler and I whip out a free-style song for them.. in Spanish to! They are loving it! This Sunday we learned how to develop and strengthen our talents.. so I am justyfing the rapping for developing a talent J it’s been raining like crazy here, so we are finding ways to have a little bit more fun! And we are! I don’t’ understand why the mission can’t go super fast at the beginning and then slow down at the very end. Seriously having only 4 weeks left is not enough time to do all I want to do. I am not finished with anything I started! And you think a year and a half would be enough!

Priscilla got baptized yesterday! Once again a very stressful but successful day. Here is the story: when we set a baptismal date with someone, we make sure we are seeing or talking to them every day. Because satan is doing the same. So we made sure we were doing that with Priscilla because we know she was getting a lot of opposition. Well, on Saturday we stopped by for our appointment and she wasn’t there (so not like her) so we started on our hunt for Priscilla around welsaco. We couldn’t find here, but left her plenty of notes at her house to call us. Sunday morning rolls around and no call! Luckily English ward is at 1:00 so she still had some time. We decided to leave Spanish ward early to start our routes to our investigators home to wake them up. First stop: Priscilla… not home! We go to her work.. not there. Back to her home… not there. She is now MIA. It’s about 12:30 by now and we needed to head over to the church. Sister sigler goes inside with one of our investigators and I waited outside, phone in hand, anticipating a maroon car turning the corner. NOTHING! One of our other investigators shows up so I had to go inside with her. Still no sign of Priscilla and they had already finished passing the sacrament. If she didn’t come to church that day, then she couldn’t get baptized. Meanwhile I am praying my little heart out, but still trying to pay attention to the speakers. Well, right before second hour starts we got a call from Priscilla. I didn’t even begin to ask where she was, all I said was that there was going to be someone at her house in 5 min and she needs to be ready. She finally gets to church and was soooo happy to be there. Apparently, she totally forgot she absoultley had to come today. She was over at family and friends house and decided to spend the day with them till her baptism. She was so excited about her baptism that she blanked on church (obvsiouly we need to go over keeping the Sabbath day holy with her). Before I found out all of this I had this whole lecture planned out in my head for her. But the second I saw her walk into gospel principles class, she was so excited to see me and ran up to give me a hug, that lecture dropped from my mind, and the process of forgivness from the lord started on my part. She was radiating all day long. She again got up in relief society and announced her baptism. Well, our building right now is getting redone so we are at an adult day care. So to have baptisms we have to drive about 25 min away to the next chapel. The elders up there told us there would be someone at the chapel to open it up for us so we can fill up on the font. We arrived an hour early and not one single person was there. The person finally comes at the time the baptism was suppoused to start. Priscilla was a little late (she rode with one of our recent converts). But all of that quickly slipped my mind, the moment Priscilla was baptized! We quickly ran back to the bathroom to meet her, and I had never seen her smile so big. That whole day of chaos was worth it! She kept saying how good she felt.. that she felt so light and perfect. All in all it was a perfect day!
We have been teaching this great family. The Fiscals. Alma (the mom) has 4 kids. There dad recently died 2 months ago. We found them knocking and they let us right in. we had only taught them 1-2 lessons and they started to flack out on us. We finally sat them down and told them our purpose as missionaries and they need for this message to be in there lives. They felt bad for missing all of our appointments and after that they never missed another appointment. Well, the tables were turned when we were so late for our appointment that we happened to miss it. So on Saturday we brought over some homemade pancakes and syrup and taught them a lesson for breakfast! It was a great success. We taught them about the book of mormon and happened to forget the books in the car. So we told them we would be right back. We ran out to the car and grabbed them then walked back into the house and no one was there! The living room was empty! We were yelling for them, we knew something was up. And of course I made sister sigler go first. And of course they planned to do something to us. One of the oldest boys jumps out from behind the corner with a huge afro/wig thing on and a crazy mask. We screamed and yelled and they got it all on video tape. I just love the fiscal family! Haha. Right now we have a baptismal date with abigial (11) and pepe (17) we are working on the other son, zeek he is being very quite and acting not very interested. And the youngest girl isn’t old enough to be baptized and then alma is having trouble letting go of her other religion (that she isn’t active in) but she already loves the book of mormon. I just love working with familes and watching them progress in the gospel.
This last Tuesday, Elder Richards from the seventy and his wife came and spoke to the missionaries here. It was so powerful hearing these 2 talk. It was interesting because I had been praying for something in particular and Elder Richards had answered it without even me asking. Well, sister Richards decided to take all the sisters into a separate room and have a meeting with us. I was beyond excited! She is seriously someone so strong and beautiful in the gospel. Seeing and listening to her speak with such poise and charisma, made me want to change so many of my worldy ways. I constantly think of how young women have posters on there walls of the new famous teen. Changing there style and attitude to be like them. Why aren’t the seventy’s wives, the apostles wives, our relief society, young women presidency up there to? These women are whom I choose to be like. I love them so much and I don’t’ even know them. They are so firm and strong in the gospel, that it’s something I admire so dearly. Well, we didn’t have that much time with her so she decided to do two things with us. We had to share a scripture that helped us through that week and then we were able to ask her any question we wanted to. The spirit was so strong in that room, I seriously have never felt that way before. When it came to the question part, I had questions flowing in and out of my mind. But I was way to chicken to ask any of them. A sister (the only sister who asked a question) asked how she could keep all of these memories, studies, knowledge with her forever (meaning after her mission) and that’s when I lost it. The spirit hit me, these are all memories, this is not going to be your life forever. I couldn’t stop the tears. It all just came flowing. I had so many questions that I wanted to ask, but I chickened out. But the spirit was so strong in that room that I know what sister Richards had to say was told to her by the holy ghost. She said that she didn’t know why she was going to be saying these next few things but she felt like she needed to. What she said was the answer to 2 of my questions that were so important. And I had actually written them down a few days before to be answer in general conference. I couldn’t stop crying by this point. It was all finally hitting me that my mission was coming to a close. That my life for the past 18 months will only be memories. As soon as the meeting was over, I turned around and saw one of the senior couple just crying so hard. Her and I had grown so close that she was crying over me crying that my mission was over. Sister traynor (our mission presidents wife) was to crying and just sat there and hugged me. I can’t even begin to describe the love I have for the people here, the culture, my mission. It has been such a blessing to watch people like Priscilla enter into the waters of baptism. Watching them change there lives completely. Our heavenly father is so aware of each and everyone of his children. I have been able to see miracles upon miracles these past 17 months. And I’ll continuing seeing more this last 4 weeks. Especially as we all prepare to hear the words from our prophet in 2 weeks. I love you all and miss you so much and I hope you all are praying to see miracles like these in your lives to!

Xoxo
Sister bustillos

Family!!!



Another crazy week in south texas! Sad story: sister call has already left us. A sister had actually gotten very sick in the field and had to be sent home ASAP so sister call went and took her place in brownsville. We were only together for a day and we were devestated! But I learned so much from her in that 24 hours. Haha seriously! I did. She is an awesome missionary and I can’t wait to stay up all night , the night we go home, and hear of all her great accomplishments. So that means it’s sister sigler and I again, all alone. But don’t worry, we are pushing hard! This week we had gone to do service and a guy came up to me and asked me if I was a missionary and he yells “CONGRAGULATIONS!” and walks away. Hahah I was speachless. Thank you? Haha so the sun has gotten a lot more hotter this week! So hot, that I have developoed my black tan again! Heheh you know I am loving it. So black, that we were teaching an investigator who is mexican and has black children. So that makes them half mexi, half black. She kept stairing at me and finally asks “what are you? Are you mixed? Because you could totally be my childrens sister/mother! You know, with your big lips, dark skin and slight freckles.” Most people would be offended by this comment, but not for me. I was honored! I wanted to steal her little half black children and adopt them. So instead I took a picture and will find a child like this in the new future and adopt them haha.



Priscilla is rocking it! Seriously, every lesson I go to, I just walk away in awe! She is just so eager to learn and ready to move on in the gospel. She has been facing a lot of opposition with her family right now but has stood by her testimony so strong. After each little argument they have she calls us up and tells us everything. She is so strong! She came to stake conference this Sunday and elder richards from the 70 came and spoke. He actually had a class just for recent converts /less actives. And priscilla came and loved it. She got up, introduced herself and said she was getting baptised this week! Elder richards came up to her and told her all this stuff and priscilla couldn’t’ stop beaming. We expalined who he was and everything and she was just so astonished! The other day we passed by to teach her and we were just catching up on her life and she just cuts us off and says “okay, what are we learning today” as she is bouncing up and down in her chair hahah. I love her! She is going to be one of those people who I will cry over when I leave! Priscilla is why my heavenly father has sent me out here on the mission!

We recently found a family that the mom has been taught by missionaries when she was younger. We taught a great first lesson of our purpose as missionaries and as we left we were are able to get down on our knees and pray. The spirit was so strong and we can tell that there is something special with this family. I’ll keep you updated on that!



Tomorrow we are able to hear from elder richardes from the 70 as a zone. I am so excited and am looking forward to it so much! My love and appreciation for the general authorites has grown so much! I know without a doubt that they are called of god to help and lead us back to him. Because of a prophet, I am in the right place at the right time in my life. And I have never been so thankful for that. This is the first time in my life where I know what I am doing, when I am doing and how I am doing it, is right. I love it here. I love missionary work, it will never cease! Share the gospel family! Don’t let opportunites slip thorugh your fingers! I love you and miss you all!



Xoxo

Sister bustillos

Family!!





so another week has flown by! literally! i feel like it keeps getting faster and faster. but i feel like i still have months and months on the mission. we'll see how i feel when i get down to the last couple of weeks! i think it's going by so quickly because we are just working as hard as we can. where i end up so exhausted at night that i crash the second we are done planning. and when i am super exhausted i get into a deep sleep and apparently start talking in my sleep... in SPANISH! which is crazy because all my dreams are in english hahah. i bet it's not spanish though, it's more on the lines of Tex-Mex :-)

so irving got baptised yesterday!! finally! i want to say this was one of the toughest baptismal dates to get haha. it's hard teaching a bunch of little children about something that in all reality don't quite understand. but let me tell you, i have learned so much from it! patience has become my new christ-like attribute to work on till i go home haha. yesterday during sacrament meeting, my companion (was sitting up on the stand, she was giving a talk) said it looked like i was about to break down in tears. all of the little kids (irvings brothers and sisters) were literally running up and down the aisle, going in and out of the sacrament room, yelling and screaming. i think they are so over my church bag and box of cheerios. one of the little boys a few days ago actually yelled the F word to sister sigler and i and held up his middle finger. i was stressing he would do a replay of this in sacrament. we were thankfully saved from that. man, when and now if i have children ;-) i will have them ages apart and they will be very well behaved hahah. hey, a girl can dream! but the baptisim was a lot more smooth then most of my baptisms that i have had. A good amount of people showed up and irving was so excited. I tried to remember if I was that excited at my baptism day, where I was wiggling around in my seat, a smile plastured on my face, stairing at the water every 5 seconds. It was the cutest thing because when they went down into the water and the elder was saying the baptismal prayer, irving was looking up at him the whole time (yes I had my eyes open) and had the biggest smile on his face and you could tell he was just stoked to go under the water! I quickly ran back to the bathroom to give him his change of clothes and towel and asked how he felt..”I feel GREAT! And wet!” haha. I know that irving is going to help his family out so much in the gospel! I am excited to hear what his blessing will be like for the holy ghost next week. His grandma and tia, laura and lauisa weren’t able to get baptized this week. They told us they were ready yet and would like to wait for the following week. We were definently okay with that. Well we found out that there is some drama going on in the family so laura and her daughter lauisa moved out of lucy’s house (irvings mom). Are you staying on track? Haha.. well it’s defnently putting a damper on the work with them because now laura isn’t wanting to come to church as much as she did before! We are going to stop by and visit her today and hopefully get some kind of explanation out of them. It’s sad because laura didn’t even come to irvings baptism. Her own grandson. And I was telling sister sigler, that that is the culture around here. If you get offended by someone in the family, they will pull away completely and not be there for them when they need it the most. I have learned so much about the pure love of Christ this week!

We were finally able to get a hold of cindy and wow she has changed! She doesn’t have that light she was starting to form as we were teaching her and having her come to church. She confessed to us that she is a “pot-head” (and that is a direct quote from her mouth) and my heart just ached for her. She said it just helps her relax and she does it by herself. We are trying to get ourself back in with her, but I know it’s going to take a while. We are having her remember how she felt before when we were teaching her. Her aunt has finally backed off.. the moment we stopped teaching her. That’s how satan works though right?!

We got a recent referrell from some elders in the mission who were teaching this girl named pricella. We stoped by her house last night and she is darling! 20 yrs old and is stoked to be getting baptized on the 19th of September. Sister sigler and I see a lot of promising potential in her and can really see that she has a desire to know the truth.



This last week we went and visited a member in the English ward and she was telling us all of these things that members have been doing that have offended her. As I was sitting there listening to her and the spirit, I realized so much. I was telling my companion that I learned so much from just that one experience. So many things happen in our life that gets us all worked up and bothered. And if you really sit and listen to yourself or the problem, you really start to understand that it’s all the work of the adversary. I really thought to myself about how much all of those problems really applied to my/our salvation. When something like that happens in our lives, when people offend us. How much are we dwelling on it?! Are we seeking revenge or are we learning to turn the other cheek and do something that will benefit our salvation and the other persons? My mission has been such a blessing and learning experience for me. Most importantly about how everything should apply for our salvation. I have really desired the salvation for every soul I come across, lost or found! My heavenly father has really converted me in the gospel, what a blessing!



Xoxo

Sister bustillos

Hey Family!!!

so off to another crazy week! literally! first of all.. i have some crazy news! honestly, i never thought that this was going to happen. but some how the lord and president trainer trust me enough to be... TRAINING! yep, sister woods leaves to go home tomorrow, so i will be training my new companion. for those of you who dont' know what that means, basically i am getting a fresh new sister missionary straight from the MTC. and i will have to teach her how to be a missionary out in the real world and the craziest part is i will have to teach her spanish! i dont' know spanish! crazy! haha, to be honest, i had always just put the thought inot my head that i wasn't good enough to train, or there is no way the lord can trust me to mold one of his servents. but bam! here i am.. about to do that! haha, i am excited. it's crazy, because all the other transfers i have always thought "what if i train this transfer" and i always feel that i am not prepared and just not ready to. well this time everyone was predicting i would be training and i actually felt more peace and comfort that it was all going to be okay and that i can actually do it. so i dont' find out who she is till tomorrow when i go pick her up! i am excited it will be really awesome. i just pray she doens't pick up any of my bad crazy habits i have aquired. but on a sadder note, i am going to miss sister woods sooooooooooo much! we have gotten so close this past 2 weeks! i can't believe it. sister woods, sister morrill and sister kellett will seriously be in my life forever! i just love them all to pieces. i have actually broken down crying more then sister woods this week about her leaving haha. last night we stayed up all night quoting the whole movie mean girls (it's missionary approved hehe nahh) but she is off to leave tomorrow and flies home on wednesday! ugh, i am dreading the time!

so alot of crazy things have happened this week. but to start off on an exciting note.. ERIK GOT BAPTISED! it was an awesome day. even though i wasn't able to be there the whole time of teaching him, i felt just so proud and happy for him! he is going to be such ana amazing member down here in weslaco. it was great beacuse a lot of ward members showed up to! he even gave his testimony at the end! it was so awesome. he opened with a scripture in doctrine and convenants and closed with a scripture to! what a trooper!

we had gotten a referrel from the elders in a small town a little ways off from where we live. so we had been trying to contact this man, freddie, but he was never home. luckily he maid was home and we were able to teach her a few times. well, one day he answered the door and let us in to teach him. he is married and has 2 kids and is about in his mid 30's. we go in and sit down and start teachign right away. freddie chimes in "sister woods your eyes are sooo beautiful! i can't believe it! and sister bustillos, are those your real eyes" of course this is normal with us so we answer the usual, yes they are, thank you and quickly move on then freddie buts in with "so where are you girls from? you are just so beautiful" again, thanks freddie and we quickly move on. and thennnnn... freddie stops us and says "sister bustillos... are those maybelline eyelashes?!" hahah what married guy asks if a missionaries eyelashes are maybelline?! i mean come on! after this i felt super akward and just wanted to get out of there. so i give a little laugh to make things not so akward and expalin that they are mine and that jesus loves him haha. well not even a minute later he says "oo sister woods i love your accent!" mind you this is all in english and sister woods is from UTAH! hahah we ended our lesson. set up a return appointment when his wife would be home and left! we couldnt' stop laughing in the car and malking eachother haha. we go back for our new appointment a few days later and freddie wasn't there but his wife was..Iliana. now she is legit! we committed her to start praying and teaching her children. we come back again and she had done it and is loving what she is learning. we invited freddie to come and sit with us but he seemed super weirded out and declined. i think he is the embarressed one now! but Iliana is doing super awesome. she is praying and we recently just taught her about the importance of church and the priesthood. we hope to see her this week at church! luckily she notices when satan throws his blows at her to not go.

okay, this family has to be one of my favorite families that we are teaching right now. actually it's a couple. Brother Lisle is already a member and his non member wife is from the philippenes. her english isn't that good. you have to repeat yourself a billion times and then she will understand it. we explained how we dont' say recited prayes (proabbally about a billion times) and she voluntered to say the closing prayer and she said one of her Hail Mary's hahah. very funny but very frusturating. the best thing about them is they have a talking bird that has a very bad potty mouth! luckily it hasn't said any thing bad infront of us but sister lisle decided to take the courtesy of teling us what bad words the bird says. that was my first visit with them! sooo funny! she about said every bad word in the book. i couldn't help laugh which probabally encouraged her because she doesn't understand the wrongness of it haha. but she is awesome! she comes to church every sunday with her husband and even brough cookies for the whole relief society yesterday! she even practiced leading a song! she is just a little cutie. i love sitting next to her because she sits there and listens very intently but probabally has no clue what's going on! love her to pieces. our goal is to set a baptismal date with her this week sometimes. hoping the spirit will touch her.

the work is going to just boom here. i know it and can feel it! i think i have cried more then sister woods this week because it's giving me a little taste of what it would be like if i were to leave. i am just not ready. there is so much work that needs to be done and i am so thankful that i am able to be apart of it. this work will never finish. it will go on forever and ever! i love my mission more then words can describe. every moment of it. i know i have said this about a billion times but it's true! i love you and miss you all

xoxo

sister bustillos

Hey family....

so i guess i got so caught up this week that pday just came zooming around the corner. so lately sister kellett and i have been running at night also. (she has 2 months left on her mission and wants to be in perfect shape, you know me, i wont decline a good work out) so we run through a really bad part of town (we didn't know this at first) well, at one point we were running back to the apartment and i hear some water running from someones drive way. i look and there is a man standing there.. PEEING! yep, apparently it's legal to pee on your drive way as a grown man, in public! hahah gotta love south texas.

well, we weren't able to email yesterday due to it being memorial day weekend but we barely even had time so it worked out for the best. we ended up going and visiting trinity and destiny and robin. my recent converts. they actually moved this morning back to florida. we ended our last goodbye with a HUGE pazookie party and just sat and reminsced about life. it was sooooo awesome! but as we were saying goodbye of course i couldn't hold back the tears. i just balled and balled. for one second i got a small glimpse of what it would be like to end my mission. having to say goodbye to the people i have loved and spent so much time around, just shatterred my heart. i hated it sooo much! these people, especially trinity and destiny, mean so much to me and hold such a special place in my heart! as soon as i got home, i had to get down on my knees and thank my heavenly father for putting such special people in my path on my mission. sometimes i feel like they did more for me then i ever did for them.

well things are going amazing with cris! lets start out with his lovely lip ring.it just wasn't going to come out. his ear piercing seemed super simple to come out, due to him loosing it and not being able to find it. but his lip ring just wouldn't budge. well on friday night we were on our way over for our appointment with cris at 7:00. it was about 7:55 and we got a phone call from cris. we thought "great! he is going to cancel on us!" oh no! cris says "sisters?! where are you?! are you on your way?! you need to come over asap! i got my answer! i got my answer if i should get baptised! you're not going to believe i!" of course i am freaking out over the phone and tell him we are seconds away. for the past few weeks we have been asking cris to pray about moving his date up a few weeks and then also to know if jesus christ really does know him personally. he started to have some doubts so this was super important. well we pull up infront of his house and he is waiting outside for us (this never happens) we walk up to him and sister kellett points it out, first thing. his lip ring was gone! of course we bring it up and he says "yeah, i realized i really did need to come out. and come on sisters! my body is a temple!" hahah i was freaking out jumping up and down telling him i could just hug him right then! he then tells us how last night he was going to go out with some friends to a club and right before he left he prayed and asked heavenly father to help him not fall into temptation with drinking and drugs. well while he was dancing one of his friends walks up to him and offers him some alchol. cris says no. moments later another friend walks up and offers him some drugs. cris says no. mintues later another friend comes up and offers him some drugs and slips them into cris's hand. cris notices there in his hands a few mintues later and throws them away and goes and sits down. while he was sitting there the thought came into his head "should i get baptised" not even 2 seconds after this thought one of his friends walks up to him and says "cris! just do it! you should totally do it!" and then walks away. cris was freaking out. no way did this friend know what he was thinking. cris knew at that very moment that heavenly father was aware of him that very night. he knew he should be baptised!!! cris got his answer! amazing!!!!! he is doing really well and has been blesse4d so much since then. he has gotten a job and was the first person from his family to graduate! so prepare for baptism pictures of cri in the next few weeks!!!!

watching how heavenly father has put his hands in so many peoples lives is such a blessing! he truely knows each and everyone of his children and is helping them with every fiber of his being to return back to him. i am so grateful he uses me as a tool to help fullfill this plan.

xoxo

sister bustillos

FAMILY!!!

i hope everyone is having a great last month of school and the weather is treating you well over there. all the kids over are geting out of school this week! crazy huh?! i was here last year when they were just starting school! right now the weather hasn't been to bad actually. around the high 90's. which is such a blessing being that it is almost june! i hear it's suppoused to be a cool summer! i pray it will be!

so this week has again just flown by. i don't even know where to start. well first off.. a few days ago. well we will go back a few months ago. sister kellett and her companion had hit a boulder with the car we have and it got stuck under the car. so this little protector thing that covers the engine sometimes falls and drags on the ground as we are driving. which makes it super annoying because it sounds like our car is just falling apart. which makes us get crazy looks all the time. not that we don't get it enough with walking around everyday. so lately it's just been bugging us so much that we had a bright plan to duck tape the darn thing to the car. sister kellet wanted to just saw it off. so she runs inside and grabs a steak knife and i run in and grabe some duck tape. we decided to be wise and duck tape it this time. so we hurry and duck tape it and off we go! the whole day went without one little peep from the bottom of the car. we were stoked! well we get home later that night and the front gate to our house is closed (we never close the front gate) k first weird thing. well we go inside and get ready to plan for the next day and the doorbell rings (we have no friends to ring out doorbell) the neighbor had stopped by really quickto see if we were okay. suppouseably someone had broken into our house earlier that day. our neighbors saw our door wide open and were ringing our door bell yelling for us and we never came out. so being good neighbors they decided to call the police and report a break in AND two missing girls! so the police show up to our house do a search and dont' see anything unusual. they close the door AND the gate and proceed to check every church in laredo for two missing sister missionaries! the only church the failed to stop by was ours! we were freaking out. or so we seemed at least. we thanked her for watching out for us talked for a few minutes and then she left. so the person who broke into our house was actually NO ONE! sister kellett and i were just so excited that our little duck tape project worked that we left the door wide open and the steak KNIFE on the ground and zoomed off on our duck taped car! hahah we felt so dumb that we couldn't admit what really happened! hahahah we just love this work so much that we were so excited to leave our house and get out there that we left the door open haha.

Cris is doing sooo great! he hasn't smoked and done any drugs this week! he has no been clean or a little over 2 weeks! he is really progressing quite well! actually last sunday he went up to the gospel princeples teacher and told him he was getting taught by us and that he was "progressing" hahah i loved that comment. he actually has been having hsi friend jeremy sit in on the lessons also. we were able to give jeremy a book of mormon also and committ him to read a chapter from it. this wek we taught cris about the atonement and shared alma 7 with him. how not only did christ suffer for our sins but for all of our pains and inflictions to. he did not know that. we asked him to pray about it and i called him yesterday to see how it went and he said he hasn't gotten an answer yet but he feels like his answer might be in the decisions he is making in life right now. he he know longer has a desire to go out and party and drink. that he rather stay home and play x-box! hah we were stoked to hear that. tonight we are going over to watch the testmants movie with him and talk a little more about the book of mormon. we actually asked him to pray to move his baptismal date up because of how well he is progressing. he is in that process right now!

frank and jesus got the priesthood this sunday! sister kellett and i were able to go in and watch. this was my first time actually watching someone get the priesthood. and when frank was set apart as a priest his whole class was able to stand in and give him that authortiy. it was so neat to be able to be in that room with such young men holding that same authority that was on teh earth when jesus christ was here. my testimony multiplied that very moment. jesus is only 15 so he was ordained as a teacher. and guess what.. he was sooooo upset!! he want's to bless the sacrament and baptize so bad! he asked us if he could lie abotu his age and repent later. obvisouly we didn't teach the rules of true repantce well enough haha. but frank was able to stand in and give jesus the priesthood also! there blessings were so unique and amazing. they both said how they will bring many into this church because of there example. which is definenelty truue because we are now teaching his grandmother and there little sister. we have been teaching the mom for a while but she keeps pushing back her baptismal date. it was suppoused to be last week then this week and now next week! but we are still praying for her and hae hope that it will happened in the lords timing. his sister is slowly coming around even asked for a book of mormon. she is used to goint to a church where they yell and scream and dance and sing so she gets alittle antsy in ours but i can just feel that the spirit is working on her. the grandmother loved church on sunday and had so many great questions! frank and jesus are such an example to so many.

in sacrament meeting this sunday one of the speaks got up and talked about how us missionaries have no idea the impact we are having on people right now. we may baptize just one person but that one person may baptize another and that person another and so on and so forth. the spirti really testified to me at that time that no matter how many people i baptize on my mission, the riple of just one person will go on forever. i love every single one of my converts and i know that the spirit is working through them to share it with others. it's so amazing how it all works out. i love this work so much, it never ceases to stop! i love you all and i hope you to are setting your own riple of touching others lives

xoxo

sister bustillos