Companionship Trio, Ferret Face Bite & Cactus Digging

Companionship Trio Manning the Food Truck

Another super fun week. There is so much potential out here in
Chaparral. We have a lot of work that is going great also. We've got
lots of solid investigators. Being in a trio is also super fun. I gave
a talk in church yesterday as well. It went pretty good considering I
had to give it in Spanish. I also had to teach an hour long Gospel
Doctrine class in Spanish. I found out like ten minutes before I had
to give it. That probably went as well as an hour long class in
Spanish can go without even reading what you're supposed to be
teaching before. I made it through it though. We also helped a member
dig out some cactus. Which is exactly what I imagined when I thought
of service in New Mexico. I got so many thorns in my hand though cause
I accidentally hit it while swinging the pick-ax. We also found a
tarantula while we were out there. Then later that night we stopped by
the same guy's food truck. I'm fairly sure everyone out here owns a
food truck. While we were over there though, a car drives up and he
tells us real quick that he's gotta go and tells us to man the food
truck. Then he hops in the car and drives away. So we manned a food
truck for like twenty minutes. Good thing no customers came cause I
would have had no idea what to do. We also met a super cool family
that had a ferret. It bit my face while I was holding it. They wanted
us to eat with them, but we already had another dinner right after. He
grilled up carne asada and some Bratwursts though which was super
tempting. Then we ended up waiting an hour for our actual dinner
appointment to get to there house. They kept calling us telling us
they were right around the corner. Then we had to wait another hour
for them to cook it. We also had a family home evening with the family
we just baptized. We played phase 10 and I ended up losing. So when
the twelve year old boy says the closing prayer,  he blesses me that
my skills will get better so that the next time we play I will do
better. That's actually the second time I have been roasted in a
prayer out here. Anyways the works going great out here.

After the ferret bite

First Baptism

Elder Busco's First Baptism Nov 4, 2017

We had a lot of fun this past week. We met our new comp Elder Furlong.
He's a super cool and funny guy. This transfer is definitely going to
be a blast. We also had a baptism this last Saturday. We baptized a
family of three. Perla and her two kids Alex and Leo. It was a super
cool experience. The Elder that first found her drove down from Utah
to see it. (He just ended his mission the last transfer) We now have
five Elders out here in Chaparral. We ended up with the truck though
and the other two got the bikes so it works out perfectly for me. We
also figured out why we have been getting frozen every morning.
Apparently we have had our air conditioner on high cool the whole
time. We finally turned that thing off, and now we're aren't waking up
to a forty degree trailer. That made it so much easier to get up.

So quite a bit of things happened this week. We met a family that was
crazy into snakes. She had like a six foot Boa. She also told us that
she spent three thousand dollars on makeup. On one Saturday. I don't
even know how that is possible. I guess Hispanics are pretty into
their makeup. And the baptism happened. Everything went perfect, well
except for one thing. I got up and gave what I thought was the closing
prayer in the middle of the baptism. Apparently I didn't pick up on
the Spanish when they said they were going to sing another hymn in the
middle of the program. So I thought it was the closing hymn and
proceeded to get up and give a prayer. So that was a special
experience. I don't think too many people get an intermediate prayer
for their baptisms. We were also talking with a family when a lady
asked us if we liked spicy food. My comp responded by saying of course
cause he is Mexican. (He is like the whitest dude from Utah) She
started laughing so hard, and then proceeded to spend the next hour to
try and make the hottest dinner she could. I was kind of scared cause
she put like a bag of chilies into it. It turned out to not be that
hot though. We also got like attacked by their dogs. They have the
biggest dogs ever that are usually chained up, but when we left the
house  they were loose. Someone also left a twenty five dollar
gift-card to Walmart on our truck which was super cool. We also had a
dog that had babies in our shed. I guess we got a pet now. She'll
attack us if we get anywhere near them though. Overall though it was a
super fun week.

Kind note from non-member

Pinata Head

Brian's Pinata Head

This past week has been pretty good. It's also been pretty
interesting. We are splitting our area out here in Chaparral. It's
gonna be the first time we've had more than a set of missionaries out
here. I'm also going to be put in a trio so that should be fun. We've
been working on the other Elder's place to stay this whole week. Our
Branch President sectioned off a small part of his house to rent out.
We had to paint it and clean it though. Then we put a little concrete
patio out front. They are gonna live right next to us and share our
kitchen and stuff. It's going to be fun though with five Elders.
Fortunately we get the truck though. The other two are going to get a
lot of flat tires on bikes in Chaparral.

We also had a ward Halloween party this week. We had a pretty good
turn out and we all had a bunch of fun. One thing they do out here
though is a pinata. They have a pinata for literally every single
holiday. Halloween, Christmas, Birthdays, and almost all the rest of
them. It was a lot of fun though, and cold. My trailer doesn't have a
heater. I'm also fairly sure it isn't insulated. If it is, it isn't
insulated well at all. We do have two tiny little space heaters though
that barely warm up my feet. I'm going to freeze though cause it just
keeps getting colder.

Our work is going great as well. We might need to do a lot of finding
though because our area is getting split. We should be baptizing a
family of three this Saturday though which is awesome. The problem
though is going to be able to get them to church though because their
car just broke down, and they don't have the money to fix it.
Hopefully it all works out though.

I don't get to drive the truck though. I wish i could. Especially cause we are on dirt roads. The boy that prayed during the thunder is thirteen. He's actually on baptismal date but he's in the other side of my area now. the person with the turkeys is actually just an inactive member. He works at Budweiser though, and gets hammered all the time. My comps pretty chill and we get along great. He's actually a super smart guy . He's been the zone leader for a bunch and this is his last transfer. I'm getting another companion though now that I'm in a trio. I heard he's a super funny dude. I hurt myself again at our ward party. I was doing a sack race and decided to do a front somersault into the finish line with no hands. I bruised my tail bone pretty bad. I'm about healed now though. I had some menudo again though. This time it had bones in it though, which was pretty confusing because menudo is cow stomach though. It's all good cause it tasted great. I don't think it can be healthy for you though.

Turkey Slaughtering

Brian before the turkey slaughter

It was another great week out here. One thing I have learned about the
people out here is they feed us so much. I thought two dinners was a
lot. We were fed three times by the members the other day. I don't
even have time to prepare for it either. We just stop by someone's
house and they'll have like a full meal prepared for you. So I'll eat
a huge meal with a dinner appointment right after. At least the food
is super good. It's a lot different than Puerto Rico though. We'd
rarely get fed over there. We also got to slaughter and feather some
turkey's. One of our investigators raises rabbits, chickens, turkeys,
and other types of animals. So we get to help them out whenever they
need it. It's actually super easy to slaughter and feather a turkey.
It's just super bloody. I also let the member do all of the gutting. I
wasn't willing to stick my hand and pull all of those out. That was a
first time for me though. Our work is also going pretty good out here.
We had an open house at the church this week. It was a great
turnout.... for the members. We only had a few people that weren't
members show up and check out the church. We do have four people on
baptismal date though so that's pretty good. Three of which are for
next week so hopefully all of those work out. I also think my Spanish
is getting a lot better. It's definitely going to be harder to pick up
out here where a lot of people speak English though. For the most part
I usually know what's going on though. Until they start using slang
though. Then I'm just lost. But I'm getting better each day.

We had our entire zone come out to
Chaparral to hand out flyers to everyone for our church's open house
next week. We have a branch of anywhere between 40-80 active members
so hopefully that activity brings in a bunch of people. I'm also
starting to realize how many dogs are here. We had two dog's join us
as we were passing out flyers for a couple of hours. It was nice cause
they kept the other dog's from attacking us, but they kept coming up
to all the doorsteps with us which got a little bit annoying. There
are a bunch of stray dogs here though, and everyone has like at least
four dogs. I also learned how to sew out here. Well I don't really
know if I did it right, but my pocket isn't hanging off my shirt
anymore. They also have so many of these stickers that get stuck in my
shoe and all over my pants. I have like a hundred little thorns stuck
in my shoe now. Besides that the work has been going great out here
and the time is flying by. It feels like my last P-day was just
yesterday.

Brian with companion with their Tundra truck

The effects of the Habanero pepper

The after effects of eating the hottest pepper in the world

It was a super cool week out here. I'm finally getting into the
routine of things. I'm loving getting fed here though. We get fed by
members or investigators every single dinner. Matter of fact yesterday
we had two dinners. I was so full. We ate some food with one family
and then went right on to the next family. We had some kind of soup
for dinner but I didn't know what it was. I kept asking but the only
answer I got was in spanish. Although there were a few chewy things in
it, I thought it tasted pretty good but when I finally got to the end
of my meal, my comp told me it was cow stomach soup. I was also given
a Habanero pepper by an investigator. He told me not to eat it. He
said it would kill me. Apparently they are one of the hottest peppers
in the world. 

Habanero pepper

I thought he was exaggerating. I thought I was gonna die
after I ate that thing though. It's not only for a few minutes either.
I was in pain for about an hour. The problem with them is that once
you eat one, you can't change your decision. Your stuck suffering in
pain. I haven't cried in forever until then. Anyways the pain is gone
now, but I'm a little worried for how it's gonna feel like coming out
the other end. One of our other dinners we were also invited to a
little girls birthday party. We didn't know that's what it was gonna
be though. They just told us we had dinner with them. It was a little
funky being the only two Elders eating at the pink birthday table.

My area is super cool. We live in a trailer park. It's super cold in
the mornings though. The other day when we woke up it was 54 degrees
in our trailer. There's not too much insulation. Our Branch is pretty
cool too. We have about 30 - 70 active members. Everyone is super nice
as well. We have a truck so we get to drive around to all of our
appointments as well. I'm still trying to learn the people out here
and get to know everyone. I'm loving it out here though. I'll try to
send some photos of my trailer as well, but a lot of them aren't going
though.

Personal experience of Puerto Rico devastation

Helping Hands in Puerto Rico

Well believe it or not, I'm living in a trailer in Chaparral right on
the border of New Mexico and Texas now. The whole mission is closed in
Puerto Rico for the time being because of hurricane Maria. I could be
in my new area for the rest of my mission, or they could also send me
back to Puerto Rico once they get things running there again. So
anyways, this was kind of a crazy couple weeks. I was actually in the
shower when my old comp came banging on my shower telling me we needed
to pack up and leave. So I quickly got out and threw a couple things
in one of my suitcases. We then got a ride over to one of the chapels
with all of the other missionaries there. We were planning on spending
a night or two there while the hurricane passed. We brought some food
and some water for that. However, we ended up staying a lot more than
a night there. The hurricane ended up hitting pretty hard. Our food
was cut back to tiny rations, and we could only have a little water
because we didn't have a bunch. We had a generator running but it kept
breaking. So we ended up sleeping on the tile floor with a hundred
other missionaries with little food and water sweating constantly in
the humidity in a cement building for about a week. Our bathrooms
didn't work either, but we didn't really eat enough to need to go.
Right after the hurricane hit also, we immediately went out and
started clearing all the trees from the roads and stuff. It was
actually super cool. Everybody was pulling their car over and thanking
us. People became like a hundred times more friendly, and were
literally asking us for Book of Mormons. That was also how I got most
of my drinking water. When people offered us some, because I only had
about 4 liters of water. I'm pretty sure I got severely dehydrated.
I'm all good now though. Oh yeah we also had to shower in the
janitor's closet. Well, until the water started coming out brown. Then
we just couldn't shower. I didn't have any clean clothes to change
into anyways. Overall it was definitely not a super fun experience,
but I was definitely humbled by it. I will never take food or water
for granted ever again. We also had to siphon gas between all the cars
so we would have enough gas to get to the airport. The lines for gas
were miles long. I wouldn't be surprised if you had to wait overnight
for the gas. We kept getting up at like four in the morning because we
thought we would be leaving, only to be told that we couldn't leave
yet. We finally got to leave after a week. The church sent a private
airplane over to pick us up, and we had only about seven gallons of
water for all of the missionaries so we kind of needed it. We made it
safely out and everyone got assigned to new missions while they sent a
couple of the older missionaries home.

Anyways I learned a couple different points because of this hurricane.
One is that I need to be grateful for what I have. I only have a few
belongings after the hurricane, but the things I lost can be replaced.
Many people lost their homes and all of their belongings. Many people
are going to have to suffer in those terrible conditions for a lot
longer than I had to. I also learned that if we serve others, we will
have the strength to overcome our own challenges. This was something
said in General Conference, but I learned it before I heard it there.
I felt absolutely terrible. I was sunburned, had barely any food,
super dehydrated, and felt super dirty and gross. However, it was
probably one of the greatest feelings ever to be serving every one in
need. We were also offered some water while we served, and we found
coconuts to eat. In the end all of my needs were met and I was able to
get through all of my challenges.

Heading out to El Paso - Brian's new area

Miraculous save from devastation of hurricane Maria

According to Sister Smart's Instagram posted yesterday: "Two days before hurricane Maria, President Smart and his wife received a strong confirmation from the Lord: 'bring them home'. They then decided to bring the 55 sisters to the mission home, and the 100 elders to the mission office. If that counsel had not been given, there would have been different results. Amidst chaos, there were miracles too many to mention here. The missionaries are all temporarily assigned to serve stateside."


Brian slept on a tile floor for 6 days with just a duffle bag for a pillow. Food and water had to be rationed among the elders and sisters. Despite these circumstances, the elders would serve during the day by clearing the streets of debris. Here is an excerpted account from the Puerto Rico mission Facebook group: "More about the elders. Today they were serving near a high rise building and as they would haul out the broken limbs and debris from a neighboring property the people in the tall building would applaud and cheer them on. It must have been an amazing experience. Towards the end, when Pres. Smart arrived, they sang for the people Called to Serve. The spirit was strong and it was a beautiful way for the elders to thank those people for their encouragement."

Brian boards plane in Puerto Rico heading to states