Change in Plans!

Ok. So I know I told everyone that we were going to Beijing. Well, we were going to be going over the chinese holiday, but everyone, including the locals, told us that was the worst decision we could make. They said it would be so busy, that we decided we better not. So now we are going to...


THAILAND!!!

So that should be fun! I don't know what there really is to do in Thailand, but there are nice beaches. And for me, its another stamp in my passport!

Now about my parents callings. The guesses I got were seminary teachers, door greeters, and activities people. Well, you are all wrong! They are NURSERY LEADERS!!! No joke! Both my mom AND my dad are in Nursery! Today was the first day and it didn't go to bad. Mom is also the branch missionary.

Ok. So you know how I mentioned that my friend was going to come to church. Well she didn't. Se was so commited and we were both really excited about it until 9:30 on Saturday night. She asked whether the church was an actual mormon church, or if it was a bunch of different sects that met together. I told her it was an actual mormon church, then asked if that was a problem. She said it might be with her parents and she should probably talk to them about it. I was really disapointed, but at least I know it wasn't that it was a problem for her, it was just her parents. I told her that if she has any questions, she can always ask, and she said she might later.

Also today, we had our District President in our meeting. His name is President Toranto. Him and his wife and family live up in Beijing and have lived there for 11 years. They have 5 children, ages 7-18. He and his wife are both very nice people. He kind of reminds me of President Hunter (SJS stake president) in his speaking mannerisms, which isn't too surprising seeing as both of them are lawyers. He also looks a little bit like President Hunter, but he really looks like Brother Hunter, in the Almaden Ward! It is really amazing how much alike they look. President Toranto also lived in Palo Alto for a time so he is familiar with where we live.

I think that is about all the news I can think of!!!

Hope everyone is doing well!!! We miss all of you very much!!!

Love, The Busaths!

CRAZINESS!!

So lots of crazy and funny and weird things have happened. So starting with Saturday, I thought I was in the time of Noah again! It was raining sooooo much that inorder for me to go out and take pictures, I had to wear snowboots! I took pictures and will post them! We had a new swimming pool in our backyard from the wall that holds up the next house! There was about an inch of water running down the street, and all of the storm drains were over flowing, and I'm talking storm drains that are 4 feet deep! And it rained like that for 2 hours straight!

Next crazy thing was Sunday. So I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting, and guess what it was on?! MARRIAGE! Why? I don't know, but they wanted my perspective on it. Good thing I have a good example to referance.

Next thing was also on Sunday. So if you've been paying any attention, you will have notice I have not said whether or not Mom and Dad have gotten callings. Well, this Sunday they did. I'm going to give you some clues about what it is!

1. They work together.

That is the only clue I am going to give you! Any guesses?


You guys let me know what you think it is, and I'll tell you tomorrow. DON'T GO AND ASK THEM EITHER!

Also, today (Tuesday Sept. 12), I was at school, and you know how we can't prosalite to anyone with a Chinese passport, right? So I had talked with one of my friends about the church and she was kind of interested and I told her she was always welcome. So today, she was like you know that church you go to at Jordan's house? Can I come with you on Sunday?!!!!!!! I was SOOOOO excited! Of course I said yes!!!. She is ethnically Chinese, but she was born and raised in Texas! So I am sooo excited. I let her know a little bit about church, and what goes on and she seems really excited!

So that is all the crazy, weird, and funny news!

I have also had so request to talk about our branch and the Young Men/Young Women's programs and such.

So we have a normal sacrament. We have talks and testimony meeting on fast Sunday, and surprisingly, it all takes the full 1 hour and 10 minutes! That is first. Then we have Sunday school. The youth sunday school just got a teacher, and we actually have to meet across the street and one of the counseler in the Bishopbrics house since we ran out of rooms to meet in! Then we have YM/YW, Relief Society, Elders Quarum. ( All the while primary is going on!) Relief Society also meets across the street too! We have a Young Women's President, Sis. Bayles, and her first counselor is Sis. Ho. We have Young Womens every week. We had it for the first time last week. We did a service project, and it took us till 10 AT NIGHT! It was kind of crazy. We made cookies and then delivered some of them to people! But we keep getting lost but eventually delivered the ones we needed! The Young Mens has had a president for a while, and same with the first counselor. They meet every week too. I am also really excited because we are going to the Hong Kong temple to do baptisms for the dead on September 30, and we are meeting with the Guangzhou branch. Also that day we are leaving for...

BEIJING!!!!

Yes we are going to Beijing!

We are going for 5 or 6 days. It is a national holiday on October 1-4 so there is no school or work. So horray for us!

Oh and seminary: We do have seminary once a week on SATURDAYS! I was not happy about this, but it is only temperary seeing as we only have a temp teacher. He goes back to the states in 2 weeks I think. So we do home study too, which kind of stinks because then we have to and the 30-40 mins of seminary homework to our regular homework, and it gets to be a lot. School is going good for everyone, I think.

We miss everyone back home!!!!


Lots of love,
The Busaths!

Activities, Activities, Activities!

SO...

This past Thursday and Friday, the high school went on a retreat to the beach. The purpose was kind of like a get to know you thing. We slept in tents on the beach and played in the water and we did get to know you games and such. The beach was actually really nice, and the water was quite clear, and warm, even though it still is polluted. We played tug o war and my advisory won! But guess what we won?! CHICKEN FEET! REAL LIVE CHICKEN FEET! I don't know what happened to them, but I definately didn't even want to look at them! I got eaten alive by mesquitos though because it was so hot in our tent (me and soo young) so we slept with the door all the way open. So in total, I have 32 bites from the trip! It looks like I have the chicken pox. So I will eventually post pictures from that trip!

Yesterday (saturday) we had a YM/YW combined activity, and guess what we did?! GO CARTING! It was a lot of fun! We did a total of about a half hour each. I finally said, who cares about being safe, so I was flouring it around the corners and everything! When I think about the things I have done already in my one month here in China, and then I think about the things I did in California, it is amazing. I never would have gone go carting in California, let alone camping on the beach or going to a lake to go tubing, other then at girls camp!

Also starting this week, I am going to be doing an after school kickball club thing with the 2nd and 3rd graders. Now I didn't chose to do kickball, Mr. Neeland ( Assisntant principle) suggested it, I just volunteer to help. So that will be every thursday.

Everyone else is doing really well. Noelle, Camille, and I start piano lessons this week. Mom went to Hong Kong last week and bought a box of See's Candy, but guess how much it cost?! 80 US DOLLERS! It is really expensive, so it is going to last us a long time! Church is going well too. Neither mom nor dad have a calling yet, but I am sure it won't be long. Ben passed the sacrament for the first time last week, and did a good job. If you have any questions, just email us and we can answer them, or if there is anything you want to know about China life, let us know!

Hope everyone is doing well and we all miss you guys a ton!

Lots of Love,
The Busaths!

PICTURES!

Hey Everyone!
SO the awaited pictures are HERE! I tried posting them earlier this week and it wasn't working! But I have them now.

This is from when we went to Evergreen, and we made pottery. This is obviously Noelle!

Here is Camille!

And here is ME!

Now for pictures of our house and surrounding area!

This is the view from my High School of the bay. And this is on a really good day. Normally it doesn't look this nice.

This is also from the High School. It is of Shenzhen and that bridge in front of it will eventually go straight from Hong Kong into Shenzhen, but it isn't finnished yet.

These are half of the stairs that I take to get up to the High school. I couldn't fit them all in one frame!

So this is half of what you see when you walk through our gate. As the arrow states, we have BANANAS! Actaully we have 2 banana trees and a mango tree. The mango tree currently has no mangos.

This is the other side of our house. Sorry it is kind of weird, the sun was behind it.

This is our living room with our new piano. There isn't anything in it yet, but eventually there will be.

This is our dining room which is right off the kitchen and the living room.

This is our lovely kitchen.

This is my bedroom.

This is the family room up on the second floor.

This is my parents bedroom.

This is Ben's room.

And last but not least, this is the girls room.

I haven't had time yet to take a picture of Ben flexing his muscles (by request from Julie) or of the schools yet.

If you have any other request, let me know!

Andrea