Pastor Walton spoke with Alfredo and Monica Bustamante this week about the wonderful work God has done in their lives over the past several years.
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Episode Transcript
Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and our host on this program is Pastor Gary Walton, the lead pastor of Harvest Baptist Church. Every week, we spend these twenty five minutes together telling the stories of our church by interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We have two services at Harvest Baptist Church every week, the first at 08:45AM, the second at 10:45AM. We have Japanese and Korean translation during the 10:45AM service, and that’s also when we livestream at hbcguam.org.
Hbcguam.org. This week, encounters with Jesus from Mark fourteen one through nine broken and spilled out. Let’s begin today’s Harvest Time by welcoming Pastor Gary Walton. Hi, pastor.
Gary Walton: Hey. Hafa adai, Chris. We’ve been working on this series, throughout the fall, encounters with Jesus, just regular people that met Jesus along the way, and that changed everything. And it’s been fascinating to see the variety of people that God came into contact with, and then the Holy Spirit determined that those stories would be in the Scriptures. This Sunday we’re going to look at Mark 14, a story about a woman who pours out a very expensive perfume on Jesus, and there’s a lot of interesting things about the story, but I wanted to mention this, Mark 14 doesn’t tell us who the woman is.
We have some hints in a couple of the other Gospels of who she was, but intentionally Mark does not tell who her name is, and I think the purpose is in order that we would see her sacrifice and the woman would become nameless and the story would be what God used. And it’s really a powerful story of brokenness and I want to encourage you to come. We’d love for you to be a part of our church family this Sunday. You’ll, meet people that are following after Jesus and, you’ll hear from God’s Word. And I think you’ll be blessed if you join us this Sunday.
In fact, you’ll meet people like the guests that we have with us today here on Harvest Time, Alfredo and Monica Bustamante. Welcome you guys to Harvest Time.
Alfredo Bustamante: Thank you, Pastor Gary. Thank you, Chris, for having us here. We appreciate it.
Monica Bustamante: Thank you.
Gary Walton: Yeah, we’re really glad to have you and looking forward to hearing your story of what God’s done in your life. You guys have a very interesting journey of God bringing you to Guam, first of all. Tell us a little bit about that.
Alfredo Bustamante: Well, 2005, just moved from Chicago to Guam to work with my brother. And then I ended up moving to the Hyatt to be working, running the restaurants. And after that, I met some people and they say, well, you you can do very well as a real estate agent. And I was like, I don’t think that’s for me. But I see how often they meet with people and what they do, and and the next thing it was about money, how much money you make, which at that time I was lost.
For me, it was about building wealth. It was not having a relationship with God. And when I find out how much money they make over sixty years, I said, man, this is the job for me.
Gary Walton: So Exactly.
Alfredo Bustamante: I went to work for a company. I worked for six months, and then I said, wow. I I can do this on my own. So I opened my own real estate company with the help of a very good friend of mine. He became my partner and a mentor.
And I’ve been a broker almost for twenty years plus. And, you know, along the way, I lost myself. I was always lost, to be honest with you, because it was about building wealth, building money, and which is nothing wrong, but you gotta put God first. Right? We will get to that later.
Gary Walton: It’s a fascinating story. I can’t wait to get there. Let me back up a little bit. Alfredo, you’ve got an accent. So you’re not from Guam.
Where where where did you grow up?
Alfredo Bustamante: Well, very good question. I was born in Peru, Lima, South America. Okay. And I came at the age of 17 to The United States where I played soccer. Yeah.
And after that, I joined the military because I figured it out that I needed something more that can carry me through life, not only soccer because soccer is very, very short. Right? Yeah. Can get injured and you’re done. And so I joined the military, and I did a career.
I was on airport union there. I went to a special forces group. And then one day, I had a bad accident where I broke my back, my legs, my shoulders, and I was forced to retire of an early retirement. Yeah.
Gary Walton: Okay. And that brought you to Chicago, which ultimately brought you here?
Alfredo Bustamante: That’s right. Chicago was amazing, beautiful place, very cold, extremely cold. It is cold there. They call it the Windy City.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Yeah.
Alfredo Bustamante: And I was working fixing satellites, you know, hundred, hundred and fifty feet above the And one day I said, Man, this is too hard. Yeah. I decided to come to Guam. Okay.
Gary Walton: Start a new life. A new life. Monica, how about you? Tell us about your background.
Monica Bustamante: Hi, Pastor. I was born and raised in Lima, Peru, like Alfredo. I was raised by a single mother. My father was absent most of my life. And I have a sister that is almost my age that was always my very good friend, and we were very involved in church.
We were Catholics, but very involved in church in the children’s ministry. And I get to know Christ by the actions of my mother. She was a woman of faith. But I never had that close relationship with God. I knew that he was able because I saw it through my mother.
I saw my mom praying every single day and how God provided. But I was doing my own thing. I had my daughter when I was 21 years old. And then I reconnected with Alfredo. He was in Guam.
That was 2006. And we got married not too long after, and I came to Guam, and everything started. I accepted Christ as my personal savior in 2007 in Peru, in a church in Peru. Actually, Pastor Tom Larmer that was here in Guam, he connected me with a pastor in Peru.
Gary Walton: Ah, no, I didn’t know that part.
Monica Bustamante: Wow, Pastor that’s Percival Liente and his wife Carol in Peru, they met with me and they led me to Christ.
Gary Walton: That’s fantastic. You guys together have five children, correct?
Monica Bustamante: Have six actually.
Gary Walton: Okay, tell us about your family,
Monica Bustamante: your kids. In total we are a blended family. We have a son that is 32 years old, Timothy. My daughter Maria Fernanda, which is 31 years old. She lives in Florida.
We have Sebastian, which is 21 years old. He’s our first boy. We have Francesca that lives in Texas, she’s in college in Texas. We have Giacomo, that is a senior in high school at Harvest. And we have Domini, which is our baby, is 11 years old, 12.
Alfredo Bustamante: 13.
Monica Bustamante: 13, sorry. 13 years old and he’s a freshman.
Gary Walton: Love your kids. Great kids. You guys have raised a great family and it’s been God’s goodness, God’s God. Grace. Absolutely.
Alfredo, pick it up there. So you got married, living in Guam, got young kids here. What’s happening in your life and take us from there?
Alfredo Bustamante: Well, having a blended family, six kids, the pressure that they have to provide, you know, at that time, to be honest with you, we didn’t have a lot of resources. Yeah. Right? And I was young. I can work and work and work and never get tired.
No. I don’t do that anymore because I get tired right away. So you start focusing your life in other things, material things, how I can provide. Mhmm. I need a roof.
You know? I don’t wanna rent anymore. I wanna buy. And so I start putting a lot of hours. I remember Monica and I, we used to work twenty hours a day.
Mhmm. And I have that kids in the office. Next to my office, we put a a grip. It’s not like a grip, but like a house, right, with with walls. Yeah.
And we put toys inside, and they play, and they stay with us until
Monica Bustamante: 8, 9PM.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Mhmm.
Alfredo Bustamante: That’s right. That’s right. And you go through life, but you don’t realize that it’s a higher purpose, man. It’s it’s not about you. It’s not about money.
It’s not about money is important. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying the money is not important. It’s important, but God is first. Yeah.
If you put God first, and it took me almost thirty some years to realize this, that if you put God first and then you put your family second and then you put your business there, that’s a rule, man. Trust me, it’s simple. And I know that it’s hard to trust a specific equation. Right? Mhmm.
But if you do that, God will bless your steps. God will bless he will provide. Trust me. He will provide. It’s crazy.
But I wasn’t the man. Yeah. I was trying to build and buy and acquire. Yeah. I acquired a lot of land, a lot of properties, but a lot of stress, a lot of a lot of unemotional moments with my wife and our kids and trying to this guy that was in the military hardcore, trying to teach them how to succeed in life with hard work and ethics, but without kindness and without love.
Gary Walton: well, you’re a driven guy, you know. And actually both of you are. Lots of ambition. And you kind of described this as soccer first, right? I mean that was and then realize that’s not forever and it didn’t fulfill everything and then military, the push the hardest part there and just one thing after another.
It’s the next thing of kind of conquering, right? And guys are driven this way, right? Trying to figure it out. And yet I’m hearing, correct me here, Alfredo, but not satisfying and some of those pursuits feeling like they’re sending you in the wrong priorities. Right?
Alfredo Bustamante: Right. I was empty. I was missing something. Even though in 2005 I met Pastor Tom Larimore. What a guy, man.
He’s in heaven right now. I know that. He’s probably watching this or listening to this. Right? Because, I mean, he was a great pastor, a great mentor.
Yeah. You know? And I was able to get to know God. Right? And from there, yeah, it was like, okay.
Now I am safe, but I didn’t do anything extraordinary to try to please God. Yeah. It was like, now I’m safe. Great. Now I have his blessings.
Now I’ll be okay. It it was not. I have my priorities distorted.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Yeah.
Alfredo Bustamante: Tremendously distorted. And but one thing that I did is I remember, and it was May 2006. I got on my knees, and I cry and I prayed, for God to send me a godly wife.
Gary Walton: And
Alfredo Bustamante: I said, I’m going to test you because the Bible says to test you. And I said, send me godly wife. So I wanna be equally yoked. I was just learning that equally yoked means walking in life with God and with somebody else that has the same values, the godly values. Right?
Yeah. I’m not perfect, man. Mhmm. I’m trying to say I’m perfect because I am far from perfect like every Christian. Right.
Right? It’s not perfect. Only God was. Only Christ. And so, you know, you go through this and say, okay, I’m saved.
But then I start putting all these things that life throws at you
Gary Walton: Mhmm.
Alfredo Bustamante: First before God. And you don’t dedicate time to learn his word, to memorize his word.
Gary Walton: Right.
Alfredo Bustamante: To surround yourself with mentors that now I have. Right? And I stumbled. I stumbled many times. And anyway, one day I get a call from my sister, maybe three months later, and she’s like, hey, Alfredo.
How are you? How are doing? I said, I’m doing good. And she said, somebody wants to say hi to you. And I was like, What do you mean?
Yeah. I remember Monica. So I am five years older than Monica. So when I was 16, Monica was 11. So I’m not going to be, at that time, looking at 11 year old girl.
Right? And so anyway, she put Monica in the phone. We start talking. Next thing we know, we spoke four hours. And and then we start I didn’t knew too much about computers, which Monica is very good at it.
And then she said, I need you to go and buy a camera so we can talk and use that computer. But while I am doing that, I start using my phone. And next thing I know, I accrue a bill of $4,000 at GTA. Right? Which Just talking, man.
I went to ask for payments. Anyway, at that time, we didn’t have the financial that we have today. So that’s how I met Monica. Yeah. And and then she came to Guam.
And pastor Larimore told me, listen. You wanna you want God to bless you in your marriage. You do not stay in the same place with Monica. And she needs to go home by eight p. M.
And you need to have counseling. And we did everything that he told us. And then he was able to arrange remember, baby? He was able to arrange Monica to see pastor Percy Valente. And when she went the first day she was Catholic.
She went the first day to the church. She felt well, I’ll let you I’ll let you say that because I think that’s important.
Monica Bustamante: Well, yeah, I I always felt that God was calling me. Right? But I never had that person. I always was surrounded by my family and in the Catholic church until I met with Pastor Percy and his wife. I was there, God was calling me and that was the moment.
I was just ready to accept Jesus Christ as my savior. From then on, yeah, I became a Christian, but I was still doing my own thing. We got married and we still, well, we were going to church, I was trying to honor God, but I was still drinking on the weekends. Things like that. Not really obeying what God was telling me to do as a follower of Christ.
I was not reading my Bible every single day until And God, even when you’re going through difficult situations that break you, God uses those situations to bring you closer to him and to transform. And something happened to us in 2022, and that moment that was very painful for our entire family, through those difficult moments we were able to grow and to transform ourselves. And from then on, almost three years ago, have been growing little by little, every single day, we have been growing in our faith, we have been growing in our walk with Christ, in our sanctification process. And I rejoice by the fact that, yeah, it was painful, but things together happen because that brings us closer to him. And that’s the purpose, this is just temporary, right?
We are in our journey to heaven and we need to become like Him. And thanks to that, things that happened that I want to let Alfredo talk about that. We are here right now and we are in a much better room.
Gary Walton: It’s an amazing story. It’s an amazing story of God’s goodness and grace.
Monica Bustamante: Oh, it’s amazing. It’s amazing.
Gary Walton: You know, every spiritual life has its challenges. Every marriage has its challenges. You guys went through a big one. And God did something in the middle of all of that, Alfredo, that’s just transformative, right? Can you talk about that?
Alfredo Bustamante: Yeah, of course I can. I was making a comment below down in the office that we got a call from your office asking us to to join you on an interview.
Gary Walton: Mhmm.
Alfredo Bustamante: And the first thing in my mind was no. No. Because I don’t wanna share my personal life, my flaws. Yeah. Not my skills, my good things, my flaws Yeah.
With people. Because no. But then, Monica and I will look each other as this is not about me and about you. This is about God. Mhmm.
You know, God put us here in Earth to to to go through these moments where we learn and we are able to help others. And if our testimony today can only Can only change one person on the perspective, in the journey that they’re taking, then it’s fantastic. It’s for the glory of God.
Gary Walton: Amen, Alfredo.
Alfredo Bustamante: And I am not perfect. I need you. I need people to know. I I will continue to make mistakes, but I love God and I want him to transform my heart. So, you know, I am I just finished building this place in the beach.
It’s a duplex that it cost us almost 2.6 Million to build. And it was very stressful, extremely stressful. All my money, you’re talking about $15,000 a month. You know? It was so stressful.
And and not only that, our home. Money, money, money, money, money, money, money. Right? And that is the problem. When you put your hope in money Mhmm.
And now you’re hoping God Mhmm. You will crash. Yeah. And it’s only one way to get out of the the hole. It’s God looking up and coming up.
And all this stress caused me to make the biggest mistakes of my life, which is almost to lose Monica and to lose our kids, Geocamo , Dominic Sebastian, Francesca. They were here. Right? No. No Francesca.
Francesca was in The States, but the three boys. And at that moment, I was very, very, very angry. Angry because I only can see my point of view, my perspective, which is I undo everything. Nobody’s my wife and our kid our wife and our kids blaming them because I’m doing it for them, but they’re not asking for that. All they’re asking is that husband to be loving and to do the best that he can to provide and give him that sense of security and protection.
Right? Instead of putting a stress and getting all these things. And and you know what? I made a mistake. You know?
Oh my goodness. I was in the newspaper and all these things. And you know what? I, know, I am glad that this happened. In a sense, a way that I am thinking, I am glad because I will not be the man that I am.
I, you know, I became to grow closer to my family on a way that I trust that God has a Jeremiah twenty nine eleven says, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. But those words cannot become true if you don’t surrender and humble yourself before God. Right? He cannot come to you unless you are clean.
It doesn’t mean that you have to be free of sin
Gary Walton: and perfect. Yeah.
Alfredo Bustamante: Right. I understood that. And when I did that, I didn’t want to come to church, to be honest with you, because I was angry, I was embarrassed. And I had two choices. One is to humble yourself and trust God or continue with my pride.
Because pride is not a good thing. It’s not. Right? Unless it’s a prize for God. That you have pride because I’m a Christian and I’m getting better.
That’s a great thing. But when you do put pride because, oh, I did this or I did that, that’s not good. Be humble in the eyes of the Lord. And so I reached out to Larry Nagengast. Mhmm.
And I reached out first to him, and he has been a great mentor.
Gary Walton: Mhmm.
Alfredo Bustamante: You know? He has been able to walk by my side and to guide me and to give me the right godly perspective from his point of view. And then Jackie met with Monica. So while I’m meeting with Larry, Jackie is meeting with Monica, which is Larry’s wife, Jackie Nagengast. I think it was my third or fourth session meeting at McDonald’s with Larry.
And then he said, you’ve got to humble yourself before the Lord. You do that and God will redirect your steps. And so next day, next Sunday, was at church. I saw you. We talked.
And anyway, I am here today. God has a I know that he has a plan, but, you know, his plan is perfect, mine is not. And I know because we are humans, we tend to revert to sometimes to who we are, who we were, what we used to do because we’ve been living almost I’ve been living that way. I’m 59.
Gary Walton: It’s hard to change those habits of thinking and actions, right? Monica, it’s a full transformation for your family, full turnaround in every way. You know, just tell us about the things that God was doing in your life.
Monica Bustamante: The way that God restored us is just amazing. We have seen miracles after miracles during these three years. It’s nothing easy, no? That this probably got worse in the sense of financially and many other things. But we are together, and do things in a different way.
We pray every single day together, every night together. It’s days that are very difficult, but Hebrews 11 is a constant reminder for me, of God’s faithfulness. And our faith is much stronger than before. Some days my faith is failing because we have been praying for certain things for such a long time and it’s not happening. But God always reminds us that he is there and his plan is perfect and his time is perfect.
And we understand that now. We are not trying to fight that. I was always more willing to, but for Alfredo has been very difficult. But he, the way that he has been transformed, he has this peace, right? That God is in control, and no matter what, even if we lose everything, God is in control.
And he was the best. He won the best for us. I mean, we are just so thankful to God to Harvest, to you, to Jackie and Larry, they have become our family. We are so thankful God’s sending our way to rescue us. And to so many people, right, here.
So many people walk with Alfredo during those difficult days. God is amazing, and we are so thankful for all his goodness.
Gary Walton: Well, it’s evident in really every part of interactions with you. It’s evident in your demeanors that God has done just such an amazing thing for you. The words that you’ve described have been so powerful even today. Guys thank you for being willing to open that up and share it. When you look back on the hardest parts of your story, where do you see God’s fingerprints?
Alfredo Bustamante: All over. From the beginning. From the beginning. He chose Monica for me.
God, how amazing is that. Right? He chose Monica for me so Monica can be a part of a foundation like Peter. Right? Yeah.
The rock. Yeah. I don’t think and it’s God. Everything is God. But I am glad that God chose Monica for me to walk with me by my side in this life.
It’s a short life. You think, oh, man. I remember when I was 10, 11. Oh, I have my entire life ahead of me. I am 59.
It went bang. What? You know? And and I am glad that I’ve been able to see God rescuing me from the pit. Yeah.
I mean, bottom bottom line from the pit. Yeah. Know? And he has been always with me. I I knew that I felt it.
I grew. Actually, my father was atheist. Mhmm. My mother was Catholic, never went to church. We never talked about God.
We never prayed about it. I didn’t knew that. Right? At the age of 27, I was in the military, and I went to a service, first time, a Christian service.
Monica Bustamante: Mhmm.
Alfredo Bustamante: And I heard the word of, oh God, John three sixteen, for I give my only son for you. Right? So he can perish and you can be alive, basically.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Alfredo Bustamante: And I was like, what? So it’s nothing I need to do on my own. No. Not by works. Right?
But you have to have faith. And the thing is when you put faith and you do works, then it’s fantastic. You are aligned with his plan and his purpose. Amen. And so I thank God.
But you know what? Even though even though I have been seeing God, I will fail tomorrow. I will fail tomorrow, but you know what? It’s that moment in the crossroads when you come to make a decision. The only thing I will ask you if you listen to this is, take time to talk to God before you make a decision, before you act impulsively, you know, before you rely on your own understanding.
That’s the only take a day or before you do anything, even go to the work. If you don’t know, you know, the Bible, I recommend you to look for a church. Come to Harvest. I recommend you this church because it’s amazing. I mean, how God put Harvest.
God put Jacky Larry, Pastor Gary, Pastor Herron, Mrs. Tammy. I can go on and on and on and on, and I will never stop. And if you go and you see the journey that started in ‘2 well, it started before 2006, before I came to one, it started in 1968 when I was born. I was a mess.
I was lost. And then how God pinpointed me. Right? Because God is a God of choices. Yeah.
If it would be so easy for him, could say, Alfredo, you will be perfect. Gary, you will be perfect. Chris, you will be perfect. And you will do this. No.
He will allow you to make your own decisions. And if those decisions are aligned with God’s word, then trust me, you will be at peace.
Gary Walton: Well we end up relying on ourselves. Right. And especially when, you know, we have a lot of success in life, it becomes natural for us to rely on ourselves. It’s me. Me.
And almost always, for all of us, your story is no different than mine or anybody else’s, God has to break that out of us. Because we don’t naturally go to start relying on somebody else. You’ve to break it out of us. And when he does though, if we’ll get it right in that moment of brokenness, you used the word earlier, Alfredo, that I love, there’s a surrender and a humility that comes there that you can’t come to Jesus without that. You’ve got to have those two things and God has to bring us to those places and it’s just like resounding through your story.
We’re over time already, but let me ask you one more question. There are people that’ll be listening to this that may be going through their own crisis in faith, in marriage, in life direction. What would you say to someone who feels like their story is too broken for God to use?
Alfredo Bustamante: Well, I was there. I always believed that I am the worst, that I am not good enough for God. And it was the devil talking to me and saying, you are not good enough. You you you read your Bible, and then you go over in your car and somebody cross you, and then you vent. Mhmm.
Right? And and and you’re trying to honor God, and then you disrespect your wife. Or you’re trying to honor God, and then you have no compassion with your kids because they fail, I don’t know, a test or because they broke a glass or because they wasted money, or they didn’t do what you’re asking them to do. And I couldn’t understand at the time. And then one day, Larry, we’re talking about it and we’re reading the Word of God.
And how many times I have failed and how many times I have disappointed God constantly. Yeah. And then he goes away or he’s there as soon you surrender yourself and you humble yourself, he’s ready to open the door and to cover you with with his blessings. Amen. Right?
And so to people that are listening to this, I just tell you, it’s nothing, absolutely nothing out there that is going to be able to give you that peace that surpasses all understanding. I mean, peace that that only comes from God and how it comes from God through his word, through godly people, surrounding yourself with your with with a proper circle of influence. Right? And by going to church, it’s not a church. It’s you coming to church to be surrounded with the Holy Spirit.
Gary Walton: Amen.
Alfredo Bustamante: Right? And if you do that, if you listen out there, don’t think that you are not good enough. Don’t think that you’ll, you know, you will never will become someone that God will be proud of you. Mhmm. I mean, you look at these characters in the Bible, the apostles Peter, you know, he denied Christ three times.
He cut with a sword of the ear or somebody that came to arrest Jesus. Paul, he used to crucify and kill people, man, Christians. Yeah. Right? And I can go on.
King David, he he killed the husband of a lady because he was in love with her. And he can do so many things. And guess what? I am worse than them and God is loving me. You know what?
God is with me and I know His plan is perfect. We love our kids. All I can say, you know. Reach out to Harvest. Reach out to any of the churches that you want, but it’s only one God and that’s Jesus Christ.
I mean, I understand that you have to be respectful toward the religions, but it’s only one God. That’s the God, the only God that died for you. It’s the only God that has given his life for you and that’s Jesus Christ.
Gary Walton: Alfredo. Amen. Monica, what would you say to that?
Monica Bustamante: Yeah, there is nothing so difficult for God. Nothing so terrible that you have done in your life for God. He is ready to accept you. He is with open arms always. You just need to come with a clean heart and accept that he died for you in the cross and your sins will be forgiven.
Gary Walton: Amen. Amen. God’s been so good to you, to us together. Thank you for being willing to share your story. God’s gonna use it.
And it’s been amazing few years of watching God just change, you know, day by day as we grow in Christ. None of us are perfect.
Monica Bustamante: Not perfect. Especially when we are in soccer.
Gary Walton: Oh, no.
Monica Bustamante: We are all lower than play.
Gary Walton: But God’s doing a work. Right? He is. And and we can see it in every way. God’s changing, and, we’ll give all glory to God.
Thank you, for sharing.
Monica Bustamante: Thank you, Pastor. Thank you, Chris.
Chris Harper: And thank you for listening to Harvest Time. Of course, at this point in the program, we always wanna personally invite you again to services at Harvest Baptist Church. We meet on Sunday at 08:45AM and 10:45AM. We have Japanese and Korean translation. During that 10:45AM service, we also bring you that service live here on 88.1 FM and khmg.org.
We hope to see you this Sunday. Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.