On the roof overlooking the city during "White Night"
My Second Baptism-Karla
My First Baptism- Andreia
My first day in Portugal with Pres. and Sister Torgan and my trainer Elder Braithwaite.
Monday, October 25, 2010
October 25, 2010
Dad’s Letter:
Hey!! Nothing super exciting happened this week...we had some really good lessons with people but our numbers of people showing up for church is really bad and they have to do that in order to be baptized!! We are talking to a lot of people and hopefully we will be able to come back...most people aren’t home when we come back but we are going to continue to try and hopefully will catch them every so often! We are teaching anywhere from 15-20 lessons a week which is lower than we would like but it’s not terrible. The members here help in the lessons and do give us some references but not a ton. They love to come to lessons though which is awesome!
I am super excited for Victor!! He is going to do great!! If you see him tell him my few words of advice are first, just keep swimming; don’t let anything get him down! Second, always try to see the positive in everything and have fun!! Missionary work is supposed to be work but fun also!!
Well it sounds like I am glad I wasn´t there for that duck hunt! It doesn’t feel like its duck season already! I feel like I just barely left but I guess it is October already! It’s super weird!! I want to know why you are buying cool things and spending all this money once I leave?! The maxis is really sweet though!! Maybe you can keep up with me now! ;) Oh yesterday I was on a little division with Elder Rich and we walked past a building and there was a guy in a hunting vest carrying a shotgun in a case thing...it made me kind of trunkie. I wanted to go talk to him but he was going in an apartment and closing the door. But seeing a shotgun and hunting clothes made me want to go! Elder Rich really wants to go to BYU when he gets home to get away from his ex girlfriend...who he wrote off my second week here...but yeah so he wants to come up to BYU and he wants to go hunting and he said he will teach me how to surf and ride dirt bikes really well if we take him hunting! He is super cool probably my favorite Elder here.
I have now been in Loulé for almost 2 transfers which is 12 weeks so probably like 10 weeks now. Transfers are November 9th but we get our calls on the 8th. So if you are sending me anything probably send it super soon or wait and send it once I know if I am transferring...I sort of think I am going to be going somewhere else this transfer! I love it here and don’t want to go but I sort of feel like I will be going this transfer.
Well I hope everything this week goes super well! I will try to send pictures to mom but i donºt know if they will work!! Thanks for the support!! Love you!!
Elder Bushnell
Mom’s Letter
Olá!
Everything is going great!! Yeah mom we are eating a ton!! We can buy pretty much everything basic the same as in America...we eat a lot of normal things like pasta and rice and beans and meats and hamburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches.
It is super weird that we are all that age...I was talking with Bell about this. Ever since we were little kids we looked up to our missions...and now we are here this is the time! It’s crazy!! I can’t believe how fast the time is going! I have made it so far already!! My Portuguese is coming along well...I can basically get through any conversations if they talk slow and give me a couple minutes to think ;)
We were talking about what the world is becoming....and holy smokes its becoming super bad...I knew I was sort of sheltered growing up in Orem Utah but man I didn’t realize it was this bad out here in the world! They have advertisement things for coats and like cold weather stuff but the girl will be in like booty shorts or something. Its super retarded and doesn’t make any sense! I don’t see why the world has to be going this bad! I am not raising kids outside of Utah Valley I decided!
Taking to people is a lot easier out here than I thought it would be...I have come to the realization that no matter what people are going to look at us funny and think we are weird so we might as well pretend it’s not weird and talk to them like normal. There have been some times when we see someone we want to talk to clear down the road and we like book it after them and stop them to contact them. My favorite is when you see someone you feel is an elect but they are talking to other people....I now just run into the group and start taking and they all look at us super funny but they can’t say they are busy cause they want to continue taking to their friends so they are nicer but it is awkward!
Thanks for all you do for me mommy!! Just think like another 2 months and I get to talk on the phone to you guys!! Thanks for sending me things!! I love you!! I am including some random pictures and will mail my card home this week with lots!! Love you!!
Elder Bushnell
Hey!! Nothing super exciting happened this week...we had some really good lessons with people but our numbers of people showing up for church is really bad and they have to do that in order to be baptized!! We are talking to a lot of people and hopefully we will be able to come back...most people aren’t home when we come back but we are going to continue to try and hopefully will catch them every so often! We are teaching anywhere from 15-20 lessons a week which is lower than we would like but it’s not terrible. The members here help in the lessons and do give us some references but not a ton. They love to come to lessons though which is awesome!
I am super excited for Victor!! He is going to do great!! If you see him tell him my few words of advice are first, just keep swimming; don’t let anything get him down! Second, always try to see the positive in everything and have fun!! Missionary work is supposed to be work but fun also!!
Well it sounds like I am glad I wasn´t there for that duck hunt! It doesn’t feel like its duck season already! I feel like I just barely left but I guess it is October already! It’s super weird!! I want to know why you are buying cool things and spending all this money once I leave?! The maxis is really sweet though!! Maybe you can keep up with me now! ;) Oh yesterday I was on a little division with Elder Rich and we walked past a building and there was a guy in a hunting vest carrying a shotgun in a case thing...it made me kind of trunkie. I wanted to go talk to him but he was going in an apartment and closing the door. But seeing a shotgun and hunting clothes made me want to go! Elder Rich really wants to go to BYU when he gets home to get away from his ex girlfriend...who he wrote off my second week here...but yeah so he wants to come up to BYU and he wants to go hunting and he said he will teach me how to surf and ride dirt bikes really well if we take him hunting! He is super cool probably my favorite Elder here.
I have now been in Loulé for almost 2 transfers which is 12 weeks so probably like 10 weeks now. Transfers are November 9th but we get our calls on the 8th. So if you are sending me anything probably send it super soon or wait and send it once I know if I am transferring...I sort of think I am going to be going somewhere else this transfer! I love it here and don’t want to go but I sort of feel like I will be going this transfer.
Well I hope everything this week goes super well! I will try to send pictures to mom but i donºt know if they will work!! Thanks for the support!! Love you!!
Elder Bushnell
Mom’s Letter
Olá!
Everything is going great!! Yeah mom we are eating a ton!! We can buy pretty much everything basic the same as in America...we eat a lot of normal things like pasta and rice and beans and meats and hamburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches.
It is super weird that we are all that age...I was talking with Bell about this. Ever since we were little kids we looked up to our missions...and now we are here this is the time! It’s crazy!! I can’t believe how fast the time is going! I have made it so far already!! My Portuguese is coming along well...I can basically get through any conversations if they talk slow and give me a couple minutes to think ;)
We were talking about what the world is becoming....and holy smokes its becoming super bad...I knew I was sort of sheltered growing up in Orem Utah but man I didn’t realize it was this bad out here in the world! They have advertisement things for coats and like cold weather stuff but the girl will be in like booty shorts or something. Its super retarded and doesn’t make any sense! I don’t see why the world has to be going this bad! I am not raising kids outside of Utah Valley I decided!
Taking to people is a lot easier out here than I thought it would be...I have come to the realization that no matter what people are going to look at us funny and think we are weird so we might as well pretend it’s not weird and talk to them like normal. There have been some times when we see someone we want to talk to clear down the road and we like book it after them and stop them to contact them. My favorite is when you see someone you feel is an elect but they are talking to other people....I now just run into the group and start taking and they all look at us super funny but they can’t say they are busy cause they want to continue taking to their friends so they are nicer but it is awkward!
Thanks for all you do for me mommy!! Just think like another 2 months and I get to talk on the phone to you guys!! Thanks for sending me things!! I love you!! I am including some random pictures and will mail my card home this week with lots!! Love you!!
Elder Bushnell
Monday, October 18, 2010
October 18, 2010
Hey!!
I haven't tried on the sweater but I am pretty sure that it will fit! Its not overly cold like I still wear short sleeve shirts and stuff! Just some days it's kinda cold at night but normally it really isn't bad at all!
Sounds like you had a super super fun weekend! I am sorta jealous but not really bad. The weather here changes a lot just like it does at home and it never ever snows so its always fairly warm...so far. I have heard that it gets SUPER cold because they don't have any heaters really so its hard to get warm. The shower is like the only place that is warm. Haha I am surprised Ellie doesn't wuss out of the bike!
I don't know if they have flu shots....I sorta dont think so and if they do they are probably SUPER expensive!! Kinda like contact solution...one bottle like the size of the costco ones is like 15 dollars. But I have some now so no worries!
The address thing didnºt cause any mix ups really it was just funny cause every package had a different address and neither of them were correct! It made me laugh so I thought I would correct it this time!
SO MY ADDRESS IS:
Rua Ramaholho Oriigao
Bloco B2 2Dto
Loule
8400-618 Loule
Portugal
Umm the elders and I have all started to create Christmas and just random package lists...basically things we miss that would be amazing to have. So here is what I have in my list so far...I don't need these things immediately or anything just for package ideas!
Wheat thins, sweet pics of random things to tape to my planner, comics, Dr. Pepper, Mike & Ikes, Nut Rolls, Skittles, Candy Corn, Hunting Magazines(I would love you forever), Mac & Cheese, Swedish Fish, Tide to go Pens, Simple receipes, Licorice, Fast Breaks.
Now you have some random ideas of things to stuff in packages to fill the space or whatever. I need ideas for christmas presents for the family!!
Oh some cool news...today is my half bday! I am now 19.5 which is super weird!! I am so so old!!
The work this week was ALL procura which is searching in english i think. We had 31 received contacts which is 6 less than our whole district had last week! We talked to so many people! Lets say that 1 in 3 people gave us their name and contact info and said we could return...which is being way generous but just for fun...that means we talked to over 90 people this week!!
We have painted a couple of houses and things but not very many full on huge service projects...we ask everyone if we can do anyting though. Elder Rich is from Torrance, California and he is almost exactly one year ahead of me! He went in the mtc June 6th or something.
So something cool this last weekend was the Portugal Masters of the European Tour and they played it in Vilamoura which is in my area so I saw like tons of tourists and basically almost went to the tournament but we didn't have time and it wasn't on p-day...I wanted to so bad...We rode a bus through the city and saw all the crazy signs and people on the course in masses!! It was super cool I got all excited!!! But no one cool was playing in it...I was sad.
Thank you!! Love you guys!!!
Elder Bushnell
I haven't tried on the sweater but I am pretty sure that it will fit! Its not overly cold like I still wear short sleeve shirts and stuff! Just some days it's kinda cold at night but normally it really isn't bad at all!
Sounds like you had a super super fun weekend! I am sorta jealous but not really bad. The weather here changes a lot just like it does at home and it never ever snows so its always fairly warm...so far. I have heard that it gets SUPER cold because they don't have any heaters really so its hard to get warm. The shower is like the only place that is warm. Haha I am surprised Ellie doesn't wuss out of the bike!
I don't know if they have flu shots....I sorta dont think so and if they do they are probably SUPER expensive!! Kinda like contact solution...one bottle like the size of the costco ones is like 15 dollars. But I have some now so no worries!
The address thing didnºt cause any mix ups really it was just funny cause every package had a different address and neither of them were correct! It made me laugh so I thought I would correct it this time!
SO MY ADDRESS IS:
Rua Ramaholho Oriigao
Bloco B2 2Dto
Loule
8400-618 Loule
Portugal
Umm the elders and I have all started to create Christmas and just random package lists...basically things we miss that would be amazing to have. So here is what I have in my list so far...I don't need these things immediately or anything just for package ideas!
Wheat thins, sweet pics of random things to tape to my planner, comics, Dr. Pepper, Mike & Ikes, Nut Rolls, Skittles, Candy Corn, Hunting Magazines(I would love you forever), Mac & Cheese, Swedish Fish, Tide to go Pens, Simple receipes, Licorice, Fast Breaks.
Now you have some random ideas of things to stuff in packages to fill the space or whatever. I need ideas for christmas presents for the family!!
Oh some cool news...today is my half bday! I am now 19.5 which is super weird!! I am so so old!!
The work this week was ALL procura which is searching in english i think. We had 31 received contacts which is 6 less than our whole district had last week! We talked to so many people! Lets say that 1 in 3 people gave us their name and contact info and said we could return...which is being way generous but just for fun...that means we talked to over 90 people this week!!
We have painted a couple of houses and things but not very many full on huge service projects...we ask everyone if we can do anyting though. Elder Rich is from Torrance, California and he is almost exactly one year ahead of me! He went in the mtc June 6th or something.
So something cool this last weekend was the Portugal Masters of the European Tour and they played it in Vilamoura which is in my area so I saw like tons of tourists and basically almost went to the tournament but we didn't have time and it wasn't on p-day...I wanted to so bad...We rode a bus through the city and saw all the crazy signs and people on the course in masses!! It was super cool I got all excited!!! But no one cool was playing in it...I was sad.
Thank you!! Love you guys!!!
Elder Bushnell
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
October 11, 2010
Olá!!
It was fast Sunday here as well and everyone talked about conference and how we are getting a temple! I will look for the package...the last one took like 13 days so i probably will get it in a few more days. Umm you could stick a harmonica in if you can find one! Also one thing that Elder Rich´s family does is they send him the Sunday comics in a letter every couple weeks, it gives a good break to read those.
Glad to hear that BYU is getting rolling...hopefully!
Elder Bell and I are doing alright it is not terrible (the language) when in person but on the phone we are awful cause our phone is super quiet...we are asking for a new one in the next inventory thing. Unfortunately Marco is not on track because he didn't come to church yesterday...he went to Lisbon to visit his mom. He has to go twice before he can be baptized. We are teaching Carlos but he is always working and hard to talk to but we have a member that will give us rides to visit his house and stuff.
Things are going great! It has rained super hard the past few days which makes it hard to do work cause no one is in the streets and everyone just goes inside and doesn't want to talk to anyone. It is rough but it´s not terrible! Its weird now that the real fall season has hit and its started to get colder how few people are out and about! I didn't realize in the summer how many people were tourists and were only here for the weather! I am super excited to come back with you guys! I think maybe it would be better if i came home then we went back for the temple dedication or open house...i really want to see it!
Carter is getting huge that is absolutely crazy!! He is going to be giant when i get home! He better remember me!!
For lunch usually we go back to our house and make something but we have random places around town that sometimes we stop at! They have super yummy things called tostas that are basically giant grilled cheese and meat sandwich! They are like 2 euros and are HUGE! as missionaries we eat a lot of those! And as for laundry we have a washing machine in our house and so we just throw it in when we run low on clothes and then hang it up on the rack thing on our balcony thingy.
I will send pictures home next pday once I get the memory card all ready and backed up and stuff! I tried today but I need my camera cable which I left in the house cause apparently this adapter thing doesn't work and they don't have memory card slots in these computers!
Love you guys lots!!
Elder Bushnell
It was fast Sunday here as well and everyone talked about conference and how we are getting a temple! I will look for the package...the last one took like 13 days so i probably will get it in a few more days. Umm you could stick a harmonica in if you can find one! Also one thing that Elder Rich´s family does is they send him the Sunday comics in a letter every couple weeks, it gives a good break to read those.
Glad to hear that BYU is getting rolling...hopefully!
Elder Bell and I are doing alright it is not terrible (the language) when in person but on the phone we are awful cause our phone is super quiet...we are asking for a new one in the next inventory thing. Unfortunately Marco is not on track because he didn't come to church yesterday...he went to Lisbon to visit his mom. He has to go twice before he can be baptized. We are teaching Carlos but he is always working and hard to talk to but we have a member that will give us rides to visit his house and stuff.
Things are going great! It has rained super hard the past few days which makes it hard to do work cause no one is in the streets and everyone just goes inside and doesn't want to talk to anyone. It is rough but it´s not terrible! Its weird now that the real fall season has hit and its started to get colder how few people are out and about! I didn't realize in the summer how many people were tourists and were only here for the weather! I am super excited to come back with you guys! I think maybe it would be better if i came home then we went back for the temple dedication or open house...i really want to see it!
Carter is getting huge that is absolutely crazy!! He is going to be giant when i get home! He better remember me!!
For lunch usually we go back to our house and make something but we have random places around town that sometimes we stop at! They have super yummy things called tostas that are basically giant grilled cheese and meat sandwich! They are like 2 euros and are HUGE! as missionaries we eat a lot of those! And as for laundry we have a washing machine in our house and so we just throw it in when we run low on clothes and then hang it up on the rack thing on our balcony thingy.
I will send pictures home next pday once I get the memory card all ready and backed up and stuff! I tried today but I need my camera cable which I left in the house cause apparently this adapter thing doesn't work and they don't have memory card slots in these computers!
Love you guys lots!!
Elder Bushnell
Monday, October 4, 2010
October 4, 2010
Hey (Dad's Letter)
Our bus was late so we didn't get to hear the announcement but when we got to the chapel everyone was freaking out and was super super excited!! :) All the Elders were stoked!! The members were super happy and it was just a good day!
I enjoyed hearing the elk hunting story it is way cool and I tell my hunting stories over and over again out here I am starting to feel like Ned but I have so many stories! That is exactly why we hunt though...we make great memories and have fantastic stories!
Elder Bell and I are going to do just great! We just need to find some good investigators and the work will really pick up and get going. We can make it through lessons and everything just fine. I can tell my Portuguese is going to improve so much this transfer its going to be awesome! We are great buddies and for pday today we are going to try to hit a bucket of balls at some course....we just don't know where yet!
It is crazy how fast time has flown since the first time i went with you to priesthood. i remember that day and how i didn't want to go i wanted to play with my friends but i went and i really enjoyed it! It was super hard to watch conference this year on Sunday cause we watched them live and I thought abut how you guys sitting on our couches making french toast! It made me a little trunky!
I really enjoyed conference this year and i feel like I took the best notes and got the most out of this conference than any other! It was amazing to see how many of the talks were on making right choices and following the spirit! The whole conference was about how important using our agency for good is!! i liked it a lot! Will you send me an ensign when the come out? Do we still get an extra one? We got 2 for a long time.
Love you!!
Mom's Letter:
Yeah we are all super duper excited that we will get a temple!! Some of the other people here said it takes about 2+ years to build a temple so maybe instead of coming to pick me up I could come home then go back for the temple dedication with you guys? Just a thought. The church has had the property for a long time they were just waiting to announce it and start work. I am telling people that the girl I baptized was the one they had been waiting for...jk!
We did get to watch all of conference. We watched one session on Saturday then we watched priesthood and Saturday afternoon on Sunday morning then watched the 2 Sunday sessions live. Basically we watched all of them in a jumbled order so that they would all fit and work out. But I missed the first couple in the first session. It was sad cause that was when Holland (my favorite spoke).
Did you find a nice cabin in wallsburg for us? I like wallsburg a lot! that road is really bumpy and it is always worse for the passenger! i didnºt think it was super bad but i drove the jeep up it so i knew what was coming and could roll with it better but it jumbled dad up pretty well when we went! my jeep was probably worse than our new truck is, especially since that truck is the fx4 model it has upgraded suspension and all that good stuff!
We haven't really done a lot of work because of conference but Bell and I are going to be great i already told dad. As for our investigators....Marco still wants to be baptized and is pushing for the 17th so we are crossing our fingers! Carlos is working a ton and haven't met with him for a little bit but we are going to this week and we will see if it continues to improve! I think he will be baptized!
Bell is from Denver by the way.
The weather here has been super rainy for the past couple days but not enough to make me wear a jacket cause it comes and goes and yesterday it felt like a mister it was weird it was like rain from every direction! It felt super good though!
The warheads aren't super important they are just more for comedy cause Portugal has no sour candy and when you give them to people they freak out! Its super funny! You can send it without them its not a huge deal! Let me know when the package gets there! I hope Dad and Allison like their presents when they come!
Love you lots! Miss you!
Our bus was late so we didn't get to hear the announcement but when we got to the chapel everyone was freaking out and was super super excited!! :) All the Elders were stoked!! The members were super happy and it was just a good day!
I enjoyed hearing the elk hunting story it is way cool and I tell my hunting stories over and over again out here I am starting to feel like Ned but I have so many stories! That is exactly why we hunt though...we make great memories and have fantastic stories!
Elder Bell and I are going to do just great! We just need to find some good investigators and the work will really pick up and get going. We can make it through lessons and everything just fine. I can tell my Portuguese is going to improve so much this transfer its going to be awesome! We are great buddies and for pday today we are going to try to hit a bucket of balls at some course....we just don't know where yet!
It is crazy how fast time has flown since the first time i went with you to priesthood. i remember that day and how i didn't want to go i wanted to play with my friends but i went and i really enjoyed it! It was super hard to watch conference this year on Sunday cause we watched them live and I thought abut how you guys sitting on our couches making french toast! It made me a little trunky!
I really enjoyed conference this year and i feel like I took the best notes and got the most out of this conference than any other! It was amazing to see how many of the talks were on making right choices and following the spirit! The whole conference was about how important using our agency for good is!! i liked it a lot! Will you send me an ensign when the come out? Do we still get an extra one? We got 2 for a long time.
Love you!!
Mom's Letter:
Yeah we are all super duper excited that we will get a temple!! Some of the other people here said it takes about 2+ years to build a temple so maybe instead of coming to pick me up I could come home then go back for the temple dedication with you guys? Just a thought. The church has had the property for a long time they were just waiting to announce it and start work. I am telling people that the girl I baptized was the one they had been waiting for...jk!
We did get to watch all of conference. We watched one session on Saturday then we watched priesthood and Saturday afternoon on Sunday morning then watched the 2 Sunday sessions live. Basically we watched all of them in a jumbled order so that they would all fit and work out. But I missed the first couple in the first session. It was sad cause that was when Holland (my favorite spoke).
Did you find a nice cabin in wallsburg for us? I like wallsburg a lot! that road is really bumpy and it is always worse for the passenger! i didnºt think it was super bad but i drove the jeep up it so i knew what was coming and could roll with it better but it jumbled dad up pretty well when we went! my jeep was probably worse than our new truck is, especially since that truck is the fx4 model it has upgraded suspension and all that good stuff!
We haven't really done a lot of work because of conference but Bell and I are going to be great i already told dad. As for our investigators....Marco still wants to be baptized and is pushing for the 17th so we are crossing our fingers! Carlos is working a ton and haven't met with him for a little bit but we are going to this week and we will see if it continues to improve! I think he will be baptized!
Bell is from Denver by the way.
The weather here has been super rainy for the past couple days but not enough to make me wear a jacket cause it comes and goes and yesterday it felt like a mister it was weird it was like rain from every direction! It felt super good though!
The warheads aren't super important they are just more for comedy cause Portugal has no sour candy and when you give them to people they freak out! Its super funny! You can send it without them its not a huge deal! Let me know when the package gets there! I hope Dad and Allison like their presents when they come!
Love you lots! Miss you!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
October 3, 2010
Hey family just letting you know I stayed another transfer here but my new comp is Elder Bell. He was with me in the MTC! So we are both lost!
Love you all!!
Elder Bushnell
Love you all!!
Elder Bushnell
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