4.25.11

Hey Happy Easter...a little late!!

Easter was actually really good...i had to speak in church as well!! I just had to bear my testimony on our Savior...and i couldn´t take more than 5 minutes...which was fine by me!! It wasn´t bad! haha talking in church isn´t ever really aweful...its just the stress before!

Hahah we didn´t do anything cool at all! okay that was a lie. We made t-shirts for our district...i will send you a picture. The sisters made stencils of our faces and we painted them with spray paint can. Just had a barbecue and then made shirts then went back to work...not too bad! haha thanks!!

We are surviving the bugs...also i am surviving my companion. This week was super good...sorta...we had some hard times but we are super stoked cause we found some good people. We had one experience that was super cool! We were trying to get this kid to come to a movie night but he slacked off and couldn´t come so as we walked out of the building I started talking to some random lady that was smoking outside the front door of the apartment building. I started talking about the weather and then it slowly turned into the gospel and she told us her entire life and all her problems and then we asked if we could offer a prayer right there. Which we did and it was great my companion offered it and he asked to bless like everything in her life. The spirit was super strong at the end everyone was crying and she was super set on coming to church on Sunday. So Sunday morning we picked her up and took her to church. She cried through all of sacrament meeting and then she bore her testimony about how it was God that placed us in her path this week. She is so grateful for us and how she knows we are there to bless and change her life...it was super cool!

Thanks for the birthday wishes!! This year I have grown more than I ever have. I have learned a new language; most mostly I have become closer to our Savior and Redeemer. I can now officially say without any doubts...that I know what Christ did specifically for me. I may not be able to comprehend the pain he went through but I can say that I know this church is true. That is something that NO ONE will ever be able to take away from me.

He lives, He loves us, and He is constantly wiping away our sins as long as we are following His gospel and repenting of our sins!! It is something amazing to me...I love it!

No way Austin is engaged!!!? That is crazy!! I can´t believe that!! haha I am glad he listened to the council of the prophets and is getting married.

Is tyler super excited to go? I am super excited for him! I heard from Allison that she wants to be a EFY counselor but i don´t know if it will happen or not. I think it would be super fun to do that when I go home!

haha I knew you would be super excited to talk to me this mothers day!! I am super excited as well!! The phones stay in the area but every companionship has one! I may be able to skyp!

Thank mom!! Love you!!

Elder Bushnell

4.18.11

Hey Mommy!!!

Thanks for the birthday wishes and for the packages!! I really appreciate it! :) It is weird to be out here for my birthday...no worries the sister missionaries in our district called nice and early to sing me happy birthday in a funny mix of english, portuguese, and who knows what else...i was laughing super hard.

This week unfortunately was probably the worst one of my mission...just lots of lessons that fell through and lots of other crazy sad things! Our numbers were super duper low so last night was super depressing when we counted them up. Oh well...always next week! Our investigators all seem to be falling through except Elinor she is still progressing very well. We did have one experience that is super duper cool and is stuck in my head right now. We were knocking doors and we knocked this pretty nice house and we said we are disciples of Jesus Christ and would like to say a prayer to bless you and your family. Well he let us in and was like I would like to offer a prayer right after you guys as well. So we were like awesome, that sounds great. So my comp prayed and then he prayed. After that we left a pamphlet of the restoration and he was like hold on I want to give you guys a book also. He goes back into his house and comes out with 2 books from the seventh day Adventist church...he opened inside the cover and pointed to a guy named "enoch" in English and said that was him. He is the director for the 7th day Adventist church in all of the Portugal area! It was super crazy!! Ellen White....the exmormon wrote and did the art for this book.

We didn´t get a bug bomb but we sprayed other stuff and it seems to be working very well! Transfers are next week so we will see what happens then decide!

I got the package thank you very much!! :) I will try to find something to spend the money on...we are thinking about going golfing today but probably won´t happen cause its far away and expensive. haha sounds like you guys had some good time down there in the sun! :)

Thanks for the birthday wishes!! Love you!!

Elder Bushnell

p.s. transfers are next week so hold off on sending anything for a little bit!

4.4.11 Pictures

4.4.11

Hey Mommy!!

Conference was super duper cool but as the 52,250 missionaries were watching it was kinda lame that all they talked about was marriage!! It was super weird for us...we laughed everytime they brought up getting married soon cause we still have a mission to serve! It was a lot about marriage...it was a good conference though! We got to watch all the sessions and in English so it was great! I liked it a lot! It will be better to read...so if we get the Ensign son will you send me one? I read every conference talk from the last one and marked it up. I really have learned to love conference!! We are super close to the church...it is uphill but its close.

We are still in the gross apartment which is not super gross now...cause we cleaned a lot of it but its just the bed bugs and fleas that are super annoying! I am super sick of them! We are going to wipe them out today probably with a bug bomb.We are hoping to move here soon--like this week...we aren't sure still but I am getting eaten by fleas. I hate fleas!!!

We don´t get very many referrals from the internet...most are from friends and family of members or through phone calls to the office from our cards.

It is weird that i will only have 2 more conferences...its going super fast! Tell Tyler to hang in there his mission call will come and it will completely change his life...I call tell it is completely changing mine!

I am sorta glad i am not home for your spring house cleaning kick...I don't like those very much.

I did notice that you guys had snow on Sunday, we decided it had to have snowed overnight. that is super crazy cause its like 75 and sunny here...like normally! :)

It is super weird that spring break is coming up so super fast! it is ridiculous how fast time really is going!!

I really liked conference a lot and i hope you guys all learned something!! I love you!!

We are still in the gross apartment which is not super gross now...cause we cleaned a lot of it but its just the bed bugs and fleas that are super annoying! I am super sick of them! we are going to wipe them out today probably with a bug bomb.

The lady from venezuela is still not baptized...she is thinking she needs more time to study and learn it all first...which she can´t do if she doesn´t have the spirit to teach it to her...she won´t ever really understand it all...she is just kinda stubborn. She will be baptized its just a matter of when.



Elder Bushnell