7.27.11

Hey Mommy!!!

I am in Vila Nova de Gaia....it is up north..across the river from Porto. It is super crazy! It is basically a completely different country!! It is super confusing...it has TONS of tiny little roads and instead of big buildings like in the south it has lots more little houses. It is a giant area and it is covered with houses. We use buses and trains like everyday several times a day! I got up here by train which was like 3 hours....one of the longest rides ever! I did travel here all alone which was super hard with 3 giant bags. It is a cool area though. It is super big. It cover half of Gaia and they all these little cities down to Esmoriz. There are multiple elders in Gaia but we live alone. The northern part hasn't been as focused on baptisms. I had to like completely change my comps way of looking at work, he just was used to passing less actives or stuff like that. We changed that and now are finding some new people to baptize.

The apartment has been in the mission for a long time and it has a lot of extra junk but it is not bad. My bed has like no springs and it might kill my back by the end of this transfer but i am going to try a different mattress. My companion is Elder Barr who is from West Virginia...he is super funny. He is really into music...he is pretty cool. I am still district leader but its just over 2 other elders...so a district of 4...which is tiny. The ward here is pretty strong...nothing like the ward in Setúbal but it has about 70 people every week. I think there are like 150 missionaries now. We have some contacts that I inherited but most have some big problem like needing to get married or stuff so we are finding new ones. The Ward is pretty strong...they are really good about helping us in lessons. It is really cool cause they are always willing to come and bear testimony.

My address here is;

Rua Vereda Espírito Santo
Nº12 2º Esq. Tras.
4400-451 Vila Nova de Gaia, Canidelo
Portugal

Sounds like you have been having a super crazy week and like it only is going to get worse! With everyone coming up and all. That is super cool that Melissa and Wade went to Martins Cove and that she is getting baptized in the Sweetwater? Did she just really want to get baptized there or how did that work out?

I am working on the BofM in Portuguese and actually a lot of things seem to make a lot more sense cause it doesn't use those old words that we rarely use.

Well we are going to have to figure out a better place to do internet cause this one is not working very well but i love you all! Everything is going great!

I am still getting used to this area and everything....something weird is that they speak basically a different language. it is Portuguese but they open their mouths more and stress funny parts of the words and stuff...also everyone up here talks like 10 times faster than in the south. It is kinda tricky!

Well Love you!!

Elder Bushnell

7.18.11 Dad's letter

Hey daddio!!

We are teaching some awesome families this week from Cape Verde in Africa...the 3 kids came to church it was super awesome! umm other quotes from president one thing he said that was super weird to me was when he said "it is 100 times harder for a person to accept the gospel in the next life than in this life" i guess he was quoting that from Joseph Fielding Smith. We get a lot of members who say they are scared or don´t think their family members will accept here so they will wait till they die and baptize them after. President destroyed them with that quote.

It is super crazy how fast time is going...i will be going to Gaia which is was up north and i don´t know anything about it! I just know its cool looking. I already feel like i am getting near the end of my mission! it is super crazy fast!

As for Tyler, August 17 is super soon man! wow he is going to be great....it will be shock going into the mtc then from the mtc to the field, but he just has gotta hang on tight!

This next week will be funny of adventures i feel like! I am excited but kinda nervous!

Love you!
Elder Bushnell

7.18.11 Mom's Letter

Hey Mommy!!

This week was pretty good. It was rough because I knew it was going to be my last transfer here in Setubal. I think I want to go to church here when you come pick me up! It is a great ward and the recent converts are doing great!! That is exciting that Matt is back and that everything is going to be the same...I doubt it will all be the exact same. I talked to Chris and he was saying how he can understand the crazy accents and stuff but hasn´t really been picking it up very much. I don´t think i have an accent but I do forget a lot of Engish words and speak kinda a funny English/Portuguese mix. It will be funny when I get home! haah Yesterday I was talking to my comp in English and I conjugated the English verbs into Portuguese without thinking....i was saying how the kids probably think we ``speakamos`` funny. It was great.

I got a email from bishop and it sounded like Youth Conference was super great! I haven´t ever been to the cemetery and i think it would be cool. I have the Joseph Smith movie on my jump drive to watch on PDAYS it is a super good one! That sounds super awesome! The mission feels like a break from life so when people ask how old I am i always have to think for a long time about it to respond and sometimes when people say oh i am 18 i always think...neat so am i....wait no i am not....silly me.

I read that talk just last week it comes from the talk in the ensign!! It is a really good talk!

Oh so cool think....i didn´t tell you...i am getting TRANSFERED to Vila Nova de Gaia i think....it is still not confirmed but that is the strong rumor. My comp will stay and the irmas will be pink washed...one is going to the north the other to the açores. Crazy stuff!!

Thanks for everything mommy!!! I will do some pushups but i want good bands cause i think i might start P90X...look it up on google if you want to know more about it!! :)

Love you mommy!!

Elder Bushnell

7.4.11

Hey!!

It is still pretty hot but its funny hear cause its hot one day and rains the next...it is still hot but like yesterday wasn´t sunny...just hot and overcast and humid. Its weird. Have they made those fireworks legal just for this year or forever now? That is super cool that they are legal now!! haha i am sorta jealous...of course the year i am gone they become legal. Next year i will be home though its all good!

That is cool that you guys are going out to Vernon Reservoir is there a reason you picked there? Where does your elk area include? I was talking to Sister Morrisons brother yesterday cause she ended her mission so part of her family came and he is a big hunter and he was telling me he did some elk hunting in utah and shot a fairly good sized 5x5 with his bow. It was nice to talk to someone else who really understands the hunting language...it really is like its own language...i was talking to him and he was saying how he wants to shoot antelope but doesn´t have any idea how to hunt them...he has tried with a blind on water and has tried with the decoy walking up and everything...even with a rifle he can´t seem to get close enough to a big enough one to shoot. It made me laugh...then i told him about the last one i shot...15.5 inches and he was like "How the crap did you get even within 300 yards of one that big" I guess he has seen some big ones but they are always running a million miles and hour from a million miles away. He said he hunted more up north western wyoming.

Ailton is still with his dad...he gets back today or tomorrow. Debora´s dad has started being a problem but he will come to church next sunday to see if it is something he really wants his daughter to be doing.

Will you send a new cool journal with the next package if it fits? Mine is almost full.

Was yesterday fast Sunday for you? That is a super cool story!! I like hearing cool stories like that! I have heard a few like that. District meeting was super easy....we have a checklist we got from president so every companionship fills it out and gives them to me so then we just talk about how to improve some of the lower numbers on the lists. Then we normal get training from president that i have to share...then we make goals and it ends..not anything super hard. The missions are now offically combined...President Torgan in is the North right now giving trainings and getting everything prepared for transfers...which are on the 18th. i think.

That is super cool about Kyle and Victor. I hope Aaron gets his butt in gear and goes...he still has some time but he better do it...it would change him so much! It is weird that Matt finished this week...does that make me second on the list to come home? That is weird!!!!!! I am not exited at all to have to give another talk in English...i wish it could be in Portuguese...my English is getting super bad while i am out here.

I am feeling pretty good...its getting hot and i am starting to get some chaffing, heat rash stuff. I also have a cough that won´t go away but i am feeling good other that that! I am eating really well! We have been eating with lots of members recently! My comp and I get along great i believe...he hasn´t made me want to punch him and he hasn´t punched me yet..except when we see yellow cars...or smart cars. It is a game we play.

Thanks for everything !! Love you!

Elder Bushnell

6.26.11

Hey from hot and sunny PORTUGAL!!

It was like 104 yesterday here and it was also like 100 percent humidity...super duper hot! This last week was a battle and unfortunately we were unable to win..the irmas had 3 baptisms though. I got to perform 1 for a little girl that is 8...she is the sister of a young man in the ward and he isn´t old enough to baptize her yet. But the mom was there and she loved it...she cried through it all and she will try to do everything she can to get baptized. She wants her son to baptize her! But we are talking to a girl named Deborah who should be baptized here soon. She is progressing really well. We just need to talk to her parents and get permission to baptize her. But they are cool so it should be good. She is 16 and lived in England for 4 years so she speaks English really well.

Ailton was at his dads this weekend so he wasn´t able to come to church.

Haha some members have ipads here and they all have cool cases with keyboards on them...they all use them during sacrament meeting...its a great distraction!

Sounds like the Halm´s have had a super crazy weekend! That is weird that Jackson and Talia are sealed now. Its weird how fast life changes. I am sure they can make it just fine as long as they keep doing what the gospel teaches. Wow that sounds like an intense job he has...i thought he was working at the paint store...but cool. haha i am sure dad wasn´t any too mad you were going to be gone for so long...he and Ned are probably goofing off while you are gone!

I did get the package and the shirt seems to work just great...its kinda long but that just means it will never come untucked. also i will have funnier sleeve tan lines cause the sleeves go all the way to my elbow but the collar seems to be about right. You can go ahead and send the other one...it was just late because of the holidays...this time of the year is called "santos populares" or in English i think that is like famous saints...and they have TONS of holidays celebrating like every saint that ever lived....it is super catholic and weird.

I will send the memory card with pictures that I have. It's not really filled up but i do need to send some home to you guys! We are like in the middle of transfers so i don´t know exactly when it is that we will have transfers...the last ones were the 6th of June so 6 weeks after that...whenever that is. Pres. Torgan takes over the other mission on the 1st...so yeah in a few days.They are going to have a 9 week transfer then be transferred with us on the next one...so I probably am going up north somewhere. Thanks a bunch for all the prayers mom!! I know you pray for me a lot!

Love you!!

Elder Bushnell

p.s. Something super funny...there is a new elder in my mission named Elder Quilter...he is from Orem, but closer to Lindon....he knows and hung out with Brittany and Tiffany...i guess they met at some hike or something? Then he was going to Dixie when they were down there as well...weird huh!!!? Super small world.

6.20.11

Hey!!

This week was super crazy!! It has calmed way down now that Elder Bauman knows what is going on and where he is and stuff. We had Ailton marked for Sunday but he didn´t come to church. Actually this week was stake conference so we got to hear from Pres. Torgan and from Elder Teixeira (70) and Elder Boom? (70) I don´t know how to spell his name but they all gave great talks. We had a bus leave our church at 8:45 and none of our investigators were able to wake up or something...it was super lame. We had no one investigators but we had our recent converts. It was a supoer great conference! We have found some other people that we need to pass again to see if they have been keeping our commitments we left. We will see! A few seem to have a lot of potential

That is awesome that Shane got married. Wow the Kellems are going to Kenya? That is super cool...how long are they serving? I heard the church changed the policy and now they can choose to serve how long they want?

I am super happy for Jackson and Talia.

I feel like the first year went really quick...everyone says now that I can handle Portuguese time goes even faster!

Haha Ellie is a goofball!! The world is changing sooo fast...when i have kids i will tell them i lived before the iphone and they will think of me the same way i think of you and dad....older than dirt! ;) tell Ellie i miss her and love her too!

Love you mommy!!!

Elder Bushnell

p.s. i still haven´t seen the package...i don´t know what happened to it!