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