8.29.11

It wasn´t a super crazy baptism it went fairly well...with colder water but the ocean water here is super cold so she was fine. Almost all of the chapels have fonts. A few in the Algarve don´t have it but they aren´t full buildings owned by the church...they just rent out the bottom floor or something like that.

As for Tyler...the MTC is a super hard place. I am fairly sure that he will have a few more hard times but he will pull through!! He just needs to learn as fast as you can to pray for everything and anything that is bugging him....i think the whole purpose of the MTC is to bring you to a point of cracking so you learn for yourself that the Lord lives and loves us and DOES answer prayers...He is the only one that can help when you are in there.

I still haven´t heard anything about transfers yet...i hope we get our call here soon cause my comp is freaking out...i am fairly sure i will stay but i could very easily move or something wierd could happen...if i was training i think i would know by now but i am not really sure. The northern part of the mission has areas that are really doing great and others that are really struggling....it will take more that just good missionaries to move this part of the country...the wards are super messed up...the bishoprics are struggling and there have been a lot of interviews happening trying to get things turned around but it will take a little bit.

I will try to get back around to send an email when i know for sure! We left really early this morning to help a family move to England so i haven´t been home to see if the package came yet...i bet it came today. The workouts slacked a little this last week cause we were always super busy and i had to write a talk for church and do 4 interviews and assist a baptism....it was a super crazy!

Church this week was good...i had to talk..we had a member that basically was having a heart attack..we had to give her a blessing in the foyer of the church during sacrament meeting...she is fine now i think. We had 3 people in church....which wasn´t great. We are passing and finding new investigators a lot.

I love you lots!

Elder Bushnell

8.22.11

Hey Daddio!!!

Things are going great! We were able to have that baptism yesterday...of Alissia! It was super great. The chapel ran out of gas so we had a semi cold baptism.

I hope Tyler is okay. That first day in the MTC is rough....I wouldn´t ever really want to go through the MTC again. It is a rough time in life. I am sure Woolley's will hang in there and pull through.

We haven´t had time to get back to talk to that lady but we have plans to try this week a few times...she works a lot so it is hard but we will get her. I will let you know what happens with her if anything happens. This week was a lot of inviting people to the baptism and preparing her for everything! It was a lot of work to get her ready...for only being 12 she has been through a TON of stuff. It was ridiculous.

I think I will stay in this area...it is rare that someone only stays one transfer in any area...also this area is really big and i am still mostly lost but i hope that i get to serve with someone from my same district again. Someone who has been here about the same time as me so speaks well and has already learned the ropes and everything but we will see.

Thanks for everything Dad! I love you tons!!

Elder Bushnell

Hey Mommy!

Things really are going great! We were able to have her baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday! It went super well! We had a small problem with the gas at the chapel...so she had a semi cold baptism...it wasn´t awful. We also had a party after which went really well we had a lot of members that brought cake and stuff and it was a good party! This week we had 6 people in church most of which were Alissia´s family. (Alissia was the girl baptised) This week we focused a lot on her and getting her ready for the baptism. This ward is really good at feeding us...this week we have 3 meals already planned out. One of which is at the house of Irmã De Almeida´s grandmother...who is one of the Irmãs i served with in Setúbal. Her grandma loves me now cause I served with her granddaughter.

The workout is a beast but i am getting bigger...when i started this transfer i was like 153 pounds with a little layer of flab around the belt but now it is a almost no flab and a 6 pack...my arms have gotten a lot bigger and today i was lifting some GIANT water jugs and i used to kinda struggle carrying 2 from the store to our house...well i owned those water jugs this time...the stairs didn´t even faze me! I have gotten back up to like 162ish. It is a crazy workout! But it works! Tell the Shieldsthat I will for sure enjoy O Livro de Mormon and I will make sure it gets put to good use!

Thanks for sending me that stuff mommy! I love you! Transfers are next Monday which is scary.

That is super crazy that it is time for school to start up again! I can´t believe how fast summer has gone! Next summer i will be there with my super awkward tan lines! Wow Ellie is not old enough to be in kindergarten...that is weird. Of course Jordan loves doing anything with BYU...tell him he better get the Football team rolling this year...its hard to defend us out here in the real world!

Do you get to play in the golf tournament? Does dad? I wanna play in it next year!!! I really miss golfing! I get letters from Claire and Nikelle about golf and it makes me a little bit trunkie cause they are getting super good at it and I am getting worse....that is okay this workout will help in the future!

Oh i bet that the Woolleys are having a rough go....it is there only boy as well. It probably will be hard for them for a while cause there family was like one of the most united families i have met. Wow tyler is going to be in the MTC forever! I wonder how he is doing...i will send him an email. My time is getting very short in the mission...my comp pointed out that i have 14 months out and that i could serve 4 transfers here and be less than 6 months left in my mission when i leave....super weird...i could only have this area and one other. Weird!! Thanks for everything mommy!!

I love you TONS!!!

Elder Bushnell

8.15.11

Hey mommy!!

Things are going great! Yesterday we had 4 people in church which was not too bad...it was super awesome this 13 yr old girl came up to us and was like "elders I know I haven´t really learned a lot about the church or received your lessons but I want to be baptized...what do I have to do to be baptized?" It was super awesome! The elect of God really do hear the Lords voice and come unto Him. It was a great blessing for us...so now we are going to meet with her a couple times this week and have her baptized this weekend if everything goes well. It will!! :) haha sounds like you had a super cool week! I miss all the cousins and everyone! Did you tell Tiffany about Elder Quilter that is serving here and how he knows them...super small world. Haha that song (I Loved Her First) of course that would be the party killer...who planned that? You should tell Tiffany that she can email me and i will provide wise cousin advice....hehe I don´t know anything but I am a good at making stuff up! yeah something super weird is that the 18th...so this Thursday...i will have lived outside of the US for a whole year...super weird!

This week we prayed and felt pretty strong to knock this one section of a road so we are going along and we were about ready to give up...no one wanted to talk to us...well we knocked the last door of the last building and this lady answered the door and she let us offer a prayer in the door to bless her and her house...so i asked if we could include anything she was needing is particular...she thought for a long time and said "i will include it in my head while you pray" she was too embarrassed to share it...so i prayed and after she started crying and spilled her whole story...Her husband had died 3 months before and she has been very sad since then. She has been wondering what will happen to him and has been looking into a lot of different churches and so we explained the plan of salvation and left a pamphlet and a BoM and marked to come back and bring her an enormous joy! :) when we were started to leave she said something interesting..."não fui por a causa que voces passarem hoje" or in english "Its not a coincidence that you guys stopped by today". Really God does watch over and care for everyone of His children and he leads them or others to find the greatest happiness they can achieve in this life.

I am doing really well...everything is going very well...i am sore from working out but i think i can tell already that it is working...i am going to get super ripped. Tell dad he is going to miss my help on this Elk hunt cause "after P90X no mountain will be too steep" (the crazy man in it told me) hehe! I am getting along well with my companion...this transfer has flown by! This transfer ends the last day of the month. I don´t know what president has in store for me but i am thinking and have heard a small rumor that maybe i will train next transfer!! Oh well...Bring it on! :) There are like 20 on islands at a time..I think. I want to serve on Madeira i think...it is super duper pretty and a lot warmer than the Açores! Thanks for sending me that other shirt! And for ping pong...it made me laugh super hard when i opened it...it is super hard cause the ball is huge for the tiny paddles but it is super cool!

Thanks for everything mommy!! Love you!!

Elder Bushnell

8.8.11

Hey Mommy!!

Talking you into stuff was a lot easier than talking these people into baptism...it was super crazy. I said somethings that i wouldn't normally say to anyone cause they are super blunt and kinda rude. For example I had to tell Carla that if she didn´t let her daughter be baptized all the sins of her daughter were going to fall over her head in the day of judgment. Which is true but it seems very mean. But President Torgan always says..."its time to love the truth, If the truth is very hard to take it is because you aren't doing it." It only sounds mean if it is against the comfortable way of being. But it never was comfortable for Christ to suffer for us. So she sucked it up and we were able to have a GREAT baptism and Christiana received the Holy Ghost yesterday and it was super awesome!

I got the package with the socks and it came just in time cause i was down to very few socks!!

Wow that is super weird that Brynn is that old and that Ry has his learners permit..that is crazy.?? I am proud of him for golfing...he is going to kick my butt when I get home...but that is okay. Tell the whole AZ crew that i say hi! Wow, Brittany is going to be married...weird! How is Tiffany? That is super crazy! I didn't get an invitation....where did she mail it to? It is super weird how everyone is getting married...i am not old enough to have all my friends be married....super weird!

Way to go mommy... I am proud of you for reading the Book of Mormon in three weeks. It is super crazy how much power that book brings into our lives!

Thanks for everything mommy!! I love you tons!!!

Elder Bushnell

Daddio!!!

It was a super crazy story....Satan was trying to do everything he could to make it so we didn´t get her baptized. Her mom is doing really well she is at church every Sunday at least for the first hour...sometimes she has to leave after that cause her grandmother is super crazy and super catholic...she hates the church...sad day...but we are working with her and she is progressing really well she just needs to wait a little bit longer. I got one package..thank you it was great!!

After taking this long to draw this tag you better not settle with some little bull. I wanna come home to a MONSTER on the wall!! haha sounds like you better start preparing for the hunt...start hiking up to squaw peak. When i come back i have a friend here from american fork that wants to take me up to do an archery elk up like that up american fork canyon somewhere...i guess also the spike tag turns to a bull if you cross over this one ridge or something...he was trying to explain in greenie portuguese and it didn´t make a lot of sense but its all planned out!

So as for the new investigators...well some of them are progressing but the majority are at the super awesome holidays of the month of august...almost the whole country goes on vacation and takes holidays...it is super duper wierd! Haha moms side of the family is super funny...i think they might have some Portuguese blood in them...they all speak at the same time and have to talk super loud. It is super crazy! They are super funny i miss them...mom was so kind to remind me this week that i only have 10 more fast sundays...super weird! The pdays up here are super weird...we are doing a lot of shopping and visiting crazy old churches and castles...it is super pretty up here...everything is green!

Thanks for everything dad!! I love you lots!!