12.13.11

Hey Mommy!

I am glad that there is nothing really big to report to me today...my comp was starting to feel bad for me with all the bad news week after week. But ya know actually i never even got down at all because of the news...i got worried but i know that truly the Lord knows what he is doing and why it has to happen that way. I didn´t think i was being chastened for disobedience so it just had to be part of the trial of life. It got me really worried though so lets try to avoid other big news like those things. Don´t be worried about me though mom...really i am doing great. I have been a little sick just like a cold with a runny nose and sore throat but i am good now really no need to worry. Good to hear that dad finally made it out of the hospital...i bet he is so happy to get out of there! Good to hear that your ankle is doing better....what do you mean you are not liking driving the truck? I miss my truck super bad! I was thinking and what dad and i should do is....when i get back he should buy that TransAm he has always wanted and we will just switch off whenever he wants! :) I think that is a ingenious idea! As for you finding a car....there are some cool littler Mitubishi 4wheel drive cars and Nissan also has some i think the QashQai or something like that...it is all over the place here...they might be too small though...i feel like a giant here in Portugal compared to all the cars. I really really like the BMW X series..like the X6 or X8. Super nice! ;)

Wow she is 26 already? Holy smokes....she is old...hehe jk sister i love you! I hope you had a GREAT birthday! I thought about you when i was eating cake and lots of other desserts! :) Remember that one time when you tried to make that rum cake stuff....hehe super funny looking with the brown bag and everything. ;)

This week I had a lot of crazy miracles happen. We were super blessed and were able to find 18 new investigators...and a magic house..everytime we go there are more and new people there. We count new investigators as people with whom we say a prayer and mark a return appointment. we are always trying to get at least 14 in a week...but that isn´t very easy...we found 14 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We were super blessed and i think that some of them actually have a lot of potential. We had the mission christmas party yesterday which was super awesome! We all went to Lisbon which was fun. We almost got lost in the crazy metro system! It is cool though we will ride it..maybe...it is kinda confusing. But we got there with no real problems. Then President Torgan made me sit on the stand with the other leaders...which was cool to look out and see all of the missionaries of our mission....except those on the islands. We had Elder Teixeira of the 70 talk to us...who basically just talked about how our mission is the example to all of Europe and how he used our stories in all the other conferences. Then we heard from President Oliveira who is the mission president of Cape Verde. And he shared something really cool. He talked about the book of Omni which is not quoted often. And he explained how in that book over 100 years passed with very little record...why? Because the people were not living to magnify their callings...they were probably living in righteousness but they didn´t make anything out of themselves...they didn´t WRITE their history...they let history write for them. Because if you look after Omni and Words of Mormon (recap of Omni with a little extra) All the other books are big...because the people stood up, took charge, and made a difference, they truly saw the hand of God working in their days. so we need to be like them....WRITE our own history a history more like the second part of the Book of Mormon when millions of people were baptized and when truly God worked miracles. It was cool. Then we had a HUGE lunch...with pork, beef, potatoes, codfish(of course) and rice and lots of stuff. Then we played games and did funny musical presentations then we did a white elephant exchange...i got a chess board....i suck at chess. But then we went back and heard president Torgan who is absolutely incredible...he talks with SOOO MUCH power! The whole chapel was DEAD silent...no one moved....those close to sleeping were wide awake....he is a crazy powerful man. It is amazing to hear him speak and use TONS of scriptures!

Thanks for everything mommy! I am super excited to talk to you guys as well! I don´t know how long we will get to talk i think an hour or so. We are still working on figuring out where but i will let you know what is going to happen.

I love you tons!!

Elder Bushnell