November 2, 2010

Dad’s Letter-,

This week we unfortunately didn’t have any more investigators in church which was lame! We have some good people to teach and are teaching some good lessons it’s just hard to get people to actually act on what we are teaching! We are trying super hard and sort of running ourselves into the ground but it’s going well so far! I have learned a ton this transfer and my Portuguese is way better than when I started this transfer!

I did get the package it was great!! I already told mom about our little halloween party. The peanut butter is fantastic and we have been eating it a ton!! I will share a cool story that we had this past week. We have been trying to talk to this guy that works a ton and this week we were able to meet with him. Well we ring his doorbell and no one answers so we are super sad and sit on the front step and are thinking about what else we can do and my comp (Elder Bell) says lets try it one more time...so he buzzes them again...and the door opens! So we go up the stairs in the building and knock his door he is there and lets us in and is SUPER nice!! His name in Raoele and he is one of the nicest people I have ever met. He brings out tea mix stuff and is asking us if we can drink it and he like searches till he finds one weird drink thing without chá preto so we can drink it and he makes it for us and brings us cookies and everything and during our lesson he is riveted to us. It was super cool and then when I started bearing my testimony at the end I said something like "I know there are a lot of churches and they all say they have the truth" and as soon as I said that he open up and started asking good questions so we taught him about prayer and how he can find out for himself and we left the Book of Mormon with him and he was just super open and kept saying that all the churches say they are true but that none have given him his own way to find out for himself. It was a cool lesson!

One more cool thing...we were walking down the main road in Quarteira and I stopped and looked at the big doorbell box things...and I said to my comp "what will you give me if I can get us in this building on my first try?" he said I couldn’t do it. This building has like 6 floors and 4 on each floor so 24 doors and I decide to push a random one and I was about ready to give up and continue walking when the door popped open! We went in and talked to the lady who was super nice and said we could come back but we knocked the rest of the building and no one wanted to talk to us...so I hit the 1 out of 24 that was interested! It was super funny to see my comps face of shock and disbelieve!

Love you!!!

Elder Bushnell

Mom’s Letter:

I am glad you liked the photos! I am sending the memory card with a ton more home today so you will probably get it in about a week! I thought you would like the pedicure one!

As for teaching lessons, we are going to shoot for over 20 this week which will be tricky! Our original goal is 4 lessons a day which is 28 this week which is A LOT for Portugal and Europe! So far we have been struggling though because President Torgan is very upset at the Algarve Branch for not stepping it up more this transfer and baptizing very much. He says a cool thing...he says there are no excuses because when we make excuses we are denying the power of the atonement in our lives. This is true Christ paid for ALL of our faults and mistakes; no matter how little they are...when we make excuses we are not giving the atonement an opportunity to work in our lives. It´s weird being out here I have started to realize more that all of us sin no matter what...it’s how you react to your mistake and what you do to become better that matters. So when someone we know makes a mistake we shouldn’t judge them because we all have our own faults but we need to help them react and make the choices better after.

I am super excited for Kelsey and for Victor they are both going to love it!! Also I am sad I missed you dropping the watermelon!! Did you still eat it? I think that is just a faster way to cut it...forget using knives and taking all that time!

I will send Wade an email but tell him happy birthday for me anyways! Haha yeah i got Hudson’s letter and it made me laugh! I knew you would be glad after reading it that i am here in Portugal but you also don’t know everything about Portugal and its probably better I don’t tell you everything! It is pretty clean i will give you that and I will admit when grow up I want one of those cool toilet things that shoot water to clean off your bum....i don’t know how to spell it, it sounds like bday!! (mom’s edit…bidet)

I loved that last package! It made our lame Halloween a little bit more exciting! Halloween here is super boring...i saw one girl that was like 6 years old dressed up...and that was it!! It was pathetic! We didn’t have any trick or treaters or anything cool! I was very disappointed! But we made it fun...we ate and told scary stories around candles. Also we dressed up as best we could....sacks on our heads and stupid things and just chilled. It was lame. Then yesterday was a holiday here....all saints day...and so basically EVERYTHING closes...which is why we couldn’t email. But we went to Vilamoura and hung out at the marina and stuff then walked from Villamoura to Quartiera down the beach which was super cool cause the sun was like almost setting and there were cool lighthouses and NO ONE on the beach and it was awesome!

It’s a good plan to not send things until I let you know if I am staying which may be as long as two weeks from now...I will email you next week but we may not have our calls yet to know if we are going. I feel like I am probably leaving, which is scary but exciting at the same time!

Our work here is moving along pretty well we are continuing to teach a few good people but none of them are really super close to baptism. I really want to see Fernando baptized though...he is one man that can feel the spirit super easy, he is just hard to talk to cause we works a ton!

Thanks for the love and support!! I love you guys!!

Elder Bushnell

New Pictures!

My first pedicure!

On the roof overlooking the city during "White Night"

My Second Baptism-Karla

My First Baptism- Andreia

My first day in Portugal with Pres. and Sister Torgan and my trainer Elder Braithwaite.

October 25, 2010

Dad’s Letter:
Hey!! Nothing super exciting happened this week...we had some really good lessons with people but our numbers of people showing up for church is really bad and they have to do that in order to be baptized!! We are talking to a lot of people and hopefully we will be able to come back...most people aren’t home when we come back but we are going to continue to try and hopefully will catch them every so often! We are teaching anywhere from 15-20 lessons a week which is lower than we would like but it’s not terrible. The members here help in the lessons and do give us some references but not a ton. They love to come to lessons though which is awesome!
I am super excited for Victor!! He is going to do great!! If you see him tell him my few words of advice are first, just keep swimming; don’t let anything get him down! Second, always try to see the positive in everything and have fun!! Missionary work is supposed to be work but fun also!!
Well it sounds like I am glad I wasn´t there for that duck hunt! It doesn’t feel like its duck season already! I feel like I just barely left but I guess it is October already! It’s super weird!! I want to know why you are buying cool things and spending all this money once I leave?! The maxis is really sweet though!! Maybe you can keep up with me now! ;) Oh yesterday I was on a little division with Elder Rich and we walked past a building and there was a guy in a hunting vest carrying a shotgun in a case thing...it made me kind of trunkie. I wanted to go talk to him but he was going in an apartment and closing the door. But seeing a shotgun and hunting clothes made me want to go! Elder Rich really wants to go to BYU when he gets home to get away from his ex girlfriend...who he wrote off my second week here...but yeah so he wants to come up to BYU and he wants to go hunting and he said he will teach me how to surf and ride dirt bikes really well if we take him hunting! He is super cool probably my favorite Elder here.
I have now been in Loulé for almost 2 transfers which is 12 weeks so probably like 10 weeks now. Transfers are November 9th but we get our calls on the 8th. So if you are sending me anything probably send it super soon or wait and send it once I know if I am transferring...I sort of think I am going to be going somewhere else this transfer! I love it here and don’t want to go but I sort of feel like I will be going this transfer.
Well I hope everything this week goes super well! I will try to send pictures to mom but i donºt know if they will work!! Thanks for the support!! Love you!!
Elder Bushnell

Mom’s Letter
Olá!

Everything is going great!! Yeah mom we are eating a ton!! We can buy pretty much everything basic the same as in America...we eat a lot of normal things like pasta and rice and beans and meats and hamburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches.

It is super weird that we are all that age...I was talking with Bell about this. Ever since we were little kids we looked up to our missions...and now we are here this is the time! It’s crazy!! I can’t believe how fast the time is going! I have made it so far already!! My Portuguese is coming along well...I can basically get through any conversations if they talk slow and give me a couple minutes to think ;)

We were talking about what the world is becoming....and holy smokes its becoming super bad...I knew I was sort of sheltered growing up in Orem Utah but man I didn’t realize it was this bad out here in the world! They have advertisement things for coats and like cold weather stuff but the girl will be in like booty shorts or something. Its super retarded and doesn’t make any sense! I don’t see why the world has to be going this bad! I am not raising kids outside of Utah Valley I decided!

Taking to people is a lot easier out here than I thought it would be...I have come to the realization that no matter what people are going to look at us funny and think we are weird so we might as well pretend it’s not weird and talk to them like normal. There have been some times when we see someone we want to talk to clear down the road and we like book it after them and stop them to contact them. My favorite is when you see someone you feel is an elect but they are talking to other people....I now just run into the group and start taking and they all look at us super funny but they can’t say they are busy cause they want to continue taking to their friends so they are nicer but it is awkward!

Thanks for all you do for me mommy!! Just think like another 2 months and I get to talk on the phone to you guys!! Thanks for sending me things!! I love you!! I am including some random pictures and will mail my card home this week with lots!! Love you!!

Elder Bushnell

October 18, 2010

Hey!!
I haven't tried on the sweater but I am pretty sure that it will fit! Its not overly cold like I still wear short sleeve shirts and stuff! Just some days it's kinda cold at night but normally it really isn't bad at all!

Sounds like you had a super super fun weekend! I am sorta jealous but not really bad. The weather here changes a lot just like it does at home and it never ever snows so its always fairly warm...so far. I have heard that it gets SUPER cold because they don't have any heaters really so its hard to get warm. The shower is like the only place that is warm. Haha I am surprised Ellie doesn't wuss out of the bike!

I don't know if they have flu shots....I sorta dont think so and if they do they are probably SUPER expensive!! Kinda like contact solution...one bottle like the size of the costco ones is like 15 dollars. But I have some now so no worries!

The address thing didnºt cause any mix ups really it was just funny cause every package had a different address and neither of them were correct! It made me laugh so I thought I would correct it this time!

SO MY ADDRESS IS:
Rua Ramaholho Oriigao
Bloco B2 2Dto
Loule
8400-618 Loule
Portugal

Umm the elders and I have all started to create Christmas and just random package lists...basically things we miss that would be amazing to have. So here is what I have in my list so far...I don't need these things immediately or anything just for package ideas!

Wheat thins, sweet pics of random things to tape to my planner, comics, Dr. Pepper, Mike & Ikes, Nut Rolls, Skittles, Candy Corn, Hunting Magazines(I would love you forever), Mac & Cheese, Swedish Fish, Tide to go Pens, Simple receipes, Licorice, Fast Breaks.
Now you have some random ideas of things to stuff in packages to fill the space or whatever. I need ideas for christmas presents for the family!!

Oh some cool news...today is my half bday! I am now 19.5 which is super weird!! I am so so old!!

The work this week was ALL procura which is searching in english i think. We had 31 received contacts which is 6 less than our whole district had last week! We talked to so many people! Lets say that 1 in 3 people gave us their name and contact info and said we could return...which is being way generous but just for fun...that means we talked to over 90 people this week!!

We have painted a couple of houses and things but not very many full on huge service projects...we ask everyone if we can do anyting though. Elder Rich is from Torrance, California and he is almost exactly one year ahead of me! He went in the mtc June 6th or something.

So something cool this last weekend was the Portugal Masters of the European Tour and they played it in Vilamoura which is in my area so I saw like tons of tourists and basically almost went to the tournament but we didn't have time and it wasn't on p-day...I wanted to so bad...We rode a bus through the city and saw all the crazy signs and people on the course in masses!! It was super cool I got all excited!!! But no one cool was playing in it...I was sad.

Thank you!! Love you guys!!!

Elder Bushnell

October 11, 2010

Olá!!

It was fast Sunday here as well and everyone talked about conference and how we are getting a temple! I will look for the package...the last one took like 13 days so i probably will get it in a few more days. Umm you could stick a harmonica in if you can find one! Also one thing that Elder Rich´s family does is they send him the Sunday comics in a letter every couple weeks, it gives a good break to read those.

Glad to hear that BYU is getting rolling...hopefully!

Elder Bell and I are doing alright it is not terrible (the language) when in person but on the phone we are awful cause our phone is super quiet...we are asking for a new one in the next inventory thing. Unfortunately Marco is not on track because he didn't come to church yesterday...he went to Lisbon to visit his mom. He has to go twice before he can be baptized. We are teaching Carlos but he is always working and hard to talk to but we have a member that will give us rides to visit his house and stuff.

Things are going great! It has rained super hard the past few days which makes it hard to do work cause no one is in the streets and everyone just goes inside and doesn't want to talk to anyone. It is rough but it´s not terrible! Its weird now that the real fall season has hit and its started to get colder how few people are out and about! I didn't realize in the summer how many people were tourists and were only here for the weather! I am super excited to come back with you guys! I think maybe it would be better if i came home then we went back for the temple dedication or open house...i really want to see it!

Carter is getting huge that is absolutely crazy!! He is going to be giant when i get home! He better remember me!!

For lunch usually we go back to our house and make something but we have random places around town that sometimes we stop at! They have super yummy things called tostas that are basically giant grilled cheese and meat sandwich! They are like 2 euros and are HUGE! as missionaries we eat a lot of those! And as for laundry we have a washing machine in our house and so we just throw it in when we run low on clothes and then hang it up on the rack thing on our balcony thingy.

I will send pictures home next pday once I get the memory card all ready and backed up and stuff! I tried today but I need my camera cable which I left in the house cause apparently this adapter thing doesn't work and they don't have memory card slots in these computers!

Love you guys lots!!

Elder Bushnell

October 4, 2010

Hey (Dad's Letter)

Our bus was late so we didn't get to hear the announcement but when we got to the chapel everyone was freaking out and was super super excited!! :) All the Elders were stoked!! The members were super happy and it was just a good day!

I enjoyed hearing the elk hunting story it is way cool and I tell my hunting stories over and over again out here I am starting to feel like Ned but I have so many stories! That is exactly why we hunt though...we make great memories and have fantastic stories!

Elder Bell and I are going to do just great! We just need to find some good investigators and the work will really pick up and get going. We can make it through lessons and everything just fine. I can tell my Portuguese is going to improve so much this transfer its going to be awesome! We are great buddies and for pday today we are going to try to hit a bucket of balls at some course....we just don't know where yet!

It is crazy how fast time has flown since the first time i went with you to priesthood. i remember that day and how i didn't want to go i wanted to play with my friends but i went and i really enjoyed it! It was super hard to watch conference this year on Sunday cause we watched them live and I thought abut how you guys sitting on our couches making french toast! It made me a little trunky!

I really enjoyed conference this year and i feel like I took the best notes and got the most out of this conference than any other! It was amazing to see how many of the talks were on making right choices and following the spirit! The whole conference was about how important using our agency for good is!! i liked it a lot! Will you send me an ensign when the come out? Do we still get an extra one? We got 2 for a long time.

Love you!!

Mom's Letter:

Yeah we are all super duper excited that we will get a temple!! Some of the other people here said it takes about 2+ years to build a temple so maybe instead of coming to pick me up I could come home then go back for the temple dedication with you guys? Just a thought. The church has had the property for a long time they were just waiting to announce it and start work. I am telling people that the girl I baptized was the one they had been waiting for...jk!

We did get to watch all of conference. We watched one session on Saturday then we watched priesthood and Saturday afternoon on Sunday morning then watched the 2 Sunday sessions live. Basically we watched all of them in a jumbled order so that they would all fit and work out. But I missed the first couple in the first session. It was sad cause that was when Holland (my favorite spoke).

Did you find a nice cabin in wallsburg for us? I like wallsburg a lot! that road is really bumpy and it is always worse for the passenger! i didnºt think it was super bad but i drove the jeep up it so i knew what was coming and could roll with it better but it jumbled dad up pretty well when we went! my jeep was probably worse than our new truck is, especially since that truck is the fx4 model it has upgraded suspension and all that good stuff!



We haven't really done a lot of work because of conference but Bell and I are going to be great i already told dad. As for our investigators....Marco still wants to be baptized and is pushing for the 17th so we are crossing our fingers! Carlos is working a ton and haven't met with him for a little bit but we are going to this week and we will see if it continues to improve! I think he will be baptized!

Bell is from Denver by the way.

The weather here has been super rainy for the past couple days but not enough to make me wear a jacket cause it comes and goes and yesterday it felt like a mister it was weird it was like rain from every direction! It felt super good though!

The warheads aren't super important they are just more for comedy cause Portugal has no sour candy and when you give them to people they freak out! Its super funny! You can send it without them its not a huge deal! Let me know when the package gets there! I hope Dad and Allison like their presents when they come!

Love you lots! Miss you!

October 3, 2010

Hey family just letting you know I stayed another transfer here but my new comp is Elder Bell. He was with me in the MTC! So we are both lost!

Love you all!!

Elder Bushnell

September 27, 2010

Hey!!

I am sorry about your crazy week and about you having to give a super quick notice talk!! That is what everyday of my life is but i don´t even know what people are saying back or anything...all right that is a lie I can understand pretty well now. I am just not able to talk super well still cause they have a ton of different conjucations and i hate them. I still struggle talking in past tense most of all. The funny subjunctives are bad as well! As for the truck i want to see more pictures of it!

Thanks for buying the other things! I am sure she will love it! I bought a small thing for Allison and one for dad that should be getting there really soon!! Its not going to be wrapped or anything cute its just an envelope with a present for dad and another envelope in it for Allison. I found out I can send anything that fits in this little envelope for less that 2 euros! Its awesome!

Well it is transfer call day at like 3:00 and still no phone call...i don't know what that means. we think that we are staying another transfer but I don't know cause they have come as late as 4:00 for Elder Braithwaite. So before you sent the package wait and see if we are staying or going. Also if i am staying send it to the house with a forward if not picked up thing to the mission office so if I am transferred it will get to me eventually. Wait another week or so until I let you know if I have stayed or moved. I really want to stay!! As for sweaters I want just like basic colors that I can wear with anything so like black, grey, those simple colors. Also a sweatshirt would not be bad but I can use a sweater for that so its all good.

As for conference I think we do have some good investigators that we should be able to watch it with! It all depends on transfers though cause I might be somewhere else or who knows what could happen!! We have Carlos who is really good friends with the first lady that we baptized, Andreia. So I think we could watch it with him!

I ALMOST FORGOT!!! This week has been absolutely insane!! We got a new investigator and his name is Marco but he was/is a gay male prostitute! We only teach him in the chapel and with members cause it is super awkward! He seems to have a great desire to be baptized and has read a ton in the book and seems to be progressing but we aren't sure how to handle the gay prostitute thing. We are going over the commandments really bluntly in our next lesson and see how it goes. He seems to want it so bad and that is exactly what the atonement is for he just has to have a great enough desire and motivation to completely change his life. We will see!!

So a super funny story happened last night. Last night Elder Braithwaite and I were in the other elders rooms talking to Elder Rich and Christiansen thought it would be funny to lock us in the room. Well the doors and locks are super old and it locked but wouldn´t unlock! We worked on it for like 3 hours that night and we couldn't get it open. So we just went to bed. I slept in the big bed with Rich and Braithwaite slept on christiansens little bed and christiansen slept on my bed in the other room. So in the morning we were still locked in. We ended up using a hammer to pry the hinges from the door frame. We kinda screwed up the door and things so we had to tell the home owner today and she isn't super happy but it was absolutely hilarious while is was happening and now it makes a fantastic story!! It was great!

As for the pedicure it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Except I am super ticklish on my feet and I laughed a lot of the time! She is super concerned though cause my toenails apparently are shaped funny and look like I should have lots of ingrown toenails! We will see! I have had a few small ones but I just shove cotton under and it goes away in a couple of days!!

I think that this is all for this update!! I love you all!!!

Elder Bushnell

September 20, 2010

Hey!!

Zone conference was great but they are super stinking long!!!! We only travel like 20 minutes by bus to Faro which is where our baptisms our! I don´t know how many zones exactly but I think there are like 7 zones...I think. The Algarve and the Açores are the coolest apparently though.

With our branch being split they will have to build it back up but it is so good cause there are a lot of people in Albufeira that drive like 40 minutes every Sunday for church. It will be super good and its good we are making 2 branches because we overflowed the church yesterday it was PACKED which was so cool to see! Yeah the other 2 elders are looking for a house and a place to hold church in Albufeira and as soon as they find them they are going to move! and it will just be 2 elders in Loulé!

I did get the package finally but it was weird cause I guess our neighbor handed it to us one day so I don’t know how they got it...I’m confused but yes it did come and I like the tie! The other elders say that usually they leave a slip and you do go pick it up from the post office.

We had to cancel and move our pedicure so it is actually tonight! I am scared cause my feet are super ticklish and cause my feet are gross right now cause we walk ALL DAY! They aren’t super bad though so it will be fine! We teach the people we baptized twice a weekish. It is super cool to see their progress and how amazingly they are progressing!

I got the picture of the new truck and it isn’t big enough dad...maybe the picture doesn’t do it justice but it looks stock! I did get the video of Carter but there was no sound so it wasn’t as good! He is super big though it is absolutely crazy!!

I thought about the fact that it is fall today I was like oh man the hunting season is just starting right now! I was kinda sad! The elders here with me want to get into hunting super bad so we always talk about it and it makes me miss it!

We aren’t really sure about General Conference but I think we get to go on Saturday if we have an investigator and Sunday we do get to listen to it! I am super excited I have heard that conference is a different experience as a missionary and I am pumped!

We eat at members every so often...not a ton. We make a lot of food in our house and no it’s not super expensive we are doing great yesterday we made rice and beans and sausage stuff and french fries and orange juice and cookies! You will see pictures when I send them…which brings me to my next thing...I need some stuff I made a good list and some of it I can buy here but I don’t know for sure. The things I need are:

peanut butter (not urgeñt)
sour candy(war heads) (not urgent)
Sweaters (i can buy if needed)
Micron pens(not super urgent but i need them sent)(bought at scrapbook stores)
USB drive (can buy but probably not the best quality here aka...chinese store)
Pedometer(I want to see how far we walk)
Braithwaite wants a girl (URGENT!!!!) (NOT PORTUGUESE)(address´s work 18-20 age range)

I am super excited for Victor that is awesome and super soon!! He is going to make a fantastic mssionary!! I am super excited for him!!

Love you dad!! Happy Birthday!! There should be a package with some little things in it coming in a few days...hopefully...if I can find good stuff!!!

LOVE YOU!
Elder Bushnell

Sorry this email is a little late! We had zone conference yesterday and it was super good but it took ALL P-day! It started at 10 and we didn't get home until like 7 and then we went and bought groceries and came home planned and went to bed. It was great but this week has been a lot of work...since that baptism we don´t have a lot of progressning investigators so we are knocking lots of doors and talking to lots of members. We are going to Quartiera a lot because we have a good investigator there...he is 14 and his parents left him when he was really little but now he lives with his grandma and she is a member, he just has a hard time wanting this all right now cause he is in the world and just hangs out at the beach all day!

Our branch is being split because we have so many members there! About 25 of our 80 active members are from Albufeira which is where the other elders that live with us work more. So President Torgan came on sunday and announced he is opening a branch in Albufeira as long as they have 6 priesthood holders and they have 6 for now so it is all going to work we think. The other elders just need to find a house down there and a place to have church.

This week really has been sorta boring....I don't know a whole lot that happened. Oh mom I didnºt get your package....I don't know where it is either. Packages should be sent to the office i think....I don't know if they deliever it to the house when they can´t get in or past the front door...we just have small slit mailbox things. If it doesn't get delivered will it go back to you or where? I don't know what the deal is. We are never home to sign or pick up the box if it comes so I don't know what to tell you.

Umm also mother your story about the golf cart was really funny but I am glad you are okay!! It was a funny visual though...I would have put it it neutral there in the middle. I am missing golf! We drive past one on our way to Quartiera and I always watch from the bus and am jealous!

Oh we dropped the girl that was flirting with me. She was to into the world so we went over and told her that we can´t continue to waste our time teaching her when she knows it is all true but is to worldly to act. She now hates my companion but she still likes me cause I didn't say anything cause my Portuguese is still pretty rough....I just bear my testimony in every lesson about whatever we were talking about so I just told her that we want to help her but she needs to decide what is the most important thing in her life and she said she would think about it and get back to us. She comes to church every Sunday and does everything but she likes to party and like immodest clothes and likes to drink and stuff and doesn't want to give it up for another 20 years she says. We will see what happens.

Also the lady that I baptized told us that her family felt such a strong spirit at the baptism that they know this church is true and so we are going to start teaching them more! I am excited causee they are an awesome family!! They own a salon place and Karlla the one I baptized just set us up for a pedicure appointment next pday...I am scared my toes are gross but oh well it will be an adventure!!

Sounds like BYU sucks and I am glad I am not their to watch or hear about it cause it would make me sad! We played ultimate last pday and it was super fun our field was super wet so we all slid everywhere and got SOAKED!!! it was a blast!!

Also, tell Allison that I got her letter and I am working on writing back we just don't have very much time so a response is coming soon!!

Also, keep me updated on the mission calls of Victor and Aaron. It's amazing how different life as a missionary is. The power and safety that I feel everytime I go out into the world is amazing!! I walk down the central street place and just look at people that are doing things wrong in their life and are being consumed by the world and I feel as if I am in my own bubble watching the world get worse...I wonder if the 3 nephites feel like this...anyways its amazing!!

It is so weird that i am almost all the way through my first transer in the field!! that means only 15 more to go...weird!! This transfer flew!!!

Another activity...Braithwaite and I walked in our house one night and we turn the lights on in the kitchen and the other elders are at the table and there is a HUGE pile of crawdads on the floor just crawling around. They taught this guy that catches them from a local river and he gave them TONS! We boiled them and ate them and tehy are not really worth all the work it takes to cook them but it reminded me of scout camp and stuff when we would catch them and eat them.

Well I gotta write a couple more emails but this is a basic update to you all!!

I love you all!!

Elder Bushnell

September 6, 2010

I GOT WET!!! I write every week at about 11 in the morning here and last week we went to visit Karlla (our investigator that was being baptised on Wednesday) she said she wanted to be baptised on Wednesday so we were sorting it all out and she picked me to do the baptism!! It was super duper scary having like 2 days to memorize the words and everything in Portuguese! I was super nervous!! It went great and I have a lot of pictures that I will send you pretty soon! It was so cool! My first baptism....on my second week here!

Portugal just made it to the highest baptizing mission inEeurope and we are like 3rd or so as far as retention in the church goes. so we don´t struggle a ton...especially not here in Loulé the branch is amazing! Everything they do is centered on missionary work!

The 17 year old girl didn´t seem to let on because she still read a little in the book and when we asked her to go to church she asked if she could bring a friend...she didn't come at all though. But it was just weird because she is so confusing.

We have a 15 year old girl that is a snake also. She totally just likes to be around the elders and she doesn't want to be baptized because she doesn't want to give up the parties and the drinking and stuff....its not even legal for her to drink but yeah. We ate dinner over there on Saturday and she told me I look and act like an angel so why am I a missionary and not a model or something. It was really funny cause she said that in English so it was all broken and funny. Then my comp and I gave her a WARHEAD the super sour American candies and it was hilarious because here in portugal nothing is sour like that and flipped and we laughed super hard. luckly there were all 4 elders there so we took turns talking to her and having to sit by her and stuff but yeah i don't know what we are going to do with her. She knows its true and comes to church every Sunday but won't be baptized. I will keep you updated on her.

There are SOOOOO many golf courses down here!!!!! I want to go play one but they are too expensive for a missonary but when you come pick me up!! :) The is one that is like Vale do Lobo and its right on the beach...it looks like Pebble Beach of Europe...its amazing!! I practce my swing with The Book of Mormon a lot!

The people we are baptizing are portuguese but we do talk to a lot from Cabo Verde and a lot from Angola...i don't think I have met anyone from Mozambique yet...oh and TONS of Brazillians! They are super hard to understand but Karlla is Brazillian.

We have only been to Quarteira once because Loule is so big but we are planning on going about once or twice a week...probably once. There are just so many tourists there right now it is really hard! It is about a 20 minute bus ride down there but it is way cool!!!

We are going to play ultimate and go shopping in Faro today because it is our happy pday!! The first pday of the month we get to go out of our area!

I love you all a ton!!

Elder Bushnell

August 31, 2010

Olá!

Yeah we for sure will have to come back here when you come pick me up! I have to tell you about Saturday and you probably can Google it but on Saturday was Noite Branca...HOLY SMOKES!!! It is the BIGGEST party in all of southern Portugal. It translates to the white night and EVERYONE comes from nearby cities and places to this party. The whole city turns into a concert...and everyone wears white! We joked around that they were all ready for baptism and we were going to baptize in the fountain in the middle of the city! It was nuts! We didn’t get to see very much of it but when we were walking home at like 9:00 we saw parts of it! Then we went on the roof and we listened and took pictures and stuff! I have some cool pictures that i will figure out how to send home soon! But the party was so loud no one slept very well and church the next day was funny because all the members were so tired!! We tried to knock doors after church and it was so dead!! there was no one on the streets and no one answered doors...except a lady with the biggest dog I have ever seen!! It was no joke like 4 feet at the shoulders!! It was HUGE!!!!

I can understand English accents really well still and I am starting to understand Portuguese accents a little more but it is still super hard to understand and I just don’t know enough words really. But you are right it will come!! Except for every time that it’s my turn to do a door contact the people don’t answer...i did a whole 5 story building and NO ONE answered!! I am like bad luck!!

Umm I still haven´t found anything i really hate...umm I had bacalhão which is a weird fish that is hard to say in Portuguese and it was not bad at all...it just tasted like normal fish. I got offered snails but she was joking cause she didn’t really have any...I said I would try them!!

Yeah there are a few things that would gross you out really bad but really it isn’t bad at all!! I don’t use a pillow most the time anyways because it is really hot!

Our mission president is really cool and he is super loving! I think he is coming down this next weekend so we will see what he says about our area...I love it!! We haven´t for sure decided where we are going to go but possibly to a castle or something cause beaches are scary in the summer cause....yeah no one likes clothes here...we get some weird looks when we walk around!

I bought a sick new tie for .50 euros. I will sent pictures or maybe send it home cause i want to save it for when i get back cause it really is so awesome and hideous at the same time!!

Well we have a problem....a good problem but a problem still. EVERYONE IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!! I had my first one on Saturday!!! We have another one planned for Wednesday!! But then we don´t have progressing investigators...we are getting them all baptized! My first baptism was cool though we had not been able to get a hold of this lady (Andreia) very often so we went to her parent’s house. she is like 28 and has one child but she lives out in the middle of nowhere so we couldn’t go to her house to teach her but we were talking with her cousin in her parents’ house and she came in and said basically I want to get baptized this weekend....it was on FRIDAY! so we were like uhh okay do you know all this.......and gave her the questions.....she answered them all correct and so we called the District Leader (Elder Rich) who lives with us and he came over and interviewed her and she passed again and so we got it all planned out and she was baptized on Saturday and given the holy ghost yesterday!! It was super fast and we didn’t really even do anything!!

The baptism we have planned is another one similar to that one. We taught Karla once and she said she had problems with modestly and with keeping the Sabbath day holy but wanted to be baptized...we didn’t know how to help her with modestly so we told her to pray about it and that the Lord will answer her. The Lord did answer her prayers and yesterday at church she came up to us and was like I want to be baptized this next week. so we took her into a room and talked to her about which day...she didn’t know so we all said a prayer about it and we said "Do you want it Saturday or Sunday?" then she asked "does it have to be a weekend? I want to be baptized on Wednesday" so we were like nope it doesn´t we will get it all set up! So we have another one planned for Wednesday because we have to go back over the lessons and make sure she knows everything and have the interview but she is ready!!

Our only prospective investigator that will be left after Wednesday...and she isn’t really progressing. we were knocking doors and we knocked one and this 17 year old girl answered and she talked to us for a little and said we could come back...well we have gone back twice and taught her but we still are so confused...she seems like she has everything going for her...she can get whatever she wants, she lives in a pretty nice house, she has lots of friends, she has everything and we can´t figure out why she is letting us...2 missionaries talk to her...I wouldn´t let two random people teach me that knocked on my door if I was her...so every time Elder Braithwaite and I have some extra time waiting for someone or something one of us says "WHY?" and we both laugh and think about it...we can´t figure it out...we hope to talk to her tomorrow and sort of ask her why but we will see.

Oh I also forgot to tell Dad that I found a hunting store!!! my comp who is in his 6th transfer and elder rich who is in like 12-13 both were super surprised cause they don’t have hunting stores here. It is the first one either of them have ever heard of! We were contacting and knocking an area and we came around a corner and saw deer and pigs stuffed on the wall of this place and immediately my comp and i look at each other and my comp says "we have 3 minutes" so we sprint inside and looked at all their stuff and it looks like hog hunting is the main hunting they do here. Hog and bird like pheasant, grouse, dove. They had a pretty wide selection of guns as well...I was impressed! They had a Beretta px4 storm!!! I was back at home and in heaven for those three minutes as we walked around the store!! It was great! (We are going to buy nerf guns today for our apartment)

Tell Kelsey congrats! Let me know where Victor goes!! Tell Aaron to get his butt in gear!!!

Besides sending the pills....send lots of good American candy! Like stuff 4 elders can eat. Most things we can just buy here so i don´t know what to tell you to send me yet exactly...oh a family picture that has EVERYONE in it and yeah just more pictures! That is about all for now!!

I love you tons and tons!! Thank you!!

Elder Bushnell

PS. As far as letters go I get them like every 3 weeks at zone conferences and interviews if you send them to the mission home so try sending one to the address I gave you and we will see if it gets to me sooner!! I should get some on September 11 if you get them sent quickly because president is coming down on that day!

Here it is again:

Rua Ramalho Ortigao
BL B2 Dto
Loulé
8100-618 Loulé

Here is my scripture for you: Jacob 6:12 :)

August 23, 2010

Ola!!

I am in Portugal!! All my flights went fantastic and Elder Roundy and I placed a BoM in the Paris airport in all portuguese to a lady in all portuguese...it was super hard cause anytime she talked we had to make her repeat it like 3 times but she took the book and we saw her reading it 2 other times! My trainer is Elder Braithwaite he is from some tiny town in northern utah but he lived in Brazil with his family for like 3 years before his mission. He is super nice and super cool!!

I am in Loule which is in the very south of portugal. It is a little bit west of Faro. I am living with Elder Christiansen from my district in the MTC and with his trainer Elder Rich from California. We are sharing the city of Loule and we have the city of quartiera while they have albufeira which are both like a 30-40 minute bus ride each way.

Umm we are teaching a couple people but since we completely white washed this area we didn´t know anyone and we are still getting to know people. We have one lady Karlla who didn´t come to church but when we called her she asked us to get her ready for baptism. Then we had Adriana who is super ready for baptism but there is something that she is scared that we donºt know about yet so we will see! We have a couple others that we haven´t gotten in contact with yet so we will see how that plays out.

I am able to understand when any american speaks portuguese but it takes me a long time to understand what a portuguese person is saying. Yesterday was sunday and holy smokes it was absolutely crazy! This branch is absolutely amazing! They have the fire for missionary work SO MUCH! There were about 70 people at church. The branch president is amazing! Everytime he talks about his branch he says "our branch which will soon be a ward" he also stresses the importance of coming to church regularly and inviting your friends! He made each of us get up and talk for a little but about ourselfs and stuff which was scary!! I did great according to the old man i was sitting by. I just said i was Elder Bushnell and that i was from the utah in the US which is funny cause they call utah the fabrique which is "Factory". They sorta struggle with my name mostly because it is kinda long so i get called ELDER BUSH a lot and lots of people ask if i am related to president bush. They are all so nice!! The Branch President had my comp and i over for lunch on sunday and they are awesome!! They speak english really well so we would talk as much as possible in portuguese but when i looked super confused they would speak slower in portuguese then if i still didn´t understand they would tell me in english. Most people know english they just don´t speak it very much.

I am sure you are all dying to hear what i ate for my first meal with members or native portuguese people....unfortunately you will all be dissapointed. It was noodle stroganoff wth beef and hot dogs and olives. It was super yummy. They have the weirdest milk here...i will send you some. (be excited) umm also i ate some wierd pastry things which were yummy and a weird chocolate flavor...i ate a fig which is now possibly my favorite fruit...its like a dr suess fruit inside but they are super yummy!!

Our apartment is pretty awesome...its kinda small but i really like it! i will send pictures sometime of our view...its not great but we live behind a castle which is awesome we are going to visit it today i believe! Oh i almost forgot umm i think you should only write to the mission home cause i don´t really understand everything but basically it can get lost easier to the apartment. umm i will give you both and we can see what happens...you can decide.

Apartment:

Rua Ramalho Ortigao

BL B2 DTO

Loule´(accent on the e)

8100-618 Loule' (accent on the e)

Mission Home:

Apartado 40045

1500 Lisbon

Portugal

Now you can all write me lots! :)

My mission president is awesome! We flew in, got our bags, walked out past security and there he was...as we came down a ramp thing he gave each one of us a big huge and then we put our bags in a moving truck and got our passports stamped. we got to sleep in the Mission Home which is way cool! I got to sleep in the General Authority bed because i picked the lucky number out of the hat! It is the only american matress in the house and when general authorities come they sleep in it. It was fantastic! We woke up had eggs and cereal...their cereal is weird also. then went to the office and met our companions and got our areas and took off. We had to ride the bus for like 4 hours...i slept most of it. Our apartment here is super close to the bus station and the church (the church does have a ping pong table :) ) we are close to lots of stores and close to the castle. it is awesome!

Okay to talk about portugual in general...it is a lot bigger than i thought! Flying into lisbon is crazy!! The city is HUGE and there are random castles on the hills! I am scared to talk about how they drive cause mom will flip...basically the roads are super skinny and have tons of cars and everyone goes like double the speed limit. when we went to the presidents house (he lives north of loule a little ways) the road is small, very curvy, and has drops or buildings on the sides and the speed limits say like 50kmh or 80kmh and he would go like 100 or 130 it is absolutely insane/ kinda fun at the same time! Umm it isn´t really illegal to graffiti here so there are some crazy tags and stuff! the people are all very different...some are super nice, some take a couple minutes to become nice, not very many are flat our mean. It is hard to describe here because each section of the city is completely different...one section is super tight roads and very old, another is all super high buildings with bigger streets, some are a mix, some are just shops...the middle is like all tourist area i have talked to a ton of people that just speak english.

I am suprised how dry everything looks...apparently it hasn´t rained in a super long time so everything is kinda yellow looking...next Pday is the first of the month so we get to go out of our area. we just have to call president and tell him where we are going and we are going to go to logos i think...they have an awesome beach thing that has a circle rock tunnel arch thing like the one we saw on our cruise in...whatever city that was i am having a brain fart. Today i think we are going to castles, going shopping, just kinda messing around. They have these stores which are chinese stores and they sell everything you can possibly imagine and i am super excited to go to one today cause i want a new pillow...the one i have now is gross...and my comps has mold in it. Don´t worry mom mine is just like a bunchy funny it looks just fine and there isnºt mold in it.

I don´t really know what else to tell you guys...umm my portuguese is rough and i get called a greenie/newbie a lot. I sweat constantly...its hot here! It is constantly about 84 in our apartment...very few people have air conditioners. we sleep with the window open...which is weird cause there are tons of lights and the city is never quiet so it is weird to go to sleep.

The water here is super full of minerals and stuff so we don´t drink it cause we don´t want kidney stones. we still use it for most things we just don´t drink it! all the members houses they offer us juice which is yummy!

umm that is about all i have to tell you for now!! I look forward to hearing from you soon!! I love you all and hope everything is going well!! Don´t worry about me i have an awesome trainer and live with another super old elder and one of my district buddies!! I am really liking it here!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Elder Bushnell

August 6, 2010

The thunder and lighting was awesome! I didn't wake up because of it but I went on a walk around campus when it was pouring. We went just for fun! My comp is hilarious. He has only seen 3 lighting storms in his entire life so he is freaking out! We are so dead at the end of the day we don't wake up for anything! On Monday i guess some elders pounded on our door at like 3:30 and I didn't wake up until the second time they did it.

I did hear about Morgan, it is very, very sad! Something amazing about being a missionary that just struck me as i was writing. I had heard that as a missionary your prayers are answered faster and i can testify of that! I prayed while in the temple for like 20 minutes for everyone I love and care about and who needs help. Answers do come from praying so fast. I learned that every time something awful happens an amazing experience/miracle is just around the corner!

Now to tell you about my week...Where so I even start. First, i realize I haven't told you much about Sundays here. Every week the Branch President gives you a new topic. The topic is always a Christ-like attribute found in Preach my Gospel. So you get a topic and have to write a 3-5 minute talk about it in your mission language. I don't know if i told you this but I had to give one on July 18th about faith. I did super and it wasn't a big deal, but i was scary since it was in Portuguese!

Now I am just going to start today and go back through the week. Today is the best day of the week...P-day! We woke up, did laundry then we got to go to the temple! I saw brother Eggett in the temple! I love the temple. We get to eat in the temple and the food is amazing compared to the food in the cafeteria. I would absolutely love a burger from 5 guys, everything in here starts tasting the same! Oh the most exciting news: we got our travel plans!!

I leave the MTC and like 6 a.m. I fly from SLC at 8:46 yo Chicago at 1:00. i have a 4 hour lay over in Chicago in which I can call whoever I want so have your phone on cause depending on what others do and what the travel people say i may call you! I fly out of Chicago at 5:10 p.m. and arrive in Paris at 8:20 a.m. on the 18th. Then I have 5 hours until 1:20 p.m. when I fly to Lisbon. I will arrive at 2:50 p.m. on the 18th. I am super scared/super excited! That was my exciting news.

Yesterday was pretty cool then boring. We had TRC so we teach in Portuguese. i still don't say a ton but when i do everyone says i get my point across. We taught a volunteer who was super easy...Once we told him he could live with his family forever he wanted to be baptized!

Wednesday was one of my favorite days here. We got to be the hosts for the families dropping off new missionaries! We got to talk to the families and take the newbies to get their tag and their residence, then to get books and to class. It was so fun to talk to real people!

Tuesday was boring but segunda feira (Monday) was good and bad. My favorite teacher Irma Permann left! :( She went home. But it was good because we got her actor prog. investigator agree to be baptized. Then Sunday was fast Sunday which are long and boring!

Love Elder Bushnell

P.S. "Faith makes molehills out of mountains."