6.6.11 Mom's Letter

Dear Mother,

This week was possibly the roughest week of my mission. We were planning on baptizing a 8 year old kid but he moved in with his aunt who hates us, so we couldn't really talk to him. But finally we got it planned out for 9:30 at night so his mom could come from work. But the bishop here told us no and that we had to wait. So my streak of baptizing every week was broken...sad day. But the worst part of the week was Sunday...aka...yesterday.

We left Carlos' house and we were talking with this guy in the road who was smoking some sort of drug we think. He snapped randomly and he full on decked my comp in the mouth 2 times. So my comp starts running backwards and this guy swings at me, I was able to dodge it and run around to grab my companion. Then we ran from that street and my companion was bleeding all over the place. When we got to the main road an ambulance was passing, so it slammed on its brakes and then the paramedics jumped out and started fixing him up. Then the police showed up so I had to go with them back to were it happened but the guy wasn't there. I had to give them all the information I knew about the guy. When I got back to the ambulance were my companion was getting fixed up and the paramedics were like "we don´t have room for you in the ambulance" so I looked at the police and they were just like "do you know where the hospital is?" I was like "yes" and he was like "start walking"....super against the rules. So I called Carlos and he came and gave me a ride but it was super funny cause my comp right after getting in the ambulance was like "Elder I won´t be staying in area"...of course that was the first thing he thought about. It was a super exciting day! So now he has 5 stitches in his mouth on his lips but he is doing great!

As far as transfers I will stay here and he is leaving. I will stay as serve with Elder Bauman, who lived with me in the Loulé house. He is a little younger than me in the mission but not by a lot! It will be super great! Susana is marked to be baptized on this upcoming Saturday so hopefully that will all go through! She is getting lots of pressure but now with my comp getting hit in the face it kinda pushed her even more to get baptized. She is a pretty stubborn lady, its a thing from the north. Oh I almost forgot to tell you I am the new district leader here in Setúbal! Nothing super exciting cause I basically did all the jobs of DL this last transfer!

Sounds like you had a super awesome week of relaxation!! haha of course after the week of relax you have a ton more work to do. Also mommy if possible I need another toothbrush head...and socks when you have time...I am not in a huge need for socks but slowly more and more are getting holes on the heels from my shoes. Thanks a bunch for everything mommy!!! :)

Love you!!!

Elder Bushnell

5.30.11

This is Carlos...he has a super awesome story...remind me next week to tell you about it!!




Hey!!

This week was a battle! We had to full on battle with Carlos and Susanna...we won the battle with Carlos and he was baptized on Saturday and confirmed Sunday...unfortunatly we lost the battle with Susana and she was not baptized. She isn't ready to sacrifice anything to be baptized. She need to stop smoking. She will be baptized here in a little cause she knows its true she just needs a little more encouragement.

I have been wearing the retainer every night for the first few hours...then i wake up and take it off. I might start wearing it just during studies in the morning from 830 till 11 then after it feels better move towards the night time...idk.

Thanks for picking up a shirt for me. Next week is transfers so hang on to anything you are going send.There is a fairly good chance i am leaving this transfer!

Haha this week has been SUPER HOT!!! with rain as well. That is super crazy that the ski resorts have snow sufficient to stay open till July! That is ridiculous! I kinda miss the snow...cause its super hot and we can´t go swimming like everyone else here.

That is super great news that my cousins are going to the temple. I am super duper happy for them all! Especially for Jackson and Talia. I haven´t ever met her, kinda weird. That is super cool about Lacy having a baby and also that they are going to Florida...just thinking about Florida reminds me of that trip when we went. That was awesome! The trip to Cleveland was super fun as well, I want to go to back to the Sacred Grove now that it is so much more real to me. It was real before obviously but like now i have a whole different perspective on what really happened there.

Thanks a bunch for everything mommy!! Love you tons!!

Elder Bushnell

5.23.11

Hi Mom-

We had another baptism this weekend!! Telmo was baptized who is from Brazil and he is 18 and super cool! Ana´s parents had a fight last night so it is kinda a tipsy situation right now but we are going to work with them all week long and they will be baptized on Saturday!! :) Her dad told us last night he can´t believe something he can´t see. But he knows its true. We just gotta talk to him some more. I got the package today and the retainer actually does go on...it kinda hurts but for the first time in a year i am impressed how well it fits. I will start wearing it a lot more and when I get home they will be perfectly straight! Thanks for the treats also! Umm...my comp has lots of peanut butter so probably candy...umm i like fruity candy! :)

Love ya-
Elder Bushnell

Photos 5.16.11

5.16.11

Hey Family!! Whats up!!!?

This week was super duper good!! We worked super hard and we saw some crazy miracles...for example on Tuesday was a crazy day!! We had been teaching a family of 3 people and we passed by them to mark their 16 year old daughter for baptism cause she was the only one from the family in church..her name is Ana. But so we went to talk to her about baptism and before we even got to a lesson with her we started talking about smoking with her parents and her dad said " I will go to church on Sunday then after we can talk about baptism. Luckily my comp and I had already prayed and felt they needed to be baptized on the 28th so we told them about that and they accepted. It was super great! We set up plans with them to stop smoking and everything. But so then we had to go cause we didn't have much time before our next lesson with a kid named Telmo...he is 18. So we ran to the other side of town to give him the lesson to talk with him. Well that lesson was awesome cause we talked about baptism and my comp and i had already prayed to know when it was that he needed to be baptized and we felt Saturday the 21st. So he was like "yeah i haven´t ever been baptized i think i need to be." So he accepted...then we ran back across the city to talk to Ana again. We started talking to her and we were getting through the 3rd lesson and got to baptism and she started laughing. She knew what was coming...she was like "now your going to ask me if i want to be baptized. Yes I do want to be" it was awesome!! We were like "GREAT!!! cause it will be this Sunday!!!" That made her a little nervous but she is super cool and was just like "okay" So we passed by them everyday and we are really helping her parents stop smoking and everything so they can be baptized. So in one day we marked 4 people for baptism...but the miracles keep coming.

The Sister missionaries had some baptisms as well...hehe....they baptized 4 people and we baptized 1...so our ward had 5 baptisms...the whole mission only had 9 this week....so we baptized more in our ward than the rest of the mission combined! :) I was picked to do the baptisms of 3 of the Sisters...so yesterday was a great day!! I got to baptize 4 people one after another!! It was super awesome! I have attached some pictures for you!! :) I baptized the 3 youngest girls and the black lady as well...the bishop baptized the lady with the red on her face. (its some skin disease fairly common here...not contagious no worries)

That is the most exciting thing that happened this week! We had a ton of cool things happen!! We are now gearing up for Telmo to be baptized on Saturday and then Ana´s parents (Carlos and Susana) the week after that!! :)

I am glad I am not there to work in the yard!! It is super hot here and it is killing me! I think I would be better if you sent me white shirts cause here they are all crappy quality and expensive. Also....I remember that somehow we are related to Pocahontas... do you know how that works? How is it again?

Well that is basically it for this week! I l love you!!!

Elder Bushnell

5.2.11

Hey mommy!!

My week wasn't too bad actually! It is moving on nicely...we have been a lot more focused on finding people and that makes the work easier when we are both focused on the same thing. We are getting better but it will still be a little bit of a challenge this transfer!

So about mothers day...first yesterday was mothers day here...that was super hard cause it was testimony meeting and mothers day so everyone was talking about their moms. So as far as talking...i believe we got it figured out that we can skype next week we talked to a member and we decided that around 5:530 for my companion who will take an hour and hour and a half and so i would be starting at like 6:30-7 which is like noon for you. I know that is in the middle of church and a really crappy time for you guys but we can´t fit it in with the members at another time...so i hope it will work out. If not you can call 918-103-559 on Sunday whenever to work it out.

Ellie is a pill for sure. Haha are you saying ellie is all talk...sounds like daddio...just barks! ;)

It is may that is super weird I cant believe how fast time is going! It goes fast yet slow at the same time...its hard to explain! Things with the companion are fine we are going to survive i think...i just really hope that we don´t have another transfer again! It is for sure teaching me patience. I learned this transfer that if 6 weeks can feel like an eternity with someone it is going to be super important for me to find the RIGHT person cause eternity is an awful long time! Thanks for the prayers and support though!

I heard it is super wet there! I can´t believe i am missing all the rain and snow...it is rainy here also actually.

This week we just found new investigators and we will see which progress and which ones don´t...its hard to explain them right now because they are all super new so we can´t see how willing they are to move things.

This week we have taught some new people but its hard to tell you about all of them. We found 20 new investigators. I think the coolest is a family that we found that is looking for a church and they don't like the catholic church and the dad told a story of a friend that was into drugs when they were littler and all his friends tried to get him to stop but the only people that could were the Mormon elders. And now that guys has a family a nice job and is super happy...and still active! It was cool to hear that testimony of him.

We have big areas that include city and country but we mainly work in the cities. This ward isn't great with referrals but they are great at integrating the investigator...we bring someone to church and they swallowed up by members its great! They are making our mission one on the first of July so still a little time and i hope that i get to serve in Madeira or up north as soon as they come together! It would be super awesome!

I didn''t hear that they got Osama Bin Laden..that is super great news...i think...hopefully it makes the war easier or something! I haven´t heard anything about it yet! Unfortunately someone sold my truck...sad day! I get the new one when I get back though right? sweet good plan!! :)

Love you guys!!

Elder Bushnell

4.25.11

Hey Happy Easter...a little late!!

Easter was actually really good...i had to speak in church as well!! I just had to bear my testimony on our Savior...and i couldn´t take more than 5 minutes...which was fine by me!! It wasn´t bad! haha talking in church isn´t ever really aweful...its just the stress before!

Hahah we didn´t do anything cool at all! okay that was a lie. We made t-shirts for our district...i will send you a picture. The sisters made stencils of our faces and we painted them with spray paint can. Just had a barbecue and then made shirts then went back to work...not too bad! haha thanks!!

We are surviving the bugs...also i am surviving my companion. This week was super good...sorta...we had some hard times but we are super stoked cause we found some good people. We had one experience that was super cool! We were trying to get this kid to come to a movie night but he slacked off and couldn´t come so as we walked out of the building I started talking to some random lady that was smoking outside the front door of the apartment building. I started talking about the weather and then it slowly turned into the gospel and she told us her entire life and all her problems and then we asked if we could offer a prayer right there. Which we did and it was great my companion offered it and he asked to bless like everything in her life. The spirit was super strong at the end everyone was crying and she was super set on coming to church on Sunday. So Sunday morning we picked her up and took her to church. She cried through all of sacrament meeting and then she bore her testimony about how it was God that placed us in her path this week. She is so grateful for us and how she knows we are there to bless and change her life...it was super cool!

Thanks for the birthday wishes!! This year I have grown more than I ever have. I have learned a new language; most mostly I have become closer to our Savior and Redeemer. I can now officially say without any doubts...that I know what Christ did specifically for me. I may not be able to comprehend the pain he went through but I can say that I know this church is true. That is something that NO ONE will ever be able to take away from me.

He lives, He loves us, and He is constantly wiping away our sins as long as we are following His gospel and repenting of our sins!! It is something amazing to me...I love it!

No way Austin is engaged!!!? That is crazy!! I can´t believe that!! haha I am glad he listened to the council of the prophets and is getting married.

Is tyler super excited to go? I am super excited for him! I heard from Allison that she wants to be a EFY counselor but i don´t know if it will happen or not. I think it would be super fun to do that when I go home!

haha I knew you would be super excited to talk to me this mothers day!! I am super excited as well!! The phones stay in the area but every companionship has one! I may be able to skyp!

Thank mom!! Love you!!

Elder Bushnell

4.18.11

Hey Mommy!!!

Thanks for the birthday wishes and for the packages!! I really appreciate it! :) It is weird to be out here for my birthday...no worries the sister missionaries in our district called nice and early to sing me happy birthday in a funny mix of english, portuguese, and who knows what else...i was laughing super hard.

This week unfortunately was probably the worst one of my mission...just lots of lessons that fell through and lots of other crazy sad things! Our numbers were super duper low so last night was super depressing when we counted them up. Oh well...always next week! Our investigators all seem to be falling through except Elinor she is still progressing very well. We did have one experience that is super duper cool and is stuck in my head right now. We were knocking doors and we knocked this pretty nice house and we said we are disciples of Jesus Christ and would like to say a prayer to bless you and your family. Well he let us in and was like I would like to offer a prayer right after you guys as well. So we were like awesome, that sounds great. So my comp prayed and then he prayed. After that we left a pamphlet of the restoration and he was like hold on I want to give you guys a book also. He goes back into his house and comes out with 2 books from the seventh day Adventist church...he opened inside the cover and pointed to a guy named "enoch" in English and said that was him. He is the director for the 7th day Adventist church in all of the Portugal area! It was super crazy!! Ellen White....the exmormon wrote and did the art for this book.

We didn´t get a bug bomb but we sprayed other stuff and it seems to be working very well! Transfers are next week so we will see what happens then decide!

I got the package thank you very much!! :) I will try to find something to spend the money on...we are thinking about going golfing today but probably won´t happen cause its far away and expensive. haha sounds like you guys had some good time down there in the sun! :)

Thanks for the birthday wishes!! Love you!!

Elder Bushnell

p.s. transfers are next week so hold off on sending anything for a little bit!

4.4.11 Pictures

4.4.11

Hey Mommy!!

Conference was super duper cool but as the 52,250 missionaries were watching it was kinda lame that all they talked about was marriage!! It was super weird for us...we laughed everytime they brought up getting married soon cause we still have a mission to serve! It was a lot about marriage...it was a good conference though! We got to watch all the sessions and in English so it was great! I liked it a lot! It will be better to read...so if we get the Ensign son will you send me one? I read every conference talk from the last one and marked it up. I really have learned to love conference!! We are super close to the church...it is uphill but its close.

We are still in the gross apartment which is not super gross now...cause we cleaned a lot of it but its just the bed bugs and fleas that are super annoying! I am super sick of them! We are going to wipe them out today probably with a bug bomb.We are hoping to move here soon--like this week...we aren't sure still but I am getting eaten by fleas. I hate fleas!!!

We don´t get very many referrals from the internet...most are from friends and family of members or through phone calls to the office from our cards.

It is weird that i will only have 2 more conferences...its going super fast! Tell Tyler to hang in there his mission call will come and it will completely change his life...I call tell it is completely changing mine!

I am sorta glad i am not home for your spring house cleaning kick...I don't like those very much.

I did notice that you guys had snow on Sunday, we decided it had to have snowed overnight. that is super crazy cause its like 75 and sunny here...like normally! :)

It is super weird that spring break is coming up so super fast! it is ridiculous how fast time really is going!!

I really liked conference a lot and i hope you guys all learned something!! I love you!!

We are still in the gross apartment which is not super gross now...cause we cleaned a lot of it but its just the bed bugs and fleas that are super annoying! I am super sick of them! we are going to wipe them out today probably with a bug bomb.

The lady from venezuela is still not baptized...she is thinking she needs more time to study and learn it all first...which she can´t do if she doesn´t have the spirit to teach it to her...she won´t ever really understand it all...she is just kinda stubborn. She will be baptized its just a matter of when.



Elder Bushnell