11.14.11

Hey daddio!!

Everything went just great this week...it was was everyday but we came out on top! We really saw miracles this week from God and were able to give Iracema the "key" to the celestial kingdom! She was baptized on Sunday and Elder Carpenter got to do the baptism for his first time! It was great! It was a war with her every night this week...she always had something that was wrong...she smoked, drank wine, drank coffee...couldn´t read, was super stubborn. She was able to stop smoking with a lot of effort on our part but an amazing strength by her. So we moved to wine...she was told to drink it because it didn´t have a ton of sugar..oh she is diabetic...so she was drinking it to help her get the food down. We were able to cure that with some light fruit juice and a lot of promised blessings and strong testimonies. So we moved to the Coffee which the doctor told her to take to higher her blood pressure..i think? It was confusing. So then we had to call Pres. Torgan who is a super amazingly smart man...he told her to do a cinnamon tea thing or to put just a little bit of salt on her tongue which would do the exact same thing as the coffee...so problem solved. As for not being able to read we called the bishop who was able to download the Book of Mormon and put it on CD for us to give her to hear but since she is almost blind she struggled to start it but she figured it out. As far as being super stubborn...we are super persistent so we were able to beat her stubbornness! She was baptized and everything went super well! 

I realized i forgot another key...we went on saturday to do the interview with the Zone Leaders and she wasn´t home so we went to Jumbo (grocery store) and looked for her...she is almost blind so just goes there and sits at home...and we found for the second time in our entire lives her son..who was supposed to be gone to Lisbon but was delayed and had to grab something from there first. It was our second time ever seeing him so i ran up to him and he told us when his mom would be home. I know that God put him there to tell us that everything will work out and when we needed to be there! It was cool!

Poor Melissa and Wade having 2 sick goobers. I hope they get feeling better soon! haha of course Ellie always has seemed like 3 going on 13 or 5 going on 15...that is funny. She kinda sounds like a handful!

I also haven´t gotten your package yet....i hope it comes soon! I hope my card gets there pretty soon...there are some super funny pictures on it...lots of dumb ones though cause my comp forgot his camera one time so he got to use mine to take some pics but i forgot to erase them. Yeah i guess i could always reread books and stuff huh? I will see how the up coming transfers go and see how much i can take. Probably I will want to leave most American things here anyways and just bring back cool Portuguese stuff to show my grand kids one day.

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

Elder Bushnell

 PS.

Something cool though...Craig's business partner down in St. George is serving here in Porto in the Young Single Adult Center!

11.6.11

Hey mommy!!!

I am doing just dandy how are you doing? Really this week was pretty good. We marked Iracema to be baptized on the 13th...so Sunday! We learned some crazy things about her...she smokes a little bit which is a problem...cause she only smokes after 11 at night...she doesn´t go to bed until like 4 in the morning. She is a little crazy and says she can´t go to bed earlier cause then she lays there and she gets lots of body pains...excuses...we are working really hard with her to get her ready for Sunday! It should be great! You don´t need to worry to much about me really all is going just great...i am eating TONS and probably getting fat cause like you said its hard to get back into working out...i do a bunch of pull ups every day but that is basically it now. Rosana hasn´t answered her phone or her door in a while so we don´t know what to do with her...just keep trying. The church is about a 7 minute walk from our house...missionary walk...like 10-13 normal people.

Yeah we switched our clocks 2 weeks ago. It is always 2 weeks different...i don´t know why...some holidays are different as well...like mothers day...it is 2 weeks earlier here than at home...weird! Wow I can´t believe that kyle and Victor have so much time between them...i can´t believe how few fast Sundays I have left...wow! I still am not a huge fan of the having to grow up idea...oh well! I bet Scottland is pretty weirded out with kyle leaving...he and kyle were good buds in everything. like my daddio and i.

It will be super weird when i get back and Carter doesn´t recognize me and to see how big he has gotten...he looks super big! When i left he was TINY! haha that is funny that he is saying one syllable words. He is a cute little munchkin..

Umm i hope the book is not the miracle of forgiveness i read that one already...it is good but not my fav. other than that...i don´t think i need anything else for now...maybe more toothbrush heads...the good floss action ones? I can buy them here but they are like 6 euros each. Are they that expensive in America? that is like 8 dollars? umm as far as Christmas...i really don´t need a lot...i have SO much stuff! I don´t know what to do with all the stuff i have...it barely fits in my suitcases! I have lots of books i have read and marked that are good study books like that new testament study manual...but i don´t know what to do now with them...any ideas? I can´t just throw them away...i don´t know what i will do. umm really i don't know what i want for Christmas...i don´t need anything really.

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

Elder Bushnell

p.s. i sent the photos last week so you should get them soon!

10.23.11

Hey Mommy!

This week was pretty good. We worked super hard to get people in church but only ended up with 5 which isn´t bad...one of them is basically blind so that a a battle to get her there...she liked it for the most part i think. The lady that we met is named Rosana and she is progressing pretty well...she is kinda tricky to meet with and she didn´t show up for church this week so we are going to pass by tonight to see what happened. She is scared to be baptized in a church and then decide later it isn´t true...which is exactly how she should be thinking so she just needs to make an effort to get the answer she is looking for! :) When i met with president he said that the number 1 reasons we don´t improve in life is because we don´t continue to learn and appreciate the atonement...he said if we want to be better missionaries we need to study it more...if we want to be successful and happy in our lives we need to study it more. Got any ideas or cool books or anything about studying the atonement? I have no idea if i will stay up here in the north or not...we have transfers the 22 of November and probably i will leave.

I am currently doing p90x really crappy. I haven´t had time or energy to do it. I will start again good this week though. I haven´t put on a lot of weight, I am around 157ish.I can see a difference though...my arms and a lot bigger and more defined. My teeth look like the day i got my braces off, super straight and super white.

Well thanks for everything mommy!! I love you tons!!

Elder Bushnell

Favorite Quote

Bronson's favorite quote: Doing hard things is easy when we know the Lord takes care of the impossible. 

10.16.11

Hey Mommy!!

This week was not really super exciting we did a lot of tracting and we found some good people...we found one lady that talked to the missionaries in the past and she asked what the difference between our church and the catholic church is and so of course i said AUTHORITY. We explained that without authority the church isn´t worth anything here on earth. She has been to church and also seen a baptism...we think hers will be very soon as well! :) I am glad you only cried a little bit! Dad said his talk went pretty well...am i going to be too embarrassed to come home? Mormon.org is a great tool that the church is really trying to push into the world because it really gives people a way to know that we are NORMAL people! I started one in the MTC but didn´t finish it.

I am glad/nervous to come home in the summer....right off the bat i will get teased because i am INCREDIBLY white...also my golf game is going to be AWFUL! I will be shredded though...i can see a pretty big difference already. I also will have super white straight teeth!! :)

 

Are you and dad going to serve a mission here in a few years? I think you guys should...now you can even just serve for 6 months...that is SUPER easy!!

It is super crazy that i only have 8 months...that is going to be super fast! I can´t believe how fast my mission has already past...i feel like yesterday i was in the mtc. It is crazy...before you know it i will be home stressing you out all over again ;)

Thanks for everything mommy!! Love you tons!!

Elder Bushnell

Hey daddio!!

It is super crazy how fast the mission has started to go! Everyday seems to go faster than the one before! haha did you say super embarrassing things about me in front of the ward? I hope the ward took it to heart and really understands that the world out here is getting worse every day...we are baptizing more and more but it is getting worse...we need to make sure we are in a very secure STRONGHOLD...that our families and testimonies will make it through WHEN satan starts beating down on us...it is sad how many people don´t make it and end up with millions of dollars of debt...no family no friends...nothing in their possession...it is awful what Satan can make the world believe! We of course know who is going to win in the end but man oh man...the world right now is absolutely ridiculous!

We have interviews with Pres. Torgan tomorrow so we will see why he left me and carpenter together. I really know we can start seeing miracles everyday we just really need to look up in all situations and follow what God says to us with exactness...which isn´t always easy!  We haven´t been able to meet with that guy cause they have been moving houses and all sorts of crazy stuff...we have a lesson planned with him this week to tell him he needs to stop worrying about what dead people would have said and worry about HIS and HIS FAMILIES standing with GOD. :)

As far as the shoes i should be fine...if not i will buy a cheap pair of super awesome Portuguese shoes to wear with my sweet suit i want to buy when you guys come get me! :) Also i will send the letter this week with the picture card, i have been trying to fill it up  but i haven´t gotten it yet...oh well i will send it!

Thanks for everything!! Love you daddio!!

Elder Bushnell