5.14.12

Hey mommy!!

It was great to talk to you guys. You guys seemed to hang in really well and not cry! :) Five weeks is super easy! haha Carter is a cute little munchkin! It is so weird, when he left he was just a few months old and was just like any baby..ate...pooped...slept..that is about it. But now he talks and walks and colors and does everything! I will try to take a picture for him soon of Bronsy next to a train!!  He is a smart little guy!

We are going to teach a lot of people this week we are going to try to baptize Vera, Theber, Conceição, and Ana here in the near future.

For your lesson about prayer use the talk by Elder Kendrick a long time ago but it explains very well how prayer should work. I used it a week ago in a training I had to give. Here is the link:

http://www.lds.org/ensign/1999/09/personal-revelation?lang=eng

It is a super good talk and explains really well the 3 p´s of receiving revelation in our lives!

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

Elder Bushnell

Daddio!!

It was great talking to you! You guys look a lot better than last Christmas...right after the accident! I am really doing great! I haven´t had any real problems with being trunky. All the members say I am doing a lot better than the others elders that have finished here! Thanks for the words of support and I will do my best!! :)

Love you!!

Elder Bushnell

5.7.11

Hey mommy!!

This week has been full of crazy adventures...or lack of them. Basically what happened was my companion hurt his leg on Tuesday so he couldn´t walk on the rest of Tuesday and on Wednesday. Then he got some sort of bad news and went into a depression on Thursday but we still worked a bit and everything went pretty well. The biggest news was on Sunday we found out some crazy things. Our branch president got released...shocked everyone. It was a bit of a scandal and now we have a new one from a different city, who has a baby of a few months and is still in school and stuff. It will be really rough. No one really knows how to react and what to say, the new one doesn´t have any idea what happened so we have to support him and help him out but it is weird! 

Vera is not scheduled to be baptized cause she didn't come to church. She lives far away and she can´t come without a ride and our member got sick and didn´t come. As far as I know with transfers I will stay here. My companion is getting transfered to Madeira which is awesome! I think I will be serving with Elder Banks from Coleville, but it is not confirmed.

I am not sure what time will work for you to call me on Sunday. When do you have church? Here is the number here in Ermesinde it is 937100816.  I can´t believe how fast the time is going...only 6 more weeks. haha YOU are the trunkie one. I can´t get it into my head that I will be home so soon! haha sounds like you guys were pretty white trash in the middle of the road but it sounds super fun!

I saw the itinerary and stuff and it all looks good but the only problem is that there are so many people here in Ermesidne that want to see me again and want to have you guys over for dinner and stuff. It all depends what you guys want to do. We can just figure it out later i guess. I can wear pday clothes! I am pretty sure the only thing I can´t do is swim. I will confirm that though. As far as where to stay Porto its self is in the middle of Gaia and Ermesinde which makes it easier if we want to go to them both. It is the bigger city and will probably be better for us but just look at what is cheaper. Albufeira is an amazing place but probably it is more expensive. But if possible it would be super awesome!

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

Elder Bushnell

Hey daddio!!

This week was pretty good I told mom about how my comp got sick but we had some good times and found some people that are cool. We just need to do a little better at finding out what exactly we need to do different to find people with more desire to move their life. Our investigators are kinda just spinning tires and not really full on moving forward but they will get there for sure!

 Sounds like a fun little adventure you guys had up the canyon. I feel like we are all turning a little more redneck everyday! ;) you found a cave?

I heard that jJake is going to costa rica which is super awesome! He will be a great missionary...who are the next kids to go out on a mission? We get to talk this Sunday then it is only 5 weeks and  I will be seeing you again! I can´t get that idea into my head!

Will you ask mom to send me a simple cookie recipe? This ward is obsessed and they are mad that i as an American don´t know how to make them...oops! :)

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

p.s. i gave mom the phone number for here and we have Skype in the church we can use so we will get it all figured out...what time is church there?

Elder Bushnell

4.23.12

Hey Mommy!!

This week was super awesome! We had some crazy stuff happen! We had some amazing miracles with Theber, the Brazilian kid. We prayed on Tuesday and felt that he needed to be baptized as fast as possible and still don´t know why but we felt it. So we went and talked to him, he said he would pray to find out if that was what God wanted for him. He wanted to take his Book of Mormon and Bible and stick them together and then pray and tell God, "If you want me to be baptized move the bookmark from its place in the book." Obviously that doesn't work really well!! But that night he had a dream and in the dream he saw his Bible and Book of Mormon and he saw the bookmark slowly come out and sit on top of them. God really did answer his prayer, but not the way he thought. He also prayed a different time and couldn't stop smiling and crying at the same time. It was super awesome. Then on Saturday he still was doubting and so we left him alone in the room to pray and search a little. He said he opened his scriptures and his bookmark was on a page he had NEVER been to. It was not where he left it. It was in the topical guide on the page "baptize, to baptism." God did move his bookmark in reality as well. It was super awesome!! The sad part of this story is that he was not baptized because his mom says he has to learn more about he gospel. Basically he will be baptized as soon as his mom lets him, so we have planned some stuff to talk to her about. If not he turns 18 in August when he will be baptized then for sure!!

The branch here has about 30 people, there are lots of less actives that just need to come back. We are working on moving the chapel, which will help. 

 My birthday was great, we had dinner planned with some member who did a big surprise party!! They had a big cake for us with our names in the shape of a Book of Mormon it was great. We ate dinner and I got a tie and it was great! I will include a picture of the cake I made that you sent, it was super yummy!! I attached a picture of it!

Sounds like you have had a busy week!! That is scary about Nana, I am so glad she is doing better! It sounds like you guys are having some super exciting times there!! Just think a few more weeks and it will all be calmer...you get to come here and visit the beach and the castles and everything!! :) That is a bummer that Dad can´t get all his hernias fixed up before you come get me! I will do the lifting and stuff but he get to do the driving!

I can´t believe another year has past already since the last Sport Challenge.That is crazy! I also can´t believe I am going to miss it again!! oh well!!

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

Elder Bushnell