Hey family!
Sounds like a good week back at home! Everyone sounds like they are plenty busy, so that's good. Wow, I don't know where to start with this past week, so I'll start with saying something to the small babe.
Small babe, MOW THE LAWN. No excuses. Andrew, you need to be a good example and mow the lawn so that your mother doesn't have to. If I hear that Mom ever mows the lawn, then I'll be disappointed in my small babe. So do the right thing babe! I know you will. Love ya!
Haha, this past week for me was crazy. I literally thought I was going to die this past week. Because that bus ride from Quelimane to Beira is unbelievably painful. Obviously I had a middle seat (bad luck). Try 15 hours on a bus with hard seats, worse leg room than the back seat of the suburban, and bumpy dirt roads so we´re bouncing all over the place. On top of that, add no air conditioning while driving through the African desert, while wearing a suit jacket, while everyone on the bus smells terrible cause they don´t take showers. What a day. I thought I was going to die. But it was definitely a good experience, one that most missionaries in the world don´t get to have. And the view from the window on the ride there, was UNBELIEVABLE. It was like a national geographic magazine the whole way there. We drove through a mixture of jungle, desert, and sagebrush. It was crazy. And it´s crazy cause there are even little mud huts in the middle of nowhere. Some of those people probably haven´t even seen white people before. It´s so crazy. So it was a long day, but I grateful for the opprotunity, and the things I saw. So I wasn´t complaining about the situation, I promise. I really am grateful for it.
The zone conference was super cool! It was good to be able to meet Elder and Sister Renlund and hear their message for us. Elder Renlund talked about page 10 of Preach My Gospel, and how we can be successful missionaries. Sister Renlund talked about helping people make commitments, and how we can better teach the commandments.
It was also a pleasure to hear from our amazing mission president and his wife. They really are amazing. He talked about our potential, and being extraordinary missionaries, not ordinary. And Sister Kretly talked about our health, and that we needs to keep our houses clean. She´s all about clean!
It was also good to be able to meet some more Elders in the mission as well. I got to know some new people, and I got to see my entire MTC district as well. So it was good to catch up with them and see the different experiences in the different cities. I also got to talk with Elder Martinez again. It feels like we're in sixth grade all over again. Haha. He´s a good Elder, and maybe we´ll be companions one day!
Another posotive thing about the conference was that I was able to understand every word the President and Sister Kretly used during their trainings. The Language is really coming along fast, and it really is a miracle. But it is a lot easier to understand their Portuguese, because they speak correct and conjugated Portuguese. Which isn't really the case here.
But I'm so grateful I'm growing in the language, because this week I lose my trainer. Elder Workman flies down to Maputo on Friday, and then flies back to the US on Monday. It´s amazing how fast time flies, and that I´m already getting a new companion soon. But I won´t be getting my new companion until sometime next week. So we'll be walking in three-somes here until then after Elder Workman leaves. I'm pretty nervous abut getting a new companion. Especially because I would be showing my area to my new companion. But it´s a huge opprotunity to grow as a missionary as well. I´ll let you know who my new companion is when we get transfers and everything. Should be interesting.
Our area is still going unbelievably, and I´m so excited about it. We found another UNBELIEVABLE family this past week. Octavio Cossa, and his family. He´s got two sons Kelvin and Marvin who are 19 and 21. They are such studs who are already reading the Book of Mormon and praying. I´m so excited for them, and seeing how they progress. We should be making baptismal dates for them this week! So excited.
This P day (today), we are going to do something super sick! We're going to feed crocodiles! And what are we feeding them? Live chickens! Haha dead serious! The Osborn's are taking us at 13:00 (1:00pm). It's going to be crazy. I'm sure we'll get some crazy pictures! I'll let you know how it goes!
Well, I hope you all have a good week! I love getting emails from G-ma and G-pa, and Nana and Pops as well. Even if Nana and Pops address the email, "Elder Bushnell". Haha! But I understand, cause they're used to writing him. But I did get a kick out of that. I love all my granparents! Thanks for everything you do for me!
Well, have a good week everyone! Love you!
-Elder Williams
