...and Olá Brasil!

[Shari here.  Ben-Daniel emailed us that he would call us from one of the airports he was in on Tuesday as he traveled to Brazil.  Here are some snippets from our conversation.]

Reflections on the Houston South Mission

• Highlights were the temple trips and a good relationship with President Ashton.
• He is sad to leave all the friends he's made in this mission.  He really enjoyed all the people in Houston--excepting a few "street beggars with drug-fried brains."

I asked him about the different areas he'd served in.

• He liked Richmond, the area in which he served around Christmastime.  He was part of a trio of missionaries with whom he got along well.  He also particularly liked the ward mission leader and ward members in this area.
• Sugarland was memorable for Palm Royale Street.  He says it's a very wealthy area (big oil money) with "ridiculously big mansions."  He had a good companion here, but he said that people were rarely home.  Occasionally they would find an at-home spouse "but they were never interested in talking." He said the ward wasn't terrifically active with missionary work either.  The mission president had both him and his companion transferred elsewhere and "pink-washed" the area (translation: bring in the sister missionaries).  :)
• He said his fifth area, Brazosport, was one of his favorites.  He and his companion worked near Lake Jackson.  (Although he took a moment to complain that a town would be called "Lake Jackson" when no lake named "Jackson" existed.)  When I asked him why this was a favorite area, he said because there were tons of people who wanted to take the lessons.  He loved teaching there.
• The last area he mentioned was Memorial, where he spent the last couple of months.  He really enjoyed his companion, Elder Carter, here.  Both of them left at the same time--Ben-Daniel to go to Brazil and Elder Carter to go home at the end of his mission.  He said that the area was being "white-washed." (Translation: both missionaries are departing and a complete new set are coming in.)

He thought he would be able to call us again from the airport in Atlanta, but ended up not having enough time.  He did meet a man named Mike in the terminal (a hospital CEO from Utah) who took his picture and kindly texted it to us:

On his way to Brazil!

This morning he emailed us from the missionary training center in Sao Paulo.  Here's what he said:

Just wanted to let you know I made it safely here! I'm in the MTC right now. 

I didn't take the one-hour time difference in Atlanta into account, so I didn't have time to call from there. Sorry about that!

I think you got the picture that guy sent of me. I ran into a party of Utah hospital CEO's who were members and they bought me dinner. So my last American meal was PF Chang's--ha ha Chinese food!

It's a little weird being in the MTC again. I kind of wish they'd just send me straight into the field, but I know I'll need the help with the language. 

I don't know when P-day is yet but you'll hear from me!

love, 

Elder Duffin

Adeus Texas!

Hey Mom!

I'm doing good. Still packing. I have to mail off a box of stuff to you today; I'm trying to get my bags as light as possible. :P

I will be flying to Atlanta first, then to Sao Paulo, Brazil. I have about an hour and a half layover in Georgia. My flight from Houston leaves at 3:30 a.m. Texas time, so I'll be calling in the very early morning.

It was STUPIDLY DIFFICULT to find a phone calling card. Walmart didn't have them; even the AT&T store didn't have them. I finally found one at a seedy gas station. :P

Sample seedy gas station

But yeah; just packing and getting ready to leave! I'm really excited to go. :)

Because I am leaving at the same time as the departing missionaries [ones who have finished their missions and are going home], I've been getting the departing missionary treatment. :)  I got to go with them on the temple trip on Friday and I get to join them for a steak dinner with the mission president tonight, too. So that's pretty cool!

School starts for everyone in Texas today; I've been seeing lots of buses.  I can't believe Catriel will have graduated by the time I get back!!  I liked my senior year a lot; I think she'll enjoy it too.

 
I'm sorry to hear about Grandad's health problems (and crazy neighbors). He's in my prayers every day.

I like the pictures you sent, Dad! Did you guys shave Hogan's legs, or did he do that himself? Ha ha.

I get super jealous every time you go on nature hikes. [We wrote him about hiking near Mt Rainier last weekend.]  But I'm going to see some beautiful sites here pretty soon, from what I've heard about Brazil.

I don't have my card reader on me right now, so I can't send pictures today; sorry.  I look forward to talking to you tomorrow! :)

Thanks for all you do for me!

Love,

Elder Duffin

Madly Finishing Up in Texas

Hey Mom!

Sorry if this is short. Today has been one big mad dash to get everything done and shop for stuff. I've been up since 5 a.m. and I'm kind of exhausted.  :P

I got the white shirts today; thank you! I will be trying to mail you a box of stuff before I leave. Not sure when I'm going to be able to mail them off, but there's no way my bags won't be overweight if I don't.  

We've got a lot of appointments set up for this week; so my last week in Texas will be a busy one. That'll be nice.

Not much to report here, other than it's ridiculously hot.

Oh, we went to the temple on Saturday with our recent convert. I did the work for three of my ancestors; that was cool.

Your story about the little girl disrupting the priesthood choir made me laugh. I was in a ward a few transfers ago where they didn't like to sing at all; it was the most awkward thing in Sacrament meeting. 

Hope you had a good birthday Dad! I like the photos you sent. You all look very nice, but you need to smile, Dad! Ha ha.

That's cool that Jacob Wagner is putting his papers in.  Maybe he'll come to Texas and replace me! :)

Sorry to hear about Michelle's mom's illness; I'll be praying for them.

Sounds like you had a good time at hemp fest! Ha ha! [We took some visiting family members to Seattle last Saturday and ran into lots of crowds and a disproportionate number of bicycle cops.  Turns out we'd wandered into the middle of Hemp-fest.]  I remember during my senior year Dad and I were in Seattle and that same thing happened to us.

Not much else to write about--just preparing to leave and preparing the area for the next set of elders.

Love you Mom! Thanks for writing me!

Talk to you later,

Elder Duffin

And the VISA Finally Arrives!!! Lots of Exclamation Points!!!

Dear Mom,

Well, your feelings about my visa were right!

I got my visa on the 2nd but I didn't find out until the 5th. I leave on August 26th!  It also happens to be the day Elder Carter, my companion, finishes his mission and goes home. So we're staying together till then! We're both happy about that.  I get to go on the departing missionaries temple trip too!

I was super surprised when I found out I'd gotten it. I've been in Houston for six weeks short of a year, come Thursday. Kind of mind boggling! Ha ha! (And this Thursday is my year mark!!! WHAT??)  I'm super excited though!!! and glad to be getting out of the Houston heat!  I will miss the the Houston South Mission though. I'm sad to leave all the friends I've made.

So, now I'll be in Texas for only two more weeks! It's bittersweet, but the awful weather here makes it easier to leave.  I will be going into the Sao Paulo MTC for two weeks, doing a language refresher course once I get to Brazil.

 

 

I'm sorry to hear about Bill. I wrote to Grandad; I actually just wrote him two weeks ago, responding to a funny email he sent, but I don't know if he saw it or not.

Glad to hear you had fun at the wedding in Pullman.  (When you wrote about your garden I thought it said "concubines" instead of columbines--ha ha!)

 

Columbine flowers (not concubines)

 

I don't have too many new pictures, but I'll send some now :)  [Despite writing this, no pictures arrived with this email, so I'm attaching an older one.]

Love you Mom!  Talk to you next week!

Elder Duffin

Time Doesn't Fly, It Rides a Cheetah!

Hey Mom,

I'm doing good! It's pretty miserable hot here, but I survive. 

Not much has happened that's out of the ordinary, just been biking around and teaching! We taught a family from Iraq this week. They're Christian (Coptic, I think) and the parents pretty much only speak Arabic, so their 12 year old son did a lot of translating. We got pamphlets in Arabic for them today, so hopefully they'll understand what we're teaching better the next time we see them.

I'm super jealous of your trip to Grandma and Grandpa's in Oregon! (Having a bit of a trunky moment here.)  [Jim tells me that feeling "trunky" is mission slang for homesick.] I miss Grandma and Grandpa a lot. Grandad and Erma too. I'm glad you all had fun. :)  

My companion is jealous also, because of the plays you saw in Ashland.  He's a huge theater buff and Into the Woods is one of his favorite musicals. He says he's really excited for you--ha ha. I've gotten him hooked on Tillamook cheese, too. [This is not as random as it sounds.  Catriel wrote him about our recent tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Oregon.]

I'm really sorry to hear about Libby's daughter. That's sad. :(  Send my condolences. Glad you were safe on your trip to and from the funeral.

This week went by fast for me. My mind is still trying to comprehend the fact that in 10 days I'll have been out in the mission field for a year! Doesn't seem like that long ago that I was in the MTC. Time doesn't fly, it rides a cheetah running full speed on the top of a speed-train inside a spaceship moving at Warp 10--GAAAAH! 

I'm having a good time though. My companion goes home at the end of this transfer and I've been helping him to ward off trunkiness. He's doing a good job at staying focused.

I'm eating dinner at a ward pool party tonight. We invited a lot of non-members and we're hoping to see a big turnout there.

Our recent convert, Patrick, found five names of his ancestors to take to the temple. We're going to go with him soon. I found a few of mine and Dad's ancestors I can do baptisms for, so I'm excited to go and do that!

Not much else to say! I'll send you some pictures now.

Love you Mom! Thanks for writing me! You're in my prayers always! :)

Talk to you next week,

Elder Duffin 

 

The little kid is named Anthony. Elder Carter baptized him and I confirmed him on Saturday. The woman in the striped dress is his mom.

This was some Tuna Mush that we ate one day for dinner. It looked nasty but it was actually really good!