The Gift of Tongues, Rain, and More Food Talk

Hey Mom!

I'm doing well!  It's cold and rainy in Chapecó today.  Reminds me of home! Yes, I'm healthy again, thank goodness.  The cold didn't last too long. 

Sorry to hear about your parking ticket. Reminded me of the stupid ticket I got in Texas. Ha ha!

I remember seeing a preview for The Box Trolls. [We wrote about seeing that animated film this week.]  I think that company is owned by Tim Burton. My last companion said the movie Coraline, which was made by them too, is also really good.  I'll have to watch both when I get home. ;)

We're steadily finding more people to teach. The people we've found are genuinely interested too. Except for this one guy we taught the day before yesterday. All he wanted to talk about was how he thinks the Illuminati own everything and are trying to take over the world. He knows so because he "watched a dvd about it." 

I'm able to teach pretty decently now. The language is coming pretty fast. :)  I think the spiritual highlight in my life right now is the gift of Tongues. I'm able to speak way better than I should, and sometimes while I'm talking I say a word or two I've never heard before and it just "happens" to be a real word that works in conveying what I'm trying to say. Way cool.

 

 

We walk a lot and take the bus to places that are too far to walk. Members feed us lunch every day, and they all make really good food! We get fed here really well. 

 

 

 

This morning for breakfast at my apartment, I ate a slice of bread with jam, a tiny cup of strawberry yogurt, a tiny cup of chocolate pudding, and a tiny packet of peanut butter which I mixed with honey.  It's shopping day.

Ha ha! I remember that day at the rainforest café. And yes, we were eating a chocolate Volcano. :D That place was my favorite when I was little. I still like it, ha ha! [He's responding here to a comment I made in a letter about an incident when he was seven.]

Tell Sophie I say congratulations on her new baby! I'm sure I'll be passing through Utah sometime in the future and I will pay her a visit.

As for care packages, I would love some of Grandad's pickled beans, if you have them. Pictures would be nice, too. And maybe a small thing of peanut butter (it's amazingly expensive here). Anything you think I'd like :)

I'm just remembering that I had chicken pox during the October conference last year. Can't believe that was a year ago already! I can't believe Setembro is over already. I feel like Augosto just ended! And I only have 10 1/2 months left now. Yikes!

Thanks for emailing pictures, Dad (sorry I don't have time to send any of my own today). I love seeing you all each week!

Good luck on the SAT, Catriel! And have fun at Homecoming! And yeah, I'm really glad you and Jon are the only siblings I have; you're a really great sister and I'm glad we're friends.  :)

Siblings!

 

Love you Mom! Thanks for writing me. I really miss you all and hearing from you is the highlight of my week! :)

Talk to you next Monday,

Elder Duffin

It's a Relief that they Eat Pickles Here!

Hey Mom!

Glad to hear Jon's okay; he's in my prayers.  Your writing class sounds interesting, Mom. It would make a good sitcom, ha ha!

I don't hear anything about the United States down here. My companion is blonde and everyone just thinks we're Germans. A lot of the people we talk with say they've never talked to an American before.

 

Floripa

I'm doing well--just fighting a head cold. :( I was on a really long healthy streak, too!

 

I'm having fun here in Brazil. There are some things about missionary work that this mission does differently from Houston South, but I'm dealing with it. The people here are nice and we're finding more people to teach every day. The language is coming pretty fast for me; I'm able to teach pretty coherently. 

Chegou means "Arrived"

To answer your questions:

The mission president brings all our mail from the mission office to our area every time we have a zone conference (once a month). It is safer to send mail there; he will bring it to me.

I have not had any problems adjusting to the water or the food here. This state (Santa Catarina) is one of the richest parts of Brazil. They've got good water filters here; you can drink right out of the tap and it's fine.  Everything is amazingly expensive, though; a box of cereal is $7.00 US (so cereal is now out of my diet--ha ha).

They eat pickles here! That's a relief. They also eat a lot of french fries. They have these really tiny french fries that they sprinkle over all their food at meals. The food here really isn't that different at all from back home other than this weird herbal drink (which tastes worse than dirt) that EVERYONE here just loves. Very strange.

 

Me under the Blackberry Tree!

Again, running out of time.

I like the pictures, you sent Dad! I'm going to try to send some to you guys now.

 

This was in my fortune cookie at the airport in Georgia haha!

 

 

 

My district at the MTC in Sao Paulo

The temple in Sao Paulo

I'm not too good at taking selfies!

Love you Mom!  Talk to you next week!

Elder Duffin

Olá Chapeco!

Hey Mom!

I'm doing good! I'm in a city called Chapeco, near the Argentinian border. I took a 12-hour overnight bus ride from Florianopolis to Chapeco. I slept most of the way.  I'll be here for at least the next 12 weeks.

Chapeco, Brazil (courtesy of Google images)

The red portion is where Chapeco is located in the state of Santa Catarina

I tried to send pictures today, but the computer I'm using wigged out when I tried to do anything with my USB. Sorry  Hopefully I'll be able to send pictures next week. The place where I'm emailing only allows one hour on the computers, so I don't have much time at all.

My companion is an American named Elder Close. He's been out in the mission field for exactly the same amount of time as I have, but he went straight to Brazil. Had he not gotten his visa, he would've been in my district in the MTC in Provo.

I'm living in an apartment with two other elders besides my companion--one of whom is from Brasilia, the capital city of Brazil. 

I'm doing well with the language.  People have a different accent down here, but I can understand a fair amount of what they say and I can teach pretty well. I'm hoping to be fluent in six months. 

Lunch is the main meal of the day here, so we eat lunch with members every day. The food here is really good! I like it a lot. Rice and beans isn't the only thing we eat, but it's almost always part of the meal.  The food is actually a lot like the stuff you usually make, Mom.  The only weird thing was an herbal tea that tasted a little like dirt to me, but other than that, it's not too foreign.

They have blackberries that grow on trees here. I took pictures of me in front of them. They look and taste exactly like blackberries, but they grow on a tree!

It was pretty hot yesterday, but today is misty and chilly--reminds me of home! I can wear long sleeves again--YAY!!!

The mailing address for the mission office is:

Mission Office

Rua Feliciano Nunes Pires # 42

Centro-Florianopolis-SC

CEP: 88015-220

Love you Mom!  Glad you and the family are doing well; I pray for you every day! Thanks for all you do for me!

Talk to you next week!

Elder Duffin