Hey Mom!
I'm sorry; I tried to send pictures
today but this computer won't let me. :( I only have a few new pictures
anyway. I´ll try to send them next week.
The name of the city Xanxerê is pronounced "Shahn-sher-ey." All x's are pronounced with an "sh" sound in Portuguese.
It's getting pretty hot here now and we walk a lot--BLEH. I miss snow, ha ha!
Not much to report on here. We've
been teaching a few investigators and we're going to be visiting a lot of less
active members. This area has enough members in it to have two wards,
but only about 20 people come to church each Sunday; that's why it's only a
branch. There's a lot of childish drama
between members and that's the main reason people don't come
to church.
 |
| Fill in the blank with childish drama |
So we've got a lot of work to do
here!
Yesterday the candidate Dilma Rousseff won the election for president. To celebrate, all
the people in Xanxerê decided to blare music and car horns all at the same time. It was very noisy last night.
 |
| Dilma Rousseff |
Fun fact: Brazilians believe that a
Brazilian named Alberto Santos-Dumont invented the airplane. I had forgotten
that someone had told me that until yesterday during our lunch
appointment.
Our Ward mission leader was telling
us stuff about Brazil and very proudly informed us that the airplane was
invented here. When we said "Oh, that´s interesting!" (knowing that the Wright brothers actually invented it) he was surprised and asked us if we had heard about it before.
I very tactfully replied, "Americans
don't know much about Brazil."
My companion, who is from North
Carolina (where the Wright brothers invented the airplane) said that he's
gotten into heated arguments with Brazilians on this subject.
[If you want to read about the early Brazilian aviator Santos-Dumont, here's a link: http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/12/10/brazil.santosdumont.reut/ ]
Did I ever tell you that Brazilians
in this state cook just like you do? It´s true--every lunch I have in people's homes is like what
you make for dinner! (Aside from beans on rice.)
I don't like how they prepare salad,
though. They don't cut up the lettuce and they soak the whole thing in vinegar. But everything else they make is really good!
They have American style fast food
here, too. Their word for burger is "xis" (pronounced "sheez" as in "sheezburger").
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| Xis salada |
They also really like mayonnaise.
They like it too much. They put it on their pizza (!) and they put so much of it
in their potato salads that they just call potato salad "Mayonnaise."
 | ||
| Brazilian potato salad, or "Mayonnaise" |
 |
| Pizza topped with Mayo! |
Sorry to hear about Dad's stiff neck! That
bites. Sounds like you both still had fun at the ballroom show!
Love you Mom! :) Thanks for writing
me. I'll try again to send pictures next week.
Elder Duffin
[All photos this week courtesy of Google Images]
