Fully Re-stocked in Pickled Beans! And other important things...

Hey Mom! Glad to hear you guys are doing good! So am I! :) Last Friday we had Zone conference and I got your package! :D It was the big one with the church sticker on it. I also got your card with the pictures in it. I was feeling down that day and it really cheered me up. :) Thank you so much.

Luckily, my companion thinks the pickled beans look gross and he doesn´t want to eat them. Ha ha!
Tell Grandad thanks and that I think about him and Erma every day.

And thank you for the peanut butter--it´s ridiculous how expensive it is here.

Unfortunately the day I got the package was also the day we decided to give our DVD player to another companionship, so I can´t listen to the Enya CD you sent. :P Oh well.

I also got a card from the Daughertys and one from Jon and Hillary. :) Tell them thanks for me!

The weeks keep passing by faster and faster. I´ve been in Brazil for three months now. I don´t believe that at all--ha ha. It will be Christmas before I know it. My Portuguese has improved quite a bit.

There's no Thanksgiving holiday down here. I think the only holiday they have in common with us is Christmas. But members are very good about feeding us. Their whole culture revolves around lunch--ha ha. The only Brazilian holiday I´ve been here for so far is the day their Republic started. Everybody celebrated by not working and shutting themselves up inside their houses all day. After the election last month, they celebrated by honking their car horns non-stop and drinking at gas stations. (There´s not much for people to do here, sadly.)

That´s a really cool story, Dad! [Jim wrote about a time on his own mission when he and his companion ran out of food on a Sunday. A lady in their ward became convinced that the missionaries needed food and sent her husband over with a big platter of dinner.] That same food situation happened to me about a year ago, only it wasn´t because we failed to shop. There were three of us and one of us was Tongan--ha ha.

Not too much to report. We´re trying to do Family Home evenings with all of the less active families in the branch (which basically means everyone in the branch). We´ve done a few so far and they´ve worked out really well! We´re doing another one tonight.

Love you Mom! Thanks for writing me! I´ll talk to you next week! :)
Elder Duffin

Book of Mormon Expo in the Park

Hey Mom!

I´m doing good. Sorry to hear about your cold! :( Hope you´ll get better soon!

I was just remembering how everyone in Texas hated the Seahawks and were completely baffled that they won the Superbowl. Ha ha ha! 

Not much has happened this week. I was going to and from Chapeco for a number of reasons. Mostly because my companion is the district leader and he had to be there to see departing missionaries out and transferred missionaries in. Because the bus only leaves later in the evening on weekends we had to be there all day.

On exchange with Elder Saldana

We had another Book of Mormon exposition last Friday! I like those; they're fun. We´re going to be doing them at least once a month from now on.

Our next zone meeting is this Friday, so I might get one of your packages this week! :)

Sorry that I won´t be there for Sarah´s wedding in December! [Sarah Duffin is BD's cousin from California]  Oh well.  Don´t worry, Mom.  I´ll never get married in December.  Having my birthday, Christmas and an anniversary in the same month would just be robbing me of two extra holidays.

I can´t believe Christmas is coming up so soon! A lot of people down here have Skype, but I´m really hoping I´ll find someone with Facetime so I can see you guys better.

Glad to hear Uncle Steve is doing well after his surgery. 

Ha ha ha--I like the pictures you sent, Dad! Looks like you guys are having fun with Uncle Brett. I still have the Brazilian soccer jersey he gave me a few years ago; I wear it here on P-day´s. :)

This is one of the pictures Jim sent him.

Catriel, your stories from the church dance made me laugh--ha ha ha!  You'll be able to come with me to the New Year's single adult dance in Seattle after I get back.  That one's really fun.  And there are awkward encounters there also--ha ha ha.

Love you Mom!  Hearing from you all is the highlight of my week! :)

Get better soon!

Elder Duffin

One way to respond when you're laughed at...also, SCARY moths

Hey Mom!

I´m doing good! I´m jealous of the stormy weather you´re having back home; though we did have some nice cloudy days this week down here. I´ve developed a strong dislike for the sun. 

 

Not much has happened this week. For the last three days we´ve been going back and forth from Xanxerê to Chapecó for various reasons. I´m in Chapecó now and will be here all day. Next week will be back to normal.

 

Chapecó

We got four new investigators this week. I was walking down a road in the evening and there was a full moon. I decided to stop and take a picture of it by one of these menorah- looking pine trees they have down here. 

 

 

Brazilian pine tree

 

While I was taking a picture, I heard something behind me. I turned around and saw four people in their 20´s sitting on a porch all laughing at me. We started talking to them and eventually taught them. They were very interested and we´ll be teaching them again soon.

Not much else to tell as far as lessons and investigators go. We visit a lot of less active members here too.

 

Me with a cow statue

My companion and I taught primary yesterday. The branch here is small, so there were only two kids in the class. They were nine years old, I think. We taught them about Daniel and the Lion´s den.

The stories you told about the dogs made me laugh, ha ha. Lots of people down here have Shih Tzus. It´s fun for me whenever I get the chance to play with one; reminds me of our's. 

 

​I feel like this is what Mothrah should actually look like. There are a lot of moths here. You can't touch the caterpillars here; they´re poisonous. Some of them cause paralysis.

I like the pictures you sent, Dad! The background looks like the twilight zone.  My companion says you look like a college professor, ha ha!

I'm doing good. I get along great with my companion and we're starting to find more people to teach. I only have six transfers left; doesn't seem real. 

 

Elder Close and I had to run through a rainstorm. Got soaked!

I am looking forward to hanging out with you guys again though; glad I'll have time to do that before I go to college.

Thanks for your love and support!  I love hearing from you every week!  I´m going to try to send pictures now.

Elder Duffin