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.
Elder Duffin
