Hey Mom!
Yes, the cookies [in the Christmas box] were edible! I´ve been trying to savor them and make them last. I only have one coconut macaroon and one jam tart left
I don´t know when I should eat
them. (#firstworldproblems) Ha ha!
It´s been
pretty darn hot here lately. I´m really jealous of your cooler weather.
It´s really hot and sunny during the day and then every evening for the past
week a ginormous storm blows in. A couple of days ago we had a very
impressive lightning storm; got some cool video of it. In fact, I just looked outside and it´s now pouring down rain. I did not bring
an umbrella to the Lan house. Darn it. The weather has been very
hot and then it just dumps rain in the evenings 
; it´s been doing this almost
all week!
Talk to you next week!
I think it´s very funny to see you all become such devoted football fans! [We wrote him right after the Seahawks won their NFC championship game and were a touch excited.] Sounded like a fun game to watch though! Wow. I
guess our house has become a football stadium for the Duffin/Steelsmith family! That´s
cool; let me know how the party goes when they win the Superbowl again.
Sorry to hear you´ve got a cold, Mom. Get better soon! And I like your Game Day manicure. You should paint little white 12´s on your blue nails
Yes, the cookies [in the Christmas box] were edible! I´ve been trying to savor them and make them last. I only have one coconut macaroon and one jam tart left
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| Me at the Christmas Conference |
Work
continues down here. We
have a 15 year old guy named Arnold who has been investigating the
church for the past few weeks. The mission has a rule here where people
under age 16 must wait three months before they can get baptized, unless their
parent or guardian decides to get baptized too. Yesterday we had a
lesson with his parents; it went pretty well. I´m hoping that they´ll
start coming to church with Arnold, like we invited them to do. Hopefully
they´ll both get baptized.
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| Christmas Eve Dinner! |
Other than that, we
really have no other investigators right now. We´ve been working with a few less
active families and one of them has started coming back to church!
They´ve been coming for the past four weeks. I´m happy about that. We also
had a great turnout at church yesterday. 
Training Elder Stahn is going well! We get along great. He´s picking up the language very fast.
This transfer has gone by waaaayyyy fast for me. I only have four more after this. Can´t believe I´ve been in Xanxerê for four months now. I think staying in one area for a long time makes time pass faster. I hope I get to serve in other areas though; I like moving around.
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| First photo with Elder Stahn |
This transfer has gone by waaaayyyy fast for me. I only have four more after this. Can´t believe I´ve been in Xanxerê for four months now. I think staying in one area for a long time makes time pass faster. I hope I get to serve in other areas though; I like moving around.
I managed to send you guys some more pictures today! Here are a few from the city center of Xanxerê:
And a few from outside the city:
The flora and fauna here remind me a lot of Oregon.
I really enjoy seeing pictures Dad sends of you guys every week; thank you.
And a few from outside the city:
The flora and fauna here remind me a lot of Oregon.
I really enjoy seeing pictures Dad sends of you guys every week; thank you.
Love you Mom & Dad! Emailing is the highlight of every week for me--I love hearing from you. Thanks for encouraging me on the mission and for everything else you do! 
Talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Duffin
