Hello, Shari here, with a report on our
lovely, long Facetime visit with Ben-Daniel on Mother’s Day. He borrowed the bishop’s iPad and was at a church
member’s house who had good, reliable wifi.
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| Screen capture on Facetime |
We, of course, asked him about the
recent tornado that touched down a block and a half away from him in Xanxerê. He had a
little video of the tornado on his camera and showed it to us. He said it was so sudden and fast-moving that
he didn’t have time to be alarmed. After
he saw the damage where it touched down, he had a better sense of how dangerous
it was. He talked a little about the
hollow bricks that are used in that region—those buildings did not hold up well
against the tornado.
[He wrote: Me and the "Boi-zinho" (little bull). It almost kissed me! Ha ha.]
Before he left Xanxerê, he sent us a box of souvenirs of the area—mostly items
surrounding the Chimarrão culture.
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| Chimarrão |
Ben-Daniel
famously does not enjoy this popular, caffeinated, bright green herbal drink,
but said that it is a huge deal there—much like tea in Japan or our coffee
culture in Seattle. He sent us a
kilogram of it from the local factory in Xanxerê, four
decorative cups, a couple metal straws used in drinking it, and detailed
instructions on how to prepare it. After
reading over all the directions, we’ve decided we’re going to wait for him to
get home and have him make it for us!
He showed us some video footage of
another drink made locally—Caldo de Cana.
It is basically the juice from a frozen sugar cane.
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| Caldo de Cana |
This drink he likes (but what’s not to like
about the taste of sugar?) He says that
Brazilians are fond of sweets in general and drink a lot of soda. He is regularly amused when locals ask him if
Americans drink Coca Cola.
He talked a little about his impressions
of the Brazilian people. He says the people there
seem much happier in Brazil than they did in Houston. He wonders if it’s because they live simpler,
less stressful lives. He says they do
not work as many hours a week as Americans do and they live closer together as
families—for example, all in the same neighborhood. He and his companion make most of their
contacts on the street and he says people are generally quite friendly. They do not tract or knock on doors.
He’s noticed some interesting
differences in household appliances.
Ordinary Brazilians do not use the following items:
- Vacuum cleaners
(no one has carpeting—it’s mostly tile)
- Lawn mowers (they
just use weed whackers)
- Door mats (he
says people leave a rag at the door to wipe shoes)
- Mops (rags are attached
to the bottom of a squeegee)
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| Banana Cake |
He says everyone is generally friendly
toward Americans. In Xanxerê and Chapecó most people had never met an American
before and assumed he was German before speaking to him. American TV shows play there with voice
translation, so they are familiar with the more ridiculous side of our pop
culture. He says that lots of folks love
watching the Brazilian soap operas.
He told us a story about being in the
MTC in Sao Paulo when he first arrived.
He said he was in the cafeteria when he noticed some kind of bug on the
floor. It was green and yellow and
rolled up into a ball. He poked it with
his finger and it opened up to show that it was a caterpillar. He went to pick it up and take it outside
when he had a strong feeling that he should put the caterpillar on a napkin and
carry him that way. He was able to transport
it outside without touching it. A month
or so later, his first companion warned him never to touch a caterpillar—he
said many in Santa Catarina are poisonous and some even cause paralysis. He said one of the worst was green and yellow! Close call.
Ben-Daniel was relieved he’d listened to the prompting.
He reports that he is pretty fluent in
his Portuguese now, despite never having had a full-time Brazilian companion. He says it took about three months to be able
to communicate easily. In fact, he spoke
to us unthinkingly in Portuguese a few times and then had to go back and
translate for us. He says he does not
dream in Portuguese, but when he remembers conversations he had in Houston, he
sometimes remembers them in Portuguese instead of in English. He reports that the English-speaking
missionaries often speak to each other in “Portu-glish” –mixing up the two
languages.
He really likes his new companion, Elder
Shakespaere—he says he laughs easily which makes him awesome. He’s relatively new in the field and
Ben-Daniel is helping him with the language and some teaching technique. In missionary slang, he’s Elder Shakespaere’s
“mom.” (“Dad” refers to the original trainer when they first arrived.) They are both new to the area of Serraria
(which is not a town, but more like a particular section of the city).
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| Elder Shakespaere, perhaps enjoying banana cake |
Elder Shakespaere’s father is from Jamaica
and his mother is from Utah—and they all live in Nebraska. Ben-Daniel says they are getting along well
and Elder Shakespaere is schooling him in “how to be black.” When I asked him what that meant, Ben-Daniel
shrugged and said, “It’s basically how to wear a sweater better.” So we expect Ben-Daniel home with a new
sartorial elegance.
He sends his love to everyone at home
and says thank you to all who have been writing him, particularly the
Daughertys. He reported that a letter
arrived from the Brower family that had been completely saturated in some kind
of liquid and then dried. This impressed
him. He’s now in an area pretty close to
the mission office, so he will be there about once a week (instead of getting
mail every six weeks).
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| Mission office in Florianopolis |
If you’d like to
send him a letter, a post card, or anything else, now is a good time. Here’s the address once more:
Elder Ben-Daniel Duffin
Missao Brasil Florianopolis
Rua Feliciano Nunes Pires #42
Centro-Florianopolis SC
CEP: 88015-220
BRASIL
He sent us a ton of pictures on
Monday. We’ll share some more of them
here.
Banana trees!
Bees on banana blossoms.
Zone conference activities
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| Some sort of Book of Mormon skit |
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| He says they look like "camel cows" to him |
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| More camel cows |
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| "A brand of diapers with a hilarious name--I love how no one knows English here!" |
Thanks for reading!
That sucks. Hope you find the cheapest way to fix it.
