Missionary Man: Mother’s Day Facetime Visit

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.

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.

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.

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)

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).

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).