Catch-up Post--Three Weeks in One!

July 13

Hey Mom & Dad,

Elder Shakespaere got transferred today; he left this morning. I´m a little sad about that--I was hoping he´d be my last companion. I had a lot of fun with him. 

Last picture of me and Shakespaere

But my new companion is pretty cool, too.  His name is Elder Mesa. He´s from Argentina and has a year on the mission. 

Me with Elder Mesa

I don´t know why, but there´s always a missionary in every mission that is a kind of ``grim reaper.´´ He gets paired up with departing missionaries almost every transfer on his mission. Elder Mesa is one of those. He has already ``killed off´´ three of his companions, making me his upcoming number four. [In missionary slang, they refer to missionaries going home as “dying.”  So Elder Mesa would have been paired mostly with guys on their last transfer before going home and therefore the label “grim reaper.”]

With Elder Mesa sealing off my list of companions, I´ll get to say that I never once had a Brazilian companion for my entire mission!

Glad you´re all having fun in Germany!   I like the pics. Hope you slept on the plane; that´s really the only thing to do for jet lag.

Still haven´t gotten packages, no. I´ll probably go to Floripa next week though.

Give Jon and Hillary a hug for me! Let me know what else you´ve done by next week.

Love you, Mom. Thanks for all you do.

Talk to you next week,

Elder Duffin

July 20

Hey Mom & Dad,

Looks like you guys are having a lot of fun. I like the pictures; I´m wishing I could be there with you.

Our apartment complex in Serraria

Cool Bug

I went to Floripa today and bought some neat stuff. I´m not sure if I´ll mail it home or if I´ll just bring it all back home with me in August.

I also got one of your packages!  Haven´t opened it yet.

I´m really sorry to hear about Cousin Pat.   Hope Dan and Pete and Phyllis will be okay. They´ll be in my prayers. [One of my favorite cousins passed away while we were in Europe.]

Rainbows in Serraria

Hearing about the fire near Sky Island is scary! Glad they got it put out. Guess they weren´t wrong about the fireworks this year.

Yeah, you´re right, that castle does look like the one from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Ha ha!

Neuschwanstein in Germany

I had to get used to typing on Portuguese keybords too; I´ll probably type weird when I get home.

A good view of Serraria

I went to Floripa today and bought souvenirs. Found some neat stuff.

Have fun and take lots of pictures. I´m not quite on my fourth memory card yet, but I think I have roughly five or six thousand pictures taken on my mission. I think it´s great how easily we can record history nowadays; no other time on earth has had the recording capabilities that we have.

Love you Dad!  I´m glad you´re having a good time; stay safe and give everyone hugs for me and keep taking pictures!

I´ll talk to you next week,

Elder Duffin

July 27

Hey Mom & Dad,

Sounds like last week was fun for you--looks like you did some interesting things. I like the pictures. Germany looks like a really cool place--lots of history. Though I would prefer that you not write to me about the concentration camp you visited; save that till I come home. I need to be happy for the rest of the mission.

I´m glad to hear that Julia´s group won first place at the World Jump Rope Championship! Tell her congrats for me. 

Yes, I got a package last week, the one with the peanut butter and pickled beans. I´ve been enjoying that. Never realized just how much I liked peanut butter until I came to Brazil.

Not much new going on here; just trying to get less actives and investigators to church. Elder Mesa and I are getting along great; I really lucked out on companions my whole mission. He is my 13th. We also had a conference with a member of the 70; that was cool.

Restaurant we ate at during conference

I sent you a bunch of pictures; hope you got them! 

This is from the Christmas conference white elephant gift exchange. I bought this thing not knowing it was an ash tray. President was the one who ended up getting it and he thought it was pretty funny.

Me with an Elder in our Zone

 

Have a great last few days of your trip! Give Jon and Hillary hugs for me. Wishing you all safe travels home!

Love you! Talk to you next week.

Elder Duffin