The Countdown Begins...

Hey Mom!

I don´t know if I will get to email next Monday so this might be the last one! But if I do get near a computer, you´ll certainly hear from me.

I´m really looking forward to coming home! Really excited to see everyone! Glad to hear Grandma and Grandpa Duffin will get to come up. That´s cool that we´ll get to see Bryan in September too; that´ll be nice to have someone to speak Portuguese with. 

I´ve been doing one last deep study of the Book of Mormon for the past few months--reading it through from cover to cover and just writing down every thought I have during our hour of personal study in the morning. I have about 20 pages of notes now. The Spirit prompted me to do this in June and I´ve been receiving a lot of new revelation as a result--seeing a lot of things in the BOM that I had never noticed before. I hope to be completely finished before I come home, so I can start again afterward.

A banana flower! I had never seen one like this in my life.

I don´t feel like I´ve been in Brazil for a year, but I do feel like I´ve been on the mission for two years! I´m ready to come home. Really looking forward to sharing stories of what´s happened while I´ve been out here. I´ve got two years worth of stories now so there´s lots to tell.  I´m really grateful to have had the opportunity to do a mission.

Did one last little shopping spree in Floripa today; I bought a lot of little Indian-style trinkets. I also (finally ) found a nativity set that I think fits the image you had in mind.  Now I just hope that none of this stuff gets damaged in the suitcases on the flight home.

Bought a pizza on my two year mark and took some pictures; I´ll send some to you now.

Can´t wait till next week! Thank you so much for emailing me every Monday, it´s helped me immensely on the mission. 

Some plants from a member's back yard

Love you so much! Until maybe next Monday; if not, then in person on Wednesday!  

Elder Duffin

Ben-Daniel as District Leader, Pizza Eater, Service Provider, and BBQ Attendee

Hey Mom,

Despite how fast everyone thinks the time went back home, the mission has definitely been two years long, ha ha! Whenever I think of the start of my mission, I´m boggled by how LONG ago that was. Gives me some comfort for the rest of life though; it won´t go by too fast, ha ha. When I compare my time in Texas to my time here, Texas seemed longer than the time I´ve spent in Brazil, even though technically I´ve been here longer. Maybe staying in Xanxerê for so long made the time seem shorter here.

I think it´s funny that I´ll never actually know what it´s like to serve in one mission for two years!  I´m very excited to come home now, though.

[I told him a story about our dog stealing tomatoes out of the garden.] Blackanne does like tomatoes. I remember she´s done it before. I like the picture of you holding up the tomato and her looking ashamed--ha ha.

It was Father´s day in Brazil yesterday; I thought of you, Dad! Wish I could send you a Brazilian pizza--they´re really good. 

Mesa and I eating pizza to celebrate his birthday.

Me and my district (I´m district leader again)

I ordered chocolate stuffed crust (yeah, you can order that here) and they stuffed the crust with freaking mayonnaise; so we didn´t eat the crust. The Brazilian affinity for mayonnaise is probably the most unexpected thing I´ve encountered here.

 

Hope your knee gets better, Dad. I had problems with my feet after I got to Brazil; lots of walking.  Hope you have a good birthday this coming Saturday, too. I´m looking forward to celebrating all the August birthdays with the family when I get back.

I am very excited to come home; two years is a long time. I´ve missed you guys terribly.

I like the pictures! All of my companions have been very impressed with your photography, Dad. I made a big collage of your pictures on my wall above my desk.

Just waiting for the weeks to pass and doing what I can here. I don´t think I´ll get to see any more baptisms before I go home, but there are people who we´re working with who I think could be ready to be baptised next month.

(I got a haircut right before coming here. I just touched my hair and it rained down hair clippings all over the keyboard!  Took me by surprise.)

Love you Mom! Can´t wait to see you again! I´ll send you some pictures now.

  



Cow udder fruit (not for eating; it´s poisonous).

Service project

We had a barbeque with one of my favorite families in the ward yesterday.

Talk to you next week! (It will be the last time via email from Brazil!!) Have a good one!

Elder Duffin

Focusing on a Strong Finish

Hey Mom!

Glad you all made it home okay. The trip sounded like it was lots of fun; can´t wait to hear about it in person!

Yep, only three weeks left. I feel like this week might drag but the next two will fly by. Can´t believe I´ve been in Brazil for a whole year. I´m very pleased to have become fluent in Portuguese; I never would´ve thought speaking in Portuguese would be an ability of mine. I´ve seen a lot more miracles during the course of my mission too--LOTS more. Can´t wait to talk about it all with you in person! 

 

Picture of my zone.  I'm in the center front.

Went to Floripa today and bought more art and souvenir trinkets to take home to you guys.  There are more unique looking things to buy here than there were in the west side of the state. One dollar is worth a little over 3 Reais now, so I´m trying to take advantage of that. Didn´t get a whole lot of time to shop for stuff though because we had to mail off a heater to someone. 

Work is going pretty well. A few days ago we visited a family we´ve been teaching and as we were leaving I felt prompted to clap on the door of one of their neighbors, who I had met before but never got the chance to teach because the man of the house was never at home.  The guy was home this time and invited us in. We´ve taught them twice now and they have more interest than the neighbors next door.

We´ve been blessed with things to do and people to see here in Serraria. I´ve been happier working here than I was in Xanxerê. Elder Mesa and I are getting along great, too.

I have been thinking about cousin Pat. [He's referring to one of my favorite cousins who passed away last month.] The Disney movie Hercules and cousin Pat have always been synonymous in my mind; apparently that was the only movie I ever wanted to watch at her house, because that´s what I remember doing every time we went there! The spirit world is a pleasant place for those who have a clean conscience, so I´m sure she´s doing just fine. 

No, I don´t think I´ll get to go to the temple again before I leave Brazil. I don´t think there´s a long enough layover in Sao Paulo (I don´t even think I´d risk leaving the airport and trying to go there even if I had a huge layover; traffic in Sao Paulo is terrible). I would love to go back there someday though, that temple was beautiful. 

 

Hey Dad,  yep, I got all the photos you sent from Paris. I like them! I´m always very impressed with Sarah and Julia´s jump rope stunts; I´m sure I´d break my neck trying to do something like that.

In two weeks it will have been exactly two years since I left on the mission; feeling pretty old now--ha haI The area I´m in is a good place to end it though.  Hope you have a great week Dad! I´m really grateful for all the help and support you´ve given me while I´ve been out here. Looking forward to seeing you again!

Love you Mom! I´m very excited to come home! Only two more emails and then I´ll be there!

I´ll talk to you next week; have a good one! 

Elder Duffin