Yes, I am excited, nervous, anxious, etc. [regarding heading to Campinas]. I still love the CTM but I do want to get out and start working my butt off. It's difficult (for me at least) to really work rigorously here. There's so many distractions. But I'm learning what I can and hopefully my Portuguese will be adequate by the time I leave. I have no idea what to expect in my first area - except that I know I will be giving a talk on my first Sunday there, in Portuguese of course...that might be the thing I'm most worried about.
So, as far as I know I will be leaving Tuesday (June 5th) in the late morning or something. I'll be on a bus with around 7 or so Americanos and I don't know how many Brazilians. Actually probably a mission vehicle. We might stay the night at the mission home but I'm not sure how that will work.
So real quick, some stuff you might think is funny. There is a church here in Brasil that worships on the beach. They have like a surfboard as their podium and a shack as their chapel. Remember the story in the Bible about Jesus walking on water? Their explanation, and what they actually believe, is that he was surfing. Yeah. Also, Winnie the Pooh here is Ursinho Puff. Also, there is a funny phrase in Brasil, see if you can translate: "Mulher de bigode, nem o diabo pode" [Google translate indicates: "Women with a mustache, nor the devil can" -- we'll have to find out more about this one later]
Eu amo voces!!!,
Elder Bradford
To commemorate AJ's last week in São Paulo at the Brazil MTC, we decided to order him a 'Big Cookie' at Mr. Cheney Cookies, which is across the street. Here are pictures they sent:
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| The cookie reads: "We love you...and yeah". When this was ordered, our family received a confused reply from Mr. Cheney Cookies - they we were wondering if they received a complete quote. We assured them that AJ would get it. Our family has an inside joke about ending sentences using the phrase '...and yeah'. |
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| Elder Norman and Elder Conner (who arrived recently from the Provo MTC) enjoyed the cookie with AJ. Elder Conner will also be serving in the Campinas mission. |
