Notes from talking to Elder Hill on Christmas

We had a wonderful time talking with Elder Hill on Christmas Day. He speaks English with an accent and frequently had a hard time remembering the English word for things he wanted to say. He told us he even dreams in Portuguese. We laughed a lot as he struggled with English. He is very, very happy and loves it there. He says he has never been happier in his life.

Here are some of the things he told us.

* No one has clothes dryers there. Everyone hangs their clothes outside to dry. People there are surprised to learn that most Americans have dryers in their homes or apartments.

* A chocolate candy bar costs about $4,00 there. A box of cereal $8.00. Electronics are about 3 times the price we pay.

* Many people live in a home that sounds like a duplex but instead of them being side to side, they are front to back. The owner will live in the back and rent out the front (or vice versa)

* There isn’t access to front doors from the street. The missionaries “Clap doors”. Meaning they stand outside and clap for someone to come to the door.

* He was really excited to get instant potatoes from his grandmother for Christmas. There aren’t many things there that are instant and easy cooking. He also loves getting brownie mix and cookie mix. Things that are easy to fix and don’t take much time.

* There is a strong German influence there. Elder Hill took four years of German in high school and would have loved to have gone to Germany but he is thrilled with Brazil.

* According to Wikipedia “From 1824 to 1969, around 250,000 Germans emigrated to Brazil , being the fourth largest immigrant community to settle in the country, after the Portuguese, Italians and Spaniards.” It goes on to say…”The first years were not easy. Many Germans died of tropical disease, while others left the colonies to find better living conditions. The German colony of São Leopoldo was a disaster. Nevertheless, in the following years, a further 4,830 Germans arrived at São Leopoldo, and then the colony started to develop, with the immigrants establishing the town of Novo Hamburgo (New Hamburg). From São Leopoldo and Novo Hamburgo , the German immigrants spread into others areas of Rio Grande do Sul, mainly close to sources of rivers.”

Elder Hill was in Sao Leopoldo for the first 6 months of his mission and is now only 30 minutes away from that first area he served in. He says they eat a lot of rice, beans, meat and potato salad. He tells us Brazilian BBQ is amazing and he is looking forward to cooking us Brazilian food and teaching his Dad how to prepare Brazilian BBQ. Elder Hill has always liked to cook and he is good at it.

*It’s summer there right now and the humidity is grueling. Often above 80%. This has been his only complaint. No one there has air conditioning. Everyone has fans. Brazilians are surprised to learn that most Americans have some sort of air conditioning in their home (we are SO spoiled!)

*His Portuguese is so good that people are surprised he’s only been speaking it for eight months. He believes the prayers on his behalf is the reason why the language has come so easily for him.

* The apartment he is in is on the second floor and it’s infested with termites. Their wings and droppings are everywhere in their apartment. He seemed to take this in stride. I was totally grossed out by his description of this problem.

* He talked to his Dad about Football. I didn’t pay much attention to what they said about that

* There are wild dogs everywhere and every home has at least a couple of dogs.

* When people find out he’s American. They blame America for their poor economy and always have questions about Obama. He says they are more interested in the leadership of America than Brazil .

* Also on his P-days he is learning guitar.  Apparently a lot of people there play the guitar and he says being able to play is a great ice breaker with new families.

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