Portuguese 101‏

Hey Family,

Portugal? Portugal? PORTUGAL!!!!!!!

Congrats little guy. You’ll love it. I think. The Portuguese that you’ll be speaking on the “continent” is pretty different from the language the people here know as “Brazilian”. Fortunately, the further south you go in Brazil, the more Portugal-ish the Portuguese gets. It will be REALLY weird to switch from Spanish to Portuguese but as soon as you get the first “eye-opener” you’ll be fluent and training.

Spanish --->Portuguese
Yo Eu (think the letter “a” and the letter “o”… aye-oh)
Soy Sou (think “sew” pants or seeds)
Tu Tu
El Ele (the letter “l” and “e”)
Ella Ela (the letter “l” and the sound “uh”)
Nos Nós
Vos Vós
Hablar Falar
Ser Ser
Estar Estar

Go get ‘em tiger. We’re all proud of you.

May 17th we speak? June 3rd he leaves? Sounds like we’ll be playing ball together for 4 weeks. Right as soon as I make my first RM jump shot we’ll be shipping you off to Provo.

Jenny, the boys want to know if I will play with them after the mission? Tell them I’m looking forward to it. If I have any free time at school I’ll be there distracting them away from their homework. I will quickly become the favorite uncle once again.

This morning we went to the neighbor city to play basketball and soccer with about 8 primary kids. The baskets were about 12-13 feet tall, so there were very few baskets made… by the kids. After basketball we switched over to soccer. Man, 8 year old Brazilian kids are pretty good with a ball at their feet. Two kids (eight and ten years old) beat Elder West and me by one goal. They won with a header by the 8 year old. It was the best goal that I’ve witnessed so far on my mission.

It’s amazing how the Lord is willing to bless us. Each of the last three days we’ve managed to teach one AWESOME lesson each day (along with other good ones). It’s remarkable to notice how whenever we put in the extra effort, the Lord pours the spirit out in the lesson. All we have to do is keep going when it’s hot, knock a certain door one more time, or have a little extra patience with a family that’s returning to the church and the Lord will prepare the miracle. If we desire to have fun, spiritual experiences, the Lord will give them to us.

The sun is out, the branch wants an activity, and I’m fine so stop worrying about me.

Pondering Portugal,
Elder Haws(mo)