19 June 2011 - Pedras Area (Mom)

[How are things in the old town tonight? Things have been good here. I decided to volunteer every day and last week was a blast.] The old town is good here. That's good that you're volunteering. That's what I do all day, and it's a lot better than working. Speaking of service...we got to build a roof for some people in our ward. I know what you are thinking.... Elder Hawkes is building roofs now? Trust me, there isn't much to it here. I had to walk like a monkey on the roof and try not to fall and stuff like that. I was also praying that the not-so-good wood wouldn't break...luckily I made it out alive. I only hit my thumb a few times and punctured my butt on some nails. All in the name of charity.

[The U.S. has had quite a few natural disasters lately.] Brazil doesn't really have any natural disasters. They have flood sometimes. The most intense thing they have is mudslides and stuff like that. That isn't a problem here because it is level. Down in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo it happens more. Everything...and I mean everything is sand here. You can dig anywhere and you will find sand. It's good that they don't have mudslides because the sand wouldn't hold up too well. Fortaleza doesn't get hit by hurricanes. I haven't seen any real storms here yet either. Not even thunder and lightning, it just pours rain. 

I'm not going to lie, I forgot all about Father's Day :) I'll have to say something to Dad. Dad said he announced today as Son's Day. They should have that day a lot more often :)

19 June 2011 - Pedras Area (Dad)

[I'm trying to picture how you could break your oven in a way that it would be sitting at a 45 degree angle. I'm afraid I can't. You must be very creative.] Well I'll explain it. You have four sides, just 4 pieces of sheet metal. Then you have a box for your "oven" (which is more like a controlled bonfire). So those 4 sides....they are riveted. The top rivets broke while I was sliding it so it just slumped over to the side. For some reason it started to have problems with the burner after that....who knows, it's a mystery :) Don't worry we got a new one. I sent a picture. We kept the box that it came in as an imagination box...we have some ideas.

We had a good, painful day of service on Saturday. It's like back in your day when you had to do 4 hours of service...err I mean got to do service. Elder Hawkes was a licensed professional Brazilian roofer for a day. Their roof won't fall in anytime soon...probably. It was fun though. Monkey climbing on rotten rafters, swinging hammers left and right. We finished though, but my body hurt so bad. My old body just can't sit on rafters for 5 hours while curled up in a ball anymore  It was fun though. 

I have some updates on our culinary successes too. We made some brownies and hot wings! We got a new grocery store in our little town. It's huge! So we got some BBQ sauce and made some hot wings. They were delicious. Only with American companions. 

This week I was thinking a lot about prayer and how I could get better. I realized something while we were teaching some people. There is this girl, Camila, who is 9 years old. She is just so funny and great. I just had the random urge to pick her up and give her a big hug. I didn't because that would have probably interrupted the lesson. I just realized how much I love these people. I wish I could just hug them all. I hardly even think about home. I forgot about you all, but I guess that is good in this case. Just don't forget about me and keep sending me goodies :) It's good here, much better than anything in this world. My time is hurtling past me, and I will have to leave these people....