March 29, 2010-Elder Jew and Conference Too!

Dear Family and Friends,

General Conference! I am really excited that we get to watch conference live. We will go into the stake center in Asa Norte in Brasilia. We'll watch them at 1 and 5. We don't have time to watch priesthood because it is at 9 at night or 9 in the morning, so I'll grab that in the Ensign/Liahona. I've been finishing up Jesus the Christ again, so I have some Easter thoughts that I"ll put in the next email.

Fernando was baptized this week. He is so amazing, he is reading the Book of Mormon and Principios do Evangelho and going to the stake choir. He was baptized by his friend Pedro, who is also the Principios do Evangelho teacher. Almost 5 members came up to us after the baptism and told us they knew him for years. So he is doing great and loved the Liahona and picture of the temple in Campinas.

Something kind of funny that will happen this week, I will celebrate 2 Pascoas this year. In Portuguese, the word for Easter and Passover are the same thing. I guess when we arrived the Bishop decided I looked really Jewish and thanks to my not knowing Portuguese when he asked Elder R. Silva if I was Jewish, I didn't know. I guess Elder R. Silva thinks I am Jewish because I answered a bunch of questions about Jesus the Christ for him about Jewish culture and customs. And in his mind, anyone that knows this much about a random subject, must be a Jew. I hope he doesn't ask about Jedis or Roman Soldiers...and because of my name on my scriptures, because he asked if my name has a Portuguese translation. Iosuia Davi.

So because of this, I am now the Jewish Elder and everyone has asked me if I will be celebrating Pascoa dos Judeus or Passover. So I will be celebrating Passover this year...in Portuguese. Luckily the Bible Dictionary has how to do Passover, so we'll read the story from Exodus, sing two of the Psalms and I'll make unleavened bread. It's kind funny, but I don't know how to not convince almost 40+ people that I am not Jewish. Maybe I'll just go with it. If I was a Jewish man, duda duda duda duda duda...(sing it "Fiddler on the Roof" style).

Thanks for the recipes. Could I have a recipe for snicker doodles? The thing that is fun is changing them because I haven't seen leavening or vanilla here. Or if it is down here, it's probably expensive. My first banana bread was okay, so I am going to try bananas that are fresher this time.

I hope you like the picture of the fruit down here (I'm having trouble loading the picture on...I'll keep trying). This is a fruit that Mom and Breanna like. It's used to make guacamole. It's called an avocado. I am dead serious. They are huge down here.

Oh, I spoke in Sacrament also this week. It was okay. I talked for about 10 minutes. I talked about the Atonement. I have been using the story about when I broke the window with the sling shot to explain the Atonement. Everyone was laughing, so I think they understood me...or Elder R. Silva was behind me with signs with LAUGH or NOD HEAD written on them.

I love you all!

Elder Barton

p.s. I hope the package gets here soon. I have peanut butter cravings really really bad.