Phone Call To Brazil

Audio Part 1

Audio Part 2

Audio Part 3

I called Curtis on Sunday, May 8, at 2:00 pm. It was his Mother's Day phone call but he asked me to call him. Jaimie, Kirstin, Grandma and Gramdpa Beus, Jordan, Eric, Jessica, and Christian were there. Brianna and Alyssa weren't able to come over but they called him from their house when we were done and talked for a few minutes.

Curtis answered the phone in Portuguese; I had to have him repeat himself to make sure it was really him. He sounds good, I could tell that he was very happy to be talking to his family and friends after being in Brazil for 3 months. He wanted to know how everybody was doing, how everyone's families were, and what we had been up to.

His friends told him about a concert they had attended and that a friend of theirs had just got married. Christian said that he had seen Curtis' old car around town and it still had the 311 sticker in the window. Curtis wants them to write to him and stay in contact after they leave on their missions. Friends are so important to him.

He told us about the Cruzeiro area and the people. He has really come to love Brazil. I asked him if it will be hard for him to come home in two years. I'm sure he will have mixed feelings when the time comes. He told me that he gets homesick occasionally but he knows he's in Brazil for the right reasons. I miss him too and told him how I sometimes still look for his car in front of the house, making sure he has come home for the night.

Thirty minutes went by way to quickly and our time was up. Curtis was having a hard time saying goodbye and so were we. He told everyone how much he loved them and missed them. We all love him very much and miss him too. It will be over eight months before we can talk again.