"do you like flower?"

The funniest thing happened to me at church this week. i'll give you a play by play:

We had stake conference yesterday. Most of the people in our stake know the "american family" by now, and Brasilians that speak english (or think that they can speak english) love to show you how much they know. It isn't uncommon for a random person to walk up to you and start talking to you...in english, just because they can. (or kind of can) As long as you're an american and they speak even a tiny bit of englsih...they are there. because, well...they love americans.

So yesterday the meeting got over, and of course my dad and mom had to make the rounds and we knew they wouldn't be ready to leave anytime soon. So, since Avery was fast asleep, Lis and I thought we would go out to the car and wait. (because even when Avery is CLEARLY asleep...she is one hot item down here...and they will do ANYTHING they can to see her cute smile..even if it means waking her up from a peaceful sleep...but really, I guess I can't blame them.)

So Lis and I head out the door. And before I know it a guy is walking next to me...that I've never met, or even seen before. Our conversations went about like this:

him: HI

me: um....hi.

him: do you like flower?

me: (after the ten second pause that it took me to realize he wasn't talking about FLOUR.) yes. i love flowers.

that's when he gets a huge smile on his face, opens up his suit coat, pulls out a red rose. and hands it to me.

me: wow...is this for me??

him: yes...yes..just for you.

all the while Melissa is walking next to me laughing her head off. (but trying to keep it muffled.)

He walks with me clear out of the church..rambling on about who knows what. (I couldn't understand his english) something about his mission...how he learned english..and that he knows my little brother davis..and he loves hamburgers. I managed to get in the phrase "what is your name?" (to which he didn't respond too) but that was about all. Other than that I smiled, nodded at all the right places, and stole quick glances at Lis while trying to keep a straight face.

As hard as i tried to "slip away" without him noticing..I couldn't find a break in the conversation. it resulted in him asking me for my email address...and me giving it to him. (hey, I was just grateful he wasn't asking for my phone number, or my hand..)

We got a pretty good laugh later at the email that showed up in my inbox: [it's too funny not to share the whole thing]:

hello, excuse for my English, I studied very in the mission more not yet I am the sufficient, I was very happy and magic in being able to have had the pleasure of knowing to it, today of morning I was inhaled to catch a rose without knowing for which reason, more I listened to the spirit and when I found it he knew the reason of my dreams.

After reading it a few times my family and i decided that he meant to say inspired rather than inhaled. We also decided that the next time we see him we need to inform him of a better online translator that he should probably use. (but who am i to judge..he probably translated it all by himself) We tried not to laugh too hard because we know that's exactly what we sound like when we try to speak Portuguese.

Moral of this story: if you want a boyfriend, love getting roses, and can handle awkward situations. move to brasil. these things tend to happen on a daily basis here.