https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A63KJpTfJv4
Again - another talented piece by Luciana Zogby. Her music has a lot of poll.....
The first person I baptized in Brazil was a 19 year old girl that looked very similar to her. I literally had just arrived that day, put my bags in my room and my new comp announced that we were going to the chapel for a baptism. He asked me if I knew the baptismal prayer in Porto - and I figured I knew it well enough - so we headed off. I met Monica for the first time there and she was baptized. When she came up out of the water - she gave me a huge hug right there in the font. A no-no. I froze like a deer in the headlights. It was classic. She wrote me letters all throughout my mission professing her love for me. She would give them to missionaries that were getting transferred into my area - she really had a case for me. I have had a few stalkers in my day - but she was the best!
I kept this picture on my wall (I looked a lot like Joseph at the time - but usually had a white shirt and tie in the place of the gold necklace....) and it made the cut for my mission scrapbook with the story of Monica:
After I got home - and was off to BYU, she made a trip to the US and showed up on my parents' doorstep in Washington state. That was the only address she had. My mom said I was off to college - and did not give out my address. My mom was the one who warned me about those hot-blooded Brazileiras, and told me specifically to not come back with one. I think she knew of my predilection for the brunettes back in the day. Heck - anyone who can sing as good as Luciana might have tempted me.....lol My mom knew someone in the Stake who had fallen for a Brazilian and married her. Well, she got so homesick, that she went to Brazil with their kids - and then never came back. Not good for the guy. It turned into a nightmare for him.
The hot blood comes from their "Palestinian" blood they acquired on the Iberian Peninsula from their Moorish ancestry who invaded Spain in the Dark Ages, when they were weak (like is going on today - but in a softer manner). When Catherine came to power in Spain and had the backing of the Catholic Church, they kicked the former invaders to the curb (along with the Jews) and they all settled in Portugal. This was when a distinct split between Portuguese and Spanish began to occur. One of the words, that we find in our English language, Sheriff, comes from the Arabic word, "al Sharif". The average person from Portugal looks like they could be an Arab from Lebanon or the East Bank; Palestinian. There is a reason. Same thing with the Sicilians in Italy - pushed south after they almost took over Europe back during the Dark Ages. I was shocked to learn from my wife that they almost took Vienna in a critical battle there in 1683 (click link for more info). And we know that the Holy Land fell to the Turkish invaders in 1517, per a previous blog post on Jubilee Years and Rabbi Ben Samuel prophecies.... Quite a history.
BUT - to Monica's credit, after she came back from the USA and decided to thrive where she was planted, she served a mission and settled down with a good man (hopefully that was strong enough to handle that hot blood....) and I have heard thru the grapevine that her oldest recently served a mission. Now there is satisfaction for me!
Anyway, having seen many Brazileiros attempt to pronounce things in English, it is amazing how good her engrish is. Especially the "r"s. Holy smokes, it is hard for them. There is almost no trace that she is singing ESL.
My poor Mission President left for the US about the time that I did to train for his first Gen Conf talk in English after he was made a 70 that April of 1990. I even tutored him for several hours when I was in the office before I came home. His strong "Carioca" (from Rio de Janeiro) accent plus him being black (they had stronger accents - similar to how they do here in Texas - but in Portuguese) - the job was nearly hopeless.
I listened to him the next October Gen Conf and it was VERY hard even for me to understand him:
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1990/10/the-value-of-a-testimony?lang=eng#d
That, however, was a watershed moment in Church history. First black man giving a Conference talk - ever. Twelve years after 1978. I believe his son was the first in the Church to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood (since the days of Joseph Smith, anyway). Amazing life experience for me. It is fun to be part of history!
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