Sister Seumanu and Aunt Dorothy Fluckiger
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Nada Novo
My people!
Nada novo- nothing new! Not really sure if that is a saying here but I'm gonna roll with it.
Our pday got switched to today because they don't want us out on the streets during the world cup game tomorrow. Yes, it gets that crazy here whenever Brazil plays. After every game and every goal there are horns, yelling, fireworks, SO much noise and excitement. It's so cool to be a part of!
On Monday we all had to go to the police station to renew our passports or something and when we were there waiting in line we saw Ryan Jarchow!! Sao Paulo is HUGE and it was such a tender mercy to see a familiar face from home!! We got to talk for a while and he's loving his mission so far which makes me even more excited to go up to Maceió. Both of us totally forgot to take a picture...sorry mom!
While we were at the police station something went wrong sith my companion's passport so today we went to the American consulate so she could meet with someone to figure it out. Turns out since it was only HER appointment, they wouldn't let me in so I waited at the cafe across the street for a couple hours. I treated myself to a nutella strawberry crepe thing, except instead of a crepe it was wrapped in a white coconut looking tortilla thing. So delicious.
Other than that, it's been kind of the same old same old here at the CTM. We are in classes all day, have excercise time every night; it is so fun. Pretty much everyone gets together to play volleyball(we aren't allowed to play soccer- the Brasilieros get too competitive) and we have so much fun together. I love love love it here.
Sorry this was so short but I am going to try and reply to more individual emails today. Thanks for all the support- love you all :) <3
Love,
Seeester Mather
Nada novo- nothing new! Not really sure if that is a saying here but I'm gonna roll with it.
Our pday got switched to today because they don't want us out on the streets during the world cup game tomorrow. Yes, it gets that crazy here whenever Brazil plays. After every game and every goal there are horns, yelling, fireworks, SO much noise and excitement. It's so cool to be a part of!
On Monday we all had to go to the police station to renew our passports or something and when we were there waiting in line we saw Ryan Jarchow!! Sao Paulo is HUGE and it was such a tender mercy to see a familiar face from home!! We got to talk for a while and he's loving his mission so far which makes me even more excited to go up to Maceió. Both of us totally forgot to take a picture...sorry mom!
While we were at the police station something went wrong sith my companion's passport so today we went to the American consulate so she could meet with someone to figure it out. Turns out since it was only HER appointment, they wouldn't let me in so I waited at the cafe across the street for a couple hours. I treated myself to a nutella strawberry crepe thing, except instead of a crepe it was wrapped in a white coconut looking tortilla thing. So delicious.
Other than that, it's been kind of the same old same old here at the CTM. We are in classes all day, have excercise time every night; it is so fun. Pretty much everyone gets together to play volleyball(we aren't allowed to play soccer- the Brasilieros get too competitive) and we have so much fun together. I love love love it here.
Sorry this was so short but I am going to try and reply to more individual emails today. Thanks for all the support- love you all :) <3
Love,
Seeester Mather
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Eu Amo Aprender
Hello family and friends!!
First of all, if you see Jeffrey this Friday give him a big birthday hug for me!!! Happy birthday bud!
This week has been soooo long but so good. I still absolutely love it here. We spend all day in the same classroom learning the language and how to teach and how to live in Brazil and I am so happy. Our instructors are both native Brazilians and they do not speak much english so it's been good for us to learn almost completely in portuguese. It is frustrating not to be able to say what I want to say, especially teaching practice lessons, but I have to see the bigger picture and appreciate the fact that after only a week here, I can somewhat communicate in portuguese. In the Bible and the Book of Mormon there are sections about the gift of tongues and I believe that God still grants that gift. There is no way we would be able to have learned this much in just a week.
I feel kind of guilty because some of the people who came in the CTM with me are really struggling or overwhelmed and I'm honestly doing just fine. I am really happy here. I'm stressed and the language is hard but that's so small compared to how excited I am to be here and how much I love learning. I was thinking about last semester- I was not planning on taking Anatomy at all but a friend saved me from overloading my schedule(thank you Jessica) so I ended up taking it instead of another science class. A lot of the skills I learned in that class are skills I am using here to memorize and understand the language. Just another testament to how intricate God's plan is for each and every one of us.
Tender mercy moment: my great aunt and uncle are here!! I knew they were in Sao Paulo but this city is huge so I didn't know if I would be seeing them at all. On my 3rd day here we met my branch presidency(my church group leaders) and Elder Fluckiger is one of them! I get to see him and his wife a few times a week and though I don't know them very well, it is so nice to know that I have family here. My Heavenly Father is taking care of me :)
Still LOVE my companion- we get along so well and have so much in common. We usually find ourselves doubled over laughing at least once a day and I am so grateful for her! Those that talked to me before I left know that companions were the one thing I was really worried about so having her as my companion and friend has been a huge relief.
We also got our 2 last roommates! They are both from Brazil but one went to college in North Dakota so she speaks perfect English and Portuguese. They are both hilarious and I think we drive them crazy with all our questions but they help us so much. I also have a friend from BYU here and she is right across the hall from me!! Tender mercy.
I wish I had more exciting things to say but our days are pretty much just classes all day. I love love love this language and think it is so cool that I get the opportunity to learn it. Even though they are just actors, I feel so much joy every time we teach a practice lesson and can't wait to be able to meet and teach people in Maceio who want to hear our message.
Thanks so much for all the love, from family and friends. I'm sorry if I don't write back this week- we only get 45 minutes and this goes much slower on this keyboard. I really do take pictures of and read all the emails you send and it gives me the extra boost I need. Love you guys!!!
Favorite words so far: Coraçâo(heart) and alegria(joy) - I don't know how to do all the punctuation.
More weird/cool things about Brazil:
- all the Brazilians call Utah "fabrica" which means factory because a lot of the American missionaries are from there, it is hilarious - so many colors, especially carrot colors
- Stef, you would go crazy - the 'toilet paper' isnt in rolls, it is kind of like a giant box of tissues
- there are 3-5 knobs in the showers and nobody knows why; you just twist a lot of random ones until the water turns the temperature you want
- still only jiggly desserts
Muito amor, Sister Lauren Mather
First of all, if you see Jeffrey this Friday give him a big birthday hug for me!!! Happy birthday bud!
This week has been soooo long but so good. I still absolutely love it here. We spend all day in the same classroom learning the language and how to teach and how to live in Brazil and I am so happy. Our instructors are both native Brazilians and they do not speak much english so it's been good for us to learn almost completely in portuguese. It is frustrating not to be able to say what I want to say, especially teaching practice lessons, but I have to see the bigger picture and appreciate the fact that after only a week here, I can somewhat communicate in portuguese. In the Bible and the Book of Mormon there are sections about the gift of tongues and I believe that God still grants that gift. There is no way we would be able to have learned this much in just a week.
I feel kind of guilty because some of the people who came in the CTM with me are really struggling or overwhelmed and I'm honestly doing just fine. I am really happy here. I'm stressed and the language is hard but that's so small compared to how excited I am to be here and how much I love learning. I was thinking about last semester- I was not planning on taking Anatomy at all but a friend saved me from overloading my schedule(thank you Jessica) so I ended up taking it instead of another science class. A lot of the skills I learned in that class are skills I am using here to memorize and understand the language. Just another testament to how intricate God's plan is for each and every one of us.
Tender mercy moment: my great aunt and uncle are here!! I knew they were in Sao Paulo but this city is huge so I didn't know if I would be seeing them at all. On my 3rd day here we met my branch presidency(my church group leaders) and Elder Fluckiger is one of them! I get to see him and his wife a few times a week and though I don't know them very well, it is so nice to know that I have family here. My Heavenly Father is taking care of me :)
Still LOVE my companion- we get along so well and have so much in common. We usually find ourselves doubled over laughing at least once a day and I am so grateful for her! Those that talked to me before I left know that companions were the one thing I was really worried about so having her as my companion and friend has been a huge relief.
We also got our 2 last roommates! They are both from Brazil but one went to college in North Dakota so she speaks perfect English and Portuguese. They are both hilarious and I think we drive them crazy with all our questions but they help us so much. I also have a friend from BYU here and she is right across the hall from me!! Tender mercy.
I wish I had more exciting things to say but our days are pretty much just classes all day. I love love love this language and think it is so cool that I get the opportunity to learn it. Even though they are just actors, I feel so much joy every time we teach a practice lesson and can't wait to be able to meet and teach people in Maceio who want to hear our message.
Thanks so much for all the love, from family and friends. I'm sorry if I don't write back this week- we only get 45 minutes and this goes much slower on this keyboard. I really do take pictures of and read all the emails you send and it gives me the extra boost I need. Love you guys!!!
Favorite words so far: Coraçâo(heart) and alegria(joy) - I don't know how to do all the punctuation.
More weird/cool things about Brazil:
- all the Brazilians call Utah "fabrica" which means factory because a lot of the American missionaries are from there, it is hilarious - so many colors, especially carrot colors
- Stef, you would go crazy - the 'toilet paper' isnt in rolls, it is kind of like a giant box of tissues
- there are 3-5 knobs in the showers and nobody knows why; you just twist a lot of random ones until the water turns the temperature you want
- still only jiggly desserts
Muito amor, Sister Lauren Mather
Sunday, June 17, 2018
Letter from MTC Mission President
Sister Martins Silva and I are very happy to let you know that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil Missionary Training Center. What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they begin their missionary experiences with us! We will surely take good care of your missionary.
The missionaries now have companions and are settled into their rooms. They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study. Their branch presidents and wives will meet them this Sunday. These wonderful couples are richly blessed as they work with, motivate, and interview the missionaries assigned to their branch.
The MTC has a physician to care for their health needs. We are also happy to report that the MTC food is plentiful, healthy and very good.
Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple. This will be either Wednesday or Friday, depending on individual assignments.
Your missionary is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of many others. President Lorenzo Snow said: “There is no mortal man that is as interested in the success of an elder when he is preaching the Gospel as is the Lord who sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord's children". We love these missionaries as if they were our own. We will watch over them carefully to ensure they are ready for a wonderful missionary experience after the rewarding time they will have in the MTC.
We thank you for preparing such a wonderful representative of the Lord.
Pres. João Roberto Martins Silva and Sister Maria Lucia Martins Silva
Hi Friends and Family!!
Hi friends and family!!
I made it!! Travel started Monday from Seattle to Miami, then a 9 hour flight to Sao Paulo overnight. I met another missionary-sister King- at the gate in Seattle from Burlington and we were travel buddies the whole time which was a huge tender mercy! She is super sweet and I wish I could send pictures but the computers here are old and don't have SD card readers. Anyways, the first flight went by super fast and tender mercy #2! We flew right over Mt Si and North Bend so I got to see the valley one last time for the next 18 months <3 We got on the plane last in Miami so all the overheads were full and about 20 people ended up opening and closing compartments to find a place for my suitcase. FINALLY we found one in row 5... I was row 39 haha. An old lady wanted to sit by her family so she ended up switching me and I got an aisle seat(another tender mercy). I slept some of the flight and then met up with about 20 other missionaries at the pickup from Sao Paulo airport. We took a very sketchy\jerky\scary drive to the CTM(training center) and got our tags! YAY
The rest of the afternoon was freetime to get settled and unpack and take a nap- thank goodness. I am in a room with my companion- sister seamanu, who I LOVE- and 2 other girls from the states. We all get along really great so far. They tell us we have 2 more brazilian roomates coming but we don`t know for sure. Everyone that came yesterday is in a group called a zone and I reallllllyyy like mine. As far as I can tell, we don't have any whiners or lazy people or super high maintenance people. There are 3 districts in the zone- mine has 8 girls and 3 boys(i think). All but 2 of us are going to Maceio! Like I said, I also love my companion. She was born in Tonga but has lived in Utah since she was 3. She's super kind and easygoing and we have a lot in common. I`m so grateful!
Today was a pday( personal\preperation day) so we took a 90 minute bus ride at 5am to the campinos temple. It was so pretty and gave us more time to talk and nap on the way there and back. We have free time until dinner and then a devotional! Tomorrow we start our training and language classes which I am looking forward to.
I have only been here a couple days but already love it here. Everyone is so happy and excited to be here and the Spirit is so strong all the time. We`ll see how I feel next week but so far I think I am really going to like it here.
Weird, cool things about Brazil so far-
1-Everything is colored. buildings, cars, walls, everything is painted some kind of bright color. Also, there is graffiti everywhere.
2- It POURS every once in a while and I love it- thunder, lightning, everything.
3- Brazilians love to laugh with you and at you. they will help you with the language but also will laugh so hard when you can`t talk to them. it is hilarious, i love it.
4- Every dessert we have had so far is something floating in some kind of jelly substance. All of them have tasted good though!
5- Brazilians love Brazil. Flags are EVERYWHERE.
6- There are lots of motorcyles and they weave between cars which is terrifying because everyone here is a terrible driver.
7 - We are sisters, not irmas(portuguese for sister), because apparently they associate irmas with nuns. So everyone calls us `seeeeeesters` and it makes me laugh every time.
8 - In the CTM, we are not supposed to be speaking any english. We speak it between the americans but our schedule and all the signs are in portuguese, and all the workers only speak portuguese to us until we get it. If we speak Englsh to them they make us redo it in whatever portuguese we know combined with lots of charades to get our message across. Frustrating, but it really does help.
I was really nervous about coming but so far I absolutely love it here. I keep seeing so many tender mercies and I know I am where I am supposed to be! God has a plan and I trust Him so I know I am going to be just fine. All the time we hear the greeting tudo bem, which means all is well- thus my subject line! Thank you for all the emails I have already gotten- love you guys!
Love,
Seeeeester Mather
PS. So sorry for all the spelling and capitalization errors... we have Portuguese keyboards and everything is in a different place!
I made it!! Travel started Monday from Seattle to Miami, then a 9 hour flight to Sao Paulo overnight. I met another missionary-sister King- at the gate in Seattle from Burlington and we were travel buddies the whole time which was a huge tender mercy! She is super sweet and I wish I could send pictures but the computers here are old and don't have SD card readers. Anyways, the first flight went by super fast and tender mercy #2! We flew right over Mt Si and North Bend so I got to see the valley one last time for the next 18 months <3 We got on the plane last in Miami so all the overheads were full and about 20 people ended up opening and closing compartments to find a place for my suitcase. FINALLY we found one in row 5... I was row 39 haha. An old lady wanted to sit by her family so she ended up switching me and I got an aisle seat(another tender mercy). I slept some of the flight and then met up with about 20 other missionaries at the pickup from Sao Paulo airport. We took a very sketchy\jerky\scary drive to the CTM(training center) and got our tags! YAY
The rest of the afternoon was freetime to get settled and unpack and take a nap- thank goodness. I am in a room with my companion- sister seamanu, who I LOVE- and 2 other girls from the states. We all get along really great so far. They tell us we have 2 more brazilian roomates coming but we don`t know for sure. Everyone that came yesterday is in a group called a zone and I reallllllyyy like mine. As far as I can tell, we don't have any whiners or lazy people or super high maintenance people. There are 3 districts in the zone- mine has 8 girls and 3 boys(i think). All but 2 of us are going to Maceio! Like I said, I also love my companion. She was born in Tonga but has lived in Utah since she was 3. She's super kind and easygoing and we have a lot in common. I`m so grateful!
Today was a pday( personal\preperation day) so we took a 90 minute bus ride at 5am to the campinos temple. It was so pretty and gave us more time to talk and nap on the way there and back. We have free time until dinner and then a devotional! Tomorrow we start our training and language classes which I am looking forward to.
I have only been here a couple days but already love it here. Everyone is so happy and excited to be here and the Spirit is so strong all the time. We`ll see how I feel next week but so far I think I am really going to like it here.
Weird, cool things about Brazil so far-
1-Everything is colored. buildings, cars, walls, everything is painted some kind of bright color. Also, there is graffiti everywhere.
2- It POURS every once in a while and I love it- thunder, lightning, everything.
3- Brazilians love to laugh with you and at you. they will help you with the language but also will laugh so hard when you can`t talk to them. it is hilarious, i love it.
4- Every dessert we have had so far is something floating in some kind of jelly substance. All of them have tasted good though!
5- Brazilians love Brazil. Flags are EVERYWHERE.
6- There are lots of motorcyles and they weave between cars which is terrifying because everyone here is a terrible driver.
7 - We are sisters, not irmas(portuguese for sister), because apparently they associate irmas with nuns. So everyone calls us `seeeeeesters` and it makes me laugh every time.
8 - In the CTM, we are not supposed to be speaking any english. We speak it between the americans but our schedule and all the signs are in portuguese, and all the workers only speak portuguese to us until we get it. If we speak Englsh to them they make us redo it in whatever portuguese we know combined with lots of charades to get our message across. Frustrating, but it really does help.
I was really nervous about coming but so far I absolutely love it here. I keep seeing so many tender mercies and I know I am where I am supposed to be! God has a plan and I trust Him so I know I am going to be just fine. All the time we hear the greeting tudo bem, which means all is well- thus my subject line! Thank you for all the emails I have already gotten- love you guys!
Love,
Seeeeester Mather
PS. So sorry for all the spelling and capitalization errors... we have Portuguese keyboards and everything is in a different place!
Family!! I made it!!
Family!! I made it!! I told mom but I met a girl from Burlington at the gate before my flight left from Seattle so we've been travel buddies the last 24 hours! We were the only missionaries on the flight from Miami to Sao Paulo so I am SO grateful she was there- tender mercy!! Both flights went faster than I expected and on the way to Sao Paulo I sat by a mom and the cutest 5 year old boy who kept smiling at me the whole flight. I was able to finally get some sleep so I feel ready to go now. At the airport in Sao Paulo we met up with a group of about 20 other missionaries from all around the US. We've all clicked pretty fast and I really like everyone in the group so far. We have like 15 sisters and only 6 elders so far! They said this is the largest group of sisters they have seen come in at one time so far. They gave us a little orientation- got my name tag WOOT WOOT and my companion! Her name is Sister Semuanu, she is from Utah and I think we'll get along really well. We have 2 other American roommates and 2 Brazilian ones that will come tomorrow. We have 5 hours of free time scattered throughout today and then tomorrow is my pday! We have to get up early to go to the temple and then just have freetime to walk around the city and email the rest of the afternoon. I'll send a group email then.
I've only been here for a morning but I can tell I'm really going to like it here. The Spirit is so strong and we haven't even done anything spiritual yet haha. It feels like a safe place and I'm a little nervous but mostly just really excited that I am finally here. Taking Jarman's advice to look forward and embrace what's next. Still realllllly miss you guys and love you so so much! Give Mo a big squish for me and hopefully I can hear from you tomorrow :)
Love,
SISTER(!!!) Mather
I've only been here for a morning but I can tell I'm really going to like it here. The Spirit is so strong and we haven't even done anything spiritual yet haha. It feels like a safe place and I'm a little nervous but mostly just really excited that I am finally here. Taking Jarman's advice to look forward and embrace what's next. Still realllllly miss you guys and love you so so much! Give Mo a big squish for me and hopefully I can hear from you tomorrow :)
Love,
SISTER(!!!) Mather
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