It's Already Monday Again?

This week went so fast!!

Started the week on Tuesday with divisions, where we switch companions for a day. I stayed in my area this time with Sister Martins and I am so glad I did! I was very nervous because I feel like I don’t know the area still but it turns out I know more than I thought and was able to navigate to all of our visits scheduled that day. Sister Martins is amazing and I’m sad that she is leaving next month because it means we can’t be companions.

Also had our zone conference this week, where we gather with our President, his wife, and all the missionaries here in the state of Sergipe! Received a surprise letter from the Smiths and Ashtons, which made my day- thank you guys!! Anyways, a lot of the trainings were about working with the members in our wards. Our mission president’s wife gave a talk about finding joy in the journey and it stuck with me. She talked about enjoying every day and not thinking about how much time you have spent, or will spend here. I have a tendency to look ahead and miss what is happening in the present so I really loved what she said. I love her and our mission president so much. Last week, we had a church leader visit our mission and our president told us that he said he has never seen a mission with so much love. Love that the mission president and his wife have for us, love we have for them, and that the missionaries all have for each other. It is very true- I wasn’t expecting the friends I am making here. All of the missionaries are all friends and whenever we all get together there is such a happy spirit. Everyone here calls it the best mission in the world and I definitely agree!!

Sister Cruz and I are still getting along great. I think she has been a little discouraged at our lack of people that are progressing as far as learning about the church and gospel. We haven’t given up on Elenilton and Marcel yet…we were going to but we visited them again this week and had a great conversation about who God and Christ are and how they show that they care about us in the small details of our lives. The Spirit was definitely there and even though I still think they like us more than the gospel, there might be something there and maybe we just need to have patience. Like I said last week, could go either way. We are just taking it week by week at this point.

Other than them, we do not have many people progressing, which basically means making an effort to learn more and become involved in the church. It is frustrating because we teach and visit people every day but not many people we have found so far have a genuine interest or desire to draw closer to Christ. We set up 18 visits this week with new people and I am praying at least one is needing what we have to bring.

Still visiting Junior and Alexandre and they are both doing great. I love my ward and planned a ward activity with Vania for tonight which I am excited about. We are going to have a family night about friendship and there should be a lot of people there which will be fun. Grateful for my temporary family here.

Portuguese is still challenging but I feel like I am finally really getting it. I pretty much never speak English since my American friends left our zone and when I try now, sometimes I use Portuguese words without realizing it. I have noticed that I can understand with a little less effort and it is so rewarding to see progress. Like I said, still working on it, but I LOVE this language.

And love Brasil, as far as that goes. Love this country and these people more than I thought I could.

Wishing you all a happy week! Love you all.

Muito amor,

Sister Lauren Mather

Try Harder

I learned this week that I need to be doing more and trying harder, thus the subject line. We had a training with all the missionaries in Sergipe this week and our mission president challenged all of us to talk to have 10 legitimate conversations with new people every day. Much easier said than done, but we are taking him up on the challenge and it’s been hard but very rewarding so far. We have a lot of visits this week with people that seem genuinely interested in what we have to say and I’m excited to see what happens.

Ran into our hippie friend again this week. He is this random guy in his 20~s that wanders around Brasil and sells his handmade jewelry and poems. Seeing as he is always on the streets, we run into him pretty often and have become friends. Every time we see him, he gives us both another poem. Always something new happening over here. Who knew I’d come back from Brasil with a collection of Portuguese poetry:

Also had our first companionship disagreement this week! I have a really hard time understanding Portuguese over the phone, so when Sister Cruz asked me to call and confirm our lunch I asked her to do it instead(yes, I regret this..). She got frustrated and didn’t talk to me for an hour or so until I finally asked her to explain why she was mad. She had a lot to say, but she told me that she thinks I can be doing more than I am right now. And she is right! I am very grateful she said what she did because it is what I needed to hear. In the beginning, I wasn’t doing as much as her because I didn’t have the language capacity to do so, but now, as my Portuguese is improving, my efforts should be matching hers. I need to get out of the mindset that I can’t communicate and just try as best I can, regardless of the mistakes I’ll inevitably make. In truth, there will always be more of this language to learn and I doubt I will ever feel 100% comfortable with it so I shouldn’t let it keep me from trying harder. After she got it all out and I apologized, Cruz and I went back to being friends again and everything went back to normal. Still SO very grateful for her and that she sees enough potential in me to expect more of me, if that makes sense. We are a lot alike in the ways that make it easy to get along with each other.

Still visiting Marcel and Elenilton, but we are starting to realize they like talking to us more than they actually like the gospel and church itself. We could easily persuade them to be baptized and on paper, everything would look great, but in reality it would be wrong if they didn’t truly have that desire for themselves. We are going to try ant have to cut down the time we spend with them and visit other people instead. But, we’ll see. Could go either way.

Still visiting Junior and Alexandre and they are being so welcomed by the ward here(‘ward’ is just the name of the church congregation that meets here- wards are determined by boundaries so our ward is all of the church members in the nearest neighborhoods of Aracaju). I say it all the time but I absolutely love the ward here and I’m grateful to have people that feel like family when mine is so far away. Someone asked if we get fed every day and the answer is yes! The main meal here is lunch, so every day we have lunch at someone’s house and get to know them and their families. One of my favorite parts of being here.

This email is getting long so I’ll finish it up but thank you all again for the continuous love and support. And also your music suggestions- took note of all of them!! Amo muito cada um de vocês!
Love,

Sister Lauren Mather

PICTURES:
Only picture I took this week was of the stack of flashcards I’ve been making since I arrived and finally got rid of this week! We burned them on our patio in celebration of the fact that I can speak at least a little bit of Portuguese. Really, it was just an excuse for me to burn something... Since we didn’t take any pictures, Cruz and I made a vídeo last night instead :)

Alive and REDDER Than Ever!

...see pictures attached. The redness has faded a bit but I'm currently peeling. Good times.

This week was a little bit harder, but great nonetheless. I decided that tranfers are one of my least favorite parts of the mission because I have to say bye to the friends that I've made here, at least for a little while. This week, and when I left Sao Paulo as well, saying goodbye brings back a little of the same feelings I had saying goodbye to my family 3 months ago. That was definitely the hardest part of my mission so far. This week also was a little slower, so combined with tranfers and my sunburn it was a little bit difficult. That being said, it was still a great week,- really! I don't want to sound like I'm complaining but I like it when missionaries are honest in their emails.

On Monday, we got to spend our personal/prep day with 4 other sister missionaries here in Aracaju and it was so fun! 2 of them were with me my first 6 weeks of training here. We went to the Centro, which is basically like a (very) mini times square of Aracaju. We explored the shops there, got some acai, and just caught up with each other. It was so good to see them again!

Tuesday, our lunch got cancelled so we seized the opportunity to eat at the McDonald's that was in the area. I don't even like McDonald's but just having American food was so good. Yes, the McFlurry's are just as good here as they are in the States. Sister Cruz and I used the rest of our time to take pictures at the touristy things in the area and the beach. Unfortunately, we can't go on the sand, but just seeing and smelling the ocean made me so happy!

Rest of the week was pretty normal, we are still visiting Elenilton and Marcel. Love them. Elenilton works at a bakery so he sends us home with bread and other pastries all the time. We also are teaching Junior and Alexandre still and reading the scriptures with them. I say it all the time but it is so rewarding to see how much happier Junior is and how Alexandre and his family have found joy in this gospel. They both came to church in white button-down shirts yesterday so we just had to take a picture :)

Special favor from all of you- I don't know what I was thinking when I came without bringing music with me. My companion has music, but only 40 songs so after 2 months, i am in desperate need of something new :) If any of you have suggestions for music that relates to church or God, i would so appreciate your suggestions!!

Thank you all for your prayers and emails, I am so grateful for my family- both by blood and by frienship. Love you all!

Love,

Sister Lauren Mather

Yes, I'm Engaged!

Well, only according to the crazy guy we ran into last week. We were eating ice cream with some other missionaries when a crazy guy came in and started walking towards our table. One of the elders got up to talk to him and the man explained that he wanted to come in to ask me to marry him. The elder kindly explained that I was already engaged and after a bit of convincing, escorted him back out. For those of you who know how much I dislike being the center of attention, you'll know just how ironic it is that I stand out so much here. God has a sense of humor, no doubt about it :)

Another great week here in Aracaju. Still teaching Marcel and Elenilton, and we made a goal with them to work towards baptism. Elenilton is really excited and it is so cool to see him make changes for the better. He told us that he's had a really hard year and that us teaching him is an answer to his prayers. Again, just goes to show that God is just using us to bless other people. We are still visiting Junior and Alexandre as well. Junior told us this week how he felt when he was confirmed, which means that he recieved the gift of the Holy Spirit. He told us that he felt the Spirit stronger than ever before during his confirmation and that he knew he was making the right choice. Gosh, I love this work. I'm constantly amazed at the little miracles like that that we see all the time, and at the love I feel for these people.

Saturday, all of the missionaries in the southern area of Aracaju put together a devotional/activity sort of thing for the church members here. The theme was attributes of Christ and a few of us chose an attribute to speak about with some musical numbers as well. I spoke on faith, and also sang a musical number with my companion, Sister Cruz, and another elder from our district. Again- for those of you who know me well, you know that singing in front of other people absolutely terrifies me, but one thing I am learning here is that I really need to do a better job of pushing myself out of my comfort zone. In our zone conference a few weeks back, our mission president's wife said something that stuck with me: "The Lord loves you way too much to let you stay as you are." I have that phrase on my wall, and am making it a goal to get out of my comfort zone as much as I can, whether it is singing in front of a couple hundred people or just starting a conversation on the street. The phrase is so true- God gives us challenges to shape us into better and better people. We grow outside our comfort zones!! He sees us as we can become, not as we are now, and I'm grateful to have a little glimpse of that potential he sees in me.

After the activity, we all went out to açaí and I am so grateful for the friends I've made here. Every 6 weeks, we get 'transfers', which means we can move areas or companions. Sister Cruz and I are staying(thank goodness!), but a few of the people I have met here will be leaving to Alagoas tomorrow. I feel like I have known them a lot longer than 6 weeks and it will be really sad to see them go.

That being said, I'm officially done with my first transfer here in the mission and if all of my transfers go this fast, the next 15 months will fly by. I'm excited to meet some new missionaries and so very grateful I get to stay here with my companion in Atalaia.
Love you all and wishing you a happy week!! <3

Com amor,

Sister Lauren Mather

Pictures:
Vania, a member from our church here- LOVE HER
The zone
Bus ride back from açaí with elders Santos, Ribeiro, Mills, and Pinheiro(remind me to tell you about the buses in another email)

Locked Inside A Bathroom

Happy Monday!!

Yes, I really did lock myself inside a bathroom. We had lunch at a member's house and when I went to use the bathroom, I locked the door. Little did I know that it wouldn't UNlock! After a few minutes of discretely trying to pry the lock with a bobby pin, I had to call for help. I was inside the bathroom and Iradilde, the member, was on the other side of the door, both trying to figure out a way to open it but to no avail. Eventually, she had to hand me a butter knife through the window of the bathroom and i had to slide it in between the door and the lock to eventually open the door. Quite the adventure and Sister Cruz and I still laugh about it.

A few months ago, the missionaries that were here had an event where they went to the city center with a giant cardboard Book of Mormon and if people were curious and wanted to learn more, they could leave their contact information. We just barely recieved those contacts, so most of this week was spent trying to find all of them. We have a lot of appointments this week and I'm excited to teach these new people!

Also met with Marcel and Elenilton a few times this week. I don't know if I have talked about them already, but they are 2 guys in their 50s that are best friends. Pretty much the definition of bromance. Elenilton LOVES to talk so it takes a while to teach and converse with them but they are hilarious and both very receptive to everything we say. They always tell us they're so grateful we're teaching them and when we got there on Saturday, they took us out to pizza for dinner! Marcel works on Sundays but Elenilton has been coming to church and I'm so excited to continue meeting with both of them.

This week also marked one month that I've been here in Aracaju! I've said it before but my transition here has been so smooth and I am very grateful. I love Brazil already and am not sure I'm going to want to leave in 16 months. One of the things I love most about the people here is how much they value family. It's not uncommon to find an entire extended family living together. Immediate family, extended family, and even friends are all welcomed with open arms and I'm glad I've gotten to be a recipient of that as well. Makes me so glad I was raised in such a great family and I'm thankful I get to spend eternity with them :)

Wishing you all a happy week and a smooth transition back into school- can't say I'm too jealous! Amo vocês!

Love,

Sister Lauren Mather

PS. Happy Birthday Michaela!!