It has been such a good week and I don’t have a ton of time but I will try to explain everything.
Sister Aburto, one of the leaders of our church, visited our mission this week!! She was in Maceio so we watched her devotional broadcast to our chapel here in Sergipe. It was so fun to see all the missionaries in Sergipe and her talk was so good. She spoke about her story in joining the church, her husbands story, and a ton of other things but my favorite part was when she talked about how our purpose is to bring joy to the people we serve. Happiness can be temporary, but real, pure joy comes from the message we have to share.
We had divisions this week and I got to be companions with Sister Leite for a day- LOVE her. She is from Sao Paulo but we always make fun of her because she is practically American. She taught me a lot in just one day and I am very grateful because part of me,actually most of me, still feels like I don’t know what I am doing. As I am training, I am realizing all the things that my trainer didn’t teach me and it is frustrating because I have to teach things that I never learned myself. As a companion, she was great and we got along, but as a trainer, not as much. I am grateful to be training because I am learning so much along with my filha.
Speaking of Sister Galdino- she is still doing awesome. We do a LOT of walking in this mission, especially in our area, so she is completely exhausted but she is trying so hard and never complains which is so important. I feel so bad sometimes because I can tell how tired she is but she will adjust eventually. I remember feeling the same way. We celebrated her 1 month anniversary in the mission this week! She is still very quiet but very sweet and easy to get along with.
Visited Joiro again this week and he is almost 200 pages into the Book of Mormon!! We had a great conversation with him and his family about what he is reading and the importance of covenants. Covenants are promises between God and yourself, and it is our job to help people make covenants to draw closer to Christ. We invited them to pray about baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost, the first covenants of the gospel. They couldn’t come to church this week because of the election but are going to try next week.
Jailton… visited him again and he said he doesn’t feel like baptism is right for him. But he wants to come to church next Sunday, so we will see what happens.
Tried to visit Joice again… no luck. We will keep trying…
Miracle of the week: Eduardo and Jacira!! I don’t know if I already mentioned Eduardo but he stopped me on the street a few weeks ago and asked for help with English. I have been teaching him at his house these last 2 weeks and the last time we were there, his wife joined us too. We got to know them a little better and they asked about the church and what we do as missionaries. We explained everything and invited them to church with us, and they actually came!! Jacira especially LOVED all the classes and they said they are going to bring their 2 kids, 18 and 12, next week! All the members loved both of them and they already have friends here in the ward. I love them and am so excited to visit them again tomorrow.
Alexandre also received a calling yesterday! Nobody in our church is paid, so we all receive ‘callings’ to work in different programs and areas of the ward. Alexandre received a calling to work as the director for all the sports activities in the ward. We have soccer every week for all the youth and other sports on the weekends as well so starting this week, Alexandre will be in charge of organizing all of that. He is so excited and will be PERFECT working with all the youth. So excited for him and his family.
Another miracle of the week- I am dreaming in Portuguese!!!! Had a day this week where for some reason, I could not speak for the life of me. Sometimes I speak and people don’t understand, but this day in particular it seemed like I was back in my first month trying to form sentences. I came home feeling frustrated with myself and in my prayer that night, asked a little more desperately than usual for help with learning this language. The next morning I woke up and realized that ALL of my dreams that night were in Portuguese!! Tender mercy, for sure. Still not fluent, but I am getting there.
I think that just about wraps up our week. I am learning so much from training and we are seeing results from the work we are putting in. So tired, but I am so happy. I have been realizing this week how quickly I have come to feel at home here. I love Brasil!
Love,
Sister Lauren Mather
Photos and videos:
Centro for pday last week
Divisions with Sis Leite
More monkeys(sorry they are just so cute)
One month!!!
Lizard I caught in our apartment…taking name suggestions?
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