Wafer Houses

My people!

First of all HAPPY ONE DAY LATE BIRTHDAY TO STEF! If you guys forgot to wish her a happy birthday yesterday please make her feel extra loved today because we are practically sisters and man do I wish I could have celebrated with her.

Such a good week in Aracaju and things are starting to pick up again.

Found out that Paolo and Betania have a ‘uniao estavel’ which is basically marriage without the official title… so we are working on getting them legally married before we plan Betanias baptism. To be baptized, a person has to be living all of the commandments, or standards God has set for us. One of these commandments is the Law of Chastity, which advises us not to have sexual relations before marriage. So, to be baptized, Betania needs to live separate from Paolo or they need to officially marry, which is what we are figuring out right now. Our bishop is a lawyer so we are bringing him to our visit tomorrow and hopefully it is just a matter of signing a few more papers. They came to church for the 3rd time yesterday which made me so so happy. We visited their ice cream shop this week and they gave us giant sundaes for free while we talked for almost 2 hours. Finding people like them makes all the hard parts of the mission worth it.

This week we got the chance to teach Cicera, a 26 year old who was a reference from another person we are visiting. She lost her dad 3 weeks ago, and when we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and the fact that there is so much more after this life, she started to cry. She didn’t come to church yesterday so we will see if she is interested in the church or not but it is the best feeling when you know you are exactly where you are supposed to be, when you are supposed to be. Tools in His hands…

Speaking of which- remember the tweezer lady?! We felt prompted to visit her again and found a member of the church that lives there! She had gotten home early from work that day and felt like she was expecting someone, but couldn’t remember who. When we showed up and started to talk to her, we found out she was baptized yearssss ago and hasn’t come to church in a long time but ahs a desire to start coming again. We are hoping she does, and again I am grateful that we were able to be led by the Spirit to find her. Who knew God worked through crazy ladies asking us to buy them tweezers?

Not sure if I have talked about Gabi, but she is a 24 year old who has become our friend. We finally visited her again this week and gave her a Livro de Mormon. She has so many questions that can be so perfectly answered by the gospel and I know she will find her answers. She will travel for Christmas but I am so excited to talk to her when she gets back!!

To explain the subject title…I may be halfway across the world but the Christmas traditions will continue! Graham crackers don’t exist here so we made wafer houses and gave up on trying to make frosting so ended using elmers glue instead. They lasted just long enough to take a picture and quickly collapsed but it was fun while it lasted.

Had to say bye to 2 families this week that will travel until after this transfer ends. Just 2 families and I already cried so January 7th is gonna be a rough day.

Next time I email will be CHRISTMAS EVE and I cant wait to spend it here!! This Thursday, we have our Christmas conference with all the missionaries in the state of Sergipe. Saturday is our ward Christmas activity, where we will go caroling in a poorer part of the city. We will spend all Christmas Eve with the other missionaries in our zone, and Christmas day with Melissa and her family. So excited!!! And cant deny that after more than 6 months, I am excited to finally talk face to face with my family. I was expecting to feel a lot more homesick this time of year but I have yet to feel more than a little bit. Knock on wood, but I think it is a blessing of the mission. It helps that I know I am right where I need to be and that I am so happy here. Who couldn’t be happy- it is almost CHRISTMAS!!
Love,

Sister Lauren Mather

Photos/Videos
Pday with the friends
Free ice cream from Paolo and Betania
Lunch with Karen
My little buddy Igor- seriously gonna miss this kid
Weekly market
Acai to celebrate 6 months in the mission!!
Enjoying the view from Vanias new apt
Wafer houses…before and after