Currently Homeless...

This week has been an adventure, to say the least. In parts of our area, random parts of the ground have been opening and there have been little mini earth-tremors the past couple weeks. A long time ago, some company took important minerals out of the ground here and now there are hollow parts underground where the holes are opening. It wasn’t a big deal until this last week, when it rained every day and the problem got a little worse. Our house was in a medium danger zone and seeing as our mission president doesn’t risk our safety for anything, he called and told us we needed to leave. So last night, we cleaned our house, packed a few outfits, and are staying in the area next to ours with 3 other sisters. We will stay here and work in the safe parts of our area until they find us a new apartment somewhere.  Everything is kind of up in the air right now so we will see what happens! I am a little worried about Sister Chiriz because she has been sick and this week will require a lot more walking to and from our area. Adventures, right?

Other than that, all is well. Lots of door knocking this week and nothing else too exciting.

I don’t think I have talked about Edna yet- pretty much my favorite person ever. As if the name wasn’t good enough already!! She was baptized a month ago and is amazing. She goes to every activity, already has a calling in the church, is the definition of ELECT. She always has us over for dinner and gives us gifts- treats us and spoils us as if we were her own grandkids. Yesterday, she brought 4 of her grandkids to church and they all loved it!! They said they want to keep coming so hopefully we can help them and teach them more about the gospel. I am so excited.

Still love my area, and though I am sad to leave our fancy apartment I am glad we are going to continue in the ward for now. My companion is amazing and I am so grateful to be with someone who can laugh with all the confusion. She's still sick and we still don’t know why but she is a hard worker and goes as much as her body will let her.

I am so grateful to be here in the mission sharing the message of JOY that this gospel brings. I feel like I should be more stressed or worried but all I have felt is peace. That real peace that comes from Christ and stays with you no matter the circumstances. I know that He really is the Prince of Peace, and I am grateful to be doing his work in helping others feel the same.
Love love love you all, beijos!!!

Love,

Sister Lauren Mather

Sister Laredo, from Mexico – LOVE her
Yet another amazing view
Pictures to remember our first night as mission refugees

New Everything!!!

Man has it been a crazy week!!

Monday was a hard day. Spent the day packing and saying goodbye to people which is my least favorite thing to do. Paolo and Betania invited us and a few people from the church to their ice cream shop that night before I left. Betania had made us all a cute little dinner and they gave us all free ice cream! We spent 4 hours there talking and laughing and finally the dreaded hour came for me to leave… saying goodbye to them was really hard. Lots of tears. But we will keep in touch, thank goodness for internet. I said it before, but I never imagined how much I could love people I have known for just a few months. Got to the bus station Monday night and the bus left for Maceio at 1am. When you put 20 something missionaries together on a bus, even at 1am, we always end up talking so no one got much sleep that night.

Tuesday morning arrived in my new area and met my new companion!! Her name is Sister Chiriz and I was wrong, she is from Guatemala, not Mexico!! She has 3 months in the mission and me with 7 months so with the 2 of us learning Portuguese, it is a little harder because we don’t have a native speaker with us to correct or help. She is the sweetest and we get along really well so far. We spend almost the whole time we are walking on the street talking. She actually visited WA for a month last year and doesn’t know the name of the city but I am 99% sure it is really close to Snoqualmie! What are the chances:! Tender mercies. We spent Tuesday as a normal day, she showed me around the area and introduced me to the people here. That night, we went to meet our ward mission leader, who is sort of the person that takes care of the missionaries and helps us involve the members here. Him and his wife were conversing with us when they asked how Sister Chiriz was doing. What she didn’t tell me that day is that she has been sick for the past 3 weeks and the doctors cant figure out what is wrong. They asked her how her pain was from 1 to 10 and without hesitating, responded that it was at a 10. We asked her again to make sure she understood the question and she responded that she was in more pain than ever before with this sickness. This was at 9pm, so we took her from there straight to the hospital and ended up staying until 4am. All the tests came back clear and we still don’t know what is wrong, poor thing. We have had to stay at home a lot more this week because she is always in pain and nothing seems to be helping. I like to work and be busy so it has been a little harder for me to stay inside so much this week. I am hoping she improves soon because she really does want so bad to work but her body just isn’t letting her.

As far as the area goes… I don’t want to sound negative but it is a bit difficult to work here. We have a rich area, so no one is on the street and knocking doors hasn’t proved too successful either. When I got here, we had only one family that we were visiting. The area is about a quarter the size of my last area so most people have already spoken with the missionaries here. My favorite part of the area is the grota, which is kind of like a ghetto hillside that you always see in pictures or movies of Brasil. The grota is the only poorer part of our area, and has a view of a lake that is SURREAL. I took pictures and even a video but it still doesn’t do it justice. SO pretty.

The ward here is amazing, and I am hoping to work more with the members to find people to visit. I actually met a few of them 3 months ago when I came to pick up Sister Galdino in Maceio! The ward here had a farewell for a sister that was ending the mission and we stayed at the apartment here that night so we went with them. Again, tender mercies. Our ward mission leader is so helpful, which makes alllllll the difference and I am very grateful. It is a hard area, but I like working with people so I am going to try to use that to my advantage here.

It was sad to leave Aracaju but I am excited to be here in a new place with new people. A little bit harder, but that’s how we learn, right: Staying in the apartment has given me a chance to do a lot more studying and I am so grateful for my mission that allows me to do that. I don’t think I will ever have another time in my life to be completely immersed in the gospel without worrying about anything else. I read this week that in order to become more like Christ, we have to know Him, so I like to think that I am getting to know Him better during my time and experiences I am having here.

Got xmas letters from a few of you and they made my week- thank you!! Sending lots of love!!!

Sister Lauren Mather

Photos&videos:
Sad goodbyes…lorena, maria clara(no those aren’t tears), Giovanna and mirella, friends from the ward,vania and edvania, betania <3, sis galdino
Cutest new companion- sister Chiriz!!
The prettiest view in the whole world
Top of the road to the grota
Sister chiriz’s first time seeing the train here
Part of our area is on a piece of unstable land that causes the buildings to crack like this and will eventually all fall through…long story
Bored on a Sunday night…
view from our apartment

Farewell Aracaju...:(

Almost 6 months here in Aracaju and as much as I hate to say it, I was finally transferred. We got the calls last night and tonight I will leave at 11 pm for Maceio. My new area is a part of Maceio, so I am excited to get to be in the city itself. My new companion arrived with Sister Galdino, so she has 3 months in the mission and is hispanic- from Mexico or Argentina or Chile, forgot exactly where.

I knew I would probably leave this transfer but still am feeling very sad to leave. These people feel like family and I never thought I would come to love them as much as I do. Paolo and Betania, the couple we are visiting, organized a farewell for me tonight at their ice cream shop with members of the ward here. Jivaldo came to church yesterday and told us he felt a different kind of peace, and that he wants to keep coming. I feel like we finally found people that really are needing what we have and feel a little heartbroken that I wont get to stay here and watch them progress more. 6 months ago I arrived here with so much fear, could hardly speak the language, very confused and very overwhelmed. I look at how much I have learned and grown SO much through the experiences I have had here and these people have grown with me and I am so grateful for my time here. Will definetely be coming back, and am so glad we have internet to stay in touch!

Sister Galdino is feeling the same way and we have become such good friends it will be hard not to be together everyday. But even though she doesn't think so, she is so ready to introduce the area to someone new and the people here love her so much. And we both are pretty new in the mission so we will probably see each other again before long!

As far as the rest of the week, it was such a good one. New Years is HUGE here so we didnt sleep at all but it was fun to see the fireworks from our balcony. We spent the day with Taynah, who got back from a mission this year. She took us to all the touristy parts of the city and it was so fun! That night, we went to Vania's house and made cookies and pizza with her 2 twin daughters until we had to be home at 9. January 1, the streets were emptier than I have ever seen them so we visited members and laughed at drunk people walking home from the beach. Good memories.

Although I am very sad and a little nervous, I know I will be just fine because everything always turns out just the way it needs to. I felt so nervous to come, nervous to train, this is nothing new!! Also I am really hoping that my new companion knows how to make tacos because the last time I ate tacos was the day before I left and 7 months is way too long to go without :)

Love you all and am wishing you all the best new year! When I got here, 2019 seemed so far away and it is so weird to think I will be home before the next new year :(((

Love,

Sister Lauren Mather

The First Skype...

And it wasn’t really that bad… Everyone kept telling me the first Skype in the mission is really hard but I felt fine afterwards. Of course I miss my family, but it is strange- almost like I don’t have the ability to feel homesick. I think it is a blessing of the mission.

Christmas came and went as if it was a pretty normal day. I was a little disappointed because I thought it would be a bigger deal here. Here in Brasil, everyone stays up until midnight on xmas eve and at midnight, everyone has a big dinner all together. They eat and drink and dance until 3 or 4 in the morning, and then sleep through most of Christmas day.

We spent xmas eve with the rest of the missionaries in our zone which was really fun. We had a BBQ, played games, exchanged secret santa gifts, and just hung out. On Christmas day, we made a LOT of cookies and spent all day delivering them to people here. It was so sweet to see how excited some people got when we remembered them, and sure beat spending the whole day at home with nothing to do. We had lunch with Melissas family and later that night, after delivering everything, called our families. Christmas seemed so far in the future when I got here and the fact that it  already passed blows my mind.

The rest of the week was great, and every single day this week we saw little miracles. Taught lots of people but getting them to wake up early on Sunday morning is a challenge.

Paolo and Betania are our ray of hope. During our visit this week, they finally told us the whole story of why they showed up to church a random Sunday in November. Betania takes care of her brother, who had an accident and is in critical condition. She is basically taking care of him until he passes away because they cant operate or help him anymore. She got to a point that she was so tired and depressed that it was affecting her physical and mental health. One day, she expressed the severity of how she was feeling to Paolo, and that next Sunday they were at church. He never lost his testimony and said that he knew the gospel could help her more than anything else. And it is so true- in the past month, she has become so much happier and it is so humbling to see what people meant when they said they saw lives change during their mission. I know that they are part of the reason I am here, and that I stayed so long in this area. Love them.

This is probably my last week in this area and I feel a little like I am leaving home again. I have grown and learned SO much here. Last night we had a little farewell dinner for Melissa, who leaves Tuesday for her mission. Never thought I would make friends my age during my mission and I am grateful to have them here. I will find out Sunday where I will be transferred next…

Grateful for the chance to spend Christmas here and I know that no matter where, the Spirit is always the same. Because of that day, we have a Savior who I have come to know so much better in the past 6 months. I know that when we let him, he guides us to people and experiences that help us learn and grow to become more like him. I know that he literally changes lives, and that it is only through the Atonement, his sacrifice for us, that those changes are possible. I love him for that.

Wishing you all a very feliz ano novo!
Muito amor,

Sister Lauren Mather

Pics and videos:
christmas festivities and people we visited
skype with the fam and a family selfie
presents from Jivaldo, a cute little old man we are teaching
melissas farewell
dinner with melissa and the rest of our friends