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
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