Downgraded

But it is a good thing!! I am FINALLY in an area that isnt super rich!! My new area is Mirante, and alot of the area are those houses on hillsides that you see in movies about Brasil. You can actually see my last area from here because it had a lot of huge apartment buildings. We live on the second floor of the cutest little house and have a huge balcony with a hammock!! Everyone is alot more welcoming here and I hope I stay for a while because I already love this area.

And my companion! Guys, I think I got the best companion in the mission. Her name is Sister Lisboa and she finishes her mission in June so she has a ton of experience. She has had a really hard mission but you would never know it by how kind she is to everyone. We get along so well and have a ton of plans for this transfer. I loved every single one of my companions, but I finally feel like I am with someone else who matches my efforts, if that makes sense. Our companionship is a 50-50, whereas sometimes before I felt like I was pulling a majority of the workload. Not necesarrily because of my companions, but because of their situations- new in the mission, things happening at home, being sick, etc... Anyways, I am so glad to be with her and hope we stay together more than just this transfer.

Being an SLT is gonna be hard but I think I am going to like it. We take care of 5 groups of sisters in 4 different zones and have to do divisions with them every transfer which is quite the adventure when you have to rely on the buses here in brasil. We have our first division this week so we will see how it goes. We also have to call and check up on them throughout the week and report to president every saturday. I still have a love hate relationship with the phone but I love calling and talking to everyone every night. I am already friends with almost all of them so in all honesty I feel like the only thing that changed is that now I have an excuse to talk to them more :) There is always drama with some people but we are working with those groups that are having a harder time.

We are teaching a good group of people but I will keep it at one for the sake of this email. His name is Jean and he is friends with a 15 year old in our ward. She brought him to an activity last Saturday and he came to church on nSunday as well. We taught him about the restoration and he understood everything, saying it made sense. Unfortunately, he didnt come to church yesterday beecause the carnaval celebrations started this weekend but we visited him last night and he had reread the entire pamphlet and answered the questions that are on the last page!! We are going back to visit tonight.

Best part of the week was my first day here. We got to the area around 8am and after unpacking, went to lunch. Sister Lisboa explained to me on the way there that the mom is a member but her husband hates the church, the missionaries, and their 3 kids follow his example. We got there and he refused to shake my hand, saying he didnt like us at all and did not want us in his house. He started insulting us and his wife and his kids started in on it too. As if that wasnt bad enough, he brought out a shot glass of beer and sat right in front of me, saying if I took one sip, he would be baptized the next day. I explained that thats not the purpose of baptism, that it is between him and god, not him and the missionaries, etc... but he started saying that if I really cared about him, I would take just one sip to show it. I explained again in different words but he just got angrier and his kids started calling us names. We decided to leave and asked if we could offer a prayer before we left. Janine, the mom, said the prayer, and at the very end, said 'please forgive us for joking so much with this poor new sister' and everyone DIED laughing!!! It was ALL a joke and turns out the dad is the first counselor in the bishopric, his wife is the relief society president, and the kids are all strong in the church. I had NO IDEA and to make it better, they filmed almost the entire thing!! They said they usually just joke for a 5 minutes or so  because most sisters just stop talking or some start to cry but that I was so stubborn that mine went on for more than 20 minutes!! It was hilarious and they are some of my favorite people I have met here. And I am definitely doing the same thing when the missionaries come to visit my family in the future.

I am still a little overwhelmed with the new calling but I am loving this area and like I said, hope I spend a lot of time here. I am so grateful I chose to serve a mission and so grateful for this gospel that makes the other side of the world feel so familiar.

Love you all so much!!

Sister Lauren Mather
Photos:
moving...
finally got to see Sister Galdino!!
Sister Chiriz
view from the new area
new zone
3 generations- my 'mom' and 'daughter'
random pics of the new area
Janiele, who was baptized last week and her sister Julia

Hold On, I Just Got Here...

...and after a short 6 weeks I am being transferred... I am disappointed because Sarah and Lis are progressing so well and I wanted to bad to stay and help them but I know they will, be just fine with Sister Chiriz and Sister Acevedo, who will take my place here in Jardim Alagoas. She arrived in my group and is awesome.

LOTS of changes this week, so to avoid writing a novel I am just going to list them off:
Hit my 8 month mark!! I will have a little less than 18 months in the mission so I am at my halfway mark next week!!
Our chapel officially closed yesterday due to the danger of the situation here in our area. So from now on, the 2 wards that meet there will have all of their activities and meetings at the other chapel about 15 minutes away. It will be crazy because now that chapel has 4 wards, the single adult program, AND the mission office and all the activities for the mission. Should be interesting.
On the same note, we are officially moving! For real this time! We spent ALL weekend packing and cleaning our apartment and will move out today. I will go to my new area tomorrow and Chiriz and Acevedo will stay with 2 other sisters.
Our area that was already pretty small got cut in half because we are not allowed to be in the areas of danger.
The city had a training about the evacuation plan but they didnt really end up doing anything or giving us any information so people got angry and caused a protest that closed the main road here for an hour(see video). We caught the beginning of it and went back to our apartment before it got bad.
Spent all of Friday at the hospital with Sister Chiriz because she got worse and they still cannot figure out what is wrong, poor thing.
I got called as a Sister Training Leader, which is basically a zone leader but a sister. With my new companion, we will take care of and do divisions with a third of the sisters here in the mission and also have meetings and trainings with President and the assistants of the mission. I am very very nervous and once again feel extremely inadequate and unqualified but I know by now that every transfer is inspired and it will all work out. And my new companion, Sister Lisboa, is awesome! I am so excited to work with her.
Found out an hour before church yesterday that I would have to give a talk... thank goodness it was about missionaryu work which is eaier to talk on, more or less. Dad, you should be proud, used your orange juice analogy ;)
Best part of the week: WE GET TO CALL HOME EVERY WEEK NOW! New announcement from the church!!! When our leader called to tell us, we didn't believe him for a good 10 minutes. I am so excited to be able to see and talk to my family every week.
It's been a crazy week and today will be even crazier with our move but I am excited to see how this next transfer will lay out. Feeling nervous and sad and excited all at the same time but I am so grateful to be here regardless of everything that has been happening. Maybe one day I will come back to visit and show my kids the giant hole that used to be my area?! Who knows what will happen but here's to LOTS of changes!!

Love,
Sister Lauren Mather

Photos and videos:
 the price I pay for spending the day at the beach...FRIED
alert we receieved this week
açai to celebrate 8 months(per tradition)
canudos to treat ourselves after all day at the hospital
our apartment... :'(
8 months and the shoes are officially being thrown out
family night with members of the ward
protest

Best Mission...Ever!

We already knew that but in case you guys, or I, needed more convincing, we went to the beach this morning and I think I almost cried I was so happy. It is the prettiest beach i have ever seen in my life. Just look at the pictures.

Subsequentyly, I have almost no time left to write so this is gonna be a short one(for real this time).

Still teaching Sarah and Lis, and they are reading the Book of Mormon. I remember when I was their age and started to really gain a testimony and have those spiritual experiences for myself and I feel so happy to be a part of that process for them.

MIRACLE: Edna´s husband, Roosevelt, went to church yesterday foir the first time!!! We visit them all the time and he is very skeptical of the church, always asking us questions and researching about it. And for the missionaries that have served in the last 5 years, you know that when people go to the internet, they end up finding a bunch of stuff against the church, and cut contact with us. I think we lost more than 15 people with a lot of potential in Aracaju because of the stuff they found on the internet. And they dont even give us a chance to explain, just end up believing everyuthing they read, most of which is wrong. Not to mention there is a lady, not sure if she is Brazilian, that has a youtube channel specifically attacking the church and releases videos every month. What a blessing right? Anyways, we were worried about what Roosevelt was reading and always do iour best to explain what we actually believe and bear testimony. And yesterday he finally went to church after a million invites!! It was our stake conference and the Spirit was so strong and when it was over he said he loved it. Miracles.

Grateful for Edna because her family and Jane are the only people we acn find to visit. Lots of people are leaving our area and we see about 5-10 moves every day so it makes the work a little difficult. But we live in the prettiest place in the world and I am so grateful to be here. I know that this gospel is true and that it bring more joy in this life than anything else.
Love you all so much,

Sister Lauren Mather

PICS AND VIDEOS
the cutest monkeys
a common struggle of Sister Chiriz

Bible Stasher...

Literally. See pictures below… Jane, a lady that the missionaries had been visiting before, got back from a long vacation this week so we went to visit her. Her husband loved to travel and visited almost every country possible after he retired and in every one, he bought a Bible. In the photos below, probably about 80 percent of the books are bibles!! She has over 400!!! And better yet, we found a Book of Mormon from 1975 that she didn’t even know she had. Coincidence…?Anyways, I got to know Jane a little better this week and man has she got quite the story. She is 68 years old, widowed with 2 kids, and very very wealthy. She has been coming to church for months and wants to be baptized but has one thing holding her back…her boyfriend. Who could be her son- he is 39 years old. It is very clear that he is taking advantage of her money and even she knows it but just can’t seem to end the relationship. Her husband didn’t treat her very well and this is literally the first time she has loved someone. Even though she knows he is taking advantage of her and has other women she absolutely adores him and doesn’t have the courage to break it off. It is sad, she doesn’t have faith that a leap of faith will make her so much happier in the end. That ending it with him will hurt for a while but is so much better in the long run. We are so frustrated because we want so bad to help her but she won’t do her part. We can’t end the relationship for her. But it made me think a lot about how many times we do the same thing with God. We know exactly what we should do, but don’t do it because it will be hard, because we don’t want to let go of something or someone, or we don’t have faith that the future could be better. I imagine God being so frustrated because he sees our potential and how much happier we could be if we just followed him and took that little leap of faith. He wants so bad to bless us, to help us, but He can’t do our part. He gave us our agency, our ability to choose, and that is literally the only thing we have to claim for ourselves. Whether or not Jane is baptized, I am grateful for the change of perspective she gave me. And also the mini Bible I can carry in my bag.

Sister Laredo, a Sister from Mexico, stayed with us almost all week because her companions were in divisions with other sisters. She is the best and our 4 days with her consisted of a pizza “pool party”a demonic cat that chased us out of a beco, ice cream, and lots of laughs. We also spent the whole day Tuesday with Thaysa, who is preparing for a mission this year. We have been combining with the members and it helps so much to have them with us and help create friendships with the people we are teaching.

Speaking of which, we are still helping Sarah and Lis prepare for baptism. They are absolutely loving church and the leader of the youth girls is 23 and just got back from a mission so she is helping us a lot with helping the girls feel comfortable and welcome. We love them.

Other random occurrences of the week:

- A payphone on the street started ringing out of nowhere so I answered it. Why not, right: The person on the other end was very confused when I explained that I was a missionary and quickly hung up

- Drunk guy on the street started talking to us and said he never knew that God sent beautiful angels to earth as missionaries. The conversation didn’t last long

- Edna went to the temple for the first time and LOVED it!!

- Started talking with another guy on the street and he started calling me pretty eyed blonde. Sometimes it is hard to be a sister missionary

- Catholic church here had a parade/movement in regards to the fact that our neighborhood is literally falling apart. See video…

- Finally fixed my guitar!

All good stuff. Missionary life is always an adventure and I am very grateful for the experiences I am given here. A missionary who served here a year ago came back to visit yesterday and talked about how much she wishes she could go back and relive it again. I am in love with this work and this place and don’t regret for one second choosing to serve a mission.
Love,

Sister Lauren Mather

Janes Bible library
divisions with Thaysa
pizza and pool... as much of a party as it can get
lunch with Edna and friends
Sunday night