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