I Love Atalia. Rain, Not So Much...

Happy Monday! I can't believe it has already been a week!

We weren't able to visit Juliano's family this week but we have been calling them and yesterday he came with his 14-year-old daughter to church!! They are integrating so well into the ward and the hardest thing about this family is just finding a time to visit them! More to come..

This week it rained every. Single. Day. All my shoes are still soaked and feet are pretty torn up BUT it finally passed on Saturday, thank goodness. We had the coolest experience one day where everything fell through and we were out in the rain from 2pm until almost 7pm. We decided to try a street we had never entered before and knocked on the first door. A kid man answered and when he saw how soaking wet we were, let us in without even asking who we were. His wife, Clarissa, came in and the first thing she said was for us to sit and wait while she went to get us towels. They brought us plastic chairs to sit on and towels and we started talking as if we were friends already. About 10 minutes into the conversation, she stopped and said 'hold on, who are you guys? I didn't even ask!'. We explained that we were missionaries and that we wanted to offer a message for her family. Clarissa told us that they had just recieved a bad phone call and that not minutes afterwards, we appeared at the door out of nowhere in the pouring rain so she was sure that we were 'angels sent from God'. We had the best discussion about the Restoration and what it means to have the gospel of Christ in our families. She understood everything and afterwards when we went to leave told us 'nope, you aren't leaving without eating something!'. So she made us a simple dinner and we talked for a while about music and family and it was such a good visit. Afterwards, she told us that she never has péople over but that she felt something different with us. We are just instruments in God's hands and I love getting to see where he leads us every week. Unfortunately she got sick and couldnt come to church but we will visit again this week.

2 divisions this week and one was in Atalaia, where I stayed my first 6 months!! I was feeling a lot of emotions going back there and am so grateful for the experiences I had in that area. I think I learned and changed the most during my time there. After I left, things got a little confused and some of the people I was visiting were kind of forgotten. When I went back, I was able to introduce the sisters to a lot of them and am hoping that I will get to see some fruits of my work last year!!! My miracle wall and xmas decorations are still there in that house too(see pictures :) ).

Still loving my area, loving my companion, but our President gave us a new rule that we can only speak English to each other after 9pm every day. She is almost fluent but I am struggling hahahaha. I am already planning for her to move to the US someday...

Sending lots of love to you all, give my mom a big hug for her 25th birthday tomorrow ;)

Love,
Sister Lauren Mather

pictures:
açai again
the district
got to see Vania from Atalaia again!!!
remnants of my time in Atalaia :)
Sister Acevedo!! love this sister
leather sandals in the rain...
more rain...
13 months!! and acai to celebrate. again.

A Family!!

Juliano's family!! It was amazing!!
They have been learning about the church for a while, off and on for a YEAR now. Juliano told us that a year ago, he was thinking alot about God and religion and he jsut happened to stay in a hotel with a Book of Mormon!! He read some of it during his time there and loved it but didnt know how to get one cause he didn't want to 'steal' it from the hotel. He researched a little about the church but never visited or knew anyone who was part of it. He went to a few more churches in the past year but said he always felt a little off while he was there, like it wasn't quite right. Then when our bishop invited him to our church he went and felt so good there and said that he is really liking it so far and feels like it is from God. He remembered what he felt a year ago and said he felt the same in the church and it is amazing to see how God has been preparing him for so long just for where he and his family are right now. They have been researching a lot about the church and already knew everything about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and the orginization of the church when we got there. We had a really really good discussion about the importance of not just a church, but the church of Jesus Christ and modern revelation. They talked alot about the importance of family as well and that they love how much the church defends and strengthens family. They have 2 daughters, 11 and 14, and a dog that is more spoiled than Mo(if you can fathom that). They fed us dinner and we talked about the gospel and about our own families and lives for a while. It was such a good visit and felt so natural and I think they might be our miracle. Unfortunately, they weren't able to come to church because their family came to visit last minute but we will do everything we can for them to come this week. More to come...

Other than them, the work is a little slow here... lots of people that just don't want much to do with religion. I feel like I am back in Washington sometimes!

But the ward here is amazing and when my companion got sick last week we had so many people reach out to help us. They treat us like their daughters and I am really liking it here so far. Still loving my companion as well and she makes me laugh every single day. President told us there is a good chance we will stay one more transfer together and I am hoping we do!

Thank you all for the emails and updates, about a million people I know got engaged this week so I am kind of in shock but congrats to you guys and I think I've decided I will just stay here in Brasil away from real-life decisions a little longer. :)

Nem sei se alguém vai entender esta parte aqui mas sei que meu Salvador vive, Ele responde ás nossas orações, e nos concede  exatamente o que precisamos para se tornar mais semelhante a Ele e amar outros com o amor que Ele tem por nós. Sou grata por Ele, pelo seu sacrifício, e por ter a oportunidade ser as mãos dele aqui no Brasil.

Sister Lauren Mather

Photos:
division with Sister Lora
Palloma and Ashley, kids of a family that was baptized last year( i met them whe i was in Atalaia!)
zone conference!!

Backpackers (last weeks email)

A majority of the week we spent as backpackers traveling everywhere and in the last 7 nights, only 2 were spent in our apartment! Its easier to sum up the week day-by-day...

Monday: left the bus station at 1am and took a 7 hour bus ride to Maceio for leadership council. Pretty fun to travel with just the 8 of us.
Tuesday: leadership council. Always one of my favorite parts of the transfer. President Taylor gave a training on how to build and grow people through feedback instead of just correct or 'fix' them. Also, Sister Taylor made pancakes for breakfast and there was nutella so it was like Christmas for me. Left to go back to Aracaju around 7pm...
Wednesday: and got here about 2 in the morning. Slept a few hours and had a district meeting at 8:30. The cutest little lady in our ward took us to a fancy restaurant for lunch which was a treat!!
Thursday: left in the morning to catch a bus to Itabaiana, about 2 hours from here. Division with Sister Alves, who is here waiting for her visa to Mexico. She is only in her 2nd week but already knows how to teach really well and we celebrated that night with ice cream.
Friday: still in Itabaiana, divison with Sister Sa. She goes home in a few weeks so it was so fun to talk about all her mission stories. Rained all day and made me feel like I was in Seattle :)
Saturday: got back to our area and went straight to lunch, then worked until we got home that night. Visited a recent-convert that reminds me a LOT of grandma Sharee and takes care of us here.
Sunday: all of the people we wanted to bring to church ended up falling through but when we showed up to church who was there in the 2nd pew:: Juliano!! He wasnt able to have us over to meet  his family this week and when we called Saturday, no one answered. But he showed up and told us all about how he has been learning more on the church website about everything and that he ^recieved some answers from God this week.^He is super anxious for us to meet his family and I am super excited!!
Today: Sister Dias woke me up at 1am because she was in a lot of pain and we ended up going to the hospital. She has gsatritis and ate something yesterday that did not agree with her stomach. We stayed there until 7am and the poor thing is still hurting a little bit so we are staying home all day. Feeling very grateful for this keyboard thing that lets me write emails here in our apartment and upload them when we get to the lanhouse.

Crazy crazy crazy week and I won't lie in saying that I am not completely exhausted but it also makes the time pass so quickly. Its already July!!??!

Love love love you all, please light off some fireworks for me on Thursday(I will be proudly dressed in red, white and blue here in Brasil hahaha).

Love,
Sister Lauren Mather

Photos:
trip to and from Maceio(and what happens when you ask the elders to take a picture)