Happy and Sad and a Little Tired But Mostly Just Happy

Yesterday was a happy sad day, Larissa was all ready to come to church but Satruday night something came up with her family and she wasn't able to come with us. But we are visiting her during the week and she is praying to know if everything is really true. She said she feels good about everything we share and everything she reads and learns but still doesn't feel like she has gotten her big answer yet. More to come...

Eliziane, on the other hand, has been praying and told us that she feels like everything really is true. As a missionary, that is pretty much the most rewarding thing to hear and we have come to love their family so much. Amanda, the 8 year old, looks like she could be our little sister and I will try to get a picture with her this week. They were also all set to come to church with us but I think Eliziane is scared of following the answer she received. She has been in her church since she was 6 years old and even though she knows what she needs to do, I think she is scared to take that step of faith. One thing I have learned in the mission is how much fear can get in the way of so many blessings that God is waiting to give us.

BUT we brought Raquel's family to church yesterday! Raquel was a reference from someone in the ward and we have been visting her family these last couple weeks. Raquel joined the church when she was 17 but when she got married and moved and had kids she stopped going to church. But now she wants to come back and bring her kids and came  to church for the first time in a long time yesterday! She came alone with three of her four kids, ages 10, 8 and 4, so we got to play nanny again in church which was quite the fun time, especially considering that it was a conference of 2 hours instead of just 1. The cutest family and we are hoping to get the whole ward involved in helping her raise her kids in the gospel.

We found some other people this week that quickly became friends and we are excited to continue visiting them this week. We are trying really hard to use all the help we can get from The Spirit and where the Lord subtly guides us to go. I am grateful for His help and his hand in our work, I know we aren't ever alone here.

I am feeling a little tired mentally, but hoping today will help with that. Our area is pretty small and the heat isn't too bad so physically I am fine but leading every visit and conversation and teaching someone else Portuguese 24/7 is a little taxing on the brain. But I am grateful for my cutecompanion, she has such an apparent desire to do what is right and I know I need to be here with her :)

Best news for last: JULIANO WAS BAPTIZED!!! I was really sad not to be there but Sister Barco said that it was amazing and that the Spirit was so strong. All of his family, immediate and extended, was able to be there and another member of the ward told me it was one of the most powerful baptisms that she has been to. Heart is a little torn but I am so so happy for him and so grateful to have witnessed his conversion.

The gospel changes lives and changes hearts too and for that I am so grateful to be a missionary!!!

Sending muito amor,

Sister Lauren Mather

ALSO: got to go back to my second area to sing in a concert thing with the rest of the zone and saw people from my second ward! And some mission friends again, so good to see them <3

photos/videos:
guacamole attempt
another attempt at a picture in front of the view ofthe beach
mini coxinhas..again
choir and old friends and president photobombing our pics

Mirror Stealers and Miracles Again

When we got to the apartment 2 weeks ago, we were disappointed to find that our house didn't have a mirror. These past weeks we have been sharing a tiny mirror that my companion brought from home. But this week as we were walking on the street we passed a couple bags of trash in front of a broken mirror that someone had left out for the garbage truck. We got a lot of strange looks as we grabbed it and hurriedly brought it back to our apartment but hey, god blesses in mysterious ways.

Best part of the week: Larissa!! Tuesday we were knocking doors when an Elder who served in this area last year called. He passed the name of someone he was visiting last year and wanted us to see how she was. We wrote the name down, he explained a little bit about her, and he said he would call later with her address. We started walking and when we got to a road intersection, I felt like we should enter. So we turned and guess who's door was the  FIRST one we knocked?? Larissa!!! She welcomed us in and started telling us that she already knew missionaries in the past and that she still remembered some of the things they taught her. As we conversed more and more, it became more and more evient that she was the person Elder Costa had called us about not 20 minutes before. She is 20 years old, has a 1 year-old son, and is living with her mom. We visited her a few times this week and had such good conversations about the Spirit, the restoration, and she told us she feels something every time she talks with missionaries, something that tells her it is true. But she said she never had the courage to directly ask God if everything was true, partly because she didn't want to recieve an answer and have to follow it. But now that she ended things with her ex-boyfriend and is raising her son, she explained how she wants to give him the best she can give, and that if this gospel really was the gospel of Christ, it could be exactly what she needs for her and her son. She traveled this weekend but we are so so so excited to go back and see what she felt when she prayed.

We are also working with a family we met as we were in between visits one day. Ademir and Eliziane are the parents, and they have 2 kids - Amanda(8) and Arthur(4). We feel the Spirit so strong when we are with them and even Ademir, who never was a religious person, came to listen as we taught about the Restoration of the gospel and what it could mean to their family to be together forever. When we went back to help them with the reform of their house on Saturday, he greeted us with a handshake and told us that we "were at home at their house." They have gotten really close really quick and want to come to church with us this Sunday. I will try and take a picture this week!!

Other highlights of the week:singing in a missionary fireside with the rest of the zone, teaching Sister Hamilton to make brigadeiros, celebrating Sister Lora's 21st bday in the lanhouse today, and just taking advantage of the time we have here. I am really liking this area and the ward is pretty small but the members are great and the time is going wayyyyyy too fast.

Thank you for your prayers, I am so grateful for all the people I've got in my corner <3

Love,

Sister Lauren Mather

Photos/videos:
first of many brigadeiros (except we were too lazy to make the actual brigadeiro so we just poured it on a plate and called it good)
view from the 20th floor of our building
stolen mirror...tender mercy...
my cutest companion
missionary fireside with the zone
sis loras birthday!!
more pictures of the area(that huge apartment building in the top corner is ours!!)

Are you two related?

Is the most asked question this week! I am training an American, Sister Hamilton from Oklahoma!! I never saw an American sister train a new American so it came as quite the surprise but I love to train. She is the cutest thing ever and I am so grateful to have her as my last companion!! She is super obedient and does everything I ask her to do and help me with without complaining at all. I know it is a huge shock and she is so tired but she doesn't show it and is always happy and positive.

I left Aracaju at 2am Monday night and it was really hard to leave. Left a lot of people I really love there and it was surreal to think that my time as a missionary in Sergipe is over. Transfers are always hard but this one was a little harder with that knowledge that I am going to my last area of the mission... Sister Barco and I decided to spend our last pday together at the beach, taking advantage of my last day there!

Anyways, we got to Maceio Tuesday morning and spent the day with Seumanu and the other trainers! We went to President and Sister Taylor's house, where we got our greenies, and arrived here in our area Tuesday night. I have never been here so it is all new to both of us and the work here wasn't going so well these last few transfers so we are pretty much starting from zero. But the area is awesome!! There are a lot of grotas and it is a pretty normal area, not super rich like a majority of my other areas. We are exploring and spent a lot of time lost this week but we will get there. It is a lot, and even more so when I am doing almost everything alone and explaining everything to my companion in Portuguese that she can understand, but I really like the area nd the ward so far and once we get the hang of things it will be alot easier. President banned us from speaking any English to the Americans, so I have to speak really slow, repeat alot of what i say, and do alot of mimes :) it is taking a lot of patience but i also know exactly how she feels and she is already learning so quickly.

Good news of the week: Erdenia was baptized!!! I got the pictures today and I am SO SO SO happy for her. I really really really wanted to be there but aso know I did what I needed to do to help her get there. Sister Barco said that it was amazing and the baptismal program had many in tears.

Kind of a harder week but I am grateful because I am being puched way out of my comfort zone once again. It is a new challenge and a new opportunity to learn and grow. And it i frustrating sometimes but when it all comes down to it I really am very grateful to be here and especially to be training!!

Love you all,
Sister Lauren Mather

Pics:
farewells.... vozinha, vania, and friends that stayed in sergipe
day with sister seumanu and jackson
meeting my filha!!
shots of the area
sister hamilton!!!
tortoise at a members house
açai to celebrate 15 months in the mission!!
also the photos from Erdenia's baptism!!!

Last Day In Sergipe...