Oi minha familia!! :)

 

So I'm going to try and write a pretty good sized email and answer all your questions but time is short and I am going to try and send some pictures as well! I am glad though that Pop Pop does not have cancer :) but losing a toe is sad but it could have definitely been worse! I'm not sure about my pictures on my phone but tell Thomas not to worry!! If you and Mom are skinnier when I get back then way to go but I'm not going to believe anything until I see it haha :P I know how you and Mom are but at least you're making the effort lol!! :) Sorry it took so long to get my first letter it should have come a lot sooner!

 So my first companion, Sister Twitchell left on a plane to Brazil on Tuesday, so I am now in a trio with two others sisters in my district, Sister Sowa and Sister Farthing! It was definitely sad saying good- bye to Sister Twitchell, we got along really well and bonded pretty fast. Our companionship was just easy and we had a lot of similarities so I miss her but I am happy she was able to make it to Brazil :) My two new sisters are awesome though and I am excited to get to know them even better throughout these next few weeks! :) Sister Sowa went to BYU and she is super sweet! Sister Farthing and her are both from Virginia. Sister Farthing is a little more quiet but she has the greatest spirit and I love when she opens up! Our teachers are Irmao Workman and Irma Pike! They are amazing and are great at what they do! I learn more and more each day!! Irma Pike was our first investigator who we taught our first 4 lessons and then she became our teacher. The language is getting easier but there is still a lot to learn! I no longer bring notes in with me when I go and teach the investigators and I just try to go off of what I know and to just invite the spirit to help me. My notebook was just too much of a clutch and I felt like I was teaching lessons and not people so I am feeling more confident in my teaching each time I have a new lesson. Teaching is different with 3 companions, it has its strengths and weaknesses! The Lord always helps us out though so it works out fine!

My district is super close and we have six elders and now 5 Sisters. We stay focused most of the day but after studying and sitting in a desk all the day long it's nice to just be crazy for a few minutes! It's great because I can be myself in front of everyone and we all have some pretty good times. The other day I was laughing so hard I was crying because one of the Elders was doing who knows what! We all showed our weird talents and I did my "I'm stuck in a Suitcase" thing. When I was having a laughing attack one of the Elders was laughing and said "I think Sister Mattei left her helmet at home" hahaha I laughed but my district thinks I'm crazy! At least it is all in fun! So that night I made a helmet and brought it to class and this elder wore it and he had a stuffy nose so had tissue stuck in his nose I'll send pics haha! The food is getting a little old here at the MTC but I haven't gained weight yet so lets hope I keep that up! For exercise, we play volleyball with our Elders, go to the gym and yesterday we played basketball! So I'm exercising more than I ever did at home haha! It's been nice and I feel better so I can see why they want us to work out after pigging out on food and sitting around in desks all day!

 We haven't been able to go to the temple because it is closed until the week before I leave so that's a bummer :/ No general authorities have come either but we have had some amazing talks and the Spirit here is so great I love it! We got to watch the "Character of  Christ" talk last Sunday by David A. Bednar! It was so great and I took lots of notes about turning outward as Christ does instead of being like the natural man and turning inward. It just shows us as missionaries how much we need to focus on the people we are teaching and loving them and not being focused on ourselves. I'm not learning a language for me but I am learning it so I can teach others the gospel and the only way I am learning it as quickly as I am is through Heavenly Father. It's nice to remember this while learning the language because it can definitely be frustrating at times. As long as I put forth the effort, the Lord will bless me. At our district meetings and when we all just talk it is so great to hear from other people and their words are so inspiring. My district consists of my Sisters I live with which are Sister Nowels, Sister Henry, Sister Sowa and Sister Farthing. The Elders are Elder Schulte, Elder Bitnoff, Elder Dieffenbach, Elder Braun and Elder McStraw! It's fun and my scripture study and prayer are much better than before :) Well I better get going we are having computer issues :/ You're all in my prayers! Love and miss you!! Dear Elders are great thanks MOM :)

Sister Mattei :)