Oi familai!! :)

So a lot has happened!! So i will try to squeeze everything in!! First off, I am in a foursome. Weird right?? But I am still with Sister Twitchell and Sister Sowa my companions in the MTC!! We are all being trained by Sister Alcantara, a Brazilian from Sao Paulo. We just opened a new area. Crazy right?  We are in Paracuru right by the beach which we get to go to today!! :) I am so excited!! Our trainer is super nice and she is pretty patient with us. So far my journey here has had its ups and downs. I will start off with the struggles and end with the good stuff. The language is coming along okay but I have never felt so in the dumps in my life. I have remained pretty optimistic throughout my week here so far but being in a new country with a new language, new food and new people is really difficult. I am speaking okay though my American accent can be hard to understand but my understanding of Portuguese needs a lot of improvement. It is so frustrating to not know what is going on around you and to not be able to hold conversations with people. I love talking so it just is not fun when you cannot converse with other people and express yourself the way you would like. I have eaten meat every day since being here and the Lord has blessed me to be able to finish my food. The food hasn't been too strange or anything but when you don't like meat to begin with then it is not the easiest thing to do. I eat slow lol. I am definitely changing haha. I am eating meat now, speaking Portuguese and I have cried a lot more than usual. I usually never cry and I don't in front of people but in the mornings I just feel all the stress come back to me and when I shower I just cry because it is so frustrating and i miss the comfort of our home, friends and family more than I ever have before. i am not one to get homesick so i am not used to this feeling. the Lord is really testing me and I know that with patience and faith I can speak and understand a new language. I make myself remain optimistic though because without a good attitude there is no way I could make it through the day. Plus, having sister Twitchell and Sister Sowa here has been such a blessing. I love them!! At night all 4 of us have fun and I feel more like myself. 

Teaching has been a wonderful opportunity and I love the people here they are so open, kind and receptive to the gospel. We have 42 new investigators and we just started this week in a brand new area. We have 2 baptisms this upcoming Sunday! :) I am super excited! The work here is crazy and the progress is amazing!! Leeandro a 17 year old boy and Alara a 14 year old girl are being baptized! :) During the day we split up into companions of 2 and we go out and teach lessons. We switch off and whichever of us is not with our trainer we teach with a member. There are not man members here in this area at all since it is new. Our president of our area is President Hibeiro and he is super nice and I love his family. He has 21 kids. Crazy!! 3 Biological and 18 adopted. Only 4 of them live here with him and Sister Ribeiro. They have only lived here for a month in order to help the progress of the church. We are teaching many families and the younger people here understand us Americans but the older people pretty much have no idea what we are saying lol so that is a bit frustrating. The names here are difficult to say and I sadly can't remember all of our investigators because there is so many. We have had only one person reject our offer to teach them. Awesome right? We have church at President Ribeiros house outside on the porch and our investigators will get baptized in their pool. So much different here but I absolutely love the culture here and the simplicity of their life style. they are so happy and a lot of them have so little. The gospel is truly an amazing thing and I am so happy that the people here are so receptive because I know that with the gospel in their lives their families will be blessed forever. I am going to try and send some pics real quick. I have so much more to say but no time. I love you all so much and miss you muito muito muito!! Pray for me to receive the gift of tongues because I really need a miracle to happen. I have faith and I know with time and patience I can do all things. I might need to just send pics first thing next week because my computer shut off a second ago and we have no more time left! :( I need to get pictures!! Love you!! :)

Muito amor,

Sister Mattei :)