BOM DIA!!! :) So how are yall?? Seems everyone is keeping busy as usual and enjoying summer time!! :) Oh how I miss summer time!! It is hot here all the time haha but I can't do summer activities so it's not the same... but the work is super good :) Oh and I loved Greg and Nicole's photos!! They turned out really well! :) I will keep everyone in my prayers! Tell everyone I love and miss them!

So this week....

On Monday Brazil played and they won and then on Saturday they played again and won.... It was a super close game with Chile... we stayed in the house and just heard everyone screaming and booing haha but when Brazil won in the end we heard lots of shouting and cheering so I looked out our window to see what was going on and 2 men took off their pants and ran in the road in their undies hahaha!! I won't lie it was pretty funny! If Brazil wins the World Cup I fear everyone will run around naked in the streets haha!

Oh also... this week we contacted a couple in the street and I think they were probably the rudest people I have talked to here in Brazil... We approached and said Hello, Good Night :) What is your name? The man said... Why should I tell you my name... what do you want? I won't tell you my name. Then we told them we were missionaries and he went on saying how he was strong and practicing in his religion and that he didn't want to hear our message but was talking very rudely... then we tried giving him a pamphlet and he was like No I don't want this I won't read it, I don't want to read this.... Usually people here will at least accept a pamphlet and be nice about it but not this guy haha...

No time, but everything is going super well! we have baptisms planned for the end of this tranfer and for the next!! Erick one of the Recent Converts is bringing us lots of people to teach! He is awesome! Oh and we went to church in a broken car this week haha it was quite the adventure!! Well love yall lots!!! :)

Sister Mattei :)

HELLO!! :) Good morning!! :) So I am glad to hear yall are doing pretty well! I can't believe Mark wrecked my car... oh my luck hahaha.... I guess I deserve it after I crashed Greg's...I hope I make enough money when I return to buy a car lol! Why was he driving my car? and not his?? Well anyway... things here are good!! At times a little crazy when Brazil is playing... but we stay in the house those days since everyone starts drinking and partying... if Brazil loses... everyone will drink and if they win they'll drink as well haha so its just better to avoid the crazies in the road lol! The rest of the week is pretty chill and we still have lessons, usually its the men who are watching the games so they usually don't let us teach lol but we are grateful for the women haha :)

Yesterday, 3 of our investigators were at church. We are trying to get 2 couples married here soon but first they have to divorce from another spouse so it's quite the process and then a 14 year old teen boy, Bauron went to church with us and liked it a lot. We had a training with our ward missionaries this week who are all teens or in their young 20s. After our training they started helping us a lot more! We had activities for them and us 4 Sisters in Conjunto Ceara did a skit that was pretty entertaining and funny! At church yesterday they all interacted more with our investigators and taught lessons with us. Jefferson, a 16 year old teen here,walked with our investigator to church and invited him to mutual and helped a lot! I am super impressed with the youth here! The majority of them are converts and are the only member in their family and they walk to church every Sunday alone and are super strong in the church. I look up to them a lot. They will be great missionaries one day! :) Yesterday, one of the young men opened his mission call in sacrament meeting in front of everyone (it is normal here and super sweet) I won't lie it was super cute, he was so choked up and crying, he could barely read... he was loosening his tie and collar just to take a breath.. he is a member of only 2 years... but it was a super spiritual moment and I am super excited for him! :) Missions are great!! They aren't easy but they're way worth it!! :)

So a little more about my companion! :) She is super sweet and we have a lot of fun together!! Since the World Cup is going on we get denied and rejected more than usual so we tend to get a good laugh during the day from the comments people make... One man was screaming at us from the window and was like y'all already passed my house... leave, leave, leave... I am watching the game haha! Then he slammed the window shut... it was quite the expereince!! We usually just laugh it off and continue on with a smile for the next door we will knock! She is almost 22. She teaches and speaks well already so I am learning from her :) Training is good, I feel much more prepared to train a new missionary this time around than the last. Last time the language was still super hard and I was a new missionary myself so didn't know what was going on.

This week for service we washed Irma Edna's dogs. She has 9 but we only washed 2. It was pretty fun! :) Irma Edna is awesome... I seriously love her!! She is a less active but is in the process of returning and has been to church much more frequently! Her son Erick was baptized about 6 months ago!! Their family is one of my favorite families I have met here in Brazil! :) I will be sending pics in a letter soon! :) Did you ever get my Mothers Day Card?? I hope so! I sent one for you, Granny and Grandma! :) Well I have like no time left but love yall lots!!! 6 months will pass super fast! Have a wonderful week! Yall are amazing!! Thanks for everything!! :)

Com muito amor,

Sister Mattei :) 

Thanks for the package I loved the photos and food and post its and all!! The pics were funny and brought back good memories! Thanks Mom love you! :) I made pancakes :)

Hello!!! :) So good news was that Brazil won on Tuesday! :) We stayed in the house since we couldn't watch the game but we knew the score because when the other team scored everyone was screaming BOO in the streets and then when they scored it was lots of cheering and screaming.... and lots of fireworks! Brazilians are super united when it come to soccer! They all join together to watch the big game and EVERYONE is in green and yellow with Brazilian flags on their cars. Everything here is decorated! I want to take pics but its dangerous to pull out your camera here in the roads... and they don't have disposable cameras :( Yall should try to send 2 in a small package if you think it would arrive in time cuz I want more pics of the outdoors and the roads and all but at the same time I don't want to be robbed and lose all my photos. Tomorrow is the big game since it will be held here in Fortaleza and Brazil is playing! Have yall been watching the games?? It will be pretty sweet if Brazil is in the finals... we will probably get locked in the house for like a week straight haha!

So the World Cup is fun! Yall see the pic Amanda put on FB in front of the flag? I'll try to buy souvenirs for everyone while I am here! :) and so about the missionary work... surprisingly it has been pretty good even with the World Cup going on! We have lost time to work because of the games and the strikes that are going on here but we are still having success with teaching lessons. In my area we are still looking for people with real interest. We had 3 people at church yesterday but they all have marriage problems and need to separate from their ex to marry with their spouse they have now and it's quite the process and a bit of a fun mess... They will be baptized... We are just not sure when. I hope while I am still here in my area but the more important part is that they are baptized :) 

Yesterday we taught a woman who would like to go to church with us but because of medical advice she has to stay in her house for about another month because she has cancer and is doing lots of treatments. We are continuing to visit her and hope soon she will be able to make it to church. She is a very sweet, humble lady! A very happy person for the circumstances that she has. I truly love the people here and I love meeting new people every week! :) I have made many friendships in the year I have been here and am excited to one day return and see them all again!! I'll have to work lots to pay for the trip but it will be worth it! :) Well I have no time left but I love and miss yall lots!! Yall are always in my prayers! I wish yall a wonderful week!! Take care and always smile!!! :) 

Com muito amor,

Sister Mattei :) 

Hello :) How are y'all?? So to fill you in on my companion I am training... She is from Santiago, Chile and she is 21. She came straight from the MTC in Sao Paulo. She is super sweet and things have been going great! She speaks Portuguese super well already! :) We opened this area but to clear things up I am still in Conjunto Ceara and in the same ward so I am still with Raquel.  Our ward has 4 missionaries and covers 2 areas. Now, I am serving in the other area in Conjunto Ceara. So I am still with the same members but can no longer visit Raquel and our recent converts since they are in the other area. I still see them at ward activities and at church on Sunday, plus Raquel likes to work with us so I can still see her :) So my companion from last transfer, Sister Zambrana, still lives with me in our house, but she stayed in my old area and now has a new companion who she is training as well. Her companion is from Argentina. Sister Zambrana and I are still Sister Training Leaders so we are still together sometimes for meetings with President and when we have splits with other Sisters. When we work or leave together for meetings and what not, our companions work together in our areas. This week after just one day in the field we had a meeting with President so our new greenie companions worked alone and just did their best! :) They are awesome!

So the situation we have is sort of strange since usually Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders and all are companions with one another... but President has been making lots of changes and there have been problems with some of the Sisters when training new missionaries so he is trying to make circumstances better so did this with us and a few other Sister Training Leaders. President Souza will leave at the end of the month so is trying to make changes and make things good for the new President. We will see how it all goes! :)

I am enjoying my new area... it has been a lot of work and we just talked and visited new people this week since this area didn't really have anyone progressing.I am meeting the less actives in my new area and the people who've been baptized in the past. I had met most of them already but now I am getting to know them better :) Everyone is super sweet and the members who are on this side where I am working now have been helping us a lot to get to know the area. Mariana the lady who was baptized last week in my old area was confirmed yesterday! :) She will be a super strong member of the church, she already wants to visit people with us!

Oh so super quick, the World Cup will start on the 12th and the police in Brazil are thinking about going on strike.... so I am not sure what we will do as missionaries. I am sure President will let us know if they really decide to go on strike and the members told us if they do they will put military in all the streets. This should be interesting. Brazil has been having lots of problems lately with transport and assaults and all... so we are just being super careful! Still nothing has ever happened with me which is amazing cuz many missionaries have had lots of problems with robbings and what not so I consider myself very blessed! The Lord is protecting me :) Well I have no time but love and miss yall lots! :) Have a great week and know I am praying for yall! :) Tell Garrett I miss him lots too! Aww he is so sweet!! :)

Sister Mattei :)

News!! We had transfers yesterday and as Raquel told you I will be staying in Conjunto Ceara but today the Assistants called and told us the other part of the news... So there are 2 areas here in Conjunto Ceara and the 2 other Sisters left their area which we thought was strange and now I will take over their area and Sister Zambrana will stay in the area we were working in. We are going to be training new sisters. We will pick up our daughters tomorrow! My 2nd baby lol! :)I was ´pregnant´ and I didnt even know it.... but now I know why I was sick this past week with upset stomach and fever hahaha! Seriously this past week I had stomach problems, a cough and hot/cold flashes during the night and during the day... but now I am feeling much better so its all good! It was nothing too serious, just a bug so we continued to work this week. The days passed by a bit slower but I am better and our investigators gave me all sorts of herbal things to try hahaha! They're awesome!! :)

So this transfer the World Cup will start and I will be staying here for at least 2 more transfers since I am training. I will have 4 transfers here! I don't know my new area very well so that will be an adventure and the Sisters that were here didn't leave us with anyone to teach so the beginning will probably be a bit difficult, but I am excited to see who my new daughter will be! During the World Cup it will be pretty hard to teach and some days we will be staying in the house since it's dangerous with all the games, tourists....Everyone says there are lots of robbings during the World Cup so we will have to be extremely careful. Everyone says people will probably not let us teach because they will be watching the game... it will be interesting but I am excited to be here during the World Cup even though we can't watch the games. Oh and we will have a new president in a month so that will be a change up. I am curious to see what things will change. 

So I have like no time but yesterday after church Mariana was baptized, she was one of the golden people I talked about last week! She is super funny! I have never met someone who accepted everything so fast like she did. She doesn't understand everything but she says that she feels and known in her heart that these things are true and wanted to be baptized right away! :) She smoked a pack of cigarettes a day when we met her and in 2 weeks she was down to smoking nothing. We gave her a date to try to reach for baptism and after that she was determined to quit. She is seriously so amazing!! I will miss all the people in my area that we were teaching and that were baptized... but at least I can still see them at church! :) Well I dont have any time left but I love and miss yall like crazy!! Oh and the kitchen looks awesome!! :) 

Muito amor,

Sister Mattei :)