Hello, hello!! How are y'all doing?? :) I hope everyone is doing well and keeping busy as always!! The kids will be out of school soon!! It is summer already!! Here it is pretty much always summer lol... winter is when they have rainy season which is right now! We walk in the rain soaked at least 1 or 2 days a week haha it keeps things fun and adventurous! :) So this week was super good!

The last 2 weeks were a bit hard and stressful but this past week the Lord blessed us big time! :) Seriously Sister Zambrana and I were like what is going on this week... because everything was going so well. We are still waiting for someone to tell us everything was a big joke haha. So this week we had 5 investigators at church, Brenna was baptized, we found golden people... We had a lesson last week with a 17 year old girl and she didn't seem that interested and said that all churches are right... we bore testimony, asked her to pray and left the Restoration pamphlet for her to read. So we showed up 2 days ago to have another lesson and we started to ask her questions... It went like this literally.

Did you read the pamphlet? Yes, all of it. 

Did you pray? Yes

How did you feel? Super good.

Do you feel that this was an answer from God that this church is true? Yes

So how would this gospel and what we are here to teach change your life? It would change absolutely everything...

Sister Zambrana and I were like is she understanding everything we're saying.. because usually these questions don't go so smoothly and they usually have a doubt, question or didn't pray, read....

Then I asked... Do you believe Joseph Smith was a prophet and restored the church of Jesus Christ? Yes.

Having this answer from God will you be baptized in His church June 8th? Yes.

Then we bore testimony about baptism and the blessings she will receive and then she said the prayer and we left. We seriously left thinking was that a joke?... she was seriously golden! The Lord answer our prayers! :)

So that was just one person...

We have another woman who is about 53 who is preparing to be baptized this next Sunday, she just needs to quit smoking completely... she is almost there :) So she is reading the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon. She even did the Additional Study questions at the end of the pamphlet. So on Saturday she said ´I am studying a lot because I want to know how to answer people's questions about our church` I love that she already said our church. Yesterday was her first day at church with us but before she had even been to church or was baptized she referred to it as her church. She is seriously so awesome and funny!

Then another woman this week who was also at church yesterday  asked us on our first visit at her house how she can participate more... We were like alright let's start teaching haha :) People are amazing! We went to pick up another woman and she was all ready for church and everything but her little girl started throwing up after lunch :/ so wasn't able to go. So there you have it the Lord is always listening and hears our prayers :) because seriously the last few weeks we were working so hard but everything was going wrong and falling through and people were having marriage and work problems that conflicted with going to chucrh and being baptized... so this week was super refreshing!! The Lord is a miracle worker :)

So a little more about the baptism yesterday... So Brenna the young girl I talked about last week was baptized! Her mom said she would go but didn't and I felt super sad for Brenna. She is seriously amazing for being so young. She helps her grandparents so much with her younger brother since her mom is always working and not in the house. She calls her Mom by her first name it's super sad and calls her grandparents Mom and Dad. The other day she was on the phone with her real mom and she accidently said Hi, Mom and was like sorry I meant... and then continued to call her mom by her first name. The Lord will bless her for all she does! She loves church and said she never wants to miss a Sunday :) I will send pics in a card this week :) Our Zone Leader baptized her because she thinks he is cute and really nice haha. We planned the baptism for 2 o'clock and the other Sisters had a baptism too. All of us and our members showed up at 2 for the baptism but our Bishop didn't show up until 2:35, and he had the keys to the building and the baptismal font wasn't filled yet... it was a huge rush because church starts at 3:30... our Bishop isn't the most organized person. I like him, he is cool and all but he tells jokes the whole time he speaks in sacrament meeting and he shows up late to chucrh and to baptisms and what not... it is a bit ridiculous. So that was a bit stressful for us missionaries but it all worked out in the end :)  So some funny things this week... Wow I am writing a lot y'all should be super happy with me haha :) So we have a guy here who is always in the road and tries to talk with us. I think he is like 30 and he is bald with braces and has a crazy smile haha... so we see him everywhere and he always shouts stuff to us... so we try to avoid him cuz he is a bit creepy... he isn't harmful but just a bit of a weirdo lol! So we were walking on the road at like 8:30 at night and he was on our side of the road so I was like Sister we need to go to the other side or we will run into him... we switched sides and so did he... he then  asked why we switched sides haha... and then we talked briefly and I gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet so we could leave... he then asked if we will marry... well I thought that was what he asked... I replied one day. The problem was that I wasn't paying well enough attention and he asked me if I would marry him hahaha and I said one day... he then tried to kiss my hand but I pulled it away and we left laughing super hard. The next day we had a member with us, Allana and we saw him again... Allana is super funny! She is 20. We passed him and he was forming a heart with his hands as we passed... he said when will we be married and Allana said you can't marryu her until after a year and a half haha and he said alright I will wait! hahahaha oh my life, I am a dum dum but I have to admit we got a good laugh out of it! Just plan on coming here for Brazil in a year and a half for my wedding lol ;)

Oh and the other day we knocked on a door and a young man opened the door and I dropped my pen so I went to pick it up and he did at the same time, and we bonked heads super hard haha it was super awkward but funny!

Well I have no time left but I am loving my experiences here, the funny ones just as much as the spiritual ones!! :) Well have a wonderful week, love yall lots!! Take care! :)

Muito amor,

Sister Mattei :)