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 :)

Tudo bem!! :) So today we saw Elder Neil Andersen :) He came to speak with us! He is such a sweet man! He speaks Portuguese....he lived here for 4 years... I didn't know that. He speaks I think 4 languages.. pretty impressive!  We could tell he was trying to remember all the Portuguese words and how to conjugate them but he remembered well and we understood plus they had a translator there to help as well. Made me feel a little better... I was thinking it's not the words and understanding that is so important but more the spirit that is brought and the spirit was there so that's what counted :) His wife is so sweet... she told some wonderful stories :) She spoke what she could in Portuguese with us and it was super cute :) He spoke a lot about the Atonement and just about the love they have for the missionaries all around the world! It was a great experience to say the least! :) He shook each missionary's hand and we all took a mission photo with him. We had 2 missions there so there were about 400 missionaries!! I took lots of good notes :)

So that was the highlight of this week! :) This week was super good but yesterday- Sunday- was quite the day hahaha! So my companion Sister Zambrana and I gave talks. Our bishop told us May 25th and then announced our names yesterday the 18th in sacrament meeting.... so that was a huge surprise and we just had to wing it! Things here aren't organized like they are there. We have programs for sacrament meeting and here I think they don't exist haha. Things are done at the very last minute most of the time... but it always ends up fine in the end! :) It can just be a bit stressful in the moment, it's a good thing I was a procrastinator hahaha I learned to deal with stress well. Oh talking about stress when I get home I am going to get a massage lol... I think I have Moms back now lol... everyone tells me how hard my back is and that I am super tense haha.... I don't feel pain though :) Hmmm... what else happened yesterday? Oh so the last 2 days we went without water in our house... so we couldn't take a shower for 1 day and then the next day we went to a member's house.Most of Fortaleza went without water for 2 days straight and only some houses still had water to shower, cook and use the bathroom. It was an adventure :)

We also had to pay for 2 taxis to take us and our investigators to church because all the members with cars who we planned for fell through.... But we had investigators at church so that was good :) In few words, it was an adventurous and a bit of a difficult day for us but we just laughed everything off and continued on :) Oh and we think one of our investigators who was planning to go to church with us was drunk when we passed by yesterday...

But today is a new day!! :):) and Brenna, the young girl who was on Skype last week will be baptized this Sunday :) She has a difficult family life so we know the gospel will help her now and in the years to come :) She is so sweet and writes us a lil card every week! :) She is super smart and understands everything for being as young as she is. Well I don't have much time and I need to get going but I am super excited for my packages to arrive!! :) Thanks for sending them!! They got here super fast if they really already passed through Customs! YAY!! :) Thanks for all y'all do and your examples!! Love and miss y'all lots!! :) You're always in my prayers! Tell everyone hello for me! :)

Muito amor,

Sister Mattei :)

HELLO!! :) So for starters I was super happy to see y'all yesterday!! Y'all seem to be doing well and look good! Tell Todd hello for me and that I love and miss him! Oh and Angel is still living so I was happy to see her!! I hope she makes it until I return! :) Hope Mom had a wonderful Mothers Day and Granny and Grandma too! :) Yesterday was the highlight of my week, going to church and talking with y'all because seriously 2 of the baptisms we had planned for this next Sunday fell through :( One of the ladies is having marriage problems with her husband who is less active but returning and they had a fight and were screaming at each other in front of us in the middle of a lesson... Goodbye spirit... She said she wants to see a change in him first before she is baptized because he doesn't always act exactly how a ´Mormon` should. After that, things exploded! It was super sad to see people fight like they did... he has done some things in the past to lose her trust so things are still rocky and just a big mess... I felt like a marriage counselor... we made and wrote goals on how they can strengthen their relationship... I had to tell him to stop screaming at his wife... and that they needed to see one another's side and perspective... it was terrible, she ended up crying and he threw the cell phone on the ground super hard trying to break it... and then at the very end it was a bit better and we bore our testimony to try to invite the spirit and I said a prayer... all I can say is that I DO NOT want a marriage like that... but that I truly know repentance is real and people can change with the gospel... but first they have to have  a desire and be willing to change and put what they know is right into practice. Despite all that happened I still have hope for their marriage! :)

And then our other investigator can't go to church every Sunday because of work so feels she shouldn't be baptized if she can't go absolutely every Sunday and keep the Sabbath day.. we explained to her that we understand her situation and it would be better to be able to go every week and have  a new job at some point but that shouldn't stop her from being baptized... I think it's more than that though... I think someone might have said something... because seriously they were both excited about baptism... Satan is terrible... he always works with people right when they're so close to doing what's right...

So after all that I don't have a ton of time left, but this week we will be teaching lots and lots of people to try and find people who are ready to hear about the gospel. We hope Brenna will be baptized soon if her mom signs because she is only 9 but wants to go to church every week and is always ready when we pass, with a cute dress and The book of Mormon in hand. She has a rough situation at home so I think the gospel would really help her. She has been to church for 5 weeks straight... y'all met her yesterday on Skype... oh and Raquel loved seeing y'all... she said she even teared up a little because she was so excited! She is so sweet! :) Well I will keep on having a crazy adventure here in Brazil!! I learn something new every week and always meet either the funniest, strangest or best people ever haha! A mission is a crazy ride full of miracles and those stinky bumps in the road... haha! well love y'all lots!! Have a great week! :) SMILE :)

Sister Mattei :)

TRANSFERS! So I am staying in my area in Conjunto Ceara but Sister Fernelius left me :( She was super fun and we had a lot of good times together!! Probably one of the happiest and most loving people I have met! She will do wonderful things in her new area! :) I will definitely miss working with her but transfers are a part of the mission life... She is now companions with Sister Twitchell (my 1st companion in the MTC and who I lived with for almost 8 months) so they will have a lot of fun and success together!

So as for me, I am happy to be staying and my new companion is Sister Zombrana :) Before I was Sister Training Leader, I had splits with her so we have already worked together a little bit! :) She is very sweet and is from Utah! Transfers are always a little sad to leave an area or a companion but I love meeting new people! I am excited to get to know her better over these next several weeks! I have truly loved working with all of my companions so far and I have learned A LOT from them! :) Everyone has their different talents, personalities and gifts so its pretty sweet to get to know people individually and see all they have to offer!

So I will start off with the sad news of this week... one of our new investigators passed away this week. We had taught her 3 times and she was only 18 years old. She was very receptive and truly understood everything we taught. She was in a motorcycle accident and she wasn't wearing a helmet and she hit her head on the sidewalk and doctors tried to do surgery but she passed away 5 hours after the accident. It was super sad, seriously everyone in this city knew her, she was practically famous here. We passed her house the night of and there were so many people crying and screaming, I seriously felt so depressed and sad for these people. I can't imagine how her family and close friends are feeling. One of her friends that we are teaching as well sat with me on the bench and she sobbed on my shoulder and told me how they had gotten in a fight the day before and how bad she felt. I was quite the mess that night. I literally have tears running down my face right now as I write about that night. We talked with some of her friends this week and we have been teaching many people The Plan of Salvation. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that families are forever and that we can see the people we love again if we choose the right and are following in the Savior's footsteps.

There are so many people that are suffering, we have investigators that lost family members and close friends and I can't even fathom their thoughts and feelings. I know the message we have as members of the church can cure the broken heart and heal those that are mourning. I have realized how grateful I am for you all and for the friends I have. We never know when our last day is so we must strive to live righteously always and to love our neighbor because each day is a mystery, we never know what will happen. SMILE each and every day and count the many blessing we already have.So after all that, you probably want some good news, and I have some :)

We have Laudiceia's baptism planned for this Sunday :) This Sunday is Stake Conference so next week might be better... we will see what happens. Also, we have the baptism of Emilia, Raquel's sister, planned for May 18th! :) Oh and today at Transfers we found out that Elder Anderson will be visiting us May 19th!  So I am pretty dang excited!! :)

Oh and since Dad likes to know the weather here, it has been raining a lot lately. We seriously walk in puddles of rain haha some parts are like a pond haha, it's kinda fun getting soaked by cars that pass by! Rain or sun, we work! :) Well I don't have much time left but I love you all lots and miss yall!! I am excited to talk to yall on Mothers Day!! Time is flying! Tranfers pass faster and faster! Well take care!! I am glad to hear everyone is well and busy!! Tell Mark to email me! I want to hear all the details haha! :p Have a wonderful week!

Sister Mattei :)

Happy Easter!! :) Hope all was well and yall ate lots of chocalate! :) Here, holidays aren't the same... people celebrate but not really...they don't have traditions like we do, so I missed the excitement of Easter morning and eating a big meal together... here it was just like any other day, but church was good! :)

Yesterday at church, Laudiceia was there! :) Our last few lessons with her have been super super good and she can see how the Book of Mormon completes and complements the Bible and helps us understand the meanings of everything! Her husband is already a member like I mentioned before and they been at church the past 3 weeks! :) She told us she has a desire to be baptized but that she knows it will cause a bit of trouble in her family but she is very humble and wants to learn and understand the truth! :)

Oh and Dima and Fonteles!! I haven't told you about them yet but they are a wonderful family seriously I LOVE THEM!! :) They are my parents here in the mission haha! So they are members but they are less active and starting to return to church :) Their son passed away a few years ago and after that happened it was difficult for them to go to church because of all the memories they have there with him... It is a sad story and they have gone through a lot... I can't imagine that feeling of losing a child but they are planning to go to the temple soon in the US since their daughter married an RM who baptized her parents and brother and lives in California! We talked to her a bit over the phone!! She is so funny! One day I will go to Cali to visit her :) Dilma and Fonteles want to move to the US to be with her and their 3 grandkids!! :) In the end they're amazing :)

Oh so something kinda funny yesterday and strange to say the least was there was a crazy guy jumping on the walls of the church during our meetings hahaha! This was the 2nd time I have seen him doing this and he just looks and stares in the windows at all of us and blows kisses hahaha! All I can tell you is I have met some of the strangest people in my life, here on my mission hahaha! We nick- named him Spider- man :)

Well I don't have much time left! I love and miss you all!! Being here I have really learned to appreciate all I have :) I love the people but the economy is much different and we really have a lot to be grateful for! Our recent convert, Italo, said to us the other day after searching our houses on Google Earth... `Now when I look at our roads here I feel sad`.... but I can see what he is talking about... just the fact we have nice paved roads outside of our house is a blessing that we don't often recognize!  So remember to count your blessings!! LOVE YOU :)

Sister Mattei :)

Hello, hello Family! :) Another week has flown by here in Brazil! Seems like the time just flies by faster and faster... soon I will be heading home!! I am super happy yall got my card and pictures :) Raquel told me and she said you were very happy with the letters and the recording you asked me to do haha! Raquel is very, very sweet, seriously, an angel lol I don't think she has ever done anything wrong in her life lol! She learns something and then she does it! Like last week we had General Conference and she had family and friends who were traveling and taking a trip and they invited her and she told them she couldn't go because that week at church was something really special and a rare opportunity! She is willing to make whatever sacrifices she needs to to be better and do what is right! Yesterday she bore her testimony and our bishop at the end was telling her how impressed he was with how strong of a testimony she already has. Oh and we have been teaching her sister, Emilia who has a date to be baptized May 18 :) I love her family, everyone is just super sweet and welcoming!

So for the last 2 weeks we have been teaching a man, Wellington, who doesn't believe in God... he is super stubborn about his beliefs but a really good guy with a really good heart! He treats his wife like a queen... which is how it should be lol but you can just tell he is an awesome guy and has a lot of potential. So yesterday we got him and his wife Fatima to come to church. The first 2 hours were normal and nothing too special but we told him that sacrament meeting would be different, and it was! :) All the testimonies borne were awesome and the spirit was super strong, and then at the end we sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives and that was like icing on the cake :) During that song now, I almost always have tears in my eyes! At the end he told us he liked it and smiled and patted us on the back... tomorrow we have a lesson with him, so I hope he felt what everyone else felt. He will probably be someone we will work with for a long time but he has a lot of potential and every time we teach him, even as stubborn as he is, I always feel good about our lesson at the end! We're just waiting on a miracle to happen :) He says it's impossible for him to have faith but that's just a myth made up in his mind! His wife Fatima is Catholic and she is super sweet! :)

Also Brenna, a 9 year old who loves coming to church with us, bore her testimony yesterday! It was very sweet and simple! :) But overall this week was super good and we have 3 dates set for baptism. Some are a little farther off but Laudiceia who I talked about last week has a date set for the 27th of April! I will fill you all in more next week with everything :)

So some funny things that happened this week...

We passed a dog in the road who was chasing its tail literally for 5 minutes straight, we just stopped and laughed! Oh yall should see some of the dogs that live here in the roads... it's super sad... they are pathetic... Todd would cry! I feel bad for them.

So we knocked on a door and a man started screaming super loud... we couldn't even understand him hahaha but he kept going for like 2 minutes... we didn't know whether to stay or leave... hahaha we were a little scared and were about to leave until he opened the door and saw 2 young women in skirts and dresses and then immediately changed his voice and attitude haha it's super funny how people react when they open the door and see us...

Oh and something annoying and sad that happened this week was we found a young girl, 17 years old who was super receptive and had super good questions for us and was just interested to learn more... so we returned 2 days later and she had done some searching on the internet about Mormons and she read things that weren't true and that we have a different God than other churches... blah blah blah... things that are absolutely not true :/ and she was firm that she didn't want more with us... so we just bore our testimony and told her that these are just things that people say... and that people will deny us just like they denied Christ many years ago... I have hope one day she will search again and find truth and know that those things she read are lies and that the true church is really here on earth... it is super sad to see how Satan works with people when they truly have an interest to learn more and find truth... Oh how he is terrible... just be grateful for the knowledge we already have and for the opportunity to continue learning each and every day..

Well no time but I miss and love yall lots!! :) Have an amazing week!! :) I enjoyed all the photos! The place Nicole and Greg will have their ring ceremony is super pretty!! Oh and tell Becky Congrats for me!! Her baby boy is super cute :)

Muito amor,

Sister Mattei :)

Oi :) So General Conference yesterday and Saturday were super good :) I loved the talk of love from Thomas S. Monson and just everything in general and all the stories that were told! The story David A. Bednar told about the truck and milk was super funny! Raquel and Italo, our recent converts, were able to attend! :) We also had 3 other investigators. Everyone really enjoyed it! :) I learned a lot and have lots of goals to work on now! :) Always, after General Conference, we realize what more we need to do and how we can become more Christ- like. It is definitely a good reminder :) 

So right now we are teaching a woman, Laudiceia, and she is the wife of a less active member we have been visiting. They both have been at church the last 2 Sundays and she is liking it a lot! All of her family is super active in the evangelical church but she told us she doesn't agree with all they believe and knows that the church has errors. She is super sweet and super pretty. I will have to send a picture soon! Her husband served a mission and joined the church at a young age. So he knows everything is true, just needed that push and motivation to get back to church.

Also, Angelica, a woman who was baptized at age 15 and now is 30 went to conference this week, this was the first time she had been back to church  in 14 years! :) So that was pretty sweet and we were super happy to see her! I love teaching less actives and just reminding them on all they are missing out on and what they can be experiencing and what blessings they can be receiving. Some people just need that reminder of the promise they made with God during baptism :)  

Oh so to finish explaining about some of the members here we have an Irma who is quite old and every lunch we have with her she recites the Articles of Faith for us and then in Relief Society she does the same thing in the middle of a lesson and other members have to get her to stop talking hahah cuz she will talk forever lol! Oh and when she is sick she has a bunch of snot in her throat and she is always making that sound like she is about to hock a lugie lol... I don't know how to spell that hahha but she does it like 20 times while we are eating, us sisters are always a bit grossed out haha but it makes for a story to tell :) 

Oh and so I live in Conjunto Novo Ceara, if you look that up you can find my area. We live in an apartment. Our church is 30 to 40 minutes away from us walking and not many people have cars, so be grateful for what you have :) We usually get to ride with an Irmao here when we're lucky! :) Well I don't have much time to write but I hope yall have an amazing week and remember to make some goals from what you learned yesterday! I am always learning how I can be better! It has been a humbling experience!! :) Love you and miss you, thanks for the package! :) It was great! :) I hope you get my card soon :)

Muito amor,

Sister Mattei :)