So first of all Feliz Aniversario!! Parabens Mom!! Woo you are even older now lol! I hope this week you will have a wonderful birthday! You're welcome Dad, in case you forgot Mom's birthday is this week :p just kidding.... you have FaceBook to remind you ;) Looks and sounds like y'all all had a wonderful trip!! I am glad Granny and Pop Pop and Steph enjoyed themselves as well. I can't believe everyone is back in school already, summer passed by super fast! Woah and Thomas is in seminary now... he is already in high school that is nuts!

So to answer Dad's questions:

The language is good, yes I still have my American accent but I think for me it is almost impossible to lose... I haven't figured out how to change my voice haha but the people understand me well... it is like In the US when you speak with Hispanics or other foreigners who speak English. Usually you can tell they are from another country or speak another language but can understand them fine. It is the same thing. I wanted a Brazilian accent... I will keep trying haha but the people here tell me they like my accent. I don't really know why because I don't think the American accent is anything super pretty... but hey if they like it tudo bom :)

So on P days.... to tell you the truth we don't do anything super fun or special because our president is pretty strict with us. We can't go to zoos, museums, mountains..... he is new so maybe he will come around but I am not so sure.... he is super nice just very bold about some things. So usually we shop a lil bit in our area, sleep, write letters, joke around in the house, eat food haha.... I would like to go to the mountains before I leave but I will have to get permission from our President so I will just have to wait and see....

So a lil bit about this week.....

This week was good. My companion Sister Lara is awesome! We have luck to attract people super strange in the streets so we spend the whole day cracking up and just saying... what is our life? haha... we have weird experiences almost every day. There is a man who always sees us in the street and has to shake our hand and then he gives us a huge teethless smile haha, then we have drunk people, last week we were teaching with one of the young men in our ward and then a drunk man we know started kissing his hand and giving him hugs... it was super funny.... anyway I could go on and on telling strange stories haha!

So we are hoping for 2 baptisms this next week! :) Matheus and Leandra. please pray for them. They are awesome! Our lessons with them are super spiritual and Leandra has super good questions. I like when people have questions because it shows they are truly interested! She is 17. Matheus is 12 and he is the grandson of a member. They are both super receptive! :)

This week will probably be my last week in Conjunto Ceara. We have transfers next Tuesday. I will miss everyone here so much! President always keeps me in areas for a super long time and then I get super close with everyone and it's sad to leave in the end! The members and people we are teaching are awesome and I am super happy to have met everyone I have here! I will return to Brazil one day :) I gotta save my money because I have made promises to return and I would really like to! Maybe I will bring y'all with me! Well I have no time but love y'all lots!! have a great week and Mom have an amazing birthday, you deserve it! You are an awesome Mom #1 and you do so much for us all! I am super grateful for all you have taught me! :) LOVE YOU!! :) oh you should be receiving a card super soon if not today! 

Com amor,

Sister Mattei :)

Well.... I enjoyed the pictures :) Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves and relaxing a little! Tell Granny, Pop Pop and Steph that I say hi and love and miss them! So today I am super short on time because we had to take a 30 min survey.... so a real quick update...

Francisco was confirmed a member yesterday :) He is super happy!

We went to a Primary activity this week with some of our investigators and it was super cute... each ward represented a different country and they sang in foreign languages, did a dance and ate food from their country. One of the wards was the US and they did a super cute dance... it was a country/pop song called Hey Brother, Hey Sister... it's new I think but it made me miss y'all and country music a lot haha! Sister Zambrana and I taught our primary how to sing I am a Child of God in English! They performed super well!

Oh and Dad will be happy to know me and my companion have been sleeping in a hammock out on our balcony all this week!! It is pretty sweet!! hammocks are super comfortable!! :)

Well no time but love and miss yall! Enjoy your vacation! :)

Sister Mattei :)

Hello!! BOM DIA!! :)

So I already sent one email to Mom so this email will be a bit shorter. So good news is that Francisco was baptized yesterday! It was a super special day for him and he was super happy!! Erick baptized him. We sang a children"s hymn. Yup you heard me I sang haha :p Seriously I wish I had a ton of time just to tell you about everything... the spiritual and the funny!! I guess some things just have to wait until I get back! I will send photos in a letter soon! I thought yall were in Branson this week... so have a great vacation this week :) I am just a lilttle jealous! :p So.....

Yesterday, we had 3 investigators at church so we were super happy :) We are hoping to have 3 or 4 baptisms on August 17th!! We have conference with our New president on Wednesday. We already had interviews with him and he is strict but he is super nice and he truly wants us to baptize people who will be faithful and active members in the church. I completely agree with his opinion because there are so many less actives here in Ceara. It is super sad... when a mission president just talks about baptism and numbers all the time... missionaries will baptize just to baptize not because the people are truly converted to the gospel. Missionaries work super hard to have baptisms and then it is super sad to see them as less actives... so President Bonini is more about helping them understand the importance of enduring to the end and going to the temple after baptism and having an eternal family. We need more active members in the church, not more less actives... and sure it happens... people have strong testimonies of the church but they stop nourishing their seed with (scripture study, church, prayer..) and then that tree that was once there starts to die and dwindle.

I think one of the hardest parts of missionary work is helping the convert realize they can do it on their own and with the members and that they don't need the missionaries to bring them to church. It is a tough change but I feel it is something super important for the new members to understand because we won't be here forever and they have to be converted to the gospel not the missionaries. So now that I talked forever, I don't have much time left but I am always praying for y'all!! :) I hope' you all keep on enjoying your summer break!! :) Love and miss y'all lots!! :)

Com muito amor,

Sister Mattei :)

BOM DIA!! :)

Well this week we moved houses!! which is a super good thing because our old house was not so nice, it was old and only had 1 bathroom which made it difficult for us to get ready in the morning and take showers at night! Imagine 4 girls trying to get ready with one bathroom and just 1 mirror. I have learned to get ready much faster as you and Dad used to make fun of me for how much time I spent in the mirror putting on makeup and doing my eyelashes lol. Just to let you know, my companion takes longer than I do haha :p

So now we live in a house that I think it one of the larger houses in our mission. Really, it is an apartment and it's not all that big but it feels big compared to our other tiny apartment. Our old house sometimes ran out of water so we didn't take showers and went to sleep dirty, so this will be a good change :) The members helped us move. I think there were about 10 of us all together but we moved everything rather quickly.

Updates on people:

Wellington has disappeared on Sundays and I think he needs a little more time to fulfill all of the commandments so we have just been taking it slow with him... giving him time to make changes and not rush him.

Francisco, he has been to church with us 3 times now and he has  a mild learning disability and a high functioning form of autism. We have to teach him a bit slower and help him understand a few things, but he loves to go to church, loves the members and wants to be baptized. He works and has lots of responsibilities in his household. He is super funny and has a super good memory when it comes to certain things. We are just going with the flow with him and when he wants to be baptized, he can choose  and we will mark a date and set everything up.

Also, we have lots of families we are teaching but the majority of them aren't married, so that has been the more difficult part. Mayrla and her son Juan went to church with us yesterday. Juan is super cute, he is 9 and supér smart. We taught him this week and every question he answered he got a chocolate. He was super happy and knew lots of the answers!

We are also teaching 2 young men, one is 12 and the other is 13 and they both have lots of potential and have family and friends that are members but are a little lazy and want to play video games and watch TV. They have  already been to church but need to go more to reach their goal of baptism.

Well I don't have much time because we have to go to the mission office in a bit which means we have to take a 1 to 2 hour bus ride. The transportation on buses here is super funny. Seriously each time we ride the bus we stand for about an hour or more straight and there are tons of people so you're just smooshed and can smell everyone's odor because everyone is just all up in your bubble haha. Sometimes people hold onto your shoulders so stay put while the driver is driving since there is no more room on the hand bars and poles haha. Seriously it is an adventure you don't want to experience but I will say it is pretty funny! I just laugh for an hour straight lol :) Well have an amazing week, I am always praying for you all!! :) Be safe and have fun in Branson! Miss y'all lots!! aww... y'all will go jet skiiing....?? I am just a bit jealous lol :p Boa semana!! :) Love you!!

Com muito amor,

Sister Mattei :)

Tudo otimo!! :) So I don't have a ton of time today to write since I was looking at all your photos you sent!! Everyone looks good! Your hair is long now!! :) Gostei!! So this week was good but not as good as I would have liked. I wish more people would have been at church yesterday and that Wellington would have been baptized but I am just happy we still had investigators at church with us! We are hoping Wellington will be baptized soon. He is a tough one. He says he knows everything we teach is true but is afraid he will have doubts after being baptized. So please pray for him. He already has received multiple answers but still wants something more to confirm his decision.

So we are teaching a man who is 35 and he is a little special. I am not sure what he has, I think maybe Tourette's and something mentally. He always wants to come to church with us and likes it a lot. He can read and speak fine and he understands. I have never baptized someone who is a little special but he is fully capable of being baptized and he wants to be so we will see how that goes. We are just taking it a little slower with him, but he is awesome and very funny and friendly!

Also, we brought a 50 year old man to church with us. We found him when he was drunk and he promised us he would be ready for church on Sunday and he was and he didn't drink more. He wants to change his life. He is an alcoholic and his family abandoned him a few years ago. It is super sad to see but we want to help him overcome his addiction. He liked church a lot. We will be visiting him this week, but with God anything is possible! He even got all dressed up for church :)

Wel no more time but I love and miss yall lots!! I hope you all have an amazing week and enjoy your summer break!! :) Go swimming, camping and take some adventures for me!! :) Keep sending pics I like seeing everyone :)

Muito amor,

Sister Mattei :) 

Boa tarde!! :) So as y'all all know Brazil lost this week... and they lost pretty badly! Everyone here is super sad, depressed and embarrassed about it but it's all good!! Now that the World Cup is over our missionary work will be going much smoother and better :) So it seems like things at home have their ups and downs!!! Just be patient and things will work out how they should! Just know you guys are awesome parents and you are doing your part!! Patience is truly a virtue!! :) You all are always in my prayers!! :)

So this week we are hoping Wellington will not be working so that he can be baptized either Saturday or Sunday. We will see what happens. He is awesome and very open! This transfer ended and my daughter and I are going into our 2nd transfer together as I finish training her! She is awesome. I enjoy working with her. I have learned so much from all of my companions! This week she was sick so work was a little slower than usual since we stayed in the house for 2 days. She was throwing up. I think it was something she ate. Oh hey guess what a miracle happened! I am learning to make Brazilian food!! :) Maybe if I remember how to make stuff when I get back I will make something for you guys!! Pastel is so good and fattening too haha! Maybe that is what got Sister Lara sick.

Even though this week was slow with the games and her being sick we had some really good lessons and marked some dates for baptisms! :) We have a couple we are teaching and they are awesome! They have a daughter who is 7 years old and they are just the cutest family ever. The only problem is they are not married but they want to be so we are hoping we can get them married and then baptized before the end of this transfer.Of course I would like to be here for their baptism but if they are baptized, they are baptized so I will be happy either way! Speaking of that, do you remember Atilene who had a baptism date when I was in Paracuru but her mom got sick so she stayed with her in the hospital in another city for a super long time.... well  she finally returned to Paracuru 2 weeks ago and her Mom is doing better and she was baptized this week! :) Sister Danielle told me and I was super happy! :)

Well I don't have a ton of time today but I love and miss you all lots!! Have an amazing week! Y'all should go get massages to relieve some of your stress! you deserve it!! :) Well take care and just stay positive and do as Dori says and just keep swimming!! :)

Muito amor,

Sister Mattei :) 

BOM DIA!! :) So I hope all goes well with Mom at the doctors today!! I will say a prayer :) This week was super good!! we had lessons and made contacts with people this week who actually seem interested!! :) Usually when we knock doors we don't have a ton of success with people who will have a desire to learn more but this week went super well. We had 4 investigators at church with us and we are hoping this next week we will have more! :) It all depends if Brazil is in the Finals because if they are no one will be at church on Sunday including the members... haha we will see what happens! It will be us and the Bishop lol!

So this week we made a goal to talk with everyone and try to see everyone with potential. So we were walking home one night and a drunk man was telling us to come here and talk with him, so we did and we told him we would pass by another day, we were walking on the same street 2 days after and I was like we need to talk with that one drunk guy again and my companion just looked at me and smiled and was like alright let's go there. So he was home but he was a bit drunk and smoking cigarettes. We gave him the Word of Wisdom pamphlet and told him he shouldn't drink or smoke and then I asked if I could break his cigarettes and he let me :) We are going to return this week, we told him he can't be drinking because if he is we probably can't teach him. He agreed and then introduced us to his neighbor Francisco who is golden. He is already planning on going to church with us and he wants his mom to come too. So the lesson I learned from this is that we should talk with everyone no matter what the circumstance may be because in the end we will be blessed. Now we have 3 new investigators :)

As for baptisms. We are planning the baptism of Wellington, Erick's friend for July 20th. At the start he had lots of questions and doubts but he is progressing a lot! He is 25 years old. Oh and other new information is that our new President arrived. His name is President Bonini. It was sad to say bye to President and Sister Souza but our new President and his wife are super sweet! It doesn't look like rules will be changing and I am not sure we will be able to watch Disney movies on P day anymore. He was a firefighter and in the military so he is pretty strict. They are from Sao Paulo. So after my mission I will be making lots of fun plans and adventures to do :) Well no time but love y'all lots!! Have a great week!!

Sister Mattei :)