Week 3 of Entranamiento con Elder Barazoto! - Week 3 of Training with Elder Barazoto!

March 6, 2017

Dear Mom and Dad and my chevery (awesome en Bolivian street terms) familia y amigos!

Wow, I just can stop smiling to hear that Sarah is feeling 70 percent better!  That is a miracle!! Sarah when I get back, I can’t wait to see you 100 percent better, and we can go on some crazy roller coasters!  

Josh - Baptized in Enoch

Adrian - Baptized in Bolivia

As for Josh, that is also amazing. In the picture, Josh is definitely like Adrian, two sons of God ready for the gospel and to serve the Lord! 

This week sure has been amazing.  As for your questions mom, our zone and district are called Zona Forteleza (the same name of our ward) and there are 16 misionarios en nuestor Zone.  Elder Barazoto, me, Elder Lefgren (Riverton), Elder Viana (Brazil), Elder Lozano (Texas - He is also our Zone Lider and has family in Mexico and knows perfect Spanish.  He is such a good example and always helps us gringos with our questions of Spanish and is very funny),  Elder Navarrette (Ecuador - He is our other Zone Lider and ends his mission in about two weeks and is also such a good example of selfless service),  Hermana Roscao (Ecuador), su companero (I need to learn her name, but she is from Columbia), Elder Charrara (Peru), Elder Escobar (La Paz - He is the Elder who said he was from Russia during our Christmas skype and has served in three diferente missions because of illness. He was in Columbia his first mission, he returned to La Paz to serve in his home mission and recover, and now he is better and is serving in Santa Cruz), Hermana Cluff (Lehi, UT), Hermana Johnson (California),  Hermana Martines (Peru), Hermana Miller ( Idaho), Elder Choque (La Paz y la cousin law of Elder Salas), y Elder Drolinger (Colorado City).  Our Zone is full of so many wonderful misionaries and amazing friends, and I am so grateful to serve with them.

District Forteleza

Right now for the internet, we always go to a computer lab or internet cafe close to our house and it costs about 5 Bolivians to write.

Our Kitchen

As for Carnaval, it was really nice to have three days to rest and recuperate.  The only time we were able to leave was in the car of a member to go to church Sunday.  But during the three days, Elder Barazoto and I used the cookbook mom!  We ate pancakes for the first time in 4 months for me and 2 months for Elder Barazoto.  That was one of the best Bolivian breakfasts!!  Also in the night, I cooked biscuits and gravy for Elder Barazoto.  We don’t have an oven so I just used French bread or pan Francés in Español for the biscuits, and for the gravy I followed the recipe but used chopped up sausage from the Hipermaxi instead of ground sausage.  It wasn’t nearly close to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s biscuits and gravy, but it was very delicious!!  Also, in our apartment, we have a really small DVD player to watch The District and other church videos to use with our investigadores. It is about the size of a small plate, but using this little DVD player we watched the 17 Miracles, The Passage to Zarahemla, and Meet The Mormons.

After 17 Miracles, I showed Elder Barazoto a little bit of the family stories you gave me and told him about the miracle with Francis Webster and the angels who helped him pull his handcart.  It was amazing to be able share a part of my family history with my companion.  We have such an amazing family and family history that we get to continue!

Francis Webster

 

One crazy service project we did was for familia Escobar.  Here in Bolivia, they only use weed whackers to chop their grass because they want it to be golf course grass short because the grass grows so fast here and a lot people don’t have a weed whacker and can’t afford to hire a person to chop their grass so they cut their grass by hand with a machete and bush trimmers.  When we passed by familia Escobar, Hermano Escobar was working.  He installs insulation for big cooler trucks, and his wife was cutting the grass with the bush trimmers.  We asked if we could help.  It took us a few tries to convince them we could cut the grass in our proselyting clothes, but after two or three tries they let us help them.  Wow, talk about hard work.  The lawn wasn´t massive but chopping the grass with a machete y bush trimmers was something else.  The people of Bolivia are amazing.  There are some families really rich and others who don’t have much, but they work so hard and are happy with the things they have.  After about an hour, we mowed-chopped the whole lawn.  It felt so good to give service and help familia Escobar.  This family is progressing so much and we what to baptize them, but first they just need to get married. If you would keep them in your prayers this week, I would sure appreciate that.

Familia Escobar

Mom and Dad!  I love this work and each day I am learning more how to forget myself and focus on the Lord and his work, and when I do this, the days are full of the spirit and miracles.

I love you so much, and I know Jesus Christ lives and is our Savior!

Love your son,

Elder Matheson!

PS Thank you for the weight loss tips. My goal this week is just to eat one plate at lunch and definitely drink less juice!  I love you!