Three Weeks Left In The Transfer

Dear Family and Friends!

Gracie Lou´s costume made us laugh so hard.  This week, I was trying to say hot dog so I used pero caliente, which really means a dog that is really hot. But the correct word for hot dog is salchicha.  But that is the best costume ever.  Also, Michael and Delaney good job carving those pumpkins!!  Mom I loved your big glasses and the teacher in the taco costume. Her and Gracie you should get a photo together!  Dad!  Good job with the Halloween dinner date, and Mom you are the best missionary!  Thank you for spreading the gospel through the temple!

Here for Halloween only the really rich part of city has candy where kids can go and knock on doors, but more than anything this week was a memorial week.  This week the Catholic tradition/Holiday was where everyone went and cleaned and painted and fixed up the graves of their ancestors. My companion and I wanted to find a Mario and Luigi costume and take a picture of it.  He is really tall, and I have gotten a little chubby (but I have lost 10 pounds of the 30 I have gained) so the costume pair is perfect.  Nonetheless, we did not find the costumes but we sure liked the idea.

This week was full of many miracles and was so fast!  Elder Hansen and I only have three weeks left together.  He keeps telling me that I am a going to be transferred to Tarija (the place that is cold with mountains), or that I will become a secretary of sanitation in the mission offices or that he is going to be transferred.  He is a good friend and sure has helped me so much!

As for this week, we have 5 investigadores who have a baptismal date.  Sielene is going to be baptized this coming Sunday morning. Carlos Lopes and Johan and Adreas have a fecha for the 18 of November, and Ramiro has a baptismal date for the 25th .  We sure are trying to work hard.  My companion is really good with people and he has taught me so much of how to relate with people and become their friends.  Johan and Carlos both are 17 years old, and we can see the difference in their countenance as they are reading the Book of Mormon and attending church.  

Carlos lives in the Palimitas.  Literally this area is just like walking down in Fontana, California.  There are palm trees, it is sunny, and there is cement curbing with big houses.  Please pray for Carlos and that his dad will give him permission to be baptized and see the change in him.  Because he is ready to be baptized.

This week, my testimony of fasting is so much stronger.  For the past month, Sielene has wanted to be baptized but couldn’t because she wasn’t able to attend church. In our fast on Saturday, we fasted especially for her and that she would be able to attend church.  Yesterday, when we got to church she wasn't there.  After the first class she still wasn´t there.

My companion and I then went to a room and prayed that the Lord will help her come to church so she could be able to be baptized this next week.  We then left the meeting, and to show our faith, we went with a member in their car to try and pick them up.  As we went to their house, we got a call from Marianela telling us that they just arrived at church!!  So we went back to church, and Marianela and Sielene both attended and liked church.  Also Carlos and Johan and Hna Paola both attended. I know that fasting really brings blessings and divine help!

Jumping back to Saturday, my companion and I were able to give Marianela a blessing.  She felt really, really sick and looked like she was in a lot of pain.  We asked her if she believed that Jesus Christ was her Savior.  She said yes,  We then asked her if she believed this church is the Savior’s church and has His Priesthood authority.  She again said yes, and then we asked her if she had faith that we could bless and heal her.  She said yes again.  I anointed her and then my companion blessed her.  It was amazing to feel the love that Heavenly Father has for His children, and I knew that she would be blessed and healed.  The next day, at church she was smiling and happy and all the pain went away.  I testify that this is Christ's Church and that through Joseph Smith He restored His Church and all the doctrine of His Gospel and the Priesthood authority on the earth so that we can return to Him and our Heavenly Father again!

 

On the subject of Home teaching and Visiting teaching:   It is so important.  I love the analogy that you used Jason.  I never knew how important these two callings were until the mission.  After the missionaries are done teaching the investigadores and our baptized they need a faithful friend to stand by them and help them and to check up on them and answer their concerns because the missionaries can't visit them everyday and they get transferred.  Wow, it is such an important calling!

Thank you for your letters and prayers!

Love,

Elder Matheson

Santa Cruz