Merry Christmas 2017

December 25, 2017

Dear Mom and Dad, Family and Friends!  Merry Christmas!  

7And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and

laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn .

8And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch

over their flock by night.

9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round

about them: and they were sore afraid.

10And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great

joy, which shall be to all people.

11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour , which is Christ the Lord .

13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising

God, and saying,

14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace , good will toward men.

I love these scriptures and the principle that Hna. Pressgrove taught me.

I have always wondered what it was like to be a shepherd or a wise man who saw the

Savior and these glorious signs of his coming.  But we were there!

On this glorious day when our Savior, Jesus Christ was born, we proclaimed triumphantly

in this heavenly host.  Glory to God, that His son, our Savior and Redeemer, our friend,

our rock and protection from Satan, our example, was born!  

Merry Christmas Mom and Dad and all my wonderful family and friends.  I am so grateful

for our Savior and His birth, His life, His atonement.  He lives today!! And through Him we

can live together as family forever!

Love,  

Elder Matheson

Hamburgers with Olga y Ernesto.  We got permission from President, and we were able

to stay up until 12:00 celebrating Christmas.  They ate a yummy pork and Hna. Olga made

us these delicious burgers and fries (since we are not allowed to eat pork) right before

midnight as we were getting ready for bed.  The glorious chorus of fireworks then started.  

I think the fireworks were maybe almost as loud as the heavenly host but not quite as

beautiful. But it sure was awesome!

Intercambio with Elder Chapman to Catoca!  This is a huge Catholic church there.

And...A little from the Christmas Skype conversation with Elder Matheson:

Today for Christmas we were able to visit Familia Escobar (a wonderful family we taught and baptized during the early part of my mission), and it was super amazing. Elder Harris and I are in the 8th ring and the Escobars, are on other side of the city, but we were given permission to take a taxi and visit them. Our drivers even gave us a ride for a very good price or free. The Escobars made us a huge pescano – a huge fish Christmas lunch. They also do the very best chicken. We learned that the Escobars are expecting a 2nd child. Hermano Escobar is the ward mission leader, and his wife is serving in the Relief Society. They are both super strong and active and have helped 4 or 5 more families in their ward area get baptized. They are going to be sealed in the Temple as a family in May. It was wonderful to see them doing so well!

Singing Noche de Paz For My Family

The people of Bolivia think I am 30 years old!  Here people who are 40 look like they are 27, and the people who are 20 look like teenagers.

People really watch what we are doing.  When we live the standards of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we can help prepare people to receive the gospel.  Alan, one of our new investigators, asked to meet with the missionaries because of the super good standards of his girlfriend.

If you see someone at church that is new, please go talk to them!

A Faithful Pioneer

Dear Family and Friends!  

Sorry this email is going to be so short.  We don’t have a lot of time to write because we are trying to bake cookies for a zone activity and make enough hot chocolate, but this week was amazing.

I will call you on skype next Monday at 7:00 p.m. Bolivia time in a member’s house if that is alright.

That is so amazing you are working in the Temple.  It looks beautiful!! Also the Enoch Orchestra is huge and has accordions!!

This week, we had 2 baptisms.  Fernanda and Dulce got baptized.  Their mom is a saint. She is like a faithful pioneer because she had her daughters be baptized and she is helping them read the Book of Mormon and attend church. It was such a beautiful baptism.  My companion baptized them both, and I got to confirm Dulce yesterday in church.  Please pray for them especially that their parents can be married and baptized.

Fernanda and Dulce

 

Also, Kevin, a new investigator attended church and loved it . We are working with him to be baptized the 30th!

I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that prayer works.  We sure prayed a lot this week, and everything worked out well.  Also, we made it through the trial of 40 degree Celsius weather, which I think means like 110 degrees weather in Fahrenheit!

I love you so much and can't wait to talk to you this Monday.

Love,

Elder Matheson 

Consejo de lideres with Presidente.  Elder Salas, my first companion and trainer, is a zone leader too!

 

 

 

Our Christmas Manger

I bought these Brooks shoes for about $15 at a fair. What a blessing!

Adventures and Blessings

Dear Family and Friends,

The temple is dedicated!!!!! Yesterday, I was watching the clock to try and calculate when the dedication was going on.  I saw a little bit of it today online at lds.org and it looked amazing. Dad in the dedication they sang High On The Mountain Top!!  Also, did you get to attend in the temple because you are temple workers?  Thank you mom for sending the music and songs and also the Christmas package.  I got it this week, and I love the music and the cards and the booklet about the temple.  My companion really liked his stocking.  He is saving his for Christmas, and I am doing the same with the packages.

Also this Thursday we had Consejo de Lideres with President and Sister Rodrigues.  It is where the zone leaders and sister capacitadores (not quite sure what it is called in English but the experienced sisters) all meet together to receive instruction how we can be better leaders and serve those in our zone.

It was such an amazing experience.  I can testify the President Rodriguez is called of God and that he really loves us. I felt so much of the Savior’s love for me through him.  During the meeting he went over all the attributes of Christ, and he taught us that the two reasons we serve missions are to preach repentance and baptize converts and to become like the Savior, Jesus Christ.

He taught me that in the mission and this life is all about progression.  As we repent and keep following Christ and trying to become like He is we change.  He taught us that the end of this life and into the next those who have been refined into celestial beings will enter the Lord’s kingdom, and those who have not become like Christ will not.  But that the important thing is that we have progress.  That even though we are so far from becoming like Christ, we acknowledge our progress and we continue to become like him.  Mom and dad, I am so grateful to serve a mission because I have changed.  I still got a lot to improve, but this time with Elder Harris has been like heaven, and I am being a better companion and leader.  Elder Harris sure is teaching me to lose myself in the service of others or in our zone!

Also in the consejo we talked about skyping our families and we got permission to skype for 1 hour this Christmas and then to write for 2.  Wow, what a blessing.  I was thinking about calling at 6 or 7 Monday night.  Would the time work for you?

Also, this week, we had a miracle.  We had received a reference named Alan Moran, and we called him Friday and set up an appointment with him Sunday.  This Sunday in the morning (our church is at 2) we went to his house, and he was there!  He is 23 years old and lives with and helps his single mom, and he wanted to learn more about the church because he has a friend in the university who is a member.  He said she always has a special light and she doesn't party and drink, and he really wanted to have the light.  In the leccion we taught him about baptism and he is open to being baptized if he feels these things are true.  What a miracle.

Also, this week we are going to have 3 baptisms - one of a girl named Anna (13), Dulce(9), and Fernanda(8).  If you can pray for them.  Also, Ariel is having a hard time - if you will pray for him and his wife Angie too.!!

Thank you so much!

I just love this new area and my companion and our house.  We have been so blessed!

Love,

Elder Matheson

This week, Intercambios with Elder Mortensen.  He is from the same group as Elder Hansen and is from Utah!

 

 

 

 

 

 

​Last Monday my companion and I made chocolate chip cookies with Olga. They were delicious!

 

​Hna. Olga made us homemade American apple pie.  She is grandma!  We love her so much!

 

Miracles!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was full of so many miracles and tender mercies.

My companion is amazing.  He is so Christlike and obedient.  He has been helping me out a lot to improve my Spanish accent so I sound Bolivian.  Also, he is a finding giant.  We found 17 new investigadores this week and Saturday and Sunday we couldn't talk to anyone in the streets or contact because there was a national election day in Bolivia for their supreme judges.  Sunday all transportation was forbidden and all stores were shut down and there was no church either.  We were joking how this day everyone just really wanted to keep the sabbath day holy. Anyway, we could only go to appointments that were already set, but if they weren't there, we had to return home.

Also, I love being a Zone Leader.  It is so much fun.  I was super nervous. Thursday when we had a zone meeting, my companion helped me prepare well, and we were able to conduct the meeting well.

One of my favorite parts of being a zone leader is you learn how to focus on others and there are two of you.  As a district leader sometimes I got really stressed because it is only you, but as a zone leader there are the two of you to keep order, answer questions, help other elders be obedient, and plan activities to motivate the zone.

For Christmas we are making a manger and we cut up yellow paper for straw.  Every time a missionary in the zone sees their companion or a member of the zone do something Christlike they write it down on a piece of paper, and we put this paper in the manger.  So we are all striving to do more Christlike things so that the Savior has a comfortable manger or a stronger place in our heart this Christmas!

Making the manger. All those wood working classes at Canyon View came in handy​.

 

Also, we are planning a skit for the zone for the annual Christmas conference.  We are going to do the story of Samuel the Lamanite and his sign and how the people tried to kill the believers but that is right when the sign came and then that is where we will have our nativity scene with our manger!

Also we are teaching a golden family named Angie and Ariel.  They are a young family that isn't married but want to be baptized.  Yesterday we taught them about the restauracion and they are so interested.  Please pray for them that they will have the desire to get married or live separately.  Also, please pray for Familia Gonzales and that their dad will give them permission to be baptized.

I love this area, my companion, and the zone!  Thank you so much for your prayers and missionary experiences. Our pension, Olga and Ornesto are in their 70s, and they take good care of us.  The other day, hna. olga made us authentic American banana bread!

Love,

Elder Matheson

Morning exercise!​

In our last zone we went on a big tour bus of the city!​