Wow, It Is 2018 - All The Many Blessings

Dear Mom and Dad and My Amazing Family and Friends, Happy New Years!!! Wahoo!!!

Wow, it is 2018! It is so crazy to think of all the many blessings the Lord has given us. I just want to point out 8 of these blessings:

1. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, and His gospel

2. Our covenants of the Temple that bind us together as a family forever

3. The Book of Mormon, which contains the fullness of the gospel of all the things we need to do in this life to return to our Heavenly Father

4. The Cedar City Temple

5. BABY EMMA!!!!! Our family is getting bigger. I’m just trying to guess who is going to have the next baby.

6. Sarah is better and is healthy

7. Mom and Dad you are temple workers!

8. We are a family, and we are healthy, happy, and strong in the church and have a new year to progress and become more like Jesus Christ!

Mom and Dad it was such a blessing to see you and talk to you on Christmas. It was was my favorite Christmas. And it just made me so happy to see you. I was just so grateful to see you.

I have some good stories to tell you.

So for the Christmas Conference...

To start it off, President and Hna. Rodrigues shared their conversion stories. President Rodrigues, in his words, was a “freaky kid” because by the age of 15 he had read the New Testament 3 times and the Old Testament twice and was very Catholic.

One day his brother brought home a Book of Mormon, and he tried to convince his brother that the book of Mormon was evil because he had heard that it was all about Jose Smith. But his brother said he was going to read it. President then flip threw the book, and the first scripture he read was Moroni´s promise. And as he read it he felt a powerful feeling enter his heart. So he decided he would read it. He took the book with him on vacation for 2 months, and he read the whole Book of Mormon and then he asked God if it was true and received his powerful testimony that it was.  (On a side note, Presidente Rodrigues doesn't get very emotional, but every time he talks about the Book of Mormon he cries.) 2 weeks later he was baptized, and now all of his family are members and 5 of his children have served missions wow!!

He was so grateful for the missionary who had felt prompted to give the Book of Mormon to his brother. Just like this missionary, we too need to give the Book of Mormon to others. Because just what President Nelson taught, the Book of Mormon is worth more than all the gold and diamonds in the world. This additional knowledge of Jesus Christ is priceless.

Also, as a zone, we did a skit of Samuel the Lamanite with the believers and how Samuel gave the sign, and 5 years later only a few believed and the wicked were ready to kill the believers. To make this realistic, we got all the wicked missionaries machetes!! And right when they were about to kill the believers, the lights on the stage stayed on and then they ran off the stage in fright or started to believe. And that is when Elder Chapman started to sing Silent Night and Elder Zimmerman, my companion, and I sang a 4 part harmony and then the whole zone sang! It was so powerful and fun.
 

Our Christmas Skit

It was awesome! They served a huge meal with potatoes, salads, bread, and pig and turkey. I didn't risk it so I just ate the turkey this year, and it was amazing.

This week Hna. Rodrigues just gave my companion and I the assignment to organize a special musical number for the next conference were Elder Fabella of the Seventy will visit our mission!

Also, Alan is progressing so much. We have been visiting daily, and now we are teaching him all the commandments and he is so excited to be baptized. He is going to be baptized this next Saturday. He is truly a miracle. We have never had someone progress so fast. Yesterday, he went to church and loved it and the members are so great and helping him have friends! Please pray for him that he will be willing to live all the commandments.

I know that this is God’s work. He lives!

Love your son,

Elder Matheson

 

Christmas with Familia Escobar.  The fish was so delicious, and it was amazing to see them!  They are active and preparing to go to the temple this May!.

 

My companion and I tried doing a picture of the American Gothic Farmer