Last Week In The Transfer

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, that is so crazy that Morgan and Joe are back from their missions and that Macy got married! A lot of important things happen in 2 years!!

Tell dad Happy fathers day for me!

​Me and My son! Elder Barazoto is the best!

This is the last week of the transfer! Elder Stewart is the best! I sure am grateful we have gotten to serve together. In our whole 4 and half months together we have never gotten into a serious fight or argument. So that is quite an accomplishment because sometimes after weeks together with the same person it kind of wears on you but we are getting along great!

We both are nervous for transfers because we are from the same group and have the same time in the area so only the Lord and President knows who is going where!

This week was very eventful!

On Wednesday we had interviews with Presidente and then we practiced a musical number with Elder Barazoto /my son/, Elder Lefgren and Elder Martines. (Elder Ponce didn't want to sing but he was a judge to help us sound better) We were trying to include guitar, ukulele, and violin all together but it got too complicated so we just went to singing and Elder Stewart and I played the violin.

Then we went and hauled 4 mattresses to the house of Elder Pineda. The Elders from Bermejo were coming in the night to stay over for the conference because in the past they have had to wake up at 4 in the morning and take a tiny minivan to come to the conference. The road is apparently really rough with a lot of ups and downs and turns and the fitting all the elders in a trufy in the morning makes it a hard time to have an enjoyable conference, so that is why they came early.

After that, we picked up pouch and then went to work finally! In the night, we had exchanges with the assistants and Yosselin had her baptismal interview.

Thursday was the multi-zona! It was great! Presidente taught us about the doctrine of obedience! Obedience is a sign of conversion, but it is not between us and president or even the prophet but the Lord himself. Presidente testified to us that how we obey on our mission will be a foreshadow of our life after the mission. He invited all of us to repent and be more obedient so the Lord could continue blessing the mission and hastening his work through us! I know President is called of God and am so grateful to learn from this great man!

Conference, Elder Vidal! He is from Santiago Chile and is one of my best friends in our zone!

 Also, Hermana Rodriguez liked the musical number!

This week, I learned that Satan has power to tempt and discourage us! President also told us this, that in this life we will go through moments of suffering, but even in these moments, we must be obedient so the Lord can bless and deliver us.

Yosselin was all ready and excited for her baptism! Saturday came and we had the baptismal font and all the members invited and a cake ready and then she called us at 9:30 a.m. telling us that she didn't think she could be baptized. Some family members had told her that they didn't think she was ready for baptism and satan really discouraged her and she told us how she was so scared to be baptized because she is afraid to sin afterwards and a lot of other doubts came out so we canceled her baptism.

But this week we are going to try and help her see that she is ready and that the Lord has answered her prayers and that she should follow this commandment and be baptized. Please pray for her and for us that Yosselin can overcome her doubts and be baptized this week!

Also, we asked President for guidance about Marilin and he told us that the important thing is that she gets married for civil and then can be baptized and if her family wants them to be married in the catholic church it is alright.  She is a lot more excited. This week she had a karate tournament and sold shirts to get money for her marriage papers! Please pray for them.

Also if you can pray for Claudia, Sulma, Poal y Fernanda, Lucia y Jilberto, Alex y Margot!

This week, general conference magazines got here! I have been trying to study 5 to 10 minutes of a talk everyday! I know this is the Lord´s church. We have a prophet and 12 apostles called of God!

Love,

Elder Matheson

Week Four Of The Transfer

Dear Family and Friends,

This week passed by like a blur! Friday Elder DeCocq, the President’s secretary, called Elder Stewart and me to buy our plane tickets home. He told me Elder Matheson you are going to have transfers and are going home. (My first thought was, hey I haven´t done anything wrong why am I going home, and then it hit me that I am going home in a couple of months.) Kind of a weird feeling. I want to serve these last 3 months with all my heart. I will be going home with those of my group to the Salt Lake airport.

But this week we had some miracles!

Yesterday morning we went and taught Yosselin. We asked her if she had prayed and she told us that she had and felt an answer that she should be baptized this Saturday. What a blessing! We just have to teach her about the temple and service in the church and have her interview and she will be ready. Please pray for her that she can make it to this Saturday and be baptized. Also her and her older sister sell clothes Saturdays and Sundays in a big street market called la vibora negra (the black viper). Please pray for her that she can be blessed with a lot of sales on Saturday so that she can have the faith to not work on Sunday!

Also this week, Marilin called us and asked us for help cleaning her karate gym. We had to ask president for permission because it was in the other zone and in the afternoon, but he gave us permission. We called Bishop and Hna. Jimena (her family is the family that let us use their computers on Mother’s day) and they came with us, and we helped Marilin sweep and mop the gym.

We also had a great lesson with Marilin and the elders quorum president came with us. During the lesson we taught about temples and eternal marriage, and we could see that Marilin was a little bit bothered by something so we asked her if she had any questions and she then told us how Ever´s family wants them to get married in the catholic church and she said, “Pero yo no soy catolico yo quiero ser mormona´´ so she was a little discourage because if her husband is not a member she will never be able to get sealed in the temple. It was really hard to see Marilin so discouraged, but we testified the Lord would provide a way for her to get married and be baptized and that Ever will come around. Every time we visit we always invite him to come but he never does because he is too busy studying. Please pray for Marilin that we can teach her whole family and that they can be converted to the gospel and she can be baptized soon!

President Nelson’s challenge - The youth here saw the devotional. One of our members, Bryan, he is 14 and always uses his phone, but Sunday when we went to his house he was on his 7 day social media fast! President Nelson is a prophet.

I know this is the Lord’s work, and I am so grateful for His love and patience to work with us who are such imperfect servants! But just like Nephi, I know the Lord provides a way to obey his commandments that as we are obedient we are blessed. The Bible is the word of God. I have been studying the first books, and I am in Lucas. What a blessing it is to have the Bible which contains the life and example of Jesus Christ. I also know the Book of Mormon is true because it fills my heart with joy and comfort and brings to my mind peace and understanding and testifies of Christ!

I hope you have a wonderful week and that you are reading the Book of Mormon daily!

Love,

Elder Matheson!

As a zone we went to Bella Vista, it was a lot drier this time but still beautiful.

 

 

 

​Elder Ortiz cooking the meat

​Hna. Gonzales seasoned the meat

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ran up the hill to get this view!

 

 

We bought fried chicken from Poal and Fernanda!  There are progressing well and then we bought pizza from the young men who are doing a fundraiser to go to the temple!  The pizza was really good!

 

 

Also, I got the package will all the treats and ties and cards and everything!  Thank you! The girl scout cookies are very good. Every night or after lunch for dessert it has been the best to eat a tootsie roll or a starburst!  I love candy!!

Strep Throat and Cold

​Hace Friooooooo!

Dear Mom and Dad and my wonderful family and friends!

We have officially entered winter. It was so cold this week. It only got down to about 35-40 degrees, but here it is kind of humid so the cold bites right through you. We bought jackets today! Friday and Saturday were especially cold, but we made it through the week. This week is supposed to be warmer!

So last Monday I felt really sick but my companion gave me a blessing and the next day my fever and body aches were gone, but my throat hurt a lot. It got a little bit better but then on Wednesday I completely lost my voice. Being a missionary without of voice is like being a knight without a sword. It doesn't work too well, but my companion sure helped me and did a lot of the talking that day.

Thursday during our district meeting, Dr. Lopez flew in from Santa Cruz to give us a health training about how to avoid rabies and have good health. After his presentation, I asked him about my throat and he looked into my mouth and said, ´´Wow, you've got a lot of bacteria. You need a shot of penicillin.” Gulp... I don't remember the name of the bacteria, but I think it is strep throat in English. But....Elder Stewart had a similar sickness before he came here with me, and he started laughing and told me this shot wasn't going to go into my arm.

The needle was huge and the shot was about as thick as a nickel.

So we bought the medicine and shot and Doctor Lopez mixed the medicine up and injected it into my backside. OUCH!! That was the longest shot of my life (10 to 15 seconds) and that needle wasn't very small either!

But in the night I felt a lot better. I have been drinking some good cough syrup and my voice and throat are almost all the way back together.

My cough medicine (It kind of has a cherry chalk flavor)

But this week as a zone we worked hard to try and find more through the members. This week, we found Fernanda and Paol. They are member references, and all of Fernanda’s family is a member and she really wants to be a part of the church because she has seen the blessings her family has received from the gospel.

Also, we watched the video of Joseph Smith, the Profet of Restaurcion with Marilin and Yosselin in the house of Familia Duran. They both loved it. Marilin went to church again yesterday. And during one of her lessons she told us, I don´t know if I can be a member of the church because sometimes I lose my temper with my brothers. She is striving so hard to obey all the commandments! Please pray for Iver, her husband, that he will have the desire to listen to us!

Also, Claudia is doing great! She turned 15 this week, and we gave her a small note and some bon bons! Her dad still doesn't want to give her the permission to be baptized, but we are working hard to answer her questions and help her gain a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon!

Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Love,

Elder Matheson

​This was last week traveling to Santa Cruz for the leadership council

My pictures is getting farther up on the board. I am getting older in the mission.

Familia Arteaga!  This family is amazing and even though they have had some trials they are very active in the church!

Paola, Leo, and Mitchel It was wonderful to see them.

​Today we went to an overlook of the city!  This is a good view of Tarija from different angles.

  

​Sunset in tarija

Adventures

May 28, 1018

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Birthday Dad!! As the song says, one year younger and wiser too, happy birthday, to you! I hope you had a great birthday dad and got plenty of back scratches and ice cream!!

Dad thanks for giving me such a good example and for teaching us the importance of loving and sacrificing everything for your family. You're my hero! I have never heard you swear nor do you drink alcohol. Here it is sometimes sad because the dads have a problem with alcohol. And thanks for always respecting mom! My parents are the best!!

Also that is crazy about Morgan - she got married. Wow time flies by!!

This week was really fast! Wednesday we flew down to Santa Cruz for our leadership council. We got there early so I got to go see the Arteaga family and Paola my converts from el fuerte. They told me that Cilene and Marinela are active. Also they told us how they have passed through many trials this past 6 months and there were times they didn't want to go to church. Please pray for them! Right now Hno. Iver is the 2nd counselor in the elders quorum and his wife, Hna. Roberta, is in the presidency of the relief society.

Also, Herlin from the Pampa got in a crash and the people sewed him so he lost a lot of money and had to move from Lucero to his parent’s house who are members. Please pray for him and his family too.

It sometimes is really hard to visit and see these people you love so much and see the trials they are going through. If there are recent converts in ward, please sit by them and say hi to them at church and minister to them. The first year as a member of the church is a time of trial when satan tries to destroy them.

The consejo was great! President taught us about the importance of obedience, and how the Savior is our perfect example of obedience and love because he submitted humbly to the will of the father in paying for and dying for all of our sins!

Also president told us, I know that Heavenly Father is our father, Jesus Christ is our Savior and that Joseph Smith is a profet of God. If i didn't know these things were true, I would not sacrifice to serve and be a mission president.


This week was a hard one for us. Claudia was all ready for her baptism, we had planned it, and she passed her interview. But then her older brother told false rumors about the church to her dad and her father didn't give her permission, but we aren't giving up. Our goal is that in two weeks she can be more ready and be baptized.

Marilin went to church three hours yesterday and today we are going to teach the restoration to her and her husband. She is so prepared and I know her husband is too!

I love you so much!

Elder Matheson