Adventures & Photos!

MAMA Y PAPA HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!  FELIZ ANIVARSARIO!!  

I am sending a fresh cooked salteña and some really good Bolivian fried chicken your way!  

Mom thank you for sharing you and dad’s talks about grace. It sure helped me a lot!  I sure loved that phrase, we need to learn our way to heaven and that no unclean thing or unchanged thing can dwell with God!   I am so grateful for you and everything that you have taught me through your examples and love.  When I read my patriarchal blessing it talks about what special parents I have been blessed with.   Dad thank you for marrying mom and mom thank you for marrying dad and for having us kids.  I love our family so much!!

Oh, and mom and dad thank you so much for all the letters from family and friends.  Every Thursday at our district meetings we receive material to teach with and also letters or things from the mission and home.  I just love reading the letters. They sure make me smile!

OH and Michael and Delaney!  Congratulations!!  You both looked great in the graduation pictures and the food you ate looked pretty yummy too. :)

Here are some pictures of the adventures Elder Barazoto and I had these last two weeks!

Miguel and Julie Lopez

Miguel and Julie Lopez are our new pensionista.  Hermana Rosemary´s son is going to graduate this year and is getting ready for his mission and she reluctantly gave up the pension of the missionaries to have more time with her family.  Familia Lopez are amazing too!  They sure love to cook together.  Hermana Julie is from Peru so we also get to try some really interesting food from Peru.  Also, Hermano Miguel his portion sizes are like a scout camp leader.  Usually with Hermana Rosemary we would ask for two plates because her food was so amazing but with Hermano Miguel if you finish your plate of food you barely have room for desert, similar to Grandma Perkins!  I sure love this family.  Hermano Miguel served his mission in Peru and has some amazing stories just like you dad, which motivates us to work harder and harder!  Also, I know that they have a Facebook too, and I think sometimes they post things going on about our ward.

Hermano Izaac Peña

Hermano Izaac Peña!!  He is a recent convert who just went through the temple and is our ward mission leader.  His testimony and faith are like Enoch!  He sure has been a blessing in our lives and has helped us some much in teaching Familia Escobar!!

 

Our ward missionary force!  Pretty soon they are going to call Adrian to be a ward misionero!!

Alvaro at the bottom, Hermano Coyar on the left, me, Hermano Izaac, and Diego Coyar, our gospel principles teacher.  He sure likes to say, “What’s up gringo!”

But as for this week, it has been another fast and wonderful week.  I think I caught another stomach bug because Saturday and then today my tummy hasn´t been happy, but I one good thing I am sure collecting a lot of immunities so in two years I don´t think I will get sick again! :)

But Familia Esocbar is doing great!! We are going to have family night with them with Hermano Izaac to plan how the ward can help.  If all goes well, our plan is to have their wedding in the church around 4 and then their baptism at 6 and then a dinner at 7 or 8.  That day is going to be amazing!  But if you could keep them in your prayers, I know satan might try something new this week but no matter what I know if they keep reading the Book of Mormon and pray and we do our part we will superar or overcome satan!  

I love you so much mom and dad!  And I am so grateful for our wonderful family and that we are a forever family!

I hope you have an amazing week!

Love your son,

Elder Matheson!

A big fruit tree - I am not sure what kind of fruit is above me but is was bigger than a bowling ball!

Visiting the Snake exhibit

Bolivian Chinese food after the zoo

A very emotional and gentle ant eater from the zoo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday P-Day...To The Tránsito

April 26, 2017

Dear Mom and Dad!

This week went by so fast and is my very last week training Elder Barazoto!  He has become one of my best friends, and he is an amazing missionary!  Also, he knows Spanish so well, especially the grammar and it is so funny how whenever I have a question about a word or phrase he knows it.  Also, Elder Barazoto asks me a lot about the history of the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and I am always happy to answer his questions.  So in the end, we both are helping each other learn Spanish and the gospel.  Elder Barazoto’s youngest brother just got his mission call to Idaho.

Some of the missionaries in the Bolivia Santa Cruz Mission - Elder Barazoto and myself Included

  This week it was a little warmer, but today, wow, it has been raining off and on all day.  One adventure we had today was we had to wake up at 5:15 am so that we could go to tránsitos to get a more permanent visa so we can travel.  I think that means one of us this next transfer will be going outside of Santa Cruz maybe to Tarija or Camiri where there are a lot of mountains!  I am sure nervous and excited to see the Lord’s will.  We then went to the zoo, just like Mary and Jason in the rain, and saw some amazing birds, monkeys, and small tigers. To end the activity we then went to a food court.  Elder Barazoto and I both got some good Chinese food.  It wasn´t the same as Panda, but it was sure yummy!

  

Also, I this past Wednesday we had a powerful Zone conference with Presidente Rodríguez!  The thing that really helped me was that he taught about angels.  Angel comes from the word angelus which means messenger.  He told us that we are angels or messengers to bring the gospel to all the world.  This sure filled me with courage to talk more with everyone we saw and be bold in our testimony of the restauración.  In verdad, I know that we are all angels or messengers of the gospel as we live the gospel through our examples and also look to serve others and act as angels of the Lord to answer the prayers and needs of others.  I have a testimony that Presidente Rodríguez has been called of God because we feel his love and the Savior´s love so strongly every time we talk with him, and his divine counsel is powerful.

Familia Escobar has almost all their papers to get married - they just need an original copy of their birth certificate and then they can be married.  Also, Hermano Escobar has been sick these past two weeks and couldn´t work that much, but I know your prayers are helping him and that he will continue to get better and that according to the Lord´s will they are going to be baptized!

I love this gospel so much!

I love you so much mom and dad and I will send pictures next week, my computer won´t let me up load them but I know my Savior lives and I know the book of Mormon is the word of God and Joseph Smith was a prophet!

I hope you have the best week!

Love your son,

Elder Matheson!

The Sand Dunes and Miracles

April 17, 2017

Dear Mom and Dad and my amazing family and friends!

Thank you so much for the pictures!  I hope Grandma and Grandpa had the best wedding anniversary.  I love them so much too! Wow, Dad that Mexican restaurant look like it similar to Brody´s!  Thank you for the letters and for the letters from the cousins! It was so good to hear from the Bourgeous clan!

This week flew by so fast! Last Monday for our P-day activity we went to the Lomas de Arena this really big sand dune that is about 3 miles away from Plan 4000 where familia Escobar lives, which is one of the farthest away parts of our area with a lot of dirt roads!  

During the activity, we had all 6 of the sisters in the front and middle with the driver, and all 10 of the Elders were all in the very back of this van.  It was a little tight, but it was very fun.  One of my favorite parts of this adventure was when we had to cross this little river.  We all got out of the car to see if the van could cross it and it did.  But we then made the mistake of asking the van to reverse and come back over to pick us up.  It got stuck!  

Taking off our shoes, all ten of us Elders started to dig underneath the sand to put rocks and sticks so the van could get traction. We lifted the back of the car and really fast put the rocks and sticks under the wheels.  The driver then floored it and we pushed and pushed and the van went free!  What a blessing!  We then were able to make it to the sand dunes and run and jump around in this sand!  

 

 

 On a gospel note, this last weeks I learned an important lesson about not second guessing the spirit and reversing back into the sand.  

Two P days back, Elder Barazoto and I were traveling in a micro.  We got up to leave, and I felt that I should go back to my seat.  The micro was about to start going and so I ignored the thought and kept on going.  When we got back to the house I tried to call some of our investigadores to confirm our appointments with them, and I realized that I didn’t have the cell phone.  After looking for our phone and calling it will the phone of familia Bautizta we learned that we had lost our phone.  I had been trying to follow the spirit but when his voice came to me I shrugged it off and in a sense I followed my logic and reversed my van back into the sand.  These past two weeks we haven’t had a cell phone, and sometimes it has been a lot harder to coordinate lessons and do the daily activities.  From this experiences and others this week,   have learned the importance of being a first responder and follow the direction of the spirit and not relying on what I think and reversing back into the sand. I know the Lord lives and he loves us so much and forgives us of our faults and lifts us up and helps us get traction to overcome our sins and keep moving forward.  I love my Savior so much!

Also,  this week Familia Escobar accepted a marriage date and baptism date of the 13 of May.  Michael and Delaney your wedding day!   They are so excited to get married but satan doesn’t want this. This past week hermano Escobar was really sick and couldn’t work and start the papers for their marriage, but I know that through prayer and our Savior Jesus Christ we can always overcome satan.  Thank you mom and dad and the whole family for your prayers.  If you would keep familia Escobar in your prayers this week that they can get their marriage papers done I would be so grateful.  

I love you so much mom and dad and my family!!! And I am so a happy to hear that you are doing so much family history work.  In our ward we just got two computers for the youth so they can do family history work. I hope you have the best week!

Love your Son,

Elder Matheson! ​

Lomas de Arena Sand Dunes

 

    

The Rain Season

Buenas Dias mi most amazing Mother and Father and Family and Friends!  

That is so awesome Josh and Kaylin both got their mission calls. They will be the best missionaries. 

Delaney!  I hope you have the most amazing birthday!  I am so grateful to have such a chalinga (cool), spiritual, and kind sister-in-law.  You need to eat a double decker rocky road ice cream cone for me for your birthday!  Thank you for being the best wife for my brother, keeping him in line ;) and being a part of our family!  I sure am grateful you and Michael got married!!!

So I never though I would say this, but this week I was actually cold and had to use the sweater and ear muffs you sent me mom!  So during March, April, and May it rains so much.  It will be sunny for about 10 minutes then a storm will blow in, and it will rain really hard for 10 min and be sunny again and then it might rain again in the night.  And the clouds they move so fast and low.  If you were seeing it on TV it would look like they hit the fast forward button.

This week I got caught in a rainstorm in the night without my umbrella, and wow did I get sick.  It was a pretty nasty cold, but everyday Heavenly Father sure helped through it, and I am all better today!

Rain, Rain, Rain

 As for familia Escobar they came to church yesterday and we have been talking to them about their wedding.  They are so excited and they just need help getting their family in town so they can have the wedding.  I know that through the Lord all things are possible, and if it is His will, we will baptize them at the end of April.  Thank you for all you prayers for them.

Elder Placencia and the happy pig we found during our companion exchange

Also familia Suares is doing great.  Yesterday we taught their whole family including Carlos who is 20 years old.  This family sure loves all the missionaries and we are praying and working with them to be married this month too so that they can be baptized.  

I had a companion exchange with Elder Placencia de Mami Florida.  He is such am amazing Elder with a strong desire to talk with everyone.  Also we found a very happy pig in the street! 

I know the Savior lives and He loves us so much and that indeed families are how we truly have joy in this life and the life to come and I am so grateful that I can be with my family forever!  I love and pray for you all so much, and I hope you have another wonderful week!

Love your son,

Elder Matheson!

Aprende principios sobre la paz del
#PrincipeDePaz
#PRINCEofPEACE

 

General Conference and 6 Months In The Mission Field!

Dear Mom and Dad and my most chalinga, maravillosa, wonderful familia and friends. 

Wow, that is so awesome to see you standing in the conference center and to hear about your date and anniversary celebration. The hotel sure sounds like it was nice and the perfect place because it is so close to the conference center! I sure hope Mary and Jason got to eat their missionary serving size of pizza. :)  Happy Birthday to my sister Sarah!  Thank you for being one of my heroes in my life.

Watching conference together with English speaking missionaries

General Conference was so amazing and we were able to see it in English!  In the stake center, the secretary of the stake was so kind to set up a TV for all the English speaking missionaries in the stake.  We watched in the high council room and used the big table to help us take notes. 

Right after the first session Saturday I was so happy to go with Elder Barazoto to Hot Burger and keep the Arctic Circle tradition going of getting a big hamburger and fries to eat between the sessions.  It sure was yummy.

The burger tradition of conference

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

President Thomas S. Monson

To see conference just made me so happy and grateful for my wonderful family, and it reminded me of 6 months ago when we saw the prophet.  To this day, I am so grateful for that experience mom and dad and the picture you sent with me because I have been able to show our investigadores a picture of our family in the conference center and testify to them that I know that Presidente Thomas S.Monson is a prophet of God and that Jesus Christ lives and guides His church through President Monson and his 12 Apostles.

Elder Mark A Bragg

I sure loved the message of Mark A. Bragg of the Seventy and his message of how in the darkening world, the light of Christ will shine brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

How blessed we are to have the restored gospel in our lives and to have the blessing of an eternal family.  In my mind I can just picture our Savior smiling as every day his church is growing and more and more of our brothers and sisters are joining the church by being baptized and are being sealed to their eternal family and how this gospel light just keeps spreading and spreading.  And Satan is so frustrated just like the green monster guy in Sesame Street who hides in his trash can and is miserable and that he is trying harder as ever before to make us sad or miserable because there is so much more good that is spreading to more and more of God’s children everyday until that perfect day will come when Jesus Christ comes again and He reigns and we follow him with our eternal family!  Wow the plan of Heavenly Father is Perfect! 

I know that Heavenly Father loves us and I love you so much and am so grateful that Heavenly Father has blessed me with such an amazing family and that we are sealed together forever.  

Thank you for your love and support, and if you would keep praying for Familia Escobar and Familia Suares that we can help them get married this week that would be great!

Love your son,

Elder Matheson

P.S. I lost my voice this week wow that was an adventure but a blessing because it gave Elder Barazoto a chance to lead and teach almost all of the lessons and he did a great job!

Elder Lozano, from Texas, is my Zone Leader.  He is such an amazing missionary and one of my greatest friends in the mission.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing soccer with the Elders in our Zone on P-Day