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

Service!

Dear Mom and Dad- Family & Friends!  

Cedar sure looks beautiful with the blossoms.  Wow it is crazy to think that things are warming up!  Thank you for all the pictures and the love and support!  We will definitely have to try one of those scone cordon bleus someday!

This week has been great and also challenging!

One amazing blessing was we were able to teach familia Escobar about the law of chastity, and we encouraged them to pray for guidance and to see if the wedding date of 15 Abril was right for them.  We promised them blessings of peace and the best of a lasting relationship if they would get married and that they could start on their journey to be an Eternal Family!  Elder Barazoto and I want to baptize them in Abril, and we are just praying so hard that we can help them get married so Hermana Escobar can be baptized and so they can start preparing for the temple.

Also, this week we had a great lesson with the Olguien family.  We will definitely not give up on this family.  We were really direct and asked them if they wanted to keeping learning about the gospel and if they really wanted to go to church and Diana said yes!  Hermano Olguien works all night and comes home around 8:30 in the morning and sometimes is so tired he can’t make it to church, but I know that the Lord can help this family have the strength to come to church and continue to learn and progress.  Please remember these families in your prayers this week!

One thing that sure has been funny is that in a lot of our lessons, people often asked how old we are.  It was so funny in one lesson with Catrin y Orlando, a mom and son who are investigating the church, when they asked how old I was.  I was really curious and asked them to guess!  I was quite shocked to hear that they thought I was 25 and my compañero was 16 or 17!  Both Elder Barazoto and I laughed so hard at this though because in reality he is about one whole year older than me.  I think all the yummy rice here is making me age faster.  :)  

As for conference, I am so excited to hear our prophet and Elder Cook again.  I have a testimony that they are truly prophets of God, apostles, and special witnesses of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  For conference, we will go to our stake center to watch it.  Si os si  (no matter what) I sure hope we can have familia Esocbar attend with us!

Mom and Dad and my family!  I love you so much!  This week my testimony of the Book of Mormon has been strengthened as so many investigadores have challenged this book of scripture.  I love the verse in Moroni 10:6 which says, “And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is!”  Truly the Book of Mormon is just and true because it invites all men to have faith and believe in Jesus Christ and in every line it testifies of our Savior Jesus Christ!

I love this gospel, and my Savior Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon, and I know that this church is 100 percent true and that families are forever!  I hope you have the best conference weekend!

Love your son,

Elder Matheson!

Service for the Padilla Familia!  I sure love our ward!

Hermano Mosies is the one with the dark shades.  He is so funny and loves to talk to us in his English by saying, “What’s up gringo?

Also the drink that you see is really interesting.  It is a refresco de corn that is really cold.  It kind of tastes like a corn pudding!  

This fruit has spikes on it but Hermana Padilla said when it is really soft you just pop it open and eat it!

Our zone activity we did this last Monday!  It consisted of pizza from Papa Johns, fútbol, and Coke floats, which meant for me a Sprite float.  It was so delicious and fun. 

 

This Wednesday was cambios and we sure had a lot of changes.  Elder Viana our district leader ended his misión and also Hermana Cluff went to Tarija.  Our new district leader is Elder Lefgren.  He is from Riverton and knows cousin AJ, and AJ’s companion in the MTC was one of his best friends in middle school!   He is such a good example and district leader.  He is the one that is in the orange red shirt who is really tall and is lying down in one of the pictures!  He is such a good friend!

The Power of Prayer of Loved Ones and Family

Dear Mom and Dad and my Wonderful Family and Friends!

I loved the picture of the Missionary Impossible card.  Elder Barazoto and I both thought it was very funny!  This week Elder Barazoto is 100 % better and has overcome the fiery dragon and is eating and walking just like normal!!

Also, the corn beef and cabbage sure looked great! I can just imagine the yummy smell!

This week it actually got a little bit cold! Thursday it rained really, really hard and the canals were lllleeenno! (Lleno=Full!) We got to walk around and splash in our irrigation boots, which was awesome!  I got some good pictures to send you!

The beautiful rain in Bolivia and the canals

Also, in the night it is starting to get a little bit colder.  This week instead of needing a fan to sleep I needed an extra blanket. It kind of feels like September or October right now. Both Elder Barazoto and I sure love the little change in the climate.  Dad would like it too.

Yesterday was dia de padre (Father’s Day) en Bolivia and Elder Barazoto and I both gave talks en church.  I talked about the importance of fe and how I was so grateful for my father and his example and for my mother and father and the things they taught me on how to live this wonderful gospel!  I sure love you mom and dad! Also dad, I am so grateful for all those Sunday evenings when you would take the time to teach the stories of the Bible and about how we are a part of the house of Israel.  This week, Elder Barazoto asked me a lot about the different houses of Israel and a lot about Joseph and his sons Ephraim and Manasseh!  Elder Barazoto was so grateful for the help to understand the different tribes of Israel and their history, and I am just so grateful for you dad and for the time you spent to teach the stories of Jesus that I love to hear.  En un Bolivian accento, feliz dia de padre Papa!  I love you dad!

This week we had a wonderful miracle with Familia Escobar!  In Martes, we were able to visit Hermana Escobar with Hermano Daniel, a member of the church who knows a lot about how the papers for marriage work.  He was able to explain to Hermana Escobar what her and her husband needed to do to be married, and he shared how in his life his love for his wife grew so much more as they were married by the law and sealed in the temple.  Wow, the spirit was so strong, and I could only bear my testimony of the joy to have an eternal family and that I am so grateful that my parents are married and sealed in the temple and also my brother and sisters and that we are one big eternal family!  At the end of the lesson, Hermana Escobar said she wanted to be baptized!  Wow, thank you so much for all your prayers for this family.  Our goal is to help them get married and baptized in Abril!!  

Hermana Diana wasn´t able to baptized this week and didn´t attend church, but we aren´t going to give up on her but try extra hard to teach her with members present so she can have encouragement and friends in the ward.  I know if we do this, in the Lord´s time we can baptize her.

Thank you so much for the wonderful advice of the egg and the potato!  Wow, that is so true. No matter the trial that comes we have so many reasons to be happy and to become like the happy, soft potato!  When those trials or discouraging thoughts try and enter my mind, I will just remember my wonderful family and the advice to let these trials help me grow.

I love you so much mom and dad and our whole family!  I know that this church is true and Jesus Christ lives and that through the gospel we can truly have happiness during the hard and joyful movements in this life and that if we are faithful we can have this joy for eternity!

Love your son,

Elder Matheson!

Our amazing Fortaleza Zone with Elder and Sister Montoya and Presidente and Sister Rodríguez during a recent mission conference.

I accidentally spilled some chocolate milk on my shirt, but it sure made for a good picture.

More Bolivian Rain :)