Hola amigos y familia! :) Hope you're all doing great and have had some awesome weather with the start of summer coming up soon. Sounds like things have been crazy back in the States weather wise from what I've heard. Things continue like normal here and like always we have the best time of our lives here :) but that doesn't always mean we're upbeat and satisfied, haha. There's a bigggg difference. Earlier this week we had a pretty awesome surprise: Dad's boss was in town and came up to Mataró!! Dad had told me his boss was coming to Barcelona but I'm not right in Barce itself so I didn't think anything of it. But as my companion and I were in our piso, we got a phone call from him and he said, "Hey I'm up in your town!" So we met up and went out to eat during Mediodia. It was a really sweet experience especially since he's not a member and we got to explain to him what we do as missionaries, why we're here, and how amazing it is and what it means to us. We went to another part of our area and ate at a little cafe which was neat because we never do that since it isn't always cheap and missionaries aren't exactly rich, haha. But it was awesome to see him and his wife and to talk to them.
For those of you who remember about that Chaz guy a few emails back...well...we ran into him yet again, lol. Of all places we ran into him in another town as we were heading back to the train station. But we took our mission president's advice and I told him straight to his face that we aren't going to meet with him. We aren't here to discuss theologies and philosophies. We are here to spread the true word of God, to share with the world that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored and that we have a living prophet on the earth today. He sorta paused and that's probably when we should have just left him, but unfortunately we didn't and that's when his true intentions came out. He started bashing our beliefs and just saying stupid things that didn't make sense at all, and I felt bad for him because he is just so blind to the things that he needs in life right now. It didn't phase me at all but it was just sad that he doesn't realize that he can be happier and know what he needs to do to be able to live with our Father in Heaven again. But that's the end of him and he won't be calling us anymore.
I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges this week: one with the Zone Leader in a town called Badalona and then another one here in Mataró with Elder Malan. The first one was a little disappointing to be honest. You'd expect a Zone Leader to set a good example and to help you grow a lot since he's a leader in the mission. But to be honest, I learned how I don't want to be when I get to his point in the mission. He goes home after this transfer and you can totally tell that he's basically thrown in the towel already. We are here to serve for 24 months. Not 18. Not 20. Not even 23. I was disappointed in how it went, but I did learn a huge lesson like I said, and I'm serving my full 24 months, not 23. The other intercambio was better. Elder Malan is from Palma which is out on the islands and he's from Ecuador. So yes we spoke all Spanish, haha. It was such a great experience though. He's supposed to be in Salt Lake City but he's just waiting for his visa so I got to work with him for a day and then he went back to Zaragoza. He's a hard-worker and wants to be a good missionary. Plus, we just got along really well which always helps. I'll actually see him again on Wednesday because Elder Parry and I have to go to Zaragoza :P That'll be a fun and long trip, haha. But that's about it for this week. Things are going great with me and Elder Parry. The work is work still, haha, and it will always be that way. I know that even though things don't always go well and the grass always seems greener on the other side, we’ll push forward and endure :) I love you all so much and I know this church is true. Why else would I be spending two years of my prime years out in a country I don't know and do this?
Elder Mathews
