Another Transfer Begins

Well, I sorta forgot to inform everyone that the transfer was ending last email, but luckily I'm not getting transferred :) I'm still here in Mataró with Elder Parry and I'm pretty excited to be here still. Apparently there's still something I need to do here in Mataró. Elder Parry is our new District Leader, which probably means I'll be transferred after this transfer...at least that's what I think, haha. But this week was another little doozy. Numbers were low but that's because we had to drop a few investigators who just weren’t progressing. But President told us that if we drop those who aren't progressing, the Lord will put in our path those that can. So with that faith we dropped a handful of people. But we did see some neat miracles this week, and a pretty big one on Sunday, haha. We went to church and had no investigators there and we didn't expect anyone. But the Bishop's sister, Laura, brought her boyfriend! His name is Paul and he's actually from England so he spoke English (duh, haha). He came to the classes and everything and I think he enjoyed it. Luckily Elder Parry and I had to teach the Sunday School class so while one spoke in Spanish, the other translated it into English for him. And then during Priesthood meeting I sat in the back with Paul and translated the class for him. It was a really neat experience to do that for him because he doesn't know anything about the church and we basically got to share a little bit about what we know. He accepted another visit and we have one set up for this week! His girlfriend, Laura, will be there, too, which is fantastic because she can help and support him. We might even see if Bishop can come, haha. But Paul is an animated artist and works with drawing and movie art stuff, which is way sweet. I'll have to see if he can draw me something :).

Another neat little experience we had was passing by an investigator who stood us up one day. She ended up not being home last week when we had planned and so earlier this week, I just felt like we needed to pass by her piso and so we did. And you know what, she was home! Funny how those impressions work, isn't it? haha. But we passed by and talked with her for a little and asked if we could go up and share something real quick and she said yeah! So we went in and talked about the Family and how the family can be together forever and how they are so important in the plan that our Heavenly Father has for us. I feel like she really liked the message especially since all of her kids are still in Bolivia. We set up another visit and we're going to keep teaching her and helping her come to know how she can change her life for the better and find the happiness she is looking for right now.

On a less spiritual note, we ran into the Devil's Secretary again! hahaha Just kidding, I probably shouldn't call him that. He's a son of God just like me so I'll just call him Chaz which is his name. We were passing by someone and I just looked up and I saw a glimpse of him and without waiting for the person to answer the door I just said one word: "Chaz" and took off in the opposite direction, haha. Unfortunately, he called after us and ran up to us and wanted to meet once again. We're not gonna meet with him though so don't worry, Mom and Dad, haha. He's just there to argue and dispute with us so we're following President’s advice to stay away. But just so you know, we ran into him yet again. Yesterday was a pretty fun day actually. We went to a neighboring town in our area called Calella since we had quite a few old investigators who lived there and we've never been there. And I gotta say, that place is sweet!! But it's also a big tourist town, haha. There's a ton of hotels and foreigners there. But we decided that we are going back for one of our Preparation Days to have fun and look around and to also go sight seeing there since they have a few little things we could go see. But that town is probably my new favorite :) even though I only saw it for a few hours, haha.

Last night we also decorated a member's house a little bit for her birthday. We had planned to visit them and so we coordinated with their daughter to leave the keys out for us and we went in when no one was there and we put up a few balloons and streamers and wrote a Happy Birthday card to thank her and show our love for her. She's basically our mom here to be honest, haha. We go over every week and share a message with her non-member husband-to-be and then she always feeds us, haha, and she just cares for us and makes us feel loved :) But, of course, no one can replace my real mom :)

But another transfer has begun! I know the time seriously flies by. I remember those days this past transfer when I was just so bummed and discouraged because we had no one to teach and those days just dragged on for sooooo longggggg. But now I look back and I can't believe that it was already six weeks ago.

Keep strong back home, Study the scriptures and live the Gospel for in those things come happiness. I love you all and I know that I'm out doing the Lord's work. There is no greater time in my life than right now even with those little challenges sometimes. You know what I say to them? "Bring em on!"

Seven Months and Counting...

This past week was fantastic! Mostly because yesterday was Mother's Day which means I got to talk with the family!!!! It was definitely the highlight of my week and it was great because we did it on a Sunday night. There's no better way to end a week than by talking via skype with your family. It was so great to talk with them and to catch up a bit. But as the title says, I got another seven months until Christmas haha. But that's alright. The time passes by so fast and I'll be calling again before I know it. Love you, family!

But this week, other than calling home, was also really great. We started out the first few days amazingly. We had visits that went well, we were working really hard and everything. And then come Thursday, things just tanked. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and even Sunday we had visits just fall through which was really frustrating. We were set to make the mission goal of lessons until our visits bailed on us. I'll admit it's frustrating at times but you can still have a good attitude and still enjoy the work even when the visits don't happen. When we didn't have any visits for the last three hours of the day on Thursday or Friday, we decided to go and pass by old investigators. We were walking by a building when we saw the door just standing open so we decided to go all the way up and knock on every door coming down, hahaha. It was sooooo much fun and it was such a great experience. It's funny though because when you ring their door bell, you can hear them coming to the door and slide the peep hole cover to look out and then they don't answer the door and try to sneak quietly away and act like no one's home, haha. It's so funny. And it's also great to see the people that just don't want anything to do with religion or the church. They just slam the door sometimes and I can't help but kinda smile and laugh a little inside. I just think to myself, "If only you knew how much we know this message could help you." But at least we're giving people the chance. We did find one lady though by knocking doors who seems great. I was surprised she opened the door too because she paused at the door and I thought she was just gonna go away. But she accepted a visit and we're going by on Wednesday. I'm pretty excited for that. Things are improving slowly but surely here in Mataró. I still love the place and the people and we're starting to find more people to teach. The only problem is that most, if not all, can only meet once a week because of their schedules, which is extremely frustrating. But we keep going and pressing forward because we know that there are people who are ready to hear this message.

Yesterday we had Stake Conference in Barcelona and it was such an amazing experience. It was the first stake conference in the new stake center in Barcelona and I have to say, the stake center here tops any meeting house in the church that I've seen anywhere else, haha. It is absolutely gorgeous. I've been there a few times before for Zone Conferences and stuff but I'm just amazed at the building. I'll be sure to send some pictures soon so that you can all agree with me about the building, haha. But we had an Area 70 from England come to speak to us and he had a translator since he didn't speak Spanish. But his talk was powerful and so good. It was more geared toward missionary work though which was really interesting. And it was basically a call to the stake to step up and increase their efforts to help in the work. We're heading back up to Barcelona tomorrow for another training for our zone so I'll be back up there in the Stake Center again, haha.

But thanks for your letters and support back home. It means so much to me and I love hearing about everything that's going on. Remember, that the Lord knows us and loves us. Difficulties in life cannot compare to what our Savior went through. So when things go wrong or we feel down and feel that there is no hope, look at a picture of the Savior and say thank you. Because it is only through Him that we don't have to go through even worse challenges and suffering. So thank Him more instead of complaining. It's something I've come to learn on the mission :)

I love you all!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Request from Elder Mathews' parents: Please pray for Elder Mathews' and Elder Parry's safety. Thank you!

Another week has come and gone and it was a muchhhh better week than the past few.:) This week just flew by and we actually had some good visits and saw some more success this week which has been amazing. I guess I'll start with yesterday since it was the best day, haha. Yesterday was incredibly full. We were running from church to a visit and then another visit, back to church for a fireside, and then to another visit in a neighboring town. What a day! But the best thing that happened was that we set two more baptismal dates with two amazing people. Angelita and Lady were old investigators in the past but they couldn't meet a whole lot so the missionaries dropped them. Well, we decided to try them out and we got in with them. Angelita is a friend of one of the members here, Juana, who we visit a lot because her husband-to-be is a non member and investigator. So we brought them both to help us out on the visit and I'm so glad they came because they were able to help support and answer some questions that Angelita had. The visit was amazing. I felt the presence of the Spirit so strongly and originally we weren't even thinking about extending the invitation to be baptized. But I just felt that I needed to. Especially to Angelita. She at first said no because she was a little nervous and scared because it's hard for her to come to church on Sundays a lot. But I just felt driven to help her with this. A scripture came to my mind in Mosiah 18 about when Alma is teaching the people at the Water's of Mormon and he invites them to be baptized as well and I shared it with her and asked, "What is keeping you from being baptized like these people? You know that this church is true and you know the happiness it brings. So what is holding you back?" She thought about it and said, "I'm not sure to be honest." After bearing testimony, I again invited her and told her that we are here to help her along the way and to help her realize that she is ready. And after the second time, they both accepted. It was an incredible visit mostly because I haven't had a visit like that in a little while unfortunately. But I know without a doubt that the Spirit of the Lord is preparing people everywhere to hear the gospel and we only have to find them.

The rest of the week was pretty crazy as well. On Thursday we left our piso and it was sunny and great out. We went to a visit, left, and it was cloudy and windy. We didn't think much of it until it started to sprinkle. And then it started to pour, hahaha. We didn't have any umbrellas because it was sunny when we left so we were kinda just walking in the rain. Usually I'd be a little upset that I got caught in the cold rain, in church clothes, but for some odd reason I just had a blast! I was just singing "Called to Serve" as we were walking and I was just in the best mood ever!:) But it wasn't fun walking back home that night because we were wet, haha. We went to a visit that we had with Juana and Nestor and they saw us all soaking wet and gave us a towel to wipe off a little, haha. And then they gave me another white shirt to put on! I was wetter than Elder Parry so he just wore the same clothes. But it was so nice of them and totally not necessary, but I was thankful still :)

On a little less of a happy note, this guy we've been avoiding finally found us. Bleh. There's this guy named Chaz who's from Nevada that lives in Mataró and he works here doing something that I don't know what. But Elder Raban and his former companion found him one day and after talking with him decided that he wasn't a good guy to be honest. He was more interested in trying to test our faith and take away our testimonies than to investigate the church. He's marked in our phone as "Chaz. DONT ANSWER!" lol. And he's tried calling a few times. But we just ignore his calls and stuff. But finally the other day, Friday I think, he found us in the train station. And long story short he set up a visit for Wednesday and he told us he'd send us the address via texting. We're just thinking about not going because we just don't feel good when we're around him and I don't want to play with things like that. But we'll see what happens.

Some of you may remember that I said that people mix us up with the Jehovah's Witness people. Well, the other day we were walking down the street when this guy stopped us and said he wanted to ask us some questions about what we believe. He said he was Muslim at first and started talking to us and asking trivial questions to us about God and the Bible and why we preach. I didn't think he was Muslim at all and it turns out he wasn't, haha. He later said, "By the way, I'm a Jehovah's Witness." The questions he asked were worded and formed to make us look worse than them. But to be honest, he sorta failed...miserably, haha. He would ask a question, wait for a little for my response, and then without letting me finish, say something and pull out the Bible and prove how he's right and then move on to some other random question without letting me answer again. I've come to realize that people that try to disprove the church and everything we believe will go to any lengths to do so and that they have no fixed or set way to do it. The questions they may ask are so random, so trivial, and are all over the place and when you disprove them and shut them down, they don't know how to respond. But man, it was quite the experience! And instead of taking my testimony away, it strengthened it because I know what I know because of the testimony which I have developed. And I know these things because I know we have a prophet today that speaks and reveals God's will again. I know the church is true and I want you all to know that. So when someone tries to question your beliefs, just share your sincere testimony because that is one of the only things that they can't take away. It's something that we give up by choice.

Happy Easter!!...yesterday :)

I hope everyone had a great Easter yesterday! Easter here was ok I guess, haha. I guess it's not as big here because there wasn't that much going on. The week before is crazy since it's Semana Santa and they show Christ, His life, and crucifixion and all. But they don't really celebrate the actual day of Easter. Kinda strange. But that's alright. I ate my chocolate bunny anyway :) lol. But this was so great!

We didn't have a fantastic week teaching-wise, but we did just have a great week. Tuesday we missed our bus, yet again, to District meeting, haha. We were there on time and everything and we got on the bus and I tried to use this pass that has 10 trips on it but apparently it doesn't work to District meetings. So I tried to pay with some cash I had and it turns out I didn't have enough. Sooooo we had to get off the bus and wait another hour. I kinda felt dumb but hey it happens. We still made it to District meeting and only five minutes late. Not bad!

That night when we were back in Mataró working, we didn't have anything to do that night. So we decided to pass by some less active members and schedule a visit with them. We were about to leave their building when I just turned around, grabbed the door before it closed, and said, "We're knocking this building." hahaha. And to be honest, it was probably the funnest thing I have ever done. I have no idea why I loved it so much but I was just so happy and upbeat and everything even though soooo many people just shut the door on us lol. It was great! We did get to talk with a few people though but didn't get in to any doors. One lady we were talking to was way nice and we got to meet her mom, too, and we stood there talking for about 20 minutes about the Gospel and then other things just to build a good relationship with them. And probably the thing that made me the happiest out of that whole night was when the lady complimented me on my Spanish! She said, "Wow you speak really well. How long have you been here?" And I told her only six months and she couldn't believe it! She said that I sounded native! hahaha. I kinda just tried to say nawww I still can't speak very well and all that but she just kept going on about it haha. So at least somebody can understand my Spanish and when I talk I don't sound too American lol. I felt bad for Elder Parry though because when she was complimenting me, she paused and turned to him and said, "He needs to practice a bit. He still speaks with a big accent and not as well." I just felt bad because she said it right in front of him, lol. But that's the Spanish people for ya.;)

This past Saturday was el Día de Sant Jordi. It was such a blast. Our ward set up a table and we gave out copies of the Book of Mormon and other pamphlets and stuff for free allllll day. We were there from 9:00am until 9:00pm! We went to a visit at 4:30 but it turns out that they couldn't meet so we stopped by our piso and then came back to the stand we had. It was such a blast to be there with the ward members and to give away books and talk with the people. Some people were nice about saying no, some were just so rude, and then some loved that we were giving away free books, lol. We got a few references from it and we're gonna try to visit them this week so we'll see how that goes. I found that the older ladies were the easiest to contact because they have all the time in the world to read and they also wanted to give the Book of Mormon to a family member. All you had to do was sweet talk them ;) haha But also be sincere about it obviously. It was funny though because we were talking to these two older women and they just fell in love with us and called us guapos (good looking) and all this other stuff lol. It was so much fun and such a great missionary opportunity.

Part of the tradition here the Monday after Easter is for the Godparents to give something called a "mona" to their godchild. A mona is this thing made out of chocolate that is made in the shape of basically anything. I saw a soccer stadium with soccer players, soccer balls, dragons, houses, Sponge Bob, Dora the Explorer, haha. Everything and anything. Some monas have cakes too and some chocolate. Well, one of our less active members, José, decided to give us one! We were just shocked and we were all excited afterwards, haha. It was totally not necessary but I'm not complaining :). What's funny too is that we had just gotten this big cake from one of the members because we had written a thank you note and hid it in her refrigerator, haha. And to thank us for the thank you note, she made us this huge cake that is soooo good. So basically we got loaded down with junk yesterday, haha. And today we're going to a member's house to eat and she's celebrating her birthday. So even more junk, haha. Sorry if I get home and look a little bit bigger around the waist.

In short, it was a great week as you can see. I hope the work picks up and everything though because even though we had lots of other little things happen, the best stuff comes when you're working for the Lord. I'm still working my hard to find those that are prepared to listen to us and to help others come to Christ. But man, it is definitely called work for a reason, haha.;)

I love you all. The Gospel is amazing and changes lives. So open your mouths and share it!

Semana Santa

Bon dia a tots (which means good morning everyone in Catalàn). I hope everything has been going well back home and that the cold is finally leaving and summer is coming along great! Mataró is going fine. This week the temperature dropped a little but it was still gorgeous outside.

It was another pretty tough week here though in Mataró. We've been trying new things to keep the work going and to pick up if we can. We decided to go to some other little towns along the coast and everything that are in our area and we went to one called Premià de Mar. It's a nice, pretty little town and we passed by quite a few old investigators to see if by chance they were home or were still interested in listening. And I gotta say it was a much better day out there. At first it took some convincing to get my companion to want to go but when we got there and had a little success, he ended up loving it, haha. We're actually going back up today because we have a few visits with some of the people that we met. But the rest of the week was tough. We didn't find any other new people this week and our numbers were low yet again. I got an email from my mission president in response to my weekly email to him. I had told him that it's been rough and that we're working hard and doing what we can and in response he sent a nice, short, but much needed message of support. He said basically, "I have no doubt Elder Mathews that there are people waiting to meet you in Mataró and they have been prepared to hear the message you share. The Lord will put them in your path or you in theirs." To some it may not sound like much but that was something I needed. I've been able to have a much better attitude towards the work this week and I know it's because of the much prayer and study on my part and the comfort from our Heavenly Father. This week already looks really good so I'm pretty sure next week's email will be much more upbeat.:)

As the title states, this week is Semana Santa, or Holy Week. Here they celebrate the week up to Easter with processions that portray different aspects of Christ's life and other Catholic aspects of this time of year. I haven't really seen anything yet but it sounds kinda interesting. I'll probably end up sending home some pictures soon. They also have this holiday called San Jordi. It's this Saturday and the guys give a rose to the girls they like/love and the girls give the guys a book. It comes from a legend that this dragon came and was destroying a city and to pacify the dragon, the city would offer up a young woman as a sacrifice. But one year, the king's daughter was chosen and the king sent San Jordi to save her. He killed the dragon and where the blood fell on the ground, a rose bush grew. San Jordi gave one of the roses to her and in turn she gave him a book to record the deed. So that's where it comes from. Our ward here is setting up a stand, which a ton of people do on San Jordi, to give away books. Instead of selling books, we're giving away copies of the Book of Mormon. Good missionary opportunity right? At least we think so. So I'll update you all next week on how that went.

I must say that some things here just bring back floods of memories from home and everything. One of them being sports, haha. We were walking down the street one night and we stopped at a crosswalk. I just turned around just to look around me and I saw this big running store! And let's just say that I was drooling at the window.;) There were a whole ton of running shoes up on the wall with pictures of athletes doing various events and everything and I just kinda zoned out and thought back to all my days on the track and everything. Oh how I miss it. And now that track season is starting, it's even worse, lol. But that's alright. I'll make sure that I get back into running when I get home :).

As a missionary, we kinda stand out from the normal crowd. We walk around in suits and ties or just white shirts and ties. Well, you'd think that we're one of a kind and it would be pretty easy to recognize who we are right? Wrong! It's so frustrating when people think we're Jehovah's Witnesses. We walk down the street, contact somebody, and almost always they ask if we're JWs and of course we say no. I don't really get how they can confuse us though because we have name tags and we don't speak Spanish very well. The JWs go out once in a while, without a name tag, and stay in their own country. It's just crazy frustrating for me because they give us a bad name because everyone tries to avoid the JWs, haha. But that's what happens. And another mix up happened just the other day. We were in a neighboring town and this guy was sitting outside a bar and called to us. We went over and he basically asked if we were with the CIA, hahahaha. He asked if we worked for George Bush, too, and were looking for Bin Laden, lol. It was soooo funny and we just told him that we were missionaries and that we don't really worry about Bin Laden. It was hilarious!

Yesterday in church was probably my favorite and one of the best. We got there early and we were talking to people when one of the Bishopric members came up and said, "Elders, one of the speakers isn't going to be here. So can one of you give the talk?" Of course we said yes and originally Elder Parry was gonna give it. But after talking to me for a while I said that I'd give it. I had no idea what I was going to say but I said a quick prayer and started thinking. A flood of ideas came to my mind along with a couple scripture references and I just had a plain thought out in my head to talk about our Savior, Jesus Christ. I got up and actually gave a decent talk, I feel. I felt the Spirit guiding my words and the things I said. I said things in a way that I normally wouldn't say them in Spanish, but I knew that what I was saying was what the people needed. It was a great experience and the Spirit filled the room and I know that the members felt it. But to go on top of all that, I had to play the stinkin’ piano!!! And for those of you who know me, I don't play the piano, lol. I just played the top hand and that's all. Let's just say that I'll be practicing a bit every now and then just in case, haha.

I love you all and I know that the Lord lives. Stay strong and know that you are all children of a loving Heavenly Father :)