Hola Mes de Junio

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

¡Visça Barça!

I'm not sure how well the title will show up in English since it's got a Catalan figure in it , haha. But oh well. As the title indicates, FC Barcelona won the Champion's League on Saturday night! Obviously I can't watch the games as a missionary, but we definitely heard all the screams and yells outside and in our piso, haha. It was great! I remember passing bars full of people watching the game and then when we were heading home we just all of a sudden hear a huge eruption of noise and people were cheering, clapping, lighting off little bombs and just making tons of noise. So that's how we know if Barcelona scores, haha. We were planning in our piso later when, once again, we heard all the noise. I think I've mentioned in earlier emails that we have a family here who lovessss Madid and they wanted Barcelona to lose. But since they didn't I sorta rubbed it in a little, haha. They know that it's all for fun though so they take it well and do the same to me when Madrid wins, or whatever. But enough about soccer.

Yesterday I hit my 8 month mark! Even though some days just seem to drag by when you don't have a visit go through and all that, but I can't believe that another month has just flown by. Luckily I still have quite a ways to go so I have nothing to worry about :) But these two years are just ticking by a little too fast sometimes, haha. The experiences that you have out here can never be topped by anything else in your life. We just finished the most successful month in the history of the Spain Barcelona Mission (at least by what we have on record, haha). It truly has been a month of miracles and it has been incredible to be a part of it. Although, it sorta seems like the month of miracles forgot about Mataró though, haha. While other cities are seeing people progress and grow in the gospel, we've been fighting to find people like that. So Elder Parry and I decided to fast and pray for our own little month of miracles here in Mataró. There is power that comes through fasting and prayer and sometimes that's the only way some things come. So we start today after eating and finish tomorrow. And then the month of June starts Wednesday and so does our month of miracles!:) I'll keep you all posted on how it all goes and I'm sure it will be full of miracles :).

Speaking of little miracles, the other day I was here in Mataró with Elder Swenson on exchanges. He's a brand new missionary who has only been here for about a week and a half now. But we were sitting on a bench when this lady comes up to us and says hi. We started talking and she said that her brother had been a missionary years ago and that everyone in her family is a member but her, and they all live back in South America somewhere. Her brother is moving out here sometime soon and so we told her that we'd love to meet with them both and get to know them and she said she'd love to.:) She owns a candy store here too which is really close to where we do our shopping so we pass by now and then. She's a great lady and has a lot of potential to progress. We just have to make sure we can get in with her with her work schedule, haha. That's always the struggle with people. But the exchanges were an interesting experience. Elder Swenson is from Salt Lake City and is a big Utah fan, haha. But we still managed to get along.:) Like I said he's brand new and doesn't speak the language well...at all. I kinda feel bad for him because it's frustrating if you can't speak or understand. I can sorta relate but I was fortunate and blessed with the ability to pick the language up fairly quick. But he struggled to talk and understand and he was getting frustrated. I just told him it comes with time and study. You have to be patient with yourself because there's no point in complaining because you can't just learn the language in two days. It was also a struggle having him get up in the morning. He just has the hardest time getting up and we kinda missed the train to switch companions again because he wouldn't get up! And since we missed it we had to wait another hour. I was a little angry to be honest because he had time to get up and ready and just didn't. But that's all done and over with and I'm back in Mataró with Elder Parry and that's all that matters, haha.

These next few weeks are going to be sooo hectic. We have to travel a ton to Barcelona for a few meetings, do interviews in other parts of our district, go to Zaragoza to get Elder Parry's residency stuff done, and it's just going to be crazy having to travel around so much. And it also means that these last few weeks of the transfer are going to fly by again. The weeks always go by super fast when you have conferences and meetings and stuff haha. I'm not sure why though. But that's about it for the week.

I love you all and thanks for your love and support :) Hope you all have a fantastic week! :)

Oh There's Sunshine in my Soul Today...Literally

Well, as the title would suggest, it's been quite sunny out this past week. And I have some pretty fancy tan lines going now, haha. I got one from my watch, which is probably my worst one, one from my shirt collar, and then my sleeves. I'm grateful for the good weather and the sun and everything, but it makes it so bad when we have to walk in it during the day, haha. And it's not even summer or even that hot out yet! It's only been around 25º C (I'm not sure what that is in ºF anymore lol) and it gets in the mid 30s in the summer. But you know what I say to that? Bring it on!

The week overall, besides the great weather, was a little on the downside. We had a great week scheduled full of visits with investigators. But one by one our visits fell through. I counted yesterday the number of visits that didn't happen and it was half. I have never had that happen before and it was crazy at how many there were. So I don't think I need to really say this but by Saturday we were pretty discouraged. We had only two visits set up on Saturday because we had a ward activity set up for the afternoon to go to. And, as you could probably guess, the second visit on Saturday fell through. I've got the best luck in the world. Our activity was missionary related. We set up a table with copies of the Book of Mormon and pamphlets and cards on a street corner and then brought a big display that the ward made a few years ago and we stood there for a few hours doing contacts and sharing our beliefs with people. I have to say too that I didn't think the activity was going to go well at all. It wasn't planned out well, we had no idea who was going to come and Elder Parry & I just felt like it was going to be a waste of time. But I can tell you that Heavenly Father heard our earnest and frequent prayers. We prayed so much for success and miracles with that activity because we desperately needed them. And you know, He answered us with miracles. We received sooo many references of people that wanted us to pass by, we handed out copies of the Book of Mormon, we shared pamphlets, and we got the ward to help out with us. Obviously some people don't want to listen. But the people that do listen make up for all the ones that don't. It's incredible to see the hand of the Lord in this work. He knows so much better than we do and I'm never going to complain and doubt again.

This past week I also said goodbye to another companion who went home :( Good old Elder Southwick from Utah went home on Wednesday. Luckily I was able to say goodbye to him and see him off one more time. Although I was only with him for one transfer in Pamplona, it was a great experience. He was also the Assistant to the President when I came in the mission so he was one of the first missionaries I saw too, haha. Slowly but surely all my companions are leaving, haha. I've already seen three go home and I got a ways to go to say goodbye to a few others thank goodness.

Yesterday in church we just got loaded down with food from members hahaha. I have no idea why either, but I’m not complaining :) The Relief Society president just pulled me aside and gave me a cake for some reason and just said, "Thank you for all you do." She’s such a sweet lady and I have no idea why she gave us a cake but its sooooo good; and then another member, our ward pianist, pulled me aside and brought me to his car because he had a "little something" for us; and then he pulls out this big shopping bag full of food for us! I was just like my heck! What did we do to deserve all this?? lol. But man I thanked him a lot; and then to add to it all, Bishop’s mom invited us over to eat. So we are very well taken care of here, haha. Gotta love the church :)

I think I mentioned a guy named Paul last week in my email but I can't quite remember, haha. He's a man from England and he's dating the sister of our Bishop here in Mataró. And we're lucky enough to be teaching him! He is such a great guy, too! He loves learning about the church and he just soaks up what we tell him. We told him something once and he just stops and says, "You know, that makes so much sense! I've always wondered that but never really asked or anything. But now I know!" And it was so incredible at how focused he was and willing to learn. He's come to church a few times now and we still have to translate for him haha but he still loves it. He's reading in the Book of Mormon and he said yesterday that he wants to finish 1 Nephi by our next visit! Talk about dedicated! haha. Those are the types of investigators that missionaries just love! I had a few in Pamplona but it's been a little harder to find them here. But I feel we've got one right now and a few more on the way :) The work is incredible here. Some of you may wonder how it can be so great when it sounds so hard and discouraging. But you know, that's what makes it so great. I know why I'm here. I know what I'm doing. And I know that the message I share is true and will bless the lives of thousands of people for generations. When we find one person who receives the gospel, it makes up for the fifty who have said no. When we enter into a home without a visit, it makes up for the hundreds of slammed doors. This work is truly the work of miracles and of the Lord. Our mission has been so blessed this month and we have seen more miracles and success than we've seen in years. A saying that I actually came up with the other day really is so true: Somos pocos, pero somos fuertes (we are few, but we are strong). Yes we are only around 100 young men and women teaching the restored gospel to millions. But we are mighty and we have Heaven’s help.

I love you all and I know that this church is true. Thank you for your support and prayers and know that I love you all!

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!