Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy 4th of July!!! It's pretty quiet down here mostly because the rest of Spain could care less that it's our Independence Day. We were going to have a Zone BBQ in the Stake Center in Barcelona today but that got cancelled last minute because something happened and we couldn't get the Stake Center. Soooo we sorta just decided to chill here in Mataró which is fine with me. I like to just sit and relax sometimes at home. I even take naps on some Preparation Days when I have time. :) Today might be one of those days, haha. But since I didn't have a lot of time to write last week I'll update a bit about what's been going on. I'm training a brand new Elder, Elder Carroll! He's from outside of Dallas, Texas and he's very excited to be out working. He's got a pretty good foundation for the language already, which is fantastic! But obviously he's still learning and sometimes he doesn't understand what people say and he gets frustrated a bit. I have to keep telling him to be patient because he keeps telling me that he's going to learn the language by this transfer. That's all great and stuff but it doesn't really happen like that. The Gift of Tongues is real and we really do have the help of the Lord learning the language, but it just takes time. It'll take him a few months before he'll be able to understand almost everything and say almost everything so I just gotta keep telling him to be patient and not to beat himself up all the time. So far we've gotten along well.

This past week has also been a week of miracles. One of them was a family we found. A few weeks ago my former companion and I received a reference from a contact we did on the bus. We've been trying to get in contact with this guy but we hadn't for a few weeks. But as we were just doing contacts on this one street, I saw a dad, a mom, and a little boy walking up the street and I had the strongest impression to go talk to them. I first asked if they wanted help with their groceries since they had just gone shopping and they said no but then I just changed it to talking about the church, haha. Tricky huh? ;) But as we were talking they said that we could pass by again and share more about our message and I started writing down their address and everything and then I realized that they were the reference that we had been hunting for for those past few weeks! It was incredible! The Lord put us in their path so that we could find them.:) I know that the Lord's hand is always in this work and that I have the great blessing to see that every day. I would go on and just keep talking about these miracles but I don't think you all want to sit at the computer for about three hours, haha. But this work is amazing. It's so amazing that I put blisters in my feet, lol. I've never had problems my whole mission until this past week when they got pretty bad. On both my feet I got these deep blisters on the balls of my feet and it hurt so bad to walk. One of our members found out and she offered to help me with them and of course I said no. It's my feet! haha. And I didn't wanna gross her out :) But the next day it just hurt too much and I asked for her help although I was a little bit embarrassed. So we went over and she took a little razor blade and some other stuff and went to work. And now they don't hurt nearly as bad. I gotta thank her somehow. I got some great pictures from it as well, haha. But man what a week.

Today we'll be listening to some good ol USA music from MoTab :) So I hope you all have a great and fantastic week. I love you all so much and I know the Lord is watching over us here on the mission and you back home.

Entrenador

Sorry for the delay on the email. Things have been crazy the past few days because it's been transfer week and you know what?...I'm training!!! President called Saturday and told me that I'd be training a brand new Elder in Mataró. To be honest I was a bit nervous and scared because I didn't know how capable I'd be. I still feel that way, haha. But I am so excited to be with my new companion, Elder Carroll. He is such a great missionary and already knows so much about the language and the gospel. It's incredible! He's from the Dallas, Texas area, which is pretty sweet. And since I'm training that means my address stays the same :) Unfortunately, I have to keep this relatively short because we have to get out and work and we have lots to do to get Elder Carroll situated. But I'll have lots more to write on Monday the 4th of July! :)

Love you all!

Happy Father's Day!:)

Well, I hope everyone had a good Father's Day yesterday! :) Even though some of you may have had some little celebrations or whatever, it was just a normal day for me back here, haha. But Happy Father's Day yesterday anyway!

Along with all the crazy things that have gone on here, summer has arrived:P. It's been pretty hot which is not fun to walk in, I must say. It hasn't been hotter than back home to be honest and it's actually about the same as it is back home in the summer, but just add walking around in pants and a shirt and tie all day every day, haha. But it's fun and I love it :) Some people think I'm crazy when I think that getting stuck in the rain or in the heat and sweating my butt off is fun but you know, you never get so much joy in serving others at any other time in your life.:) When you know that you are helping others to come unto Christ through the Restored Gospel, nothing else matters. Now, just because I feel that way definitely does not mean we had the best week ever, haha. In fact, it's quite the opposite. We had a terrrrrible week with visiting people and teaching lessons, haha. But the thing that matters is your attitude and how much you lose yourself in the work of the Lord. Some of the days this past week just crawled by and never seemed to end. But yesterday, as if to bless us for enduring a rough week, the Lord blessed us with some small miracles that just made everything amazing.:) We went down to the train station yesterday to visit a brand new member who moved from Malaga and we went, bought our train ticket, and were waiting when all of a sudden Elder Parry looks at me and says, "I left my agenda at home and it has all his info in it." So we had to turn around and go back home real quickly to grab his agenda. While we were waiting at the light to cross the street I noticed this man next to me staring at my name tag. I was about to turn and start talking to him but then he just came up to me and said, "Where's your church?" It may not sound like anything to you but those types of things are miracles out in the mission field. His wife is apparently a member but we don't have any records of her anywhere. This man, Miguel, is from Mexico and I think has met with missionaries before. He at least knows about the church a little. We got his number and he said we could call and set up a visit anytime. So you better believe we're going to do it, haha. Another little miracle was when we were on the bus going up to visit a less active member. This Dominican lady got on the bus with us with her two little boys and they were standing right next to us. The littlest boy, José, was playing with a cell phone and so it was easy to break the ice with her. We just started talking and we had planned to get off on a certain stop but both Elder Parry and I felt like we should get off at the same stop as her, which meant going a few more minutes on the bus. After getting off we asked her if she'd ever seen missionaries like us before and she actually said yes and that she's wanted to talk to them before but they've always been so serious so she never did! She gave us her address without having to ask her and she told us to come by. It was incredible for us!;) The best things about the mission are finding entire families who want to learn about the Gospel. So I'm sure next week I'll have some fun stories about those visits.:)

To add to all the stuff yesterday, I had to give a talk on the spot in church, haha. About two minutes before starting our Sacrament meeting, the second councilor in the Bishopric came up and asked me if I could talk and of course I had to say yes, haha. And on top of that I had to play piano again.:) So the whole time I was up there I was just praying because I had absolutely no idea what I was going to say. The talk before me was about two minutes which meant we had a longgggg way to go in the meeting still, haha. I grabbed my scriptures and as I walked past Bishop he said, "Ten minutes Elder Mathews." So add on some more pressure right there, haha. I still had no idea what I was going to talk about for ten minutes when I got to the stand. But as soon as I opened my mouth, the words came. I had nothing prepared, nothing really thought out very well, but I know that the Lord fills our mouths with His words. There's a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that says that we shall be given in the very hour what we should say. I've always just applied that to teaching investigators and non-members and never really thought that it could happen when talking to members before. But it was such a neat experience for me to have my mouth filled with the words that the Lord needed me to say. It goes to show that when we do our part and we study the words of the prophets and the scriptures, our Heavenly Father can bring those things to our remembrance and make us instruments in His hands. It was such a neat spiritual experience for me!:)

But now I guess I can talk a little more about the "less spiritual", haha. This is the last week of transfers so if you send a letter here this week, I may or may not get it if I get transferred. So heads up, haha.

This Friday is also another holiday in all of Catalunya and they have fireworks and everything. So I'm not quite sure what to expect and stuff but I'm sure we'll have a fun experience with it all, haha. A member family invited us to their house with a bunch of members for a little get together Friday for the holiday but we'll see if we go or if we can even go at all.

I love you all and I know that these past 9ish months have gone by so much faster than I could have ever imagined. Another school year is over and summer is here again. I love you all and I know that the Lord is watching over you all :)

What a Week!

This week was probably by far the craziest and busiest week ever, haha, and I'm not even kidding. This past week we had to go to Barcelona then travel to another city to do a baptismal interview for an investigator, then on Wednesday we had to go alllll the way to Zaragoza for Elder Parry's residency and we didn't get back until way late and that was a crazy event in and of itself! And then just all the visits we had and today were just all over the place! But let me talk about Zaragoza. We had to get up at 5:00 a.m. to catch our train in Barcelona at 7:30. So we get down to the train station in Mataró at 6:00 and see that the next train leaves at 6:45! There was no way that we'd be able to make our train in Barcelona if we waited. So Elder Parry said, "Well, there's always a taxi." haha and that's exactly what we did. We caught a taxi from Mataró to Barcelona and I gotta say that I'm soooooo glad I didn't have to pay. It cost Elder Parry over 50 euros!!! But we made it at least. The train ride was about two hours and uneventful and then we went to the police station so Elder Parry could renew his residency card to stay in Spain. Well, after all this whole mess and running around we had to wait for almost four hours. Elder Parry went inside this other part of the building and I had to wait outside because they wouldn't let me in with him. So I sat outside in this waiting area that had no chairs and sat on this ledge that was probably a foot wide for four hours reading a Spanish dictionary, haha. It was the longest four hours of my life and it was soooo boring. But finally we made it out. And then to add to the hectic day, we had to catch another taxi to the train station in Zaragoza to make our train in time because if we missed a train we had to pay for it out of our own pocket. Well, …. we didn't make it, haha. So we paid for another ticket and to be honest, we were both a little frustrated and angry but there's no point in complaining because what's done is done (lo hecho hecho está). But my goodness that was a crazy day! We got back around 8:00 and only had time for one visit but at least we were able to have any at all! But enough about that. Thinking about it makes my blood rush again, haha.

But today was awesome!!! We went to this place called Monserrat and it was way up in the mountains. It was soooo neat and we went with Maria, Tania, and Jorge (some new members from not too long ago). We saw the Cathedral and the monastery up in the mountains and it was just an incredible view. And don't worry, I took a whole ton of pictures to send home :) The only sad part was that we couldn't stay as long as we would have liked because we had to make it back here to Mataró in time to go back out and work. But it was such an awesome experience and I wish you could all have been there to see the view and everything.:) It was breathtaking! I'll just let you all wait for the pics though :) haha.

The work is going great though. This week was a much better week for us. Even though we were gone for a lot of the week, we taught more lessons than any other week that I've been here with Elder Parry. And we have an investigator with a baptismal date for the 25th of June!!! His name is Abel and he's actually from Paris, France! But he speaks and understands Spanish very well. It's a little tricky teaching him though because he has no Christian background whatsoever. He hadn't even seen a Bible until we showed it to him! But we've been teaching him and he's so open to us and wants to learn so much. There was one visit this past week that was so frustrating though because I thought we were explaining things well to him but he just wasn't getting it! So the only thing I could do was pray and that's exactly what I did. I was praying during the whole visit and then all of a sudden when we were answering another one of his questions, he burst out, "Oh! It all makes sense now!" hahaha! I have no idea what we said or what his original question was but he just clicked like that and I know that Heavenly Father helped us in that visit. It was incredible to just see everything click like that for him when just five minutes before he had been so confused. It was my little miracle for the week :) Unfortunately, I have to go now. The work is calling and there are many more people who need this gospel and the hope that it brings.

I love you all soooo much and I miss you all. Que sigais fieles y fuertes. Os quiero!

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