Do you believe in miracles?

Good morning everyone back home!!!! This week has been such an incredible week! But it did not start off incredible by any means, ha-ha. It was quite the opposite of that. Visits were falling through, things were going well, and we were struggling in the work. As missionaries we set goals every month, every week, and every day actually. And we strive to achieve those goals throughout the day and week and month. Well, we weren't accomplishing our goals this past week. We were a little frustrated because we know that as we set these goals and work hard to achieve them, the Lord helps us. So Thursday night and Friday morning we prayed and told Heavenly Father that we were doing our part and we were going to continue doing our part and continue to be exactly obedient, work diligently, and go forward with faith. But we told him that we needed His help a lot if we were to achieve these goals. And you know what? He did His part! He blessed us with so many incredible miracles and blessings that our prayers were pretty much nothing but thanks Sunday night. We achieved all of our goals when just two days before we didn't think we were even going to come close. And we reached them and even surpassed some of them. It has helped me to realize, once again, that when we set righteous goals and work and do our part to bring to pass the salvation of God's children, He will help us in this work.

This week one of the best visits ever happened. This man, Walter is the husband of a member lady and he's not a member. We've been working with him ever since I got here and apparently the other Elders before me have been meeting before that too. He's been invited to be baptized so that he and his family can start this path together and someday be sealed as an eternal family but he's repeatedly said no. But I can testify that the visit we had with him was guided by the Holy Ghost. I felt it's presence in that visit stronger than in many other visits I've had on my mission and I know that he, his wife, and his kids felt it as well. The words I said did not come from me. I felt that the words were given to me and I didn't have to think about what to say. I had filled out a survey about missionary work for all the mission and one of the questions in it was about how often I act upon impressions from the spirit in lessons and unfortunately, I couldn't answer "always". And that question popped into my mind during that visit. And immediately after the question popped into my mind, a thought came to change the lesson completely from what we were currently teaching. And so I decided to follow it. And what followed was an outpouring of the Spirit and this man who had previously denied to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized to start a new life and to accept Christ as his Savior said that he would prepare to be baptized on November 12! It was an incredible experience that I'll never forget because I was not the one teaching and neither was my companion. The Spirit of God was the one speaking and we were merely instruments through which he worked.

The rest of the week was great too though. On a less "spiritual" note, the diet that we did this past week is now over and I'm back to eating normal :) ha-ha. Oh how I missed normal food! I do eat less and healthier actually which is my plan for the rest of my mission. This past week I lost two kilos which is about four pounds, ha-ha. Crazy huh!! But I still feel and look the same. At least I think so. But I'm not that worried about that anymore. I'll worry about it when I get home, ha-ha. I also got a little sick this past week. I've had a sore throat for about two weeks now and an annoying cough that drives me nuts at night because it wakes me up. But other than that I feel great! I still go out and work and everything and I think it's actually starting to go away....hopefully, ha-ha.

Oh! Funny story, ha-ha. Last night we had a visit in another town and we had to take a train to get there in time. Well, we missed the first train because our visit before that went too long. So we called and pushed back the visit an hour and caught a train to one town and switched trains to get to the town we wanted. Butttttt the only problem is that we got on the wrong train, ha-ha-ha. So we went to a completely different part of our area, had to ask where we were, cancel the visit, buy another ticket, and just go back home for the night, ha-ha. Talk about a crazy little train ride. And that's never happened to me! I never get on the wrong train! lol. I'm not sure what happened but now we know that we should double check before just getting on :)

Well, that's about it for me this week. It was fantastic and full of incredible memories. I love you all and pray for you all every day. Take care and I hope that things go fantastic this week!

I Know

I feel like I say this a lot but this week has been so good, ha-ha. I'm not sure how I can keep saying that the weeks are always good and you all probably don't really think I'm serious. But I have to say, it takes a bit to make a week terrible and very little to make a week fantastic.:) As missionaries, we talk with so many people every day. We teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and help others come unto Christ through baptism by someone holding the restored priesthood authority of God. Some people choose to exercise their agency to not accept the message we share but on the other hand many others do. When we walk through town, have our visits, knock on doors, or whatever it is and no one seems to want to listen, it can get a little discouraging. So you may ask, "Why do you keep doing it if you know that you're going to get 'no' for an answer so often?" We do it because we know that there are people who are just waiting for us. We cannot afford to let a day or a minute go by without searching for those that have been prepared by our Heavenly Father to receive the message of the restoration. And that is why we keep going. There is no better sound than that of hearing someone say "I've been waiting for this my entire life." The miracles that God brings forth are incredible and make every moment of these two years worth every door slammed in the face, every person that yells profanity at us, every person that says that we don't know a thing about life and about God because we're only 20 boys from the States. But let me ask you something: Do you think a grown man would know any better than I do now that God exists? If a person doesn't want to know that there is God who loves us when he is 30 years old, what would make him want to say that there is one at 90? I know that we are children of our Heavenly Father and that He loves us so much and knows us better than we know ourselves. By the time I turn 30, then 50, and hopefully even 70, I will be able to say the same things that I know now: that there is a superior being and he knows us and he is our Heavenly Father.

This past week was a week full of miracles and I have no idea how people can say that there is no God when all of this happens every day. One such miracle happened as we were sitting on a bench waiting for a member to come meet with us. We had a visit scheduled for that night and we needed an adult man to come with us to the visit or we couldn't enter the house because of mission rules. We had called everyone we could think of and we had no idea who to call next. About 40 minutes before the visit we both decided to pray so that we could somehow either have the visit or do what Heavenly Father needed us to do at that time. We both felt the impression to call a member who we hadn't thought about and we don't really use in visits much because of his schedule and where he lives, but it turns out he could come. So as we were waiting in front of the church on a bench for him, we watched the time tick by. We understood that he would probably come a little later because he lives a bit far so it didn't surprise us when he was late. We were sitting there still, 20 minutes late, and growing a little impatient. As we were there though, talking in English, a girl walked by. I didn't really pay any attention because people always walk by. But all of a sudden she just stopped and turned to look at us. She paused for about a second or two and then asked, "Where are you both from?" in English! We began to talk with her and it turns out she's from Texas! She came to study for her master's degree in teaching English as a second language. She apparently had a cousin who served a mission and she said that she's always wanted to know what he really did and what the church was. We set up a visit and we are so excited to meet with her. I don't know what will happen with her. She may accept the gospel or not. But I can't help but feel that the impression we had to call that member wasn't just a random feeling. We felt to call him because we knew he'd probably be late and Heavenly Father knew that we needed to meet in front of the chapel at a certain time to find one of His beloved daughters. I know that we are cared for and watched over even when we don't know it. And I know, more than ever before, that we have a loving Heavenly Father.

I love you all so much and I know I wrote a little differently today. But for some reason I just felt like I needed to. Have a great week and I'll see ya next week!!!!

October:)

I absolutely loveeee General Conference! It has become one of the things that I look forward to most out here and I can't wait until it comes again in April. For those of you that don't know what General Conference is, it's a worldwide meeting/broadcast of the church that happens twice a year. During the conference, we listen to the words of the Prophet of God, the Twelve Apostles, and other leaders of the church. It is such an incredible experience to listen to them, to watch them, and to learn at their hands. They truly are men and women called of God to lead and direct His church on the earth and there is no way you can know that unless you listen to their words. Unfortunately, I have to wait another six months :( But it goes by fast anyway so it'll be here in no time.:)

This past week was pretty interesting to be honest. Not as successful as we had planned but it did have its good parts. One of those was that I got to play a violin!!!!!! I've gone a year now without touching one and I walked into the chapel one day and saw a few members practicing a musical number and one of them had a violin in her hands. I just stood there in shock almost because I haven't seen a violin my entire mission, ha-ha. Instruments seem to be pretty uncommon here. Well, there's always guitars and pianos, ha-ha, but hardly any violins. So I asked to play and of course she said yes. To them it sounded great apparently. But man I was just like, IJ It made me miss my violin at home. So I'll make sure I play when I get home :).

This past week I hit my one year mark!!!! It was crazy. And now everything is just downhill meaning it’ll just go by so fast from here which is sad :( It's pretty much a push to work harder because I know that time is ticking down and it'll be over before I want it to. But we sorta celebrated my one year mark on the 29^th, ha-ha. We went up to our terrassa at the top of our building and I burned a tie, ha-ha. It was a tie that my trainer gave to me so I burned that one. Not sure why that one though. I am sure my Mom is happy it’s not one of the ties she got me.:)

Tarragona is such an incredible place. It was an ancient Roman city and it still has some ancient Roman ruins which is awesome! But the city itself is just amazing. It's a lot different than Mataró because it's just a lot bigger and the ward is much bigger as well. It's also a bit different with four Elders in the same apartment but it's been pretty fun :). We all get along well and we like to joke around together but obviously in a good missionary way :) ha-ha. There are lots of people from all over the place here: Spain obviously, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Columbia, and wherever else. It's a big melting pot, ha-ha. It's kinda funny because sometimes before we talk to someone in the street we'll try to guess where they're from and then during the contact we'll eventually ask them and then see who wins, ha-ha. It's pretty fun. We've been finding families to teach and other people that the Lord has been preparing and I'm so excited to be working here. I know that there are so many miracles that are just waiting to happen here and I'm so grateful that I can be a part of them.

The people here are so great especially the members. I actually think they're too good, ha-ha. It seems like it's almost a contest to see who can schedule an eating visit with the missionaries first! We've eaten with members every day and I barely have to buy anything to have in our apartment since we don't really eat a lot in our apartment. So it keeps shopping pretty simple, ha-ha. But it also means that I have to make sure I don't eat a ton at home since the members just stuff us full. They don't seem to understand what, "I'm full" means, lol. But it's great!

I love this work and I love Spain. This place is so great. I want to come back so bad after my mission and just see the people I've taught and lived with again. I guess I'd better start saving my pennies, ha-ha.

I love you all and miss you lots! Hope you all loved conference and have a great week!

One Year Down....:(

This week was so great, but so busy at the same time. We were all over the place: running to visits, running to catch the bus or the train, we went from one town to another. It was crazy but I loved it. And my gosh, I have never eaten so much! We had an eating visit with somebody every day! And for those that don't think that's something impressive, I have never had that on my mission so far, ha-ha. So for me, that was pretty sweet. The only bad part is my so called "diet" is probably going down the drain now ha-ha. Oh well. My companion and I go running in the morning every other day now so hopefully that'll help. But this week was just so incredible. We found so many new people to teach that have so much potential. We had people randomly come up to us and ask us what we were and all that. It was just incredible. The city itself is a bit bigger than Mataró. Mataró is bigger area-wise but Tarragona has more people. And since there are four missionaries here, we divide the city and the towns around it. There's one town called Reus that's actually pretty big. I'd say it's almost like Mataró but we spend a lot of time there because most of the members actually live there and a lot of people we teach live there. It's been great though.

We were in Reus this past week after an eating visit and we were walking to a bus stop and I saw this guy walking towards us. I wanted to stop and talk to him but at the last second I chickened out, ha-ha. I was beating myself up afterwards because I didn't talk to him. But as we were waiting for the bus, I saw him coming back! So I had a second chance! But instead of me going to him, he came to us! And the first thing he said to me was, "I like the fact that you smile in the streets. It shows that you represent the church well and the message you carry." I asked him if he was a member and it turns out he was but he was less active. The other Elders don't know him either so it looks like he's been less active for a long time. But it was pretty neat because he said that we can pass by whenever we want and that he has a brother that's not a member. So maybe there's some potential there. Right before he left he said to me, "Make sure you keep smiling. It really makes that big of a difference”. That was a really awesome experience! I never knew that people notice little things like that. At least I know what helps :).

Church on Sunday was great and actually pretty interesting. My very first Sunday I had to translate! Ha-ha-ha. This family from Switzerland came to visit and then this German family as well. So I sat behind them and translated the meeting into English for them. Luckily they all spoke English. The German guy actually had to translate everything that I said back into German. So it was like a double translation, ha-ha. Hopefully I did ok. I got up to introduce myself for five minutes in front of everyone and it went well. There were a good amount of people there and we actually don't really fit in the chapel. Hopefully we can get another soon. It's a two story building and not too bad. The church here in Spain with the chapels, rents out parts of buildings instead of buying their own land and building a chapel. Now that the wards are growing, there's not enough room and we have the problem of finding new locations big enough. So, that's always fun.

This week is my one-year mark and I can't believe it. I cannot believe that this year is already over and that I'm halfway there. It's gone by too fast for me and I'm not exactly sure I want it to end, ha-ha. I miss family and friends, of course. But there's something out here about the work that is just worth everything in the world and I'd love to be here for a lot longer. But of course, I have to go home and move forward in life. I have to study, get a job, etc. Man. I'll enjoy this while it lasts :).

I love and miss you all and I hope you enjoy conference this weekend!

Tarragona!!!

I guess I should start off by saying that I've been transferred!!! I was so sad to leave Mataró though. :( I was seriously heart broken saying goodbye to some people and it was really hard. We got a text from our leaders saying that the calls for transfers were going to take place Saturday night from 8:30 to 9:30. So we were just waiting to see if we would get a call. The time ticked on and 9:30 came and went and Elder Carroll and I were just thinking ‘sweet, we're both staying!’ But then at 10:30 we got a phone call saying that I was leaving :( I told a bunch of people that I was leaving and we had a lot of visits Sunday and Monday to say some goodbyes. I took some pictures with some people to save for memories and we had quite a few eating visits, haha. I was pretty full Monday night. But one of my all time favorite families in Mataró gave me a few little presents, haha. They gave me some marking pens for marking my scriptures and other things, a nice written letter that really meant a lot to me, and a jar of peanut butter!!!! Hahaha. For those of you that don't know, peanut butter is almost non-existent here and it costs a bit of money. So they went out of their way to buy me a jar. I was so happy and excited when I saw it, haha. They will forever be in my heart and prayers and I told them that if there is a family that I want to visit when I return to Mataró, it's them. Who knew that you could get so attached to people? I feel like I'm leaving home again, haha. But I know the Lord needs me in another part of Spain.

Speaking of that, I've been transferred to Tarragona!!! It's a sweet looking city and I'm so excited. There are four missionaries here now instead of just two which is exciting. My companion is Elder Tyler and he's from Ogden, Utah. He's been out the same amount of time as Elder Carroll who I just left. So I'm basically picking up right where I left off, haha. I'll include the address at the bottom.

But this past week in Mataró was crazy. Elder Carroll got pretty sick and we even ended up having to go to the hospital. Wednesday morning we had Zone Conference and I was all excited to go but Elder Carroll woke up and I asked him how he felt. He said not good so I told him to take his temperature and he had a fever and so I said that we weren't going. He woke up later and his fever had gone up to 102.4ish and then an hour later it was up to 103.5. So that's when we really started worrying. I called a member to take us to the hospital and they came and man, Elder Carroll was not doing well. We got to the hospital and the doctors took care of him, and luckily his fever went away with the meds they gave him through his IV. They think he ate something bad because he also had a little bathroom problem...no details, haha. So we were told to stay inside for a few days which was not fun. It was ridiculously boring, haha. You can only sit and read for so long and then after that there's not much to do. Luckily, he got better by Sunday. But talk about a great way to end the transfer :P With me, all is well. I continue to eat healthier, work hard, and all is well out here in Spain. The temperature is slowly starting to change and it's getting a little colder outside. But I'm sorta excited because I love winter out here :) Mostly because I get to wear my coat which I absolutely loveeeee. But anyway, all is well :)

I love and miss you all so much but time flies. Next week I hit a year man! I cannot believe it and I am not going to count down, haha. It'll go by too fast. But until next week!

Here's my address:

Elder Justin Mathews

C/Rambla Nova 125,3,3

43001 Tarragona

Spain