Cannot wait until Winter :)

This week was a scorcher! It was sunny and hot all week long. Even the people here were telling us that it was a really hot week for them. Now, it wasn't anything outrageous but when you're outside, it feels pretty ridiculous, haha. I can't remember what day this week but apparently it got over 41ºC (I think that's around 103ºF or something) and we could tell. And to add to the craziness, we played soccer with our ward and some investigators on Saturday in the good ol blazing heat. I was sweating pretty good afterwards and during. But it was soooo worth it. I haven't played a good game in so long and it felt good to play again :) I got to score a few goals and I gotta say that some were pretty sweet. But I am definitely out of shape, haha. Time to start doing more in the morning exercises. It was still a great opportunity to play and have some investigators come to meet some members in a setting that's not so overwhelming. They loved it and hopefully they can come back to play :). At least I know I want to play, haha.

Like I said earlier, it was a way hot week and for some reason we had to do a lot more running in it this week than in any other week on my mission so far. And when I say we went running, I mean we had to run to visits or the train station or the bus in our shirts and ties. I felt so disgusting pretty much every day and I ended up taking showers at night as well. They weren't lying when they said that the real heat of summer comes in August here, haha. We went to this one town called Blanes, which is way up north in our area and we were working there and we realized that we had to catch the train in time to get to another visit back in Mataró. So we had to run for 20ish minutes up and down hills and through the streets of a town that I had never visited before. It was a miracle that we didn't get lost and that we made our train, haha. It was awesome. But man we were soaking wet and just standing in the sun waiting for the air-conditioned train. We did get to our visit in time but not without a little bit of work and sweat, haha. And our work has been paying off because we have a baptism this week!!!! I'm so excited! Ana, the lady who I've been talking about is set to get baptized on the 27th. She came to church this week and it was incredible because she was out of town this weekend and she came all the way back here just to go to church so she could be baptized this Saturday. She's such an awesome investigator. She's progressing well and she's asked that I be the one to baptize her. Elder Carroll, my companion, is pretty excited too since it's his first on his mission. So things are going well and we'll be working hard this week to make sure that this goes through still :)

Another pretty incredible thing that happened yesterday came from our recent convert's daughter. It was her daughter's 11th bday and she came up to me at church and told me that she had just finished the entire Book of Mormon! I just looked at her and couldn't really believe it! I asked her, "Are you serious?? No way!" But she said yeah and you know, we've been trying to work with her to see if she can also be baptized and if she can read the Book of Mormon just like that. To me it seems like she wants to learn more and to follow our Savior. She's even said to her Primary teachers and mom that she wants to be baptized. The only problem is that her parents are divorced and she's with her dad for two weeks every month so teaching is a little tricky. But we'll do everything we can to help her make this step in her life :)

Things here are going incredibly well. I couldn't ask for more. Well, maybe some cooler air but that's about it, haha. I love you all and I love hearing from you. Thanks for your support, love and prayers. Talk to you all next week!

Not a Bad Week :)

This week went very well. I was really happy and satisfied and whatever else you want to say about it, haha. We worked hard and we saw some awesome success this week. First off we have three investigators with a baptismal date lined up now!! We set another this past week with a woman named Blanca who was a reference from a member who lives in the apartment right above actually. At first Blanca said no a few weeks ago when we first invited her. But as we've been teaching her, she's absolutely fallen in love with the message and the Book of Mormon. The other day I asked her how she felt about the Book of Mormon as she read and she responded, "I love this book. It answers all the questions I have and I love reading it. There's no doubt that I'm staying in this. I'm here to stay." And for a missionary those are like golden words, haha. I just sorta sat there for a second just taken aback a bit, haha. But after she said that we asked her to be baptized again and she accepted with no problem. When we told her that we wanted to do it in September she said no, haha. We asked why and everything and found out that the only thing that was keeping her back was because she wanted to read the entire Book of Mormon and make sure that she knew everything. My companion bore a simple but powerful testimony about the purpose of baptism and the Holy Ghost and then I added my feelings and testimony, and then we told her that she didn't need to read the entire book or know every little thing to know that the church is true. I compared it to a cake actually hahaha. I told her to pretend we have a nice looking cake just sitting on the table. I can look at it all I want but I won't know if it's good or bad until I try it. But I don't need to eat the whole cake to know if it tastes good either. But once I've tried it, I know that it's good and I want more. And I told her it's like the Book of Mormon and the Gospel. We don't have to read the entire book to know that it's good. But once we know just how good it is, we want more. And right then the Spirit worked within her and she said, "What day in September?", haha. She's so great! She came to church yesterday and loved it and I'm so excited to work with her. Her day is the 10th of September.

As we were walking back home from a visit the other day as well, it was around 930ish or so and we passed by this little boy of 9 years and a little girl who was probably 5ish. She said hi to us as we walked by so we said hi back and she just kept looking at us. But as we passed she said, "Adios guapos!" hahahaha , and for those that don't know what that means, it's "Goodbye handsome!" haha. She's 5! But at least we got a compliment from somebody right? ;) I just thought it was a cute/funny little moment the other day. I think it was that same night too where there was a meteor shower actually. A member told us there was going to be one and that it would be most visible at 3:00 in the morning, but of course I was not about to be up at that time, haha. But they said that we could probably see some around 11:00. So I went out on our little patio and just looked at the stars...and I actually saw one! It was sweet too. And yes I did make a wish, haha. And it was missionary related too, haha. If I were off the mission it most likely would have been different. But it was still awesome. But that's our week for ya. We had lots of visits and we were running around a ton this weekend and it feels good to rest to say the least. It's still way hot and I'm sweating just sitting here writing this in the computer place, haha. But it's a good way to drop those pounds gained in December and January, right? ;)

I love you all and miss you lots. Hope you are all in good health and that things are well at home. Until next week!

I'm Staying!!!!!!!

Well, as the subject line states, I'm staying at least one more transfer here in Mataró!!! :) I was so nervous waiting to see if we'd get a call from President but the time just ticked on and a call never came, haha. I'm so happy that I have at least one more transfer here. Things have been picking up and we have so many amazing people to teach right now and it would have torn me up inside to have to leave them. But now all I have to worry about is why they won't keep commitments or whatever, haha. But yeah. I'm staying just so you all know :) The next time I'll find out if I'm leaving is around September 19 ish.

This week though was a hot one man! And I mean hot. For some reason the sun decided to just bake us this week and we sure did get a little bit of sun. Luckily we have visits during the hottest part of the day, usually, so we don't have to be out in it that much. But when we didn't have visits, man was I warm. I've been carrying around a little handkerchief that I brought from home so I can sorta clean up the sweat once in a while, haha. It comes in handy too :).

Well, I thought I'd let you all know about some of our amazing investigators that we have. One of them, Ana, who has a baptismal date for the 27th, is still doing fantastic. She's reading in the Book of Mormon, she loves meeting with us and she accepts everything like it's no problem. The only obstacle is that she still hasn't come to church! She's had to work every Sunday but this coming Sunday and the next she has for sure off from work. But of course Satan knows that and she said that she might be going out of town this weekend to visit some friends and family which means she wouldn't be able to come to church and then that would mean that she can't get baptized on the 27th :( My companion and I have been doing lots of praying and we have a visit with Ana on Thursday and we're going to see if she can come anyway. We kinda need a miracle or some other help because we're doing all we can and now it just comes down to her and the Lord. But I trust that the Lord has a plan for her and knows better than I do :).

We set another baptismal date with a woman named Zulma. She's from Bolivia and to be honest she's been a little less than the best investigator over these past few months. We dropped her for a while because she just didn't progress but then we saw her last week on the street and she asked if we could pass by so we did. The visit went really well and she accepted the invitation to be baptized! Her date is for the 17th of September unfortunately. We wanted it to be the 27th as well since she's been taught a decent amount and has come to church already but her schedule for work is ridiculous. She said in September she'll have a more solid schedule so that's why we set it for the 17th. But we'll see if we can bump it up, haha.

Mataró is going fantastic. Elder Mathews is going even better. I even got a compliment the other day from a few people! As some of you may know, I've sorta gotten a little bigger...as in fatter, haha. And so I've started to eat healthier and eat less. And I've actually seen results! And apparently the members have too! haha. On Sunday I was talking to some people here and there and then they'd just randomly stop and say, "You look a little skinnier. Are you eating ok?" haha. For me that was awesome. But now whenever we go over to a member's house, they make me eat a lot more haha. But I was all excited when they told me. So there is still hope for me!:)

I love you all though and thanks for your love, letters, and support that you send. I miss you all but my goodness does time fly. Until next week!

Welcome August!

It was a pretty interesting week to be honest. Started out a bit wet and slowly got drier, haha. This past week I went on exchanges up in a city called Girona which is a pretty awesome place. I've been there once before and I was actually supposed to go there instead of Mataró when I had my hernia surgery, but hey I'm not complaining :). The last time I went up there it was raining pretty good and yep, you can probably guess what happened while I was there this time: it rained....a tonnnnn. It started raining right when the train pulled into the station and it came down in buckets and buckets. We didn't have umbrellas because we weren't expecting rain at all. So we had to run to the apartment for a bit but from the station and the overhang across the street, we got soaked! There wasn't anything we could really do and so we just went for it, haha. We were running through puddles and jumping over mud and everything and when we got to the main street to cross, it was literally a river. I am not kidding, haha. There was a good five inches of water and sometimes more. And there was no way around it which meant that we went right through it, haha. It was quite the start to the experience. It rained allll day and all night and then started raining again the next day. I guess I'm just not meant to be up in Girona, haha. But that was pretty sweet. Speaking of rain, Saturday we passed by our recent converts, Maria, Tania, and Jorge, and as we got in it started raining. This week was a very wet week, haha. Well, we didn't have umbrellas yet again and we were just hoping that we wouldn't get too wet. But I was taught a very good lesson that day by a little 10 year old girl. She offered the opening prayer and in it she said, "...and bless the Elders when they leave that it will stop raining so that they don't get wet..." I was a little skeptical to be honest because it did not look like it was going to stop at alllll. But right as we stepped out their door and went to the streets, it stopped raining until we got on the bus to go to our next visit. On the bus it started raining again but then when we got off at our stop, the rained went away. It was an incredible little experience for me that taught me that the Lord answers the prayers of the faithful. I almost laughed afterwards but it was such a great learning experience for me. Shows me just how little faith I have sometimes. At least I know that I can always improve :)

A few weeks ago we received a reference from the office of a man who lived at the very edge of our area that we hardly ever go to since it's so far away and it's such a small town and we have no members that really live out there. But we decided to pass by two weeks ago and as luck would have it he wasn't there. We left a note telling him we passed by with our number and the next day we got a text from him saying that he was out of town but wanted us to pass by this past Sunday, yesterday. So we went and he was home this time! We went in and started talking and he immediately started asking us if we could talk about the Book of Mormon. He sorta caught us off guard because we had never seen the guy and we didn't know how he knew about it already. So we started talking and it turns out he's English!!! hahaha. He said that when he lived in England he saw missionaries a lot and they contacted him in the streets once in a while but he never really got to sit down and talk. And so while he was there visiting a few weeks ago he saw the missionaries again and just felt that he needed to look for the missionaries in Spain, which happened to be me and my companion. So we brought a copy of the Book of Mormon and a DVD that he wanted and we had a great visit. He's very open and anxious to learn but he's also very intellectual which means he was asking lots of questions about physical evidences of the Book of Mormon. But the visit went great and the Spirit was there. As I was bearing my testimony about it all, a peace and quiet just came over us and I felt the Spirit bearing witness of the book to him. He loved our visit he said and told us that he wants us to come back. But the catch is that he's going out of town for three weeks, haha. So we won't see him for a while. But that's alright. It was another opportunity to see that the Lord is preparing people all over the world and of all different races to receive the Gospel. Maybe I won't be here to see David baptized, but he will be someday in the near future.

Today we actually had a District get together and had a ping pong tournament, hahaha. It was so fun. And for not playing for months and months, I didn't do too badly actually. I even won the tourney, haha. Not bad huh? But too be honest, the other Elders weren't that great. My little brother and sisters play better, haha. But it was still way fun to play :) Gotta do something once in a while right?

I guess I should inform you all that transfers end this week. I'm not sure if I'm staying or not but if I'm leaving, I'll email my new address next week to you all. I love you all and miss you lots! Until next week!

Gotta love July!!!

Hola!! This week was a pretty awesome week. But I'm not sure why to be honest, haha. We didn't have a ton of stuff, but we were pretty busy. We didn't do much I don't think that merits a huge exclamation point...but it was just a good, solid week :). To start off, we have an investigator with a baptismal date now! :) Her name is Ana and she's from the Dominican Republic and she is incredible. She's a contact that I did on the bus a few weeks ago right before the transfer ended and we've been meeting with her regularly, and this past week we extended the invitation and she accepted!! It was a great visit and we had our recent converts, Maria and Jorge, there to help us out and their testimonies were incredible. I'm so stoked, haha. The only problem for me is...her baptism date is the 20th and I don't think I'll be here :(. Same with this other investigator who is finally getting married and won't be baptized until September. I think I'm getting transferred since I've been here now about five months, which is about average for a missionary here. But we'll see. I still got two weeks so I'm not going to jump ahead, haha.

We're still working on Elder Carroll's residency here. For some reason we've just encountered little problem after little problem and it's been so annoying. We went to Barcelona Thursday to stay the night because we were going to go do the residency stuff in Barcelona instead of Mataró early Friday. But it turns out we didn't need to do anything so we fixed up some stuff in the office and then just came back, haha. It was a fun little trip though. So we came back today, this morning, to do it all and they said that we have to come back next Monday because all his papers are still in Madrid and it's a holiday in Madrid, tomorrow and Wednesday are holidays here, and then that just leaves Thursday and Friday. What a mess, haha. But sooner or later we'll get this done...hopefully.

We had a good solid week though, like I said earlier. We had a ton of visits set up and quite a few actually happened. And like always quite a few didn't, haha. Saturday we had a loaded day and we were actually going to have to do splits to cover everything. We had two members set up to come with us and things were looking great, but then one by one our visits starting falling through. And then one of our members fell through so the split wasn't going to happen. So instead of having like seven visits that day, we had one, hahaha. Man that was crazy. But instead of getting discouraged we just kept going and actually stayed upbeat and happy which is so key to this work. I hate it when a companion, or myself, gets discouraged because it's just so much harder to work. But things are really starting to pick up here. Our number of visits is starting to increase, we're finding more people to teach, I have a good companion who wants to work, and it's just a good time of the year! haha. The temperature has cooperated too so that helps a bit :) This week it’s rained pretty hard a few times which helps with the temperature but it's still nice and sunny and warm. Good ol July. Can't wait for August haha.

I love you all! Know that I pray and think about you all (not too often of course ;)) and that I absolutely love this work. There is no greater work and no greater cause than furthering the kingdom of God on the earth. Until next week!

Elder Mathews