Work=Blessings

Another great week has come and gone! We had so many great things going on this past week and I can't go a day without realizing just how little I do and just how much the Lord does in this great work. This past weekend, one of our investigators, Meybely, was baptized!! :) She was truly a miracle. I'm just going to recount a little bit about how we met her and her story. In the beginning of January, Elder Watkins and I were doing great and we had high hopes for a lot of people who we were teaching. But as the month went on things just stopped going as well. People stopped progressing as much, it was harder to meet with them, and then people who had plans to get baptized just all of a sudden didn't want to. So it was really frustrating and we were stuck. We began to work extra hard to find more of the prepared children of the Lord to help them to come to the Gospel and we set some great goals and some really good plans. We made goals to talk to more people on the streets, ask for more references, and to make sure that we were doing all that we could in our power to find people. In the end, we didn't end up teaching a single one of the contacts that we did. And we had to have done a few hundred that first week! But the Lord saw that we were really working to find people and that we were being the servants that he needs and so he blessed us in other incredible ways!:) One of those ways was through a member named Alberto. He's in the bishopric here in our ward and one day he came up to us and said, "Elders, my niece is coming from Nicaragua next week. She's been to church quite a bit and already listened to the missionaries once and she's going to be baptized here. So when she gets here we'll set up a time for you to come." We could hardly believe what we heard! There we were, in church after a week of hard work, frustrated because of the lack of success we had been having, and the Lord blessed us with someone!:) She arrived and we went over the next day and she was absolutely incredible! Everything we taught, she already knew. We would ask her questions and she would give answers as if she had been a member for her whole life! All we had to do was give her the information and that's it! She was truly prepared by the Lord before coming to Spain and Heavenly Father blessed us because of our efforts to be a part of this young woman's experience with the church. It truly is a miracle and it truly was a reward for what we have been doing.:) So basically what I learned from all that, and I've learned it more than once, ha-ha, is that even though things may seem hard and impossible at times and we don't understand why something is happening, many times the Lord is waiting to see what we'll do. Are we going to just throw our hands up in the air and say, "Why me? Why this?" or are we going to set goals and make plans to continue forward? I know that as we choose the second answer that life just goes better. Everyone knows life isn't easy. But the real test is what we choose to do when the hard parts actually come. Don't get discouraged; keep moving forward; and let the Lord pour out his blessings that he has waiting for you because I know He will :)

I love you all and I'm excited for another great week. We have another person, Camila, preparing to get baptized this week as well so I'll have her story coming up next week, ha-ha. Stay healthy and safe and see ya next week!

Snow??

I'm really cold right now, ha-ha. Great opening to an email right? But the winter cold finally came and it came hard. And it looks like it's here to stay for a while instead of coming and going for a day or two. And you know something else? We actually saw snow!!! I saw my first snow in over a year and however long it's been, ha-ha-ha. It was great! But don't get too excited for me. It wasn't enough to do anything to be honest. While waiting for our train to go to a zone meeting, a few flakes started falling and we all got kinda excited! Shows just how childish we can still be, ha-ha. But there's one missionary from Bolivia who was with us and he's never seen snow in his life. So you can just imagine how excited he was. He took out his camera and was having fun there. Most of the snow we saw though was while we were on our way to the meeting. So we didn't really do much with it unfortunately. I'm kinda glad though that there isn't a lot of snow on the mission because it would make working outside so much more miserable. It's bad enough with the cold and then the wind. Add snow and it's just miserable weather! I think being out in the cold so long finally took a toll on us because my companion and another Elder in our apartment both got pretty sick with some head colds and I got a little one. Luckily we're doing better but still got the typical runny nose and everything. But all is well :)

Saturday at one point was so windy that I could lean forward and the wind would hold me up. It was insane how strong the wind was. The only problem though was that as I was leaning forward, the wind decided to just stop, ha-ha. So I almost nailed my face on the ground! Luckily I didn't though. It smells good though to be honest to have the cold here. Yeah maybe it sounds weird to you all but for me, winter has a certain smell and I finally got to smell that again :) That's one thing I'm looking forward to back home. But let's hope that there's actually snow this next winter!

Things are going great here though. We have some great investigators and one is actually getting baptized next week! She was truly a miracle who just fell from heaven right into our laps! She moved here from Nicaragua to live with some family who are members and she had already gone to church a bit back in her country and wanted to join. So all we've had to do is just teach her and she eats it all up. She's been prepared before we met her and she's an absolutely incredible young woman! I'm excited for this weekend :) We have a few more investigators who are moving along and we expect a few more baptisms within the next few weeks. So stay tuned! Ha-ha.

Today is another colder day but we're heading out to see a lighthouse by the coast. Hopefully it's not too terribly windy and stuff down there. We're gonna get bundled up and all but still. It's about time though that we get out and do something, ha-ha.

I don't really have a whole ton to say this week since we were in a two day meeting. It was great but if I were to write how I felt and what I learned, I'd be here for a longggg time!:) And I think you'd all get bored, ha-ha. Just know that things are going incredibly well out here. The members love us and I love them :) ha-ha. And I just can't get enough of this!:) My invitation to all of you is to be missionaries at home. If you do that, you will find greater happiness because you will be doing what the Lord expects of us. We aren't a passive worshipping religion. We are active and moving. And if we aren't part of that, then we aren't truly living what we believe. Stay active, open your mouths, and you'll see the blessings :)

I love you all! Miss you lots!!

February

SPECIAL REQUEST FROM ELDER MATHEWS:

I just have one request as time goes on these next months. I just want to ask you all that you don't mention anything about how much or how little time I have left on the mission in letters or emails or anything please. It’s not that it makes me think about home a lot but it just makes me realize that I don’t have as much time left as I’d like. So just these next few months until I get home, please don’t say anything about time. Thanks :) I just want to focus everything out here for the time I’ve got left.

We just finished a great week here in Tarragona. It was truly a week full of miracles and more blessings that I could possibly have imagined in a week, ha-ha. I didn't feel like we did anything different to be honest. But I do feel that we are receiving the blessings from the Lord for the previous weeks of added work that we've started putting in. In order to raise the bar and increase the pace at which we work as missionaries, we have also raised our standards. Instead of being content with maybe 5 investigators in church, we raised that level to make us work that much harder. And we are seeing the blessings from it.

This entire week we had people come to us and say that they wanted to learn more or the members told us that they had friends or family members whom they wanted us to teach. It was absolutely incredible to be a part of this great miracle and I'm positive that there will be many more this week.

One member told us he wants us to teach his young daughter the Gospel because she just came from Bolivia and she's really interested in the church and he wants her to learn about it as well. The second counselor in the bishopric came to us yesterday at church and said that his niece was coming that day from Nicaragua and said that she had already been to church, talked with the missionaries once, and wanted to be a part of this restored gospel. It's incredible to see the things that the Lord does as we actively do our part.

This weekend we actually had a really good visit with an inactive family. The husband was bishop in the ward years ago and I'm honestly not sure why they don't come because they totally act and seem like a normal, active family in the church. But we went and got to know them a bit better and I feel we got off to a really good start with them. They have a 15 year old son who just immediately latched on to us and wants to play some basketball or something with us sometime, ha-ha. We'll see if we can get some young men from the ward here to help us with that. Their family is fantastic and it was interesting to see that most members, even if they are inactive, still have something of a testimony of these things. And the only thing we need to do is rekindle that fire that they once had so that their future generations can also have the blessings of the gospel in their lives.

Everything else here has been great, too. I can't believe that it's already February pretty much and that the winter is winding down. It hasn't gotten below freezing yet here, not even really early in the morning, which has been pretty nice. But I do miss snow, ha-ha. Hopefully this next winter brings some :).

I hope all is well back home and that you are all safe and healthy. I miss you all a ton and love you all lots!!!!

Saga #4!!

Well, I sorta forgot to tell everyone last week but today is transfers. It just totally slipped my mind but I didn't think I was getting transferred anyway since I'm training Elder Watkins. This is my fourth transfer here and I could seriously just finish my mission here, ha-ha. I absolutely love it! It'll be really sad when I have to leave. And I know that I've probably said that about every area but it's so true. You just get so attached to it all. After walking the streets every day for a few months you just develop a love for the place, the people, the culture, and just everything! Luckily I'm not leaving though :)

This past week was soooo good! We had such a good week and had a lot of great visits with people. Our investigators are doing fairly well and there are a ton who have so much potential and who are progressing well. This past week, on top of having lots of great visits, was so full of miracles. It's been a bit tough with our investigators in the past two months to progress to baptism because something always comes up and they don't want anything anymore, they just don't keep commitments, or they just don't understand things well enough. So it's been frustrating to see baptismal candidates come and then go. But I feel that the Lord is just waiting to pour out an infinite amount of blessings on us in this coming month!

In church we had two members come up to us and say that they have family members who are coming to Spain and want to hear about the Gospel and be baptized! We have another investigator who we just found the other day that just moved into the area and came to church with a member this past Sunday. And we also have just the best people ever here! We have been so blessed this week and you know, it's been because we've been doing all that we can so that we are worthy of what the Lord does to help us in this great work. I'm sure that these next few weeks will be full of exciting updates on how things are developing :)

The other day in church we actually had something happen that almost no one expected: the bishopric got changed! Bishop Alba, one of the best bishops I have ever met, got released along with his counselors after 9 years of being in that calling. 9 years!! You could hear people almost gasp when they announced that he was being released. Even I was shocked and surprised when they said that. But the new bishop is fantastic! I know him pretty well and we're excited to work with him as well. But we will definitely miss working with Bishop Alba.

Oh! This part is so great, ha-ha. We got a reference from our Ward Mission Leader! One of his friends owns a gym and he told us to visit him there and to talk with him. But the only catch was that we had to go between 6 and 9 in the morning. So we went the other day and saw him and started talking with him. It went well and we actually went back again a different day to give him a copy of the Book of Mormon and to talk some more. Before we left though I asked him how much it would cost to come workout in his gym. He just looked at me for a few seconds in silence and said, "Nothing. For you guys, nothing." We just looked at each other amazed and I couldn't believe he said that! So I asked him if we could pay something or do something and he said, "For people like you, I won't charge anything. You give me hope for the world and help me see that there are still good people who understand that we need God in our lives. You come back Monday at 7:30 and I'll train you all." We were so happy and excited that we told the other two Elders about it and we've been going these past two days, ha-ha! It's so great! It's not the best gym in the world but it has weights and everything and he trains us a bit. He was a pro body builder and everything so he knows what he's talking about. But let's just say I'm a little bit sore and so are the other Elders, ha-ha. But it's great! Within a few weeks we'll all be ripped again, ha-ha! Probably not but that's alright. We're working on building a good relationship with this man as well and teaching him at the same time. He's got a lot of potential as well.

I think that about covers it for the week. It's been a great week and lots of fun and full of incredible experiences. I love you all and thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I can feel their power and it really does help.

I love and miss you all!

Buenos Días!!!

Hello to everyone back home! This week, to be honest, was probably the most bland and abnormal week ever, ha-ha-ha. Of course we had some great visits and we saw some great things happen....but there wasn't really anything that was incredibly out of the ordinary. The only big thing was that one of the Elders who is here with us got transferred to Zaragoza on Tuesday even though transfers aren't until the 24th. My companion had to go to Madrid for his residency stuff so I was with the other companionship for Monday night and Tuesday. We were planning Monday night for the next day when President called us and said that he had a new assignment for the other elders. He said that Elder Galán was leaving the next day and that the next Elder was coming the next day as well. So we had to find out when the new Elder came in and work around our schedule to pick up Elder Watkins, my companion, from the train station that same night and we were also going to a Zone meeting in another city so it was just a mess, ha-ha. Elder Galán packed his bags that night and didn't even get to say goodbye to anyone which was a bit sad because he's been here for almost six months and then he just got transferred like that. We lost a whole day of work on Tuesday because we had to come back for the meeting and then pick up the new Elder and then pick up Elder Watkins as well. So Tuesday was a pretty boring day minus the Zone meeting, ha-ha. But the new Elder came from the mission office and is doing great. He's from Utah, go figure, and is really helping his companion to do better. So let's hope that things shape up there :).

The rest of this week was cold and normal. We found out yesterday that the girl who was going to get baptized here in our area is moving to Barcelona so she won't be getting baptized anymore which is sad. But she said we could pass her info on to the other missionaries in Barcelona. So there's a set of missionaries who are just about to inherit a very prepared person.:) It was a little frustrating because we had four people who were looking great to be baptized on their scheduled dates and one by one they've been falling through. It's been tough because we've been doing all we can to make sure that things go well, we've been working hard, and been doing what we feel we should be doing to continue the success here. But sometimes the Lord puts a little trial in our path to help us realize that He's the one in charge and to help us realize that He knows how we can help even more of His children come unto Him. I'm not sure why our investigators just stopped progressing all of a sudden. But I do know that the Lord wants us to learn and to do something with it all. Things overall are still going well though. I love being a missionary and I could probably be one forever....with a two week break every two years maybe, ha-ha-ha. But I know that what we do out here is the best thing that anyone can do. Yes it's somewhat of a sacrifice. But as I've been out here, it honestly doesn't feel like it's that much. It's the best :)

I love you all and miss you lots. But I'll see you all soon!!!