8/17/15 The Return of the Mata-Gringo

Holy cow, this was an awesome week. After writing home last week, we all went to the Arequipa Zoo for P-Day (i thought of you and your love of zoos mom) and it was probably one of the best PDays i have had here in the mission. The zoo is kind of a dump, but they actually have some pretty cool animals. The cages dont seem very safe, because there was a lion that i could literally reach out and touch if i wanted to. The lion was pretty ticked off and was roaring at everyone, but let me tell you, when you see a full grown lion up close like that... lets just say you should never mess with a lion haha. 

We had Elder Uceda here in the mission this week, and wow, what an experience. The 5 hours we had with him on Wednesday flew by, and we were all instructed. He basically emphasized the fact that if we want our investigators to progress, we have to help them pray, read, and go to church. It was something so simple, yet so powerful. Sometimes, we are so much more focused on teaching the lesson than helping the people we are teaching do the things that lead to conversion. As he said, talking is not teaching. If you have to spend 4 lessons in a row helping an investigator read the book of mormon, you have done a good job. We applied it to our investigators this week, and the results were incredible. We used our ward council to bring all of our investigators to church instead of inviting and waiting. yesterday, we had our leadership council with Elder Uceda and he asked us how we could help our investigators come to church and I raised my hand and shared D&C 84:106 and shared how using the ward council helped us have 6 of our investigators come to church. He called me up front, and with tears in his eyes gave me a hug and thanked me for our example of faith and hard work. It was a pretty cool experience! 

We should have a baptism this week, Erica, and we were able to fijar some more baptisms for september, so we should have some continual success. We are also seeing a bunch of progress with our less actives, and we should have 4 or 5 "rescues" to finish this month. 

Thank you for all the love and support! And Happy Birthday to Mom! (43, right?)

Love,

Elder Matheson

mama questions regarding the mata gringo:

Q:  You mentioned "return of mata gringo" but didn't say anything about it in your letter.  Que paso?
A:  Oh yeah, forgot about that....they fed us mata gringo yesterday.  I stomached it like a man.

Q:  What exactly is mata gringo and who fed it to you?  What are the chances that I may be asked to eat it when we come pick you up?  
A:  Mata-gringo is boiled cow stomach in a stew with corn, beans, potatoes, and peas, served over rice.  The worst is that you can see the little hairs on the cow stomach.  Gross.  You may be asked to eat it when you come, or chuno.

Q: Yikes.   So...what is chuno?  
A:  It is a potato that they throw in a river for a week and then eat it.  Kind of gross, but not terrible.

Q:  Ya.  I think I'd take the potato over the cow stomach.  How is the Risenmay gut holding up to the Peruvian diet?
A:  Going strong!  My comp from Honduras gets sick more than I do.  After eating the mata-gringo yesterday I downed a bottle of yogurt, and the people there called me a mad man.  Yet...I feel great, and have had no ill-effects.  Thank you for that!