3/4/15 Derek vs the mushrooms

Que tal familia! Well, the traveling is over (for now). We finished up the road show this week with zone conferences in Camana and Pedregal. We went and did divisions with the zone leaders in Camana and Tuesday. I was with Elder Blanco. He was one of our district leaders in Manuel Prado and he is a total stud. He has been out for a little more than a year but has already been a zone leader for more than 6 months. Looking at the transfers with President, he decided that he will be my next comp, as Elder Orbegozo goes home here in few weeks. I have to say, I am super super excited to have Elder Blanco coming in a few weeks. He´s from Argentina. Super humble, super patient. He´ll be a great assistant and a great companion. And I cant believe that we´ve gotten to this point, but Elder Blanco will be my last companion. 

The zone conferences went well. It was strange to be back in Pedregal after about a year. I didnt have any time at all to visit anyone, but talking to the missionaries there, my converts are going strong and the branch is doing really well. They also told me the only teaching records or any other reports in their area book are the ones I did when I was with Elder Nelson and Elder Cerezo, so I think it might be time to do some trainings with the area book haha. 

We were actually able to teach a little bit this week. We have a few investigators that we are teaching right now that are progressing really well. One of them is named Nicolas (i´ve already told you his story a little bit). He is the 12-year-old son of one of the recent converts in the ward. His progress has been super fun to watch. He comes to church every sunday in his shirt and tie (and suit jacket). His baptism is next Saturday. 

We are also working with a less active sister in our ward named Carmen, and she recently presented us to her friend, Maria Fernanda. She´s a 20 year old single mother who is seriously one of the most prepared people I have met in my mission. She went to stake conference with Carmen and we got an appointment to teach her for Friday. We taught her yesterday, and she said that heard in the conference that we need to keep the Sabbath day holy, so she switched around her whole schedule so that she can go to church every single Sunday. Keep in mind, this happened before we even taught her anything. Well, we taught her about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and invited her to be baptized in 2 weeks and she said yes. We´ll have to work closely with her so she can be ready to be baptized in such a short period of time, but we dont have to travel this week so we should be good to go. 

We are also teaching another referal from a member from another ward named Alex Bravo. 23 years old, studying to be an engineer. Really smart guy, and he really understands things really quickly. He also went to stake conference last week and really enjoyed it. We have taught him twice now, and he has accpeted to be baptized once he knows the Book of Mormon is true. We have working with him to help him understand how to receive answers and how to pray. He still feels like he hasnt gotten his answer, but he now understands that he needs to keep praying and reading and going to church to be able to get it, so he committed to pray again, read more, and go to church on Sunday. He will progress, with time. 

So.... I ate mushrooms a few days ago. They were given to us in the home of a recent convert. There was no way around it. I had to eat them. And, well, I am still alive. They actually werent all that bad. Still hard to get over the fact that I am eating a fungus... but not all that bad (i´ll be awaiting the I-told-you-sos).

Well, have a great week! All is well here in Peru. 

Elder Matheson