5/2 May the 4th be with you!

First of all, we need to recongnize the significance of international Star Wars day, which is coming up on May 4th. Also, can you guys believe it´s May already?!? That means I am one step closer to being able to watch Star Wars 7 with the popcorn machine. 

Anyways, this was an awesome week! We are writing on Monday because we had an all day ward activity on Saturday that we were pretty much a big part of. It was called, "One day as a missionary," and it was honestly one of the coolest experiences I have had on my mission. We started at 6 in the morning with all the youth from the ward coming to the chapel. We assigned them companions, there was breakfast, and then we did our whole missionary morning routine, studying with the youth of the ward, all that jazz. Then at 10 we started a mini-MTC for them. We trained them on how to use the Book of Mormon, how to contact people in the street, and had them practice with us. Then, we had a lunch and in the afternoon we gave every single youth a Book of Mormon, had them write their testimony in it, and then we took all the groups out to have them give their Book of Mormon to strangers in the street and share their testimonies with them. It was seriously such a sweet experience. All of the kids, even the deacons and beehives, went and shared their testimonies with complete strangers, gave them a Book of Mormon, and invited them to meet with the missionaries. They were all so excited but so scared. We would go and start the conversation, get to the topic of the Book of Mormon and then look at the kids and then they couragously bore their testimonies to these people. A lot of them were rejected, but they wanted to keep going, keep sharing, and there was such a sweet spirit around the whole activity. There was a testimony meeting to end the day, and almost all of them shared their experiences and it was really one of the highlights of my mission. 

Yesterday I think Elder Blanco and I had one of the most, if not the most, spiritual experiences of my mission. We have a recent convert in our ward named Gina. She is 18 and was baptized a little over a year ago. She has one of the most powerful conversion stories ever. She was clinically depressed, and attemped suicide mulitple times. One day she was praying to find a way to get closer to God, and happened to meet a new friend that day who was a member of the church. Long story short, she was introduced to the missionaries and baptized a few weeks later. She is her class president for the Laurels now, brings referals to us almost weekly, and is planning to leave on a mission next January. She is also the only member in her home. Well, yesterday we finally had the chance to teach her mom. We got to the lesson at 4, and her mom started telling us about her mom abused her when she was little, and how she has never been able to forgive her for that. She told us, sobbing, that she just wants to find inner peace, that she wants to go to church and even get baptized, but she is too afraid of what her mom (Gina´s grandma) would do to her and her family. She told us that she just couldnt go to church. Then Gina shared her testimony and grabbed her mom by the hand and said, "Mom, I'm tired of going to church by myself. I love you and I want to be with you forever, I want to go to a temple and be sealed to you and dad and my sister. But you can only do that if you come to church with me." It was seriously one of the most powerfuly moments of my mission. After battling with her and testifying, she accpeted to come to church next week. I dont really know how to describe what happened in the lesson, but it was really cool. We saw her change in the 2 and half hours we were there (thats a very very long time to be teaching a lesson) and we are really excited to see her progress. Prayers for Peggy please!

Anyways, this week is transfer week, and we have a training we are going to give to the sister training leaders, plus the good-bye meeting for the missionaries who are going, so it should be a busy week! Love you all, have a great week! Talk to you on Sunday!

Elder Matheson

4/23 Asistentes Viajantes

Hey everyone! 

As you can tell from the title (those of you spanish speakers) we did a lot of traveling this week! We really only had one day in our area, which is tough sometimes but we had a good time traveling. We ended up going to Pedregal, Mollendo, Ilo, and Moquegua this week. What a week! We are really tired haha. I dont understand how sitting in a chair doing interviews can make you so tired, but it does. It has been such a spiritual experience doing these interviews, really getting to know the missionaries a lot better, helping them with their problems and just listening to them. We have been asking the question, "what is the most important thing you have learned on your mission?" The answers are different every single time, and it always brings the spirit. I've been asking that question to myself this week, and I think the most important thing I have learned is how true the gospel is, and how important it is too. I guess I always thought it was all true, or at least believed it, but now I can say that I know it, and that I know what I want my life to be like and what I dont want it to be like. 

We are working a lot with our ward members to try and get references, and a lot of people have commited to getting in touch with their friends and inviting them to meet with her or go to a church activity or their noche de hogar. It will be a slow process getting all the members involved, and it might not give a ton of immediate results, but if we keep doing what we are doing, we are going to really build the kingdom, and not just baptize people we contact in the street. We need to strengthen the members and have them get involved in missionary work, and then they'll have consistant growth in the ward. As President Zobrist said, if every active member of the Church prepared one person to meet with the missionaries once a year, and 25% of those people got baptize, we would have more than a million convert baptisms every single year, more than quadruple what we have now. It really isnt that hard to do. All we have to do is invite. 

We dont have any progressing investigators right now. We have a lot of people who seem they are about to progress, but they just dont for some reason. We are working with the family of one of our recent converts (Karla and Nicolas), and they seem they could start progressing at any moment right now. Karla's brother and sister in law, Celeste and Beto, are really awesome. Celeste told Karla the other day, "when the elders teach me, I feel like God is talking to me." They are feeling the Spirit, but there is something holding them back for some reason. Pray for them so that they can soften their hearts and accept the gospel! 

Well, it was a good week and this next one should be a good one too. We have the last set of interviews on Tuesday with Zamacola, my first zone. I think that night we have a training for the STLs, (sister training leaders) and that will continue through Wednesday morning. Other than that, I dont know if we have any other trainings or anything like that. I should me a pretty laid back week. Then come transfers (AGAIN?!?!), the new group coming in, leadership conference, and then zone conferences again, then President Zobrist goes home, new MP comes in, and then interviews again and by that time it will be the end of July and I think something relatively important happens at the end of July but I cant remember :) 

Have a good week!

Elder Matheson

4/16 The Grand Canyon is for wimps!

That's right, shots fired at the grand canyon. Now, who could possibly say that a mile deep canyon is for whimps? A person that just got back from seeing a TWO mile deep canyon. We headed up to Colca Canyon last night and got back this afternoon, and wow, it is pretty spectacular. It is actually the deepest canyon in the entire world (10,725 feet deep). To get there, you have to go first to Chivay, a little village/pueblito in the mountains, and then catch another bus to head up to Colca. At one point, you go over a mountain pass that is almost 16,000 feet above sea level (taller than any point in the continental United States). And then you make it to the canyon, and it is breath-taking. I sent pictures but you cannot convey the magisty of the canyon with the pictures. It was really well worth it, and I feel bad we probaby wont have time to go, because it requires waking up at the butt-crack of dawn to get out their in time. I'm super glad President let us go though. 

After getting back from the canyon trip we immediately went to the baptism of one of my investigators from Chachani, my first area. She never got baptized because she was living together with her boyfriend. We ended up baptizing her 13-year-old daughter more than a year ago and then I got transfered and didnt here anything about her until a few weeks ago when the elders in Chanchani told me that she was preparing to be baptized. This was actually the first time I had gone back to one of my areas to visit, and holy cow, I felt so much love from the people there. Chachani has always had a special place in my heart, and now it does even more. My pensionista came, some of my converts, and of course, I was there for the baptism. They even asked me to lead the music for the program haha. Anyways, the service went super well and I am continuing to see the seeds I've planted being harvested, which is almost better than harvesting yourself. Janet was there, and she told me that since her baptism, her mom, who when we were teaching her was a hard core evangelist, was baptized, and then her cousin came to visit more a few months and he was baptized, went home after vacation and now all of his family has been baptized as well. And now, the missionaries have begun to teach all of Janet's brothers and sisters. One person can make all the difference for the eternity of another. 

Needless to say, today was an awesome day, and a much needed one as well. Ever since being the assistant, I have just wanted to work in my area and sprint to the end, but my work here is a little different. With the large geographical size of the mission, we have to do a lot of traveling and that takes a lot of time away from our area here. When we are here, it always seems like we have something that we need to do in the office, and we only get a few hours of proseliting in everyday. That has really been hard for me. I know what I am doing is important as well, and I know we still do have at least some time to work in our area, but still, it's been hard, and this week has been like that especially. Today was much needed, and my comp and I have talked about it and we have the goal to spend less time in the office and more time with our boots on the pavement so to speak. I think we can do it, and with such a relatively short period of time left in my mission, I cant afford to waste any more time. 

Speaking of working in our area, we will NOT be doing that this next week, as we hit the road once again. Pedregal on Tuesday, Mollendo on Wednesday, Ilo on Thursday, and then Moquegua on Friday. Another week of interviews. I figure if I am not going to be in my area for a week, then I better make sure that these are some pretty dang good interviews haha.

Love you all, have a fantastic week!

The karate kid returns

4/9 Templo Peruano

Hello all! 

Another great week is in the books. I seriously cannot believe how fast time goes by here... we are so busy I dont even have time to breathe sometimes, but I wouldnt have it any other way. So conference was AMAZING and I think everyone who participated felt the spirit in abundance. I really really really loved President Monson´s talks. It´s obvious that he isnt doing too well physically, but his shortened talks force him to get straight to the point, which I liked a lot. The messages from General Conference are never anything new, but we sure do need the reminders they give us. Really, all of conference was good. They talked a lot about eternal marriage... 

Anyways, we are going to get ANOTHER temple here in Peru! Everyone here is super excited, even though they still havent even started constuction on the temple in Arequipa. The work is really progressing here in Peru. 50 years ago there was one branch in all of Arequipa, and now there are 7 stakes and a temple announced. In all of Peru there are now 12 missions, whereas 50 years ago there was one mission for all of Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. We went to talk to our bishop here in Umacollo and talked to him about conference and he started talking about having another temple here in Peru and started to cry, expressing how grateful he was for the gospel, he talked about how his grandparents joined the church here in Arequipa almost 50 years ago, and how lucky he was to have been born into the gospel and to live in a country where the blessings of the temple are so close (right now, he needs to get on a bus for 18 hours to get to Lima to go to the temple). The work is moving forward! 

So we talked with President Zobrist, becuase we had been working in 2 wards, but really felt like we didnt have enough to dedicate to both based on the very limited time we have to work in our area. So now, we are going to work only in Umacollo. I am really excited because it is a much stronger ward and we are going to have much more time to get to know the members and work with them. We now only have half the amount of people to teach though. Honestly, we have almost nobody to teach, but we have been working with the members this last week and hopefully this coming week we can go and contact some of these referals and get some more new investigators. Honestly, without member support missionary work would be awful. I hate knocking doors and street contacting, and have learned that it is literally the least effective way to do missionary work. We can have so much more success working with members. 

This last week was super busy, with interviews and leadership conference. I love doing the interviews, but they are so tiring it´s ridiculous. On Wednesday we had interviews from 10am to 6 pm and then started the leadership conference and at the end of the day I just collapsed into my bed was gone. We are actually leaving in a few hours with President to go to Camana do continue doing interviews until tomorrow night. Tomorrow is election day in Peru... they are going to choose a new president here. That means that is illegal to have public meetings tomorrow, or in other words, no church. So we are going to take advantage and do some more interviews. 

This next week should be pretty tranquila, we only have to do interviews on Tuesday, and then it should be a pretty normal week. President's family is coming in so he is going to be busy with them. Then in two weeks we are going to be gone the whole week. 

Well, I got all signed up for my classes at the Y! Should be a whopper of a semester. I think I might minor in Spanish as well. I looked at the requirements and its a piece of cake. I want to continue perfecting my Spanish as well, maybe see if I can work as a translater of something like that. I think it would be super cool.

Thank you for all your love and support! Have a great week everyone!

Elder Matheson

4/2 Airplanes

Hey hey hey!

Another week down, and it was another busy one! I am here with my new comp, Elder Blanco, and it still hasnt set in that he will be my last comp. Last comp, last area... I'm not trunky I swear! (Mom and Dad, I KNOW that you guys are :)). Anyways, Elder Blanco is a total stud. I really do love the guy. He is probably the most humble, hardest working companion that I have had, maybe tied with Elder Evans. Since he's from Argentina, I was really hoping that he would have the same Argentine accent he had when I met him a year ago... but he's lost it and speaks like a Peruvian now haha. We get along great and I'm really excited for the last few months of my mission. Home stretch, time to give it my all! 

We started off the week picking up the new group of missionaries coming in (3 sisters, not a single elder...) and taking them to the temple site and eating lunch with them and all that fun stuff. We shipped them off to their areas, and then we and President and Sister Zobrist headed to the airport to catch a flight to Tacna. We were there from Tuesday to Thursday doing interviews (we do interviews once every 3 months). These will be the last interviews that President Zobrist does before going home. The next time we do interviews it will be July, and we will be with the new MP. President had us interview every single companionship as well to see how they are doing with obedience and their area book. It was actually a really cool experience! We felt the spirit really strongly, and honestly, most of the missionaries are doing really well. We really dont have obedience problems here in our mission. Little things here or there, but nothing big. We got back to Arequipa on Thursday, and then continued with the interviews yesterday. Next week we have more interviews and we also have the Mission Leadership Conference. Should be another busy week. 

Our area... well, when we arent in our area for weeks at a time it struggles, but we have a great ward that always helps and supports us so we cant get away with it. We were able to teach 4 lessons yesterday which was awesome. We are helping Maria Fernanda do her family history and send a name to the temple. Speaking of which, yesterday I was on my familysearch account and found a distant ancestor who still needs their work done, so I reserved it and will do it 4 months from now. Cool, right? 

Anyways, we had a good week, hope you all had a good one too! Cuidense y disfruten la conferencia! 

Elder Matheson

3/26 I Have No Companion

Well... as the title of the email says, I am companion-less right now. Elder Orbegzo went home yesterday :( I am really going to miss the kid, he really has been one of my favorite companions in the mish. He's really just a good guy. It was hard to say goodbye. It was actually kind of weird week because he was going home and we had a bunch of despedidas and what not. Thursday night was the farewell meeting, and it was actually really sad, hearing all the missionaries bearing their final testimonies. It made me think that that moment for me is coming soon. Not too soon... but soon. Makes me motivated to work even harder. Elder Blanco, my new companion, gets here tomorrow from Camana, and then Tuesday we head right back out to Tacna with President for interviews. We have to pick up the new missionaries next week as well, and then general conference, and then the next week is mission leadership council. Busy few weeks, we're going to throw Blanco right in the thick of things haha. 

So, the good news, Maria Fernanda was baptized yesterday!!!! It was kind of miracle. There was a bunch of stuff that happened and we thought it wasnt going to happen, like for example, she got kidnapped on her way home from work the other day. She showed up at her house the next day, and I guess the people that grabbed her miraclulously let her go and she was able to make it back to her house. Really a miracle. There were a lot of prayers offered in her behalf that day. Her baptismal service went super well, and Elder Orbegozo literally baptized her, went to lunch, then got on a plane home. That is how I want to end my mission too. And, I think it would be super cool to have all of you guys there for my last baptism :)

It was a busy week, being the week of transfers. I have had to do most everything by myself, but it has been such a cool experience. I can testify that the transfers come from heaven. No doubt in my mind about that. There are just way to many complications and things to decide for it to be chance. And after helping President Zobrist this whole transfer, and feeling how much he worried about the missionaries and their welfare, my testimony of priesthood keys has been strengthened a bunch. The Lord guides his leaders! 

Thank you for your love and prayers in my behalf. You guys are the best!

Have a great week!

Elder Matheson

3/19/16 GA Status

This was quite the week, let me tell you! 

I'll start with a few details from our area, and then get into the good stuff. This is Elder Orbegozo's last week in the mission. He goes home next Friday, and it just so happens that Maria Fernanda is going to be baptized next Friday morning. What a way to go home from your mission! Baptism, plane. Not too shabby. We'll see if everything goes well this week so that she can be baptized. We are still teaching Fabian, the Brazilian guy. He invited us to eat lunch with him and his family Sunday, and promised us some good Brazilian food. 

We also had, as I mentioned last week, the visit of Elder Montoya. We flew down to Tacna on Tuesday night (shortest flight of my life, about 25 minutes), and then went to work on Wednesday doing divisions with an Elder that President is thinking of making zone leader next transfer. It went super well, and I think he is ready to go. The day ended with a meeting with Elder Montoya and the three stake presidents in Tacna. It was a very personal, intimate meeting, and the spirit was super strong. 

Thursday was the Multi-Zone conference in Tacna, and Moquegua and Ilo came down too. It was nice to see Elder Evans again and catch up on goings on of life. Really, I love Elder Evans, I'm super grateful we had the time we had together. The conference went super well though. Elder Montoya talked about what it means to be a representative of Jesus Christ, that we should do what Christ would do in every moment, and never do anything that Christ wouldnt do either. After the conference, we got word that our flight was cancelled, so we piled into President Zobrist's minivan and headed back to Arequipa. I have to say, its the first time that I have ever been in a minivan for 6 hours with a general authority. But, it was super cool. We got 5 minutes down the road and he turned and asked us, "so, what questions have you always wanted to ask a General Authority?" That turned into a 6 hour question and answer session. AWESOME. I asked him what he does to study the scriptures well, and he told me to read Moroni 10:3-5. The spirit teaches us all things, so if we are obedient to the commandments and read the scriptures, the spirit will open our understanding and we will always have edifying studies. I asked about how to deal with disobedient missionaries and he basically said that going on splits and showing them how to do missionary work and have a positive experience, teaching by example, is really the only way to help them. They have their agency. We really didnt ask a lot of deep questions. There's no point. We just kind of talked and he shared life experiences and it was a cool experience.

Friday, we had the conference here in Arequipa. The day before, in the car, Elder Montoya asked Elder Orbegozo and I to teach in the conference about being representatives of Christ. We focused our message (he gave us 15 minutes) on the fact that one day we are going to be face to face with Christ. He will surely ask us, those of us who have been set apart as His representatives, "what did you do with My Name? Where did you go? What did you say?" It went really well, and Elder Montoya thanked us after the meeting. 

Really, just a good week! This next week is the end of the change, which means a busy week for us as the assistants, and especially for me because I might have to do all of this stuff by myself haha. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for you support and prayers! Love you!

Elder Matheson