Mateo in MEXICO

So first... Skype was soo good and made me feel better too (to see the family and house in-tact). Haha...

So we got a Ward Mission Leader this past week in my Rama!! That is a huge step because we are a branch, not a ward, we need more Priesthood Holders to make it a Ward, and the fact that we have a Priesthood holder that was able and willing to take on this task is a huge blessing. He is soo great too. Last week we had a meeting with him. I think he is a pretty recent convert (under a year) and the whole time he was just bearing his testimony and so excited to work with us and help other people attend church and just everything. It was really so great. We have another meeting tonight with him...

To answer your questions about Pday I first need to clarify the "unlimited" time that I said we have. I mean technically I guess we do, but that is never a reality. We have so many other things to do on pday, like shop, haircuts (like today), and comida with families which is an hour or two, and we have to do laundry, and then studying like we do everyday, and then at the end of the day we have a two hour meeting. You also have to take into account traveling from place to place... So it usually pans out to 2 hours on the computer. Soo you don't need to worry about that. And yeah we aren't really allowed to play sports either for safety reasons... but I haven't had that kind of extra time on pdays. So it must be different in other areas... but in my area (because it is so large) we usually stay pretty busy on pdays.

So this week we went looking for F. who is the awesome twenty year old that wants to know more about our church. But he has the most awful work schedule so he is literally never home and it is so frustrating because we just need to teach him!! So whenever we pass by his house looking for him we always end up talking to his dad. His dad is full of charisma and just a great personality. He loves talking to us, but he has made it clear he doesn't really believe in a God... He believes in some higher power but that is about it. So the last time we talked to him he asked us what we believe in or what we teach and how it is different from the other missionaries here (evangelists, Jehovah Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, other Christians, and Catholics), because I guess there are a lot. But these missionaries live here and only proselyte on certain days of the week, so I have yet to run into one. Anyways... we told him a little about the first lesson, or the restoration, and yeah. We gave him a pamphlet to read and he was excited because he loves learning about this stuff... The only tough part is he probably won't pray. I really have hope for him, though. I think as soon as he prays then all is well in Zion. So that's good. I mean we haven't really asked him to pray because he hasn't shown any interest, but next time we see him I think we will ask him to do that. We also have another great investigator because she is married to a non-active member. They both want to attend church as soon as their work schedules allow for it and then I am positive she will get baptized and he will start becoming more active. God is truly preparing people for RIGHT NOW. I just feel lucky to be able to teach them.

This week we also had so many new referrals and those are the best because it is a golden ticket to someone who is at least somewhat interested. The first was with a girl named M.! She is the lawyer I was telling you about. She is super intelligent and has so much interest in the Book of Mormon because of her brother in law and best friend. So we taught her the restoration and explained that the only way for her to have a testimony of this is to read and pray about it. I mean, we can testify as much as we want, but that won't help her with her personal relationship with God. It is so fun to tell people that if you sincerely ask God a specific question (such as, if the Book of Mormon is true), he will answer you with a specific answer - yes or no. She felt so empowered by that and was so ready. We also gave her homework to read 3 Nephi 11 when Christ comes to the Americas. Those chapters are so powerful and I don't believe anyone can read that with an open heart and deny the validity of this book. So yeah - fam and friends. DO THAT. Read 3 Nephi 11 and then pray to your Heavenly Father to see if this book truly is another testament of Jesus Christ. If you already have a testimony of the book, ask again. If you don't already have a testimony then try it. And ask specifically with a sincere desire to know.

We have another great investigator named P. He is sooo hilarious and awkward and I just love him. I think he is like 45 or 50. He is in a divorce and so family life is hard for him. He has heard some great things about this church and at random times throughout his life the Book of Mormon was brought to his attention, so this time he decided to do something about it! He is super cultured and intelligent and loves to read and learn. So he had been reading it before we met with him. He also is in love with the lesson pamphlets and wants them ALL right now. He is going to bind them into a big book or something. He is a goof. Anyways... we taught him of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and why it is important to have the proper authority of God at all times and the importance of Prophets. It made so much sense to him (why shouldn't it...) and he was so excited to read more after we left. He came to church and it was great. We will meet with him again soon! Something unfortunate about him is where he lives. We aren't sure if he is in our mission or Mexico South East....... NOOOOOOO. Haha. I don't want to have to give him up. So we have to look at a good map to make sure if he is ours or someone elses. How depressing if I can't baptize him?!? Maybe that is selfish... but yeah. I will find out soon.

So about the JEHOVAH WITNESS woman. So we knocked on the door and her grandma was so excited and was like one minute I need to get so-and-so because he has all the answers to your questions. We were all "wuuuuut." haha. So this guy comes out and doesn't introduce himself. He was extremely stern and with a deep voice says "alright, tell me your doubts teenagers". HAHA. I was dying. So we had an interesting discussion with him. Well my companion did. I didn't want to talk this time and look stupid. So my comp was like well we actually just wanted to teach about our church.... and then he was like no that is stupid. And I was like huh? And so then he was like do you believe in the Bible... and we were like YES of course. And we were like "do you...?" because his bible doesn't say Bible. It says something along the lines of "new world translation of holy scriptures". He got a little flustered with that. Haha. He defended the fact that they changed some words so that children could understand because some prophet said that everyone needs to read this book... I guess that is enough reason to change the Bible even more than it already is. idk. Then we talked a little about what we believe after earth life, or death, because he started attacking us saying only 144,000 will go to heaven. We explained what we believed and he was super confused because I don't think he has read 1 Cor 15:40-42 before. It is about the celesital bodies, terestial bodies, etc. Then we mentioned how Jesus Christ is Jehovah and gave a bunch of references that support this. He even admitted it in messing up his words and it was really funny and sad but funny. He got kind of anxious with his body language and we could tell he wanted to leave. All we wanted to do was share our beliefs.. So I gave him a pamphlet and he wouldn't accept it... I was like wooooooah. It is ten pages and half of it is pictures. Take this piece of papper duuude. But he wouldn't. He told us we could come back when we have more doubts. I am not sure my doubts were cleared up or I just gained more. But yeah it was sure interesting. My comp thinks that he is a priest in their church and they wouldn't let M. talk to us because she is in the process of her baptism so they didn't want her to get confused with anything. Kind of depressing. I think we will stop by again this week and see if they want to us to share anything so they can actually learn about what we believe before they make judgements. It was super interesting. So who knows... maybe my adventures with JWs are done for a little while... Kind of sad. I liked to talk to them. Haha.

Anyways this is super long and I am tired of writing. Love you guys soo much. This week I have zone conference and then just teaching and teaching. Spanish is getting a lot better. Some people give me the nicest compliments like "wow you have only been in mexico for 7 and a half weeks" and others are like "oh... I knew a missionary that learned spanish in a week". Then I tell them that they didn't know a missionary like that because that is stupid. Haha I don't say that, but I think it.

LOVE ya.

Con Amor,

Elder Macdonald