Mateo in MEXICO: Dia de los Muertos and the temple is beautiful!

This week was a good week. We had a great baptism, I WENT TO THE TEMPLE, and it was Halloween/Dia de los Muertos in Mexico! Super cray.

So want to know why we went to the temple? Okay well first, we had a Zone Conference this week and it was super great! I learned soo so sooo much. Seriously. My President is SO inspired. It is insane. If I could vote for him to be something I would, because I just really love him so much. He says things that really just penetrate your Corazon (heart). He was talking about our purpose and why we help people repent to be baptized. But as missionaries we kind of discard repentance because we just want BAPTISMS, so he really focused on Repentance and why it is so important to be able to make a covenant with the Lord. I am trying to remember what he said.... Okay so he talked about how Christ calls us to repentance to become more like Him. He calls us to change our mistakes and imperfections so that acting like Him becomes a lifestyle. It isn’t just a one-day thing. It is a constant way to live. We obviously won’t become perfect overnight, but as we recognize our faults, humble ourselves, and change our actions to act more like Christ would, we become more like Him. It was great because he talked about the Celestial Kingdom as a way of life and if we don’t prepare ourselves to live there, here, we won’t fit in over there. He used an example of a white board marker and a pen and how the caps of the two pens don’t fit because they are physically different. God can’t change us against our will, because it is against the law of agency. So that is why we have to exercise our agency and decide to change HERE so we can feel comfortable with him someday there.

I mean I already knew that stuff but it really put it in a different perspective because as missionaries we are dumb and just want baptisms and forget the real reasons behind being baptized. So it was a good reminder to think more about how they can have a true repentance and be baptized for this reason.

President’s wife is super great too and she gave us lectures on health and safety. Haha. She was freaking out because my big fat cough wouldn’t shut up the whole Zone Conference... so she told me I had to go to the doctor which is in the TEMPLE and I was like uhhh heck yes pleeaase. So I was super stoked because whenever we get sick and have to go to the doctor in the temple we can ask permission to do a session and so I asked President and he was like affirmative Elder Macdonald. And I was like gracias. And I was SOOO HAPPY. And then I realized that everything was going to be in Spanish and so my comp was like freaking out and I started having visions of the future of my comp and I being so confused and not knowing how to say stuff in the session, so I would just constantly have laugh attacks. But it all went super well. So well. I was like correcting the temple worker cause he kept saying stuff wrong and I was like what... I am better at Spanish than you. But then I was like “oh yeah nice thoughts in the temple”. I am so grateful for the tender mercy that that was to do a session before it closes in January. Seriously. The temple will close for the rest of my mission and I got to go! And let me just tell you that this temple is GORGEOUS. I love it so much. It reminds me of the Mesa one. They are both super aztecy in architecture and the meaning behind the architecture and its designs are so special. I have loved being in Mexico and just learning more about their ancestors and the culture of the people that were here, AKA Book of Mormon peeps. So I always just ask questions about the pyramids and the beliefs of Queztalquowatl (Jesus Christ) and everything. So interesting. Like the pyramids are apparently so amazing and the members just love seeing the similarities between the pyramids and the temples we have today. And then the Aztec belief of a White God coming down to visit the people and teach them about his Gospel and PROMISING to come back some day is just so interesting. Because I’m like oh yeah we have the record of that!!! aha I know it isn’t doctrine, and it’s not about the proof, but it does have some support behind it for sure. I’m definitely returning here to visit the pyramids some day...

So then we had Halloween which isn’t really celebrated the 31st of October here, kind of, but more of it is celebrated on the 1st and 2nd of November - the same day as day of the dead. And it was so fun because it was like a WHOLE WEEKEND of Halloween and I was like this is my place. aha I love Halloween. It was so fun to see the kids go trick or treat in the tiendas or the little stores and take like homemade candies and I just died laughing because that is what they warn us about in elementary school as North Americans.... DON’T EAT HOMEMADE FOOD FROM STRANGERS. lolol and everyone does it here like its nothing. Dia de los Muertos is super cool and I love the message behind it. And I thought it was so special because I was able to do work for the dead on day of the dead. Everyone puts up ofrendas, or offerings with flowers, and their ancestors favorite foods, toys, music, clothes, pictures of them, and everything. It was really cool to see the respect that everyone here has for their ancestors and I just thought how amazing it is that as members of the church we focus so much on HELPING our ancestors receive saving and exalting ordinances through temple work. This week I just kept thinking about the beauty of the temples and the beauty of the work that we are doing. If temples aren’t a testimony that this work is true, I don’t know what is. Even Christ went to Preach in the Spirit world after his death and before his Resurrection. It’s so true. So yea - do your family history, go to the temple, AND give the missionaries references. aha.

I also had exchanges with my Zone Leader this week. It was good. He is going home soon and so I think he is a little excited about that. He is a great teacher!! I was seriously so jealous because I feel like I still am really bad at teaching. I am freaking out because I am approaching my year mark and I thought I would’ve been a pro by now.... aahhahaa FUNNYY JOKE MATT.

And then we had the baptism for J. D. It was so great. ahaa. He is super great but I think he got sick because the water was cold and I was like “WHY I TURNED ON THE BOILER?”. Haha right after I was like "How do you feel?!?!?" and he was like “COLD”. And I was like... aaaahhhhaaaaaa “well do you feel like good spiritually?” He was like “well of course I do! But I am still COLD”. And so I feel bad because I think I made him sick. And plus he had to be baptized like 3 times because his belly didn’t want to be immersed by water. I was about ready to jump in and push him down. But it all worked out. I was able to sing a song without coughing which was a miracle because I was literally coughing every 8 seconds -So dumb.

I am really bummed because a "golden investigator" just dropped us over text and I was like “WOW RUDE”. I don’t understand why. I think we will sneak over to her house and convince her otherwise. I don’t understand why Satan tries so hard to be so dumb. It gets so old. It’s like, “NO ONE LIKES YOU”. But he doesn’t get the hint. Anyways....

Everything is great. My comp almost had an allergic reaction and it freaked me out, but ALL IS WELL. It was a false alarm. It was funny cause we were eating bread at someone’s house and he literally ran to the bathroom and darted out and was like we have to go and I was like "uhh did you poop your pants?!" and he told me he thought he was getting an allergic reaction which is super sketchy for him. But we ran home, took some Benadryl, and all was well. Thank goodness!

Love you all so much! Hope all is well. Glad you had a good Halloween! Up next, THANKSGIVING and then NAVIDAD. Partay months. So ready for this.

Con Amor,

Elder Macdonald