Mateo in MEXICO: Eating caterpillars, we can pray directly to God, and stop and help the missionaries

Hey now everybody. How’s the world treating you all? Ready for GENERAL CONFERENCE? I so am - SO READY.

This week turned out to be wonderful and full of miracles. The Lord is in charge. He always has been.

We had to baptisms on Saturday. O. and M. were baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. I told them that they were finally Mormons, so now when people as them they can officially say “YESSSS BECAUSE LAST SATURDAY I WAS BAPTIZED IN THE MORMON CHURCH”. They laughed because it makes them nervous to stand up for their beliefs. But they are wonderful. I was super nervous because I had to baptize O. It’s not her, it’s me. I’m really weak and don’t have muscles. But I know the Spirit helped me and we launched her out of the water like a torpedo. Woot woot. Her daughter slipped into the baptismal font and it made us all laugh. Hahah. We had L., our recent convert give a talk. It was fantastic. SO great. I loved it. She felt so good. We had an investigator go to the baptism and say the opening prayer. Her prayer was so short, but of this it consisted... "Heavenly Father, thanks for letting us be here. I hope that some day soon I can do the same and be baptized. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." WAT. ahhahaha my comp and I were so happy and all the members were like.... NICE JOB MISSIONARIES. Hahaha. So it was super easily classified as a success. The Bishop gave a great welcome to both of them. They were baptized without problems. They also got to church a half hour early for their confirmation... and that made me super happy.

The power just went out and I thought I lost all of my email... butt thanks to myldsmail it was saved. Good thing.

This week we also had 11 investigators in church again. It was another great miracle and work and of the Lord. We are so privileged to be working here with such a great spirit of the work of salvation.

G. is the one who gave the opening prayer in the baptism. She came with her daughter again to church, but this time they brought her husband! It was his first time. It was awesome to see a potential Priesthood Holder with his family in the sacrament meeting. G. and D. are soooo excited for their baptism on October 25th. We visited them with a recent convert named L. and it was amazing to see the spirit boost the confidence of them all. L. walked in the house and they were like.... “HEY, you are the girl that got baptized 3 weeks ago, WE KNOW YOU”. L. was so happy that they remembered her and it boosted her self-esteem. She also gave a fantastic testimony to boost the excitement of the investigators and let them know that all the difficulties that they are having are a normal occurrence as one starts on the path of discipleship - Such a success. The work of Salvation is perfect. If we do it right, everything works out how it should. Helping the new converts be strengthened through giving testimony to more investigators helps everyone out - even the missionaries.

M. de J. and her niece K. came to church again. And loved it again. They felt so good and happy in the church. They are getting ready to get baptized on October 18th. M. de J. is down to only smoking 3 cigarettes a day! That is such an achievement because she used to smoke a pack of 10 or more a day. Next week we are going to work on ZERO smoking a day. I know that she is able to do it. She is so loving and stoked to get baptized on her date. We are teaching them at a good pace. Hopefully everything goes as planned.

C., V., and I. are supposed to get baptized on October 11.... AHHHH. We are freaking out because we have to teach them a lot and C. has to stop smoking but we haven’t had time to talk to her about that. But they went to church and loved it. This week, they were robbed. Investigators always have to pass through strong trials right before getting baptized. But they are passing these trials with flying colors. So great. Although I do love them, I do not like to eat with them. But they are so happy and in love with the church and the missionaries that they signed up to give us food 3 times this past week... and two times this week. They always eat the weirdest cuts of meat that make me afraid of the end results. One day we went and ate with them..... They gave us the loveliest uncooked fish with broccoli. But the broccoli was accompanied with little critters well known as caterpillars. This is not a lie or a joke. It was real. It gave me anxieties. I ate as much as a could. The elder that had the boiled caterpillar on his plate freaked out so much that he just ate it. And I was extremely concerned. But it all turned out well. I couldn’t control the nervous laughter. I busted up dying because the situation was too horrible. I was constipated and had diarrhea for two days in a row. But EVERYTHING is OK. The good thing is that they are great investigators with strong testimonies and desires to do good. So I am over the initial shock of their extremely bad cooking.

L. and her daughter J., were about to get baptized

about ten years ago. L. used to work in Park City for some wealthy Mormons. She cleaned houses. She is actually pretty well off because of it. Hahaha. But anyway. They are now deciding to get baptized again and they are progressing pretty well. They both went to church. The mom has been there like 3 times already, but it was the daughters first time. It is hard to make them understand that the church should be their priority, but hey. It is a work in progress. We are happy for them and put the date for them to get baptized on November 1. They are extremely willing to do it. Yayay.

The L. fed us lunch yesterday. FINALLY. We love eating with them because they cook really good. We ate green enchiladas. MMMMhmmmm. We taught their grandpa yesterday. He is a really sad old man of 89 years. He is sad because his body isn’t what it used to be. He says that nobody listens to him anymore because it is really hard for him to hear so he can’t keep a conversation going. He broke down in tears with us in the middle of a lesson because we testified to him that he can and should pray directly to his Heavenly Father. His whole life he has thought that God was too busy and that he needed to talk to his secretaries.... ,aka saints, that he worshiped. It opened his eyes to talk to us and we are really hoping he accepts the invitation to church. He doesn’t want to because he can’t walk but we are going to try and find him a good wheel chair. He told us that he was NEVER baptized in any church and was really interested in the idea of being baptized... but rejected it because he is "too old". BHahah. But he has so much potential. L. the mom is doing fantastic even though her husband just left her on Saturday. But right when he left the house she decided to go to the baptism and the Women’s Conference. She was so blessed by doing so. She is so strong and her testimony has grown leaps and bounds.

Anyway. The people we are teaching are truly chosen.

We had a good Zone Training Meeting. The Zone is getting excited to work hard. They are all being very obedient and just doing their best. I am so lucky to work with them.

Well the Letter is really long. Tell the missionaries in our ward that if there wasn’t any work in our ward boundaries, then he wouldn’t have put them there. (Our missionaries are not complaining - Eric just worries about them and how hard our area must be to do missionary work in) You guys have to help them and inspire them to believe. It’s a truth that ALL areas have the same potential to have success. Don’t get all statistical on me. Those are doubts and fears from the adversary. Just keep working. Pray hard, work hard, and you are going to find amazing souls that you would have never expected to receive the gospel. Want to know why? Because it is true and why else? Because God is God. HELP THEM. If you are busy with homework or cooking or doing some other important thing.... STOP in that very moment and GO WITH THEM to a visit. Just do it, and GOD will bless you so much. Please and thank you. Let them know that they are there to learn something. To grow, to become better, and to baptize. It’s all true.

Les AMO,

Elder Macdonald