Mateo in MEXICO: Swollen ankle, what's behind the blue door, and Elder Oaks knows my name!

Howdy folks.

Well this week was a week of pure craziness. Seriously. Its like I was never allowed to sit still or sleep. And for that... I am very tired. I also was walking down a hill today and I FELLLLL like a loser #biffedit sooo bad and my ankle is HUUUUGE and swollen. Gigantico. So that was awk. People literally just looked at me and didn’t know what to do because the fall was just so uncomfortable looking. lol. Thanks random strangers in the street.

Okay well first I will start with my fantastic investigator L. She straight up fasted. She has known us for 2 weeks.... And she fasted. WUT. I didn’t fast fur real until I was like a senior in high school. I am a loser, but hey. She fasted specifically to be able to get married as soon as possible by having more work to pay off her debts. So I think we are going to do something special with her and she is gonna get married super quick. Pray for a miracle. I am. She also came, with her MOM, to the stake conference with Elder Oaks. They were the first ones in line to file in. She got to shake his hand. I can’t wait to talk to her and find out what she thought about the conference.

We found a perfect family this week. They live super close to us too. We pass their house all the time and I have always wondered who or what lives behind their blue door. Well one day we went to visit a less-active family and he was there talking to them. We taught the Restoration and he was interested in talking to us more. He told us he lives in the house with the blue door and I was like “NOOO”. lol. So we went and he and his wife are true gems. Their children are adorable. And they already want to feed us. HAHA. They were like "when can you come over and eat?!?!" And I was like “uhh GO TO CHURCH AND SIGN UP”. They were like "OKAY!" haha. They already want to be baptized. They just want a fresh start. He had a tough addiction to alcohol and used to fight with his wife a lot. But now they have changed and just want to follow God. I think they will have to get married because it would just be very unlikely that they be married. Soon I will ask. The best part is they live like right next door to some fairly new members. And that means they can be best friends!!!! yaya.

So this week we talked to everyone. Well lots more... and got to find lots of new people. The funny thing I have noticed is that the fantastic investigators that we get are usually through our personally contacting.... But when God sees that we are giving our all, he basically hands us the people he has prepared through other means. He just wants to see us exercise our faith. And he will give us a testimony after the trial of our faith. He is a tricky guy. Haha.

Also had lots of practices and conferences this week.

We also had to go to the yellow house to pick up our refrigerator. So we needed to find some man to drive us but here in Topilejo no hay nadie with a car – nobody has a car - Twas very tricky. We finally decided to just go in public transportation there and return in taxi... I was expecting a little itty-bitty fridge... to fit in a little itty-bitty taxi. But when we got there the fridge was not itty-bitty. hahaha. So the assistants were like “just go home and come back with someone that has a car”. And I was like “NOOOOO. We traveled so far and wasted preaching time in our area for this dumb fridge”. So I found a taxi guy and bribed him to take us. He was like "well let’s see if it fits....." and at first it didn’t. So we had to rip it out of the box and luckily it fit. - JUST BARELY. My comp and I had to share the front seat all the way back. Super uncomfortable. But it was worth it. And now we have a fridge and the house is complete. Haha.

The next day we had to go back to the yellow house at night to stay the night there because our area is way too far. 12 missions from the farthest areas (Chinampas was there) all united in the yellow house, showered at night, and woke up early to leave to the temple for the Saturday morning conference with Elder Oaks. The conference was so good. He said something that was profound to me. We need to always be full time missionaries. He compared it to a fisherman. Super original. Haha but it was good. He said that when he plans a fishing day of 10 hours, he leaves early in the morning and puts his line in the water so that his line is in the water for those 10 hours. He has also had other fishing days when he starts the day off with a big breakfast with his buddies, goes on a hike to enjoy nature before they get to the lake, and then takes a lunch break on the boat. In total he would only have had his line out for maybe 4 hours of a day planned with 10 hours. Obviously he caught lots more fish when his line was out for the FULL 10 hours. That’s how we need to be as missionaries. We will never have the chance to dedicate our full time and efforts to the Lord ever again. After the mission we have to worry about school, dating, jobs, marriage, children, etc etc. All of which are great things... but those things will NOT allow us to dedicate our full time and efforts to the Lord. He said not even an Apostle of the Lord has that convenience. Sometimes we take our 2 years for granted and don’t act like full time missionaries, even though we are called to be full time missionaries. I only have ONE more year to invite everyone I see to come unto Christ through repentance and baptism. I will never get this chance again. Elder Oaks said it so well and lovingly. I just want to rededicate myself to the mission and be a true full time missionary. I know I have done a pretty good job thus far, but there is no more room for forgetting this amazing objective.

His wife is a wonderful woman as well. I didn’t know that she didn’t get married until she was 53 years old. So strong! She served as a missionary in Japan and bore a wonderful testimony.

Also he made the effort this day to shake the hand of all 300 missionaries that were there. He said my name when I shook his hand and it freaked me out. I thought.... "wowow he even knows my name" hahahahhaha and then I realized that I have a name tag on 24 seven. hahahahah. It was funny. But it was truly an act of love to shake every single one of our hands. I thought about it and I know that Jesus Christ will do the same. He will make the effort to make every single one of us feel loved and special. I know Elder Oaks is a special witness of our Savior because I felt my Saviors love through his words and actions.

He did the same in the Stake Conference on Sunday. It was so beautiful and touching to see him just love all of those amazing people in this stake. He was able to bring such a strong spirit into that building. He truly does glow. And it’s not just because of his shiny head. Hahahaa. I was so tempted to touch his head for good luck. But I refrained. lol. He said something amazing about tithing. His mother was a widowed woman with 5 or 6 children. She didn’t make enough money to provide for her family, but also knew that she couldn’t get along without the blessings of the Lord. He invited everyone, especially those that are poor to pay their tithing. It was so special and the spirit bore witness to me that tithing is true principle. He also stressed the importance of Sacrament meeting attendance. We need to renew our covenants with the Lord every Sunday to be able to have his Spirit with us throughout the week. The Lord loves us.

All in all... This week was super great. I got the package with the coat.... What do I do with it? So ironic that right when I get it, it stops being cold. SO FUNNY RIGHT]?!?!?! Should I send it back or give it away to someone? I also got the Jenny Penny calendar. It is fantastic!! AHHH ONLY ONE MORE CALENDAR. What is this?

Con Amor,

Elder Macdonald