Mateo in MEXICO: The miracles of fasting, Family Home Afternoon and the pizza chef, and frozen common sense is pricey!

This week was fabuloso!

First of all... we have changes tomorrow... and I’M STAYING HERE. Yaya. Haha, I didn’t think I was going to be changed, but it is still nice to know. COMFORT ya know? So that is good. Oh yeah and my comp is staying here too!! We were shocked because he has already been here for four months.... But guess his work here isn’t done yet! Elder Y. is also staying in my District! But, Elder W. is going, going, and gone. He will be the new secretary.... haha. He isn’t too fond of the idea.

Lots of good things happened this week. L. found miracle money hidden away in some account and is going to get married in 3 weeks!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO. That means that she will be able to get baptized also. WOW - A true miracle. That’s what fasting and praying will getchya, folks. I am extremely happy for her. She loved the conference last week and felt such a strong spirit when she shook the hand of Elder Oaks. She just keeps proving to be golden, even though, Satan doesn’t cease. He is throwing many temptations and hardships in her way. But she is so strong. She already wants to start preparing her dos youngins to be missionaries. It made my heart happy when she told me that. What a mom. Keep her in your prayers that she can be strong.

M. is getting baptized this week baby! I am sooo happy for her. YAYA. She is da grandma of the family that just got baptized she has such a sweet spirit. We just have to keep teaching her all the lessons and then she will be getting in dat water. We went with their family yesterday to eat lunch after church. AND guess what we ate? PIZZAS. Haha and guess who made them? ME. I am actually really good at making pizzas. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but man was it yummy. I have lots of photos of us all in the kitchen doing a little something. It was super fun. They called it a Family Home Afternoon. HAHA. Adorable. I do love that family. They were so relieved to know that my comp and I didn’t have changes. ALSO, all the Mexicans were all a little ancey when the pizzas where cooking (cause it took a little while) and they all insisted on eating it "NOW" even though it wasn’t quite ready. Patience is a virtue my loved ones. But hey... they are used to 2-minute tacos, so I can’t really blame them.

We found old investigators again and they seem to be more interested this time. But they never come to church. Its like “COME”. But they won’t even let me come by their house cause they know if I do they will have to come. So they came up with excuses like... “oh, we will already be in the center of Topilejo buying stuff, so we will just see you there”. And I was like “no.... you won’t”... And they were like “YES”. And so I was like “OKAY”. But they tricked me. Tricks are for kids... not missionaries. RUDE. I think they are just afraid to come and feel out of place. So I will be sure to drag them along next week. No worries folks.

Okay although I may have learned many things thus far on the mission... I still am pretty stupid. So, it’s cold in Topilejo, right? Well, it is. But no worries because we have this heater that the mission home gave us, and we have been using it every night because it gets COLD at nights. And it never really clicked with me that that was a stupid idea. But I guess it was a stupid idea. Want to know why? Because we got the power bill this week and saw how much it flippin’ costs. OMG. It was 2000 pesos!!!! Which is like 200 bucks. That is so not normal. The bill is usually a tenth of that every month. Or like 20 bucks every months... That is flippin’ ridic! So the moral of the story is - Never ever, ever use a heater all night for 2 months in a row. And if you do, you’re DUMB. Super awk when I had to tell someone. Everyone just looks at like me like.... “do you not have common sense???” I was like... “maybe it (his common sense) was frozen?”.

I got lots of your loverly letters and Christmas cards. They were all fantastic so thanks so much! I was also sent a hilarious hand knit scarf from some weird, secret admirer. But it is hilarious.

PS happy birthday to GRAMMY KOCH AND GIBBY KOCH this week! I love you all so much. Oh and Grammy, I read your talk!!! It was fantastic!! Thanks for sharing. Love ya’ll too much.

Well, anyways. I never got Andrew’s email (it is a letter that we mailed)... fyi. And to answer random dad questions... Yes it is very polluted in the city, but I am above the pollution in my area. My stomach is used to the food here and I LOVE it. And yes, it is probably because of all the flaming hot cheetos I ate. haha. My ankle is better. It hurt for a little while, but the swelling went down after I took pills (ibuprofen) and rubbed a magic lotion on it. Aha.

Con Amor,

Elder Macdonald