Week 26 Transfer Results..............

I got transferred to PINES!!! I am so excited. I've been serving in this area for the past two weeks because of our trio. It is such a nice area I love it. I'm going to stay companions with Sister Furner and Sister Doman is transferring. This week has been such a blur because we were working like crazy! Forgive me for this short email...

This week was great working in two areas! We were completely diligent in trying to hit Standards of Excellence. We got creative and did splits with our members again which worked great. We balanced both areas and we saw a lot of miracles. 

Our investigator in Davie went out of town for the weekend which was a let down at first, but then we were able to have lessons with her over the phone. She told us that she read the whole Plan of Salvation pamphlet to her husband on the way up to Orlando. She even got to watch the General Women's Meeting online. She is so excited for her baptism on the 19th. 

We also had a member come out with us during the week. She only had about 30 minutes so we decided to knock doors in her neighborhood. The first person that let us say a prayer with her connected really well with our member. They both had Buddhist backgrounds. The Woman had a Special Needs child and our member majored in that in college. God led us straight to her.

I've still been studying in the Book of Mormon about when Jesus Christ comes to the Americas. In 3 Nephi 23:4-5 Jesus says,

 "Therefore give heed to my words; write the things which I have told you; and according to the time and the will of the Father they shall go forth unto the Gentiles. And whosoever will hearken unto my words and repenteth and is baptized, the same shall be saved. Search the prophets, for many there be that testify of these things."

I loved this scripture because of General Conference coming up. I thought it was fitting. As we rely on the words of the prophets, in the Book of Mormon/ Bible and our current prophet, then we can be sure that we are following the words of God. I'm so excited for the opportunity we have this week to listen to the instruction they give us. We had a Special Mission Training on Wednesday and Sister Richardson shared some thoughts that I want to share with you all.

"What we get out of conference will largely depend on how we prepare."

"If we want to know how we stand before God, we must ask ourselves how we follow his mortal prophet.". 

I love you all so much!!!

Never forget how much God loves you too and how important you are to him.

Prepare to receive a lot of revelation during conference! 

Sincerely, Sister Matheson

A final quote from Deiter F. Uchtdorf from the General Women's Meeting........

"Live the gospel JOYFULLY!" 

We played bball with these 13 year old boys....

We definitely didn't win!

Oh well, we were in skirts! 

 

We have a bowling alley in our apartment building

so obviously we had to try it out last P-day.. 

 

Basically the happiest day of my life. A black baby and a puppy.

Life doesn't get much better than this!

 

 One of the houses in our area....yeah buddy!!!

 

 

A GIANT Iguana we saw on the side of the road.

We had to turn around a take a picture of it!

 

 

Mission Training

 

 Selfie with President:)

 

 

Week 25- Violin love, things lost and found

I'm loving it here in the land of Davie South/Pines.

Trios are the best.

It's still as hot and rainy as ever!!!

This Week:

-We ate dinner at a members house. They had a daughter who plays the violin and let me play it. I played "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and loved it. I'm really rusty, but I still played it. I forgot how much I love the violin!

-We went on a lot of splits with the members because we're working in two areas and wards. 

-One of our solid investigators was planning on getting baptized on Sunday, but fell back into her Word of Wisdom problem. She was a completely different person when she gave into her temptation. We could see a physical difference in her and it broke our heart. She'll come around though. The great thing is that God is a merciful God and is always there for us. 

Miracles!

-I lost the phone (of course I would) and we couldn't find it anywhere. I prayed and prayed and thought it might be at a members house, but it was far away. We went to the church and looked all over the next day. Then we prayed again. My first thought was to go to the members house that we had been at the day before. We drove there and looked in the grass where we had parked our car. Low and behold, IT WAS THERE!!! Not only was it there, but it was perfectly fine. That was such a miracle because of all the rain and humidity I thought for sure it would have water damage, but nope!

It was completely dry and perfectly fine.

 ***Moral of the story: Go with the first impression you receive from the Holy Ghost!!***

-We work in a very wealthy area. Like million dollar houses EVERYWHERE!!! We decided to take the challenge and go knock them. Why not? Everyone needs the gospel no matter how much money they have. They just don't know it yet. We needed to say 2 Harvest Blessings in the 20 minutes that we had. The first door we knocked on let us in. It was this really nice lady from France. She had a son with special needs and let us in to say the prayer. She cried because she felt the spirit so strongly. We taught her a little lesson right then and she accepted baptism. Before we left her husband came home. She asked if we could say the prayer with him. They both felt the Spirit super strong and said, "We've been looking for a church. It looks like we found our church". 

-This week we really needed to find new people to teach. The investigators we had kind of died off. We only had a few minutes to Harvest before an appointment on Saturday and we found what we had been praying for. I felt like we needed to go check up on someone we were teaching. She wasn't home and I was a little confused as to why I felt so strongly to go there. We saw a Jamaican guy with dreads and offered to say a prayer with his family. He told us to wait so that he could go ask. While we were standing there we noticed a woman trying to find her keys. We let her borrow our umbrella to go to her car. When she came back we prayed with her and she started crying. She accepted baptism right away and said she was familiar with the "Mormons". She was so excited when I gave her the Book of Mormon. If we hadn't followed the prompting to go see our investigator, we never would've met her. Sometimes when we get promptings they don't make sense at first. As long as we follow them then God will manifest unto us his plan whether it be right then or down the line. 

I love you all!!!

Keep praying for missionary opportunities and I know the Lord will provide.

Have a blessed week.

Sincerely, Sister Matheson

 

Where we found the cell phone!!

 

Avocado fresh off the tree. 

 

 

Splits with members!!

 

This is a Banana Spider.

They are the size of my palm, they scurry really fast as well.

SICK!

 

Trios are the BEST!

 

 Florida FOOD!!

 

Violin love remembered!

 

Week #24

I don't even know where to begin........

Friday Sister Wood got a call from Sister Richardson. She told her that she would be going home the next day (Saturday) for a scope surgery and then returning once she recovers. We were both so sad, but we knew it was the right thing. Friday night we went over to our Investigators house and she taught us how to make Jamaican food. It was SO GOOD!!! I'm so excited to make it for you all when I get back and blow your minds.

Saturday we met at Presidents house and dropped her off. I went with another companionship of Sisters in my district and she went on her way. :( My new companions are Sister Furner and Doman. They are amazing. We're covering both areas now. Their area is a very wealthy area with a lot of gated communities. Their apartment is so nice as well. It should be fun!

I guess I'm just meant to be in Trios.

They're a party though so I'm not even mad!

 

This is my email to President this week:

"We saw amazing miracles this week with the combination of Pines and Davie South. Our solid investigator didn't answer her phone at all Sunday morning. I was worried that she had slept in when we didn't see her at church. Sister Doman and I were sitting in the back as the Sacrament started when I looked up and saw her walk in with her little boy. They came JUST in time to receive the Sacrament. We couldn't stop smiling!!!

Our numbers were really struggling, but yesterday we were able to work really hard and get them up to par. We did a split with a member and got 14 Harvest blessings in 1 hour in order to reach our goal of 15! We got creative and did lessons over the phone and everything. Right before I was going to text in our numbers for the week the phone rang. It was one of our Investigators in Davie and we were able to set him with a baptismal date right then. We had been just one short of reaching standards for dates, but the Lord provided a way. We have the faith that we will see amazing miracles this coming week as we put our trust in the Lord and work our hardest. I know that we can reach standards in both areas. (1 Nephi 3:7)

One of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon this week was 

"Then, my brethren, ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you." (Alma 32:43)

Even when we are doing all we can and don't seem to see the "rewards of [our] faith", God provides a way. Every time. "

I love you all!!!

Sincerely, Sister Matheson

pics:

Ft. Lauderdale Zone!

 

Latoya

 

Cooking

 

 

Sister Wood and I

 

 

 

 

My new companions!!!!!

 

 Driving the A.P.'s van!!

 

 

Week 23- The law of compensation

Heyyyy!!!

 

This week I learned just how real the law of compensation is.

One of our really solid families that we were teaching dropped us because they got anti-ed. We were pretty down about it and then we had an amazing lesson with our other investigator. Her Brother was at her house the day before and agreed to be baptized. Yesterday when we went over to her house to teach her, her good friend was there and agreed to be baptized as well. We got two new investigators and two dates all through our one solid investigator. It was such a blessing. They are excited to come to church next week and already made plans to come to our ward activity this upcoming Saturday. Latoya is so funny. During our lesson with her and Steve we were talking about baptism. She asked how old he was when he got baptized in the Catholic church. He said he thought he was about 6. She turned to us and said, "Just keep it real with him." Then turning to Steve she said, "your baptism did not count.

You need to be baptized again." haha 

This transfer my testimony of the Atonement has deepened more than ever before.

I read 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 this week and I loved it!!!

 "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak,

then am I strong."

It's inevitable that hard times will come when we are on the Lord's side. In those hard times I learn the most. I am incredibly grateful for every hard time that comes with being a disciple of Christ and a missionary. When I have no strength left, when I can't go any farther, that is when I feel the Savior carry me. That is when I learn who the Savior is to ME. 

I read a talk by John Bytheway this week. One of my favorite quotes from it is "God already knows what we're made of, but perhaps He wants us to learn what we're made of."

I read about Samuel the Lamanite this week in the Book of Mormon. He climbs on the wall to cry repentance to the people and only some are converted. As he continues to testify to them they begin to cast stones and shoot arrows at him. He stays strong, however, and is not hit. "Now when they saw that they could not hit him, there were many more who did believe on his words, insomuch that they went away unto Nephi to be baptized". (Helaman 16:3). It was because of his faith during adversity that they were changed. This made me ponder on how I react in times of trial. How are people influenced by my example during those times? I hope that I can help others see how truly merciful God is even during hard times. I've never been happier in my mission than when I get to learn from all of the hard times.  

Yesterday the Elder's invited us to eat breakfast with them at the church. They said they were making pancakes on the "skittle".

HAHAHA and I thought I was blonde!

Whenever we have a hard week, Sister Wood buys me a strawberry smoothie from Olive Garden.

If you haven't had one yet, GO! NOW! TRY IT! ENJOY IT! TREAT YO SELF! 

I love you all. REMEMBER that the God is a merciful God even in times of Trial. His plan for us is a plan of HAPPINESS. Have faith in that. Trust in him.

LOVE YOU!!!!!

Sincerely, Sister Matheson

 

Pic 1:Latoya put the pictures of Jesus Christ

and the Temple in a frame right after we gave them to her.

It was the cutest thing, I had to take a picture of it. 

 

 Pic 2: Florida Sunsets...

Pic 3: Strawberry Smoothies at Olive Garden

 This family in our ward is so kind. They just moved in and they're already taking care of us. The mom cut our hair (amazingly) and went out to Ross and picked out the CUTEST clothes for Sister Wood and I. They really take care of us and feed us. They are a blessing from God. We finally feel like girls again and not just ugly Sister Missionaries. 

 

I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M 5 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!
Time is so weird here. I can't even explain it.

This week was good. We recovered just fine from our scary incident last week. We dropped Sister Donald off at President's house on Tuesday and then Sister Wood and I realized that I was the Senior comp...yikes!! haha it was great though. Sister Wood is such an amazing missionary and we're already best friends. Everyday is a party even when it's a hard day. I couldn't have gotten through this week without her.

We haven't been able to work a lot in our area because of Sister Wood's hurt knee. (KEEP HER IN YOUR PRAYERS PLEASE!!!). We had faith that God would compensate as we did all we could do and put our trust in him. On Thursday we were have a pretty rough day when we got a miracle phone call. The Spanish Sisters told us thank you for a referral that we had given them. We met the woman on Transfer Day and she seemed pretty interested. When the Sisters went to see her she was really excited to hear from them. She accepted baptism as well as 3 of her family members. Sister Wood and I started crying because we had been feeling like we weren't making a difference. God made it so that the work could go on. 

We also had amazing Chapel tour with our investigator, Latoya. She loved it! We were worried that her ride wasn't going to bring her to church on Sunday, but after Sacrament meeting we looked up and she had come over to say hi. She sneaked into the back and we hadn't seen her. She loved church and all the people. She was signing up for everything and getting flyers to hand out to her friends about our Ward's Chili cook off. She's amazing. 

I just feel like sharing some of my favorite scriptures that pretty much explain our week. 

"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God and for his arm to be revealed." (D&C 123:17)

 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, as I said unto my disciples, where two or three are gathered together in my name, as touching one thing behold, there will I be in the midst of them--even so am I in the midst of you. 

Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also reap good for your reward.

Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail. 

Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sin no more; perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you.

Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not. 

 

Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall inherit the kingdom of heave. Amen."

(D&C 6:32-37)

Story Time:

Apparently there was gossip about us going around the ward that we went to the hospital and that Sister Donald was super sick. Where did they get that...? haha probably because it was mostly true. The bishop got up in Sacrament meeting to assure the ward members that the rumors were false. Too bad he didn't ask us first because they really were true. Oh well.

What they don't know won't hurt 'em. We didn't feel like correcting him hahah.

It's like a Utah ward. 

I love you all!

Thank you for your prayers and your support.

Help out the missionaries wherever you are.

God will bless you. 

Sincerely,

Sister Matheson