Week 60 Happy Memorial Day everyone!!!!

I hope you enjoyed the long weekend. We saw some great miracles on that day...

Yesterday we met an amazing woman named Stacy! She invited us right into her home even though her family was celebrating Memorial Day. She accepted church, a return appointment, and BAPTISM!!! After we invited her she said, "Yes, of course. What do I need to do to prepare for it". We ended up teaching her the restoration and she shared her desire to change her life with us. I am so excited to go back and teach her tomorrow!

While knocking doors this week we knocked into a man who invited us in right away. He introduced us to his wife and we were a bit confused at first. We asked her if she was a member and she said, "yes, that's why I thought you were here". We shared a short message and asked her why she had not been to church over the years. She explained that she was already so blessed by God that she didn't need to go to church; that church was in her heart...? It pained my soul to see someone so blessed forget the source from which those blessings came. 

I read in the book of Mormon when Mormon leads the Nephite army in battle even though they are not repentant. They people are filled with so much pride that they attempt to fight without the help of the Lord. Ultimately they are destroyed and experience many trials because they were not willing to repent. Sometimes we can become just like that when we are too prideful to go back to the basics: "Church, pray, and read". 

We were knocking doors on Wednesday and I noticed, what I thought was, a dog sitting in a cage. I was confused when it didn't bark after knocking the door. Then i realized that it was a giant PIG!!! I pulled Sister Abad over to the window and said, "that is literally a pig. It's LITERALLY a pig!!!" I couldn't believe it. 

I also gave a talk on Sunday. The topic was how we can strengthen our Testimony in the Savior. I shared Nephi's experience when he desired to know for himself what the tree of life meant. Right when I said that he was taken away into a vision by the Holy Ghost when a song from the "Phantom of the Opera" came blaring through the speakers. I didn't know what to do so I just said, "Yeah, just like that.". Everyone was laughing. 

I love you all!!!

Sincerely, Sister Matheson

Pics:

The best Latin food of my life!!!

I ate an oyster...never again!!!

I repeat...never again!

Family from our ward. *They have the cutest little down syndrome girl*.

Meet the weird Sand Hill Cranes that wander around up here.

Week 59

Helloooooooo!!!! It is almost summer time here in Florida (as per usual) because this week I got SUN BURNED!!!! We've been blessed to be able to bike almost every day. Let me just say, I will not forget sunblock ever again. EVER!

Teaching when we find has been something that we've worked on this past week. When the Spirit was strong we made sure to testify of the Restoration and then, if the Spirit directed, we taught a short lesson using the pamphlet. We noticed that people who had been prepared recognized the Spirit as we taught. Consequently we were blessed with quite a lot of New Investigators. It was great to replenish our teaching pool, however, throughout the week these once elect investigators let other things pull their attention away from meeting with us. It is quite interesting to see, as a missionary, the impact it has on peoples lives and the decisions they make when they do not have the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I am forever grateful to my Heavenly Father for that gift that he has given me in my life. 

On Friday we had a few extra minutes at the end of the night. We decided to look at the ward map and pick a family to go visit whom we had never met. We prayed about a name that stuck out to us and went right away. When we arrived we began to talk to the couple that was sitting on the driveway. They explained that the woman we were looking for had gone to Colorado for the summer, but that he (the man) was her son. He was less active and his wife was not a member. They had been looking for a church youth group for their fourteen year old daughter and we bore our testimonies about our experiences in Young Women's. We also shared the video "He Lives" with them and they agreed to come to church. 

Last night we were visiting a Less-Active member and taught about the Book of Mormon. I noticed that every concern he had or problem that he was going through linked back to the lack of scripture reading in his life. It reminded me of this scripture that I read this past week:

"[W]hosoever 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." (3 Nephi 23:5)

The chapter continues with Jesus expounding the scriptures to the Nephites and explaining the importance of recording the things that the Spirit directs them to record. 

Sorry this email is pretty short....my companion and I got sick this past week at the same time. Comp unity. Don't worry, we're fully recovered. :)

Sincerely, Sister Matheson.

p.s. I love you all so SO much!!!

Pics:

Our re-enactment of this picture...

Our lipgloss is poppin'

The picture doesn't do it justice.

Sometimes she gets hungry...

PRESTON street!

Thanks for the package Miriam!!

Week 58

It was so good to see your beautiful faces yesterday for Mother's Day. 

I must say, I have a pretty amazing family. I don't know why God has blessed me so much. 

We found out that our miles that we have to drive got cut by 400 so we have been biking every single day. It's a good time. 

This week Christian got BAPTIZED!!! It was nothing on our part because he had been investigating the Church for over two years. He had to wait until he was eighteen to get baptized so this last week was finally the time for him to do it. He was so excited for this long-awaited day. His non-member family came to support him and we got to meet them as well. It was great to see the Cultural Hall filled with members from two different wards who had been a part of his Conversion story. 

We also had the oportunity to contact a referral from a member. When we knocked on her door, she seemed very busy. She declined the prayer at first because she said her house was a mess. We offered to help her clean and organized and she was a bit confused. She asked, "how much?". We explained that it would be free, of course, and that we'd love to share more about the Gospel as well. She agreed so on Saturday we spent a good chunk of time cleaning their garage with them. Throughout our time there, Milly asked us questions about the Church and then we were able to share a message with her. It was a great experience to see how service can soften people's hearts. 

This week I studied 3 Nephi when Jesus appeared to the people in the Americas. It was wonderful to read how simply and powerfully Jesus Christ established the Church through calling Nephi and his Apostles. Because the people had a simple DESIRE to believe and a DESIRE for Him to stay, he was able to perform miracles and pray in there behalf. How powerful would that be to have Jesus Christ pray for you? Well, as representatives of Him, we have the opportunity to pray for people as well. This week I want to make sure that I am even more intune with the Spirit so that the people we pray with can feel that Spirit as well. 

I'm so grateful for the Scriptures and the power they are in my life. 

I truly know that The Book of Mormon is the most correct book on the earth. 

The Word of God is the only thing that will help us endure the distractions and temptations of the adversary.
READ THE BOOK! TAKE MORONI'S PROMISE AND TRY IT AGAIN AND AGAIN!

oh...And I love you all so very much. Muahhh

Sincerely, Sister Matheson

Pictures:

Lunch with the District today

 Just another day in Florida...

My favorite Asian.

Story of my life.

Christian is the one standing next to me...
who accidentally put his arm on my shoulder. HA

Dinner break at a park.

Week 57

I got transferred to.....PORT ST. LUCIE!!!!! It's about a 2 hour drive north of where I was before. I am now in the most north zone of the mission. It took me a while to get used to all the white people. Haha and everything is so spread out. We spend quite a lot of time in the car going from one appointment to the other. 

My new companion is SISTER ABAD! This is her fourth transfer. She's Filipino and 5'0" so you can imagine what the two of us look like walking down the street. I already accidentaly elbowed her in the face...that's how short she is. I love it. She's absolutely crazy (in a good way) which makes the work fun.

I'm loving it up here in Port St. Lucie. Since I've been in the Fort Lauderdale my whole mission it has been quite a change, but a good one. The people here are a lot more laid back, but still receptive. On Transfer day, Wednesday, we saw SO many miracles. They had not been able to find any elect new investigators and we knew we had to find at least FOUR by the end of the night. We prayed about a street to knock and both chose the same one. The first man that we talked to let us in to say a prayer with his wife and daughter in law. We taught them the Restoration with the pamphlet and got a return appointment for the following day.

A couple doors down we found a girl who was searching for the gospel, she just didn't know it yet. We said a prayer with her and taught her a short lesson. She agreed to let us come back and to attend church so that she could prepare for baptism. We couldn't believe it! Withing the first 15 minutes of our contacting time we had found those FOUR investigators that we were looking for. 

It didn't stop there. We went to knock on the door of a potential investigator and taught his whole family. We then had four additional New Investigators for the day. We could feel God pouring out the blessings on us all day. It was a great way to start the transfer in this new area.

I read the Beware of Pride talk and Pride seemed to be the center of my studies in the Book of Mormon as well. It was pride that ultimately disqualified the people for the blessings that God had for them. I also studied about mighty prayer and recognized the correlation between the two. I am so grateful for how much we pray as missionaries because it helps us recognize where all of our blessings are coming from. That is definitely something I will continue to do for the rest of my life.

I love you all!!! Keep reading your Book of Mormon daily and if you get a chance, read "Beware of Pride". It's a good one.

Sincerely, Sister Matheson

Pictures:

Rice cake for Sister Abad's 20th Birthday

This is my district (plus an extra companionship in our ward) after a meal appointment yesterday.