happy Cinco de Mayo

Everyone!!!!!!!!! BIEN BIEN! QUE HERMOSA fue este DOMINGO! Lloraba llorabamos en la reunion sacramental. NO se adonde puedo empezar, pero las bendiciones de los cielos.  Fue un gran experiencia por mi y Hna Toral. Había 3 investigadores . Uno de los investigadores es Part Familia member y su mama fue también!  Lordues y Aurora (They are our neighbors and we have started exercising with them in the mornings)  El Sábado encontramos una familia que no sabíamos sin la guía del Espíritu Santo. Y este familia es familia de la invest. que vino con su mama. Y encontramos un otro menos activo que es amigas con estes dos familias.  It is amazing because we found these 3 families basically all this week. Seriously un milagro!

En la Reunion sacramental, un joven (Nancy) 11yo. que estamos trabajando con (y su familia) el pasado 2 meses dio su testimonio. Ella vino solo a la Capilla en el camion y ella esta entiendo la importancia de el Evengelio. Yo lloraba y lloraba porque ella  es fortalece me sentí muy muy contento.It made me so happy to see her up there, even though it was short and sweet. I know that she felt the spirit soo strongly. It has been through the activities that she has come to see the necesida del Evengelio en su vida.   Tambien Hna TOral y yo damos nuestras testimonios, (there were a lot of visitors so I did it in English and then in spanish it is so hard to speak in english and then transfer to span and from span to english)  fue el MEJOR DOmingo que hemos tenido!  Yo se que es por la gracia de Dios que podemos experimentar y ver los milagros en nuestras vidas y en las vidas de todas las personas.  

 There was a family from Canada there and they had just gotten to San Jose Saturday. The mom 2 of her kids, the husband got stuck in the airport and couldn{t come becuase his visa expired. She told me they were at church because they needed a miracle. I bore my testimony about the faith she had and other things. The spirit was so strong though. Me and my comp were both filled with tears as we bore our testimonies. It was so beautiful to feel the spirit so strongly. The spirit was so strong also because 10 or more youth bore their testimonies. It was SO POWERFUL! WE have sooo much to live up to in these generations. 

In our gospel Principles class we watched the movie about Christ and his life and the miracles he performed. As I was watching it, it hit me that CHrist had to learn everything just as we do, but im SURE he had the spirit with him more and for that he grew much faster. It has made me reflect on his life and his adolecenes and what it must have been like. In the scriptures it is mostly all about his ministery but I wonder what his ministery was like in his home with his family and his friends? I KNOW that CHrist came to the earth to give each one of us the chance to return and live with our Heavenly Father.  He has given each one of us the oportunity to learn and grow. He too learned and grew , what an amazing thing to think about. What a great example he is to us, in every aspect of life we can turn to our Savior Jesus CHrist and he can lead and show us the way. Last night we got to finally have 2 lessons with  MA fams we have been trtying to contact for the last month! It was so beautiful! I am so so grateful for the Lords timing. We were in a lesson and I was wanteing to find a good scripture to read, I opened up to a random page and found scripture that I had marked.. it is Alma 42:31.. it talks about my purpose as a missionary. To call people unto repentance that they might receive the blessings of the gospel. It was a great reminder to me! 

A few funny things from this week... so part of our area is SUPER far away and we have to walk through straight desert to get to a part of it.. it was really hot and there are hills part of it is a dried up river..so we decided we were going to have a little fun and pretend we were jummping off a diving board into the water and swimming under that water.. it was pretty funny and we had a good laugh. 

Today for pday we got up at 5ish and started the washer... then studied and then went to the church to play Volleyball with some youth from the 2 wards here and all the missionaries in our distrito! ahh it was super fun. and REALLY hot! I forgot to put sunscreen on my face so i got a little burnt. I remembered to put it on my arms but we were leaving in a rush (haha imagine that) and my arms were full of stuff. 

WE had a really fun time playing volley ball. A young man was walking by and one of the RMs that was playing with us yelled to see if he wanted to play. I had the same thought but didn{t know how to reaññy express myself and do it so im glad that someone else had the same thought and acted upon it! He came and played with us and  had a really good time and what a great way to share the gospel. I believe he is in the other hermanas area.

CON MUCHISMO AMOR,

Hna Matiaco

3 meses en la misión!

I cant believe it has been 3 months since I have been out! TIme flies by in the field. 

Things are moving forward here. This Sunday we received a new Ward mission leader! I AM SOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!! It is Homero I have commented about him and his family before. He didnt serve a mission Im pretty sure he was less active in those years. He is still super young though, 28 I think. He has a burning testimony of the gospel and wow his prgress since I have been here has just been amazing! I am so excited to have a dedicated WML! 

This week we had a lot of lessons! It was a great week for teaching and I learned a  lot! We also did splits and that was fun and good! It helps me a lot when we do splits because I learn more when I have to take the lead and iniciate! 

It was a show getting to church this week and wow the Lord was so gracious and we made it for the sacrament. We had called for a large taxi but we missed it or they didnt find us we arent sure which one it was.  We were taking a LA member and her 2 baby twins her son. The bishop his daughter and a few other people...after 15 phone calls or mas we finally got a taxi and made it 7 min late but before they shut the doors for the Santa Cena. I am so grateful for the Lord^s mercy and allowing us to arrive in order to take the sacrament.

On Satuday we had planned to do splits again but it didnt work out and we were kinda sad. apparently it wasn{t in the Lords plans for us to have splits. THrough all of our changes and cancellations though we worked hard and taught 8 lessons that day! I know that often the Lord has plans for us other than what we have planned and he is the only one who knows what we need. I am so grateful for the way the Lord works and his mercy. 

I hope that all of you have taken the challenge to read Mosiah in one month. If not at least read Mosiah  18! My fav ch in Mosiah,  part of it says { and they did walk uprightly before God imparting to one another both temporally and spiritually..... { how often do we impart spiritually and temporally to others, this is part of our baptismal convenant that we impart spiritially unto one another. I love the times that I have had to share my personal spiritual experiences with others. It always helps me and strenghthens my testimony. I invite you all to share a spiritual experinece with at leaste one person each day . I know the gospel is true and only through Jesus Christ can we return to our heavenly Father! 

I love you all =) 

Con amor,

Hermana Matiaco

3/24/14

Hello everyone! 

This week has been full of working with LA members in the area. Last night we had an noche de Hogar (FHE) with some LA and some potential investigadores! It was awesome! we were expecting 6 people and had 12 or so, it was great! The LA member who is srarting to come back to church gave the lesson, I was so nervous because she talked about the plan of Salvation basically everything that happens after we die.. It was great though, it brought up so many questions and baptsim and authority and one of the girls BF basically said why do people baptize babies and how we need to know right from wrong and how it is to clean us from our sins. It was AWESOME! and then of course we had the other end of why is my baptism not valid. It was a great discusssion though and I really think everyone enjoyed it. Working with the members is so important! 

This week we got soo many references! 19! we have been trying to contact everyone, it is really difficult though when 95% of San Jose doesn´t have street names. thank heavens for my companion and that she is a pro. 

In the mornings we are running/walking arounf with a map and we write down all the lugares, tiendas, important things like that, because literally when we get directions it is pass the Elvis tienda, 2 cuadras then there is a yellow house and its the house next to that one. 

We found a LA family, that stopped going because they got offeneded by someone in the ward or something like that. The mom Lupita is incredible! I love her so much, when we met her for the first time, she was just SO HAPPY TO SEE us ! HERMANAS! She has never seen misioneras before! She came to church on Sunday with us. She is such a special spirit! 

We ate lunch at Hermana Maru´s house the other day, she is a convert of 2 years. She is so strong! She has a little garden and ahh I just loved it! It was beaitful! She gave me a Mauringa..idk if thats how you spell it, but I am drying it and am going to use it in my morning drinks! Its super heathy , its weird and awesome, a sour then sweet taste.  anyways we had a really nice talk with her and at the end she told us. I love having the missionaries in my home because to me you represent Jesus Christ. It was a beautiful reminder for me, reminding me how important this work of salvation is and how it reallt is Christ´s work. I am so grateful to be here and to be a representative of Jesus Christ. I know this is the Lord´s gospel, it is his church and we all need to be representivies of him in all that we do. I love you all! 

Love,

Hermana Matiaco

VIVI en MEXICO ..la cuidad de San Jose!

I live in MEXICO!!!!
AHHH so I am in San Jose which is on the BAJA!!!!  I am right outside of CABO SAN LUCAS! oh my gosh! I can't tell you how excited I was when I found out! So I try to get you a run down of what has happened!

Monday morning: up at 230am to help the 2 other girls in my disctict leave for there flight..I didn't have to get up till 4, but I couldn't fall back asleep, so that was the end of my sleep for the long day ahead...We took 2 trains to get to the airport from Provo, waited in the airport for an hour or so..it was greating hearing your voices(those who I did get to talk to). Flew to LAX and oh my gosh had so much to do! I didn't think my taveling would continue for the following 2 days... then we flew to Hermosilla Mexico on ! Went through customs there, got on a tiny plane caring about 30 people (from LAX to hermosilla), then another small plane to Culiacan. Me and another hrma had a great talk with this guy on the airplane about GOd anda the church and todo, fue muy bien! So we then finally made it to CULIACAN!!! we didn't have to wait too long to meet president and his wife! THEY are incedible! As I was shaking prez Velez hand, my eyes flooded with tears, I felt so strongly of his spirit and love. It was an amazin experiencia. He asked me if I was crying because I missed my familia, I laughed and said no, I am SO EXCITED to be here and  I am so happy to be here! We got in about 630pm.. we went to the hotel where we were all staying and dropped our stuff off and then went to presidents house for dinner. Que rico!! Oh my goodness the food was soo good! One of the hermanas from the bario made la comida! Fue superbien! We were there till about 945 and then went back to the hotel. Which is when 3 of us found out that we were goin to the BAJA! 

Tuesday morning: 

Went to the office, we went with all of our luggage in the streets to the officina. Luckily there were other elders there to help so I didn't have to carry both of my huge suit cases.. oh ya and I found out that I could only take 1 of my suit cases to the Baja, so I had to do a lot of changing around in mis maletas, pero it all worked out. and they are going to send my other maleta in a few days.. so that will be nice. we filled out alot of paperwork at the office and had interviews then everyone left and went off with there companions except the 3 of us going to the baja.   Prez took the 3 of us goin to baja to subway for lunch. oh and thank goodness for a latino district leader who is now the DL of my area who was coming with us to los cabos, so then the 4of us went to the aeropuerto and waited for about an hour. Me and Hermana Ogden who was the otro hermana goin to baja took a taxi all by ourselves to the airport. AHH gringos in the Culiacan! Cambios here are crazy! well at least what I have experienced thus far!

So the flight to Baja was about 45 min, not long.. we flew into La Paz which is where Hrmana Ogden is serving.  I met my companion in the airpaort there so that was awesome!  Me and my companion are white washing, she was serving in La Paz and so both of us are new to the area! Ahh que bueno!  She had a sign for me it was so cute!
Un obispo picked us up and dropped us off at the place where we would then take a 2. hour bus ride to los cabos.  Oh and it just so happened to be that Marty Graw was last night so there were a TON of people there in the town! So it was just crazy every where! We finall got onto the bus 8ish... got into los cabos around 10:15 and stayed in a hotel there b/c it wouldn't have been safe for use to take another bus or taxi to our area.. so yeah.

This morning me and Hrna Toral got up and ran to the marina where all the cruise ships are..so im pretty sure I was in the same place as Alex Josh and Tony ?!?!! Yeah?...  I will send some fotos so tell me if this is where they were?  We both had no idea where the marina was so we would run for a bit and then stop and ask someone for directions, it was quite an adventure! We finally made it, it was so beautiful! 

We then realized we wouldn't have enough time to run all the way back to the hotel and shower y pack ..so we ended up taking a taxi back to the hotel. It was a 15 seater van and we were the only ones in it, it was kinda funny. They didn't have any little ones though so we had no options, my comp gave the driver a pamphlet and got his address to give to the elders in the area so that was cool! My comp is from Xalapa which is where my 2 comps from the CCM are now serving! way cool, and I am her last child! She has 3 mo left in the mission!

Ok so my comp yo y dos otros elderes Elder Garibay y elder serna(DL) were with us tambien, so we took a city bus to San Jose, it was about an hour ride. There was this old mexican man that got on and started playing his guitar and he was singing about Jesus and it was entertaining of course I didn't understand todo pero y entiende mucho. After he sang for about 20 min he came and shook our hands and then took my mano y mi comp mano and prayed for us. I seriously can't believe how different life is here. People live so simply, I am in a poor area. 

So we got off the bus and met up with 2 otras hrmas and they took our stuff to our appartmento while we went shoping at a store...that took a long time! Then a member picked us up and we went to our appartment, which is a new appt that no missionaries have ever lived in. we have 3 rooms in our appt so that is nice, we having so much to do though. Cleaning and moving beds, pero esta bien! Im am grateful for a place to live!

We went to the obispos casa por lunch, he owns a store just down from his house so we were just with his wife most of the time. A very humble hogar. A kitchen and living room and then they live upstairs, its so different here b/c it is not connected. you have to go outside and walk up the stairs to get to the bedroom. and the bano in below the stairs going up to the bedrooms.. we helped clean her house, of everything is made of cement here. We are so blessed in the US to have what we have, it is incredible how much we have that we don't need. 

Leaving already! MAR 03, MEXICO + me= CULIACAN MISSIONARY!

WOW time is good at flying by!  I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

So some things I haven't talked much about.. I LOVE playing volleyball! I play almost every day during gym time. And I have actually improved and am not awful at it..well not as awful! It has been really fun playing with people from my Zona. One elder scares the heck out of me because he ALWAYS spikes it and the ball is flying 100 mph! Super fun though! My days of volleyball are coming to an end though..tear tear and jump for JOY!! THat means I am going to be in the field! YAY ahhh AHHHHH I have so much to learn! 

After becoming a missionary, I realized that I have so much to learn! Being a member missionary is a bit different than being a full time missionary. I gotta know my stuff and pray a lot to know what the Lord wants for our investigators. 

So about the spanish, its coming along. I am not too worried, but I know I will feel very inadequate when I get there.   The more I speak it and write it, the better it gets. I'm so grateful I knew some spanish before I came into the MTC! I still got a heck of a lot to learn though! Every week here our branch prez has us prepare a 3-5 min talk in spanish. Last sunday was the first sunday I took it as seriously as I should have been the rest of the time and wrote a LOT! I used the resources I had and really tried to do my best! I am so grateful I did that, it helped improve my spanish a ton. I know that it takes a lot of work to learn a language but it is totally possible thru the LOrd and through studying and using what he has given to us. 

Last night we had a wonderful Devo given by a member of the 70. He gave us some amazing insight and info

Here are some stats for ya'll: the church has been sending missionaries out for 184 yrs (since it was restored)

1.3 million missionaries have served since the church has been sending missionaries. 70% of that 1.3 million have been called to serve since Prez Monson has been in the presidency! 

HOW AMAZING IS THAT?!?  That right there is evidence that the Lord is hastening his work on the earth. Read D&C 33:8-10

I know that the Lord cannot have his work done only by the missionaries that are serving right now, he needs each and everyone of us! We as members need to help the missionaries by inviting our friends over. Here is an analogy I got from my branch prez

there is a missionary/ward member escalador. 

It starts out with MEMbers inviting their friends over for dinner, maybe you have to invite them over 5 times before you invite the missionaries over too, but do it! have an FHE activity with your neighbors, a Desserte night, then a church activity..find something that will be appealing to your friends and family. Show them the blessings a love you receive from living the gospel!  As you help them up the escalator they will be coming closer to Christ and then we as missionaries can continue to help them along their path to the Savior. The escalador is always moving though and its either going up or down. It is the same for each one of us in our lives we are moving closer or farther from Christ. 

Well I can't believe my time is really coming to an end at the MTC! Its crazy to think that I have been here for over a month! I am so grateful for the thing I have learned here. I know that as I apply the things I am taught the Lord will bless and helpe me know to now what He wants me to do. 

So my flight leaves around 930am from SLC, I have to leave Provo at 430am though! So I will probably call in the AM! I have a layover in LAX for about 3 hours and the heading straight to Culiacan ! Our flight gets in about 745pm. Ahh I will be a tired missionary! BUt thats ok, tired or not I will be a missionary and servant for the Lord! I know that this is the Lords work and not mine. This is his mission not mine! I am here to help people along there path back to our Heavenly Father, so that they can receive the same joy I have in my life from the gospel of Jesus Christ. THorugh faith in JEsus Christ, arrepentiemiento, el bautismo, recibir el don del espiritu santo y perserverar hasta el fin. yo se que estes cosas son verdadero. 

Con amor,

Hermana Matiaco

mtc: week #3

So this week has just flown by! This morning we had service at 615AM then went to the temple at 830, went to main campus to print off emails, went to Brigham's landing where we can go to eat off of campus, print pictures and do a few other things! Then did laundry, and now writing letters! me and my comps are always so stressed out during email time! It is THE MOST STRESSFUL part of our week! Today is not as bad for me though which is good! 

On Sunday ELDER HOLLAND came to the MTC!! He didn't come to speak to us, but to listen to his son MATTHEW HOLLAND who is the president of UVU! It was also Sister Hollands birthday so we sang happy bday to her. Elder Holland got to introduce his son though so that was really neat we got to hear from him for a few minutes. I definitely felt the spirit when he walked in! It was so powerful! Elder holland said something to the extend of this" most people think apostles live in some unreal world and that we are not regular people just like every person in the world", it was interesting to think about that. That they really are just people, they do have a calling and assignment, but they are people just like us. Anyways so Matthew holland talked about the story of Joseph Smith, it was so powerful! I learned so much! It was a beautiful Devotional. We as the MTC choir sang Praise to the Man along with the UVU insitute choir , that was really an amazing experience!  The UVU choir also sang A Poor way Faring Man of Grief, it was so touching, many eyes were filled with tears. I hope that you all will take the time to read the words to that song again and ponder the meaning of them. We are so blessed to have a knowledge of the Savior! This week I have learned a lot about Joseph Smith and his upbringing and trials of his life. It truly is amazing what he did. I know that he restored Christ's church upon the earth. I know that through him, we have the BOM today. The Book Of MOrmon was written for intent. Those who seek knowledge with real intent willl find answers to their questions in the BOM. It is the most true book on the earth and that is why it is so important for each person to know about it and have an understanding of it. It can change each one of our lives if we let it. If we follow the counsel that is directed in it we can return and live with our Heavenly Father again. 

On Sunday my district sang I need the Every Hour in sacrament mtg, it was so nice to sing in church! I did a solo and it was fun! I'm so grateful for music in my life and for the love I have for it! I know that music can be a powerful tool in our lives if we choose to use it appropriately. 

We had a workshop on sat night that was about following the promptings of the spirit and How do I know if it is the spirit or not? We then watched a talk given by Elder Bednar. It is an amazing story what happens, don't have time to explain it, but here is what I have learned. 

If it is a GOOD thing, do it! It may not be a life changing experience, but it will bless your life or the life of another person. Here is an experience I had last night. We were leaving our classroom to go to Devo. I had my journal and then I saw my other journal and had a thought " I should take that one too" I pushed it way thinking, eh what do i need my gratitude journal for?.. then I decided heck ok I will just take it..who knows..so i did and im glad I did. We were having choir practice and we practice in the gym where we have our devo. I saw a girl in front of me who was new. Everyone comes in to the MTC on wednesday, but if for some reason they have to come a day early, they can..so this was the case.. I thought to myself, hmm she is new and probably didn't know to bring a notebook to take notes in. She was a rather quiet and a little just on the..idk how to say it.awkward?..anyways. I didn't have a pen, but sitting mext to me was a hermana I had gone to LAs Vegas with and she had her bag. I got a pen from her and them offered this sister infront of me a piece of paper and my journal to write on. She gladly accepted it and I think that she was very grteful for it in the end. I'm grateful I listened to the first prompting I had to take my other journal with me. It wasn't a big thing but then I was able to follow a prompting I had. This gave this new sister an opportunity to take notes and remember things that she needed in her life at that time. It was a blessing for me because I was able to help someone. I know that we  can all have these experiences in our lives if we choose to do the little things in life that matter most. When we came back from the devo we had a District mtg..one of the branch prez councilors is always there. at the end  I showed Prez Bahar and his wife pics of our fam! It was so fun sharing that with them and talking about the people I most care for and deeply love. Prez Bahar then gave me a compliment that was small but so meaningful to me. He said, I love the way you take notes! You are a good note taker, it was because he saw that I had highlighted things. It really meant a lot to me and im sure he thought nothing of it! 

 I know these things are true! I hope you all will learn from the things I have written. Read 2 Nephi 2 and 31! both amazing scriptures! 

Love,

Hermana Matiaco

2 weeks?!?!..what!!

HOLA!!! Como estan?

 

I don't even know where to begin. So much happens here at the CCM! I fee like i have been here for way longer than 2 weeks! But time is flying by like the wind at the same time. 

I flew tp Las Vegas on Monday with 9 other missionaries to get our Visa's ..( 8 OF THEM ARE GOING TO MY MISSION  so it was REALLY a treat to get to know them since I will be srerving with all of them . I am the only one from my  Zone going to Culiacan .)  We have to make an Appearance at the Mexican Consult to get our Visa's for some reason. It was  the most unproductive , productive day of mt LIFE! We got up at 4am  to take a bus and drive to SLC for our 830am flight... got to LV and got picked up by a service missionary (he is like 65 or so) and got some food ..went to the Institute building in vegas for about 3 hrs and waited..and waited and waited..and the old man talked the whole time. about a lot of stuff he is a library historian..so I think you might get the idea that it was a tad bit hard for me to listen to someone talk for 3 hrs! I wrote a letter and in my journal while he was talking so it wasn't too bad. I am very grateful for him though because without him we couldn't get our Visas to go to Mexico! We got dropped back off at the airport and flew home. I met this really sweet little girl on our way home. She and her parents were on their way back home to Oregon! I gave her a picture of a little girl holding onto Christ's hem of clothing and wrote on the back Remember Jesus loves you! She was so precious and pure! I wish I had done a better job at sharing the gospel with them but I'm glad I gave her the little pass along card thing. 

Oh I saw Hermana Lawson today as I was going to do my laundry she was just getting here so  I gave her a big hug! She is the first person I have seen that I know at the MTC from outside of the MTC!!!! So that was really nice :) SHe will only be here for 2 weeks though so she'll be leaving 2 weeks before I even leave. In less than month I will be in MEXICO ! 

I am learning so much here! We have Devotionals every Tues and Sunday nights. Me and my "sistrict" sing in the MTC choir every Tuesday night so that has been really fun every time.  I would like to share a few things from what I have learned in them. As missionaries, we must plant seeds into peoples hearts, we must give them the water they need to grow aka the scriptures and tools of the gospel aka invite them to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance,baptism receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end. As we do this, the Lord will grow them. We can't grow peoples testimonies. We can give then the tools, but ultimately it is up to them if they have an open heart and then the Lord will grow their testimony. And it may just be small pieces at a time. It will not all come at once. 

Obedience! Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles.  If we are never obedient to the Lord, we will not know what he wants us to do. I know it is so difficult to be obedient sometimes when we want to do it our way, but I know the Lord blesses us when we are obedient!

 We must be willing to do all the Lord asks of us. I only have 18 months to do my mission and the rest of eternity to think and ponder about it! I loved that! It really made me think about experiences I have had in my life and how they have changed who I am and how much my life has been changed because I made specific  decisions. Make life the best, we only have right now to do the things we are supposed to be doing right now and the rest of life to ponder it! 

So we are learning how to be better teachers and we had a role play lesson with one of our teachers and we were only aloud to ask him questions to teach the lesson! OH MY GOODNESS it was one of the best lessons we have EVER had! When we ask people questions it makes them think, it keeps investigators engaged and they really have to think about it. I'm so grateful for the inspired methods of teaching that we are taught. I know they are true and effective ways to teach. 

Tonight we are getting  a new investigator so now we will have 2! and 2 new districts in our zone! we just had 2 districts leave for the field on monday morning! 

Gotta go! 

I love you all!