December 15, 2011

Hello Everyone,

This week has been mas o menos. We have been working a lot with less actives so not so many investigator lessons but we're movin along.

\We have been teaching a kid named Paolo who is 15, less active and super tight. He's all into boxing and his dad is a BOMB cook so needless to say we steal food every time we go over there which is every day. We have been trying to reactivate the kid and he got into a fight at school and needed to take some counseling hours.....as missionaries we are considered clergy so we count for counseling hours. We meet with him daily and it's a slow process but it'll be worth it.

We've been working a lot with another less active family daily as well named the Navarro family. They're super tight as well and they are progressing as well.

(Well the guy who sat next to me last week at the library just sat next to me again......he's almost bald, weighs about 140 6'2 has got a gnarly mustache and types like he's pounding nails into the keyboard with his index fingers........oh now he's talking to the computer screen/facebook.........also himself. I love Riverside.)

We finally got in contact with Lorena again! We stopped by and desperately knocked on the door, and it opened! WE walked in and talked for a while. They have been very sick as a family. One gets sick and then the other follows. WE haven't been able to meet with them for the past 2 months about and they have been reading the Book of Mormon daily! We set up an appointment on Saturday and things were looking good....we got a text that day that said their dad had been deported (he had been in jail for the past 6 months) and they had to go to Tijuana to take him his stuff. Poop. We'll keep tryin with them because they are obviously prepared by the Lord.

I have received a package from G&G Bevan and the Vanderlindens.....whoever they are. The rest have been from you. I was going to do Christmas cards, but it's too late. Maybe next year. Well, not much more to report. I love you and can't wait to talk to yall!

-Matt

It's Christmas time!!!

December 5, 2011

Hello family,

This week has been good but slow again, but at the same time fairly productive. We taught more lessons than last week but still not up to what we could be doing, and we didn't get as many OYM's we would have liked. HOWEVER, we picked up 5 new investigators this week, a family of four and a former investigator.

The family of four is the guy who is the maintenance worker at our apartment's family. We always say hello to him and talk to him in Spanish but it never occured to me that he hadn't already been asked if he wants to take the lessons! So we knocked on his door one day, and we talked to his wife Meli (who is sooo amazed we can speak spanish), and said we would like to come by this week and sit down with your family and talk about what we do/share as missionaries.....she invited us in immediately! I love Mexicans. So we taught a scattered 1st lesson and committed them to read and pray and left them with some copies of the Book of Mormon. Super good lesson and we see him daily so daily contact isn't an issue!

Rosa is progressing slowly, but steadily. Gustavo, still have no idea what the deal is, but we'll keep going by.

Our other new investigator Myrrna de Leon is a former/eternal investigator more or less. She has read quite a bit from the BOM and I'm pretty sure there's a hint of a testimony in that Mexican blood somewhere. We'll try and withdraw it and help her progress to the holy waters of the font that we all love so dearly.

This is obviously the Lord's work. I know it, yall know it, I don't know why you're so adamant about me sharing my testimony about this work. I'm close to fluent in Spanish in a small 6 months?! Clearly that isn't humanely possible (probably not fluent but you catch my drift).

The gospel is simply pure and purely simple. That's all folks! Thanks for the packages! The chain is awesome! I love reading words from the whole famdamily and friends. You mean a ton to me and it's hard to be away during this time, but I know i'm in the right place.

Love you!

-Matt