Elder Kade Matthews

November 18, 2013

Another week in the concrete jungle,

Well this week we saw some pretty great miracles. We saw one lady, Miriam, she is from Mexico and had contacted--yes she contacted-- Elder Beaton and Oliviera the other week during intercambios. But after that we couldn´t find her or get a hold of her or anything. So a few nights ago Elder Beaton and I had a visit in thirty or so minutes and had already been contacting all day so we were thinking if we could go visit anyone and we both thought of Miriam... then Elder Beaton said that if she wasn´t there we would just give up because we couldn´t find out if she really lived there or if it was her number or anything.  So we went to her house, rang the doorbell, stood there and waited and just nothing... so we went to walk away then we here, Hola? We just looked at eachother like are you serious? Then we said our little somos los misioneros.. And she got so excited and was saying suba suba suba! So we went up and talked to her and scheduled a visit for the next day.  The next day we went there-- Elder Streiff and I, and with Saray and Oscar and taught lesson one. She honestly just sat there and said you´re right, that´s so true, I believe it! It was incredible. She is so prepared that it is beyond words. I loved every second of it!!

So that was a pretty great experience to have.. hahaha I enjoyed that immensely. This week we also went to Monserrat... Whoooo that was crazy. We hiked this mountain in the pouring rain for 3 hours! Then the temple up there was incredible.. So much fun. hahah we did it as a ¨ward activity¨but we just wanted to go have some fun as missionaries hahaha! We saw lots of success out of it.

So I don´t think I´ve told you about Marcos. He´s this kid from the Dominican Republic that was inactive when I got here.  We slowly started working with him and he started coming back to church and everything. He sits next to me every week in church and comes to all of the activities that our church has. He´s now thinking about serving a mission but isn´t sure yet.  He´s 19-- forgot that part. But this week he heard I might be leaving and he got way sad and started to cry a little bit... I asked him why and he told me it´s because I´ve been the best missionary he´s ever met and one of his best friends ever... He is such an amazing kid. I freaking love him! He always comes and plays basketball and football with us. The dude's amazing. I just get worried about what will happen when I leave. I have reactivated 5 people and I´m scared that they´ll leave now. But I´ll have faith.

Well, to any guy my age this is what I say if you are contemplating a mission...You GO on a mission, it is a commandment of God, put some chest on your hair (haha), work hard, cry in the shower, sometimes have comps that are difficult to say the least, that is how it goes...at the end of the day you eat a popsicle with Elder Streiff and talk about how much you love your mission! Well, I find out about my transfer on Saturday...probably no email until next Tuesday or Wednesday. 

I live for letters everyone.  And Ma, I don't get much here...candy and packages are better than a little money in the account when you can't find anything to buy hahaha.  Anyway, that´s my week! Hope all is well! 

Love you all! Elder Matthews