Choose Joy! I am the Light which ye shall hold up!

Winter in Rosario.  Is it too early for the Nativity? 

Proud to be an American

First off, HAPPY (late) 4th of July!!! To celebrate we wore red white and blue after I basically begged Hna Guaraglia (from Uruguay) to, haha, and ate hamburgers for lunch which is pretty American. 

With President and Sister Allred

So this week we met our new mission president, Pte. Allred and his wonderful wife. They are so great! I had the opportunity to translate for Hermana Allred (her spanish is very new).  I translated her words as she testified to everyone that her husband was called of God to be our mission president and that an apostle of the Lord placed his hands on his head to set him apart...as I translated her words I felt the spirit testify that this was true. I know that President Allred was called to be our mission president here in Rosario and we are blessed to have him! 

Inviting Sister Allred into our favorite photo booth

A few things that I learned this week...

To have JOY! When the Allreds were eating dinner with President Nelson they asked him what was the most important thing they could say to their missionaries. He answered that they can have joy! Joy is a choice and we must choose joy!

There are no challenges...just opportunities. Our "opportunities" help us to become exalted. Jesus had the most challenges, suffering more than anyone would ever suffer, and yet He was able to have a joy that was "full" or complete. 

3 Nephi 18:24 hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold, I AM THE LIGHT which ye shall hold up!

Matthew 4:1 "then Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." there is a footnote, JST that says "to be with God." Through our moments of temptations and our suffering we become closer to God!

Our purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ by HELPING them receive the restored gospel...... we must truly help them, we can't stop at just inviting them. We must continually assist them in the process. 

The Lord prepares..." I will open the hearts of the people, and they will receive you. And I will establish a church by your hand." D&C 31:7 

"We are all just walking each other home,"  to our heavenly home...to abide in the presence of God in a state of never ending happiness.

We have been teaching Agustin, 18 year old, who is the brother of a recent convert of about a year. He moved here a few months ago and he is understanding everything surprisingly well. His sister had been scared to share the gospel with him before, sure that he would not be interested, but she is surprised at his reaction now when we teach him, and he has accepted baptism!! So we are helping him prepare for that.

We taught Nora this week and felt like we needed to invite her 8 year old son Lucas and teach the 2 of them. We taught the plan of salvation with fun drawings and interactive activities...Lucas is a smart kid and has a great desire to be baptized. We are praying that he will help his mother in this process of preparing and that she will be able to quit smoking! 

Zone Conference

Our District

So life is good. It is a lot better with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it s a good time to be a missionary.

Love you all!

Hermana Mathis