A Labor of Love: Hola From the CCM :)

HOLA Amigos!

Wow. My very first letter! This week has been one of the hardest and BEST weeks of my life. I must say it started out a little rough. My little sister was sick Monday night and I thought to myself "I'm going to the MTC Wednesday, no way I'll get sick, the Lord is on my side." Boy was I wrong. I ended up going to my setting apart with a ziplock bag hoping I could make it through the whole time. It was a rough night. It was decided that I would have to go a day late. I was devastated. But hey, it makes for an interesting story. Satan is so creative with how he makes people doubt themselves. He's a creative little bugger. I ended up entering the MTC on Thursday, the 17th around 4:30. It was a real scary moment in my life walking into the MTC, all by myself, with absolutely no one around. But somehow as I sat there in the Lobby and put on my name tag, I felt at peace. I was excited.

They took me to West Campus to meet my companion. My companion is Hermana Katelyn Ellgen from Colorado. She is 21 and stellar at Spanish. She rocks; in fact she almost moved to intermediate. She is a hard worker and has such a strong testimony I am lucky to have her. I am very blessed.

When I pulled up I was more than excited to see mi amiga Abbey Blair come running towards me. I still can't believe we got the exact same mission call. What are the odds of that? No, she's not my companion. But she IS in my apartment and district. There are four other Hermanas going to Mendoza and they are in a completely different district and we hardly ever see them. So it is still so crazy and lucky that Hermana Blair is in my district. We are pretty much with each other all day. So that's nice. Her companion is Hermana Mookie (Mckenzie) Harris from Vernal Utah. She is also incredible. All four of us get along great.

I am on West Campus which is where all the Spanish Speakers are sent. It makes a unique little community of a bunch of white people speaking Spanglish. I really do love it here. My entire district is going to Mendoza, Argentina! So that's fun! We have a fun time together! I love them all. I love everyone here!!! Pretty much a day in the life of a missionary at the west campus can be summed up as such: Wake up, Breakfast, Class, Gym time, Lunch, Class, Dinner, more Class, Bed. The days are SO long, but like every missionary says, the days are long, the weeks are short. Time is going to fly I know it.

I have to say that Sunday was by far my favorite day at the MTC so far, and I'm pretty sure it will be the case every week. Hermanas have relief society in the morning and get to go listen to Music and the Spoken Word. It's amazing. Then we have church with our zone, and our zone/branch is amazing. Fun Fact: our branch president Brother and Sister Rogers just BARELY got transferred from a Polynesian branch into a Spanish branch, and they just happened to be Aimee's Branch President and Branch President's wife when she was in the MTC. What a blessing. They are amazing. Church was such a good experience, a little nerve racking because we don't know who is going to be speaking. We just all have to prepare a talk in Spanish and pray we don't get called on. Yikes. How's that for getting out of your comfort zone? Also, I joined the Choir. What? Me? Choir? And I liked it! What? A mission is already doing weird weird things to me.

Sunday night devotionals are the best though. The spirit is SO strong. Being in a room with THAT many missionaries is a unique experience. There's something about the spirit in the room when there are that many people who are striving so hard to serve the Lord and do what is right. It's like nothing else I've experienced before. I have to say one of the best parts of devotional was walking in and instantly seeing mi amiga Sister Morgan Robinson wave me down from across the auditorium. She's just the best. I'm so glad I got to see her, because she left for Hong Kong the next day! Good luck to Sister MoRob :) I also saw Hailey Spackman from my ward in Logan who is going to Tahiti! Jennee Oaks Baker (Dallin H. Oaks' daughter) gave the devotional. She's one talented person. She played the violin with her whole family, it was such a good experience.

This week has been crazy, I have learned so much, and been pushed so hard! We have already taught four lessons in Spanish to our "investigator" Roberto! It's craziness! They are usually filled with spanglish and lots of... "ummmm Lo siento. No hablamos espanol." haha :) It's good for us.

One of the coolest parts of being a missionary is the Tuesday Night devotionals. We got to sing in the Choir which was incredible. Bonnie L. Oscarson came and spoke, she is incredible. One of the best things I learned was just how unique a mission experience really is. She said, "There will never be a time in your life where you will be able to or encouraged to dedicate every sing minute of every single day FOCUSED on serving the Lord." It's so true. This is such a unique time in my life, and I am so grateful to be here! What a blessing being a missionary is! Boy is it hard, but I already love it.

This gospel is amazing, and I love being a missionary. :)

Con Amor, Hermana Matheson

Ready to go to the MTC

Amazingly, we ran into Hermana Choe Johnson as we were taking a family picture before entering the MTC. She came to Guatemala with us and is headed to Argentina, Buenos Aires.