Bienvenidos a Argentina!!!

HOLA! 
Oh boy oh boy....

This past week and a half has felt like FOREVER.

So much has happened (so sorry its so long)!
I can´t even believe it.

But..... I¨M IN ARGENTINA! Say what?!

Leaving the MTC was so sad for me. I LOVE that place. What a unique place to be. There is such a special spirit there. I was so sad to say goodbye to both of my incredible teachers, my branch presidency, all the other missionaries and of course my district. I have been so blessed! They have all truly changed my life. I was so lucky to be able to attend the Ogden Temple Dedication. It was literally the day before I left. How special! There is just something about being in a room with 2.600 other missionaries doing the Hosana Shout and singing the ¨Spirit of God¨ what a blessing. I love what our prophet said... that we need to 
Love, Appreciate, and Attend temples. What a blessing temples are. I can´t wait to attend the Ogden temple when I get back! Oh how I loved the MTC. It´s a stellar place!

The travels to Argentina were such a blast. I really actually LOVE transportation. Planes. Cars. Buses. Chicken Buses. Trains. Tuk tuks.. whatever. You name it. My travels started out really interesting. Me and my comp were all ready to go 6:30 in the morning. Get on the bus. Turns out they didn´t actually have her visa. So she couldn´t go. I was SO sad. She is so stellar though. Our flight left from Salt Lake to Georgia and then Georgia to Buenos Aires through the night. Wow. That flight was an eye opener. As I got on the plane and realized EVERYONE speaks spanish (well of course besides the 60 missionaries on board). I thought I knew some spanish. Nope. Nada. When we arrived in Buenos Aires we had the chance to go walk around the Buenos Aires temple. It´is SO beautiful! We also had our first Argentine meal... EMPANADAS of course. So yummy! Then we went to a tiny airport where we took a plane to Mendoza!

As the plane landed I was SO stoked to finally be here! Our mission president and his wife were there to greet us with open arms; they´re literally the BEST! I already love them so much! The mountains here are INCREDIBLE. I thought Utah had good mountains. I must say the Andes mountains are a little better. That night we had a stellar dinner in the mission home, the food here is SO good! Then we had two days of training and such! It was so much fun to get aquainted with everyone. On the second day we all gathered together and were assigned our new comps... I was SO stoked and also a little nervous... but... I got so lucky....

My companion is Hermana Magaña and we are serving in MALARGUE!

 I officially have the best trainer in the world. Hermana Magaña from El Salvador! It´s so funny because the night before we went out and did some tracting and were randomly paired up with a trainer. And I was with her and was hoping she would be my companion. The Lord knows all :) She is incredible! She has only been a member for 3 years and at first she was the only member in her family, but slowly with patience and love she helped her entire family come to the church. Her dad who was really against the church in the beginning got baptized 5 months into her mission and her family is geting sealed when she gets back. She has the most faith and love out of anyone I know. She speaks pretty much absolutely no English so much spanish is coming along nicely. But I love her and couldn´t be more grateful!

A little about Malargue. It is the furthest away from the mission home (an 8 hour bus ride) and the most south, which also means it is the most cold. But i´m actually thankful. I would so much rather be here in the summer than in the really hot areas. ... Its a small little city and it only has 1 branch that reports to the mission president. The mountains here are INCREDIBLE  they have so much snow on them and no trees! Sometimes I wake up and think they´re fake because they´re so darn beautiful. 

I LOVE the field. I love being here in Malargue and I know i´m supposed to be here. Probably my favorite thing ever is just walking around and talking (in broken spanish with lots of charades) to people about the gospel and about their lives! We talked to these three ADORABLE kids and asked if their mom was home and they said."We don´t have one" turns out their mom abandonded them a couple months ago. It´s stories like that that make me realize how lucky I am and why I am here. To help people like that! I love the people here! There is such a variety! Some who have nothing and some who are doing just fine, some who look almost Guatemalan and some who I totally think are american until they start speaking! Wow. I just love this! Of course it is difficult too. I definitely feel that. The language is rough sometimes. And sometimes I feel like i´m just with my comp walking around in a small city in the middle of nowhere and no one is home and I think to my self... what am I doing here... and I feel like we´re literally the ones here (probably because everyone is in siesta). But then I remember that is DEFINITELY not so. Yesterday I found a scripture I LOVE so much. In John 8:29 it says: 

"And he that send me is with me the Father hath not left alone: for I do always those things that please him." I KNOW I am not alone.

And I know he is with all his missionaries wherever they me be. Because he sent us here to do his work!

What a blessing it is to be here! I can´t wait for all the adventures that are yet to come in the beautiful and exciting country of Argentina! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

Con Amor, Hermana Matheson

 Hermano Croft! Oh he is just the best. Such a stellar teacher!

 Party for Elder Wilson´s birthday! My district is bomb.

 LOVE these hermanas!

 Branch President! LOVE them!

 MY favorite asians :)

Buenos Aires temple :)

 Safely in Argentina!

 Dinner at the mission home!

 Hermana Blair and I and our new companions. We are literally giants. SO that´s awesome.

 Hermana Blair. Mi mejor amiga!

 Mi nueva compañera. I love her to death! 

 How sweet is my companion? First breakfast in the field :) 

 The chavez family! New converts! I love them so much! They used to live in this bus. But after they were baptized they had enough money to build a house and are still working on it. They have so much faith! Love them so much. :)

  Not the best picture but the mountains are amazing!

 The Cuevas family! She is the RS president and the kids are absolutely adorable :)

Abril and her puppies. They have 8! So adorable :)