A QUEST of a Lifetime

Hola! 
Wow... what an amazing couple of days and week it has been,

 full of challenges but also many blessings!

 Not only was my testimony strengthened this week... but also my AGGIEmony! I heard the Aggies beat BYU this weekend! Holla!

  GO AGGIES!

Listening to conference was definitely one of the blessings this week! What a blessing we have to listen to inspired messages given by men called of God. I seriously LOVED every. single. message. It's crazy how much more conference means to a missionary! I felt like every message was directed to me! I loved it! And I got to listen in English which was definitely a blessing. I feel like every time we have conference there is a common reappearing theme, I felt like a major theme this time was the importance of Prophets and truly sustaining them!  I love what M. Russel Ballard said about prophets, We have NO need to worry or fear. So simple yet so true. If we are following the words of the prophets we are totally and without a doubt safe in this crazy world. Carol F. McConkie also talked about Prophets and said that A home (or missionary) built on the words of a prophet... will NEVER fall.Love that too! I know that if we build ourselves on the words of the prophet we will NEVER FALL. 

Probably my favorite talk of the whole conference was by Dieter F. Uchtdorf, when he talked about testimonies and gaining spiritual light. He said... 

"Gaining spiritual light... is a Quest of a LIFETIME" 

I feel like that applies to missionary work so much and to myself as a member of the Church. Sometimes it is so easy to be impatient and want to know everything now, but it truly is a quest of a lifetime. I think too with missionary work.. we need to be patient with investigators and realize that they are not going to understand everything all at once, because truly it is quite the journey. He also said...

"The church is not a place for perfect people... but a place for ALL people to come unto Christ and be perfected in Him."

I seriously love this. No one is perfect... but through Christ we can become perfect. What a blessing! Something else I loved was what Eduardo Gavarret said: "Knowing truth will not change your life unless you put that truth into action." So true. This conference we learned so much. But if we don't put that knowledge and truth into action... it's going to do nothing for us. I LOVE conference! 

This was such a week of growth! I have really come to realize how difficult a mission is, but yet how important it is too! This week we visited so many people that NEED the gospel and are struggling so much, but are still reluctant to accept commitments and do the things necessary to receive the blessings of the gospel. I wish so badly I could do it for them, because I KNOW that they will be blessed in immeasurable ways, but I know its something they have to do on their own! This week we visited the family with the three kids that their mom abandoned them and the entire lesson the youngest daughter who is only 2 years old, Lusmilla, just stared at me the whole time with her big brown eyes and wanted me to hold her. I felt so much love for her. I feel like I began to realize how our Heavenly Father sees us. I just wanted her to be happy and feel the love from a mother that every 2 year old deserves to feel. It made me realize how blessed I am to have been born into the conditions that I have... with a loving family, the blessings of being born in the gospel, and the simple pleasures and freedoms that come with living in America. I don't know why some of us are born into difficult circumstances... but I DO know that God loves all his children and is aware of all of us.

Some Fun Facts of this week. 

· I had my first Milanesa and my first Carne Asada... I now know why Argentina is so famous for its food. SO YUMMY! 

· This week we traveled to Mendoza to get my visa stuff all figured out. 12 hours in a bus within 24 hours! But I'm not complaining... because it was a BEAUTIFUL bus ride. The Andes are incredible. Also I got to see Hermana Blair which rocked.

· Funny Story... last week we were knocking doors and came to a house. The lady answered the door and said she had no time right now but that we could come back next week. So we took her name and address and came back yesterday. Halfway through the lesson she stopped us and said, "Just so you know.. my name isn't Andee... its Marí." apparently in the exact moment when we had asked her for her name her dog was in the doorway and she said "Ändee" telling her dog to move. And we thought that was her name, the entire week and halfway through the lesson... SO FUNNY.

Well...  I love being a missionary! Though it has its ups and downs for sure, I am grateful to be here. And know it is the best path for me right now, in conference Carlos A. Godoy said.. "The best paths in life are rarely the easiest." I can testify of that. But still I am thankful to be here and be serving my Savior and the people of Argentina!

Con Amor, Hermana Matheson

 Mili and Nadia Chavez... I love them! 

 Argentina is BEAUTIFUL! The Andes are the real deal.