A Labor of Love: Stellar Spirits

HOLA!

What an absolutely crazy week!

The week of transfers always is the longest week!

After 6 wonderful months spent in San Juan, I have officially relocated to SAN LUIS, and I love it! It´s so different here! It was so hard for me to leave San Juan and my cute Hija. I love her so much and really learned so much from her humble example to me :) We had a good last couple of days in San Juan together!

We had a lesson with a street contact named Noemi. She´s so funny! After our lesson she said..."You know... you might not know it... but that was really special for me.".... "I felt a warm feeling come over me..." Ah. I love that. Helping people understand the spirit. It really opened up my eyes. I feel like so many times we just get in our groove and don´t remember how truly special the gospel is, that what these people are experiencing will be life changing if they accept it :)

It almost killed me to leave Cristina in San Juan. Love that girl with my whole heart. She´s so converted and not even a convert yet. She should be getting baptized next week :) YAY. In our last lesson we taught the Law of Chastity. We had left her the little booklet, and when we walked in, one of the first things she said was...."I LOVE that booklet.... it´s so SO true." She went off about how much the world needs that commandment :) She´s precious. She truly loves the gospel and is going to do so much good as a member of this church :) She truly is a miracle.

Now for life in San Luis.....

My companion is Hermana Lloyd from South Jordan, Utah... my first gringa comp! So different! Sometimes I just feel so blessed for all the comps I have had, every single one has truly made their mark in my life. San Luis is SUPER confusing. The streets are all arranged in Barrios... with numbers and super complicated... I´m super lost, but life is good :)

We are teaching a man named Mario. And wow, he is so special. He suffered an ACB (Brain aneurism... (no idea how to spell that)) and is still overcoming the ACB. At first he couldn´t even talk.. but he is making so much progress. It´s sometimes difficult to teach, because he remembers very little. I regret to admit that first I was doubtful and thought thinking..."Is he really going to progress? Not so sure..." But with every lesson I learned more and more how truly special he is and how much he IS progressing in his special way. We are teaching him to sing "I am a child of God" and every lesson we teach him a new line. We asked him to sing the part we taught him last time and he thought for a second... and then completely off tone... sung... "soy un hijo de Dios..." I was so full of love for him. He truly tries to learn and truly knows he is a son of God.

As we started our lesson yesterday he said... "I want to say the first prayer.." We said Please do :) The most humble prayer ever. In his prayer he said..."Heavenly Father I want to ask you something special, I know nothing is impossible...just help me that I can have the opportunity to be able to help someone..." Without words. I love the quote by Jeffrey R. Holland.... "Stellar spirits are often housed in imperfect bodies..." What a stellar spirit... As I reflected on what I´ve learned these past couple days with him, I repented of my doubtful thoughts and remembered this scripture....

"He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and ALL are alike unto God." (2 Nephi 26:33)

Our Heavenly Father truly loves ALL his children. Every single one. No matter who they are, who they have been, what they have done, or what they are doing. He loves us all.. perfectly, and unconditionally. And he invites them all to come unto him and partake of His goodness :) What a special calling to be able to extend that sacred invitation to ALL.

Con Amor, Hermana Matheson