Good Week

So this week has went by really good! I'm really enjoying this change because me and my new companion get along very well and he actually lets me speak more in the lessons and with members so although I saw a lot of improvements in my Spanish with my last comp from speaking Spanish 24/7, I'm starting to see improvements in my teaching skills because I get to teach and I really like that. I'm starting to love my sector more because the members are starting to love me because they are starting to see my personality and I'm just really enjoying my time much more here in Argelia! 

So this week we worked a lot with Zamantha and with the Maldonado family because they were recently baptized. It was fun to work with them some more! It was especially awesome to work with Zamantha this week before she left for Argentina yesterday for a month, because she actually started letting us into her house! She talked up the missionaries a lot to her parents and they invited us over a few times for dinner and to teach!!!! Its so awesome because even tho the dad still doesn't like us and doesn't know zamantha is a member, the mom realllyyyyy likes us and we taught zamantha, her mom and her sister twice this past week! We started taking down those barriers and so hopefully soon we can start to really work with that family. Something we really focused on with the CR this week was using the spirit more in their life like how to recognize it especially and also about repentance. We taught those 2 because when we have the spirit we can use it as a guide so we are a lot less likely to fall. We talked about repentance too because CR fall, and then stop coming to church cause they feel bad. So we focused on the atonement and tied the spirit into that lesson as well!

So this week we found a few new investigators and one in particular named Diego. He's legit. We contacted him last Monday and he was just full of energy and wanted us to come by and all that! So when we first show up to his house he lets us in and then he goes hey I have a friend waiting for me outside to let him in so I'll be back then he shuts the door and leaves us there and my comp goes "I'm gonna be so mad if the Saratov approach happens to us right now" and i just started busting up laughing cuz he wasn't being that serious but it did feel sketchy but yeah nothin happened, just thought that was funny. Anyways we taught him and his friend lesson 1 and it was a very good lesson. The spirit was definitely present! The next time we came back to visit him he did all our commitments and said he believes he received an answer and that our message is true! He came to church yesterday and liked it! He's going to progress very well I believe!

Joel, miracle call guy, is doing great! He works for this bus company that drives to Guayaquil so he goes every other day to Guayaquil. He's really great but his date fell for this saturday bc he was in Guayaquil and didn't assist the church down there cuz he arrived too late to go so that's a bummer. But he's so awesome and he's almost there ready for baptism! 

The sector is a lot of fun and there is a lot to do. We are trying really hard to work with the bishopric this change because missionaries in the past, not me, but others have had problems with the bishop bc he was doing things he doesn't have the keys to do. But our mission president red handbooked him and we are good and really trying to be on his good side and work with them and raise the assistance bc its only at like 90. A lot to do and now I'm enjoying the work so much more! Excited to work this week! I love you all thanks for the letters! I'll talk to you all next week! 

This is from when Elder Holland came and visited Matt's mission a couple weeks ago.  Elder Holland posted this picture on his Facebook page!  Matt is in the 2nd to last row, 5th from the left.