June 22 update

Winter is beginning in the southern hemisphere, and Matt has commented that people seem to be leaving his coastal "resort town" to go to other areas. Attendance of members in Church meetings has declined. The weather is cooler and rainier, but Matt won't see snow in his mission. It's not that chilly in Chile (haha) except further south or high in the mountains. Here's an interesting story about how the "locals" deal with the cooler temperatures:

Apparently they have a weird myth here that EVERYONE believes haha if you drink something hot and then go outside when it's cold, your mouth with get crooked and you won't be able to fix it. Haha we keep knocking houses and people yell from through the window "¡mate!" and they point at their mouth. Saying that they're drinking something hot and don't want to come outside haha.

Among the highlights of the week was a special mission conference in Santiago with Elder Dallin H. Oaks. Matt reported the following:

It was awesome! He said lots of things that really helped. Something he really stressed on was "do your best and then give the rest to the lord." he repeated that several times. Haha i wish i could tell him thanks haha it was an amazing talk. All of the missionaries got to stand up and bump elbows with him (not shake hands because of the flu) when he began his talk he said "today i only bumped elbows with a few missionaries. I did with everyone in here but i can tell that some of you still aren't missionaries. If you're green (new) that's a different story. Haha it's not really a bad thing to not be a missionary if you're green. When I was ordained an apostle I didn't immediately become an apostle. I had to work for it." so that really helped me really want to become a missionary. Something really cool I remembered when I heard that was that was... when i first got here i asked a missionary (who now is leaving tomorrow) "when does the time start going by fast?" in the MTC they tell you "just make it till Sunday after Sunday everything goes by fast" but he didn't say anything like that. He said "it starts to go by once you truly give yourself to serving the Lord." I was suprised and actually have reflected that when I get trunky (miss home haha).

Matt is experiencing his first transfer this week. Fortunately, he and his companion Elder Mecham (whom he seems to really like) are staying together, but Elder McKay (one of the other companionship living in the same house) will be leaving. Matt really enjoys the other elders he works with.

Matt is having some trouble with his camera this week (already???) but did manage to get a photo or two — unfortunately, nothing showing him (we like seeing him in the photos!). Those who know him will appreciate his attraction for this particular setting.