Someday I need to figure out how to transfer Matthew's doodles from his handwritten letters to the blog but it's not today.
Family!
How's it going? Thank you for the various updates and letters which I have received. I've enjoyed them.
Today is once again p-day. I sit in a grayish-green recliner and write to you mine thoughts before I clean my sink and floor.
I started to read Jesus the Christ by Talmage as I mentioned in my email. I'm about 20 or 25 pages in. He's quite the writer. It takes a while to really get what he's saying but he says some cool stuff. It's a little under 800 pages so I have a ways to go.
I bought a little Christmas tree today. It was $20! And it's plastic. It's nice though. I have a picture. I sent y'all my SD card. Someday I'll have to explain what they're all about :-). There may or may not be a few moving pictures on there but don't worry, I asked President Jensen :-).
Anyway, things are good. I guess they're kinda same old, same old. I'm really trying to take it one day at a time.
It's kinda funny really. We've had a big outpouring of food these past two weeks. Our freezer is literally full of meat. I don't know what to do with that much meat. I've got to figure out something though, and fast. I've already thrown out some meat from October (the expiration date was late October). It was sad - two pounds of cow. Poof. Gone. I didn't like it.
It's cold down here. Like chill to your bones kind of cold. It's killed most bugs though which is nice. We do have a bottle of permethrin for brown recluse spiders. They're very poisonous and wander in from time to time. The permethrin kills them in like two seconds. It's cool but scary. How it kills, no idea but it kills.
I miss recycling. Alas, very few if any people down here recycle. Milk jugs? Throw them out. Pop cans? Toss 'em. It breaks my heart.
Love you all!
Elder Carlson!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Corn Flakes Save Lives
I don't understand the title of this letter but that's what Matthew put in as the title. I'll update this post if I find out what it means.
Hey y'all! I'm sorry that I did not send a real letter last week or even finish all of last week. Last week was crazy. But I'll try and cover what I missed last week and cover the highlights of this week as well as explain what all the pictures I have attached are about.
Let's talk last week.
When I last sent a letter, I ended somewhere around Friday or Saturday. The remainder of the week was busy. We spent quite a bit of time talking with Miss D. She's a nice lady who's quite interested. We've been working with her a lot this week. There was a branch Christmas service party for those in the disabled community which we helped out at. Part of being a missionary means no dancing which was a large struggle for Elders C and H. They were held down by members of the branch so it was all good. We received, as gifts, wonderful Santa hats. Elder H received the "Naughty" one, Elder C was graced with the "Nice" one, and I had the "No peeking" hat.
We had church on Sunday and enjoyed the meetings there. It was a Fast and Testimony meeting which means everyone gets the chance to share their beliefs and how they came to know the church was true. It's really quite powerful. The branch was so small that people just stand up and talk; no microphone needed. We went to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional with Miss D and that was quite interesting. We are now working towards a baptismal date of January 15 but we'll see if she can be ready by then.
Preparation day (Monday) rolled around and the three of us (Elder C, Elder H, and myself) did our usual p-day things. We went shopping, cleaned for a few minutes, emailed, and then goofed off for the rest of the day until 6. We did not get nearly as much done as I would have liked but we had a great time. Elder C is quite the goofball and we had some fun times. We went to FHE and had a good time with the members there. After that, we came home and I had to plan for transfers the next day. Usually Elder C and I work together to plan but this time he gave all the responsibility to me.
For some reason, Elder B (our district leader as seen in picture #1) decided that he would come to Alma instead of how it usually works. Usually the rookie missionary (me) goes to the leader's area and works with them there but he decided to stress me out and make me do everything for a day. Planning was very hard and I did get frustrated. I managed to plan a good day though. We left for district meeting around 9a and, after the meeting was over, I said goodbye to Elder C and wished Elder H good luck. I left with Elder B and we headed back to Alma. We visited several people and had some fun. After the work was over for the day we came back and Elder B took a nap. I made spaghetti which was very good. Elder B took a bath in my bathtub and I read "Our Search for Happiness" which I very much enjoy (it was only about 100 pages and I finished it. I'm starting on "Jesus the Christ" by James. E Talmage. Man can that guy write!). You have to understand that our trailer here in Alma is the only bathtub in the whole mission. It just so happens that Elder B loves bathtubs, particularly our bathtub. I have yet to try it but I may some day when I have the time. Elder B is quite a nice guy. He's been on his mission for 18 months.
Other highlights of the week include a parade. It was held around 6:30p. It gets dark around 5p here. They also threw more candy than any parade I've ever seen. People walked away with grocery bags full of candy. I found several pieces of candy at my feet since they had bounced and landed there. It was quite funny to see the kids running around on the sides of the street bumping into each other as they felt around for the candy on the ground as their parents tried to persuade them to get off the street as the next wave of the parade was coming. I only picked up a small portion of the candy that landed near me but I still walked away with many a tootsie roll dancing in my pocket. There were only about 5 or 6 real floats. All the rest were trucks and vintage cars. The trucks came from the large number of truckers in this town as well as the fire department. They had all their engines and ambulances really spiced up. The vintage cars came from "the graduating class of '57". The local high school marching band played with their almost tron-ish costumes on. They were very glowy and flashy.
The other big thing was the Christmas party at the W's. The W's house is one of the coolest houses I've ever seen. For starters, it's big. It's not the size though, but the stuff inside. The style is kind of like if you mixed our neighbor's house and our house together and threw in a few quarts of south. Highlights of the house include a room with a projector and movie theater seating with complimentary popcorn machine, a spacious master bathroom with a double wide shower, and a man cave. It was full of guns (they were set up quite high were people of smaller stature could not reach them) and various slain beasts. There were about 4 or 5 deer, a few hogs, and a few other animals. All the walls were cool old wood and it had a very southern man feel to it. We had a great time at the party socializing and drinking egg nog. Or rather, just nog as there were no eggs in it. We played Dirty Santa (it's what they call white elephant down here) which was hilarious. One lady had a blanket she did not want to give up and someone else made a big deal out of it. They looked at it and felt it and the whole time she was just "No No No No!". It was funny. The other person didn't steal it though.
Another funny bit is when we went to the J's. They had recently set out the presents under the tree and their daughter (a five year old girl) was shaking them all and asking which one were her's (they were labeled by number as she can read quite well). Finally after several times of telling her to stop or Santa would come and take the presents back, Mr. J sang his daughter a wonderful rendition of a popular Christmas song. It was called "Santa Claus is coming to take it away". It was a funny little song and after he finished she sat down and didn't touch her presents.
To explain the other pictures:
Picture #2 of the burned out biscuit is simple. I put it in the microwave and accidentally set the timer for 2:30 instead of 0:23. I had to leave to take the garbage out and when we got back inside my biscuit had burned itself to a crisp inside. The outside was hard but looked just fine. It was the hardest once edible thing I have ever seen.
The picture of me on the tractor (picture #3) is quite interesting. While with Elder B we visited the L's. They showed us their tractor. Here in the south they have this thing called "tractor pull". They take tractors, modify them, and drag very heavy things. He pulled it out and showed us some of the nicities. It was a 18 horsepower motor originally but he had fixed it to be past 25 horses. I'll explain how in a few sentences. Other nicities included a wheely bar, racing fuel with nitrous additives, weights, and a large air intake. It was funny really. He rode it around, did some wheelies and it was blowing fireballs out of the exhaust pipes. Dad, you would have loved it.
The last picture (picture #4), me with the hat, is because of L. He's a fun dude.
I'm out of time. Until next week,
Elder Matthew Carlson
Hey y'all! I'm sorry that I did not send a real letter last week or even finish all of last week. Last week was crazy. But I'll try and cover what I missed last week and cover the highlights of this week as well as explain what all the pictures I have attached are about.
Let's talk last week.
When I last sent a letter, I ended somewhere around Friday or Saturday. The remainder of the week was busy. We spent quite a bit of time talking with Miss D. She's a nice lady who's quite interested. We've been working with her a lot this week. There was a branch Christmas service party for those in the disabled community which we helped out at. Part of being a missionary means no dancing which was a large struggle for Elders C and H. They were held down by members of the branch so it was all good. We received, as gifts, wonderful Santa hats. Elder H received the "Naughty" one, Elder C was graced with the "Nice" one, and I had the "No peeking" hat.
We had church on Sunday and enjoyed the meetings there. It was a Fast and Testimony meeting which means everyone gets the chance to share their beliefs and how they came to know the church was true. It's really quite powerful. The branch was so small that people just stand up and talk; no microphone needed. We went to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional with Miss D and that was quite interesting. We are now working towards a baptismal date of January 15 but we'll see if she can be ready by then.
Preparation day (Monday) rolled around and the three of us (Elder C, Elder H, and myself) did our usual p-day things. We went shopping, cleaned for a few minutes, emailed, and then goofed off for the rest of the day until 6. We did not get nearly as much done as I would have liked but we had a great time. Elder C is quite the goofball and we had some fun times. We went to FHE and had a good time with the members there. After that, we came home and I had to plan for transfers the next day. Usually Elder C and I work together to plan but this time he gave all the responsibility to me.
For some reason, Elder B (our district leader as seen in picture #1) decided that he would come to Alma instead of how it usually works. Usually the rookie missionary (me) goes to the leader's area and works with them there but he decided to stress me out and make me do everything for a day. Planning was very hard and I did get frustrated. I managed to plan a good day though. We left for district meeting around 9a and, after the meeting was over, I said goodbye to Elder C and wished Elder H good luck. I left with Elder B and we headed back to Alma. We visited several people and had some fun. After the work was over for the day we came back and Elder B took a nap. I made spaghetti which was very good. Elder B took a bath in my bathtub and I read "Our Search for Happiness" which I very much enjoy (it was only about 100 pages and I finished it. I'm starting on "Jesus the Christ" by James. E Talmage. Man can that guy write!). You have to understand that our trailer here in Alma is the only bathtub in the whole mission. It just so happens that Elder B loves bathtubs, particularly our bathtub. I have yet to try it but I may some day when I have the time. Elder B is quite a nice guy. He's been on his mission for 18 months.
Other highlights of the week include a parade. It was held around 6:30p. It gets dark around 5p here. They also threw more candy than any parade I've ever seen. People walked away with grocery bags full of candy. I found several pieces of candy at my feet since they had bounced and landed there. It was quite funny to see the kids running around on the sides of the street bumping into each other as they felt around for the candy on the ground as their parents tried to persuade them to get off the street as the next wave of the parade was coming. I only picked up a small portion of the candy that landed near me but I still walked away with many a tootsie roll dancing in my pocket. There were only about 5 or 6 real floats. All the rest were trucks and vintage cars. The trucks came from the large number of truckers in this town as well as the fire department. They had all their engines and ambulances really spiced up. The vintage cars came from "the graduating class of '57". The local high school marching band played with their almost tron-ish costumes on. They were very glowy and flashy.
The other big thing was the Christmas party at the W's. The W's house is one of the coolest houses I've ever seen. For starters, it's big. It's not the size though, but the stuff inside. The style is kind of like if you mixed our neighbor's house and our house together and threw in a few quarts of south. Highlights of the house include a room with a projector and movie theater seating with complimentary popcorn machine, a spacious master bathroom with a double wide shower, and a man cave. It was full of guns (they were set up quite high were people of smaller stature could not reach them) and various slain beasts. There were about 4 or 5 deer, a few hogs, and a few other animals. All the walls were cool old wood and it had a very southern man feel to it. We had a great time at the party socializing and drinking egg nog. Or rather, just nog as there were no eggs in it. We played Dirty Santa (it's what they call white elephant down here) which was hilarious. One lady had a blanket she did not want to give up and someone else made a big deal out of it. They looked at it and felt it and the whole time she was just "No No No No!". It was funny. The other person didn't steal it though.
Another funny bit is when we went to the J's. They had recently set out the presents under the tree and their daughter (a five year old girl) was shaking them all and asking which one were her's (they were labeled by number as she can read quite well). Finally after several times of telling her to stop or Santa would come and take the presents back, Mr. J sang his daughter a wonderful rendition of a popular Christmas song. It was called "Santa Claus is coming to take it away". It was a funny little song and after he finished she sat down and didn't touch her presents.
To explain the other pictures:
Picture #2 of the burned out biscuit is simple. I put it in the microwave and accidentally set the timer for 2:30 instead of 0:23. I had to leave to take the garbage out and when we got back inside my biscuit had burned itself to a crisp inside. The outside was hard but looked just fine. It was the hardest once edible thing I have ever seen.
The picture of me on the tractor (picture #3) is quite interesting. While with Elder B we visited the L's. They showed us their tractor. Here in the south they have this thing called "tractor pull". They take tractors, modify them, and drag very heavy things. He pulled it out and showed us some of the nicities. It was a 18 horsepower motor originally but he had fixed it to be past 25 horses. I'll explain how in a few sentences. Other nicities included a wheely bar, racing fuel with nitrous additives, weights, and a large air intake. It was funny really. He rode it around, did some wheelies and it was blowing fireballs out of the exhaust pipes. Dad, you would have loved it.
The last picture (picture #4), me with the hat, is because of L. He's a fun dude.
I'm out of time. Until next week,
Elder Matthew Carlson
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| Picture #1 |
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| Picture #2 |
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| Picture #3 |
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| Picture #4 |
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