Matthew sent us a handwritten note with stickers on it. He used stickers of a cat, a UFO, a snail, a hot rod car with flames on the side, a hammer, and a flower. Michael had sent Matthew a letter with some math problems on it so that Matthew can keep his calculus skills sharp. Matthew included his answers to the problems on a pink sticky note that was in with the letter. They taught 27 discussion this month!!!
Familia!
How's it going? I've very much appreciated the letters, cards, vitamins [we sent him some vitamins], cookies, and love. Did you get my package? Was it safe and was anything broken? I hope not. [The package was safe and wonderful - it was like Christmas morning again for us. The letter in the package was posted earlier]
But yeah. Today has been a good p-day. We got gas, cleaned the house, shined our shoes, started laundry (not done yet), washed cat paw prints off the car, and did our shopping. It was a busy day. About the cat paw prints, we had parked the car and contacted people in the area so we were on foot. When we got back to the car, there were about 5 or 6 cats all over the car! Elder F, the diplomat that he is, walked up and shouted "Rawr!" in a big voice. The cats all jumped off and hid. We drove home with paw prints.
But yeah. This week's been a long one. Busy too. Friday in particular. I'll probably have emailed you [previous post] by the time you get this letter. So I'll email you about it.
I don't really have any stories this week. We really just worked a ton this week. We gave out 10 or so copies of the Book of Mormon which was a record and taught 27 lessons! We usually get 12 or 14. So we kicked butt this week.
This week we found a lot of new investigators and lost some old ones. The lady with the baptismal date isn't doing so good. She wasn't progressing and she was going to another church. But we found two new people. A man named D C came up to us and told us he had just moved from another town. He had almost gotten baptized. We also found a R G. He's an 18 year old kid who has a baptism date of February 19th! We found him this week. I'm excited.
I can't believe I've already been out 2.5 months. It feels like not that long ago that I left but it also seems like an eternity.
One thing I'm excited about is we are going to help out an older lady named A. She's not a member but she's a member's aunt. So we're going to serve her. I think she has a barn and chicken coop that Elder F and I are going to tear down. Exciting stuff!
But yeah. Life is good. We got weather stripping and sealed our front door. It's going to be a lot warmer in here at night. Last night was pretty warm. I wore a sweater. The nice blue one you sent me even.
I do enjoy preaching and preaching the Gospel.
I found a really awesome tie the other day! It was just a really old, really colorful polyester. Kind of Jerry Garcia like but it looked like it was from the '80's. I've definitely seen some pretty crazy ties that missionaries have. They save them for Sunday or zone conferences.
But, I close.
With all my love,
Elder Carlson (or Matthew)
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Two Guys On A Dusty Road
We're almost to the two month mark that I came to Alma. It feels like much longer than that but it also seems like much shorter.
Today is a wonderful balmy 71 degrees. It's slightly cloudy, sunny, and I'm enjoying it while it's not frying me. I'm not looking forward to the summer. Maybe I'll serve down by the coast or the beach. Those ocean winds do wonders for the temperature.
This week, I've walked down a lot of dirt roads. We've been visiting a lot of the less actives that live way out there. So we've been walking on dirt. I've got the pictures to prove it. Sorry I don't have a whole lot of pictures, I just didn't take any pictures really so far this transfer. I'll try and get another of Elder F and I.
I sent you a letter this week [the next blog post] so that should go over a little bit of what went on this week. However, I did save one day in particular so I could write it up in my email.
I will go over the rest of the week lightly, but I don't have my planner with me and the moment. I am pretty much lost without the thing. It's my favorite thing that I carry with me (besides my scriptures and my water).
We taught a lot of new people this week. Elder F loves going out and just talking to people. It's not just tracting. He knocks on doors, talks to people in the street, pretty much everywhere. I'm getting better about just opening my mouth and talking to people about religion. It's a little weird still but it's getting more normal. I know back in Oregon, religion is just not a subject that came up really.
We met many interesting and sometimes very strange people. I talked more about one person in particular in my mailed letter [the next blog post]. We talked to lots of people and very few really pursued it any further. We've been busy though. Our meal calendar is the fullest it's ever been. We have about 3 to 4 every week! We taught some good lessons and had some fun times.
The day I was referring to earlier was in fact, Friday. We received a call late Thursday night. It went something like this:
"Hi Elders in Alma!"
"Hi there Elder T. What can I do for you?"
"Well, actually do you want to come to Tallahassee tomorrow?"
"Ummm,...why?"
"Someone is coming to speak and we're headed there."
"Uhhhh,....Sure."
So the next day, we arrived in Douglas about 11 o'clock. We hopped in the transfer van and drove to Tifton. We picked up the Elders there and then drove to Tallahassee. We got there a little before 4. Elder Larry Gibbons from the 70 was speaking. He talked a lot about working with members and finding people. He talked for a really long time. It was good but 3 hours straight of sitting and listening kinda wears me out. We had sandwiches at the mission home and then hopped in the car and headed back to Tifton. We had to ride back with the Sisters as there wasn't enough room in the transfer vans. On the way up, the Zone leaders had made two of the new missionaries ride with them. On the way back, they asked us to ride with the sisters. We left about 20 minutes before the zone leaders left and they still beat us to Tifton by 10 or 15 minutes. The sisters got lost twice on the way back. It was Sister F, Sister G, and Sister H. I was a little apprehensive about riding with the sisters as the two missionaries who rode up with the Sisters said they almost died. Sisters G and H were drifting in and out of sleep so we really only talked to Sister F. She's really awesome.
But yeah. We arrived in Tifton and then went with the zone leaders to Douglas. We drove back to Alma even though it was really late.
I love you all and miss you.
Loves,
Elder Matthew Carlson
Today is a wonderful balmy 71 degrees. It's slightly cloudy, sunny, and I'm enjoying it while it's not frying me. I'm not looking forward to the summer. Maybe I'll serve down by the coast or the beach. Those ocean winds do wonders for the temperature.
This week, I've walked down a lot of dirt roads. We've been visiting a lot of the less actives that live way out there. So we've been walking on dirt. I've got the pictures to prove it. Sorry I don't have a whole lot of pictures, I just didn't take any pictures really so far this transfer. I'll try and get another of Elder F and I.
I sent you a letter this week [the next blog post] so that should go over a little bit of what went on this week. However, I did save one day in particular so I could write it up in my email.
I will go over the rest of the week lightly, but I don't have my planner with me and the moment. I am pretty much lost without the thing. It's my favorite thing that I carry with me (besides my scriptures and my water).
We taught a lot of new people this week. Elder F loves going out and just talking to people. It's not just tracting. He knocks on doors, talks to people in the street, pretty much everywhere. I'm getting better about just opening my mouth and talking to people about religion. It's a little weird still but it's getting more normal. I know back in Oregon, religion is just not a subject that came up really.
We met many interesting and sometimes very strange people. I talked more about one person in particular in my mailed letter [the next blog post]. We talked to lots of people and very few really pursued it any further. We've been busy though. Our meal calendar is the fullest it's ever been. We have about 3 to 4 every week! We taught some good lessons and had some fun times.
The day I was referring to earlier was in fact, Friday. We received a call late Thursday night. It went something like this:
"Hi Elders in Alma!"
"Hi there Elder T. What can I do for you?"
"Well, actually do you want to come to Tallahassee tomorrow?"
"Ummm,...why?"
"Someone is coming to speak and we're headed there."
"Uhhhh,....Sure."
So the next day, we arrived in Douglas about 11 o'clock. We hopped in the transfer van and drove to Tifton. We picked up the Elders there and then drove to Tallahassee. We got there a little before 4. Elder Larry Gibbons from the 70 was speaking. He talked a lot about working with members and finding people. He talked for a really long time. It was good but 3 hours straight of sitting and listening kinda wears me out. We had sandwiches at the mission home and then hopped in the car and headed back to Tifton. We had to ride back with the Sisters as there wasn't enough room in the transfer vans. On the way up, the Zone leaders had made two of the new missionaries ride with them. On the way back, they asked us to ride with the sisters. We left about 20 minutes before the zone leaders left and they still beat us to Tifton by 10 or 15 minutes. The sisters got lost twice on the way back. It was Sister F, Sister G, and Sister H. I was a little apprehensive about riding with the sisters as the two missionaries who rode up with the Sisters said they almost died. Sisters G and H were drifting in and out of sleep so we really only talked to Sister F. She's really awesome.
But yeah. We arrived in Tifton and then went with the zone leaders to Douglas. We drove back to Alma even though it was really late.
I love you all and miss you.
Loves,
Elder Matthew Carlson
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