Missionary:
I'm a missionary all the time but this week Elder F and I really focused on being missionaries to everyone. We talked to many people that we just ran into and had some interesting discussions.
Mechanic:
We headed back to the car after visiting a less active member and we saw some people working on their car. I asked Elder F, "Do you know anything about cars?" "Sorta. You?" "I helped my dad change the oil. I held the paper towels." He shrugged and we went over and asked if we could help. Their car had no power. They said the radio fuse had blown. Normally, when a radio fuse goes, it shouldn't take out the whole car. So we helped as best we could and I started asking questions while Elder F worked on the fuse. I asked if the battery was good. "Oh yeah." I asked how they knew that and they told me. I learned that the battery was good - key word on was. The tested the battery by touching the terminals together with a wire. It made a big spark. They had shorted their battery. We offered them a jump to try and fix their battery problems but they declined.
Fire Fighter:
We were over at the infamous Sister W's working on the newest burn pile. We had been working on this one for a while. It was going to be a good one. It was a good 10 or 12 feet high before we crunched it down since it was about two of me tall. It had lots of dry leaves underneath and lots of dry wood. We lit it and it was HUGE! You couldn't get within 30 or 40 feet of the thing because it was so hot. The flames were so tall that they caught a nearby tree on fire. The tree branch in question was about 30 feet in the air and the tree was 40 or 50 feet away from the pit. Big, big flames. Sister W pointed out the flames and Elder F and I sprang into action. He grabbed the hose and I ran to turn on the water while humming action music in my head. We put the fire out after a little bit of difficulty since the hose couldn't spray high enough to reach the branch. The crisis was averted and the tree was (sort of) saved.
Demolition Expert:
There is a non member who has back troubles and her husband died a few years ago and her property has fallen into disarray. She had two sheds in her backyard that were just really worn down and she wanted them out. We offered our services and we got to work. We first had to get all the jars out of the sheds though. The lady in question is a canning enthusiast. There were literally thousands of mason jars full of weird and very questionable substances in these sheds. Most of the jar's lids were rusted. She insisted on keeping all the jars. So we loaded them all into several large boxes and bins and the two of us dragged them to a safe place. Then it was time to destroy. We were each given a crowbar and said go. We tore those things up.
Detective:
I'm out of time so I'll explain the rest in my snail mail letter. I was planning on sending you my funeral talk by email but Elder F wants to leave so I'll snail mail it. I hope that it can get to you in time. It should arrive Thursday but if you are all leaving Wednesday then it's not going to make it. Sorry.
[Matthew must have had to leave because the letter ends there]
These are the pictures that were attached to Matthew's email. They are nice pictures but he didn't offer any explanation of any of them. There's a gator in the second picture which must have been exciting.
