Well, for starters let me add to the ever growing list of "Southern Food that I tried that is really bad for me". I have now had fried ice cream. It was actually pretty good. It had a cinnamony outside that was kinda crunchy, whipped cream on the outside, and a fried... something that functioned as a bowl for the ice cream. It was good, but I'm sure very very fattening. Luckily I've been biking a whole lot and jogging in the mornings so I think I'll be okay.
The good news of this week is that Sister B, one of the investigators we have been working with, is getting really really close to baptism! She just needs to pick a date that works for her schedule. She's really cool, she loves the church and has a testimony, quit smoking, and is just ready. So hopefully that will be pretty soon. I'm excited =).
This week was a little sad at the beginning until about Thursday. Up until that point, I hadn't gotten any mail in a while. Then I received a nice letter from Sofie! Yay! Then the next day a whole BOX came for me as well as a few other letters. I was really excited to say the least. Thank you for the wonderful gifts from the magic Disney-power land.
There are some really awesome member here that I just love. They are the M's, the J's, and the F's. Let me tell you about the J's.
Brother J is a software developer for his company. He's a really cool guy. Sister J is a really nice lady who loves musicals and works in the stake youth leadership. They took us out to sushi at a nice sushi restaurant since it was "cheat day". They're on a diet where they can't eat carbs or sugar, that sort of thing, but they have one day a week where they can literally eat everything they want. I think I ate more than 2 rolls of sushi all in all. It was a ton. It was really good sushi, some of the best I've ever had. One of them even had fish eggs on top. I ate that too. Sister E is Brother J's mom. She's from Finland and she is fantastic. We were over at the J's and she made us a huge dessert and we were eating and Brother J said while staring wistfully at my dessert, "Oh, I wish today was cheat day". Sister E looked up from her large pile of brownie and ice cream and said "Good thing today is my cheat day." Brother J looked at her and said "Every day is your cheat day." We all had a good laugh.
Yesterday was Stake conference and the stake leadership gave wonderful talks. They really were about the members stepping up to the plate, living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and going to the temple. I loved the stake president's talk because he was very much cut short on time. He was talking rather rapidly as he only had one or two minutes left when he stopped for a second and asked "All those who believe what I have said, please manifest." Of course, almost everyone raised their hand. "Then go to your bishop and get a temple recommend." Then he closed the talk and we were done. Elder G and I thought it was hilarious.
I love and miss you all! I'm going to the Pensacola Aircraft Museum after this so I'll have some fun pictures next week.
-Elder Matthew Carlson
