A Hand-Written Letter!

Hello Family!

I’m doing well! Elder B and I continue to do and try to stay busy and dry. I didn’t have much time to email as Elder B needed the laptop. It was kinda cool to be laptoping it again.

Just a quick update on what’s going on: my biggest problem right now is that the gyms are now banned. The treadmill was really nice and really helped me actually move in the morning. Elders get hurt trying to get ‘buff’ so now it’s off-limits. Back to running in the parking lot I guess. I know it’s for the best and I’m gonna do it. I shouldn’t complain. The other problem is rain. It’s rained here almost every day. It’s just frustrating. You can’t really fight it. We tried – but it wasn’t very effective. [Matthew drew a cute picture of a missionary battling a raincloud with a sword and a piece of paper. The angry faced rain cloud says “Your sword cannot hurt me!” and the missionary says “Aw man”]. But we’ve been trying to/staying busy.

We painted a shed! It was really nice to just have something to do that was very mentally relaxing and simple. It was a light red with white trim. It was pink when we painted it on . We got to talk with G, a young man who’s preparing to go to college and then on a mission. We have been going out with him and really encouraging him. The B’s (whose shed we painted) were really grateful for our service. They gave us brownies . We got a whole plate – each! I’ve eaten many a brownie and have found they’re quite delicious chilled. I did fall off a ladder; that was kinda scary. I only got one cut. It was kind of a miracle. It felt like I was being lowered to the ground. Maybe it was the whole time-goes-slower thing but it seemed like I should have been falling faster. I’m pretty protected.

We had a fantastic lesson with S. She’s wonderfully spiritual and very charitable. You can tell she really does have that relationship with God. A lot of people say they do – she does. She was very receptive and loved our message. She’s excited about reading the Book of Mormon. We’ll see how it turns out. I’m very hopeful. She’s dealing with a few medical challenges which is no bueno.

We have a few people on the back burner. The P’s (a family in the ward) have a friend interested in learning – she just has medical problems and is very busy at the moment. J is still working on reading the Book of Mormon. She’s really intelligent and has been very busy lately. She’s stuck in the Isaiah chapters. She wants to, it’s just hard sometimes. She recognizes her church has no authority and is looking for the true church. So we’re hoping. I think we just need to sit down with her again and discuss it – but she still isn’t really open to that. We’re praying for her. I really have hopes for her and really care about her.

We’ve been really well fed lately. The members seem determined to give us all the food. We have a freezer full of hot pockets and a pantry full of stuff. I’m not complaining.

Sorry but I forgot to mention this in my email. President has started doing a conference call once a week in district meeting. It’s really neat but the tiny speakers on the phone aren’t all that great. Could you poke around online for a 3mm to 1/8" aux adapter? I think it would help the senior missionaries as well.
Speaking of senior missionaries, Elder and Sister C kind of remind me of you except older. I can just imagine you both with name tags and hanging out with us younger folk. They’re really nice.

Now if you’ll excuse me – the J’s have some Finnish chocolate they want me to eat :-). I love ya’ll.

Love,
Elder Matthew Carlson

I Am Fine

Hello Family. I'm alive and stuff. It's getting crazy down here, all the peoples are really hyping up this hurricane thing. We'll see what happens but I'm pretty excited. We're been taken care of very well and everything is very well planned out. We have special permission to email you today to let you know that I'm fine. =) Just let y'all (especially mom) know that things are going to be okay. We're going to be staying in the church building for a day or two which are quite safe. I'm kind of looking forward to being able to spend some time catching up in my journal and in the scriptures but I think I'll be singing a different tune after 6 or 7 hours. Luckily Elder B and other missionaries will be there to keep sane. =)

Anyway, we're going to eat some lunch and then go help someone fix up a roof and take down a satellite dish (those things become missiles during hurricanes).

See picture to see how fine I'm doing. =)

I love y'all and hope you are all doing well.

Love,
Elder Matthew Carlson