It's been another crazy fast and long week. I really don't know where it went. Sunday rolled around and it really threw me for a loop. I looked at Elder W Saturday night and said "Woah. Tomorrow's Sunday. Wasn't it just Sunday like yesterday?" It was, at the same time, very long. The only reasonable explanation for the length as well as the time dilation is that I must be going light speed.
Anyway - I'm going to try and give y'all a little bit more detail this week so we're going to do it blow by blow.
MONDAY (31st) It was preparation day. I felt better but still not a 100% (I had been struggling with some sort of fever/stomach something). I emailed y'all and did regular old preparation: wrote some Christmas thank you cards (Grandma and Grandpa- yours should be getting there soon - I didn't have you address and knew a letter would be coming so I waited a few days), shined my shoes, shopped, and did loads of laundry. As it was new years, the N's invited us over for dinner and fireworks. Bishop N met us at a Mexican restaurant called the Poor Mexican which was kind of an oxymoron. As for being a poor Mexican, it was quite nice inside. I looked at the menu and asked for the carne asada. I'd heard about it and I knew carne meant beef and asada I think was cooked. The rest of the N's arrived and we enjoyed some pleasant small talk. My order came and it was a giant steak with tons of beans and rice with tortillas. It was a large amount of food. Bishop N looked over and asked "What did you get?" It was really good though. Afterwards we went over to the Bishop's house (he kind of lives out in the sticks and I think that made it okay) for fireworks. They had bought a MASSIVE amount of fireworks. He's a lawyer and can do stuff like that but they filled up the back of their SUV with fireworks - the fun kind. They were about the size of a large soup can and covered in gold foil but they were crazy. They fired several fireworks way up in the air that exploded with big bangs and crackles. It was right overhead and when the wind changed you could feel the bits hit you. It was way loud.
TUESDAY (1st) I felt much better and we talked to many new people. We had district meeting in Daphne which, as usual, was quite good. We went out for lunch as a district as it was the new year afterwards to Panera Bread (it's like a fancy soup and sandwich shop for hipsters and healthy people). I got an avocado and bacon sandwich. It sounded good and like the sandwich might be healthy enough to offset the bacon. It was good though. We decided to try and visit G W which was strange as he works everyday until late in the evening (super cool guy and loves the gospel - just has trouble coming to church because of work and things). We met his step son, C, who we had a great conversation with and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon. I'm really hoping and praying he reads it. Super nice and very smart kid. He's going to college in criminal justice. We helped a less active/active member move something and he fed us dinner. We had a good chat with him and got a better feel for his background and who he is and why he only comes to church some of the time. We met several other people some of whom we've met before and had trouble catching. It was a good day.
WEDNESDAY (2nd) was another good day (I had all good days this week). I did the normal stuff like exercise, shower, breakfast, studies, clean for a bit, then head out. I finished 3rd Nephi though and went into Mormon during studies. We visited several people but no one was really home. We had lunch at Firehouse where I had a steak n' cheese number 10. It was the same sandwich I had when I first arrived in Florida and we were headed out to Georgia. It was much less greasy and smaller than I remember but still quite good. We had the wonderful opportunity to go on splits with Brother L, the high priest group leader, who is a wonderful guy. We went to Robertsdale and visited several folks down there and he really hit it off well with one of the LA/PM families we're working with. They were just about to head out but we were able to say hello for a few minutes and Brother G really liked Brother L. We visited some less actives who we thought might have moved. She had moved. We got a very angry phone call from the lady that lives there now. Missionaries had stopped by previously and she had told them the lady had moved but they didn't pass it on clearly to us. We visited another wonderful family - the P's (they came to all three hours of church yesterday - yay!). We helped out the Young Men's leader and helped teach Preach my Gospel. We're working on helping them know how to share what they believe and be prepared for missions. It went well in my opinion and we were able to pass out cookies afterwards (we have SO much candy and cookies right now). In hindsight, telling the boys to take all the cookies was a mistake (there was no way we could have eaten that many cookies. They were those danish shortbread butter cookies that comes in the tin around Christmas time. Some of the boys walked away with 7 to 10 of the little white paper cups with about 4 or 5 cookies each. I hope their parents didn't know it was us that provided the multitude of cookies.
THURSDAY (3rd) is the hardest day from a mental standpoint. We had weekly planning for most of the day which seems to always take 4 hours. We helped out at a local food bank warehouse. It was an interesting peek into Elder B's past life (he worked in a warehouse for a year before coming out on his mission). We moved pallets from one spot to the other spot and stacked cans on other cans but my favorite was moving chicken into a freezer. Poor Elder W donned the large coat and was inside the freezer. I handed him the large boxes of chicken to stack inside the freezer. I looked on the gauge and it was about 10 F or so in there. Luckily, Elder W wasn't too phased (Utah people...). We showered and got onto weekly planning until dinner at the H's. We had delicious sweet chicken black bean burritos and of course rolls. We have rolls every single time we go over there because Elder W loves them so much and she makes delicious rolls. The weekly coordination meeting soon commenced and we quickly ran through everything as we had to get to the church by 7:15 for splits with Brother E. We visited the A's and discussed with them about coming back to church and reading their scriptures. Wonderful family and it was good to finally met Brother A (he had been suffering from heart problems and when we visited them and moved them a few weeks prior, he had been absent). He looked good and said he felt great which was wonderful news. It was a good visit and Brother E was a big help. He's a great guy and pretty funny too. We came back and I learned that Bishop C was in the building as he had been giving seminary instruction (he's in charge of seminary/institute stuff for the area). I went in to say hello and walked in and he asked, "Could you help me give a blessing?" We did so. It was quite neat how it worked out. I had a nice chat with him and it was good to see him again. He's a great guy and I really liked what he said "Man- Elder Carlson. We miss you buddy. We only had you for 6 weeks! We got gypped!" I laughed and said "Yeahhh. I mean, No. Elder B and Elder T are great guys". We gave another blessing to someone else as they were really struggling. I hope we made a difference for him.
GRRR... running out of time.
FRIDAY (4th) was President S day. Any day is a good day when you're around that guy. We visited some people in the morning and met him around 1pm. We had asked him if he wanted to do lunch since he usually tries to do that. Even if we eat before he still takes us to lunch. We called and he said that would be great. We told him, "This time we're paying for us though". He laughed "hahahah....no". We had a good lunch at Chick-fil-A (for those of you in Oregon and Utah - it's a restaurant that sells chicken sandwiches and lemonade. That's about it though. I did had a chocolate peppermint milk shake that was quite good. We visited many folks and really made some good headway on some of them. President S was very kind and drove us all the way out into the sticks to see some folks. President S is one of those who truly has charity. I've never met someone who didn't like him. The best part is he's really humble about it. He was the stake president in Mobile for about 10 years and was released from that a few months ago. A few hours after he was released, he was called as the first counselor in the mission presidency. As he says, "There's no rest for the wicked." He's a great guy and I love him to pieces. Anyway, we visited all sorts of folks- some of whom were not well or busy and asked us to come back and some of whom we were able to visit with. We even saw B who is someone we're working with who is a bit rough around the edges. He did a lot of crazy stuff before he came around and really gained a testimony of Christ but he's a great guy and is very nice to us. He's working on reading the Book of Mormon and really felt something when we gave it to him. I think he has a long way to go but he can make it. We met T's wife and she was WAY more receptive and just opened up. We gave her a Book of Mormon and promised her some blessings if she read it as she's having a rough time. We also met her son who's good friends with one of the ward member's son who is on his mission in Albania right now.
SATURDAY (5th) was very very interesting. The highlight of the day was getting 4 letters and going to Catholic mass. I received a wedding invitation from he-who-was-Elder O and, after closer inspection, learned he had been married on Thursday. The thought of him being married really weirded me out and still does. I hope he's happy though. He looked happy. =) We met with Father B and invited him to Fast and Testimony meeting. He said he would think about it. He has been talking about us going to Catholic mass and suggested we go to the one in Fairhope. The time for the mass worked out just right and (perhaps jokingly) Bishop N asked us to go to another church and just sit there and just see what happens. We did so and stayed quiet. Lots of standing, sitting, kneeling, and singing. It was a tad bit confusing as their hymn book wasn't in order and there was a lot of ritual to it. Lots of memorized and read stuff. The message was good, short, and simple. It was about living our faith and keeping our lives simple. It was nice. Anyway, we also met this very old lady in this very odd looking house that was the same number as the one next to it. She had huge glasses and we talked to her for a bit and she kept saying, "OOooooHHH! How INter-e-sting! Where's your temple?". She was funny and we offered our help if she needed anything which she appreciated. "Sunday is a good day for worship".
SUNDAY (6th) was a great day but as usual, quite busy. Father B came to church! I think he enjoyed it. It was his second time. We had a meeting afterwards about the 'To the Rescue' efforts but it kind of got off track about improving sacrament meeting which was good. About half the people that attend are there by 9:00. It was funny because Stake President J (the one from Corvallis, Oregon) popped in and asked what we were doing. Someone quickly said "succession". He smiled and said, "Plotting my overthrow? Please do!" It was a funny moment. We went to one of the B's boys baptism as he turned 8 and Brother B invited all his friends. We talked with them and it was a wonderful baptism. I hope they felt something. Two of the B boys played a duet- one on the piano and one on the oboe. They're 14 and 10 but it was beautiful. It was that baptism song that they always play that I love. I almost cried. =) We went to the A's for dinner (pork chops, zucchini squash, and rice = delicious). We had splits with Brother W and we gave a lady a blessing who was having surgery and visited the W boys. They weren't at church today but I think they weren't feeling well. We had a good visit. The W's are a great family. Sister W is just fantastic.
That's all I got. Hope you enjoyed the detail.
Sorry but I didn't really take any pictures this week. Besides, this week flew by so quick they would have been blurry anyways.
I love y'all! Have a happy new year.
--
Elder Matthew Carlson
