A big accomplishment for the week? Making potato pancakes.
They were like if you moshed up some hash browns with grits in them and grilled them into a patty. It was quite strange but strangely good. Elder W only ate a little bit leaving me a significant portion of potato pancakes (that little box made quite a few pancakes). He tends to be a little more cautious when it comes to crazy things his companion tries to get him to eat. UPDATE: turns out he liked them but he had just eaten a large amount of lunch. I saved some mix so I'll make them again.
We went to the USS Alabama once again since Elder W had never been. He really enjoyed it and plus we got to spend the day with T!! (love that guy). He's leaving in about 3 weeks for the MTC. He's going to Brazil. As usual, the main guns were quite large. I didn't take nearly as many picture this time as I already have a pile from last time. I just enjoyed the sights, the informative plaques, and the smell (the whole thing smells like steel and raw oil; especially once you start getting down into the lower decks).
We did find an Evan's room and had a good laugh ('s last name is Evans). It turns out it was about some ship (the USS Evans) and not about Tyler, so we moved on.
We did get time for the submarine which was nice.
On Tuesday we had Zone training which was quite informative. It was fun to see old friends (Elder J and Elder C). I learned a lot. Someday we'll just go through all my pictures, planners, and notebooks and I'll just tell you everything.
Wednesday was a rather rough day at parts. I was happy and it was a great day but it was very rainy. We decided to walk and we had raincoats and umbrellas but we both still got drenched. We met the lady we wanted to see but her husband wasn't home so we couldn't go in. Hopefully, we'll be coming back some time. =) The look on her face when we told her our car was parked in Robertsdale (it was quite a ways away as we were in Rosington at that point) was absolutely priceless. =) Thankfully R came and saved us. We had a great lesson with S that R really enjoyed. We really focused on the Book of Mormon. We're really trying to show him we are not tearing anything down he has but building it up. He kept asking us questions and would say things like "Another question- sorry, but I mean, my eternal soul is at stake here guys!" or "I'm at a fork in the road, I just want to go down the right path". Super cool guy. Hopefully, we'll see him at church one of these days but stuff always comes up when he wants to come. =( Daggum opposition.
We were both very cold when we got back so we decided to take a nice warm foot bath and read mail. It was fantastic.
Thursday was dinner with the H's which I always love. I did make one critical mistake however. As we were leaving, Sister H popped out of the kitchen and said "WAIT! Don't go! I need to give you cookies!" Then I made a foolish mistake and explained we wanted but didn't need cookies. Her cookies are muy delicioso. =(
Out of time- but the rest of the week was good. I even stood up and bore my testimony in fast and testimony meeting. =)
FUN FACT: Tim Cook, CEO of Apple is reportedly from Robertsdale, Alabama.
QUOTE: Whether you think you can or you can't; you're right.
It's awesome. I love my mission and it's going well. I've grown this past week and I'm a little bit better. A LONG way to go but I'm getting there. I do love and miss you all
Yay for a lot of photos! (one last sunset for ya) =D
--
Elder Matthew Carlson
