There's been some good stuff over here at Madison. But of course I'll rise above it, because I know that's how you want me to respond. [lines from one of our favorite plays, 'Wicked']
Haha. =)
I've been warming up to Madison greatly! I like it much more than I did when I first came. I think every area is that way. Elder F is a good guy and I really like him. He has a good testimony and a big desire to get out there and work which is great! He's a little goofy and is a night person. It's funny really, as the day goes on he gets more and more talkative. I'm more of a morning person whereas he is not. It's just funny. At least, I think it is.
Monday was interesting as we emailed at the NFCC (North Florida Community College). It was/is a very nice library (I'm in it now). We got our groceries from Harvey's. I'm not so much a fan. I'm excited for when Winco and I can meet once again in a joyous shopping reunion. =) Harvey's is just more expensive than normal. Elder F noticed the Blue Bell Ice cream was on sale 3 for $13. That put each one at $4.50 or so. Usually they're about $6 normally and $7 or $8 at Harvey's. So he bought 3 half gallon tubs of ice cream that is delicious (he lets me have some from time to time). =) Blue Bell is the best ice cream you can get from the store down here in the south.
Tuesday was a new experience for me as we had district meeting in Perry. I'm the district leader so I had to conduct it. For my first one ever- it went pretty well. We talked about helping people become interested by teaching the first two points of lesson one; God Is Our Loving Heavenly Father and The Gospel Blesses Families. We did good things that day. We made contact with people but we didn't really get any amazing progress. Elder F called it the day of first downs but no touchdowns.
Wednesday was a fairly average day. We did get some stuff done and taught some lessons. We had the missionary coordination meeting that night which was quite productive. Assignments were followed up on and new ones were made. Issues were resolved. We did get off on a few tangents but it worked out. Unfortunately I didn't really know who they were talking about so I tried to stay focused and follow along but I was lost fairly quickly.
Thursday: the highlights were that we had weekly planning and we helped J pressure wash the church sidewalks for a bit. Super cool kid. I don't think I would have ever decided to spend all day pressure washing the church sidewalks by myself when I was 13.
Friday we had a miracle. It was pretty neat. Everything was falling through. We were a little discouraged. We went to someone's house that we figured we would try once more. We parked, got out, and someone pulled up. Elder F got all excited and started talking to them. It turned out that two former investigators had just showed up. They had moved and gotten a new phone number so the Elders had lost contact with them. We exchanged info and set something up with them. It was rather exciting. =)
The bird in the picture:
Elder F found it as we were walking around Lake Francis (a very nice lake in Madison that we walk around and talk to people fishing. It's also a very relaxing walk). It was just kind of sitting in the road. It was very cold that day so we put it in a tree so it wouldn't get run over or freeze to death.
Saturday and Sunday: very nice as well. I'm out of time. The branch had about 60 people there which was nice (just about average I'm told).
This is our car port and our beautiful Corolla. It rained a lot this week and it was pretty crazy.
Quick message!
The world today thinks of hope as more as a possibility rather than a sure definite thing. It's an uncertainty when the scriptures speak of hope in a much different sense. To quote President Jensen:
"Hope drives us to know our effort is worth all we can offer. By hope we can forget our past and look only to the future. Hope allows us to know we are not alone and that our path is prepared for us. It is hope that permits us to know we'll be compensated for everything we suffer. Hope is not a wish, hope is a certainty."
"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world" - Ether 12:4
I love and miss yall!
--
Elder Matthew Carlson
