Hello everyone!
It was an interesting week this week. The main problems this week were the lack of car keys. I'll explain in a bit.
Monday was different than most preparation days I've had on the mission in that most of the day was spent at a member's house. As you might remember, our washer and dryer had burnt out and were in a non-functional state. We should be getting a new washer and dryer sometime this week. We needed somewhere to do laundry and the R's agreed. We did laundry over there and to repay them (in a sense) for their kindness we washed and waxed their cars (we had already agreed to do it before we did laundry there). We had washed and waxed our car a few weeks ago and they commented on how good it looked (it did look really good) and asked if we could do the same. Of course we said yes (when are we ever going to say no? Plus the R's are super cool!). We spent most of the day there until it was time to go. I got to play some guitar as well as kick around a soccer ball. We visited some folks but they didn't keep their appointments. We went to the F's for dinner. We had fish, hush-puppies, homemade french fries, grits, and brownies with pecans on top. A true southern meal. It was all very fresh. I watched him grab the fish out of a bucket, gut said fish, and throw it in a cast iron bucket (it was way too big to really be called a pan) and fry it. It was very delicious.
Tuesday added to the interestingness. I went to Perry and spent the day there with Elder Y. We had a pretty good time. They're a bike only area so we did much biking. We decided it would be easier to just have me ride Elder L's bike so we went with that. I survived but looking back, if there is a next time, I'm bringing my bike. Elder F and Elder L were able to set a baptismal date with R and R which was awesome.
On Wednesday we biked around more but no one was home or just didn't answer the door. We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Last time Elder Y and I were on a tradeoff, we went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch and we actually ran into a member who asked us to give his wife a blessing (I'm not sure if he was active). So we decided to do it again (I think it might be a tradition now). It was actually pretty good and I really enjoyed their deep-fried zucchini. We were able to meet with some people that we hadn't met with for a long time and I hope we can really get through to them. I think with one of them, a nice young man named J, we really found his one thing (I think there is at least one thing that everyone has that interests them in the restored gospel. You just need to find that one thing). We somehow talked about modern day prophets. He was really interested in that. He was a little doubtful (he's quite educated on his history) but after we explained it, he was more open to it.
Thursday was weekly planning interrupted by various appointments we had. We tried to ride bikes as we are really low on miles this month. We have about 90 left out of our 1050. We'll pull through. We were riding to Brother S's when my back tire got a flat. It was pretty loud but it wasn't an immediate flat. We stopped it and called for a member evac. M showed up and hauled us back to his house. Brother R was kind enough to give me a new tube. We were given a ride to Brother S's and we had a pretty good talk with him. He's kind of less active but he LOVES family history. He gave us a ride back in his truck as it was getting late.
Friday we discovered the car keys to be missing. They were in Elder F's coat which we believed to have been at the R's. So we set off on bikes to do service for Mrs. A and had travelled about 2 miles of the 6 mile journey when my tire started getting really low. We parked and Elder B came to rescue us. We all went to Mrs. A's and pulled down vines. She made us delicious sandwiches with authentic polish mustard (she's polish) that was really good. Plus, Sister B had a really good talk with her while the three of us were working. We got the tube patched (there was glass in the tread. My tread is getting kind of thin on the back tire). We were able to visit R and R which was fantastic! They even threatened to adopt Elder F. They really like us. It was funny. They were glad to see me again. Elder L had been with Elder F and visited them on Tuesday during the tradeoff. "Good, he's back [meaning me]." Elder F commented "Elder L was pretty good, right?" R sat back and said "Yeah... but he's DIFFERENT!" They're just super funny. We taught them the pre-mortal life which they really enjoyed. We also taught the Word of Wisdom as we want to get them started on quiting smoking so they can be ready for baptism. It went okay but when we finished we asked if we could take their pack of cigarettes. They aren't ready for that yet. =(
Saturday it rained a lot. I'm ashamed to say that it really hindered missionary work as we only had bikes. We were able to help out Brother T and we were able to see J C who is a less active member who had a stroke. Really nice guy. He has become a little bit happier every time we see him.
Sunday was pretty good. Church was great! I learned much. The talks were good and we had 3 visitors. 2 of them were friends of the youth. Great people. We also attended a funeral as one of the ward members was speaking and we had a delivery to make. The ward members were kind enough to give us a box of Krispy Kreme donuts and they were really good.
I'm kind of out of time. No pictures. Sorry, the computer I'm using doesn't like my card reader. =(
This week I've been thinking much about the importance of living in the moment. It seems as though I spend too much time dwelling on future events, looking forward to them, that I sometime lose sight of what going on right now. I also tend to spend too much time dwelling on the past. In church on Sunday this thought process really came to a point when the concluding speaker (brother T) spoke about living in day tight compartments. It was a good talk and I really enjoyed it. I think I, in particular, would do well to slow down and to see the bouquets on the way to the rose garden. I don't think I can really say it any better than this Mormon Message can.
I love and miss you all! This is worthwhile. The restored gospel changes lives for the better. I know because it's changed mine.
Elder Matthew Carlson
