Monday I got significant hair reduction surgery. I went to Elder B as we couldn't find a good hair cutting place in town. Elder B offered to do it for free so I accepted. I just wanted a trim but I sat down in the chair. I knew it was going to be a little rough when he started cutting without asking me how much I wanted to keep. It was a much needed haircut though. Sister B even gave me some delicious cheddar broccoli soup which was really nice. We did the usual shopping, cleaning, and I got a bit done.
Tuesday district meeting went pretty good. I thought it was the best one yet. I tried to make it as powerful, testimony filled as possible while still giving people a chance to answer questions and stay relevant to what they try to do. We did a role play at the end that was kinda funny even though I wasn't intended to be. It was specifically for P who has some trouble utilizing member present lessons. We as missionaries are told repeatedly that members at lessons are really important. Their problem is that members want to come but the members take over and go off on weird tangents. Elder Y pretended to be one of their members and Elder L and I role played preparing a member for the lesson. It was going good until we got to the lesson part of the role play. Elder Y did a great job role playing- perhaps too good of a job. He would tell me to explain things better and would say things like "He doesn't understand, explain it again". It was just an interesting role play. We got back to Madison and had lunch. Anyway, we did some biking that day which was nice but it wore me out pretty good. The sad part was our appointments fell through so we biked back. I decided to do some McDonald's as we had got some coupons in the mail. I got a frozen cherry Slurpee type thing which they were all out of. The cashier was really nice and gave me an upgrade to a smoothie. I had a pineapple one which was pretty good.
Wednesday we did much service. It wore me out pretty good. Our next door neighbor is sister B- very sweet lady. Missionaries have been cutting her lawn for years (it's not that big). She even has two lawn mowers- one for me and one for Elder F. I took the back yard and it looked really nice when we were finally done. We showered and had a quick lunch. We grabbed Brother B (also a really cool member) and went to G's. She wasn't feeling well but we talked to her husband mostly about stuff. Brother B really helped since he knows many of the people here in Madison. We visited a few more people and dropped off Brother B. We mowed Brother D's back yard for him (it was about my knee high or taller) and luckily it only took about 15-20 minutes. We had a short meeting with Elder B and discussed some upcoming events and how we were going to coordinate that. It was surprisingly effective. We were able to play some basketball with the youth as we had about 20 minutes till our next appointment and we couldn't think of any one to see in that short of a time (Elder F really really enjoys spending time with the youth). The hoop was only 7 or 8 feet tall so I was kinda cheap and dunked it a few times. The only problem was my shirt just kept coming un-tucked. It was still pretty fun and the youth did a great job of making it fun and helping everyone to get a chance to have the ball. We had a good lesson with R and R. Mostly about the purpose of life and the Word of Wisdom. They're doing great and already had most of the answers. We just needed to help them put the pieces together. R is so funny. We had come just come in and we were talking before we had the lesson and somehow we got on our lives and R began to guess how out lives would turn out. Then he read his palm to figure out how long we would each live. Turns out I'm going to live to 90 something. =)
Thursday we began by going to visit someone who is available really only on Thursday mornings- right during weekly planning. We decided to give her one more chance (she wasn't there the last few times) and she was there. She got called in to go help someone and asked us to come back. We were headed back to the apartment for lunch and weekly planning when we got a call from Elder B informing us they needed our help moving one of the families they've been working with. There would also be pizza involved. We got into service clothes and we drove out to Lee to help out the T's. On the way, I saw a lawn mower at the gas station which was kinda funny.
They were very nice and we helped clean up their new house in preparation for them to move in. We had Hungry Howie's pizza (it's like Little Caesars sort of but tastes better, has different types of flavored crust, and it slightly more expensive- $6 instead of $5). We did a lot of other stuff and visited more people.
Friday we finished Weekly Planning. During which Elder F saw a gnat on the window. He smacked it with his preach my gospel and the whole window broke. It was old 60's single pan) but it was still very surprising. We taped it up pretty good though.
We had another lesson with R and R. It was on the Atonement and was one of the most powerful we've ever had with them. Elder F said he even had tears in his eyes. They were both very tired though. It still went pretty good.
Saturday began different. Usually for exercise I jog in place while Elder F often stretches. We got out and ran! It felt pretty good.
Sunday was Fast Sunday and there were some wonderful testimony's. The best part was having R and R there. We also got J C there! He's a man in an assisted living facility. He hasn't been to church since he was about 14 (he's 60 something) but he had a stroke about a year ago and became much more open to missionaries and the church. He's on a good path and it's really cool to see how he's a little happier every time we go over there. He wanted to come to church so we told him we'd do our best. After some complications with the rest home, we checked him out. The branch president and Elder B went with us to help him out of his wheelchair (he really can't move all that well) and into the back of the B's car. We figured we'd take him home after Sacrament but he wanted to stay for all three hours. It was really cool to have him there. =)
How grateful I am that the Spirit leads this work.
I love and miss you all.
Elder Matthew Carlson
