Sorry to have interrupted your regular programming last week as I didn't send off a letter. I'll explain why in a bit but for now I'm just going to dive right into the last few weeks.
I learned I was getting transferred last week on Monday (13th) and things got pretty crazy after that. I packed like crazy and we had lunch with G. It was pretty fun. He told me as we were walking out of the 50's-ish diner "I'm going to miss your spunky nerdiness Benjamin" (he calls me Benjamin since I wouldn't tell him my first name). More packing and dinner with the F's soon commenced. There was a lot of delicious food.
It was a good day.
Tuesday (14th) was a fun day as well. It was my last district meeting in Madison so I tried to make it a good one and we had some fun afterwards as we had a district activity.
Elder B made french fries and something he calls Pizza Cookers. You put bread in this little device that squishes the bread together with sauce and cheese inside and then put this device over the coals (you can see the devices and the coals in the bottom left of the above picture). It was a fun day. We had a great lesson with R. He was sad to see us go. The funniest thing he said (he says a lot of funny things) was when we asked M to share his testimony (he's a youth in the branch). "You have a testimony? How old are you?" M looked at him "16". R just sat back in his chair and looked at M. "16? And you have a testimony?" He looked at me and pointed at M, "He's only 16 and he already has a testimony! He's doing awesome." I hope and wish them the best especially as they progress in the gospel.
Wednesday (15th) was mostly spend with Elder R. I woke up early and finished the last bit of packing frantically. We loaded up the car and picked up P. The B's had already taken a load of P's luggage to Tallahassee (the only way we could have fit 4 elders and 6 suitcases in that little Corolla was a very painful one). The B's have been transferred to Tallahassee to fill a spot in the institute program caused by another senior couple having to return home unexpectedly due to medical problems. We drove for a while and arrived at the mission home around 9 o'clock in the morning. Elder R and I went around and grabbed suitcases for the Elders without cars that were getting transferred. One missionary in particular, Elder R, was going home the next day as he was done. He was funny though. We did some tracting and tried to find some referrals with some success. We had one less active member pull up right as we were about to leave after trying him. We had a nice chat. We picked up Elder R and drove to the mission to get me transferring. Elder R was in the back seat and as we were turning on to the street that the mission home is on he said "Wait! No. We weren't supposed to turn there! This isn't happening! I've got like 6 more months! I can extend! President!" It was pretty funny. He's back in Canada now. Anyway, I met Elder K and we loaded up our silver Ford Fusion and I backed him out. We drove off into the sunset at the speed limit. We lost the caravan but luckily we had a GPS. We met the Tifton Sisters and they asked us to go get them something for dinner (we share the car and we had the car at that point) so after getting lost and getting gas we finally got them a pizza. I was surprised that Pizza Hut was open at 9:30ish at night but it was. We came back and crashed.
Thursday (16th) we coordinated with the Sisters and sifted through a massive amount of records. We didn't know anyone or where anything was. We got in contact with some members and combed through the area book looking for their investigators. They had some people they were working with but it looked like we had a lot of work to do. It was a bit of a rough day but we made it work. We visited Brother C and had a nice visit since he's the high priest group leader and knew much more about the ward than we did.
By Friday (17th) I was warming up to Elder K. He's a very much opposite of Elder F. He's a nice guy though. Anyway, we had an awesome lesson with a man named J. He was a referral from Elder N (one of the Assistants). Elder N served here before and he asked us to try and contact this guy. He was really solid until he just disappeared. We called him up and set up an appointment as he had been thinking about starting to meet with us again. He had disappeared as his car has been totaled, his fiance broke up with him, and he lost his job. Really nice guy. He's going to school to be an RN and has his CNA but is working on finding a job. He really liked meeting with the missionaries and liked the feeling he had when he was being taught and when he came to church before. We mostly reviewed the Restoration and really focused on the blessings and the peace that the Gospel brings into our lives. We contacted a very sleepy headquarter referral who had just woken up (he knew we were coming as we had called). He wasn't too interested but we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon. He was a little confused by it but after we explained it a few times, he got it. We knocked on this one door and a small lady came out and I introduced myself. She looked at me a little blankly and said "No..engrish." I asked where she was from. I think she said she was Vietnam but I wasn't sure. I explained how we were here for Jesus Christ. She held up a hand indicating to me to wait and walked into her house. She came back a minute or two later with a little box about the size of a deck of card and hit the button on the top and held it up so I could see. It started playing oriental music and it had a picture of Buddha on the front. I pointed at the picture and asked "Buddha?" She nodded her head. I offered our help but she was either good or didn't understand the question. We walked away and I looked at Elder K and said, "Man, we just got Buddha'd".
I'm going to have to speed up here as I'm running out of time.
The main highlights of Saturday (18th) were having dinner at the family reunion as some members invited us over. We had hot dogs with coleslaw on top. I was suspicious but I tried it and I'm still doubtful. It was okay. We tracted some streets and the longer we were on the street the fewer people were out or answering their doors. We did meet one lady who took a Book of Mormon after much explanation, "if it isn't the Bible, it's confusing".
Sunday (19th) was when things finally started coming together. I made it a point to talk to as many people as I could to try and figure out who everybody was. All four of us missionaries got to introduce ourselves from the pulpit which was nice. We had some lessons with some people- one of them being B. We have our work cut out for us. He's a very nice older gentleman who believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet but isn't sure on the Book of Mormon but thinks it might be but doesn't really think that the Church is really true. We're not sure on his interest level either. We'll keep working with him and hope and pray things work out. There was also a missionary fireside about the history of missionary work in the south. It was mostly about how missionaries used to get killed- fairly recently too. It wasn't the most encouraging fireside but the shrimp was really good and the presentation was well delivered. I came away with a determination to do my best and not worry about the results. My job is to invite not make people do it.
Monday (20th) we emailed and got lost on the way. The sisters didn't know we had 2 hours to email not 1 so they left early. Elder K and I cut corners and wrapped it up right quick and hurried out to meet them. I bought some shirt stays from the army surplus store. They're nice and my shirt stays tucked in like no other but I feel like I got robot legs or something when I wear them.
We had a powerful experience with Sister D as we received a call that she had been attacked and beaten in her home. We were asked to go give her a blessing. We went with the Sisters and had a very powerful lesson about how much God loves us and D&C 121- where the prophet Joseph Smith receives the answer to why bad things happen to us. Elder K and I were able to give her a very powerful blessing. It was a special experience. I also learned that cake in milk is fantastic. For realz.
Tuesday (21st) we had district meeting in Albany and it was pretty fun. I enjoyed it. We sweated. A lot. Elder K soaked his pants pretty good.
We had to make a DQ stop and I got a Georgia Mud Blizzard as I was in Georgia (it was delicious).
Wednesday (22nd) we rode down this crazy dirt road. I was sliding around. It was pretty rough. Our appointment fell through =(. We biked a long way.
We had coordination in the evening. It was effective and efficient. I liked it.
Thursday (23rd) weekly planning consumed most of the day. I tried hard boiled eggs- still not sold. Brother T came out with us on splits and we had a good lesson with one of his home teaching families. One of Brother M's friends was there and he had some pretty good stuff to add to the lesson- it was focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For dinner, Elder K made me waffle house hash browns for dinner (we found a big box of them in a cupboard. How we got raw waffle house hash browns I don't know).
Friday (24th) we had dinner at the E's. It was funny since the 8 year old looked at his mom and asked "Did you sign us up for church during the summer?", "Of course.", "Noooo! Don't give summer to church!". It was kind of funny.
Saturday(25th) we moved! The Sisters and J helped us out which was really nice. I don't think we could have done it by ourselves.
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| old apartment being moved |
We had a great lesson with J and we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We read 2 Nephi 31 with him and talked about enduring to the end. We asked him what he understood and he said "All my life- I've been taught that you're saved and you're good but this is saying it's a lifelong thing- I gotta keep trying and working at it.... okay. Makes sense." He's awesome. He even committed to be baptized! I'm pretty hopeful for him.
Sunday I gave a very long talk which was good and bad. I stole all of elder Kelly's time.
I love and miss you all!
I'm stepping up. I want to leave with no regrets and I am expecting miracles. I am determined to give my all even if it does involve a lot of aching and sweating. Because you see, this Elder go to 11. When you get to 10, that's the highest others can go. When they need that extra little boost, you don't have it. I'm going to go to 11.
Elder Matthew Carlson
