I apologize for not getting this letter off earlier. I ran out of time last week on the computer. I'll try and cover things as best as I can.
Anyway- this week was a hard one and also very good. I (as usual) don't have much time. So I'll do my best to cover the highlights (it's all in my journal- maybe I should just send that home or something). I'm sending home an SD card with a video explaining all the big events of the previous previous week.
So our story begins last week on the 3rd of June.
Monday (3rd): We emailed and shopped. I was very hungry while shopping and had a few impulse buys but I kept it to a minimum. I worked on a box for a friend on his mission. I'm sending it off this week so I'll send a picture next week and tell you what's inside (just in case his Mom reads my blog and happens to tell him before it gets there). We had a good lesson with Brother C who is a very nice guy. His life has been a little rough and he drifted away from the church from an early age but he's working on making his way back.
Tuesday (4th) was odd because we didn't have district meeting. We had a very hot day and sweated a lot. We both got pretty dehydrated and a little cranky but it turned out okay. Dairy Queen was very beneficial in restoring us back to normal (they also make Orange Julius). That night it rained A LOT. We were expecting the assistants as they were staying the night at our apartment. We stood out in the rain (it was pouring! see the second photo below). We both got pretty soaked even with rain coats on and everything. It was fun to talk to Elder N and Elder B since they are both awesome guys and Elder N served here before. He told us all about people and filled in some of the gaps.
Wednesday (5th) was quite the day as we had zone conference. We woke up and made waffles and hash browns for breakfast. We found waffle house waffle mix and hash browns so we made those. They turned out really good. Zone conference primarily focused on obedience and being ready for the new mission president, President Coddell. It was sad to have the last zone conference with President and Sister Jensen (probably the last time I'll see them as a missionary) but I had a wonderful interview with President. We talked about life, where I'll be in 5-10 years, and a few other things. I'm glad that he's really glad with what I've done and become. I'm pretty happy about it but it's always nice to hear it from someone else. Zone conference pretty much took up most of the day. It was fun to see old friends and talk to all the missionaries I've known over the years as well as some of the new missionaries in the Zone (see the third photo below).
Thursday (6th) was weekly planing, companionship inventory, and rain. And lots of all three of those. It rained pretty much all day and Elder K and I worked many things out as some serious stuff had built up in our companionship but it's all good- it's been addressed.
Friday (7th) was a rough day. We traveled up to Fitzgerald and had "Turkey Sandwiches". I put that in quotes as it was a joke among us and the Sisters. When we first arrived, someone gave us a massive amount of shredded turkey. At least several pounds worth. Having observed that our food supplies from the previous Elders were mostly adequate, we decided to give it to the Sisters as they really didn't have a whole lot to eat. They were grateful and we didn't really know much more of it until several days later when the Sisters were talking and Sister D absolutely refused to eat another turkey sandwich. Turns out they had been having turkey sandwiches pretty much every day for a while now and had even branched out into other turkey related culinary experiments. They have plenty of food now but it was kind of funny at the time. We biked around Fitzgerald after lunch and visited several people. One older gentleman invited us in and talked for about 30 minutes non-stop about him being a cruise boat captain and now he's mostly blind (he's probably about upper 80's or so). He even invited us to come and hang out in his hot tub with him and we could have a BBQ and everything. He had an extra bed with a pull out bed underneath so we could both stay the night if we wanted too. Elder K tried really hard to get out of there but the older gentlemen wasn't having it. We finally got out and we stopped at one house where a young man the Sisters had met a previous week lived. He actually invited us in which I was pretty surprised about. We taught the restoration and left him with a Book of Mormon and a DVD. He was grateful for the things we had taught and we left pretty uplifted and excited. I stepped outside and noticed my bike was no longer there. I looked around and that sinking feeling sunk it. My mind flashed back to what I have now dubbed "The second worst day of my life" when my bike was stolen for the first time. I kept things together much better this time. We called the Fitzgerald police and an officer showed up shortly. We explained things and it turned out he was actually a member! They're on it but I was really bummed out. We walked back to the car to met the Sisters (it was pretty much time to head back to Tifton) and on the way we stopped at Harvey's (a grocery store chain down here) and I got a large chocolate milk. Maybe it was bad to try and drink my sorrows away but I think it helped a little. We had several other very good lessons that day with one of them being Sister D. She's having a rough time. We had dinner with the T's and they are really cool. They gave us the little gambate things and I did feel much better afterwards. They're very sweet. We had a great lesson with the U family. They're less active due to being up in North Georgia almost every weekend and they want to go to the temple so we talked mostly about the blessings the gospel and the temple can bring them and their background.
Saturday (8th) nothing major happened but we worked all day and walked a lot. And sweated a lot. At Zone conference we were asked to start drinking at least 4 liters of water a day. That is a lot of water which means a lot of bathroom breaks, and frequently. But I've felt much better on the days when I'm sweating a lot.
Sunday (9th) was pretty good. We had some good talks and I enjoyed several of the analogies used by the speakers.
Monday (10th) we emailed and I really ran out of time right as I was finishing a few emails. I got distracted as I promised a friend that I would send him some pictures and it took a while to both find the pictures and his email. We had a nice shopping trip and there was even a sample lady with coupons in Walmart! It was pretty good and the coupons made it really cheap. I worked more on the box that I previously mentioned as well as worked on a few other things. I relaxed a bit since I was a little stressed and it helps. After that we had a nice lesson with Brother C. We talked a lot about his kids and how he can only see them every so often and some the major events of his life and he mostly just talked and we listened. He even gave us a ride home which was really nice since it was 3 miles to home and it was getting kind of dark.
Tuesday (11th) we had a good district meeting in Moultrie, GA. Elder H is a good district leader and we mostly talked about preparing lesson plans and making sure we're prepared in order to follow the Spirit. We had a good day. I can't really remember what happened. We ended up teaching the G's since we knocked on the door where the G's used to live (they're former investigators) and the lady living there now said they lived down two units. We talked to them and they were busy but they invited us back. Turns out they've never actually met with missionaries, so after some initial confusion we switched things up and taught the Restoration. We were a few minutes late to the appointment and they had to leave at 5 so we had a short chat. I wish I had been quicker and gotten there faster. =(
Wednesday (12th) we walked about 6 miles, sweated a lot, and I kicked a bouncy ball for about 3 of those miles. It got ran over 3 times and on the last time it broke apart and kind of exploded. Elder K took a picture of the remains though. We also were walking to Dairy Queen as we were out of water and very hot when a small Asian lady waved us over as she got out of her car. Curious, but with the Dairy Queen in sight, we walked over. She then proceeded to tell us how "Saint Joseph Smith" was not the Savior and we were going undesirable places. We explained that we believe in Jesus Christ about 5 or 6 times but she just didn't believe that we really knew what we believed or she just wasn't listening. She called us stupid as well as babies the whole time in a somewhat broken and very heavy Korean accent. My favorite quote was "Listen baby. When I see Cow, I eat it. Cow is not my god!" We taught, testified, and if they aren't listening then there is not a whole lot you can do. The rest of the day is probably going to have to be a mystery until next week as I have 7 minutes left and I still need to write President Jensen an email.
This week I've improved a lot. My missionary skills have increased and I'm working on talking to everyone. This is a truly great work to which we are called. We've met some wonderful people who we were blessed by the Spirit and prompted to find. It's a great thing to have the Spirit.
LOVE AND MISS YOU!
Elder Matthew Carlson
