The Last One

Reading other missionaries last letters home and seeing other missionaries headed home makes you wonder how it will be. What will I say? What will be my final memento and message to friends and family back home as a young, full-time missionary? The moment finally arrives from the far off distant scene that you never thought would come.

The truth is you don't know. It's just crazy to think that this is the last one. We've been working hard and this week has been a very good one and I'm just very happy right now (I received some great news about a family I worked with in Tifton. I'm just super excited).

I'm really enjoying things here in Warner Robins. The ward is friendly and supportive, our district is made up of all great missionaries, and the Spanish Elders are awesome. I honestly can't think of anything that would make it better. Maybe more people to teach but I guess I always want those. =) Things are good. Life is good. Because God is good.

I don't mean to keep you all waiting so I'll get on with the week.

For Monday and preparation day we decided it might be fun to play a board game so we played Bibleopoly. It was a pretty fun game and I enjoyed it. It was like monopoly but instead of trying to get money you were trying to build a church and you got offerings as you passed "in the beginning" (otherwise known as Go)

My birthday was really fun! We ate a lot of food though. It started kind of scary as Sister C called- I wasn't quite sure what she was calling about but it turned out to be just to wish me happy birthday. She is really sweet. She kind of a bit reminds me of Mom. We picked up Elder F and Elder C as we were doing an unorthodox tradeoff that day and went to Firehouse. The original plan was for me to go with Elder F in the 1st Ward area but then Elder C was sick. So the decision was made for Elder C to stay at a member's house to rest while Elder F, Elder P, and I worked in the two areas so we could keep both of our appointments. It was an pretty good day though. We went to Firehouse and really enjoyed a delicious and free sandwich. We had dinner at the R family who made us cake since it was Elder F's birthday as well. It was funny as she had asked what my favorite type of cake was on Sunday and I don't think I have a favorite type- cake is pretty good. When we finished dinner (a very good taco salad- I'll make it for y'all sometime) we said "Elder Carlson I remember what you favorite type of cake was!" I was rather surprised as I didn't remember what my favorite type of cake was so I was a little curious to find out. She said "Texas Sheet cake!" with a flourish. I didn't have the foggiest idea what a Texas sheet cake was. My best guess was a sheet cake cut in the shape of Texas. Elder C raised his hand as she brought out a large and very delicious looking cake and said "Actually Texas sheet cake is my favorite...". Sister R just said "Oh...well..." She is just so sweet and I reassured her and thanked her for her kindness. I just thought it was really funny and how sweet she was. The other fun things about my birthday was D called from Tifton, GA! That really made my day. They're doing well and somehow got my number. =)

Wednesday we had a tradeoff with the Spanish Elders and Elder C came with me. He was very excited to bike and we biked a good bit and had a very fun day. I just enjoy talking to him as he is very smart and well spoken but is very humble about it. He's just a great guy. Imagine Alex Thomson but from California and he sounds like he's from the UK.

Thursday we had a interesting experience teaching someone with almost no religious background. We went to our appointment with a very nice less-active (who's really active now at this point- she's making great progress!) and she had a friend there. We sat down and she said, "Teach him! Explain to him that I'm not crazy!". It was interesting and Elder P was sick and not really thinking straight. Analogies and the restoration movie really helped as there was nothing there for the information to stick to unless we applied it to his life or he could see it visually.

We had a big district meeting on Friday up in Macon. There was some great training- perhaps my favorite was where I was blind folded and given a laser pointer. The two other missionaries guided me through a maze to rooms in the church (there was a church on the board). It was compared to how we need to show people the church through church tours rather than just tell them about it. We had interviews with President Cottle which was nice. It wasn't very long- I suspect he saved a lot of the usual questions for next week. He did tell me to get a haircut (jokingly of course- it grew a lot this week and I was feeling pretty bad about it but decided to wait until p-day, don't worry, I got it cut today). It was a good day.

General conference was amazing! I really enjoyed all of it. =)

Sorry- I'm running out of time.

I apologize I do not have to profound words to offer. All I have to offer is these simple ones:

These past few years have taught me a lot- often by the hard times and sometimes by the good times. It's been an amazing blessing in my life, continues to be, and will be for the rest of my life. It's incredible to me to think but I believe that I know these things are true. The experiences I have had over these 2 years give me other rational explanation. I have seen the cause and the effect of obedience. Obedience will always bring blessings because God loves us. The Holy Ghost has told me this time and time again and I just have to trust in that and the experiences I've had. That is my faith (Hebrews 11:1). Trust in God and it will all work out. I've seen that too many times to doubt.

I love you all and wish you the best.

Elder Matthew Carlson

Dropping the Bomb

Well, I finally did it. We had fast and testimony meeting in church on Sunday and I told everyone that I was almost done. When people asked how long I had been out I generally had been saying that I had been out for a little over a year and a half. I finally told everyone that was a bit of an understatement. I did it in a funny way so it all worked out.

I was reading Michael's letter and I think I finally understand how ya'll have been feeling for the past two years. I read about all the amazing people he has been teaching and his days and I was a little sad when the letter ended. I want more. I want to know who these people are. So now I kind of know how you feel a bit more Mom and Dad. =)

But anyway- this week was a very busy one. We were really blessed this week. We went on a few trade-offs which I really enjoyed. One with 1st Ward and another with the Spanish Elders. Elder P got some really good experience from it. He might not want me to include this but it was rather funny. He was out tracting with the other two Spanish elders while I was doing Spanish things with Elder E. He was looking at a house and admiring the color of the house when the door opened unexpectedly. The man came out and Elder P, caught off guard, said something akin to "Hello sir. I like your colors." It was pretty funny. =)

We've taught many lessons this week. The car makes things pretty easy to just go from house to house and appointment to appointment. We've really been blessed to have our plans work out.

Probably one of the coolest experiences of the week was J coming to church. It was very unexpected and it kind of surprised me really. We had met with him a few weeks ago and he wasn't really interested. We decided to text and invite them to church that morning and we got the response, "will try". Then we came and he was there! It was really amazing. J told us how he had been listening to President Monson talking in the Relief society broadcast from lds.org that morning and he had really felt the Spirit or as he described it, "this feeling came over me" and right then the phone buzzed asking them to come to church. It was really cool. =) I think he enjoyed it but it was kind of hard to tell.

The trade-off with Elder C on Tuesday was pretty fun. I is a member who is preparing to go on his mission to Poland in November so he's pretty willing to come out with us. We had a good time and talked to some nice people. We'll see what comes of it. =)

My day of Spanishness on Wednesday was also fun. Elder E is a great guy that really made the day fun. The funniest things of the day was a long lesson with a very nice guy named Mario. I was looking at the clock which read 1:05 and wondering why I was so hungry. We had just had huevos y peros caliente (eggs and hotdogs- it's better than it sounds) around noon. It was only when we left that I realized it was about 4:00 and the clock in the kitchen was actually stopped. Later in the evening (after dinner) we visited a really nice family (they didn't speak much English but somehow my broken Spanish actually worked pretty good and I was able to remember a good bit). They gave us macaroni and some water. I felt bad but I am glad I accepted it. I forget that in the Hispanic culture, it's really good if you accept what you are given. Then I ate a really really hot pepper. It was hot, and painful. More macaroni and Sunny D helped but as soon as I swallowed, it was hurting again. It was fun though and after an hour or so I was back to normal. Elder E is very funny and I enjoyed my time with him. Just a very humble guy but has a lot of talent and ability (he's a crazy good guitar player and singer).

It's been an awesome week. I'm really happy with everything the Lord has seen fit to give me and I'm just grateful for the opportunities He gives me.

Spiritual thought!

The Savior has asked us to be the salt of the earth. The important component that makes the world nice. We preserve it as the righteous. The important thing for us is to avoid contamination. For if the salt should lose it's saltiness wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing but to be cast under the foot of men. By staying true to the Savior, we can remain pure so that our saltiness can affect the lives of others and make the world a better place.

I apologize I haven't taken more pictures. I do feel kind of bad. =(

I miss y'all but life is good. =)
Elder Matthew Carlson

I wasn't born in the South, but I got here as soon as I could

Well, another week come and gone and it went by very fast.

I don't know if I can cover everything that happened this week but I'll try and cover some highlights.

We were on bikes this week but it was really nice as this week was cooler.

Funniest Moment: It was late Friday night and we had gotten in for planning. We called the D's to confirm the dinner appointment. I searched D on the phone. Richard D came up and he was the only one that said D. I called and talked about dinner. Sister D was excited to hear from us and I explained she had signed up. She paused for a moment and asked "Are you sure it's on the last Sunday of the month?" I looked. No one was signed up for that particular Sunday and told her that she was on Saturday. We talked a little while longer and she was pretty sure it was Sunday but she agreed to have us over and I apologized and offered to reschedule but she said it would be her pleasure to have us over. We looked over our plans and realized that with the way our appointments were and with no ride out there, it would be take a while to get there. We called her back and offered to reschedule. She once again said it was fine and asked if the Sisters would be coming as well. Elder P and I looked at each other and I asked "Sisters?" "Yes, the Sisters in the ward." "We don't have sisters in the ward. We have Spanish Elders". Then she asked, "Y'all are from Cochran Ward right?" We explained we were Warner Robins 2nd ward. We had a good laugh about it and apologized. It was kind of funny really. We called Sister D who said, "Oh good I've been expecting your call. 5 pm will work just fine". We had a great dinner and learned the Brother D was actually Asa's (one of my roommates in college) ROTC drill instructor. Small world eh?

Unusual Experience: The M's invited us over for dinner and they live on base. So we drove to the gate and handed them our id's and parked. Brother M met us there to help us get through and we all had to come into the gate station as they checked out our ID's and made sure we weren't bad or something. Sister M is actually from Thailand so she made some really good Thai steak as well as some lettuce shredded pork thing. There were also glass noodles that was really good (they weren't actually noodles made of glass but I can't remember the name of it).

Fullest Moment: The Spanish Elders have a tradition of going out to eat on weekly planning days. It helps break up studies and planning so it's not 6 hours of sitting and reading. Having seen Stevi B's pizza buffet in Tallahassee and Tifton and wanting to go but not quite making it there, I really wanted to go to the one here in Warner Robins. We ate a lot of pizza. The pesto pizza was pretty good as was the loaded baked potato. The Bavarian cream pizza was pretty good too. =)

Spur of the Moment Moment: We called K Sunday morning around 12:00 to invite him to church. He has just gotten off work and church starts at 1p. He had a lot on his mind but after a long phone conversation, we invited him to church. He agreed and started getting ready. We finished lunch and went to church with the Spanish Elders (all 5 of us in the Corolla- it's a little tight).

District Meeting: It went quite well. It was about finding and we really had some good conversation about finding. The Zone Leaders were there and afterwards Elder W (one of the Zone leaders) came on an exchange just for the day with us. It was pretty fun. He hadn't biked in a while so I felt bad for him. There's some pretty decent hills here and I ride pretty fast and Elder P goes even faster than I do.

Big Thing I've Learned: I read an excellent talk by Elder Bednar about being a Preach my Gospel missionary. It was excellent but the main thing I took away from it was that as missionaries we represent Jesus Christ and I serve Him. Everything we do stems from that one point. I love the white handbook when it says, "You represent the Lord in your proselyting area and are responsible for obtaining His direction in blessing the lives of the people there." (paraphrased).

That's pretty incredible when you think about it.

I do love y'all and I miss you. Take care!

Elder Matthew Carlson

Maher-shal​al-hash-ba​z

Maher-shalal-hash-baz meaning in Hebrew, "To speed to the spoil, he hasteneth the prey".

Hello everyone!

Things have been very good here in Warner Robins. We've been very busy and the days have flown by. It's been crazy.

I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever catch up email-wise. In short, it's been amazing. My testimony has grown much and I feel like I've grown as a person. So it's been wonderful.

To bring you up to speed on Warner Robins and my companion- I'll focus on the basics.

Warner Robins is a military town and has a large air force base that most people work at or for. It's pretty nice but it's different as most people are very western. They're usually very open to talking to us which is nice. The ward is really good and they really support us. There is some great people here. =) I am trying to keep the fact I am leaving soon less known so pretty much the only people that know are the Spanish elders and a less active member named J (cool guy; I'm pretty convinced he can make almost anything).

Elder P is a good guy. He's only 18 as he left on his mission right after high school. It's kind of odd being almost 3 years older than him. Because at the same time we get along just fine and we're partners and equals and it feels that way.

The Spanish Elders are very fun and we work with them quite frequently. We spend much time with them. Sometimes we have dinner with them if we don't have a dinner appointment.

We've had some funny times and it's been a great experience.

We work with a few people but we need to meet with them more as they've been difficult to catch.

Really the top ones are:

K: A very nice young man who really looks on life with a negative outlook. He likes church but he works a lot and he really likes us. We're focusing on teaching him how to find happiness through the Gospel and really reading for himself.

V: is a nice guy who has many, many questions. He is a Jehovah's Witness who likes to look into everything. We're focusing on helping him realize he needs to go to God for his answers and really pray to know instead of going to the internet.

A and D: a nice family but they work a lot and they're hard to catch. We've been working on helping them have a family home evening with one of the ward members.

We've contacted many people and have found many promising potential investigators. So I'll let you know how it goes. We've also really been making some headway with some less active families. Particularly C. She's a very nice lady who joined a few years ago and her husband (who is currently deployed) is not a member. She's been coming back to church with her 3 kids which makes it very difficult for her since she's all by herself. She is really starting to understand the Book of Mormon and we've been explaining and reading it with her. It was really cool to see her get it. =)

Highlights of the week:

Zone Training was pretty cool. We drove to Macon and enjoyed lessons about teaching by the Spirit, goals and actuals, and building relationships with ward members and leaders.

Pictures:

The first one is our apartment

The second one was dinner with the Spanish Elders

1 Timothy 1:5 and Mosiah 2:4

The goal of all the commandments are charity. Obedience really is love in every sense of the word. It's to put our needs or our will aside in favor of someone else's.

LOVE Y'ALL! =)

Elder Matthew Carlson

No time for a title this week

Where to start? I don't even know.

It's been such a crazy busy week and so much has happened. I have 4 minutes and 33 seconds before I get booted off the computer.

My companion and I have been having some fun this week. We have a car every other week and this week was a bike week. So we biked and Warner Robins is pretty hilly.

We've been working with many people and I love it here.

Also- frog bars. What is the recipe for those? I'm think I'll make those and bring them to district meeting for my birthday as it's on a Tuesday.

But I feel as though now I finally understand what it means to sing the song of redeeming love. Throughout this week my consciousness has reverberated with the inspired words of one of my beloved hymns.

The chains are gone,
I've been set free.
My Lord, My Savior has ransomed me.
and like a flood his mercy makes
unending love, amazing grace.

It is my testimony that through Jesus Christ we are truly set free.

Elder Matthew Carlson

Warner Robins!

So- funny story.

Monday was labor day and as a result, most libraries were closed. However, Elder S and I emailed at the family history center. So the zone leaders sent out a text to people telling them if they couldn't email Monday to do it on Wednesday or Tuesday. Elder P (my new companion) didn't email to Monday nor did he have the opportunity to on Tuesday due to transfers. So we're at the library now with the Spanish Elders and it is packed!

Anyway- you're probably extremely curious to see where I am (if you haven't figured it out already by calling the mission office). I am in Warner Robbins 2nd Ward. It's a nice ward and a larger town. It has a large military base and as such, has many military families. My companion is Elder P, he's from Lehi, Utah. He kind of reminds me of Elder W and he's taller than I am. He likes basketball and is pretty cool. Kind of quiet and chill and a little laid back but he's well adjusted to the mission especially considering that he's only been out for 6 weeks. We'll see how things go but I'm excited and determined to make the best of these last few weeks. I'm trying to not tell anyone that I'm going home in 6 weeks- partially because I want it to be a surprise but also because I don't want people not to get to know me because I'm leaving soon. I feel I can make an impact in a short period of time. I just need to have the faith it will happen and do my part.

Tuesday was transfer day and it was much different than I am used to. I'm used to more of the van coming to pick us up and meeting in parking lots throughout the South. This time, everyone drove up to Macon. It was tough to get a ride since we need a way to get my bike up there and most of the ward was unavailable or out of town. President Spikes gave us a ride and Douglas 1st took my bike up there. It was a new experience for only a few as I was 1 of 12 or so companionships that were not transferred last transferred. There was a meeting at 10am for the trainers that was about being a friend and example to new missionaries and really being careful not to pop their balloon so to speak. Then there was lunch (baked potato and salad) and I enjoyed some time with Elder S and Elder W. It was fun. Then the transfer meeting came. I was pretty anxious by this point. He pulled down the screen in the chapel and had a projector with areas and pictures of the missionaries. He would announce and the assistants would advance the slides to make the pictures appear. It was pretty funny as President Cottle has many funny jokes and is just a naturally funny person.

I hope you are all well. =)
Elder Matthew Carlson

The Last Transfer

Well- this is it.

The final transfer.

Looking back, you never really think this day is going to come. But somehow it did. Regardless- I have been working very very hard. Sorry Mom and Dad but probably for the first day or so I might be asleep for a long time.

Anyway- I really don't have much time. We have little time as I am getting transferred. But things are going really good here in Tifton aside from all the packing and cleaning I have to have done by Tuesday morning which I haven't really started on.

The highlight of the week would definitely be last night at the church with the B's. They've been a little nervous about coming to church as they know it's going to be different than what they are used to but they really like us and the things we share. We stopped by the house after biking really, really fast (we saw D and we got talking). We all hopped in his truck and drove to the church. We unlocked the church and D stepped in. He stopped and looked around. All he said was, "Wow." I looked over and saw a tear in his eye. He was just really happy for the rest of the tour. We showed him the church and both he and J really liked it. Bishop stopped by (we had called and set up for him to drop by towards the end). He and D talked for a while about all the people they knew in Tifton but then he got into the good stuff. He asked how Elder S and I were doing teaching the Gospel. D replied that, "These guys are great. We love learning and every time they come over you can just feel the Holy Spirit." Bishop asked what he thought about the gospel. "I've been to a lot of different churches. But it makes sense- there is authority that is needed that was lost and it came back through Joseph Smith." I felt like I was on The District or something. It was amazing! Then J said, "I've got something to say! I went to a lot of churches and I really liked it there but I kind of felt like something was missing. But then these guys came and I feel in my heart this is it." It was just an awesome experience, I really do love them.

We called Bishop later when we got home and he is really excited and hopeful for them. He made the comment, "I think Jaycee would join tonight if it was a matter of asking." Keep in mind he has a thick thick southern accent.

Fun southern fact of the week: they actually call people from the north yankees.

Thank you! LOVE YOU! and I miss you all!

Elder Matthew Carlson

D, J, and Matthew