A Mobile Elder

As you may have guessed I am now in Mobile, Alabama. Crazy huh? It is definitely really weird to be coming here from a small town of 2000 people to a town of who knows how many? It's really big. Most of the roads are three to four lanes and there's traffic like none other. I've learned that I don't like traffic. :(

I don't have much time since we have to be leaving soon, but I'll write what I can.

The day before I left Alma, I took some pictures with all the peoples, some of them including S and Brother D. S in an investigator who Elder F and I taught who is getting baptized on the 26th (see the first picture). Brother D is a very nice member who we visited and answered his questions. He gave us a lot of food which was nice (see the second picture). Then I got on the transfer van at 5 in the morning and I left Georgia.

But it was a long ride on the transfer vans. I say vans as I drove about 6 hours to Pensacola, then got on the other transfer van to get to Mobile since the one I was on didn't go all the way to Mobile. I arrived in Mobile and we went and visited some people since we had stuff to do. Elder O, my new companion, is awesome. He reminds me a lot of one of my roommates in college. Except my roommate played guitar and Elder O plays ukulele. He's really funny and is a good missionary. He's pretty silly and it's fun. We have some good laughs.

Mobile the city is very interesting. It's a big city and it's very nice. I enjoy tracting much more than I did in Alma or Tallahassee. People are very willing to at least listen to our message. Accept it is another story but they'll listen. We're really working on building this area up as it has really been struggling and we visit a lot of less actives and part member families.

But you know what is really crazy? Mardi Gras. It was p-day and some members offered to take us downtown. We asked president and he said go for it so we did. When we got there, I knew things were going to be crazy. There were lights strung up in sort of ceiling (see the third picture). After a half an hour of waiting, Mardi Gras happened. There were dozens of floats, several bands, lots of drinking and smoking, and hundreds of people in costumes throwing beads and moon pies at my face (see the fourth picture). Why? I don't know. Did I want them? Yes. By the end of Mardi Gras, Elder O, Elder N, Elder W, and I were all jumping up and down, shouting for them to throw various things at us. All in good fun of course. I received many moon pies, about 3 or 4 pounds of beads and lots of candy. Elder O and I felt pretty cool with our multitude of beads (see the fifth picture). We had a good time though.

We had a mission conference yesterday on Tuesday and a member of the Seventy came and talked to us. It was a good conference and we were really tired when we arrived back in Mobile.

But now I must close.

I love and miss you all,
Elder Matthew Carlson

Prepare the Matter Transferance Beam!

I just learned a few moments ago that I'm headed to Mobile, Alabama. I don't like it. I had just gotten used to life in Alma and I really do love the people here. I'm going to miss them so much and I don't really have pictures with most of them :(. I really am going to miss Alma. But what the Lord wants, the Lord gets.

This week has been truly awesome. I have truly seen some great things. Elder F and I are really making some good progress and seeing some of the fruits of our labors. Like I promised, I will be writing a long letter this week if I have time. As soon as I finish writing this letter, I have to pack like mad. We have to leave early Wednesday morning for Alabama and I have to wash everything, clean, pack, write letters, and say goodbyes. It's funny. All this time, I've been thinking that it's Elder F that will be leaving, but no. It's me.

Anyway. We were at a Thrift Store the other day and we were talking to the lady and she mentioned that the thrift store needed help (it's a non-profit organization run by another church). We offered our help and she told us to go to the new location and talk to Pastor Jimmy so we did and we offered our services. He accepted and we set up a time to come back. Then he told us "For blessing us, we'll bless y'all". We must have looked at him a little confused since he then explained, "I hear y'all like ties." We nodded our heads and he then said "Well, I can hook you up." So we now have free ties for life. Pretty cool huh?

We later went back and we helped. We moved lumber and various other materials. I cleaned the carpets with a rug-doctor that was made for people about 4 feet tall and Elder F scrapped goo off the floor. I set the little bar that you drag the rug-doctor around with at the highest it would go but I was still stooped over. By the time we finished 3 hours later, both Elder F and I's backs were pretty unhappy. Elder F's especially.

We have been working with a man named S. S is a really nice guy. His wife is an inactive member and he's a very religious man. He was catholic but he got kicked out for asking too many questions and then went to other churches. He became a little bitter towards organized religion. As he described it, "It's all just pomp and dogma. You go to church, come inside, sit down, stand up, sing a song, sit down, stand up, kneel, eat the Jesus cookie and then go home." I think that cookie bit is funny for some reason. He's a really awesome guy who always loves talking to us and we often get off on tangents. We went over to his house for a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and walked away talking about Amish people and beards. Don't ask. But we were serving over at A's house and getting the shed ready to burn. S came and helped out and we got to talk to him. He had been really reading the Book of Mormon and was all the way in Alma (he had almost finished it before) and we were talking about temples and he was really talking like he was considering joining the Church. Then we asked him, since we had already talked about this and felt it was the right thing to do, to pray and ask if this was His church. We noticed that when he said he was going to do something, he did it. No matter what. He committed to come to church and he came even though he was sick. He went home after Sacrament meeting even though he wanted to stay. It was for his own good. He said he would pray about it and then we met with him the next day. We spent over 4 hours talking with S that day. Let me explain why.

After sacrament meeting S took us aside in a little corner of a hallway. He then told us what happened. He had prayed about whether to join the church or not. He then got frustrated that no answer was coming. He said he actually got mad. He flopped down on the couch and then picked up his Book of Mormon. He read the whole book of Helaman. He said the story of Samuel the Lamanite really caught his interest. He was a combat medic and he really identified with Samuel. "Okay. Stand on the wall. They're going to shoot at you but they're going to miss. Go get 'em." He then read Helaman again. He payed attention to the footnotes and referenced with the bible. He then looked straight at us and said, "I know it's true. I feel like an idiot. I've seen dozens of missionaries and always invited them in. But I never really opened my heart. Now I know. I found it. I found it. Joseph Smith was called of God to set up His church, HIS way." It was such a happy moment. Elder F said S is one of the most solid investigators that he has ever seen and he had some investigators that would go out tracting with him. We talked with S about temples and eternal marriage and about joining the Church. We talked about baptism and set a date. Since we were at the church and we have a key we even showed him the "Jesus Tub" (baptismal font) as he called it. We then went off and planned and saw some other people. We came back and watched the Restoration movie with him. Not the 20 minute one that we usually watch but the hour long one. He has a ways to go and some things to give up but he's willing and ready. I'm just so STINKING HAPPY FOR HIM!!!!!!! It's really awesome. I don't want to leave S.

This has been a good three months and I'll miss everyone here. I'll see them again someday though.

Picture time!

The picture of Elder F and I in awful suits is simple. We got awful suits and wore them to district meeting. It was really funny and we got some good laughs. Mine is 100% wool and literally feels and looks like carpet.

The picture of the interesting mash in the pan is the result of Elder F. He grabbed cans and then combined them. It's corned beef hash, baked beans, and corn. It was going to just be the hash but then I made baked beans and corn. He stole my things and dumped them in his pan. "What'd you do that for?" I asked. "Well, it's all going in the same place ain't it?" I had to admit that he had a good point. It was okay. Strange. But okay.

There is a picture of me washing dishes with my apron. I like that apron.

The last picture is of a little sniper tower. It's S's and I got sit up in it. I was good 12 or 13 feet in the air. It's for hunting animals but all I had was a camera so I took pictures instead. I did have some good shots though. It was really cool.

I do love and miss you all. Have fun in Minnesota!

Love,
Elder Carlson (aka Matthew)