There's a transfer van with my name on it

Hey there!

To get things out the way, today is indeed transfers. I am also being transferred. Hence, the transfer van has my name on it. I'm headed to Pensacola which is pretty close by and my new companion will be Elder G. That's all I know. Once I get there, I'll get my address to you somehow. I'm excited and sad to leave Mobile. I was just starting to really like it here. Funny how that always happens. Just as I'm starting to like it somewhere, I get moved. Elder O's new companion is going to be Elder H. Elder F is coming here to Theodore (it's the town below Mobile). People are being moved all over the place this transfer! They're white-washing (which is just moving both elders out of an area) many areas and the transfer list is huge!

This week was really good! We did lots of service and helped many people out. We had some fantastic lessons (one in particular stands out but I'll get to that). We raked leaves for a member and did a really good job. Elder O and I decided that we were going to do a great job. We were at it for about 3 hours straight and it showed. We raked and swept his driveway and it looked nice. He was so happy that he fed us lunch. It was deer steak burgers (I've been eating many different things recently) which were actually pretty good. They were a bit chewy but other than that you couldn't really tell the difference.

The lesson in particular I was talking about was with K and C. K is the girlfriend of C who is a member in Semmes. They've been dating for three years and have talked about the church (he's a returned missionary) and she's not as sure about her Catholic faith anymore so she's meeting with us. We invited her to read and pray and Elder O did a fantastic job. I did an alright job and said what I needed to say, but K needed what Elder O had to say. It was a very spiritual lesson particularly when we got to the First Vision. K even started to cry and she couldn't explain why. We were in the Relief Society room so I thought there would be some tissues in there somewhere but luckily C found some Angel Soft so she used that. It was a good lesson.

I had hush puppies and fried catfish the other day. It was pretty good. My favorite part of the dinner was the homemade sweet potato french fries. Man they were good.

But I'm leaving Mobile. I knew that Elder O and I wouldn't be together but I didn't know if I was leaving or he was. Turns out I'm the one to leave. I'm really going to miss many of the people here in Mobile, particularly people like J, A, A, E, K, and C. I'll see them again someday but it's still rough to leave. I feel that I have left Mobile better than I found it and have went about doing good in my time here so I'm happy. I don't know what's ahead but I know whatever the Lord asks of me I can do (with his help of course).

As promised, I have included some pictures from the USS Alabama. Our tour began with some big guns (see picture #1). If you squint and zoom in you can just see Elder O and I posing. We explored the barracks and slept in some fun beds (see picture #2). Clockwise from the top right it's Elder W, me, Elder O, and Elder N. We saw some of the bullets that the 16" guns fired and man they were huge! Keep in mind this is the actual bullet they fired (see picture #3). The actual explody bit was something else. We concluded our tour with the A-12 Blackbird (see picture #4). It's cool because the fenced off area around the plane is technically a part of Area 51 because the plane is there. You'll get to see the dozens of other pictures when I send the card home.

These past weeks I've been noticing in my studies the enabling power of the Atonement. It's really the power that enables us to do things that we ourselves aren't capable of ourselves. It helps us to change, it strengthens us, and empowers us to rise above and beyond our natural capabilities. That is why the Lord is more interested in our availability than our capabilities. The Lord will shape our backs to the burden placed upon us. I have felt this power many times in the past months. Sometimes we pull up to a house and I'm so tired I don't think I can move my arms but after a quick prayer, I get up. Getting up is hard. It requires willpower and motivation. Once I get up though, I have energy, much less tired and ready to keep on working because of the blessing of the enabling power.

I love three things when it comes down to it. God, my family, and Wheat Thins.

=)

All the loves,
Elder Matthew Carlson

Picture #1

Picture #2

Picture #3

Picture #4

The Sticker Letter

Matthew sent us a handwritten note with stickers on it. He used stickers of a cat, a UFO, a snail, a hot rod car with flames on the side, a hammer, and a flower. Michael had sent Matthew a letter with some math problems on it so that Matthew can keep his calculus skills sharp. Matthew included his answers to the problems on a pink sticky note that was in with the letter. They taught 27 discussion this month!!!

Familia!

How's it going? I've very much appreciated the letters, cards, vitamins [we sent him some vitamins], cookies, and love. Did you get my package? Was it safe and was anything broken? I hope not. [The package was safe and wonderful - it was like Christmas morning again for us. The letter in the package was posted earlier]

But yeah. Today has been a good p-day. We got gas, cleaned the house, shined our shoes, started laundry (not done yet), washed cat paw prints off the car, and did our shopping. It was a busy day. About the cat paw prints, we had parked the car and contacted people in the area so we were on foot. When we got back to the car, there were about 5 or 6 cats all over the car! Elder F, the diplomat that he is, walked up and shouted "Rawr!" in a big voice. The cats all jumped off and hid. We drove home with paw prints.

But yeah. This week's been a long one. Busy too. Friday in particular. I'll probably have emailed you [previous post] by the time you get this letter. So I'll email you about it.

I don't really have any stories this week. We really just worked a ton this week. We gave out 10 or so copies of the Book of Mormon which was a record and taught 27 lessons! We usually get 12 or 14. So we kicked butt this week.

This week we found a lot of new investigators and lost some old ones. The lady with the baptismal date isn't doing so good. She wasn't progressing and she was going to another church. But we found two new people. A man named D C came up to us and told us he had just moved from another town. He had almost gotten baptized. We also found a R G. He's an 18 year old kid who has a baptism date of February 19th! We found him this week. I'm excited.

I can't believe I've already been out 2.5 months. It feels like not that long ago that I left but it also seems like an eternity.

One thing I'm excited about is we are going to help out an older lady named A. She's not a member but she's a member's aunt. So we're going to serve her. I think she has a barn and chicken coop that Elder F and I are going to tear down. Exciting stuff!

But yeah. Life is good. We got weather stripping and sealed our front door. It's going to be a lot warmer in here at night. Last night was pretty warm. I wore a sweater. The nice blue one you sent me even.

I do enjoy preaching and preaching the Gospel.

I found a really awesome tie the other day! It was just a really old, really colorful polyester. Kind of Jerry Garcia like but it looked like it was from the '80's. I've definitely seen some pretty crazy ties that missionaries have. They save them for Sunday or zone conferences.

But, I close.

With all my love,

Elder Carlson (or Matthew)