GMM'd!

HELLO FAMILY! IT'S OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL!

I am a Georgia Macon Missionary. Unless something crazy happens. But it looks like that is not the case. It's transfers again this week and it looks like Elder K is getting transferred to the Douglas 1st Ward to serve with Elder S. I'm staying in Tifton to serve with Elder S (yep- I know it's confusing). This week was an eventful one so without further ado, I'll get started.

Sunday (16th) there was a very funny event I didn't cover in last weeks letter. After church we were standing in the foyer and I was talking to some members when all the sudden over the PA system I heard a loud voice that sang "I AM A CHILD OF GOD! AND HE! HAS SENT ME HERE!" I was somewhat confused so I walked into chapel where I found a 4 year old girl playing with and singing into the microphone while her sister went to town on the piano. I had a good laugh and walked out of the chapel and listened to the rest of the song. "HAS GIVEN... HOME! PARENTS KIND DEAR! no. NO! NOOOO!!!.... AHHHHHhhhhhhh!!!...." as her dad went in and grabbed her from the chapel. It was just funny. We also had dinner at the N's that day and had more food that I would care to admit. I'll give you a quick run down of the menu. Ham, rice and cheese, black eye peas (they're actually beans), ham, squash casserole, brussels sprout casserole, boiled okra, creamed corn, sweet potato casserole (it's not actually a casserole but I can't figure out what else to call it), potato salad, tomato okra soup, injected turkey, coconut pudding and a few other things. You can see the picture below. I managed to walk away but I was very full. But otherwise, it was a good day. Church was good. They had a breakfast for all the dad's in the wards to which we were invited. They also gave everyone ceramic tiles with sayings on them and I picked one that I thought it would be fitting [Matthew sent the tile to his Dad. The tile reads, "A father is someone you can look up to no matter how tall you grow"]. The food was great! French toast sticks, fruit, and the best sausage I've ever had. It was called Georgia's best and I decided when I come back to tour the mission, I'm getting some.

Monday (17th) was interesting. I was in a rush with my email (thankfully today isn't so rushed) and I wrote President Jensen's email in about 20 seconds (we have to email him every week). It wasn't long or profound but it worked. I got some new contact solution as it was on sale at Walgreen's and we were in there to pick up a prescription for Elder K. So I should be good on solution for probably the rest of my mission. I also experimented with and tested my tie washing machine. I used an old hot chocolate can and washed it out really good. I filled it with detergent and warm water. After placing the tie in it, I shook it. A few minutes after shaking it, I went through a few rinse cycles and I hung them up to dry. They turned out quite well and some of the ties (particularly the ones I came out with and wear frequently were a little dingy so they look really good now). We had dinner with the F's which was quite interesting. We had some guests show up half way through and we talked to them for a little bit (they were friends with Sister F's son) and we encouraged them to come to church. I also received a very nice package from Elder T up in Canada which included among other things a fantastic book called Brother Lurch From The Church. It's based on a well known novel by Dr. Seuss and has a great moral in it. I sent it home for protection as well as Carlson family enjoyment. It's a great read though.

Tuesday (18th) we had district meeting in Moultrie which is about 45 minutes away from Tifton. We had to leave around 9:00 to be there by 10. It was a good meeting and Elder H (the district leader) did a great job. It mostly revolved around having better studies. We had to do a role play about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in 150 words or less which was actually harder to count the words than it was to do. We stopped in Omega on the way back up since we don't get to go there often and we were going to go through Omega anyway. It's a very small town (a one gas station and no traffic lights kind of town). Sadly most people weren't home so we walked around a lot. We came back and had lunch during which we prepared for our next lesson (we needed it). We came back to the P's as they had invited us back and they invited us in. We talked for a few moments about life and talked about how Mr P became a youth pastor. Elder K asked if we could say a prayer before we began discussing our message. He looked at us "I mean you can but I don't think we'd even been praying to the same God." That's when the flags went up. Luckily, we kept our cool and answered all the questions in a non confrontational way. It was pretty intense at some points. Everything from the pre-mortal world to the Trinity. There were a few anti-Mormon questions thrown in but Elder K did a great job of answering them. I was blessed to remember where several scriptures that really helped us out were- particularly some less well know ones (thank you James E Talmage and Jesus The Christ). It was a good visit and we were relatively proud walking away that we had peacefully held our own in the face of adversity. We'll see how things turn out. We walked home to be picked up by the Sisters to go to dinner when the M's called and said, "We're 6 miles away. Where is your apartment?". We were super confused (at least I was as I have the phone most of the time). The M's are the office couple in Tallahassee and they don't usually travel. After some confusion, we guided them to our apartment as their GPS was out of date and didn't have our street on it. They dropped off some bikes for Elder K and I as well as some supplies (Elder K's bike was declared totaled in a sense. The threads on his fork connecting to his handle bars are basically gone and they are slowly attempting to separate. Elder B- the mission's bike guy- declared it to be more expensive to fix than the bike was worth). Elder M dropped off the bike and Elder K asked, "So, what do I owe you?" Elder M (ever the jokester) looked at him and asked, "What are you willing to pay?" "Well to quote you- I'll pay you with my good looks." Elder M laughed and said, "GOOD LOOKS? You're bankrupt buddy!" It was really funny. Elder M is just really goofy. After we squared away supplies and bikes, we went to dinner. They weren't there so we came back and had dinner at the apartment (a frozen casserole the Young Women had made for us).

I'm really hurrying here so it's going to get generic- sorry =(

Wednesday (19th) we had an intense companionship inventory- it was really good and we resolved many things that had been coming up. We had a good day in Ashburn with Brother T. We had Zaxby's for dinner (someone brought it) while waiting for coordination meeting. It turned out nobody come so we ate dinner and went back out to work.

Thursday (20th) was tiring. We dug up a traffic cone during morning exercise that we had been working on for a few days now (someone buried most of traffic cone and it was just poking out so we pulled it out). We set it on the Sisters front door to leave it as a present for them (they did mention that they wanted it though so it's all good). We had a long weekly planning session but we worked out some good stuff. I got mail also from all the 701, 201, and 101 addresses and it was nice to read them [We had originally been given a couple of different but incorrect addresses for Matthew's apartment in Tifton before we got it right]. We had splits with Brother D and we visited some great people. We were a little late as we found someone really cool named S. We'll see what happens. Sister W dropped off some Japanese food (notice all the food drop offs) which was amazing! I love it so much. We had a quick dinner and got some family history training online which was good.

Friday (21st) we drove to Walmart to get a pump. Elder K's new bike uses presta not schreader valves and we didn't have the required adapter. So we got a new pump and Elder K pumped up his tires and got ready to go to Slyvester. We did a bit of tracting and I talked to one guy but it was really awkward- he just tried to not look at me and didn't say anything. We made the drive and had a great day in Slyvester! Every door that opened up invited us back and we talked to many people who were really nice. There's a lot of work to be done there but it's sad because it's far away. We had a very long potential list we didn't even really make a dent in so we had plenty to do. We dropped off the Sisters, parked in the middle of town, biked to our apartment to eat some dinner of PB&J, (3 miles) biked back and went to Raul (5 miles) and he asked us to come back Tuesday. We biked back to the car (1 mile) and drove home (driving was nice). I was feeling a bit down and a little lonely (Elder K and I were still working things out). I learned that the Lord is always my friend and that knowledge is a priceless gift I now have to help me out in the hard times.

Saturday (22nd) we went to Fitzgerald and it was a good day. Elder K decided for lunch we would put hot dogs on the car engine to cook them. We arrived and I ate 3 out of the 4 foil wrapped hot dog packages with four hot dogs each. Sister S said she could eat 3 or 4 hot dogs when Elder K asked her how many she could eat on Monday. She was very confused and said "I said that? I said I could eat 3?" It was funny. The four packages of hot dogs had slipped into the engine and Elder K and I tried to fish them out (there's a picture coming- Elder K with a stick and me holding Elder K's tie). We ended up pushing them farther into the engine and we later fished them out on Monday (see the second and third picture below). We rode and visited many people. My bottom hurt pretty bad from having a new seat I wasn't used to all yesterday but I endured. We visited M who wasn't really interested anymore as she just can't see Joseph Smith as a prophet because he's not in the Bible. We talked and explained which helped out immensely. When we arrived she asked us not to come back and when we left she said when we came back she would have more questions. Every time we visit she gets a little softer. She's a good lady and I'm hopeful for her. =) We did encounter some difficulties in Fitz, one of them being Sister D's bike pedal fell off. We went to a rougher part of town and made sure to lock up our bikes. We were walking down the street and probably a four year old called out "Those your bikes? I'm going to steal your bikes!" I replied, "You'll have to try pretty hard- we locked them up good!" It was funny. =) I did almost get hit by a drunk driver though. Twice. By the same one. Luckily they swerved to the other side of the street. We had dinner at the F's which was good! We had a good time. It was taco salad with really spicy guacamole. I didn't figure out that the guacamole was the spicy part so I kept putting more on to try and cool it down. It was really good though. Elder K was pretty worn out- I've been running him into the ground.

Sunday(23rd) was good. We had a good day at church and many important things happened. I'll get to it next week.

I know I'm behind. I'll get to it next week. Elder S and I are getting along well! Things are good! I hope and wish you all the best!

LOVE YOU!

Elder Matthew Carlson

GAMBATE!

Keep up trying is Gambate in Japanese. The T family (they're super cool) recently gave us all little guys that stay up to remember that we just need to keep up keeping up. They recently got back from their mission in Japan and are just a really nice family. They remind me a lot of Grandma and Grandpa Carlson.

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

Be Happy- Love Life

"I asked God to give me all things that I might enjoy life. He gave me life that I might enjoy all things."

HELLO TO Y'ALL YANKEE'S UP DAR IN YONDER NORTH?!

I reckon, it has been one crazy week. Elder K and I, we be sweating so hard cause the sun be beaten down on us. But we don't mind cause we got the Lord at our back and the wind in our face.

I don't have much time left at all (about 10 minutes) so I'll have to cover the big highlights.

MONDAY: was a busy day. We were running most of the day as we had a move in the morning which mostly consisted of me putting stuff on the truck, Elder K stacking and tying all sorts of knots to hold things in place, and the Sisters moving cinder blocks and old tires around. We showered then emailed at the Family History Center as it was Memorial Day. We had a lesson with a member's son (Brother J) who is not a member. Brother J is awesome and recently came back to church a year ago and turned his life around. His son likes the church and wants to be baptized but just isn't quite committed yet. We set some goals and talked about the Book of Mormon mostly. It was an interesting lesson as Elder K and I were not quite in sync (we're still working on our companionship unity). We shopped and organized our still very messy and scattered apartment. We haven't had any time to actually set things up since we moved. I worked on a project for a missionary friend which started to look really good- I've been working on it for a long time and I'll send some pictures home when it's done (I don't want to spoil it just in case they're reading this). We washed the car by hand. We didn't have a hose so we filled up a few buckets of water and carted them down the stairs. We'd add soap and then just dump a bucket on top. We waxed afterwards and it looked pretty good. The Sisters cleaned up the interior and wiped everything down so it's really nice. It does need a good vacuum as neither of us had an extension cord. We were both pretty tired.

TUESDAY: We had zone training in Douglas. It was about obedience and was quite good. It was really weird being back there again as I kind of never really expected to come back. It was good to see Elder Y and Elder D again. Elder H was also there which was nice. He's still his tall, really strong, smiling self. We spent most of the rest of the day cleaning out the old apartment as I really wanted it clean. It took many hours as Elders had been living there for a long time. My guess was about a decade. The landlady said she has been renting to Elders for about 8 years now (she's really nice). We celebrated with banana pudding milkshakes from Zaxby's. They were quite good and you just can't get more southern than that. We moved the last bit of odd stuff and all the cleaning supplies and locked up. We were both pretty beat after that. That day I had a lot of time to think.

Out of time. It was a good week. We had some good lessons and some good days. I saw miracles and was given words to say as I needed them from the Holy Ghost. I was particularly helped by my fast as I fasted to be a better companion and become more celestial. My desire to be nicer to Elder K as well as my desire to be obedient has increased. Every week I'm learning so much!

The mission is awesome. As to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise him name forever. (Alma 26:12)

MOSES 6:31-34 - The Lord is with those who are with Him.

Matthew 11:30 - Think of light as a noun- think Spiritual light.

I love and miss you all!

Elder Matthew Carlson

Expect the Miracle

Hello everybody!

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.

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

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Well, this Wednesday is the big day. Transfers. It is a HUGE transfer. They're going to have 2 vans, a truck, 2 trailers, and about 10 cars. 48 missionaries are leaving Tallahassee and at least 28 will transfer from each spot.

I knew I was getting transferred since Friday but I didn't know where. It turns out I am headed to Tifton, GA. I didn't see that one coming at all. That means I'm probably going to be part of the new Georgia Macon Mission. I don't know how I feel about that. I guess I'm mostly in shock right now.

Anyway, this week was an interesting one. After emailing on Monday, we went to a Mexican restaurant with Sister P. It was alright but I was kind of disappointed. The food was alright. It was fun to eat with Sister P. We even stopped by at One Scoop or Two which is a really nice ice cream place for ice cream. The ice cream man there is really nice and Sister P even invited him to church. We had dinner at the R's which was fun. We had chicken and rice with tomato gravy. It was pretty good and we had a good lesson about faith afterwards. We really encouraged the four boys to serve missions.

Tuesday was district meeting. It was pretty good and I enjoyed it. It didn't go as good as last week but it turned out good. We did role plays of different finding situation at the end and I was the investigator. We had a rough day after that. Everything kind of fell through and I don't remember a whole lot of what happened that day.

On Wednesday we were going to go over and see C but she called and cancelled as she had a good family friend staying with her and she just had too much to do between taking care of her business and taking care of her friend. So we volunteered at the thrift store instead. We saw some people there and said hello and gathered many hangers. We visited G but she had pulled her shoulder and was hurting pretty bad. It was in a sling and everything. We talked a bit about how every time we try and come over it seems like something comes up. We had lunch and then tried a former investigator. We walked around and talked to a few people including a very nice but very old lady. She was pretty excited for us to come see her. We decided to go to Burger King for a drink (it was very hot and their water is really cold) and we just happened to bump into the former investigator. We talked to him and he seemed open for us to visit- he was just hard to catch. We visited a few other people and talked to them. We had a missionary coordination meeting with the new branch mission leader, Brother L. He's a really nice guy but he's pretty intense. He looked over our progress report and made these comment (I'm paraphrasing here) "we need more people. Y'all didn't come on your missions for this. Y'all are not super home teachers. You need to be able to think about these people and see where they are going, otherwise rethink why you're meeting with them". It was a wake up call for me to refocus my time and efforts and try harder to be better.

Thursday was largely taken up by Weekly Planning and other things. We mowed Sister B's lawn which was nice. I thought a lot about district meeting and I received some good ideas. It should be a good one. After a nice shower and lunch it was time for weekly planning. We talked a good bit about our companionship unity which has been suffering as of late. We talked about some good issues and resolved some things. We visited Brother W as he wasn't feeling good and was sick. We've been trying to work with his grandsons C and B. They're very hyper but they love church and Primary. They're not members but they come with their Grandpa since he started coming back to church. Their dog recently (about 3 or 4 weeks ago) had puppies and they really wanted to show us so out came B with all 4 puppies in a wheelbarrow.

It was pretty funny to watch the puppies bouncing up and down peeking over the sides as B wheeled them over. We tried some people with Brother B but no luck. We had a great dinner appointment with the D's. It was the first time I had been out there as it was 30 miles from our apartment. On the way, the B's stopped and we got pictures of the flowers (they do that frequently).

The dinner was quite good- pork steaks with rice. They also had this amazing dessert that was whipped cream, chocolate pudding, and chocolate cake with little bits of toffee on top. I enjoyed it. We also had a great lesson with their grandson and we talked about serving a mission and the faith that it required. It was good.

Friday we did service at C's. We pulled up the new vines that were growing and we cleaned up. She was really busy so we didn't really get to talk much. Elder F called Sister Jensen asking her if he needed to move his doctor's appointment on Wednesday (transfer day) and that was when we learned I would be transferred. I was rather sad actually- I really like Madison and the people we are working with are making progress and I kind of want to be there for that. Ah well. =( But anyway- after lunch we set out again. We saw J C and we also had a nice chat with the S's- a very nice retired couple. They had talked to missionaries in the past but are very involved in their Methodist church. We went with G and made candy at the Methodist church and talked to some people there. They were quite friendly and I had a pretty good time except when I burned myself. It wasn't bad though. The finished product was quite delicious.

We had a great lesson with R and R. They are really excited about getting baptized and have cut their smoking in half! We went over the baptismal interview questions and they agreed to everything and wanted it written up for them so they can put it on their fridge and think about it everyday. It was a fun night. They really enjoyed the dinner at the R's last week. R said "It was like we were huggin." They really felt something special which we explain was the Spirit and told them how we want that same feeling to be in their home.

Saturday it rained quite a bit in the afternoon. We got soaked pretty good riding home to get the car. We visited a few people who weren't home, busy, or had moved. We did have a good visit with Ms. M. She's been really busy or tired whenever we come over and we finally caught her working in the yard. We were able to talk to her and really emphasize the importance of the message that we share- she agreed to let us come back and share it and we made sure we had a specific time that we could come back that she would be there.

Sunday was mother's day. Church was quite good- I even got to bear my testimony as I had told J that I was leaving and he told President R. Sister B gave a great and quite funny talk about how important moms are. We went to temple prep class as none of our investigators came to church (R and R had to go pick up her sister). After lunch and dropping off some flowers for those who weren't able to make it to church, it was Skyping time! Elder F did FaceTime to home and I talked with the R's. L asked me to draw her a picture so I did. This is what came out:

Someone mentioned friendship turtles and I thought it might look like a good picture so I drew it. Anyway- we went with J and had a great lesson with the K's (Sister B's nephew). I originally tracted into them the day we went to his brother's funeral. They both work a lot so it's hard to catch them but we taught about how God is our Loving Heavenly Father and about the Spirit World. It was a bit all over the place but it was still good. They would go on tangents but Elder F did a good job of knocking it back on track. We asked if we could come back and explain more about where the Book of Mormon came from as they had questions. Then it was time to Skype home which was very funny and I hope all the family enjoyed it. I ate dinner with the R's which was pretty good if rather late and said my goodbyes. I'm really going to miss them.

But anyway- we came home and Elder F met a very nice but very sad dog. It was obviously well trained as it was very nice and would listen when you told it to sit or stay. It also looked very abandoned as it was very skinny. Elder F petted it which it really enjoyed and it started to follow him around. It would whine and cry a lot since I'm guessing it was really hungry. I didn't really want a whole lot to do with it but Elder F has a soft spot for dogs. He gave it water and chicken noodle soup (it was all we had and he wouldn't eat the pork and beans). We finally went inside and planned. The dog chilled on the doorstep and cried some more for a bit but he was gone this morning. He was a pretty nice dog. No collar though.

Well that's our week. Interesting as always. I want to leave with one last observation that Elder F made. We ran into a man who was passing through Madison on his way to Texas. He didn't have any money and needed a place to stay and was wondering if he could stay in the church for one night. So we called President R and he talked to the man. He was from Mexico and President R served his mission in Columbia so they started talking in Spanish so I only understood a little bit of what he was saying. The conversation ended with the man saying "You can't help me?" and he handed the phone back to Elder F. He turned away with a very unhappy expression and stormed off. We talked to President R who had offered him a ride to Tallahassee that night, a spot in the homeless shelter, and a few other things; but the man didn't want anyone to know he was here. We felt pretty bad about not being able to help him when Elder F made the comment: "I think that's how it's going to be at the Judgement. Christ is going to say I can do this and this for you and I can do this if you do this so you can get that. We are going to be the ones who turn him down and walked away because we're unwilling to take the blessings as we are unwilling to take the requirements of those blessings."

This work is real. It is also very hard. But I'm learning to love hard.

I love and miss you all!

Elder Matthew Carlson

Rainy, Rainy

Well- it's been a rainy, rainy week here in Madison and I don't have much time to describe the week (unfortunately) as I have a lot of things to say. But it's been a pretty good week. I'll try and just cover the highlights.

Dinner with the R's was on Monday (not President R but his brother). It was quite good and a pleasant evening.

Tuesday we had a wonderful district meeting. I was very grateful that the Spirit was there in such abundance. I had prepared and thought quite a bit about what to say. It didn't go exactly according to plan but it was still good. I really tried to encourage and motivate the Elders in the district to a higher level of commitment and hope. There are great Elders in the district and we all had a rather discouraging week last week and I just wanted to let them know how much I love them, the Lord loved them, and how important this work is. The Zone Leaders were there and they had a few comments about planning. Elder R (one of the Zone Leaders) and I went on a trade-off afterwards and we had a pretty good day. I said goodbye to Elder F as he headed off to Tallahassee for the day and Elder R and I rode back to Madison with the B's. We had two stops on the way. The first one Elder B just pulled over and told Elder R to get out of the car. He looked at me in some confusion and I explained this was normal. We all got out of the car and walked to a large group of wildflowers (they're called phloxs). They're usually purple and they're actually quite nice looking. Elder B took a picture. We then stopped to get something to eat at a old gas station that had been turned into a food stop. I was a bit suspicious at first walking in but they made a solid chicken club. It was actually quite good. We arrived back in Madison and hopped on the bikes and we didn't really stop until that night. We rode long and hard and talked to many people. We both sweated a lot. It was a warm and sunny day and the gnats were out (I really don't like gnats) but we still had a good time.

Wednesday we traded back and had a great lesson with C. We had planned to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ but ended up talking about how to feel the Spirit. We mowed Sister B's lawn and ran out of gas for the mowers right as we finished. It was kind of relaxing to mow to be honest. It was sprinkling ever so slightly and it felt good. We had our missionary coordination meeting which turned out good.

Thursday we did weekly planning and it was also my 18 month mark. We didn't really do anything too crazy. It rained a lot. We did go to McDonald's where I very much worked the system with the use of coupons. I ate about $5 of food for $1. I know it's nothing fancy or cool and it's only $4 but it felt kinda cool. I think I am beginning to understand what Dad calls "The Hunt". We had an interesting dinner appointment with R and R. They came to President R's house and we had a delicious meal followed up by a lesson. There was an object lesson on faith and we talked about repentance. President R did most of the talking but he did a wonderful job. He really fellowshipped them and helped them know what he was there for. It was a very good lesson and it really culminated in committing them to quit smoking. We gave them blessings to help them have the strength to do it.

Friday we tore down vines around the tennis courts and got rained on. I celebrated the 18th month mark and got a pecan pie milkshake from the ice cream shop downtown. It was a bit spendy but it was great! Probably one of the best shakes I've had. It had a whole slice of delicious pecan pie and lots of really good ice cream in it. Mom and Dad talk about coming and touring the mission with me and we'll defiantly have to stop there when we come through. Maybe even multiple times.

Sunday was great! R and R came to church and I was able to help them follow along in the hymn book. Church was quite good all in all. We finally caught a family we've been trying to catch for a long time. There's a long story full of miracles but needless to say, it was a miracle we caught them (he got home as we pulled up). We mainly answered questions about who we were and what a mission entails as well as explaining we had a message that would bless their lives and we wanted to share it with them. They even made us some pretty good ham sandwiches. Elder F wasn't feeling well and still isn't 100% so we turned in for the night a few minutes early (sinus and fever that sort of thing).

Sorry- out of time. I don't have much time left on the mission either but I'm going to use it the best of my ability! I love and miss you all. This is the Lord's work.

Elder Matthew Carlson

[He didn't include a title this time]

Well- it's been a bit of a rougher week than usual. It's been a slower week as well and a personally difficult week. But hey, it's all to make me stronger, eh?

But anyway- we've had some fun times this week. Monday the big highlight was Pizza Hut with Sister P as it has been every Monday for a while. I ate a lot of pizza. My favorite would be the steak and barbecue sauce one- it's just so good. Then on top of the many slices of pizza, I had many bread and cinnamon sticks. So, I ate a lot. Then we went and played tennis with A and J. We played for a long time and had some pretty good volleys back and forth but we still are all not very talented. We had dinner at their house which, as usual, was really good.

Tuesday I went to Crawfordville with Elder T. We went to district meeting and it went pretty good. I feel that many things were learned and that faith was increased. I hope the district appreciates these meetings- I just don't want them to feel like they're boring or a waste of time. I really want to help them as I have a lot of love and respect for the Elders of my district. I've gotten much better at being a district leader but I still have a long way to go. Planning district meeting has gotten much easier and I feel my delivery has improved as well. Anyway, Crawfordville is a large and very good branch. They also have a lot of good food but I'll get to that later. The Elders there temporarily gave up their car for a transfer as there is a car shortage here in the mission. So all they have is bikes. Their area is also very far away from ours. It's about an hour and a half of driving on the freeway between Madison and Crawfordville. But anyway, I hopped into the car of the member who had brought the Crawfordville elders to the meeting in Perry. The first stop was at Golden Corral. It was pretty good as far as buffets go. The floors were clean and the food was decent. I really liked the desserts though- they were really good. It was my second or third time going to Golden Corral so I wasn't sure how different it would be from the Pensacola one (the Pensacola one was really nice and bigger). I was a little disappointed with their lack of selection though. We got back and after studying for a bit and working out plans for the day to try and throw off the food grogginess, we hopped on the bikes and started biking. I had forgotten to put the bike rack on the B's car that morning to bring my bike as the B's take us to district meeting so I rode Elder A's bike that day. He's about 6" inches shorter than me so his bike was kind of small. It was a Liahona bike from back in the day when the church made bikes. It was actually a pretty nice bike considering what it has been through. Anyway, we biked to many people who weren't home or busy. =( It was kind of disappointing but Elder T didn't let it get to him and we worked hard all that day. I did get to see a giant elephant in someone's yard which was kinda cool.

I'm not quite sure what he's doing with an elephant but it was pretty big. We also got chased by a dog. That was a bit scary but I outran it (I was surprised how quickly I accelerated). We had dinner with a wonderful family who is a part member family. The husband is reading the Book of Mormon and is really nice. He's a teacher who taught math and computers. We had a good chat about a variety of things: computers, telescopes, and most importantly the Book of Mormon. It might take a while but he's on the right track. The food was really good as well. German noodles called spaetzle or something, Swedish meatballs the size of my fist (for the record I have a large fist), and cheesecake brownies (with whipped cream and cherries). We biked out a ways and visited M. The Elders have been working with him. He's a great guy and we invited him to be baptized. He's not sure yet so we talked about reading the Book of Mormon. He made the comment, "Maybe I should read it everyday. Just take an hour every night before bed and read it". I was very impressed. He gave us a ride home which was really nice as it was dark and the apartment was a long ways away. The Crawfordville apartment is really nice and I enjoyed the trade-off. Elder T is a great missionary and works very hard to follow the Spirit. His main focus and desire to serve and help people. Usually on trade-offs I like to ask people about their family and what they like to do to get to know them better. Most of our conversation was focused on missionary topics.

Wednesday we traded back and Elder B came to pick me up in Crawfordville. We had a great lesson with C. She's doing great! We taught her about the restoration and she just understands everything and really just gets it! She's a wonderful lady and really enjoys our visits. We mowed Sister B's lawn which was fun.

We had a few other good lessons particularly with R and R. We also had some disappointments as many things fell through this week. I'm just going to keep going.

I'm out of time but I love you all!

Many people are "happy if..." The Savior's Atonement allows for all our losses to be made up. So therefore, life is even. When we trust in the Savior we are "happy even if...".

I love and miss you.
Elder Matthew Carlson