It's Gonna Take Work

Hey family!

How's it going? Good? Good.

This week was a good one for me. It was hard but it was good. We didn't have very good numbers due to a few different factors but we did good work. We met some new people and really worked hard when we could. Elder O might have bronchitis =(. He's on medication and he's been getting better. We've also been walking a lot lately and that hasn't done him any favors.

I've appreciated all the letters this week. I do have a question though. Mom, you sent me a card and it said "expect lots of mail because we looked on the calendar and it is Matthew _____ week". Neither Elder O or I could figure out what the word was that filled the blank. I especially appreciated the Easter package (first picture). It was wonderful. The egg from Michael was the most interesting. I opened it up and brown jiggly things starting coming out and I said, "What is in here?". I opened up the egg and I still don't know what it is. Is it a dog or a beaver? Or neither. I do appreciate it and it made me laugh. Elder O enjoyed his slinky and played with it for many minutes.

On Saturdays every other week we go and help at bishop's storehouse with the M's. It's pretty amazing when we set up (second picture) to see how fast and quickly the tables fill up (third picture). It's a great service that really helps a lot of people who are struggling at the moment. We sometimes get a few of the extra things left over which is nice. We have lots of catsup and syrup now which is cool.

But I love you all and I'm sorry my letter is short this week. I have been learning a lot. My testimony has been strengthened much these past few weeks. I feel that it is becoming more solid and more deep down. I feel that my testimony is becoming an unshakable one which is really cool.

Take luck....when you get it.

Love,
Elder Matthew Carlson

Jellybeans, Volleyball, and the UPS Guy

This letter is entitled: The Jelly beans, volleyball, and the UPS guy. They're all related and I'll soon explain why.

This week has been good. It's been kind of crazy to think that I've already been in Mobile for 6 weeks! It's nuts. I still have Elder O and it's fun. I've been out for 5 months today! Pretty soon I'll be at 6. Then 12. Then 20. Then I'll be done. I'm going just one day at a time though.

People down here drive very fast and crazy. I have to always be on guard when driving. It's kind of tense. I do like the Ford Fusion though. It's a good car. It doesn't turn as sharp as the Corolla's but it does a good job at many other things. It's also is much nicer than the Corolla's.

We have been working and getting things done. Our numbers were a little down this week but I don't really feel too bad as we were still out working and doing things. General Conference ate into some of our time as well but it's not really an excuse.

Onto the three things. It was a Friday and we were inviting everyone to investigator volleyball. We tried to contact B but we didn't have his number. We got his number, called him, and invited him to volleyball. We talked to a lady who said she would give B the message. We then got a knock on the door from the UPS man who was dropping off a package of half delicious jellybeans (the other half are not so delicious). They were cool jellybeans and I was happy that Grandma and Grandpa had sent them (see picture #3). I was proceeding to unwrap said jellybeans when we received another knock on the door. It was the UPS guy again. He asked Elder O, who had answered the door previously, "Did you call my wife?". Elder O was really confused and said 'No. Not that I know of." He looked at Elder O and said "Your name is Elder O right?" Elder O nodded his head. "Well, some guy named Elder O just invited my wife to volleyball." It turned out the UPS guy's name was B and we had dialed the wrong number. It was crazy.

I was really happy to receive the other package of a really cool journal. I love it! (see picture #4) It's really cool and it came just in time.

As promised, I have more pictures this week.

The first picture (picture #1) is of our district. From left to right it is: Elder L, Elder W, me, Elder O, Elder H, and Elder N. I'm not sure what was with the sheep and flowers theme but it was fun. We took a couple pictures and they are all pretty goofy.

The next picture for your viewing pleasure (see picture #2) is of Elder O giving a massive strangle hug to both Elder W and Elder N. They had come over for lunch after district meeting before heading up to Saraland and a hug fight broke out. No one was hurt except for me because I was laughing so hard.

After one session of General Conference, we were walking out of the stake center to go visit some people when all the sudden Elder O shouted "LIZARD FRIEND!" He jumped down on the ground and attempted to scoop up a lizard. Elder W joined in and soon they had captured the lizard friend (see picture #5). After enjoying his company for a minute or two and naming it. Elder O let it go and it scurried off into the bushes. I don't remember what we named him and neither does Elder O so I'm just going to say we named it Larry.

It's been a fun week and I'm doing well. I love and miss you all and I really appreciate the letters and love I have gotten this week.

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Elder Matthew Carlson

Picture #1

Picture #2

Picture #3

Picture #4

Picture #5

Howdy!

Howdy.

It's been another crazy week. I can't believe how fast this week has gone. It seems like I just got to Mobile a few days ago and already transfer day is coming up in a week. President Jensen told us that we might be staying here in Mobile but we'll see if that changes. Hopefully I'll be the driver. Drivers here are crazy. We were almost in an accident twice because people tried to turn into us or merge into us. Luckily Elder O is a good driver and we swerved out of the way.

President Jensen has been here a lot. We had training with him the other day and he was here for stake conference. He and President Spencer (the Mobile stake president) just think we're doing fantastic. So that was pretty cool to get some of the compliments they gave.

I am doing very well. I am healthy have been sleeping better since I got ear plugs. It seems like about every hour there is half a dozen police cars that go by or someone starting up their 1960's Buick GS that sounds like a small train. Every morning at 5:30 I hear BROWOWOWOWOOOMMMMM!! VRAVRAVRA VrrrRRRRRRR chunk vvvVVVrrrRRRR! I have been enjoying the dinosaur vitamins you sent me and I think they are working. So far, I am the only one in my district that has not gotten sick yet. Everyone else has gotten some sort of sinus infection or this nasty throw-up-everything-you-eat virus.

I do have a favor to ask. My nice Cross pen has run out of black ink I believe I forgot the refills at home. I think they are in the box the pen came in. Could you please send them to me? Thank you!

I have included two pictures. The first is of a gecko/lizard type thing. They are tons of them down here. Some of them can change color which is really cool. Others are just geckos and some of them are just lizards of some kind. One gecko even tried to sell me car insurance. He was on a billboard.

The other night I decided to put my culinary skills to the test and I made my own corn chowder (second picture). It was really good and super cheap. It is composed of 1 potato, 1 can of cream corn, and 1 cup of milk. It was like $2.50 for the whole pot. It's about enough for two meals. I put some cheese and some chives on top. I think some bacon would be good too on top, but I'm too stingy.

I love and miss you all and wish you all the best.

With that mushy stuff we call love,
Elder Matthew Carlson

Things Just Keep Rolling Along

Hello to you all! (Notice I didn't say y'all)

It has been and interesting week here in Mobile. I'll see if I can go over the highlights of the week and as always, I don't have much time.

On Tuesday I was on an exchange with Elder L, our district leader. We did some really good stuff and we also did a lot of tracting since a large portion of our appointments fell through. We didn't mind and we made the best use of our time. I got pretty good scores on my little exchange report thing so that was good. Not perfect fives, but fours and fives. So I passed! (Are you proud of me Mom?) For dinner that night I made a really good corn chowder and it was ridiculously cheap. It was about $5 for the pot and that fed two missionaries. It was really good too.

Our day on Wednesday didn't turn out as expected. I made some scrambled eggs for Elder L but he had already eaten so I had a large plate of scrambled eggs. We traded back and our plan was to go to Prichard. We usually go with a member since missionaries have gotten mugged in that area before and it's apparently the "crib of the 'hood" whatever that means. The member cancelled since something came up so we were back to square one. We did do some good stuff. We taught C the restoration and that went fairly well.

I ate something I don't think I ever have before on Thursday. I ate a whole chicken. We went over to the C's house for dinner and they gave us whole cornish hens! It wasn't as big as a chicken but it was still about the size of a football. That's a lot of chicken. There's a fun restaurant down here called Zaxby's that we went to for lunch. They sell chicken fingers. That's pretty much it. They sell milkshakes and fries as well but their main focus is chicken fingers. Elder O and I talked about how well a Zaxby's franchise would do out in the west. I think it would do well. We managed to see the B's who we've been trying to talk to for several weeks. They kept rescheduling on us and finally we got in. They're a really nice family and we had a nice chat and invited them back to church.

I scrubbed some pretty nasty stuff on Friday. It was gross. We were cleaning up some stuff and found petrified... something underneath a burner on the stove. I think it was mostly grease at one point but I don't think it was anymore. It was about a quarter of any inch thick and was about the consistency of granite counter top. It ripped paper towels to shreds and all purpose cleaner just got it wet. Elder O and I then decided to break out the big guns. We found a large bottle under the sink called "mean green". It had green translucent liquid in it. We poured some it on the grease and slowly it began to break it up. It took about 30 minutes to clean it all up. I had to wear gloves because the mean green stuff told me to wear gloves when using this product. For dinner that night we were taken out by the B's who took us to this place called "the shed". When we arrived it looked like a shed. A large shed, but a shed. It had corrugated aluminum siding all over the walls and just junk affixed all over the place. It was just really interesting. They had some really good barbecue and it was actually a nice restaurant inside. I had pulled pork. I grabbed a menu which was printed to look like it was hand scribbled on a piece of cardboard. It was cool. We had some really good conversation with Sister B about some of the less actives that she's working with and what we can do to help.

We were up bright and early on Saturday so we could be at the stake center in Theodore at 7 o'clock. The M's picked us up and took us to the bishop's storehouse and we helped out with distributing things (Grandma and Grandpa I saw the canned peaches and thought of you). It took a few hours but we got everything done. We went out for Subway after with the M's. We had some good visits with some less active members as well as some investigators.

I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. I actually completely forgot about it until the morning of. Luckily PEC was cancelled due to the time change and I had some time to prepare. The topic was "my purpose as a missionary". I think I did a pretty good job so it went well. I'm still working on my public speaking skills. We went over to the L's (Sister L grew up in Corvallis) and had dinner which was really good. They made us fried fish and uber potatoes. I actually enjoyed the fish which was strange because I usually don't like fish. We tried to visit several other people but most weren't home. We did manage to contact a less active member that we've been trying to catch for a few weeks now so that was really good.

The pictures are from lunch one day. We had a large bag of roasted peanuts that a member gave us since she owns a peanut shop. We shelled the large quantity of peanuts into a bowl (first picture). It took about 45 minutes to shell all the peanuts. Then Elder O tried to spell his name with the peanuts but he ran out of peanuts (second picture). It was pretty funny.

Sorry I don't have many pictures. I didn't take many this week.

I love and miss you all.
Elder Matthew Carlson

Chili Cook-Off

I don't have a whole lot of time left but I do have some. This week has been an interesting one. Elder O has been suffering from a condition called sinusitis which is inflammation of the sinuses. It's pretty much wiped him out and it makes him really tired since he can't sleep since he coughs so much. It's been rough but we talked to the doctor and he he prescribed some drugs and he's been getting better.

I forgot my camera at the apartment so I don't have any pictures but I do have a fun story. It was Friday night and we were back at our apartment and the zone leaders voluntold (volunteered + told) us for a service project. So the next morning at 5:30 we were up and getting dressed to head down town to help out the Red Cross or cancer society or something. We arrived and discovered that they were hosting a chili cook-off. We were slapped with volunteer stickers and sent to a corner to await further orders. We stood around for a few minutes and we had all worn short sleeve shirts so we were all very cold since it was windy. We talked about missionary stuff and talked to a few people but most people were very busy trying to get everything done so we didn't want to bother too many people.

We finally received a "boss" who told us what to do. She led us around the perimeter of the park and we adjusted the barricade that had been set up by the previous crew. We moved some signs and then were once again left our cold corner. An Indy 500 car was dropped off and it was shiny, red, and very very fast. I don't remember how but suddenly we were all standing by the Indy car and admiring it's features. I don't think anyone in our group knew a whole lot about Indy cars but we tried to discuss it's various features. "It's got tires." "Those are some nice tires." "Yeah." We stood and admired the shiny red card until the man in charge of the Indy car came up and talked to us about the car. That was fun to hear about the various models and makes of the engine and I learned that this particular model was an old one. 2007 to be precise. I didn't think 5 years was a long time for a race car but apparently it is. We set up some barricades to stop the large swarms of people who were somehow drawn to the shiny fastness. We were then left in our corner once again, standing by the Budweiser truck.

I was beginning to think that I would never hold down a steady job as a volunteer and was even considering changing careers when the golden job appeared. I was told to go the the gate on St. Joseph and Dauphin. I was to guard the gate and not let anyone in or out without a stamp, ticket, or wrist band. If they gave me a ticket, stamp them and take the ticket. I did that for about 2 maybe 3 hours with Elder K and Elder O. It was kinda fun if very cold.

The relief finally arrived around 11 am. We were relieved and sent to try the various kinds of chili's to warm up. I think I had about 2 dozen different kinds of chili. The little serving cups had about half a cup of chili in them so this was a large amount of chili. Whenever I burped afterwards I could still taste chili. There was some really good chili there and some mediocre chili as well. There was some really weird chili and some chili that I think was actually a vegetable soup. The best chili was by the Pirates of the Caribbean and by the aerospace guys. They were ironically right next to each other. The weirdest chili was actually white and tasted a lot like queso cheese dip. I later learned, after talking to the main chef, that the main ingredient was in fact, white queso cheese dip. The vegetable soup one was yellow, very watery, and didn't have any beans in it, so I don't think it was chili. There were several chili that used elk or deer meat instead of regular beef. There was another chili with hush puppies in it. I still know know why you would ever put a puppy in chili but they did.

We eventually left, full of chili and still dozens more left untried but I wanted to get back to the apartment.

I love and miss you all!

Another Letter (finally)!

Hello Momsie and Popsicle!

It’s me. Your son. I’m writing a letter to let you know I am indeed still alive. I know the previous statement is a little obvious, but it’s been awhile since my last letter. Like 2 or 3 weeks. So long that I can’t even remember. It’s been that long.

But things are good in Mobile. I’ve pretty much adjusted. I wouldn’t say I’m comfortable, but it’s not totally different.

Elder O is really cool! He kind of reminds me of Michael a bit except he doesn’t make puns. He does talk in a British accent for fun though. He’s pretty tall but not as tall as me. He’s about Dad’s height. He used to be a swimmer and he’s been out on his mission for 20 months. He remembers the mission president before President Jensen. He’s that old. He’s going home in June. He’s also very tired. I sometimes have to give him a little nudge but he works hard.

Anyway, I promised you a really long letter next time so this one is going to a long one. I’m thinking I’ll just spew whatever is on my mind right now. So there’s not going to be a whole lot of organization. The foremost thought on my mind is S. He’s the investigator from Alma. He got baptized and confirmed yesterday. When I read that in an email at the library, it brought some tears to my eyes. I didn’t let them fall. But now I understand what Elder F said about the joy from seeing souls enter the waters of baptism. It brings me unspeakable joy. I wish almost more than anything that I could be there when they’re sealed a year from now. He was making plans to attend the temple in a year even before he was baptized.

Mobile is a very interesting place. Many people in the ward are not active. There are some strong members though who want to help. President Jensen is sending missionaries that he trusts in to build up the ward. Looking back at my training, I think I’m kind of uniquely qualified. Elder H taught me to work with members and Elder F taught how to go and find people. I think both those techniques and styles will come in handy. But I thank the Lord for qualifying me for this area (if you can’t tell, I’m working on my humility). We visit a lot of less-active members. Lots! We also visit a lot of part member families. They come to church every Sunday, have been taught the lessons, know the church is true, but for some reason don’t get baptized. It’s kinda strange. We have 2 or 3 here in Mobile and one back in Alma. [Matt drew a really cute picture of himself as a builder missionary with a hard hat carrying a hammer]

Lately I've heard some rather lame excuses from people. My response is "Fried Chicken!" Let me explain. It’s a joke from President Park when I was in Alma. The joke goes like this, “A certain man always borrowed everything from his neighbor and he never returned it. One summer day the neighbor came home with a brand new ride-on lawnmower. Of course, late in the evening, this man came knocking on his neighbor’s door. “Can I borrow your mower?” The neighbor replied “No, we’re having fried chicken.” He then shut the door and went back to the dinner table. His wife looked at him, “We’re having fried chicken? What kind of excuse is that?” The neighbor picked up his chicken and said “It's about as good as any other excuse.” It’s a funny little joke and whenever we made any sort of excuse President Park would say “Fried Chicken!” It was funny. [Matthew drew pictures of two guys playing basketball, a ride-on mower and a chicken drumstick]

But it’s kinda fun having another set of elders who are really close by. They are in our ward, but they work up in Saraland. They stay with some members, the V's. Sister V makes amazing cookies! They’re just awesome.

But time for some crazy stories! The first story is about a less active family we visited. The F's are really nice but they’re really interesting. We went over and met with a non-member who is sort of related to the F's. But while we were over there the friend was talking to us about Catholicism and talking about temples. She’d ask us questions but wouldn’t give us time to answer. We were sitting in their living room and she went off to check on some rice she was cooking. We started to talk to a guy named R who was also a non-member. We heard a huge crash and the friend broke her finger since the pot lids came out and landed on her finger. She came in and was putting ice to it. The ice cube was in a little rabbit thing. She called it a ‘boo boo bunny’. Sister F got a finger splint but her friend didn’t want it. Then some poor person called the friend’s phone. She picked it up and immediately shouted “It's @$#% Broken!” The person must have said “What?” because she shouted “my finger!” She used several words that I can’t say and then told the person “It’s a bad time! My finger is broken and I’m trying really hard not to swear since the Mormon missionaries are here”. Sister F picked this as an excellent opportunity to jump on top of her friend and try to shove the finger brace on it. After a few minutes of intense struggle, Sister F got the brace on. She left to get some athletic tape. The friend threw the brace off. She and Sister F made a splint out of a plastic spoon and some gauze. While this was going on some guys came through with some pieces of armor and went into the backyard to modify them a bit. They apparently have a hobby of beating people with sticks. They do medieval reenactments. It was just crazy. Elder O and I just kind of sat there, not quite sure what to do. He looked at me and I said “I have no idea what to do.” He shrugged and said “Neither do I”. It was just a crazy situation.

We were over at the M’s house the same night and they had really, really good grits. They were cheesy, gooey and delicious. Probably the best grits I’ve had. I actually kind of like grits now. Anyway, I ate probably about a bowl and a half of these grits and I complimented Brother M on his grits and smiled. Then he leaned a bit closer and said, “Do you know the secret to grits?” “No.” He smiled and gave me the secret ingredients to his super grits, “Heavy cream and a stick of butter.” There weren’t a whole lot of grits in the recipe to start with so it was really bad for me. They were really good though. I didn’t eat much after that.

This month we are completely out of miles! It’s nuts. It’s tough to visit everyone or really anyone who lives more than 2 miles away. Unfortunately that is 80-90% of the ward. There is kind of a large sparse space around where we live. No bueno :-(. I’m cool with walking but Elder O is somewhat reluctant. I wish we could just ride our bikes but apparently President Jensen has asked us not to. Next time I see him, I‘ll ask him if we can. Anyway.

Things are good here in Mobile. I miss you guys a lot, but I made up my mind that I’m gonna be here for 2 years no matter what. I love you all and wish you the best in your endeavors!

Love,
Elder Carlson/Matthew (not sure what I go by these days)

Quick Mobile Update

Hello there!

I don't have a whole lot of time and I already wrote a decent sized letter that should be in Oregon soon. I talk about most things in there.

Fun fact about Mobile: you have to be an Alabama and Auburn fan. You can't be undecided. I was over at the V's the other night and in order to get dessert you had to be an Auburn fan (they're big BYU and Auburn fans). I didn't even know who Alabama and Auburn were until about 3 days ago so I didn't really know a whole lot about either. The dessert in question was homemade ice cream with fudge. It looked really good. Needless to say, I quickly sided with Auburn and ate the delicious iced cream. It was really good.

Elder W got strep throat and we think he gave it to Elder O. I was worried that I was going to get it since I had a runny nose this morning. Elder O handed me a packet of 1000mg vitamin C. He told me to drink it. I did and it was awful. Since vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin, your body doesn't absorb that much of it. So I decided to put some protein powder in there to help it stick. That was a bad idea. The whole drink just made me shudder. After a few sips, I realized that I was never going to finish it if I just went by sips. I decided to be a man. I drank it all. I will not be doing so again.

But things in Mobile are looking up. We have a dozen referrals to contact, some investigators with promise, and 17 pages of less actives to see. There's much to do and we're the guys to do it. The Bishop here is really great and is trying to help us out as best he can.

(see Picture #1) This is Sister W. She was the lady that we chopped down trees with in Alma. She was out of town when I left so I didn't get a picture with her. So I talked to Elder H and he sent me a picture of us that he took when he left.

(see Picture #2) This is Elder O with a puppy. The puppy in question is a Beagle/Chihuahua mix. We were at missionary coordination and Brother S just happened to bring his brand new puppy since he didn't want to leave it alone and the meeting was at Brother P's house. I started to pet it and he said "you wanna hold her?" "Yeah!" A few seconds later, I was the proud holder of an 11 week old puppy. I petted it and it enjoyed that but soon I had to focus on the meeting. The puppy became bored and wandered over to Elder O's lap and found attention there. So it stayed and I took a picture.

Thank you so much for the words of encouragement and support, even if I don't write a letter back (sorry). They really do help and make me feel a bit better.

I hope all is going well there in Oregon and Utah and where ever else you may be reading this.

Remember that I miss and love you all,
Elder Matthew Carlson