Baptist Food

Well this week has been an interesting one.

The highlights of the week include (but are not limited to), fried potato sandwiches at the R's, a day with Elder C the Zone Leader from Tallahassee, a service project followed by delicious burgers, getting a new washer and dryer, watching a mission call opening, service and lunch at First Baptist, driving a train, having a barbecue with the leadership and choir of First Baptist, two Easter lunches, and hiding candy.

I don't have much time unfortunately.

Monday we spent at the R's playing guitar, doing laundry, and playing a game of football. We had to stay longer than intended because we had to wait for laundry to come out of the dryer. Dinner was really good- chicken and rice with tomato gravy. The interesting part was the fact it was all cooked by an 11 year old. Cool family.

Tuesday Elder C came and we had a blast! He's pretty cool. We taught many lessons that day and had many laughs.

Wednesday we had a service project at Deerwood Inn and I got to vacuum a pool! It was rather tedious but kinda fun. We got new washer and dryer (which are really nice)

Thursday was largely made up of Weekly Planning. But we did have a good lesson with R ([the other]R wasn't feeling well). It's just fun to teach him because he's so open and so willing to do whatever. He's a great guy.

Friday we were invited to the Good Friday services at First Baptist (the first or second largest church in town). It was interesting. They showed this movie called "Sunday's Coming". You might be able to find it on YouTube. The service was actually quite good and mainly centered around the Savior on the cross crying, "My God, my God. Why has thou forsaken me?" The luncheon afterwards was quite good- sandwiches and desserts, that kind of thing. I finally wore through my bike tire. It was getting thin and had started to bulge where it was getting thin and as I was riding along it just blew. It instantly deflated and we walked home. It was kinda funny really.

Saturday we woke up early and helped set up for the branch Easter event. It was at the T's and we made eggs, waffles, and pancakes. It was a fun time. I even got the drive the miniature train on the 500 feet of track on their property.

We were later invited by someone who drove by to a barbecue at his house. We decided to go and were surprised to see all the folks from First Baptist there but we had a really good chat with several people (including the pastor) about all sorts of good things (they actually had pretty good questions). Everything from what a mission entails to the trinity.

Sunday was good as well. We had two lunches and I was so stuffed. I had two heavenly helpings of Banana Pudding which is really good by the way.

But as promised I have more pictures.

I love and miss you all! Please remember the Savior always. We become whatever we think about the most.

Elder Matthew Carlson

Choose What You Love, Love What You Choose

Hello everyone!

It was an interesting week this week. The main problems this week were the lack of car keys. I'll explain in a bit.

Monday was different than most preparation days I've had on the mission in that most of the day was spent at a member's house. As you might remember, our washer and dryer had burnt out and were in a non-functional state. We should be getting a new washer and dryer sometime this week. We needed somewhere to do laundry and the R's agreed. We did laundry over there and to repay them (in a sense) for their kindness we washed and waxed their cars (we had already agreed to do it before we did laundry there). We had washed and waxed our car a few weeks ago and they commented on how good it looked (it did look really good) and asked if we could do the same. Of course we said yes (when are we ever going to say no? Plus the R's are super cool!). We spent most of the day there until it was time to go. I got to play some guitar as well as kick around a soccer ball. We visited some folks but they didn't keep their appointments. We went to the F's for dinner. We had fish, hush-puppies, homemade french fries, grits, and brownies with pecans on top. A true southern meal. It was all very fresh. I watched him grab the fish out of a bucket, gut said fish, and throw it in a cast iron bucket (it was way too big to really be called a pan) and fry it. It was very delicious.

Tuesday added to the interestingness. I went to Perry and spent the day there with Elder Y. We had a pretty good time. They're a bike only area so we did much biking. We decided it would be easier to just have me ride Elder L's bike so we went with that. I survived but looking back, if there is a next time, I'm bringing my bike. Elder F and Elder L were able to set a baptismal date with R and R which was awesome.

On Wednesday we biked around more but no one was home or just didn't answer the door. We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Last time Elder Y and I were on a tradeoff, we went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch and we actually ran into a member who asked us to give his wife a blessing (I'm not sure if he was active). So we decided to do it again (I think it might be a tradition now). It was actually pretty good and I really enjoyed their deep-fried zucchini. We were able to meet with some people that we hadn't met with for a long time and I hope we can really get through to them. I think with one of them, a nice young man named J, we really found his one thing (I think there is at least one thing that everyone has that interests them in the restored gospel. You just need to find that one thing). We somehow talked about modern day prophets. He was really interested in that. He was a little doubtful (he's quite educated on his history) but after we explained it, he was more open to it.

Thursday was weekly planning interrupted by various appointments we had. We tried to ride bikes as we are really low on miles this month. We have about 90 left out of our 1050. We'll pull through. We were riding to Brother S's when my back tire got a flat. It was pretty loud but it wasn't an immediate flat. We stopped it and called for a member evac. M showed up and hauled us back to his house. Brother R was kind enough to give me a new tube. We were given a ride to Brother S's and we had a pretty good talk with him. He's kind of less active but he LOVES family history. He gave us a ride back in his truck as it was getting late.

Friday we discovered the car keys to be missing. They were in Elder F's coat which we believed to have been at the R's. So we set off on bikes to do service for Mrs. A and had travelled about 2 miles of the 6 mile journey when my tire started getting really low. We parked and Elder B came to rescue us. We all went to Mrs. A's and pulled down vines. She made us delicious sandwiches with authentic polish mustard (she's polish) that was really good. Plus, Sister B had a really good talk with her while the three of us were working. We got the tube patched (there was glass in the tread. My tread is getting kind of thin on the back tire). We were able to visit R and R which was fantastic! They even threatened to adopt Elder F. They really like us. It was funny. They were glad to see me again. Elder L had been with Elder F and visited them on Tuesday during the tradeoff. "Good, he's back [meaning me]." Elder F commented "Elder L was pretty good, right?" R sat back and said "Yeah... but he's DIFFERENT!" They're just super funny. We taught them the pre-mortal life which they really enjoyed. We also taught the Word of Wisdom as we want to get them started on quiting smoking so they can be ready for baptism. It went okay but when we finished we asked if we could take their pack of cigarettes. They aren't ready for that yet. =(

Saturday it rained a lot. I'm ashamed to say that it really hindered missionary work as we only had bikes. We were able to help out Brother T and we were able to see J C who is a less active member who had a stroke. Really nice guy. He has become a little bit happier every time we see him.

Sunday was pretty good. Church was great! I learned much. The talks were good and we had 3 visitors. 2 of them were friends of the youth. Great people. We also attended a funeral as one of the ward members was speaking and we had a delivery to make. The ward members were kind enough to give us a box of Krispy Kreme donuts and they were really good.

I'm kind of out of time. No pictures. Sorry, the computer I'm using doesn't like my card reader. =(

This week I've been thinking much about the importance of living in the moment. It seems as though I spend too much time dwelling on future events, looking forward to them, that I sometime lose sight of what going on right now. I also tend to spend too much time dwelling on the past. In church on Sunday this thought process really came to a point when the concluding speaker (brother T) spoke about living in day tight compartments. It was a good talk and I really enjoyed it. I think I, in particular, would do well to slow down and to see the bouquets on the way to the rose garden. I don't think I can really say it any better than this Mormon Message can.

I love and miss you all! This is worthwhile. The restored gospel changes lives for the better. I know because it's changed mine.

Elder Matthew Carlson

Life Changing But Not Game Changing

I don't have much time.

It's been a crazy awesome week. We went to a funeral at St. James AME Missionary Baptist. It was the closest thing I've ever come to a rock concert. My ears are still recovering. There's a video describing it on the way though.

We also had a third Elder with us this week. He serves on FAMU campus but it was spring break so he needed somewhere to go instead of just sitting around all day. So he came here. We had a BLAST. It was awesome and we got SO much done! He really wants to come back. I miss him. His name is Elder D. Really nice guy.

We also had many miracles this week of just meeting people we were just talking about or trying to visit. We also had R and R come to church. It was awesome. We taught them the Restoration finally (it's been crazy for them). We taught about the First Vision and R had this confused look. "Two personages? But there's one God..." I handed him the painting of first vision in the pamphlet and pointed the the two personages saying "Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ". He stared it for a moment and pointed at Joseph Smith and said, "He got the job!" He looked at me all excited. "When one of them tells you to do somethin' you got the job but when both them tell you- you GOT the job! See- he got the job." It was just an awesome moment.

I love the mission. It's fantastic. Out of time.

I LOVE YOU ALL!

--
Elder Matthew Carlson

A Horchata Master in the Making

Well, the big news of the week was that I finally made Horchata correctly. I tried it once in Daphne but I really just made a mess. All the cinnamon was stripped out of it because I didn't filter it properly. I finally worked up the courage to give it another shot. So I pulled out my mix and began once again and set to work with a few inquisitive looks from Elder F. It turned out fantastic! Even Elder F kinda of liked it (he was a bit suspicious at first).

But hello everyone! On to the meat off the week.

Monday was a really interesting day. The B's (the senior couple) came and we had a coordination meeting. We mostly talked about who will visit who and what we're both working towards. We made sure our apartment was clean and then emailed. After emailing we went back to the apartment to have it inspected. We passed inspection and were happy to get new things! We were given new pans (the Teflon on the old ones was coming off), new chairs, and all sorts of neat things. We even got a candy bar for passing inspection.

Tuesday was a rather interesting day (sorry to be repetitive). We helped out Mr. M- a very nice older gentlemen. He doesn't have really any faith and is agnostic/atheist. His eyes aren't very good and he uses a Victor Reader (a little book reader that's about the size of a first gen iPhone) and it wasn't connecting to his computer. He was telling us that it wasn't working on a previous visit. He asked us if we had any computer skills. Elder F smiled and said "Elder Carlson does!" I told him I would have to ask President Jensen if I could help since we aren't allowed to use computers really. President said yes so we went back and I got to work. I authorized the reader by putting the authorization file on the SD card. But the computer wouldn't recognize the device. The problem was not the reader itself or the SD card within the device. I checked the cable. It was good. The reader would connect to the computer and it would say "connected" in it's pleasant robot voice. The computer would do nothing. I delved into the device manager and looked at the USB connections as well as the hubs figuring it was likely a driver error. I looked and could not even find the device on the list of devices. After some more poking around I was kind of stumped. I turned and asked when the last time his computer had been rebooted. He gave me a rather blank stare. Having discovered the problem, I rebooted the computer and it worked quite well. He was very grateful for our help which made me glad. We visited the G's, a part member family who happens to own a larger greyhound farm. He's a really nice guy but just doesn't see the importance of religion since he's never been to church before (he's had to work on Sundays his whole life). Super nice guy. We're going rather slow, but we're ramping up with questions. We're hoping to get him thinking.

Wednesday was special. We met with a women named G. It turns out she's met with Elders in the past and has a Book of Mormon. We told her about eternal families and she seemed more interested after that. This time she didn't have much time but we talked about opposition and how this message is true and it can bless her life. Every time we share some truth with her it's cool to see her face. She makes this expression and you can see the light bulb coming on. We said a prayer and I offered to say it. It wasn't a very complicated or eloquent prayer but after we finished I asked her if we could come back and read the Book of Mormon with her and help her understand it as she had said she didn't really understand what she had read. As I was talking I noticed the large tears running down her face. It struck me. I had been thinking of my simple prayer as nothing special but I guess something in there was meaningful. It was a lesson to me indeed.

Thursday was zone conference in Tallahassee. It was a wonderful experience and I learned tons. As usual President asked who would be performing talent. I hadn't planned or prepared so I didn't raise my hand. We were eating lunch and President Jensen sat at the same table as me. He asked me a question and something reminded him. "You have that one song you did a few zone conferences back, right?" He was referring to the Unicorn song. I nodded my head and affirmed the recollection. "Good. You're doing that." I did the song with an air guitar and it was pretty funny. The conference took up most of the day though. Especially since we drove the Perry Elders home (they don't have a car).

Friday we studied with J R in the morning (he comes over and studies with us). We took care of weekly planning and went to Burger King. Mostly because it was J's first day working there and partly because it's the south. Here in the south, you can take a church bulletin into burger king and they give you a free ice cream cone. It was delicious. I sat and licked my ice cream waiting as J was getting off in a few minutes. We went over to the R's for dinner. They made us Columbian hot dogs (Sis Robinson is from Columbia). They had pineapple and crushed Lay's chips on them which was strange but strangely good. I also had a Coke. (Sister R insisted: You have to have a Coke elder! Columbian hot dog without a coke?)

Saturday was the day of service. We helped out at a thrift shop, raked a yard, and tore down vines. It was a busy day. We also got in contact with a wonderful family who really has some potential but have had some rough times lately. They're super funny and really like us as well as the church.

Sunday was branch conference and Perry branch came. There was a delicious pot luck after.

I'm out of time! I'm doing pretty good and I love y'all!

--
Elder Matthew Carlson

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bushell

Dearest Momsie and Popsicle,

There's been some good stuff over here at Madison. But of course I'll rise above it, because I know that's how you want me to respond. [lines from one of our favorite plays, 'Wicked']

Haha. =)

I've been warming up to Madison greatly! I like it much more than I did when I first came. I think every area is that way. Elder F is a good guy and I really like him. He has a good testimony and a big desire to get out there and work which is great! He's a little goofy and is a night person. It's funny really, as the day goes on he gets more and more talkative. I'm more of a morning person whereas he is not. It's just funny. At least, I think it is.

Monday was interesting as we emailed at the NFCC (North Florida Community College). It was/is a very nice library (I'm in it now). We got our groceries from Harvey's. I'm not so much a fan. I'm excited for when Winco and I can meet once again in a joyous shopping reunion. =) Harvey's is just more expensive than normal. Elder F noticed the Blue Bell Ice cream was on sale 3 for $13. That put each one at $4.50 or so. Usually they're about $6 normally and $7 or $8 at Harvey's. So he bought 3 half gallon tubs of ice cream that is delicious (he lets me have some from time to time). =) Blue Bell is the best ice cream you can get from the store down here in the south.

Tuesday was a new experience for me as we had district meeting in Perry. I'm the district leader so I had to conduct it. For my first one ever- it went pretty well. We talked about helping people become interested by teaching the first two points of lesson one; God Is Our Loving Heavenly Father and The Gospel Blesses Families. We did good things that day. We made contact with people but we didn't really get any amazing progress. Elder F called it the day of first downs but no touchdowns.

Wednesday was a fairly average day. We did get some stuff done and taught some lessons. We had the missionary coordination meeting that night which was quite productive. Assignments were followed up on and new ones were made. Issues were resolved. We did get off on a few tangents but it worked out. Unfortunately I didn't really know who they were talking about so I tried to stay focused and follow along but I was lost fairly quickly.

Thursday: the highlights were that we had weekly planning and we helped J pressure wash the church sidewalks for a bit. Super cool kid. I don't think I would have ever decided to spend all day pressure washing the church sidewalks by myself when I was 13.

Friday we had a miracle. It was pretty neat. Everything was falling through. We were a little discouraged. We went to someone's house that we figured we would try once more. We parked, got out, and someone pulled up. Elder F got all excited and started talking to them. It turned out that two former investigators had just showed up. They had moved and gotten a new phone number so the Elders had lost contact with them. We exchanged info and set something up with them. It was rather exciting. =)

The bird in the picture:

Elder F found it as we were walking around Lake Francis (a very nice lake in Madison that we walk around and talk to people fishing. It's also a very relaxing walk). It was just kind of sitting in the road. It was very cold that day so we put it in a tree so it wouldn't get run over or freeze to death.

Saturday and Sunday: very nice as well. I'm out of time. The branch had about 60 people there which was nice (just about average I'm told).

This is our car port and our beautiful Corolla. It rained a lot this week and it was pretty crazy.

Quick message!

The world today thinks of hope as more as a possibility rather than a sure definite thing. It's an uncertainty when the scriptures speak of hope in a much different sense. To quote President Jensen:

"Hope drives us to know our effort is worth all we can offer. By hope we can forget our past and look only to the future. Hope allows us to know we are not alone and that our path is prepared for us. It is hope that permits us to know we'll be compensated for everything we suffer. Hope is not a wish, hope is a certainty."

"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world" - Ether 12:4

I love and miss yall!

--
Elder Matthew Carlson

Madison

Well it's been a very interesting transition for me. Interesting in many aspects. Madison is much more rural than the cities like Daphne, Mobile, and Gulf Breeze that I'm used to. A prime example happened this morning when I discovered that the trash bag that I had left outside due to it being rather stinky had been attacked. I guess I was still in the city mindset. Anyway, it's been an interesting transition.

I was struggling a little bit earlier this week- particularly yesterday and the day before. It's getting better but I still don't know anyone or anywhere and it's a very small town. Every street has been tracted in the past few months which makes my default fall-back approach rather not useful. But we've got some good people we're working with and the branch here is actually quite good. The youth are amazing! Most of them are quite active and invite friends to church. One in particular has even had a good friend join the church. She's very nice and is planning on going on a mission soon. =)

This past week has been CRAZY! Elder W and I went into crazy overdrive to get everything done before we left. We both had to pack, clean the apartment, say goodbye, and finish bringing the records in the area book up to date. Monday we had the privilege and opportunity to go and visit Tyler before he left for the MTC. He left Tuesday night for Provo so he was finishing packing. It was a tough thing to say goodbye but he'll do great. His family was pretty sad that he was leaving. His littlest sister came in his room as he was showing us his room and she started crying. "I don't want you to go!" All was well in the end. Plus, I'm going to visit him in 2 years. His plan is to head to Utah when he gets back and go to summer term at the University of Utah so we'll get to see each other again. Maybe we'll do lunch. Speaking of lunch, we went to Five Guys on Monday. It was delicious. We met a less active member who works there who offered to feed us if we came back on Monday.

Tuesday was another crazy day. We had our last district meeting as well as lunch with CM. He took our district out to lunch at a very nice restaurant called Chick n' Sea. They had a very delicious lemon pie. The place was packed though! We rode back to Daphne, stopping along the way to say goodbye. We really wanted to say goodbye to S but he wasn't home. I'm really hoping and praying that things go well with him and that he'll be able to gain a testimony. I miss S. We spent a good portion of the day just packing and packing. I don't know how I fit it all but it seems like I have more and more stuff every time. I even forgot a few things that I will hopefully be getting here soon. We also did a good deep clean and wrote a helpful note to the new elders in Daphne (the reason I got moved was that the Zone Leaders who were in the Mobile Ward needed to be closer to the Stake President who lives in Daphne so it was rather only natural that the Zone Leaders be moved here.) I'm glad to know we left the apartment clean and in good shape.

Wednesday was mostly taken up by transfers. We did a bit of last minute packing and cleaning (mostly on my part) and loaded up the car. We met at the transfer spot at about 11:00 and waited for a few minutes. Soon the cars began to roll in and I said my goodbyes to Elder W. After a prayer we were off to Pensacola. We arrived in Pensacola half an hour early. We milled around and I talked to some old friends I hadn't talk to in a while. Everyone from Elder H, to the C's, to the F's (the C's are headed home in April! Can you believe it?) We then learned that one of the transfer vehicles (that's right- there were two. First time ever) had a blowout. I later learned from Sister Jensen that there were many things that went very wrong with this past transfer. Everything from lost luggage to a sister missionary left at the airport. It's really amazing that it even happened really. The van arrived and I drove from Pensacola to Tallahassee. One of the old cars from Theodore is dying (it's past 50,000 miles) and hence, needs to be taken back to Tallahassee to be liquidated. I had the privilege of driving it and Elder G was kind enough to accompany me. He told me all about Pensacola and some of the good that's happening there. The M family is going to the temple in a month or so here! That was amazing news. I love that family. I got to know Elder G much better (it was a 4 hour drive). I arrived in Tallahassee about 7:00. We did some unloading and I met Elder F who is my new companion. We loaded up our red Toyota Corolla and set off to Madison. We arrived in Madison about 8:15. We went to Harvey's (a southern grocery store chain which is rather over priced) which is really the only grocery store and got groceries. Things like milk and cereal and bread.

Thursday was mostly taken up by weekly planning. I kind of got the gist of the current people we're working with and we made some plans for them. We went out and did some work. We biked around and visited people but mot many people were home. We had dinner at the K's and they had a delicious corn bread/hush puppy type thing. Whatever it was, I enjoyed it.

Friday was a very wet day. We were out on bikes from about noon to 3. During that time it rained quite a bit. I got pretty soaked and Elder F even more so (he didn't have a rain coat for the first half of the journey).

Saturday was another day at work. I can't really think of anything too amazingly significant. I had accepted the fact that I had lost a bag. During transfers, one of my bags disappeared. It contained a pair of glasses, my GPS, and most importantly my companionship journal. I was kinda sad about losing the journal as it was the one absolutely irreplaceable thing. But looking back, I'm grateful I lost the bag as I have been taught much about the value of material things and how little they actually matter. We are required to be willing to sacrifice all worldly things. I'm glad to know that it won't bum me out too much if that should ever happen.

Sunday was an early day as we woke up to make it to the early morning meeting for investigators, less-actives, recent converts, and missionaries in Tallahassee starting at 8:15. It was hosted by one of the members of the Seventy who presided over stake conference. It was a rather good meeting and it really stayed simple and focused on the needs of the people attending. Stake conference started shortly thereafter which was quite good. We biked around and visited many people but not many were home. We had dinner at the B's (the senior couple in Madison) and went home for studies. We did receive a very welcome call that they found my bag! The Zone Leaders came and dropped it by. I was grateful that Heavenly Father answered my prayers and my bag was found. =)

Not many exciting things happened this week. We moved to a new planner and I don't have my records to help my remember. =(

I've learned much this past week. I think I've grown a little bit too. I'm adjusting to Madison. I miss Daphne. A lot but I can tell someday I'm going to enjoy Madison. It's up to me as to how quickly that day comes.

Scripture of the week: Alma 34.

Sorry- no pictures this week. I forgot my card reader. =(

I LOVE Y'ALL!

--
Elder Matthew Carlson

The easiest way to prevent the regrets of tomorrow is to follow the Savior today

Well it's transfers once again. Crazy huh? Seems like I just got to Daphne and I was really thinking I would be staying but I guess such is not the case.

This week was pretty amazing and fun. It was also quite busy (of course things are just about to get more busy).

I don't have much time so I'll cover the highlights.

Monday- the big events of the day were going to Mobile to get a banjo. Elder W had been talking about it for months. He even dreamed about it once. So we finally when and got it with the help of T. It took forever but we got it. We ran into several bumps but we got it sorted out. It's a beautiful thing actually. We then went to Fairhope for Mardi Gras. It was quite nice as there were many families there. We hauled in quite the bounty which was awesome!

Tuesday I went on a trade-off with Elder B, our District leader. We had a great time and a very successful day. It was also a very funny day as Elder B is pretty goofy and several of the people we saw were just hilarious. It was all good fun.

Wednesday we got to eat with the T's which was was fun! They're the senior couple and we went to their RV and had a delicious organic meal (they're kinda healthy people- vegetarians and all that). We also had splits with Brother A who is awesome. He's a great guy and he's super funny.

Thursday was the big day! We had weekly planning and went to President H's for dinner (he's the Elder's Quorum president and ward mission leader). He had mentioned in a past meeting that he had always wanted a onesie but his wife never got him one (he's a big joker). We got one on Monday after some searching (turns out an XXL not pink onesie is rather hard to find). It was so funny. He showed us a picture on Sunday of him wearing it that is really funny but he's determined to not let that picture out of his phone so I don't have a copy. I really enjoyed the package of valentine stuff. I even sorted the candy hearts into things I can and can't do on the mission. Elder W and I had a pretty good laugh about that.

Friday we had a great lesson with S and a nice lady named T. She doesn't really have any faith in anything so that's what we've been discussing. Faith is something kind of hard to describe to someone to whom the concept is so foreign. So has no religious background. She's reading the Book of Mormon and finds it quite interesting. =) We watched The Prophet of the Restoration movie with them which they enjoyed.

Saturday we had dinner with the W's. They are hilarious. Sister W is a recent convert and we're still working with Brother W. They're a great family. I really struggled with sickness Saturday night as the cold/fever thing came back and hit me hard.

I was suffering Sunday but church was still good. I enjoyed the speakers as well as seeing everyone. We had dinner with the N's who I just love. They're fantastic.

Sorry I don't have more details as always I don't have much time. I should probably spend less time on www.mormon.org. We're gathering the elect so it's going to take us some time. It's interesting to see how quickly people can get caught up in worldly cares and pride and how much of a distance that puts between them and the Spirit.

But then again, how can we expect to see His face, if we can never see His hand?

I love you all! Remember I miss you!

-Elder Matthew Carlson