The Final Countdown!

Well this week is the first week of my remaining 12 weeks. It's getting rather sobering but it's amazing what an acute lack of time can do for your determination.

I'm going to try and get caught up so I'm going to summarize a bit- so you might have to use your imagination to fill in some of the gaps.

Monday (the 15th) was a good p-day. It was productive but I was also kind of lazy so it was a bittersweet kind of a thing. Being lazy just isn't really all that fun anymore. We did stop by Piggly Wiggly which we learned was actually going out of business. Kind of sad but we looked around and found some deals. It's a nice chain that's all around here in the south. I was impressed as all the workers there were still nice. Knowing I was losing my job in a few days, I don't know if I would be as cheerful.

I got some good stuff done like de-puckering pants and shining shoes, cleaning, and that kind of thing. I learned that Subway actually sells cinnamon rolls. And they're a buck. We went in to fill up water bottles but they had a cinnamon roll on the counter. It was actually a decent size and pretty good.

Tuesday (the 16th) was mostly district meeting. We had some advice given to us by President Cottle through Elder H. We then played a game called Moose Moose which is kind of like signs except there isn't someone in the middle trying to figure it out and it's all animal sounds. I did a unicorn and I wasn't sure what noise they made so I made a shiny noise if that makes any sense... I was a little disappointed it wasn't a more spiritual meeting but I'm hopeful for next week. We all had lunch at Steak 'n Shake since it was the last district meeting before transfers and we usually do something fun. I got a salted caramel pretzel shake along with my bacon cheeseburger which was quite good. Someone even payed for the meal which was really nice of them. We used coupons to help them out but we all felt very blessed. Afterwards we helped someone who was working on the ward building replacing a door. We also stopped by a thrift store to see someone there but we walked in and someone said, "Perfect- grab some boxes in the back and sort them out" and directed us back into a closet full of boxes of stuff that had been donated. I guess the Elders used to volunteer there. So we sorted books. It was kind of fun. We were super thirsty afterwards and had an interesting lesson with Jim (one of the Sister's investigators). He waved us over as we were biking by so we sat down and he just wasn't getting the Book of Mormon. He couldn't see how you could have both of them. Elder S got a little frustrated. That day I learned it's hard to teach someone else's investigator. We did have a great lesson with a nice young man named D that Elder K and I met in the ICU at the hospital. He works 7 days a week so it's kind of hard to catch him. We taught the restoration and he understood what we were saying. He has a lot of faith which is great. Real true faith.

Wednesday (the 17th) I was tired. We met G and J though. We knocked on their door as a potential or less active member used to live there. She answered and invited us in. We explained we couldn't unless there was another man there. We told her a bit about the Book of Mormon though and she seemed to be interested. We had a lesson with J as the Sisters invited us there since J wants us there. I was blessed to have a better explanation for the Book of Mormon. We explained it through the gathering of Israel of all things. It's evidence that the Lord is gathering His people. We stopped at Dairy Queen for a quick cool down. Then it was back to J and G. We sat outside as she thought we couldn't come inside period. It was funny- Elder S explained "The Lord has restored His true earth...I mean, church". They got a good laugh. It's great when you can be a little funny- I find it really helps make a lasting impression as well as breaks the ice that some people have. There's such a thing as too much humor though- so it's best to use it with prudence. Zaxby's for dinner and coordination meeting concluded the day.

Thursday (the 18th) we biked a lot. 28 miles actually. We were upbeat and optimistic. We tried to visit M C but he wasn't home. We had dinner at the F's. It was Tilapia and veggies which was quite good. We taught M the Gospel of Jesus Christ as his girlfriend wasn't feeling well.

Friday (the 19th) we had an amazing lesson with D and JC. It was a great lesson as we finished the second half of the plan of salvation. They really liked it. They haven't read the Book of Mormon yet as they're just really busy (busier than they've been in a while) but they promised they would. I'm very hopeful for them!

Saturday (the 20th) was a fun day. We did a bit of exploring as we found a bridge out in the middle of nowhere that didn't really lead anywhere. It was super slick so Elder S tried to brake when coming to this ledge from the opposite way but had to lay his bike down almost to get off (it wasn't stopping).

We had a pioneer day celebration which was really fun. I enjoyed it.

Sunday (the 21st) was good. The major events of the day were excellent talks in Sacrament about enduring well, getting escorted out of the hospital by the police, and dinner with the C's (they're awesome).

Monday (the 22nd) I vacuumed up my shoe on accident and it kind of ate up the shoelace (I got new shoelaces don't worry)

and making banana pudding.

It was delicious. I ate half of that in a sitting. =)

I love and miss you all! I'm doing well and enjoying serving the Lord. I'm excited to come home and see y'all in a bit and show you how much I've grown. But for now, I've got a bit of time left and I'm going to try and get all the growing in I can.

Elder Matthew Carlson

PS: Here's a map of the mission:

Work for the Lord- the pay isn't too good but the retirement is out of this world!

Well- as I type this letter I am coming in for the final lap or sprint. As of tomorrow I will likely have about 2 transfers (or 12 weeks) left. It's odd really. I'm trying not to think about it but I'm trying not to ignore it.

Anyway- I have a lot of ground to cover but I should probably bring you up to speed. I omitted a major event last week in mentioning someone we had found. His name is M. He's a very nice guy. We were going to visit someone and he was talking on the phone outside the apartment complex. As we walked by to walk up the stairs, he hung up. I said hello (I say hello to pretty much everyone) and he said hello back and asked who we were. We explained we were missionaries for Jesus. He turned around, opened his door and went inside. Then he beckoned us in. Initially we were rather unsure but he told us to come in so we sat down and had a great chat with him. He's going through some tough decisions in his life particularly involving his girlfriend. We taught an amazing restoration- it was still the restoration but it was tailored to his questions. We felt like we were on the District. It was a great experience.

But moving to the present (sort of- I'm still behind). Starting July 8th.

Monday (the 8th) was a good day. I went through some old pictures on the hard drive and I enjoyed reminiscing for a brief moment. During shopping we were both really, really hungry. The deli in Walmart happens to sell banana puddin' by the pound for a reasonable price. So a 1/3 of a pound of banana pudding is 75 cents or so. So I got some pudding and it was delicious. I probably shouldn't have eaten it right then and there but it was good and I payed for it so it was all good. I spent most of the rest of the preparation day working on my pants that I had messed up with the sewing machine. I had a seam ripper which made things much easier (I had asked around in Walmart for a stitch popper and they just looked really confused at me).

I was almost done at this point- the problem was that it sewed white thread and when I put it into reverse it went back over where it was rather than pulling what it had stitched out. But they're fully functional once again. We washed and waxed the car speedily. We could see a storm brewing over the horizon and it was a little scary to be honest. We got it done though and we did lose power but it was only for a minute.

Tuesday (the 9th) started on a good foot with some particularly good studies. We parked the car at the church and our appointment fell through (we later found out she doesn't actually live there). We were biking around when we got a call from the Hazlehurst Elders that they were in Tifton getting their car repaired and were looking for somewhere to eat. So we booked it back to the car and picked them up at the dealership at the bottom of town. We dropped them off at Zaxby's since we had district meeting in about 5 minutes. We changed into suits and walked into the meeting right on time. However, everyone else was delayed. So we talked with the sisters for a bit and then President and Sister Cottle for a bit and then the rest of the district came. We had a pretty good district meeting and I had a short but enjoyable visit with President Cottle. He's still figuring things out but he's got a good hold on the reins so to speak and is the right man for the job. I hope I gave a good impression but I just tried to be honest and myself. The Hazlehurst Elders had walked to the church so we gave them a ride back to the dealership. But we stopped by D's on the way as he's contemplating going on a mission and we're trying to encourage him to do so. We dropped them off to deal with their car (they found out that problem actually wasn't under warranty like they were originally told). We had dinner with the B's which was awesome. We then went and had an amazing spiritual but very long lesson with M and his girlfriend. Sadly, he's living with his girlfriend. He wants to get married. She's skeptical. So she asked him (right in the middle of the Plan of Salvation discussion), "How do you know you're marriage material?" "Look in my heart! I am marriage material! I love women but I love you differently. I don't want to hang out with another woman. I don't want to eat ice cream in the park with another woman. I don't want to sit and look out the window when it's raining with another woman. I want to be with you!". Regardless- it was good.

Wednesday (the 10th) I woke up tired but the day was pretty good. We got out and visited an old potential that had gotten antied and we hadn't seen in a while. Still not really interested but his friend M invited us in anyway. He was a Baptist missionary in Germany for a while and had talked to missionaries there. We had a long conversation about the Book of Mormon, baptisms for the dead, the ancestors of the Native Americans being Jewish, infant baptism, and many other topics. We were able to respectfully answer his questions and he didn't get argumentative about it. We answered all his questions and focused on reading and praying. He said "Huh. That's what the missionaries in Germany told me too". In the words of Elder McConkie, "We do not bash, we do not bash, we do not bash. But when we bash, we win." Very nice guy though. We biked home really fast (luckily it wasn't far) as a storm was coming and we just beat the rain as we could feel the raindrops on our backs getting stronger. After lunch was had a lesson with A inside his house (we usually never go in). We were biking by J's when he flagged us down (he's someone the Sisters have taught and I had met him a couple of times previously). He chewed us out for avoiding him (we had stopped by 2 or 3 times but he was out of town) but we apologized and had an interesting lesson with him. The Sisters came and we had a lesson about the Book of Mormon. He's a good guy and has a good understanding of the scriptures. He commented at the end, "I feel like I got so much faith- I feel like I could beat a bear with a switch". We visited with D and a few more people and as I was riding home I crashed on my bike. The chain slips when in 6th gear and my foot came off the pedal (I was standing up to get more power) and I banged my knee pretty good but I managed to stay upright. We had coordination and dinner was a frozen lasagna. We were at the church at 6 as someone was going to be bring dinner there as they live far away but we were waiting when we got a text that said, "I'm on my way but my wife didn't cook anything". I was rather confused and sad when I got another text "I got a frozen lasagna" followed by a ":-)". We laughed and got another text "serves twelve". So we warmed a lasagna in the kitchen during coordination and took the half frozen lasagna home to finish baking. It was good.

Thursday (the 11th) felt rather off. I just felt weird. We were biking by and someone shouted MISSIONARIES! So we turned around and met most of the youth in the Ward before they went off to Macon as they were headed up for a tri-stake youth conference. I even got to shake hands with a sparkly purple teddy bear. We saw some people and had lunch. Then we went to the BCM (Baptist Collegial Ministry) as someone had told us to stop by. We had a great discussion with many of the people- explaining that we are not saved by works but by faith and obedience. It was actually pretty enjoyable. We had splits with Brother B (good but not very long) but we had to hurry back to make it ward council meeting.

Friday (the 12th) was a good day as it started with Peanut Butter Captain Crunch (so good). I wore contacts as I was getting tired of my glasses being dirty and foggy all the time. We soon got out and met a man named M walking his dog. It was funny as we asked if we could share a special message with him. "Sure." "When could we do that?" "Right now!" It was funny. We gave him a Book of Mormon and a movie. We weekly planned and walked over to D's (it's nice because he's literally a 10 minute walk from our apartment). We had a great lesson. His daughter, JC wasn't there last time as she had to go but she wanted to be there. So we started talking to D and she came down and sat cross-legged on the floor right in front of us. We started explaining the Plan of Salvation and had talked about God through pre-earth life and were part way through Adam and Eve when he had to take a phone call. So it was just us and JC with D out in his garage. That's when she asked, "I have a question for y'all. So where do you think Jesus was when He died before He rose again?" Elder S and I looked at each other in surprise and I think she took it as uncertainty. "It's just something I like to think about and I've looked into a bit". We explained the Spirit World and she really liked that. We discussed the Atonement and she had great question after question. She's really spiritual as a result of some events in her life. D came back and she caught him up to speed. It was really funny. "Tell him about that Spirit World! Tell him the best part about the people in prison". We gave her a Book of Mormon as it would help her clear up some of her questions. It was really amazing- she said "Wow! The Bible really leaves some questions unanswered. This completes it?" We explained that she could read and pray and know for herself. She got really excited about that. She turned to her dad and asked "DAD! Have you ever read the Book of Mormon?!" "Not yet sweetie". "Will you for me?" It was a great lesson and an amazing blessing (they're doing really well- but that'll be in next weeks email as I'm out of time).

Saturday (the 13th) we spent the day up in Fitzgerald. I got help answering a question which was really nice. We were in the bathroom at Harvey's (a grocery store chain down here) and someone asked "Elders right?" I came out of the stall and he asked us some questions about some interesting things and I was able to explain it in a way that made sense with a scripture I had found that morning in studies. The Lord looks after His missionaries. =) It was a very long and somewhat awkward conversation in that rather small bathroom. In fact, someone opened the door, saw us inside and kind of slowly backed away. We got out and let him in. We had a long conversation in Harvey's about all sorts of things. It was pretty good though. He understands us better and we gave him some things to think about. We had dinner at Wendy's- I had the new pretzel bacon burger. Really good. We even got a 50% discount because the manager knows us. It was really nice and we really appreciated it. The manager even came over and talked to us. Turns out he's a returned missionary and has been less active for several years. Hopefully we'll see some traction.

Sunday (the 14th) was a real pioneer day at church. Sister C, a recent convert, gave her first talk and it was great! Elder S and I had to fill in teaching Gospel Principles and I really enjoyed it. The class participates and I really enjoy teaching particularly in a class setting. Maybe when I get home I can be a Gospel Principles teacher or something. I guess I'll just have to see where the Lord calls me. The N's had us over for dinner and it was delicious. My favorite was probably the pecan pie (pronounced pea-can not pea-con down here).

We missed a lady at the hospital by 5 minutes. It bummed me outa little. We biked home with a peach cobbler strapped to Elder S's bike rack with plastic bags. It was pretty funny.

I'd like to point out the difference between Nephi and Paul in Acts. Both are led by the Spirit, not knowing the things that they should do, however they both had an objective in mind. To do the will of God. One conquered his enemy and the other was captured and ultimately killed. They were both successful as they both completed their objective. They loved the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, and strength. They were both obedient.

But I love and miss you all!

Elder Matthew Carlson

Expect a Don Every Day

Hello! I am really sorry to leave y'all really hanging but I think I'm just going to have to go over things briefly. Someday we'll sit and talk about all this stuff and you can get the full details. But for now I'm going to start where I left off.

On Wednesday the 26th we drove over to Douglas after some last minute packing and cleaning. I picked up Elder S and we headed back to Tifton seeing people along the way. Thursday I brought him up to speed in weekly planning and the rest of the week we had a good week. Things were going good as we were getting along good and having lots of fun (if being somewhat distracting to each other). We were also staying rather busy.

This brings us to the official creation of the GMM on July the 1st.

Monday (July 1st)
Knowing the President Cottle would be visiting on Wednesday and having been asked to have a picture for President Cottle, Elder Carlson attempted to print a picture in Walmart. He inserted his hard drive into the large touch screen device and things began smoothly. He activated the system scanner and it recognized the hard drive. It whirred as terabytes of information where fed through the short USB cable into the computer's memory. Elder Carlson attempted to navigate to the folder on the hard drive in which he knew that the picture he wanted was. The computer retaliated with debilitating slowness. Elder Carlson poked and prodded to coax the machine into selecting the folder he wanted but the machine had a complete hold on his hard drive's file tree. Gritting his teeth and steeling his patience, he steadied himself on the thin legged stool and took a deep breath while his companion wandered the electronics aisle. He managed to get the computer to the correct folder only to have it take so long that he gave up and decided he would just use a picture he already had. They walked away with Elder Carlson vowing he would never again allow himself to be subjected to Walmart's photo center. Having procured their needed groceries, they waited for the Sisters for a few minutes only to learn several minutes later they were out in the car. They ran outside and got their groceries back in the car. The rest of the preparation day went much smoother and was quite enjoyable. We had a good preparation day and I enjoyed it.

Tuesday (the 2nd)
It felt rather odd. Usually we have district meeting Tuesday morning and this week we didn't have that on account of the meeting with the President in Douglas the following day. We stayed busy and tried our best to make the most of everything. We had a very interesting lesson with a man named L. He was a very nice guy who mostly talked to us about how he had been preserved by the Lord. We tried to share a little bit about how families can be together forever but he talked a lot which made it difficult for us to say much.

Wednesday (the 3rd)
Was the big day- we drove to Douglas and met President Cottle. It was much longer than I expected. I was very happy to see old friends like Elder Y, Elder D, Elder W, and the like. Particularly Elder W since I hadn't seen him in a long time. We had a couple "Remember when..." moments and we had some good laughs. He brought me up to speed on some stuff and it was nice. My face hurt afterwards from smiling so much. I felt a little like Ammon meeting is companions after their long time of separation. The assistants gave a long presentation on the importance of baptism and we were able to ask questions about what's different in the new mission. It was very different but at this point the Lord is moving forward and so am I. Things are settling into grooves and things are coming together. We got back and had dinner around 7.

Thursday (the 4th)
It's usually our weekly planning day, Thursday. But in the GMM it's on Friday. It felt a tad odd to not do weekly planning on a Thursday but it worked out. We rode through neighborhoods taking a very long route on our bikes we could smell the grills warming up and the various smells of barbecue's. We were both very hungry but finally the time came for lunch. We went over to the C's and we ate so much food! I had two hamburgers, a large pile of baked beans, a large pile of bbq chips as well as a smaller but decent pile of sour cream and onion chips. Then it was dessert. We got a slice of chocolate cake and put ice cream on top. I think it could possibly approach being too chocolaty for you [Mom] even. It was very rich. It was called "Chocolate Trinity". It was dark chocolate with fudge and other chocolaty things in it. Then we roasted marshmallows and stirred the marshmallow in. It was really really good. Elder S almost didn't finish his but then Sister C brought out a dutch apple pie from Paula Dean. I ate half a slice and together with the Sisters convinced Elder S to eat half a slice. He was feeling pretty sick afterwards actually. It was kind of funny at the time though. =) He's okay now though. We got back to the apartment and Elder S wasn't feeling good. We had been asked to be in our apartment by 7 at the latest. It was only about 5:30 or maybe 6 o'clock or so. I determined we needed to make the best use of our time and get out to work. Elder S was understandably less than enthusiastic. But with some determination and maybe a little dragging on my part we got out the door. I felt it would be a good idea to knock on a house we had rode by that morning as well as usually run by most mornings. They weren't interested. I felt to knock the next two as well. The other one wasn't home but on the last one we knocked, Don answered the door. We talked briefly about how things were going that day and he asked if he could help us (that's a common question here in the south- it basically means why are you here on my doorstep?). I then explained "We are missionaries for Jesus Christ. We are here to share a message about Jesus Christ, families, and why bad things happen to good people". He swung the door open and walked inside with a gesture. He looked back and said "Come on in". Excited we locked our bikes up and had a great discussion with him. He's very knowledgeable in the scriptures and had some questions about Joseph Smith. His daughter wanted to be there but had to go. They're a great family and we're really hopeful for them (the story gets even better but that comes next week). We were out till 7:30 but it was worth it. We were both very grateful and had a good evening.

Friday the 6th
Was weekly planning. Not much else happened. We had a lesson with a man named M- great guy. He does wear underwear on his head (it's a hat I think he made himself. I looks better than you think and it's only by looking at the waist band you realize he's sporting Hanes). We invited him to be baptized (the assistants had challenged us on Wednesday to do so within 48 hours). He's not ready yet but we'll keep working with him. We also had a great impromptu dinner with the M's. They're very nice and the Sisters had the lesson. It was funny because at the end they asked which one of the boys wanted to say the prayer. "Jesus!" came the young boy's response. "Well- he's not here right now." I thought it was pretty funny.

Saturday the 7th
Was our usually Fitzgerald day. We had a good visit with Brother M where Elder S described church as a spiritual monster that would boost him up. We also had a great discussion with our ward mission leader, Brother K, who is a church history buff about the Pearl of Great Price and Emma Smith. It was a good but somewhat long visit (don't worry we talked about missionary work in Fitzgerald as well- that's what we came for).

Sunday the 8th
Was a good day. Fast and testimony meeting was good. I enjoyed it. I hope y'all are well and doing good.

Know how much I love and miss you all!

Elder Matthew Carlson

Elder S is Here!

HELLO TO ALL Y'ALL!

It's been an interesting week and I know I've left y'all hanging particularly since I've gotten behind on emails. I'll cover some of the highlights and bring y'all up to speed.

When we last read about our hero, he was journeying in the Tifton ward with his fearless companion Elder K, doing mighty battle in word and in deed to show unto the world that their message was true. They were awaiting the news of transfers with a mixture of a lack of concern and anticipation!

Monday morning rolled around and Elder K sat up in companion study. "I really don't think I'm getting transferred today" he said with a yawn. "Really?" Elder Carlson questioned. Elder Carlson was somewhat doubtful since from his personal experience when he felt like he wasn't getting transferred, he usually did. They finished studies and got a ride with the Sisters to the library. After some initial confusion due to many of the computers being taken, two opened up side by side and so Elder Carlson logged in as Elder K talked with Sister S. "You're getting transferred" came the whisper from Sister S. "What?" Elder Carlson perked up and looked at Elder K. "Are you serious?" he asked somewhat surprised. He had guessed it but it was still shocking news. Sister S looked on the transfer email even more as Sister D pointed out "You're getting transferred too." "I am?" The four missionaries having completed their emails home to friends and families proceeded to do great and mighty battle with the great rollback prices in wally world. Having secured a resting spot for the car to park, they proceeded inside cautiously. They were all very hungry as it was lunch time so they had to be extra on guard. With full shields on their wallets, they made their way from aisle to aisle looking for deals and things they needed. We got the hot dogs out of the car that Elder K had put in the week before. It was rather funny. We had dinner at the F's- really good. Fried chicken was the main course. Banana puddin' was the dessert and it was delicious. I love it. A large storm rolled in so Elder K packed some more (he was actually pretty fast).

Alright- I'm going to have to speed things up a little.

Tuesday was a long day. We had a interesting district meeting- it wasn't really about anything. It was mostly kind of hanging out. I was a little disappointed. We hurried back so Elder K could get to his doctor's appointment. We sat around for about 2 hours between the waiting room and the actual room. I drew some funny pictures and had some fun but it was mostly boring. Elder K packed more and said goodbye to some people (pretty much only 6 people knew he was leaving). Elder K packed more and got finished up. We tried to visit a few people but they weren't there. We went with the Sisters to see someone in the hospital only to find they had checked out a day or two ago. The old man at the information desk was really funny though. He was probably 90 something. He looked at us and at the Sisters. He looked at me and said "Are they your wives or are they just aids?" Sister S was visibly taken aback "No! We're missionaries!" "Oh...". Then he went on a long tangent about how the world is going crazy and how we should just dig a ditch around San Francisco and let it float out in the ocean.

Elder S is cool. Things are great. Sorry I am always running out of time. Maybe next week I'll have a better letter. I love and miss you all!

Elder Matthew Carlson

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