I'm combining the last couple of emails from Elder Mattei into this one blog post. I'll just kind of summarize his comments, as his emails were rather random. First of all it seems that the mission work is progressing really slowly in Jerome. He sounds kind of discouraged and seems to be looking for things to motivate him at this point. Apparently the members there aren't as supportive of the missionaries as he would like or as supportive as he's grown accustomed to. He hasn't mentioned Callie Mac, the man they had been teaching. It sounds like most of his work in Jerome has been focused on reactivating those members who are less active. One bit of news, he was upbeat about was the fact that the Garcia family, whom he helped get back to Church, will be going to the temple soon, and Greg will get to accompany them. I chatted with Sister Garcia once on facebook and she told me how fond her family was of Elder Mattei.
He and his companion, Elder Edwards have moved into a new house. He didn't mention if the zone leaders moved with them as well. The couple he was living with recently left to serve a senior mission. He said his new place is more in the country, with a more comfortable bed, and an in ground pool which he of course lamented that he wouldn't be enjoying. He has taken up racquetball on his P-days and loves it. Apparently some local members have a court in their home. Pretty neat! Sounds like his ankle is healing up some, He's been riding his bike more often to save on miles in their car. But he admits that he isn't working out as much as he had been and has been, in his words, lazy lately. Again this sounds like he's having a tough time staying motivated right now. Michael writes to him every week about how his faith in the Lord has been strengthened this past year and how he has learned to trust in Him in all things. Greg acknowledged that sometimes he struggles with putting trust in the Lord. But it sounds like he's trying.
I had the chance to "chat" with him online for a short while, as we exchanged questions and answers through email this past week. He talked a bit about his future, as he's realizing these next ten months will likely pass quickly. President Cannon has apparently already approved some missionaries returning home a few weeks early because of school. So Elder Mattei is considering asking for approval to come home a couple of weeks early because most colleges will have already started or be starting the week that he is set to be released. He obviously loves Idaho and the people there as he is thinking of applying to BYU-Idaho or Boise State. Hopefully he'll return to the community college here in Missouri for a semester while he plans for his future. I warned him that some of his friends here would not appreciate him coming home only to leave a couple of weeks later to return to Idaho! Courtney, in particular; and me! He thought that was rather funny and agreed that she would be MAD.
A member of our ward is actually traveling to Twin Falls next week, so we're excited to get to send some small things to him and of course are looking forward to a memory card coming back to us. So hopefully we'll have more pictures to share soon. A funny story he shared (at least I thought it was amusing) ~ Apparently the seam ripped in one of his suit pants. Well he didn't know it had ripped. He was sitting in Sacrament meeting a couple of Sundays ago and had his head in his hands, looking down ~ lo and behold there was his underwear peeking through the seam, apparently from the back all the way to the front. His response was, "What the heck? Elder Edwards, we have to leave." Thankfully he had his suit jacket with him, as it hid most of the show. And of course, it wouldn't be an email from Greg if the Saints and LSU were not mentioned. Just so you know, he's pleased with the Saints, but says they're not looking as good as last year. And no LSU did NOT deserve to win against Tennessee. He actually was somewhere that he got to see the end of that game and his comment was that he'd never seen anything like it. I'm still maintaining that Greg is a good luck charm for his favorite teams. Otherwise I don't know how they pull it off sometimes.
Lastly, I asked him if he had any advice for Mark as he is preparing to serve a mission in the near future. (Likely early Spring, but maybe sooner) His advice was to study the scriptures, read through the Preach My Gospel manual and become more responsible with finances. He wishes he had been better at all three before he left.
And thanks Gonthiers, for another picture to add of Elder Mattei and Elder Gonthier.
He and his companion, Elder Edwards have moved into a new house. He didn't mention if the zone leaders moved with them as well. The couple he was living with recently left to serve a senior mission. He said his new place is more in the country, with a more comfortable bed, and an in ground pool which he of course lamented that he wouldn't be enjoying. He has taken up racquetball on his P-days and loves it. Apparently some local members have a court in their home. Pretty neat! Sounds like his ankle is healing up some, He's been riding his bike more often to save on miles in their car. But he admits that he isn't working out as much as he had been and has been, in his words, lazy lately. Again this sounds like he's having a tough time staying motivated right now. Michael writes to him every week about how his faith in the Lord has been strengthened this past year and how he has learned to trust in Him in all things. Greg acknowledged that sometimes he struggles with putting trust in the Lord. But it sounds like he's trying.
I had the chance to "chat" with him online for a short while, as we exchanged questions and answers through email this past week. He talked a bit about his future, as he's realizing these next ten months will likely pass quickly. President Cannon has apparently already approved some missionaries returning home a few weeks early because of school. So Elder Mattei is considering asking for approval to come home a couple of weeks early because most colleges will have already started or be starting the week that he is set to be released. He obviously loves Idaho and the people there as he is thinking of applying to BYU-Idaho or Boise State. Hopefully he'll return to the community college here in Missouri for a semester while he plans for his future. I warned him that some of his friends here would not appreciate him coming home only to leave a couple of weeks later to return to Idaho! Courtney, in particular; and me! He thought that was rather funny and agreed that she would be MAD.
A member of our ward is actually traveling to Twin Falls next week, so we're excited to get to send some small things to him and of course are looking forward to a memory card coming back to us. So hopefully we'll have more pictures to share soon. A funny story he shared (at least I thought it was amusing) ~ Apparently the seam ripped in one of his suit pants. Well he didn't know it had ripped. He was sitting in Sacrament meeting a couple of Sundays ago and had his head in his hands, looking down ~ lo and behold there was his underwear peeking through the seam, apparently from the back all the way to the front. His response was, "What the heck? Elder Edwards, we have to leave." Thankfully he had his suit jacket with him, as it hid most of the show. And of course, it wouldn't be an email from Greg if the Saints and LSU were not mentioned. Just so you know, he's pleased with the Saints, but says they're not looking as good as last year. And no LSU did NOT deserve to win against Tennessee. He actually was somewhere that he got to see the end of that game and his comment was that he'd never seen anything like it. I'm still maintaining that Greg is a good luck charm for his favorite teams. Otherwise I don't know how they pull it off sometimes.
Lastly, I asked him if he had any advice for Mark as he is preparing to serve a mission in the near future. (Likely early Spring, but maybe sooner) His advice was to study the scriptures, read through the Preach My Gospel manual and become more responsible with finances. He wishes he had been better at all three before he left.
And thanks Gonthiers, for another picture to add of Elder Mattei and Elder Gonthier.
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