Elder Mattei with President and Sister Yardley

Some Really Nice Guys

Well, Greg arrived in Idaho Tuesday morning. He called us from the airport in Salt Lake and talked for about 40 minutes. We recorded his conversation so all the family would be able to hear. He sounded good, although he had a cold and sounded congested. He appears to be doing well, although I of course have tons of questions like "What is your companion's name???" for starters! Only 10% of the mission is on bikes, and he is apparently included in that 10% for now. From this short email it appears that he is living in a member home. Again this begs the question~ "What is the member's name???" All he says is that they're "really nice guys"! LOL I am sure he was just excited to be out on his own, teaching the Gospel, meeting new people, etc and left out a few details. At this point I am just glad he is safe and happy! gracie

Hey family and friends. So I'm serving in the Boise East mission. I'm kinda by Boise State. I have been riding my bike quite a bit. I tighten the bolts and stuff everyday. I really like my bike. So the first day I had lunch at the Yardleys. (mission president) I also went with my companion and visited with some people that were investigators. The sister missionaries took half of our area and most of the investigators so we lost all of our dinner appointments for the week. We visited with a guy named Herman who used to be a professional boxer and he was legit. I looked at the posters and newspaper clippings on his wall. He had to give boxing up because he got in a car accident and now has some form of brain damage and kinda has trouble communicating. We talked with him in his garage where he was working out. He is a really nice guy. He even showed us some boxing moves and stuff. I told my companion that we should really try and get him to church and we are going to try and teach him the Plan of Salvation today. We also met a recent convert of the church that was a huge track star in college but he also got in a car wreck and can't control his motor functions so well and he also has trouble communicating. He is also a really nice guy. I live with another member who is divorced and he is a really nice guy. Today I woke up and read my scriptures and then we went to the church and planned our week out. My companion is pretty cool. I like him. We get along well and he also has ADD bad like me. We both take the same kind of medicine and we do just fine. Today we went to Costco and bought some things. We went with some other missionaries and one of them was a Costco member. So you can send me a Costco member card if you would like. I also would like to have my sunglasses mailed to me. You should have sent me my under armour hoodie instead of that gray one cause the gray one doesn't fit me all too well. It gets cold in the morning but pretty hot during the day. I'm enjoying it so far. Hopefully we can get some of those investigators to convert. How is everything going over there? Anyways I have to go. I hope all of yall are doing ok.

Love
Elder Mattei

Mormon Frisbee

Ok so I don't have much time to write. I addressed a lot of things in my letters home. But I leave on tuesday and I think my flight is at 8am on tuesday morning. I will call yall then. Its hard to address everything in such little time. I kind of wrote to one of my friends and that is why my time is at 12 min right now. So I'm kinda starting to not get along with my companion the best. We are ok but we argue sometimes especially politically since he is a moderate. I'm kind of the funny guy in the group. I told you in the letter home that Elder Scott talked to us and gave us a blessing that we would be safe. It was really cool to have. I like my teachers a lot. I have been taking pictures for me to send home as well. Hope all of you are doing ok. I' m hoping Granny will be able to feel better soon. I can't wait to get to Boise and be able to be out on my own. My friend Elder Ware from Alabama is also a huge Alabama fan so we like to argue about who is better between them and LSU lol. We also agree politically and both love to talk politics. I also focus on the gospel a lot so don't worry lol. I went to the temple this morning and I went last week as well. I also forgot to tell yall I went to a temple dedication that they had at the gym here so I got to hear President Monson talk. I enjoy my roommates. We all have a lot of fun and we play frisbee with a Dips lid in our room lol. Only Mormon missionaries would figure out how to use a ice cream lid as a frisbee. The guy who also bothered me singing is actually not bothering me anymore and I like him. His name is Elder Goldthorp. He is very knowledgable in the gospel and he is like the go to guy for like anything you have a question on or need to know where somethin is at. I had teaching appointments where I taught pretend investigaters and they watch you on a camera in a room. Me and my companion did well with the help of the Holy Ghost of course. We were asked things about the trinity and stuff that wasn't even in our lesson plan so it was hard but we both were able to find scriptures to help us. Teaching is actually a lot harder than what I thought. There is a lot to it. I forgot to tell yall I saw Shae here. He left though. Anyways teaching is kind of challenging but we are getting better at it. I hope I can get a lot better and grow as I teach more and more. I need to go because I am about to run out of time. I'm glad Todd liked ISS lol. The good thing is that you could get work done in it. Tell Todd Good luck with hockey for me. Tell everyone I said Hi. I miss all of you. I really wish I could watch some cardinals games with them being so good right now. I predict it will be them and the Yankees in the World Series this year.

Love,

Elder Mattei