It's great to see the Saints doing well. Mckenna's baptism was on Saturday and it turned out very well. We also had an investigator show up at church a couple of weeks ago that I could really connect with because the guy really loved football. We are going to try and set something up with him this week so we can teach him. We are also now teaching Russ's wife and stepdaughter. They really seem to be interested in the gospel and Russ is really good at finding people for us to be able to teach. My pday today has been pretty boring. We haven't really done anything fun. I'm kinda ready for transfers to happen.
For Christmas I would like a Garmin GPS. That's all I really would like. I really like the clothes Granny gave me and Grandma and Grandpa sent me gift cards that I appreciate as well. Yes I would like my Sunglasses. They would be nice to have sometimes. I'm probably going to write Courtney and Granny this week. I'm going to really try and write them today though. I have been emailing Alonna and she writes me back but I don't think she is going to write me back anymore because she doesn't really have a computer anymore so, oh well. Maybe she will write me back once in a while. It kinda stinks but it's not a big deal.
I did hear about that guy who shot up Fort Hood. I was eating at Mcdonalds and they had CNN on and I was like when did this happen? I have no clue what's going on in the world anymore lol. Not a whole lot has been going on. Last week though I gave a blessing to a man in the intensive care unit. I wasn't expecting to give a blessing to him but this lady just grabbed me and the other missionaries to give him a blessing. The other missionaries turn to me and go do you want to do it since you haven't given a whole lot of blessings and I was like sure I guess. I remember being really nervous and scared. The guy I gave a blessing to had surgery on his heart and had a stroke so he was unconscious. I could see where they cut him open and stitched him up and he looked like he had been bleeding a lot from his neck cause he had gauze there. When I gave him the blessing I don't remember all of what I said except something about him recovering and being able to be there for his wife. I was shaking the whole time I gave the blessing and when I left the room I just stopped shaking. But I won't forget the look I saw on his wife's face. She was crying and shook my hand and it was kind of hard for me cause I felt really bad for her and what she was going through. I will probably never know whether or not this man woke up or if he died or what happened to him. I just felt like crying after I had left the ICU. We had originally gone to the hospital to give a blessing to this 13 year old girl that was in the hospital and our zone leaders did that blessing but I ended up giving a blessing to that man as well. I hope everything goes well for that family. That was probably one of the most spirtitual experiences I have had on my mission though.
Share this email though with dad and stuff because I won't have time to email him. I hope everything is going ok down there. I will try and write Mark and all of them. How are Jackson and Bryan and Tre and Mark Lemen and all of them doing? I'm going to go though.
Love Elder Mattei
11 November 2009
04 November 2009
More Q & A
Questions from Dad. . .
1. Do you and your companion share a bedroom? yes
2. Do you get to use the kitchen? yes
3. Where is your new companion from? Orange County California
4.
5. Did you get your medicine? yes
6. Is there anything you need us to send you? Not that I can think of right now
7. Describe your typical day in Boise. We wake up and have studies in the morning and then go and visit potential investigators and investigators. Then we will have lunch or something like that and then visit Bryan and Russ and some other people. We basically just go around and look for people to teach. We will probably have to go tracting soon because we are running out of people to teach.
8. Did you get the audio cassette Mom sent you? yes I did. I need to listen to it
9. Are you going to send an audio cassette back? If so when? I haven't recorded anything on it yet.
10. How is the weather there? It has been raining here for most of
October. It has snowed some and rained some and been sunny. So the weather is really random. Its also getting pretty cold.
11. Did you get more meals this week than you have been getting
previously? yes but I don't think we have any this week. It just kind of depends on the ward mission leader and stuff. It really doesn't bother me
12. Any new investigators you are working with? If so tell us about
them. Not really yet. We have some potential investigators that we're going to try and meet up with. One of them we met at church because a friend brought him and I talked about football with him and asked if we could stop by and he said sure.
13. Have you been able to go to the temple since being in Boise? Yes it's a very pretty temple.
14. Have you gotten a chance to look at your blog? Mom added a smilebox slideshow to it. It really looks good. I think your Mom would appreciate
your feedback if you have been able to see it. I have seen my blog and it looks really nice. Thanks for doing that for me.
15. So what do you do for fun? When you get home? On your P days?
Well today we went through a corn maze and chucked corn at each other which was pretty fun. On P day we usually play sports and all that. When I get home I usually take a shower or something and study the scriptures. And we plan out the next day first thing when we get home. I actually got to watch the Saints game while I was at Russ's house. It was a good game. I also answered some questions that he had as well and shared with him a lot of scriptural thoughts. I kinda taught and watched the game at the same time I guess. We had a good conversation though. We asked him if we would be able to teach some of his family and he said we might be able to so that will be cool if we are able to teach them. We might not be able to though because they're in a rehab center for alcohol, both his wife and his step daughter.
16. Any problems washing clothes, getting suit cleaned, etc? No
And Mom . . .
I guess I really just want to know how you're doing. You definitely seem to be enjoying yourself based on your video and letters. You really haven't been negative at all, which is great! So does it get hard sometimes and you just put a positive spin on it, or is it really all good? I know it has to have its challenges. I'm just so proud of you and happy that you're doing so well.
You should try and space your questions out like dad did. But my mission is going well but I do kinda put a positive spin on it sometimes. There are those days where you don't feel like doing anything because it's cold or rainy and you're tired. I could improve on a lot of things. I have trouble getting up in the morning at 6:30 because my last companion slept in and so does this one so I kinda do the same. I also have a lot of trouble sleeping at night and I'll lay in bed from like 9pm-1am before I can fall asleep. I went and bought some nyquil which seemed to help but I don't want to have to keep buying drugs to help me get to sleep.
So any new investigators? How are you doing with keeping the new converts excited about the Gospel?
There are no new investigators, just potential investigators. So hopefully that turns out well. We are supposed to have a baptism this week so that's good. We keep our new converts excited about the gospel by seeing them regularly and sharing with them a message. We mostly see Russ and Bryan and then probably Herman the most out of anyone.
We really enjoyed watching the Saints play last night. I was wondering if you got to watch any of it at all. The commentators were talking "Superbowl" possibilities which was so exciting to hear. I don't know if Saints and Superbowl have ever been mentioned in the same sentence really till now. I'm just sorry you're not able to enjoy the play by play moments, but I really do kind of think your service is helping somehow. LOL
I wrote in dad's letter that I got to see a lot of the Saints game.
So how do you feel you've grown in the last few weeks???
I feel I have grown because I'm a lot more compassionate and not as negative as what I used to be.
Granny wanted to send you a box of brownie mix, but we just didn't know how much use of the kitchen you have. She also wanted to know what fast food places are there in Boise? I think she might try to get you some gift cards.
There are a lot of the same fast food places here that are back home. I ate at this place called five guys that was pretty good. But some basic gift cards to mcdonalds or subway would be fine.
One more thing, ever heard of the card game BANG? Mark has been going on splits with Elder Bladen a lot as has most of the priests quorum and anyway they play this card game when they go back to the apartment. Mark says it's a lot of fun.
I have never heard of a card game called bang.
Did you ever write Courtney? Do you ever hear from anybody else besides her? How about your friend in Oregon?
Yeah I have written my friend from Oregon on my email. So you can give Courtney and my friends my email account if you would like.(already have, are you guys writing???) I will be sure to write Granny and Courtney this week. I always forget my address book to write them so it would be easier if they emailed me first.
Anyways I have to go. I have a good scripture to read that would be good for Mark, Trevor and Jackson. Go to the last Chapter in John. Its when Jesus visits Simon Peter while he is fishing. It's a good scripture for a missionary.
So did you ever mention to President Yardley that you knew Trevor and would like to serve with him some time?
And I told president Yardley about Trevor and saw his picture on the thing he sent in.
Love
Elder Mattei
1. Do you and your companion share a bedroom? yes
2. Do you get to use the kitchen? yes
3. Where is your new companion from? Orange County California
4.
5. Did you get your medicine? yes
6. Is there anything you need us to send you? Not that I can think of right now
7. Describe your typical day in Boise. We wake up and have studies in the morning and then go and visit potential investigators and investigators. Then we will have lunch or something like that and then visit Bryan and Russ and some other people. We basically just go around and look for people to teach. We will probably have to go tracting soon because we are running out of people to teach.
8. Did you get the audio cassette Mom sent you? yes I did. I need to listen to it
9. Are you going to send an audio cassette back? If so when? I haven't recorded anything on it yet.
10. How is the weather there? It has been raining here for most of
October. It has snowed some and rained some and been sunny. So the weather is really random. Its also getting pretty cold.
11. Did you get more meals this week than you have been getting
previously? yes but I don't think we have any this week. It just kind of depends on the ward mission leader and stuff. It really doesn't bother me
12. Any new investigators you are working with? If so tell us about
them. Not really yet. We have some potential investigators that we're going to try and meet up with. One of them we met at church because a friend brought him and I talked about football with him and asked if we could stop by and he said sure.
13. Have you been able to go to the temple since being in Boise? Yes it's a very pretty temple.
14. Have you gotten a chance to look at your blog? Mom added a smilebox slideshow to it. It really looks good. I think your Mom would appreciate
your feedback if you have been able to see it. I have seen my blog and it looks really nice. Thanks for doing that for me.
15. So what do you do for fun? When you get home? On your P days?
Well today we went through a corn maze and chucked corn at each other which was pretty fun. On P day we usually play sports and all that. When I get home I usually take a shower or something and study the scriptures. And we plan out the next day first thing when we get home. I actually got to watch the Saints game while I was at Russ's house. It was a good game. I also answered some questions that he had as well and shared with him a lot of scriptural thoughts. I kinda taught and watched the game at the same time I guess. We had a good conversation though. We asked him if we would be able to teach some of his family and he said we might be able to so that will be cool if we are able to teach them. We might not be able to though because they're in a rehab center for alcohol, both his wife and his step daughter.
16. Any problems washing clothes, getting suit cleaned, etc? No
And Mom . . .
I guess I really just want to know how you're doing. You definitely seem to be enjoying yourself based on your video and letters. You really haven't been negative at all, which is great! So does it get hard sometimes and you just put a positive spin on it, or is it really all good? I know it has to have its challenges. I'm just so proud of you and happy that you're doing so well.
You should try and space your questions out like dad did. But my mission is going well but I do kinda put a positive spin on it sometimes. There are those days where you don't feel like doing anything because it's cold or rainy and you're tired. I could improve on a lot of things. I have trouble getting up in the morning at 6:30 because my last companion slept in and so does this one so I kinda do the same. I also have a lot of trouble sleeping at night and I'll lay in bed from like 9pm-1am before I can fall asleep. I went and bought some nyquil which seemed to help but I don't want to have to keep buying drugs to help me get to sleep.
So any new investigators? How are you doing with keeping the new converts excited about the Gospel?
There are no new investigators, just potential investigators. So hopefully that turns out well. We are supposed to have a baptism this week so that's good. We keep our new converts excited about the gospel by seeing them regularly and sharing with them a message. We mostly see Russ and Bryan and then probably Herman the most out of anyone.
We really enjoyed watching the Saints play last night. I was wondering if you got to watch any of it at all. The commentators were talking "Superbowl" possibilities which was so exciting to hear. I don't know if Saints and Superbowl have ever been mentioned in the same sentence really till now. I'm just sorry you're not able to enjoy the play by play moments, but I really do kind of think your service is helping somehow. LOL
I wrote in dad's letter that I got to see a lot of the Saints game.
So how do you feel you've grown in the last few weeks???
I feel I have grown because I'm a lot more compassionate and not as negative as what I used to be.
Granny wanted to send you a box of brownie mix, but we just didn't know how much use of the kitchen you have. She also wanted to know what fast food places are there in Boise? I think she might try to get you some gift cards.
There are a lot of the same fast food places here that are back home. I ate at this place called five guys that was pretty good. But some basic gift cards to mcdonalds or subway would be fine.
One more thing, ever heard of the card game BANG? Mark has been going on splits with Elder Bladen a lot as has most of the priests quorum and anyway they play this card game when they go back to the apartment. Mark says it's a lot of fun.
I have never heard of a card game called bang.
Did you ever write Courtney? Do you ever hear from anybody else besides her? How about your friend in Oregon?
Yeah I have written my friend from Oregon on my email. So you can give Courtney and my friends my email account if you would like.(already have, are you guys writing???) I will be sure to write Granny and Courtney this week. I always forget my address book to write them so it would be easier if they emailed me first.
Anyways I have to go. I have a good scripture to read that would be good for Mark, Trevor and Jackson. Go to the last Chapter in John. Its when Jesus visits Simon Peter while he is fishing. It's a good scripture for a missionary.
So did you ever mention to President Yardley that you knew Trevor and would like to serve with him some time?
And I told president Yardley about Trevor and saw his picture on the thing he sent in.
Love
Elder Mattei
27 October 2009
More Answers to Questions
I think I'm going to get a gmail account because my lds mail is really bad and I can't click on links and the questions you ask me when I reply are not in colors, so it's hard to find all of the questions.
So what have you been doing on your days off?
So on my days off I usually play football or some other kind of sport. I played basketball today.
So do you get to see any of the people who you were in the MTC with?
I have seen a couple of people that I was in the MTC with. I talked to one today actually.
Sorry to hear that you aren't getting many dinner appointments from members.
I think we have the whole dinner thing figured out. So that is good.
Are you going to PEC meetings with the Bishoprics?
We haven't been going to PEC meetings because we go to different wards but we did have a meeting with the ward mission leader and ward missionaries.
Did you ever get the package from Grandma?
I never received a package from grandma so I don't know when I'm supposed to get it.
So how is your bike holding up? From the pictures you sent it looks like a really nice bike. Although I thought it was supposed to have mud guards over the tires. Did you take them off as I didn't see them?
My bike is holding up well and I took the things off of it because they kept falling off and it was getting annoying. This week I have been riding through a lot of rain and wind which kinda sucked. It snowed some today. You can see snow on the mountains so thats nice.
Where did Elder Maples go?
Elder Maples went to Twin Falls .
We keep having to push off Jackie's baptism because she hasn't been to church at all lately because of work. I have to go. The other Elders are looking to leave right now so I will try to email later or write a letter home. Things this week have been going pretty good though. We found another potential investigator so hopefully that turns out well.
Love
Elder Mattei
So what have you been doing on your days off?
So on my days off I usually play football or some other kind of sport. I played basketball today.
So do you get to see any of the people who you were in the MTC with?
I have seen a couple of people that I was in the MTC with. I talked to one today actually.
Sorry to hear that you aren't getting many dinner appointments from members.
I think we have the whole dinner thing figured out. So that is good.
Are you going to PEC meetings with the Bishoprics?
We haven't been going to PEC meetings because we go to different wards but we did have a meeting with the ward mission leader and ward missionaries.
Did you ever get the package from Grandma?
I never received a package from grandma so I don't know when I'm supposed to get it.
So how is your bike holding up? From the pictures you sent it looks like a really nice bike. Although I thought it was supposed to have mud guards over the tires. Did you take them off as I didn't see them?
My bike is holding up well and I took the things off of it because they kept falling off and it was getting annoying. This week I have been riding through a lot of rain and wind which kinda sucked. It snowed some today. You can see snow on the mountains so thats nice.
Where did Elder Maples go?
Elder Maples went to Twin Falls .
We keep having to push off Jackie's baptism because she hasn't been to church at all lately because of work. I have to go. The other Elders are looking to leave right now so I will try to email later or write a letter home. Things this week have been going pretty good though. We found another potential investigator so hopefully that turns out well.
Love
Elder Mattei
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