The Jud's One Pound Challenge Winner

Sounds like yall will be having a fun Thanksgiving. All the missionaries around here are supposed to be fed by these people at the institute building. Yes President Yardley is as cool as everyone says he is. He is pretty relaxed and just an all around nice guy. I don't know one missionary who doesn't like President Yardley.

Scott is being baptized this weekend. It was so exciting to see him and his wife and kids at church. I was suprised to see them all there since they were separated. It goes to show you that the gospel blesses families. That is the 2nd principle we teach in the first lesson. You can tell it has made a big difference in his life. We found another person that we got as a referral that wants to be baptized, so we went over to her house and taught her this week. It's amazing how much we have been blessed and how many miracles I have seen while being out here.

I'm sure the family home evening video will remind me of home. I don't think we ever had a family home evening that went exactly as planned. Things are going better with my companion. I just think it takes time to get used to their personalities and stuff. I will probably be transferred soon. I still have not gotten your letter. It takes forever to get mail. I will be finding out when I will be transferred maybe tonight or tomorrow night. It will be interesting to see where I go.

I'm in 3 Nephi in the Book of Mormon. I just like reading about all the wars and stuff. I have found myself enjoying the scriptures a lot more than what I did.

I hope yall have a good Thanksgiving. We will be having a Turkey bowl. It should be really good. Elder Keogan left today and he called me last night and said, "I have less hours than you do months on your mission" lol. He was a really funny guy and a good zone leader. My favorite family would probably have to be the Hansens or the Coles or maybe the Glovers. The Hansens are really cool and make good food and their dad is making me this awesome looking pen.

O yeah I forgot to tell you I did the big Jud's one pound challenge. I don't ever recommend doing it. I ate a one pound hamburger. The meat is actually a pound and the bun and all the other stuff is just extra. Then you have to eat a pound of fries or tots. I can say that I did it but I also felt horrible after shoving 2 pounds of food down my throat. And you also had to drink a big drink. So I felt really sick afterwards and wanted to vomit while laying in bed at night. One of the worst feelings I have felt on my mission. But I got my picture on the wall and I can now at least say that I did it. My companion couldn't finish it. He said he felt sick when he looked up at me while he was eating and said he couldn't do it. I just looked so sick and I had like ten tator tots left and I had to like force them down. I finished all that in about 50 min and I haven't had a hamburger since then lol. Anyways I have to go. Yall have a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Growing Testimony and A Shrinking Waistline

So much of what Greg writes is in response to questions from Mike and me. Therefore, it sometimes makes it hard to understand what he's talking about if the questions aren't included to provide context. So here's the latest exchange between us and him...

I was kind of torn watching the Colts vs. Patriots game the other day. In a way, because Peyton played so poorly and I wanted the Saints to be the only undefeated team, I was kind of hoping the Colts might lose, but in the end, the fact that I cannot stand the Patriots won out and I was pulling for the Colts and Peyton. I will again be torn if/when they face one another. In the end, I will have to pull for the Saints. Darryl was funny. I saw him at church and he asked if they had Dairy Queens in Boise. He said he thinks he will finally have to pay on your yearly wager, by sending you a gift card. LOL

They have Dairy Queens here lol. FYI: Darryl is Greg's best friend's (Julian's) dad. They have had an ongoing bet for I think the last 4 years as to whether or not the Saints will get to the playoffs. The loser buys the winner a Blizzard from DQ.

Mom and I are looking forward to talking to you in a couple of weeks. It will be nice to get to talk to you right around your birthday. I will get you a GPS, but what are you going to use it for? Do you want one that goes in a car or a handheld one?

I would like a Garmin GPS that can go in a car. They come in handy when you don't know where people live and when you are covering a huge area. I saw some nice ones at Costco but I would like just a Garmin GPS because I think those are the best
ones. It's like the one you have.

So tell us how things have been going. Maybe try and tell us a little about the people you are visiting, teaching, meeting, etc. Tell us if you have learned anything new since being on your mission. Perhaps letting us know what you think has changed the most since you started serving (i.e. your testimony, your courage, closeness to the spirit, gained weight, lost weight, etc.) My area is kind of the same. We are teaching basically the same people. It would be nice to get some referrals or something because it would give us more to do. Russ has been the best person for finding us people to teach. We have a baptism coming up in 2 weeks. His name is Scott. He is probably a little bit younger than y'all and is a chemical engineer. He is a really nice and humble guy. You can always feel the spirit when you go in to his house. My testimony has grown a lot since being on my mission. It's really hard to believe that a lot of RM's go less active when they get back home. I really enjoy being able to share spirtual thoughts with people cause it always invites the spirit and it helps me know the scriptures a lot
more. I'm reading the BOM a lot more. I also bought a Glenn Beck book
called "Arguing with Idiots". I really enjoy the book but I get myself to
read the BOM a lot more by saying I have to read the BOM for like an hour
or so before I can read the Glenn Beck book. That book cites all the
sources in it so I have a feeling it will be really good for future
papers I will write in college.

If you can, why don't you make a recording of yourself on the camera before sending the memory card back. I am sure Mom and I would enjoy seeing you and listening to your voice. Perhaps we can do the same in the card we send you.

I will try and make a recording on my camera and take more pictures. I am down to 165 lbs by the way. I'm a lot thinner than what I used to be at home lol. How much does Mark weigh because I would like to be around that weight. Anyways I'm gonna go and
I'll TTYL. Y'all stay safe.


Ok well I wrote a letter to Granny last week on Tuesday I think and sent it so she should have gotten it. Transfers I think are on December 2nd. If you want to send anything I would like money for me to buy a nice electric razor and a Garmin GPS system lol. That can basically be my Christmas and birthday gift. We have 7 missionaries in our district counting me and my companion. There are a lot of missionaries in our zone. Too many to keep track. Yes I have zone leaders and district leaders. Our zone leaders are also our district leaders though. We actually have really cool zone leaders and they're not like really strict uptight missionaries. Our zone leaders are Elder Bell and Elder Keogan. They're both hilarious especially Elder Keogan. I do know some of those people. (I sent him a list of missionaries' names I got from the missionary moms group I belong to, so that I could find out if he knew any of them.) I know Elder Heffler and Elder Nelson. Both of them are really cool and I got along with them. I like Elder Heffler a lot. I just got back from Costco with him. But he is really cool and it's fun talking to him. He is from the same area as my companion but they didn't really know each other before hand. No I haven't really encouraged member referrals. I guess I should but our ward mission leader is supposed to do that. Russ is really good with referrals though lol. This week we actually have dinners so we eat at members' homes about every night if we have dinners. I really like what Julian sent me. I need to find his email address. I wish I had it with me now because I would like to write him. I bought this really cool Coke can radio today. It looks sweet. I found it at a pawn shop. It's sad to hear that Spencer died. It took me awhile to realize who you were talking about.

That's cool that Julian has my intials on his helmet (to quote an email I forwarded to Greg from his BF,Julian ~ I'm wearing your initials on my helmet til you get back. It's been my good luck charm; it helps me play better and keeps me focused.) and I thought the Saints thing was pretty funny. I was laughing. (Again, Julian said ~ Me and Scott are always making the joke saying the only reason the Saints are this good is because you're on your mission and you're blessing the Saints by doing this. I watch them every game they play for you. The funny thing is every time it seems like they are going to lose I always start saying "they can't lose! this is why my best friend is on a mission!" and some how Drew drives them down to put them on top.) I'm hoping he is going to church and doing ok. Tell the Barnes I say hi and that Mr. Darryl is going to have to owe me a Blizzard this year lol. How is everyone in the ward doing? Anyways I'm gonna go. I need to write dad probably so I'll ttyl.

Love
Elder Mattei

A "Blessing" Experience

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