Thunder / Snow / Hail / Slush! All at the Same Time!!!!

We had some crazy weather this past week. But we walked 21206 steps or about 8.02 miles.

The Short of Things:
We had some crazy weather this week. There was 60 MPH winds and snow/thunder all at the same time. We taught a very nice couple who are very prepared for the gospel and are willing to change to accept it. We had a specialized training where President Gerber answered questions that we had. It was interesting. We went to a pizza buffet and ate a lot of pizza. I'm not getting transferred. I'm staying with Elder Betts in Roseville South for at least six more weeks. In this freezing cold.

The Long of Things:
Tuesday 18- We went to see Emilee and had her practice teaching on her brother (who isn't a member). That was pretty great. He had our media hour and saw Sister Vanderkar for dinner with the Noble's. It was pretty good but she had a cat in very small quarters so my allergies were very aggravated. We saw the Myers who are going through a hard time right now. Please pray for them.

Wednesday 19- We had specialized training where President just answered questions that we had. He had a cool demonstration where he showed the scale of the solar system and showed how big the universe is and then related that to how much God loves and knows us. Then he had a cool chart that I'll include in my next letter. It's not something that I can just explain. We went to a pizza buffet called American Pie as a district. I thought it was quite good but everyone else thought it was terrible. We saw Katelyn that evening and taught a great lesson. She's getting a lot of friction from her family about being baptized but she really wants to be. We had splits that evening. I went to see the Parker's with Brother Myers. It was pretty good.

Thursday 20- This day the weather was crazy. It was thundering and snowing really hard at the same time. We couldn't even see 20 feet, it was that bad. We were told to stay inside except for appointments so we went to our two appointments. The first wasn't home but we did have dinner with Sister Kerr, which was fun and delicious.

Friday 21- We had weekly planning for a while and then we tried to see so many people today (some of which we had appointments with) but none of them were home. It was a sad day. Also, there was about 60 MPH winds all day long. If I unzipped my coat, I couldn't walk forward.

Saturday 22- There was supposed to be a baptism at 12, so we went to the church but no one was there. We finally found out that the baptism wasn't until 5:30. So we had lunch and then got haircuts from one of Emilee's friends. Then we contacted a bunch of referrals, some of which show promise. We tried to go see the Pitts (we had an appointment) but they weren't home. Then we saw the Leonardi's (that's Hank and Kate) but Kate wasn't there.

Sunday 23- We had ward council, so we were at church pretty early. Kate came, which was super cool. Church was nice. We talked about prayer in Sunday School and the Articles of Faith in Priesthood. We had lunch with the Kohler's and their friends, the Mosherries. They've been coming to church for about a month but we haven't been able to teach them. They have great questions and they really like the church and want their son to grown up in the church. I have high hopes for them. We had coordination in the evening.

Love you all incredibly much!
-Elder Michael Carlson

Explanation of the picture: In true Carlsonian fashion, I separated my valentine hearts into things I could probably do, things I can't do, and things that I REALLY can't do

Valentine's and President's Day

Both holidays passed without much ado except on Valentine's day I got a lot of chocolate, which was fun. I took 64820 steps last week, which is about 24.55 miles.

The Short of Things:
The car broke on Monday and we didn't get it back until Thursday evening. We had a bunch of appointments that we couldn't make it to because it took us about an hour and a half to walk to each. So, we'd go to one appointment and they wouldn't be there and we'd be sad but we'd have to walk to our next appointment and then we'd go home. It made for very long and cold days.

The Long of Things:
Monday 10- Our car broke down... So we stayed the night with the North Elders. We had all our laundry and groceries with us so we couldn't walk home.

Tuesday 11- We taught Nicole a great lesson and she gave us a ride home. We put all our stuff away and cried at the 4 appointments we had to cancel. We tried to see someone but they weren't home.

Wednesday 12- We had a zone meeting in Palmer Park that we had to get rides to. We were unsure of whether we could actually get a ride there but we did. We talked about how conversion = Spirit + Book of Mormon. We walked over to pick up the car because they told us it would be ready but then it wasn't. So, we walked home, had dinner and went on splits. I went with the Nobles to see some people but nobody was home. Elder Betts had a much more successful split.

Thursday 13- We tried to see Sharalece (a referral) but she was sleeping, so we walked over to Hank's house and talked with him for a while. Then we finally went to go get our car (and it was ready). It was great to have it back. It felt so nice. We went to dinner at Sister Kerr's.

Friday 14- Valentine's day! We had weekly planning for a tiny bit and then we took the North Elders for a field trip. Elder Fletcher needs a new ID card but he needs his SS card to get it. So we went to do that but turns out that he needed an ID card to get his SS card to get his ID card... So we went to Cici's to get lunch instead. We did our media hour and tried to see some people but again, all were busy or not home. We had dinner with Sister Buboltz and ate soooo much. We were completely stuffed.

Saturday 15- We attended a baptism for the Warren ward. We were hoping Kate would come but last-minute, she cancelled. We saw Emilee and gave her a few pointers on giving talks. Then we contacted a bunch of referrals (with no success). We went teaching with Brother Myers and had some great success. We didn't teach any lessons but we got a lot of information.

Sunday 16- Emilee gave a great talk in Sacrament meeting. It was soooooper good! We had lunch with Nicole, Kate and Emilee and taught a very good lesson. We then proceeded to set a baptismal date for Kate of March 8th. Pray that she will be ready by then. Then we picked up the North Elders to give Kimmie a blessing. She gave us bananas foster cupcakes, which were delicious. Then we had coordination at the Burnette home.

All in all, good week.

-Elder Michael Carlson

Lots and Lots of Snow!

We had a lot of snow. Like, a lot. I took 44197 steps this past week. The equates to approximately 16.74 miles.

The Short of Things:
I just realized that I neglected to put this section into my last email... sorry... We saw a lot of referrals and got a lot of doors slammed in our faces. But we also had some very spiritual and touching lessons. On Wednesday, the weather was so bad, there were no lanes and we couldn't see any farther than 20 feet ahead of us. We walked a day and a half in the super cold and snow but I'm not dead yet, so that's good. God lives and he loves you!

The Long of Things:
Tuesday 4- We tried to see Dennis (a referral) but he wasn't home. Then we saw Tiffany (another referral, from some other missionaries), who is really cool. She's made a lot of mistakes in life but she's really willing to change. We'll see where it goes. We contacted another referral but they weren't very nice to us. We did see the Pitts for a while and we taught them the importance of continually converting yourself.

Wednesday 5- We had district meeting. As we were driving there though, the snow was so bad, our visibility was about 20 ft. It was crazy. I gave an instruction on Fourier Series. It was good. Then I went on exchanges with Elder Jones (the District Leader) in Roseville. We saw Kate and had a great lesson with her. She told us that she knows the church is true and the Book of Mormon is true, she just wants to read the entire Book of Mormon before she gets baptized. Then we contacted a bunch of other referrals and almost all of them were pretty rude to us. We had dinner with Emilee and answered some questions that she had. Then we saw Dennis and had a great lesson with him. He's super knowledgeable about the Bible and knows that parts of it are incorrect. Then we talked with some potential investigators, most of which didn't want to talk because it was pretty late.

Thursday 6- We exchanged back. Then we saw Dennis again and had another great lesson with him. He does a lot of research on things but not all of what he finds is true. He thinks that contrails from airplanes are made of pesticides the government is testing on us... But we saw McGills after that and had a really good chat. It was good that we saw them. We had dinner with Sister Kerr and ended the night.

Friday 7- We had weekly planning for a really long time. Then we did our media time. Kimmie asked for a blessing, so we had to stop by the apartment to pick up some oil. But then we got locked out of our apartment, so we spent quite a while trying to get back in. That was fun. We finally got in and went to see Kimmie. We gave her a blessing and she gave us cheese dip.

Saturday 8- We had to walk, because we were low on miles. We saw Sister Buboltz and made sure she was doing alright in the wintery storm. Then we saw Emilee and answered some crazy questions about what happens when we die. Questions that I had never thought about. They were hard to answer. Then we tried to see a lost less-active but she was busy. So we walked over to Myers' for home teaching and dinner. All the people we tried to see weren't home though. Unfortunate.

Sunday 9- We had ward council for a while. Then church. We didn't have anyone show up but it was still good. The talks were about the Atonement and using it more fully in your life. We went teaching with Bishop to some people who don't have home teachers but one of them had a cat and my allergies were very bad. It was uncomfortable.

This week was full of challenges but also blessings. It was a good week overall. Love y'all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

And Yet More Snow!

My weekly total is off because I lost my pedometer for two days but then I got it back. So adding up five days was 13256 steps walked (and it was gone for our "walking" day).

The Short of Things:


The Long of Things:
Monday 27- We had dinner at the Kerrs' because we missed last Thursday and they wanted to reschedule.

Tuesday 28- We went and saw Emilee but after that the mission office told us to stay in because it was too cold except if we had appointments. We were pretty happy because we had appointments but then they all cancelled... So we stayed inside.

Wednesday 29- We had district meeting. Then we contacted some of our referrals and set up appointments to visit them next week. We had a delicious dinner at Burnettes'. They made some homemade spaghetti sauce and some spaghetti squash and it was delicious. Then we had splits. I went with Brother Myers and saw a couple of less actives that we hadn't been normally able to meet with.

Thursday 30- We saw some very uninterested and rude people but that's OK. They have their agency. And we saw Kimmie (I sat down on her couch and that's when I lost my pedometer). We tried to see the McGills but they weren't home. We walked to Sister Kerr's and had dinner there.

Friday 31- We had weekly planning. Hooray, my favorite (not really). Then we had lunch/dinner at Cici's pizza but it made us both feel kinda sick-ish, so we stayed inside.

Saturday 1- I was feeling kinda sick still but we went out and did work. We tried to see the Kohlers (they have been bringing some friends to church) but they weren't home. So we may or may not have had a snowball fight... The snow was very good for packing. It snowed some powder and then it rained making it really good. Then we went to Kimmie's for lunch. She made us homemade french fries and they were delicious. Then Elder Betts realized that he had lost his tag so we went back to the Kohlers' to try to find it. They were home and helped us look for it. Then it turned into snowman making... they invited us in and we talked about their friends but they're already working on getting them in contact with the missionaries (which is always nice to hear as a missionary). Then we saw Emilee and gave her a pedigree chart to start her family history. Then we went teaching with Brother Myers, only one person answered, Marcia B. but she said to come back on Sunday.

Sunday 2- Fast Sunday was really hard, I don't know why, but not eating was really bad this month. Emilee did bear her testimony in Sacrament for her friends and it was super good. Then we had dinner with the Myers. Oh, sooooo good. She made ribs and they were just too delicious. They were almost hard to eat because the meat kept falling off the bones. She is a great cook. We went to go see Marcia with Brother Myers but no one answered the door. We had a missionary correlation meeting and got some good stuff done.

Monday 3- I sent this later than normal because a different district uses the library after us but they needed to switch this week. So it isn't normal.

Love you all sooooooooooooo much!

-Elder Michael Carlson