Hi Everybody!
First off I want to answer some questions I’ve been getting from others: we had a car in Lawrence, but only for 5 days, I didn’t have driving privileges until literally the day it was taken away. Transfers are not this week, but next week (it’s the start of week 6 right now and we find out the first Monday, or start of week 1 or 7). Uncle Jake, I would LOVE a copy of that talk, one in English for sure, and if you can find the Spanish version that would be very nice too, although I understand if you can’t, that is definitely the biggest question the people of Lawrence have. And I knew that Tom and Dan wouldn’t write me, they are my good friends; I know them well. I’m sure Tom misses climbing with me, as I do with him, or climbing at all for that matter. As far as Dan is concerned, I hope he’s not thinking about me too much, he needs to enjoy his senior year (not too much though!!!). I want to do so many things right now, one of them being lift weights with my cousins.
As far as Christmas is concerned, I’m told now that burnt CD’s are just fine (coming from an office elder, much more reliable than zone leaders) so no need to purchase CD’s for my Christmas presents, although you certainly can, but burnt CD’s are ideal because they save money. Some popular mission gifts are GPS, the New England streets are horrible, it’s not just Boston, and it gets worse as you go north, literally designed by cattle. I bought a watch, but want to take it back if I get another chance to go to the mall in the next couple weeks; it’s too expensive and doesn’t look that good anyways. The money went into silly features that I don’t need on my watch as a missionary, so maybe an affordable watch would be a good gift, only if I can return this one, which I really hope I can! I think I’m all set on sweaters, and I got a winter coat lined up, Elder Urrieta’s giving me his, he’s such a boss, I love him and will miss him. He goes home this transfer; he was so much help to me as a new missionary. He’s in our apartment and is our district leader. I don’t think I need shoes, but I haven’t bought my boots yet. I don’t know what to do about that though, I want insulated boots, but I also want the spikes that attach onto the bottom. I’d like to try those on here, and buy them where I know what they’re going to be like, because a lot of missionaries slip on the ice and snow. You could actually get pretty hurt, but I feel like a grandma worrying about suffering a fall…shouldn’t you worry about that before me? Anyways, a bullet proof Christmas gift is Cliff bars, fiber one bars, and Builder Bars (and those other protein bars I used to use, that can only be purchased at the Costco in Roseville). That gift is bullet proof, but pooling money for a nice GPS would probably be better, I don’t know if I’ll need it soon, I can’t use it in Lawrence, but after Christmas I either leave or have a few more transfers here and I will want it at some point during my mission. Another thing I will need in the distant future will be short sleeve shirts, but I won’t need them until next summer. I’m really concerned about boots…I need to figure that out.
Be sure to share the best pictures and send me back both memory cards (each with ALL the pictures on it). (Insert by Becky…I haven’t downloaded them yet :( but I will soon) Oh, and about the bikes, we haven’t fixed them because the mission won’t pay for it, and we don’t want to waste our money on bikes other missionaries will use next summer (once the snow hits, it’s all on foot). Another concern we have is our washing machine broke and we don’t have a car to drive to a Laundromat with. It’s frustrating relying so heavily on other missionaries to give us rides.
Anyways, this week has been pretty good. Elder Morales and I have been getting along very well. This will most likely be our last week together. We have a baptismal date lined up for one of our investigators. He’s 65 and has a crush on one of the ward missionary’s who is single and close to his age, we take her with us every time we see him (flirt to convert!). They are so cute though, it’s just ridiculous. Another investigator has a goal to know that the Book of Mormon is true, but his wife got drunk and called us and told us off, we’re concerned. We definitely need to settle any concerns his wife has. She thinks we’re trying to separate them, but in reality, we want to unify them (they’re not married yet, but we haven’t mentioned chastity yet). Also, we had a Zone Conference this week which is always fun! The focus was on the Book of Mormon. I love that book! At the end of the meeting, President Wilkey opened it up to missionary’s to share their testimonies about the Book of Mormon and how it has changed their lives. The spirit was so strong.
One more thing, I noticed at Zone Conference an older sister that was serving the chicken we were having for lunch. She seemed to have a mental handicap, but loved to serve the missionaries, I started to serve myself and someone stopped me and pointed out that she liked to do that. I smiled and politely thanked her for her service (even though I could have done it faster by myself). Then I found out that she was a convert of less than 5 years. And it was obvious why she loved to serve the missionaries so much. “How beautiful upon the mountain tops are the feet of those who bring tidings of great joy.” It is absolutely ridiculous and unreasonable the amount of love converts have for missionaries.
I love you very much,
-Elder Matthew D. Evans
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