March 3, 2019

March 3, 2019

Matthew likes to talk on the phone and Google Hangout much more than he does sending emails.  It is great to get to hear from him, and if it means more pictures (he sent a lot this week) it is an okay change by us.  That does however mean this blog will become more a narrative of what we learn from him than a copy and past of his emails.  We will keep working on it and see what hybrid combination we can come up with.

This week Matthew told us a lot about how much he loves his area and his companion.  He and Elder Talbot are building a "prayer room" in the storage area connected to the balcony of their apartment.  I wish I had snapped some pictures during the video tour he gave us.  It looks to be a great place for them to spend some time each day mediating.

We did get quite a few pictures from Matthew this week during our chat. 

So we had a fire, the fire engine visited our complex. We went and had dinner in a mansion and yeah that's this weeks adventures.

We asked if they were staying in the mansion, but he said:

No, the Zone leaders had a member leave town and said that they were welcome to use the house for a week. So they cooked us dinner.

He also sent a video tour of the home, but I don't know if it will work to upload it into the blog, so we will just include the pictures.

He also sent these pictures.

An amazing collection of root beers (or flavored drinks).  He had a vote to see which we wanted him to drink first.  He went with mom's vote of the one with the anchor on it.

 We also got this very interesting photo of Elder Talbot.

Matthew said: Elder Talbot and I also found a stick that looked like a sword.

Goes to show you that even on a mission, 18 and 19 year old boys still look for sticks and create adventures with them :)

It has been so great this week to see his smiling face and hear him telling his stories about what he's been up to this week.  We love hearing about how he and Elder Talbot get to sit on the pier at Lake Wilderness and talk about life, about the friends they get to visit with, about how they walk their area, and about the great love he is having for his new area and new companion. The one thing I forgot this week is to have Matthew share a scripture.  I will make sure to get us back on track with that part for the blog. 

We are looking forward to hearing from him tomorrow!