From the Mind of Mat6t

Teaching Texting to Senior Citizens

2011-09-17T13:42:00.000-06:00

This video is from the Toastmasters Area E3 speaking competition. September 17, 2011.

Operation Nursing Home, Day 1: Bingo

2011-05-17T16:13:00.003-06:00

In an effort to reduce my time spent watching hilarious YouTube videos, I decided to do some volunteer work. My first destination: Nursing home.

As luck would have it, this week is national nursing home week! This particular nursing home would be celebrating with a daily 3:00 pm party, each day having a different theme. Regrettably, I missed yesterday's Rodeo party, but I was just in time to help decorate for today's Luau. The two nice ladies running the show were more than happy to have my help, mostly because I could reach high places for decorations to be taped up.

Prior to the Luau, there would be a half-hour Bingo session. This was exactly what I was looking for! I was asked to help a sweet old lady, Marilyn, who happened to be blind. She would put her head down on the table as I took care of her Bingo sheet. When she got Bingo, I would tap her on the shoulder and whisper to tell her. She would spring to life, yelling it out in her shaky, lovable old woman shriek. For every Bingo game, Oliver the intern would bring the winner a tray of prizes, mostly candy and bags of chips.

Marilyn selected a rice krispy treat. Oliver turned to leave.
"Wait," I stopped Oliver, "Marilyn and I are a team," I said while grabbing a Snickers from the tray. Marilyn, being blind and all, heard me and grabbed a rice krispy treat off the tray for me.

Take that, Oliver the intern!

We ended up winning 3 times. The lady in charge of Bingo told us that was the limit. No more candy. Bummer. She then told me that Marilyn can only eat the M&Ms and nothing else or her digestive system couldn't handle it. This worried me until I remembered that Marilyn hadn't been eating the candy we won, but either gave it to me or stuffed it in her shirt. That was a close one.

The game AND luau were nearly ruined because of an overly-excited retiree playing Bingo right behind us. After he got Bingo, a couple workers quickly rushed over and escorted him to the bathroom. I just thought he had wet himself.

Then came the odor.

It became so powerful that the game had to be stopped, and the room aired out. I turned around and saw what the overly-excited man had left behind. A big turd! No joke. It was about 10 feet away from me on the carpet. Surrounding it was a 3 foot radius turd splatter. How did the guy even do it while keeping his pants on??

One of the best volunteering experiences I've had, but I'm definitely crossing out "Nursing Home Clean-Up Crew" from my list of potential careers.

Lots of Free Time=The Blog is Back Online!

2011-05-16T16:29:00.005-06:00

The other day my good friend and roommate, Brian Walker, walked into the our living room to find me lying down on the couch reading "The Four Hour Work Week."

"Trying to only have to work 4 hours a week, huh?" he said.

I responded, "Well, right now I'm doing a zero-hour work week, so I'm hoping to get up to four soon."

I'm kind of the bum of our apartment, but I'm okay with that. It is a little eerie going to bed seeing all my roommates at home, and waking up and being the only one there. But my roommates don't judge. In fact, they are very supportive of my lifestyle. One time I got out of bed as early as 9:30 am. Brian saw me squirming on the floor with my eyes closed. "You can go back to bed," he said. "Okay, you convinced me," I mumbled, and crawled back onto my bed and under the covers.

So stay tuned for more blog posts. Who knows, maybe through reading my future posts you will discover the secret to increasing your work week by 4 hours!

Finally Coming Home!

2010-10-08T20:57:00.002-06:00

Matthew is coming home on Monday October 11th! The plan is for him to speak on Sunday October 17th in the Grandview South Stake Center at 11am. We are so excited to have Matt home!

Top and Bottom 10 10/04/2010

2010-10-08T20:55:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

To sum up my missionary experience here in California, I made the following lists. Enjoy.

Top 10 Things I Will Miss About Being A Missionary in California:

10. Free dinners with families every day

9. Driving a 2009 Chevy Malibu

8. Not having to pay for gas

7. Perfect weather

6. Being treated like a celebrity at church

5. Quoting church videos word-for-word

4. Meeting at least 5 people for different continents every day

3. Getting every member's leftover food even if you didn't eat with them
2. Inviting people to be baptized during the first visit with them

1. Being able to point to a nametag every time I introduce myself

Top 10 Things I Will NOT Miss About Being a Missionary in California:

10. Being mistaken for a Jehovah Witness, Polygamist, or Amish person

9. Waiting 2-3 months in an area before anyone pronounces my name correctly

8. Trying experimental recipes ward members make for us

7. Californians that complain if it's even 2 degrees above or below 72 degrees

6. Having to get out of the car and direct the driver any time the car is in reverse

5. Endless phone calls

4. Being attached at the hip to some other dude 24/7

3. Smelling a different ethnic food every time we go in our apartment complex

2. All the contents of my front pocket spilling out when I bend over, often referred to as a "pocket-puke"

1. My 2 best CDs are "Ultimate EFY Collection" and "LDS Superhits of the 90's"

Despite this last list, I've loved it here. These 2 years have changed and helped me more than any other time in my life. I have seen the gospel in action helping others have the happier, most satisfying, and Christ-centered lives that they are looking for. I can't express how grateful I am to have spent my time here as a missionary.

I'll be home on Monday just after noon. How about Burger Supreme for lunch?

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Not Coming Home Yet 09/30/2010

2010-10-08T20:54:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Friday night. We are teaching Moss and Mele Malala in their apartment. Mele is scheduled to be baptized on October 9. During the closing prayer, Mele got up and went into the kitchen. After the prayer, she came out with 2 styrofoam containers filled with chicken wings and rice for us.

On the ride home, Elder Bell and I sat in silence, pondering. It may have been the smell of the chicken wings in the car, but I was filled with a great love for both of them. The feeling that I needed to be there for her baptism was growing in me. When I got in the apartment, the feeling continued to increase. I knelt to pray about it. The feeling remained. Coming into the kitchen, I said to Elder Bell, "Dude, I'm thinking about extending to see Mele's baptism."

I called President Jackson. After telling him about Mele (you always got to begin a conversation with the mission president about some sort of success) I said "So President, what do you think about me extending for 2 weeks to see her baptism?" In a casual tone, he told me to call Mom and Dad and see if it's okay and then call him back. 10 minutes later it was decided that I would stay to see Mele's baptism.

That's what they say about missions, you know. First you hate them. Then you get used to them. Enough time passes and then you depend on them. Institutionalized, is the term for it. Nah, but I'm pretty happy to have 2 more weeks with the people we're working with out here.

All of Monday I spent with the missionaries that were going home. President Jackson did his last interviews with them, and then he and his wife gave us all advice about going home. My favorite line he said was, "You will all be nerds when you get home. You won't know how to act around anyone..."

Tuesday was the worst day. On Monday night I slept over with all the missionaries going home. The airport is in the Santa Clara area, so we arranged for my companion to pick me up there when we would see the other missionaries off. We drove the missionaries to the airport, helping them with their luggage and all that. In the airport, I looked at the departure and arrival flights on the big TV screens. I saw the flight I would have been on. Dang.

But at the end we greeted the 18 new missionaries arrive at the airport, just beginning their missions. Confused, overly shy or extremely talkative, eyes wide open, tripping over their luggage, etc. I love new missionaries.

Anyway, I hope all of you that were planning huge surprise parties for me are able to have the catering, DJs, and firework shows moved back two weeks. Sorry about that.

I hope you all are doing great. I'll see you all soon. October 11 is the date.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Soap Boxing 09/20/2010

2010-10-08T20:52:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

We invited our Ethiopian refugee investigators to George and Maria Batis's baptism on Saturday. 2 of them came - TD, and Keeflay. I got a little uneasy as Maria was baptized. She went face-first into the water, got her face and hair wet, and then came back up, gasping for air and trying to walk out of the font. She didn't realize she didn't go all the way under the water.

But it must have been a good experience for the Ethiopians. While eating cookies afterward, TD asked, "When can I be baptized?"

Also on Saturday, I realized I had not done something I always wanted to do as a missionary. That is what is sometimes referred to as "soapboxing." Luckily there was the local "Art and Wine Festival" going on at Santa Clara. There they have live music, lots of booths set up, and lots of people (many at different points of becoming drunk). We walked to the most crowded place with the most foot-traffic, carrying a milk crate and a sack of 16 copies of the Book of Mormon. I set the crate upside-down just off of the path, grabbed 2 or 3 books, and hopped onto the crate.

My original plan was to begin teaching about the Restoration until a few people began listening. Just like the first missionaries sent to Europe used to do on the street. No go. My voice wasn't loud enough to be heard for long over all the noise of the crowd. So I changed my approach to yelling:

"FREE BOOK! Jesus Christ teaches in America! FREE BOOK!"

Pretty effective if you can believe it. In about 10 minutes all 16 copies of the Book of Mormon were given away.

My favorite part was when a cop came up to us, and said "I'm sorry guys, but you can't sell those things here."

"Can we give them away?"

"Well, yeah, but you should probably, uh..."

Elder Bell offered, "Would you like a copy?"

"Oh, no, no," the cop said and walked away quickly.

-No unhallowed hand can stop this work-

Haha.

Yesterday we had what is called the "Outgoing Missionary Fireside." It's the fireside for the missionaries going home, and especially for their converts and investigators. Making 150 to 200 phone calls telling people about it paid off with about 40 of the people I've met out here show up. About 300 total people came. I hope Dad is okay with me telling lots of people about his conversion story. I shared it with this group.

Basically this week has been awesome. I'm really excited to come home. Mostly to see Weston and Kaylee. I haven't updated my pictures of them, so I still imagine them a year and a half younger than they are. I'll probably be freaked out when I see them.

I love you guys. I was planning on bringing everyone back some food from In-and-Out Burger, but I heard there's one in Utah Valley now. Any other requests?

The Church is true. I hope no one has forgotten that. It took 2 years of having nothing to think about but the gospel for me to realize that. I love the people here, a lot because I've seen how the Spirit has worked in their hearts, inspiring them to become better, love others, be filled with hope and happiness, and last of all - to buy us missionaries food.

Seriously though, we get fed a lot. It's like as soon as someone's testimony grows, they get a sudden urge to buy food for the missionaries. Yet another evidence of the truth of this work. If anyone out there is contemplating going on a mission, I want you to know that it pays off. You see the lives of those you love become so much better as they learn to make changes to bring their lives in closer harmony with the Savior's teachings. Plus, the same thing happens to you without you even knowing it. Do it.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

EXTENSION!

2010-09-28T22:25:00.002-06:00

Elder Karlsven has extended his mission for 2 more weeks. He received special permission from the mission president to be able to do this. His new homecoming date is set for Monday October 11th. We think he will talk the next Sunday on October 17th. We will keep you updated!

Matt is Coming Home Soon!!!!!

2010-09-14T19:48:00.003-06:00

In case anyone has forgotten, Elder Matt comes home on September 28th! The plan right now is that he will speak on October 10th in the Grandview South 17th Ward at 11am. We will let you know through the blog or email if this is not the case.

You Mean I Can't Break Your Back? 09/14/2010

2010-09-14T19:46:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Giving baptismal interviews is one of my favorite things to do. When I met Maria for her interview, along with her husband George, I knew this one would be no exception. George and Maria met and lived for a number of years in Santa Cruz. I sensed that could be the case, even before they told me. They had a bit of a "Santa Cruz feel" to them.

Maria was nervous about the interview. After showing them the baptismal font, she asked that George accompany her to the interview. They each told me a bit about their life story as we sat in a classroom in the church building. As the interview went on, it was obvious that she was well prepared, and ready to be a member of the church.

George and Maria are both in their 50's and like to make jokes about each other. At the times he made a joke that would make Maria scowl, he would kiss her 3 or 4 times on the hand, cheek, or shoulder. This happened frequently throughout the interview. With all their jokes, story-telling, and me having to gather myself after bursting into laughter several times, the interview ended up taking about an hour. She passed with flying colors.

One of the rules in the Missionary Handbook says to avoid holding children, or having them sit on your lap. This isn't usually an issue, but occasionally their are kids that influence you to go by the spirit, and not so much the letter of the law. Connor Eves is one of those kids.

We arrived for dinner at the Eves house. We took a seat on their couch. Connor ran into the room, and shook each of our hands. He grabbed onto my hand and started walking up my leg. After I got him down, he would them run full speed toward me as I sat on the couch, and then jump onto me. Each time I would get ahold of him and lift him off. His mom began shouting to him from the kitchen to leave the missionaries alone.

The pattern would continue. He'd jump on me. I'd lift him off. His mom would tell him to stop. But at some point, even the most patient of missionaries say "No more." The next time Connor jumped on me, I grabbed him, and hoisted him onto my shoulder. I flipped him around so that his back was on my shoulder. I began bouncing up and down.

Turning to my companion I said, "I call this one 'the backbreaker'."

Connor began yelling louder.

We heard his mom's voice from the kitchen, "Connor! I thought I told you to leave the missionaries alone!"

She walked into the room and saw me doing "the backbreaker" on Connor.

Awkward.

But hilarious too.

The work goes on as usual. The Malala family is doing great, and love coming to church. Mele is still shooting to be baptized at the end of the month. Awesome.

Thanks for all the emails. Happy birthday to Becky and Weston!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Very Busy 09/07/2010

2010-09-14T19:41:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

At the stake pancake breakfast yesterday morning, a guy in BYU cap comes up to me and says, "Hi, Elder Karlsven." I did a double take, and recognized that it was Evan Smith. After 23 months of searching, we finally found each other. I thought Mike and Joe would like to hear about that.

On Saturday night we went to visit Claude, a man from Congo that has come to church before. We came to his apartment and saw that the door was open. 3 men were sitting inside. None of them were Claude. As soon as they saw us they said, "Come in, come in." We sat down with them, and found out that all three of them were refugees from Ethiopia. They had been living in Kenya, but came to California a couple weeks ago. The only one whose name I remember is T.D. T.D. wanted to come to church. We called a member up, and the next thing we know, TD is sitting in Gospel Essentials class with us. I wonder how many people are out there right now that would come to church if only someone visited them and invited them.

But it was a pretty crazy day at church. We had 8 investigators there. 2 of them were there for the first time. Plus we got a phone call asking us to go give a blessing in the middle of church. So we were running around a lot. I'm going to miss wearing a missionary badge at church, which seems to permit you to push people out of the way, grab someone to help with an investigator, etc. as long as you say "Official missionary business" as you do it.

Oh, looks like I'm out of time. Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Answers to Prayers 08/30/2010

2010-09-14T19:38:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

I think Becky asked about my companion, Elder Bell. As far as personality, just think of Joe, and you have it. He acts SO much like Joe, in his jokes especially.

I had a companion that reminded me a lot of Dave too. It was Elder Valencia.

But the best one was Elder Tobler, who reminded me a lot of Dad. He was very humble, made breakfast, was quick to apologize when needed. I remember just getting the feeling that he was like Dad, and then one day when I folded his laundry or something, he said, "Oh, you're a sweetheart." HAHA! What are the odds? Just like Dad.

After a meeting 3 weeks ago with the ward mission leader and the ward missionaries, we decided we will all begin praying that the Lord would put people in our path that needed the Gospel. Then we would report what happened at the 5th Sunday meeting at church (which happened yesterday). Two answers to prayer this week:

1. We got a phone call from the Elders Quorum President telling us that a new couple moved into the ward. They are Polynesian, and the wife is not a Latter-day Saint. The husband has not been to church for about 4 years. They were in the hospital because he had a foot infection. We visited them there. Taught about the Plan of Salvation. Found out they both are at a point where they really want God and a church in their lives. She accepted our invitation to be baptized in September.

2. We got a call from Brother Cate in the ward. He told us that a man named Rob called the church and wanted to learn more. He gave us Rob's phone number. I called it and found out he has looked into a lot of churches, but admired the Mormons he knew for them "practicing what they preach." I also found out his name is Ross, not Rob. So yesterday night we met with Ross at the church building, showed him around, and then sat on the couches in the lobby to answer his questions and teach. Great guy.

The other good story of the week was when I knocked on the door of an Indian woman. At one point I asked her if she believes in God. Out of nowhere she asked me, "Is it because you see my brown skin that you don't think I believe in God?"

Huh? I can't believe she just played the race card on me.

Anyway, prayers are answered. I'm doing great. You guys are in my prayers.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Miracles Happen 08/23/2010

2010-09-14T19:37:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Miracle of the week:

We had dinner with the Svantessons in the ward. I thought I remembered which apartment they live in, but after I knocked we were greeted by a small Chinese lady at the door. She didn't speak much English, but we offered to bring her a Book of Mormon in Mandarin. She accepted and we set an appointmet and got her phone number. Her name is Cecily Chen.

The next day we were calling around to find a Mandarin speaker in the ward. We found two. One had to work at the time we would visit Cecily. The other, Tyler Hooper, wasn't answering his phone. The day of the appointment with Cecily came, and not only did we have no Mandarin speaker to come with us, but we wouldn't even be able to come into her apartment without another guy there (missionary rule).

We went to her apartment, thinking we would just give her the Book of Mormon, and try to set up another time to visit her. We knocked on the door and she wasn't home, even though we had called her that same morning and she said she would be there. Frustrated and angry, we began knocking on some doors in that apartment complex.

After about 5 minutes of that, we got a call from Cecily. She apologized for not being home, but said that she was there now and asked if we could come. As we were walking toward her apartment, a man came out of a garage in the complex. Who was this man? None other than Tyler Hooper, just getting off of work!

"Hi guys," he said.

"What are you doing here?" We asked.

"I live here," he said, "I got your message, but I had to work late today. Sorry. Were you able to see that lady?"

"We're going there now. You want to come?"

"Yeah."

So we met Cecily and her husband Ben. I'm not sure what happened, seeing that most of it was in Mandarin, but everyone was smiling, and Cecily asked for more information on church activities and ways to learn more about the Book of Mormon. They will be a pretty good referal for the Chinese-speaking missionaries.

Miracles happen. The Lord can put people in our path to help us in bringing the blessings of learning the Gospel to others.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Just Because I Wear a Name Tag Doesn't Mean I Work Here...08/16/2010

2010-09-14T19:34:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

I remember my trainer was at this point in his mission when he first met me. His assignment was not only to train me, but to open a new area that would be the smallest one by far in the whole mission that was VERY Catholic, and only had a handful of active members of our church.

Man, I'm glad I don't have to do that.

I just got a new companion - Elder Bell. He's from Oregon, is the youngest of 8 kids in his family, and has no problem eating leftovers without asking how long they've been in the refrigerator. I like him. He's been a missionary for 20 months. He seems pretty solid.

2 weeks ago Elder Tobler told me that he had a prompting that we would find someone on our lists of "potential investigators" (mostly people the missionaries talked to that said they could come back, or seemed nice, etc). So this past week each day we looked for a few of the ones that seemed promising. On Wednesday, we had about 15 minutes open up in the afternoon, so we visited one of them - Loraine. She said for us to come back the next day. Thursday - we teach her about Jesus Christ, the Great Apostacy, and the Restoration. She accepts to read the Book of Mormon, ask in prayer if it's true, come to stake conference on Sunday, and be baptized September 18.

Don't get too excited. A lot of crazy people agree to those things too and then you never see them again.

Now get excited. She came to Stake Conference, even though this one was all the way up in Fremont (30 minute drive)! Awesome. We had the 2nd counselor in the bishopric and his family pick her up to go.

So all in all, being a missionary is great. At the Stake Conference I felt like a superstar because I knew so many people there (having served in both the Los Altos and Santa Clara wards). I think I've been blessed out here with a better ability to remember names. I probably saw over 100 people I know at the Stake Conference, and somehow I knew all their names.

One good experience this week was when we went to CVS pharmacy to get some cough drops. 10 seconds after we walk in the store, an Indian man starts shouting at us from across the store to come help him move some things.

"We don't work here," we say.

Immediately, IMMEDIATELY after that this old lady asks us where she could find some soap.

The Indian man told her we don't work here. She then looked at our missionary nametags and said "Oh, I know you guys! You visited me a few weeks ago." She got all excited and gave us each a hug.

I have no idea who that old lady was. But she seemed cool.

5 minutes later, while we are looking at our choices of cough drops, a guy that works there asks if we could show him how the cold medicine was supposed to be organized.

I think the next time I go into a CVS Pharmacy I'm going to put a bright pink Post-It note under my nametag that says "I DON'T WORK HERE." Either that or I'll continue to tell people where things are at in a store I'm visiting for the first time.

The Church is true, everyone. Better yet, being a part of it brings a greater connection with the Lord, and being happy. I love that.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Save The Date for September 28th!!!

2010-08-10T21:02:00.000-06:00

Hi family,
We just got a letter in the mail from Elder Matt's mission president saying he is scheduled to come home Tuesday September 28th. We'll request that he fly in to the Salt Lake Airport. I'll keep you updated on more specifics....
Love ya,
Laurel Dean

Amazing Testimonies 08/09/2010

2010-08-10T21:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Every 6 weeks we have what's called an Outgoing Missionary Fireside. It is held in a chapel in San Jose. Each missionary that is going home the following week gives their testimony, along with several musical numbers. It is one of the best meetings to bring friends along that you are teaching.

We brought Sudakar Sarredy to this fireside yesterday. This was probably the best one I've been to. Over 500 people came. There were a few musical numbers, some with Polynesian singers. I wish I would have recorded some of the testimonies, because they were short, but very powerful, coming from the many different perspectives of different missionaries. New Zealander, Fijiian, Taiwanese, Mongolian, Samoan, Canadian, Australian, and of course Utahn missionaries spoke. Testimonies were given in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Mongolian, and American Sign Language. A senior couple also spoke, along with a missionary that couldn't serve a regular full time mission because of physical and mental incapacities (He helps out in the mission office). There was a strong love felt after each testimony. It meant a lot more to me than other outgoing firesides probably because I've served around and with several of the missionaries that spoke. When you know someone better, you know when they are being sincere, and their sincerity is that much more powerful.

Brother Sarredy loved it. As I spoke with him in the cultural hall afterward, while everyone was greeting and getting pictures with the departing missionaries they knew, he said with his Indian accent, "There is something special about LDS. It is not like other churches."

As we walked out of church, Brother Sarredy went on about how amazing it was that a young boy with "a doubt" prayed and "now lots of miracles." Brother Sarredy is a great man. He has expressed that he wants to be baptized when his wife and son get back from India at the end of August.

Great day. I have 1 minute left on this computer, so I love you guys. See you later!

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Great Week 08/02/2010

2010-08-10T20:58:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Okay, I have 9 minutes to write this. Here's the good stuff:

We began teaching the Velasquez family 2 weeks ago. We met them when we were looking for Fernando Velasquez's brother at their home. Anyway, we invited them to church this week, but Fernando had a sprained ankle, so he said next week would be best. He also said that he wants to take it slow because he hasn't been to any church for 20 years. So, of course, we sent a member of the church over there to invite them to come to church with them, and that they would pick them up Sunday morning. Fernando still seemed hesitant, but he said it would okay for the member to come.

Sunday morning. 10 minutes before church. I was handing out programs for Sacrament meeting when our Ward Mission Leader comes up to me and says, "The Velasquez family is here." It turns out that Fernando actually got up early and got his wife and daughter up for church. It was fast and testimony meeting (a risky meeting for new people at church in case a crazy person gets up there) but every testimony was appropriate, and several very powerful. Great day.

The other highlight of the week was when we met with our long-time investigator Sudakar Sarredy from Hydrabad (sp?), India. This appointment was different than the others. He explained that he has gone through a "personal apostacy" but now nothing holds him back from being baptized. He told us about his desire to be with his parents and his wife and son "in the heaven."

Awesome.

So yeah, in short, this mission is pretty sweet. I love doing this work. I'm pretty bummed about having to go back to regular work soon

Love
Elder Karlsven

Can't Fool The Mission President 07/26/2010

2010-08-10T20:57:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

Every Monday morning we have a conference call with the mission president and all the zone leaders in the mission. We report on "key indicators" which are just the number of people who are working towards a baptismal date, coming to church, being taught by the missionaries and a member, or who have just started meeting with the missionaries. Typically our zone has a lot of people doing one or two of those things, and barely anyone doing the others.

For example, most of the other zones had about 15 or 20 investigators come to church. Ours had 6. So here's what you do on the conference call:

Mission President: Los Altos zone, how did you do on getting people to church?

Me: Well, the good news is that we DOUBLED the number of people that came to church last week! (Last week was the worst week of the year for our zone getting people to church - only 3 came)

Mission President: Excellent, elders. Good job. How many came?

Me: I think our phone battery is low. You're voice is fading, President. (I say this as I move the phone farther and farther away from my mouth)

As you probably could guess, this doesn't ever fool the mission president.

I think someone a while ago asked how we find our investigators. I thought I'd just tell you how we found the ones we are currently teaching.

Velasquez Family: There were a bunch of guys hanging out outside of a house. I spoke to one of them who had 2 different colored eyes. He gave us his address. We went there a couple days later and found his brother and his brother's daughter home. We gave them a picture of Christ (that we had intended to give to an investigator nearby, but who wasn't home) and asked to share a 5 minute message on Jesus. They let us in. We've taught them twice so far.

Sarredy Family: I'm not sure how they were first introduced to the church, but they are all from India. They have been coming to church for 3 years now. The husband is finally starting to talk seriously about baptism.

Chang Family: The husband is half Chinese and half Jamaican (I hadn't met anyone with a mix like that either). His wife is a member. They graduated from college not too long ago, and were married a month ago They moved into the ward when they got married, and the bishop from their old ward sent an email to our bishop to go meet them.

Dennis R.: After going to a member family's home to leave a blessing on their family and home, we walked across the street to a guy and his 2 sons. We introduced ourselves and asked if we could visit him another time. He said to come back in a couple weeks because he was going out of town. It didn't seem promising at all. But we returned, and brought a member with us that was baptized last year. Dennis let us in. He and the member were a perfect match, coming from the same background of gangs and poverty, but wanting to change since having children.

Banos Family: Shortly after I was transferred here, we were biking to an appointment. I saw a Hispanic lady unloading her car. I stopped and asked if she needed help. She declined, but then I asked if we could come back and teach about Jesus Christ and his restored gospel. She said yes. We've taught her and her 4 kids several times since then.

Irfan: Irfan is Islamic and is from India. He visited the Hawaii temple and agreed to have a Book of Mormon delivered. So we got a text message telling us his info. We called him and set up an appointment. We came, answered his questions about the Book of Mormon, suggested a passage for him to read, and he said that we could come back in a week.

So there you go. That's missionary work here. I enjoy learning the stories of different people, and especially asking what makes them want to meet with us. Some just want to learn. Some have specific questions. Some are going through a rough time and want some help. Following the principles and commandments of the Gospel are what help. Loving ward members do a lot too.

Have a great week. Meet someone new at church this week.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

I Heard That Will Smith is Mormon 07/19/2010

2010-08-10T20:54:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

I think I mentioned a couple weeks ago how we went up to a bunch of guys getting ready to play softball, taught them a couple parts of the first lesson, and then passed around my planner to get the names and addresses of those who would like a Book of Mormon delivered to them. One of the names that was written was "Will Smith." That one has got to be fake, I thought. But I gave the phone number a call, and was able to set up an appointment with the guy.

We get there and Will greets us at the door. Will is a large African-American with thick dread locks. He lets us into his dimly-lit apartment and we sit down with three of Will's brothers (named Deravante, Dante, and Day-tron).

Possibly the best lesson of my mission. I'm not even kidding. They asked a lot of questions, which is almost always a good thing. We could tell from them explaining back to us what we taught that they were beginning to understand. I felt that this was one of a very few number of lessons I've taught that has truly been led by the Spirit to teach to a person's needs, and not just teach the doctrine. This lesson began to let us know where Will and his brothers were actually coming from, and what they care about, and what they are interested in. It's a lot easier to teach when you begin to really know the people you are teaching.

Later this week, we had our first meeting with a new investigator, Irene. Irene is about 60. She has 3 kids, and she is Hispanic. We brought an older man, Brother Lundstrom, to this appointment. As we began to teach, all was going well and had the same feeling as the lesson with Will. Elder Tobler asked Brother Lundstrom "How has the Gospel blessed your family?"

We then heard a 5 minute lesson about temples, baptisms for the dead, getting "sealed" and a bunch of other stuff that confused Irene. No bueno. But eventually the subject of the lesson turned back to things that actually applied, and Brother Lundstrom redeemed himself by telling us all how he joined the church. Good man.

So yeah, I'm enjoying the teaching. I really wish I could have began the mission having the knowledge and understanding of my purpose as a missionary that I have now. It could have prevented a lot of dumb ideas, wasted time, and frustration at earlier times in the mission. I'm not thinking about going home all the time, but I do keep having recurring dreams where I've been home for 3 to 6 months. Is that normal? In some of these dreams I have a giant afro. I know that's not normal.

Have a great week, everyone. If anyone sees Rob Magleby this week, smack him on the head and then say, "Elder Karlsven says 'Congratulations'." He got engaged and didn't tell me, or even write a letter to me asking for my permission. Lame.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Meaningful Prayers and Lessons 07/12/2010

2010-08-10T20:53:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Well, Mom, I'm going to be in some long meetings too this week. I guess there's going to be a lot of new training given to the missionaries in the MTC, so they want all the missionaries in the field to get the same training as well. This week we will have meetings on that stuff from 9am to 4pm, Tuesday to Friday.

We've been really tired this week. For the past 8 months I've had a car, and so of course I got weak and lazy. This week we've been trying to limit the use of our car because of the long drives we are going to make to the mission office for those meetings this week.

Biking.

Our tiredness peaked on Thursday around 3pm. We were visiting a couple that has recently started coming back to church. We had just had a big lunch, and biked to their place to read the Book of Mormon with them. Their apartment was hot. We sank into their couch's huge cushions. Elder Tobler offered the prayer. He bowed his head and rested his elbows on his knees to pray.

He finished the prayer, but his head didn't come up. I figured he was just gathering his thoughts, so I began asking the couple about how they've liked the past couples times at church. After about 5 minutes, Elder Tobler's head came up, and he had a confused look on his face. He just woke up.

He began to teach. Soon enough, I started doing the whole head bobble thing, drifting into sleep and then jerking awake over and over. As I listened to the wife talk, I started drifting again, until into my mind came what I thought to be a very profound, thought-provoking question. I became awake and alert, and began asking the question. Half-way through the question I realized that this profound question made no sense at all. I barely recovered.

But there are always great things learned when you spend all your time talking to different people. I learned from a Born-Again Christian to know the Bible better, and appreciate it. I learned from a guy that got back from Iraq a few months ago to be grateful for being able to experience life each day. I learned from a guy visiting from Norway to be glad I didn't go there as a missionary. Not a nice guy.

Thanks for all the support. I'm excited to see Kaylee and Weston in a few months. I'll start working on my homecoming talk to make it seem like I've grown or matured in some way here in California. Nah, just kidding. I'll probably just go up to the microphone, start crying for ten minutes, say "I promised myself I wouldn't cry," and then sit down.

You guys are a great family. I'm starting to realize that an eternal family may not be as crazy of an idea as I thought. I love you guys.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

July 4th Fun 07/06/2010

2010-08-10T20:51:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

It's been a while since I've gotten kicked out of anywhere as a missionary. For that reason, it was refreshing this week when we got kicked out of a shopping plaza and then the next day kicked out of a Home Depot parking lot. I guess someone called the police and complained about us at the shopping plaza. It was strange because we had only talked to 2 people (1 an Indian that couldn't speak English, and another a nice man from Jamaica) before a cop car showed up.
It was actually really nice talking to people in the Home Depot parking lot. I'd offer to help people unload their shopping cart. Most people accepted if they had lumber or concrete to get into their car. Somehow it just seemed natural after that to talk about the gospel or the church or what that person thinks about life in this area. I suspect that the Home Depot employee asked us to leave out of fear that we would make his customer service position obsolete.

As for 4th of July stuff, we didn't watch fireworks or anything. We did give away a ton of pass-along cards as people walked down the street in big groups towards the firework shows. It was interesting how varied the reactions to us were when we were on the sidewalk compared to how people treated us when they saw us in our church parking lot after they just parked their car there. Probably just not wanting us to call to get their car towed, they all smiled and greeted us like good friends.

But it's been a great week. Working with other missionaries. Talking to big groups of Asians. Even get several softball players' information to deliver copies of the Book of Mormon to each of them (their game had not started yet, so we started talking to them and eventually taught about the Restoration of the Gospel and the Book of Mormon). I really like talking to groups of 5 or more people. It can either go really good or really bad, depending on the reaction of the first person in the group to respond to you. It they want to listen, everyone else will, and suddenly you feel like a 19th century missionary preaching on a soapbox.

This is what I've enjoyed this week. The gospel makes us happy and better people, how much more simple of a message could you bring to anyone?

Have a great week, everyone. I hope the smog from all the fireworks in Provo clears up by the time I get back.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

P.S. Congrats to Joe and Megan! New baby on the way!

Wrong Card 06/21/2010

2010-08-10T20:49:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

My 4th of July plans? Basically I plan on joining several BBQs. I firmly believe that eating with others is the best way to get to know someone and invite them to learn about the gospel. I've never had a bad encounter with anyone at a BBQ. Oh wait, I actually remember this one time in my last area when I went up to a big family gathering at a park. They were eating, and I handed them a card. Unfortunately I handed them the wrong card - it was one that said "Where does my family go when we die?"

If I remember correctly, the lady's response was something like, "You got a lot of nerve to come to my daughter's birthday party and talk about our family dying!"

Eesh.

As for fireworks, we probably won't see any. We got to be in at 9pm. So the closest we will have to seeing fireworks will be the little kids throwing those Snaps things at us.

I worked with Elder Donnelly for a day this week. He has been on his mission about 5 months now. The goal was to help build our faith to find people to teach. As I looked at the map of our area, I saw that Santa Clara University was in our area. What a great place to talk to some young people, who will be more willing to learn! We went there, and began walking around the campus. Strangely, all the people we talked to were Catholics that said they went to Mass regularly. After about an hour, we started talking to an older man that was visiting the campus for the day. He told us that he was visiting for the Jesuit colloquium.

"Jesuit colloquium?" We asked.

"Yes, most of these men walking around here are Catholic priests. This is a Jesuit University."

"Oh."

I felt like a Jehovah Witness trying to proselyte at BYU.

Despite this hiccup, this week we started teaching 2 families - one from the Philipines, and another who are Born-Again Christians. Teaching a family is such a great feeling. A warm and uplifting feeling comes when the children begin to ask and answer questions. Kids have a way of understanding simple truths of the gospel better than a lot of adults.

"...and a little child shall lead them." Isaiah 11:6

Best excuse of the week: Marlin, who we had been talking to for about 10 minutes at his door said he couldn't hear our message because "I was just about to go eat a handful of trail mix and some peanut butter on a spoon."

No joke.

I love you all. Have a great 4th of July. I heard USA lost to Ghana in the World Cup. That's a bummer.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Blessings! 06/21/2010

2010-08-10T20:48:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

Elder Tobler loves to serve others and offers to serve others all the time. This is a great thing because of his sincerity. However, sometimes it backfires. Over the past couple weeks, he offered to bake cookies for a number of people in our apartment complex. It seems like a good idea, but A: We don't got the time to bake, and B: We're not sister missionaries. I wasn't aware of the seriousness of the problem until the other day we were in the lobby of our apartment complex and an Asian man in his 30's walked by. I had never seen the man before. We said "Hi" to him.

He responded suddenly, "Where my cookies!?"

Nah, but I love Elder Tobler. It's just so easy to be relaxed and open up to a person like him. Plus he continues to make me breakfast a couple times a week, and the other day I looked down and realized that he had shined my shoes. I've sent a request to the mission president that he be my companion until the end of my mission.

At the beginning of the week, we made goals. Elder Tobler suggested that we make a goal to find 3 people to teach. I suggested that we try to find 1 family to teach. We agreed that either one would be great. We prayed each day for help, and every night we reviewed our efforts and made a plan for the next day to help accomplish the goal.

On Tuesday we went on splits with the ward. Elder Tobler and Brother Hardy went to an appointment. They got there, but the man's wife was sick so they couldn't come in. Elder Tobler suggested they ask a neighbor if they could have the lesson at their home. The man agreed, and they went to another apartment, met a lady that let them in to teach.

2 new friends to teach!

Then on Saturday we had the missionaries in the surrounding areas come into our area to help us find people to teach (we took turns doing this for each area in our zone during the week). Elder Tobler and Elder Wynn met and taught a neighbor of someone that used to meet with the missionaries.

1 more!

We were satisfied with reaching our goal of finding 3 people to teach, and began thinking of how to help other areas and missionaries to find. Sunday night came along. We stopped by an old media referal that had never been home. A family from the Philipines was home. They had 10 minutes to hear our message. They did, and they liked it.

A family!

The Lord answers prayers. Especially when you are in the Santa Clara ward.

I don't know how much this story will resonate with you guys, but to understand how much of a miracle this week was, you should know that on an average week, we find 1 to 2 people to teach.

I love you all. Have a great week.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Twilight Zone 06/14/2010

2010-06-19T21:51:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

I went on an exchange with the Elders in the Los Altos ward this week (I served in that ward last year). It was really weird going back and seeing some of the people I knew there:

There was a lady that I taught, or tried to teach named Elaine. We never got through a lesson because she didn't care about learning or being benefitted by the gospel, but just wanted someone to complain about her family to. She wouldn't even want to learn about how the gospel could help with her problems. After 3 appointments of hearing an hour of complaining, we decided to let her know our purpose as missionaries and that although we care about her, we need to be spending our time with those that want to act on the message. She responded with 45 minutes of complaining about her family.

So I'm in Los Altos this week and who is on our list of people to visit? Elaine! I guess they had tried to teach her again, but had the same result. I had the privilege of dropping her again from the teaching pool.

Several other people we saw either had had a baby, or are pregnant. One lady that I knew from last year now had a 3 month old son, and she had totally changed her hair color and style. See what I mean? Twilight zone.

The strangest though. SO weird. We went to visit a part-member family. We came in the home and I heard the opera-like voice of the husband in the back room. I remembered him as a perfect guy to play Santa Claus. Big, and jolly with a white beard. Great guy. A man came into the room with the same face and voice, but with a skinny neck and body, and a little bit of loose skin. Though stunned, I still gave him a hug (disappointed at the lack of cushioning). He saw the look on my face.

"Oh, I guess you weren't here for my gastric bypass."

I imagine I'm going to have many of these kinds of experiences when I get home. I would appreciate a warning from you guys. If Dave now weighs 350 pounds, please send a picture. If mom has changed her hair color from brownish-red to plain brown, let me know. I don't know how much shock I can take all at once when I see all the changes.

Another cool experience in the 3 minutes I have left. We went to visit a member of the ward at about 8:40 pm yesterday. Not home. I looked at a house across the street with the lights on. Maybe it was the stories I've heard about people being found late at night when the missionaries wanted to go home, but I decided to knock on the door. A woman answered. After a moment, I recognized her. "Rita?" I asked "Yeah?" It was a lady I had taught in the Almaden ward in December. Wow. Miracle. Seriously, what are the odds?

Have a great week. Follow the Spirit to miracles.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Loving the Area 06/07/2010

2010-06-19T21:50:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Some events of missionary work that need to be recorded for posterity:

1. An appointment fell through at about 8pm on Saturday. We were standing outside the apartment complex, wondering what to do. We saw an open door on the second floor. We went up there and met a family with 3 small children, and none of them spoke English. Not even the kids. With big smiles, we said something like "Video, Espanol. DVD player?" They let us in, and we put in the Restoration DVD in Spanish. The kids were going crazy, jumping off of things and the boy and girl wrestled the whole time. The little girl was dominating the boy, pulling his hair. Then out of nowhere while the boy was lying on the ground, the girl came up and stomped on his head! The boy started yelling and laughing. We all busted up laughing.

We sent that family's info to the Spanish-speaking Sister missionaries with the label "Golden investigators."

2. As we came out from an appointment with a woman and her shirtless husband, we saw a car parked in front of ours. Two teenagers in the back seat. We pondered for a few moments, and then decided to put a Law of Chastity pamphlet on their windshield.

3. Two days in a row, we came to the church early in the morning. Both times, we found a hobo-lady sleeping by the air conditioning units outside the church. Both times, she got up, and walked away quickly when she saw us, not responding to our questions or offers of help. We are still wondering if we should count her on our numbers report as someone we're teaching attending church.

Quote of the week, said to a lady that said her kids go to a Christian school, but does not go to church herself: "Hello Kitty is only for 14 year old girls, the Gospel is for everyone."

I only have 4 minutes left on this computer to tell you about the best baptism I've seen. It was for Genia Vee, a 26 year old whose mom is a member of the church. Everything went great. Tons of people from her family and the ward attended. Tons of food. Polynesian baptism, so could you expect any less? We had a lady that was baptized about a month ago bear her testimony, along with some really good musical numbers. Awesome. That's how a baptism should be.

So that's the week. I love being here. My companion is great The ward is wonderful. The only problem is that the library computers don't give me enough time to email.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Harvest Time 06/01/2010

2010-06-19T21:47:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

I feel like I'm being rewarded for those long months biking around in a white shirt and tie in hot weather, desperately looking for anyone to listen to us.

My new area: Santa Clara ward (just north-west of San Jose). In the past year, about 15 people have been baptized here (the rest of the wards in this stake have baptized 0 to 5 people on average the past year). We have a baptism of a Samoan girl, Genia, on Saturday. We had 8 people we are teaching come to church on Sunday (no other ward had more than 3).

My new companion: Elder Tobler from Layton, Utah. Very humble. Has no hesitations with expressing love and offering help to anyone (including me). Makes delicious crepes. It's easy to teach with him. Compliments me after every lesson we teach. Always looking for ways to become more like Christ.

Do I like my new area and companion? Oh yeah.

Mom asked what cities are in this zone. It includes: Santa Clara, part of Milpitas, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and Los Altos. For some reason, it's really weird to be back near a place I've served in before.

Lots of teaching this week. Our zone is hosting the zone conference on Wednesday, so we've been setting things up for that too. Very busy. Busy trying to do meaningful things as a missionary is best. Otherwise being a missionary is SO boring.

So I am very VERY grateful to be in this ward, and I'm thinking I'll be here until I come home. I got no problem with that. Have a great week everyone!

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Transfer 05/24/2010

2010-06-19T21:46:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

The day before being transferred is always a good one. You find out on Saturday which missionaries are getting transferred, and then on Monday all the missionaries that are getting moved meet at the mission office. There you find your new companion, find out where you are going, and off you go.

When the ward finds out you are getting transferred, suddenly you get called on to say the opening or closing prayer at every meeting at church. A big chunk of yesterday was spent taking pictures and saying goodbye to different people. Each person you say goodbye to falls into one of four categories:
1. The church member that got to know you pretty well as you taught one of their friends, and they sincerely thank you for your service.
2. The church member that you've had dinner with a few times, but didn't get to know really well. They give you a hearty handshake, and a pat on the back.
3. The church member that acts like it's a tragedy that you are leaving, but then has to look at your nametag for 4 to 5 seconds before remembering your name. These ones may also ask you if you are a new elder in the ward when you've been there over 6 months.
4. The church member that is a little too excited to have another missionary replace you. This may or may not be because you knocked every door on his/her street and began every conversation there with, "Your neighbor here is a member of our church. He said you guys are a bunch of deadbeats and need our help..."

Investigators or members that helped you find and teach people the gospel are always the hardest to say goodbye to.

So now I'm in the Santa Clara ward, which is in the same zone as Los Altos (the ward I was in for a lot of last year). My companion is Elder Tobler from Layton, Utah. He's about as white as me. That's all I know about him.

So that's the news. I'll miss the Almaden ward, but I'm sure I'll keep in contact with a few of the people here. I got a feeling we're going to see a lot of success here in Santa Clara.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Birthday!!! 05/17/2010

2010-06-19T21:44:00.003-06:00

Dear Family,

To tell the truth, my birthday was pretty boring. I've always made it a policy to not announce my birthday to everyone, but let someone else do it. Little did I know that in Haiti, birthdays aren't a big deal, so my companion didn't tell anyone. As time went on at church, my countenance dropped lower and lower, and eventually found myself doubting my testimony. Not my testimony of the restored gospel, but my testimony of birthdays.

But I did manage to get a jar of the long-time coveted strawberry jam Sister Elsie makes. For the past 2 or 3 dinners she has given us, she had it on the table. I repeatedly said how much I love it, how I wish I could have it every day, etc. Despite all this, she never offered us some when they packaged up the leftovers for us, even though I knew that Brother Elsie knew I wanted some of it to take home - he would roll his eyes every time I mentioned it. He also knew it was me that told Elder Serat to call them before our dinner and tell them that that's the only thing I wanted for my birthday. "Mission accomplished" I thought as I walked out their door with a jar of jam. Brother Elsie somehow guessed that I had told Elder Serat to call them.

This week I had the opportunity of spending a few hours with the missionary I trained, Elder Smith. He's in our zone now. He's more mature and relaxed in the missionary work. And I was happy to see that he still uses his classic approach when we knocked a couple doors:

He knocks.
Big guy answers.
3 seconds of silence.
"Can I help you?" the man asks.
"Howya doing?" Elder Smith says quietly.
"Good."
5 seconds of silence.
He begins, "Well, uh, we're just missionaries in the area..."

I love Elder Smith.

So that was the week. I'm 22 and already feel like a menace to society.

Oh, whoops, we're late for dinner!
Have a great week everyone!

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Am I Brushing My Teeth? 05/10/2010

2010-06-19T21:44:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

Even though half the time I held the phone an arm-length away from my ear while everyone was talking at the same time, I enjoyed talking to you all yesterday. There were some good questions asked. But I was disappointed that mom didn't ask the classic mom question "how often are you brushing your teeth?" I even had my response planned, "For the last time, Mom, I told you 'As Needed'!"

On Saturday morning, all throughout California, every ward got involved in a "Mormon Helping Hands" service project. Our ward and two others were to help clean up Almaden Lake Park. Just under 300 volunteers showed up and mass confusion followed. But as we put on our bright yellow vests, a sense of duty and purpose swept through the crowd. After 20 minutes of posing for group pictures (camera difficulties), we split up to take care of three different areas. Elder Serat and I went for the man-made beach to remove the heaps of driftwood that had collected there.

It's always good to do some real work outside. Especially when you spend all day every day walking and talking to people. Not much of a work out there.

But of course I'm exhausted and sore today.

Have a great week. Even though I tell you to have a great week every week, I really do mean it. Do it.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Golden 05/03/2010

2010-05-08T16:07:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Every few months I realize that I've slowly stopped saying prayers for help in different parts of the missionary work, and have fallen into the trap of running on autopilot for certain proselyting activities we do. We made sure to pray before going to a large park to talk to people. Here's what happened:

While walking through the park with a glass bottle of lukewarm Coca Cola in my hand (a reward I received earlier after helping a Latino family put up a large canopy for a birthday party barbeque), Elder Serat and I came upon a girl sitting alone at a picnic table. She was in her early twenties, texting on her phone, and obviously bored. She agreed to hear our message.

20 minutes later, she prayed with us. Then she prayed again and this time, at our request, she asked Heavenly Father if the things we had shared are true. After the prayer, she said, "Yeah, I think that's all true." So then we asked, "Will you follow the example of your Savior Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the authority of God?"

She paused a moment. "Yes," she said.

I continued, "Well, we're going to be holding a baptismal service on May 22. Will you prepare yourself to be baptized on that date?"

"What day of the week is that?"

"A Saturday."

"Yeah, I think that works with my schedule."

The best part about this is that she didn't seem crazy. We'll find out how committed she will be when we tell her about the different commandments you promise to follow at baptism, but for now she's very positive about it all. Man, I got to stop forgetting to pray before each activity we do.

On Saturday evening we were reminded of the generosity of the members of the church towards missionaries. A generosity that at times can turn into fierce competition, and sometimes even violence.

To earn funds for trips for the youth, the ward put on a chili-cookoff/cake-auction. It was good chili, not much else to be said there. But then the cake auction started. About 20 homemade cakes lined the stage. About 2 minutes into the auction, Sister Hall came up to us and asked us which cake we would like her to get for us. We were grateful for her offer, and yet somehow a little hesitant to accept it. As we were talking to her, Brother Hunter comes up to us, slaps a $20 bill on the table and says, "There you go, Elders. Buy yourselves a cake." Strangely, we had just read that morning the section about not accepting money from anyone in the Missionary Handbook. Handing the money back, we decided to take Sister Hall up on the offer, saying that any chocolate cake would be fine.

The first few cakes were auctioned off at an average price of $20. During that time, 3 or 4 other people came up to us and offered to buy us a cake. Though tempted at the chance to get 4 or 5 cakes, we told them all thanks, but that the Halls were already doing that. Big mistake. Now that everyone knew that Brother Hall was trying to get a cake for us, they all bid against him, driving all the prices up. The cakes went for $30, then $40, then $50, which was the highest price they would allow a cake to go for. $50 was too much for Brother Hall, but you could see the frustration that he couldn't get a cake. Finally he shouted out "Fifty dollars!" for a German Chocolate cake. "Fifty five!" came a voice from the back.

From then on the prices went crazy. Eventually the last cake went for $130. Many were kind enough to give us a piece of their cake. Brother Hall never got a cake. The good news is that the youth will be able to afford the solid-gold clubhouse they've been saving up for.

All this stuff happened on Saturday. Imagine how action-packed a mission must be when this is only 1/7 of what really happens!

Take care everyone. I'll talk to you on Sunday. How would you all feel if we took that hour on the phone and read the Old Testament together? Anyone?

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Charleton Heston 04/26/2010

2010-04-30T21:15:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

There's a certain type of person that just likes to talk. They will talk about anything. And they will talk for hours on end. There's no real purpose to what they are saying, and they have no direction they are going with it. They just like to talk. Robert was that type of person.

We first met Robert at Almaden Lake Park. Elder Serat spotted him about 50 yards away looking at us and smiling. We went to talk to him. After getting to know him a bit, we scheduled a time to come teach him the first lesson. He was thrilled at the prospect. Meeting a few days later at the same park, we sat down on a bench with Robert and began teaching the first lesson.

There's a section in Preach My Gospel about listening. Mostly it talks about how listening and understanding is more important than speaking. Then they add in a little bit about people that will tend to dominate the conversation and keep you from teaching. All the advice given there is "You will need to learn how to tactfully take control of such situations."

Robert was kind enough to listen to us teach about Heavenly Father and how the Gospel blesses families. He even gave good, brief answers to our questions. Elder Serat began to teach about prophets.

"...prophets are given authority from God to.."

Robert interrupted, "Have you guys ever seen 10 Commandments." We nodded.

He continued, "That Charleton Heston is a great actor. His voice. His demeanor. It's wonderful, and I just love the way he..."

He went on about Charleton Heston. Now, as many of you know, I would be the last to stop someone from praising Charleton Heston, but we had a lesson to teach. I tried to swing things back:

"Yeah, Robert, Charleton Heston is a great portrayal of the greatness of those called to be prophets. Prophets teach about the gospel of Christ, which is..."

He interrupted again, "And what about Planet of the Apes? You ever see that one?"

I don't know how we did it, but we finished the first lesson, invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true, come to church, set up a return appointment, and invited him to be baptized, all in under 45 minutes.

Alright I got 34 seconds left on this computer. Have a great week. I love hearing from you. Keep praying and doing what's right.

love,

Elder Karlsven

Soy Sauce Ice Cream??? 04/19/2010

2010-04-30T21:14:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

I don't have a lot of time. Or rather, no time. So I'll try to be quick.

Yesterday we went to the Bishop's home to share a lesson with his family. We were teaching about the Sabbath Day and keeping it holy. Using mint chocolate chip ice cream to represent the good things we do on the Sabbath, we began the lesson. Family time, rest, church, spiritual things were mentioned as blessings of the sabbath. We then talked about some things that are good on other days, but not the sabbath - work, sports, too much tv, etc. As we did so, we put toppings on the ice cream that would be good on food other than ice cream - soy sauce, seasoning salt, ketchup, mustard. We then invited them to try it. The whole family recoiled as we waved it around toward each of them. Their 13 year old son, Thomas, said he wanted to try. The second it touched his mouth he ran to the kitchen to spit it out. This will be a lesson he will not soon forget.

Any other ideas for teaching gospel principles with food would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Have a great week, everyone. This week, I encourage you to give one high-five a day to someone that tells you something good they did.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

We Don't Need No Stinking Badgers 04/12/2010

2010-04-30T21:12:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Our High Priests Group Leader's name is Hugh Hall. The other day, after speaking with Brother Hall, Elder Serat asked me in his Haitian accent, "Is his name really Yue Hall?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Really? Does he own that?" He asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked.

"Does he own that business?" He asked.

"What?"

"Uhaul, does he own that?"

"Ohh! No, I don't think Hugh Hall owns Uhaul. But we could ask him."

"Yeah, let's ask him."

Communicating with a missionary from another country can be frustrating at times, but it always leads to a lot of funny moments like this one. The trick is to make sure that you both understand how to laugh. Making your companion's bed once in a while is always a good idea too.

If Becky is posting this on the blog, I'll give a shout-out to Eric Petersen because a new missionary, Elder Badger, read my blog after being referred by Eric. I told him in my best Cheech impression that in this mission "we don't need no stinking Badgers."

Also, it turns out that Sister Bushman in the Almaden ward was companions with Sister Richardson on their missions in Japan. I can't remember Sister Bushman's first name or maiden name, so hopefully Sister Richardson knows who I'm talking about.

Anyway, I'm doing well, staying energized about working and talking to people. I'll be staying in the Almaden ward for at least 6 more weeks. No complaints. President Jackson said today that "those who don't ever run full speed during the race usually run out of gas at the end." It was obviously a made-up story about a cross-country race, because I know from personal experience from being on a high school cross country team that when I ran full-speed early on, I was usually keeled over two thirds of the way into the race. But still, the message was clear:

Being able to work hard is largely just making it a habit. Also, never run more than 1 mile at a time if you've just spent 2 years driving a car and eating large dinners every night as a missionary.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

This Lady Means Business 04/05/2010

2010-04-30T21:10:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

About 5 people emailed me asking what conference talks I liked. Oddly enough, I really liked the General Relief Society President's talk. Mostly because she wasn't all smiley the whole time. She spoke and I got the feeling of "Whoa, this lady means business."

Going to the temple and watching General Conference were both great, but along with us moving apartments, it kind of destroyed our teaching this week. I've learned a new definition of accountability having the mission president in our ward:

Accountability (Uh-Kown-tuh-bill-itee): Getting yelled at.

No, just kidding. He doesn't yell at us, just in our direction. But always we all end up laughing. This morning eating breakfast at President Jackson's house he pulled out an old journal from his mission as a 19 year old. He read a few excerpts from it. In every entry, his girlfriend Dorothy was mentioned. As he read out loud the stories, he would burst out laughing and keep laughing to tears before being able to read to us what happened that was so funny. He would finish the story and we would all feel obligated to at least laugh a little bit.

I'm glad that I learned early on that a journal is not a record of meals eaten and daily routines ("Today I got up, showered, had breakfast, studied, then visited some people. It was a good day" = Lame.) But I don't know, maybe those things will be more interesting 30 years down the road than contests we have on who can make the other laugh first while sharing a message after dinner with the "old" couple in the ward.

Until next week.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Temple Trip 04/01/2010

2010-04-01T21:32:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

This week was our semi-annual mission trip to the temple. They made that day our Preparation day, so of course we didn't have time to email. The temple is the most peaceful place to get clarity of mind and think about things. I love it.

We got a ride to the temple with Brother Daily in the ward. He picked us up in what he calls "the Lord's taxi." Good man.

Okay, I got to go. The Assistants somehow roped us into helping out in a move. The have a "good cop, bad cop" technique down pretty well. They call us, and we never know if it's going to be the nice, apologetic, complimenting missionary, or the demanding, cut-throat, angry one.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

St. Patrick's Day Fiasco 03/22/2010

2010-04-01T21:30:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Every so often you have a run-in with someone or something possessed with the spirit of the devil. Most of the time these come in the form of little yappy dogs. On this particular occasion (St. Patrick's Day) it was two little girls:

I was with one of the Spanish-speaking Elders, working in his area. He has not been feeling so confident with speaking in Spanish. It was easy to help him with this. We went in an area of town where the majority of people don't speak more than 10 words of English. I would go up to someone. I began speaking. With words or a confused look, they say "No English." Then I close my mouth and look at the Spanish-speaking missionary.

We began to knock on doors of apartment buildings. This was really refreshing after working in an area with no apartments for the past 3 months. We were on the second floor, and these 2 little girls yelled up at us.

"Hey, what are you guys doing!?" One shouted at us.

We shouted back something like, "Looking for someone to be baptized!"

A few seconds passed. The same girl shouted, "Hey, are you wearing green?"

I looked down at my tie. Oh crap.

"You're not!" She yelled.

They both promptly ran up the apartment stairs toward us. We looked around anxiously looking for an escape. There was none to be found.

"PINCH!" Each said as they pinched each of us on the arm.

Humiliated, we returned to the car and sat there for an hour, both too ashamed to even look at one another. The memory of that menacing little girl's voice continues to rob me of sleep.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Mission Stats 03/15/2010

2010-04-01T21:28:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

As a mission we had a goal to talk to 20,000 people this week. I talked to more people this week than I have any other week of my life. Interesting facts learned:
-White people were no less receptive than those of any other race, except Latino.
-Most people are more likely to take a business-card for the church than a pass-along-card.
-Surprisingly, Iranians here are in abundance, and are more likely to be a Christian than any other religion.
-2 out of 3 times that we went to the Costco parking lot we got a free lunch.
-100% of the people that wave signs for Subway or Little Caesars on the side of the street are church-going Christians.
-Groups of people of 3 or more are more likely to stop and talk to you than individuals or couples.
-No one ever wants to talk to you after they just talked to the Girl Scouts.

It was kind of a downer week. We lost 2 investigators. One wasn't really interested in taking the lessons, and the other got pressure from his family to not meet with us again. But church here always, ALWAYS without fail brightens the day. Before we even went in the building we got a referral from a member. During church we got 2 more. To put this in perspective, other wards I've been in have given maybe one or two good referrals in a month. And that's a good month.

Take care.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

P.S. Elder Serat has not found out any more about his family in Haiti. He is emailing the mission president there (who he used to play basketball with) to find out more info.

Derise and Sanka Together Again! 03/08/2010

2010-04-01T21:27:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

In every email I got it was requested that I tell more about Elder Serat. So here's the basics:
-Elder Serat is from Haiti, from the city of Port-au-Prince.
-He has not gotten much news from his relatives there on how they are after the earthquake.
-His mom lives in Florida
-He is fluent in English and has lived in the U.S. for 2 1/2 years. He initially learned English from watching Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien.
-He is 5'8" and can dunk a basketball.
-He made friends with the huge African American man that lived underneath me in Los Altos that tormented us on a daily basis.
-He understands an American sense of humor, unlike many other missionaries from foreign countries.
-He can do an adequate impression of our mission president.
-Imagine a Haitian Derise (from Cool Runnings) and you got it. Since I could easily be described as a white Sanka (also from Cool Runnings) we get along wonderfully.

We had fun on Sunday. Our Relief Society president invited us to help out at the beginning of Relief Society. I love coming as a special guest places. The young women were there too. They asked for everyone to stand and recite the Young Women's theme. Standing there, I wasn't sure whether we should just smile or try to fake like I knew it. We then got to sing "As Sisters in Zion." Nice. Everyone had a good laugh at all that and that we needed a third priesthood holder to be with us there as a chaperone. Despite all this humiliation, I'd jump at the chance to help out in Relief Society again.

Not much other news this week. Does anyone know how Zoram Quintana is doing? I've been worried about that guy.

Oh yeah, and I have a new email address. The mattkarlsven@myldsmail.net address will be shut down in a couple weeks, so send all email messages to matthew.karlsven@myldsmail.net. Thanks.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

New Companion 03/01/2010

2010-04-01T21:24:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

This weekend several 16-18 year olds in the stake went with us missionaries on mini-missions. It was a lot of fun, they even said so, even though I think most everyone was dreading it for some reason. Our bishop asked the 2 boys that went with us how it went. One said, "It's intense." Our bishop was impressed. Earlier that day we drove by a regular blue car and the same boy said, "Whoa, that car is intense." So yeah, he's got to learn some more adjectives.

Elder Valencia got transferred this morning to Santa Cruz. It was really sad to see him go - he was the type of companion I could work with for 6 months or longer and have no problem with it, so 3 months didn't seem long enough. This is the first time I knew who my companion was going to be before the day of transfers, possibly due to some sneakiness on my part:

We were in a meeting with the stake presidency and high council yesterday with our mission president. I knew all the missionaries coming into the stake except who my companion would be. I was reporting this at the meeting: "All these incoming missionaries are great men We are also getting a new missionary in the Almaden ward, but I have forgotten his name," and then I looked at the mission president to fill us in.

Irritated, President Jackson's booming voice filled the room, and it was directed at me.

"You didn't forget who it is because I never told you who it is."

He paused a moment, and then told us who it would be. Elder Serat, from Haiti. Sweet! He was the one that replaced me in Los Altos. I've heard he works hard and can dunk a basketball. A double-threat. I'm sure it will be a blessing being with him, for one because he can update me the progress of people in Los Altos we both worked with. You see, when I left Los Altos, I couldn't help but feel like the 7 1/2 months there were a waste and my efforts there didn't really affect more than 1 or 2 people. Don't get me wrong - I'm really grateful for those 1 or 2 people - but the area seemed a lot worse when I left it than when I came. So far I've found out that one person we taught went from thinking Joseph Smith is a scoundrel, to bearing testimony of the church, and Ben Prudence (the one we baptized there) will be going to the temple soon. Awesome.

Happy Birthday to Dad. It's still weird to think that he will be 60 this week. That seems like "grandpa age" to me. But I guess he actually is a grandpa, so it's cool.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

New Found Respect for Elder Scott 02/22/2010

2010-04-01T21:23:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

The high point of this week was Elder Richard G. Scott (Apostle) spoke to our mission at a meeting Saturday morning. Before he began, he had each missionary shake his hand, introducing themselves and saying where they are from - city and country.

"Elder Karlsven. Provo, USA"

He greeted me, and what was impressive is that he pronounced my last name perfectly - not "Karlston" or "Carlson," but "Karlsven." Immediately I had respect for this man, even though he was probably 5 foot 5.

The central point of his comments was this direction: Choose a good wife and choose her fast.

Towards the end of the meeting, he gave us about a half an hour to ask him questions. I'm sure our mission president was worried about the caliber of questions being similar to those asked of the last general authority that visited our mission. The first question of that meeting was "What's the church's stance on dinosaurs?" I think the response was something like "Stay away from them. Especially the carnivores."

Unfortunately I was sitting in the back, and we ran out of time before any of my soul-searching questions could be answered by Elder Richard G. Scott:

"Do robots go to heaven?"

"What's the 'G' stand for in your name?"

"What about a robot with a human brain?"

"Will you autograph my White Handbook?"

"What's the church's stance on cavemen?"

It actually was a really good meeting. The more I learn and think about it, I realize how in tune with the spirit the general authorities are, as well as how demanding and exhausting their callings are. I don't know how those old guys do it - I can barely stay awake in church meetings after a long day.

Thanks again for all the support you all give me. I'm doing great. Either I'm really lucky, or you guys are praying for me and for the work. Seriously, thank you.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Cheating on Missionaries? 02/15/2010

2010-04-01T21:21:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

Alright, it's been proven. Missionaries can be categorized in the "super-hero" section in the encyclopedia. My proof: Missionary action figures. We were helping out at the community center here and one of the workers gave us 2 of them she picked up at an LDS store in Las Vegas last weekend. Awesome.

We went to an old folks place on Tuesday. One of the workers set up a big sound system with a couple keyboards hooked up to it. Needless to say, all the 70+ year olds there are now very familiar with songs about the food pyramid, and the songs from Nacho Libre. We concluded our performance with "Nearer My God to Thee" with a Euro-dance beat going. They clapped enthusiastically after every song, even at the beginning when I was just fooling around with the different sounds on the keyboards. This was one of the few times when I could say "You've been a great audience" and mean it.

Okay, I'm sorry to say it, but some people we teach are just weird. I won't go into detail about the weirdest ones, but I will tell this story:

We have been teaching John (name has been changed) for a few months now. He comes to church weekly, but has some changes to make before he can be baptized. We invited him to a baptism on Saturday. He showed up, but accidentally wandered into another ward's ward party. We found him talking to several members of the other ward and their missionaries. This was very surprising because David, I mean John, is usually very shy and keeps to himself.

We went over to him and directed him to the baptism. He came, enjoyed the baptism, and went home shortly afterward.

Elder Waiwaiole, of the other ward, came to talk to us a few minutes later. "How do you two know Dav..John?" he asked. We told him he has been an investigator for a while. His face went blank. He then told us that they found a record for him in their area book and had began teaching him each week for the past month. He had also attended their ward for the past 3 weeks as well. At this same time, we had been meeting with him weekly and he has come to our ward also. He had not said anything about us to the other missionaries or anything to us about meeting with them. He also acted like he hadn't been taught anything about the church when they first met him.

See what I mean? Weird. But hilarious too.

Have a great week, everyone. Enjoy the Olympics. I can't believe I'm missing them, even though snowball fighting hasn't been accepted as an olympic sport yet.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Note: Matthew did not have a chance to write an email for the blog on 02/08/2010

1 Degree of Separation from Steve Vistaunet 02/01/2010

2010-04-01T21:15:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

I'd say about half of the members in the ward here have lived in Provo at some point or have relatives there. The first sign of this is when, after I tell them I'm from Provo, they ask "Where in Provo?" I tell them, they know exactly where I'm talking about, and then they ask, "Do you know the _________ family?"

The answer is almost always "no." Even if they are within a quarter of a mile of our house, they could be in another stake.

I met a couple yesterday that lives in Oak Hills in Provo. They told me their exact address, and I asked if they knew any of the people I know in that area. They didn't. I then mentioned that one my friends there bought a giant bus. Their faces immediately lit up.

"Yes, we know them! They live across the street from us!" Then the husband's face went dark and he said that the only time he talked to them was when some band was playing at their house and he went over and told them to turn it down. I chose not to mention that that bus was used for our high school band, Radical Milhouse.

This week I was teaching with our recently released bishop, Bishop Hayden. He's the type of guy that always has a smile on his face, but somehow seems genuine at the same time. I was impressed the first time I met him when we came to his house without warning. He gathered his family to hear us, and when we asked him to call a less-active member he barely knew he said, "Sure I'll do that right now," instead of "Yeah, I could do that. I'll call you in a week or 2 to tell you how it goes."

As we sat down together to teach, we began the regular conversation.

"I'm from Provo," I said.

"Oh, do you know..." he began to ask. Of course I don't know your friend from 20 years ago at BYU, I thought.

"...Steve Vistaunet?"

"Whoa. Yeah!"

It was difficult to continue teaching the Plan of Salvation after that connection was made. Pretty sweet. (Vistaunets, I'll trust you to not tell certain stories from my pre-mission life. As far as I know, Bishop Hayden still trusts me as a missionary and we're trying to start teaching a couple friends of theirs).

We had a great week. 4 new investigators. All of them are friends or family of members of the ward here. First off, one member had us over for steak and twice-baked potatoes, after which we taught his wife the 2nd lesson at the request of their missionary son.

Next, we were sent to a friend that a member goes walking with pretty often The first visit they invited us in for dessert. We came back a few days later, and now are teaching their son.

Last of all was this Saturday. We were invited by the Halls for lunch. They invited 2 less-active members and 2 non-members for lunch with us. After lunch, we taught everyone the Restoration lesson.

Somehow, eating and teaching go together. We're considering making that a requirement that a meal must be served before any lesson we teach. We'll see how that offer goes when we are knocking doors.

In conclusion, the ward here is awesome, and a connection with the Vistaunets makes them that much cooler.

Have a great week. Thanks for your continued prayers that I will meet people out here that know people in Provo.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Origins of Tracting 01/25/2010

2010-04-01T21:14:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

After so much searching, we finally found it! That's right, we finally discovered where the word "tracting" for knocking on people's doors came from. Or rather, we have 2 theories that come from long-time members of the church:

1. Church pamphlets used to be called "tracts." So when a missionary would hand out these "tracts," it was called tracting.

2. A group of houses was called a "tract." So knocking on the doors of such a group was called "tracting" or "housing."

The second theory came from a member of the stake presidency here. The first came from a guy who was really really old. You decide which has more authority on the subject.

The other day as we were doing some "housing," I saw an older man across the street. I greeted him. He walked over to us and began a lengthy explanation of why the world is going to the dumps, citing several examples. After 10 minutes (and I still didn't have any clue why he was telling us these things) he let us on our way. We knocked doors for about a half an hour and were walking back toward the man's house. He was in the front yard, and Elder Valencia jokingly said we should hide behind some bushes to avoid him Sadly, we didn't do this, and the man came over and said, "I wanted to tell you one more thing." He then took 15 minutes to tell us about 50 more things, among which were several Biblical ways to practice birth control. It was surprisingly informative, but still intensely uncomfortable.

As we drove away, I wondered how many people see us to be as crazy as we saw this man.

I am running out of time here, mostly since there's a new manager at the Apple Store who earlier asked me, "So what's it going to take for you to buy a laptop?" I struggled to not reply with "I think it's pretty obvious to see that I'm broke."

One interesting thing that happens when all your time is devoted to sharing the gospel - you constantly think of ways to apply everything to be used in missionary work.

We were washing our car the other day - "We should do a free car wash with free church videos!"

We met a graphic designer in our ward - "Oh, would you like to make some fliers for the next fireside?"

An older lady quilts - "Let's do a quilting night and invite our investigators!"

We heard about the Tiger Woods stuff - "Hey, we could go golfing with non-members and teach them the Law of Chastity at the same time!"

I'm really not sure what I'm going to think or talk about after my mission. I'm planning on most of the things I say to begin with "Back when I was on my mission..."

It's been great to hear from a lot of you this week. Have a great week, and remember, never trust a missionary over 30 ( or under 60).

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Advice From Stephen Colbert 01/18/2010

2010-04-01T21:10:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Sister Hunter, the wife of the Oakland Temple President, spoke in our stake conference yesterday. One thing she said that stuck was "there are no coincidences in the temple." On Saturday Elder Valencia and I got permission to drive up to the temple to see a man that he taught get his endowment. While in the temple, I saw about a dozen people from different wards that I've served in.

It often takes a second for them to realize who you are when you are dressed in white and not wearing a missionary nametag. I saw the Salinas 1st ward bishop and the Los Altos bishop along with several other members. It was a good way to sort out which ones I will keep in contact with. Those are the ones who when they saw me said, "Hey, Elder Karlsven!" The rest said after a moment, "Oh, hi Elder," (obviously forgetting my name) I plan to send each of the latter a chain letter.

I am SO tempted to bring a hidden camera along when we go knocking doors. This weeks best one was an old man with a big beard and an English accent who yelled, "I don't believe in fiction! There is no God!" and slammed the door. The funny thing was that we were just asking for any extra canned foods he had to give to a local shelter.

I haven't been able to use it successfully yet, but by applying the wise words of Stephen Colbert, a tracting approach I've used goes like this:

"We wanted to get your opinion on something. The Book of Mormon (hold up a copy of it). Do you think it is 1. A great book about Jesus OR 2. THE GREATEST book about Jesus?

Elder Hinckley of the Seventy (President Hinckley's son) presided at stake conference. He remarked that the number of young missionaries are down mostly because people are having less children. I'd like to take this time now to rebuke those few friends of mine that have returned from their missions and are not yet married with twins on the way. He also asked for more senior missionaries. Apparently they are the most coveted missionaries of mission presidents. His advice was to fill out your application saying that you are broke and have several medical problems, and they will send you somewhere nice in the United States.

Anyway, I've reached the unwritten time limit here at the Apple Store - it is measured by the glares of workers I can see in the reflection of the monitor, and how often they ask if I need any help. Right now the glares are about every 8 seconds and increasing, and they've asked 4 times so far.

I'll be in Almaden with Elder Valencia at least 6 more weeks. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Have a great week. Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Conducting Lessons 01/11/10

2010-01-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

I'm blown away that Weston is already talking. Still, of the words mentioned that he can say, I don't think "gwamma" counts. I think "gwamma" is actually a certain cut of meat served with curry in southern India. Ask him if that's what he's talking about.

Yesterday was the Outgoing Missionary Fireside where the missionaries going home give their testimonies with several musical numbers as well. The best part about this meeting is that at least 3 or 4 people investigating the church make the decision to be baptized after attending it.

It was my job at this meeting to conduct the music. The chapel was filled and most of the gym in the back was filled with people as well. Remembering the example of the chorister in the Hollister 1st ward, I put on a big smile and prepared to sing energetically while leading the opening hymn. What I didn't realize was that from where she was sitting, the pianist couldn't see my waving arm. The first verse went alright, but as I began the second with an enthusiastic down beat, I suddenly heard my own voice singing...alone.

Apparently most people follow the sound of the piano, and not the person conducting the music.

There's not much else to mention for this week. We're getting back in touch and teaching all our investigators after the holidays when most of them were on vacation or didn't have time to meet. No new words of wisdom from Elder Karlsven this week. But when you get the chance, share your testimony with someone sitting with you on the ski lift. Some members told me they did that this weekend. Don't be afraid to begin with dad's classic line, "So, where you from?" Then, of course, end with "y'all come back now, but send your friends to Colorado." Take off your reflective goggles and look at them with crossed eyes as you ski away.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Tracting in the Dark is Scary 01/04/10

2010-01-11T20:16:00.001-07:00

Dear Family,

It gets dark around 5:30 or 6 pm every night this time of year. Around 6:30 a few days ago, we were knocking some doors. Elder Valencia and I came to a dark doorstep. As we stepped onto the porch, no motion sensor lights came on, so we were looking for a doorbell. As we were searching, the porch light flicked on and the door opened. It was an older Hispanic woman just heading out. As soon as she saw 6 foot 7 Elder Valencia, she got a frightened look on her face and began to scream loudly, and in short intervals several times.

"AAAAH! AAAAH! AAAAH!"

She quickly went back inside and shut the door. After a moment, we controlled our laughter and decided to knock on the door. We heard her on the other side of the door.

"AAAAH! AAAAH! AAAAH! What do you want!? What do you want!?"

"We don't want anything."

"WHO ARE YOU!?"

We told her who we were and she cracked the door open.

Again, she lost it, "What do you want!? AAAAH! AAAAH! AAAAH!"

"Ma'am, CALM DOWN," I said. She finally went silent.

We gave her a card to get a Together Forever DVD and left.

I'm very impressed with the members of the ward here. I'm learning a lot more about sharing the gospel than a lot of them are after our visits. Often I've seen how when an older couple has lived in the same place for decades, they lose hope and enthusiasm for missionary stuff. Not so here. Many 70+ year olds here in the ward have more energy and hope for the work than many of the young missionaries.

I hope you all had a happy new year. I remember how weird it was to think I would finish my mission in 2010. It hasn't gotten any less weird.

Oh yeah, and I thought that was a really cool gift Dave gave to the family, doing the genealogy for Dad's side of the family. Thanks, Dave!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Mmmm...Banana Cream Pie 12/28/09

2010-01-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

The biggest Christmas-time tradition I missed this year was skiing on Christmas Eve as a family. But all the feelings of loss from missing that were forgotten when the Davis's here called Mom and Dad and got the recipe for my favorite holiday dessert - banana cream pie. It was almost as delicious and artificial as I remember Mom's to be.

On Christmas day, we had 3 huge meals in 6 hours - 2 of which came with homemade butter syrup (much like the kind they have with the Magleby's Fresh waffles). The expected stomach-bulging pains came and went. Totally worth it.

2010? The biggest concern about the new year is whether we will call it "Two thousand Ten" or "Twenty Ten." Whenever I say "Twenty Ten" it sounds like how they would say it in a bad science fiction movie taking place in the future. I don't like it.

I've never been one to make new years resolutions, and now as a missionary I will continue to not make any. However, I really am excited to continue inviting the children of Heavenly Father, our brothers and sisters, to Christ. No, seriously, I am. I remember reading the words of one of the apostles telling us that our love for others is rooted in the knowledge that they are our brothers and sisters.

This love can quickly be lost after knocking on people's doors for as little as 10 minutes. "A lot of our brothers and sisters are jerks," I remember telling one of my companions I was with.

Yesterday as we pulled up to a circle of extremely large houses, I feared that the Spirit would be quickly lost after knocking the first few doors. Before we knocked on the first door, Elder Valencia and I prayed together. I prayed that we would remember that these people are our brothers and sisters, and to not lose love for them or get angry while we knocked on their doors.

On this circle of houses lived several very rude and presumptuous people - slamming doors, accusing us of bigotry, not answering the door and then coming outside when we went to the next house, avoiding eye contact when we greeted them. Most would not even listen to ten seconds of anything we said.

This is why so many missionaries don't like knocking doors.

But this time, I remember standing outside each door with the absolute assurance that the person answering the door is my brother or sister. There was no anger or resentment in my heart or mind when they shut the door. My love didn't diminish as we knocked more and more doors. I really did feel peace. I knew how important of a thing we had to offer these people and they treated it like junk mail. But I also knew that God loves them just as much as he loves me. And I know he loves me A LOT.

Anyway, I just thought it was cool that the prayer really was answered that we would remember our relationship with these people and not get angry. There have been very few times when I haven't gotten at least a little frustrated when people reject our invitations.

Have a great New Year everyone. Don't be afraid to correct someone when they call it "Twenty ten."

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Away in a Manger Mishaps 12/21/09

2010-01-11T20:12:00.001-07:00

Dear Family,

This week we've taken a couple nights to go caroling as a zone. On Saturday night while caroling, we came upon a cul-de-sac. Instead of going from house to house, we thought it would be a good idea to stand in the middle of all the houses, and have a few of us ring every doorbell at the same time so we could sing to everyone at the same time. I ran to two houses, rang the doorbells, and ran back to the middle of the cul-de-sac, out of breath and full of anticipation for the performance we were about to put on.

Nobody came to their doors.

We began to sing. After we finished the first song, a man finally came outside. We decided to just go to his house and sing for him. All of us standing on his driveway, we began to sing "Away in a Manger." What we didn't realize is that there are two different tunes that you can sing "Away in a Manger" and they sound terrible sung together. Half of us sang one tune and half sang the other. The man was nice enough to clap a few times for us. We invited him to a special Christmas Sacrament Meeting, and assured him that we would have nothing to do with the musical numbers there.

Later on that night, we went outside a grocery store to sing and give pass-along cards to the lucky customers entering and exiting the store. This actually went pretty well. We even got a fan - a little girl that watched us for 15 minutes, clapped enthusiastically after every song, and shouted out requests. It brought me back to the glory days of The Hypercubes (a pre-mission band I was in), except this time the one die-hard fan was not my own mother. Thanks for all your support, mom!

Well, family, I'll talk to you on Christmas. Our one appointment on Christmas is for dinner from 3 to 5 pm (California time), so any other time that works with your schedules will be okay for the phone call.

Merry Christmas, all!

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Testimonies 12/14/09

2010-01-11T20:10:00.002-07:00

Dear Family,

Yesterday I attended one of the best sacrament meetings yet on my mission. 3 investigators came too. The Saratoga hand bell choir came and played Christmas songs in between youth speakers. One of the youth that converted to the church about 6 months ago gave a great talk.

There are a lot of elderly people in our ward, but they still help us out a lot with the missionary work. I hope when I'm in my 70's I have as much energy as these people instead of just squabbling with my decrepit old wife. Not saying that their wives are decrepit, but that I expect mine will be.

I was thinking about what I wanted for Christmas. Seeing as we were barely able to fit all the junk I already have in the car for the last transfer, I think I need something else that would actually help me in the work to bless the people I meet and teach out here.

Here's my request:
Option 1
-Will each person who reads this please write how they feel about the Savior, the Book of Mormon, or the prophet Joseph Smith, and how they came to know the truth of these things.
Option 2
-Write how you have come to know of the truth or blessings from living a gospel principle or commandment. Examples could be scripture study, prayer, giving service, paying tithing, following the Word of Wisdom, following the prophet, going to Church, etc.

Just keep things brief and simple. No more than half a page each. Try to especially think of something for Option 2, as some of those things I don't have much personal experiences in. That's something that I really feel will help as we try to help people have the faith to live the gospel and experience the blessings that you all have had. You can send them to my mom (laurelk@provo.edu) or to me (mattkarlsven@myldsmail.net, or

Elder Karlsven
3975 McLaughlin Ave. Suite A
San Jose, CA 95121

Thank you all so much! I love serving the Lord. I can sense that I have become a gospel-nerd, and get way too excited about these things, but I love it.

Merry Christmas, all!

Love,
Elder Karlsven

NOTE FROM BECKY: I"M SURE MATTHEW WOULD STILL LIKE TO GET A COPY OF A TESTIMONY FROM EVERYONE EVEN THOUGH THIS WASN'T POSTED UNTIL MUCH LATER.

Transfer 12/07/09

2010-01-11T20:05:00.003-07:00

Dear Family,

Wow, once you get used to a place, they just pull you somewhere else. I was really surprised when I got the call that I'm getting transferred. It's just like in a movie, where everything is going great, and nothing seems to be able to mess things up, and then something does. I remember writing emails to people with lines such as "I've never been happier on my mission than now," or "I'm definitely going to stay in Salinas for a few more months," or "If I get transferred, I'm going to punch a cat."

Don't worry, our neighbor's cat is fine.

So now I'm in south San Jose, in Almaden. I'm with Elder Valencia, from Dayton, Ohio. He seems cool, and looks like a killer volleyball player. That's all I know about him so far. I'll give some embarrassing details about him later.

I guess it's not so bad to be transferred. It just means that some other missionaries will have to worry about helping our investigators, and I'll just come back for their baptisms. Sweet!

I'm glad that Utah is finally getting some storms. I saw snow in the hills on the drive up to San Jose this morning. It made me homesick, but happy too.

I guess not much more to report. One blessing of being out of Salinas is that I can wear my solid blue Wal-Mart shirt without having to worry about being shot (just kidding, mom).

Have a great week, everyone. I'll tell you about our investigator's next week, if I feel like it.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

P.S. Yes, Elder Munday, the son of Elder Munday of the seventy, is in this mission. I don't know him very well, but he's 6 foot 6 and speaks with an English accent, so his story checks out.

NOTE FROM BECKY: Elder Munday of the seventy spoke at Stake Conference and mentioned that he had a son serving in the San Jose mission. The next day everyone in the family who was there emailed Matthew asking about an Elder Munday.

Thanksgiving 11/30/09

2010-01-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

On two occasions this week we were knocking doors and people let us in right then and there to teach a lesson. Just so you know, this very rarely happens. Usually we just try to get a return appointment. Awesome.

The day before Thanksgiving, we met a lady who immediately started crying in front of us. She was having a really hard time getting Thanksgiving dinner together for her family. She has 2 mentally challenged sons in their twenties, and was exhausted trying to take care of them.

We came back the day after Thanksgiving to see how they were holding up. Her solution to the trouble was alcohol. We got there, and sat down at the table with her, her brother, and one of her sons. Without warning, her son got up, ran out the door and down the street. She got up and started yelling. We walked outside to get him.

"Missionaries! Run!" she shouted.

We finally caught up to him and convinced him to come back to the house. Sitting with them all at the table again, he was next to Elder Smith, and was constantly hugging him, or getting Elder Smith in a head lock.

I asked her brother how his Thanksgiving was.

"Great," he said, "I gave out cookies to the homeless."

"Well, that's really nice of you," I said.

His sister cut in, "Tell them the truth! Tell them the rest of it!"

"What? I gave them cookies," he replied.

She shouted back, "There was marijuana in those cookies!"

As we were leaving, she tried to give us money to go get them some more beer. I thought it would be funny to use it to buy non-alcoholic beer for them, but in the end we just refused.

Later that night, we found ourselves eating dinner at McDonald's. McDonald's is one of Elder Smith's favorite places to go, and he finally convinced me to go there. As we were eating, I saw this guy nearby tapping his fingers to the music playing, like he was playing a piano. I started talking to him and found out his name was Jack and he is a songwriter. I told him that I was a songwriter too, but said it in a way that would make someone think I had real talent.
Of course the gospel came up. I began teaching him about all the teachings of Jesus Christ restored through Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He stopped me and said, "Wait, I think my brother knows more about this." He pulled out his phone, called his brother Slim and put it on speaker phone. I gave Slim a brief overview of what I had just taught. Just as a mentioned the Book of Mormon, Slim cut in and rattled off a list of anti-Mormon junk. He wouldn't give me time to respond to any of his objections before starting up on another one.

I remember at the beginning of my mission I never thought I'd have a problem with being tempted to Bible bash. This was because I figured I didn't know the scriptures well enough to do it. Well, on that night, I had my first Bible bash, and it was over the phone with Slim. I didn't even realize it until an hour later when my voice was raised reading verses from the Bible into the phone, and all the workers and customers were looking at us. The Spirit of God was not there. Instead there was anger, impatience and frustration on both sides.

Lesson learned. Arguing, even if you can back it up with scripture, will not help anyone follow Jesus Christ. The Spirit that I lost did not return in full until church on Sunday.

Thanksgiving was great. They made it our Preparation Day. Turkey Bowl in the morning. Napping and eating the rest of the day. We purposely limited ourselves to only two dinners. Our first was at the Gordons. The food there was cooked a lot like Mom cooks, so that was nice. The only downer was the absence of banana cream pie.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I'm grateful for many things from all of you - your prayers, your emails, and Christmas packages (wink, wink).

Have a great week everyone. And remember, although it may be tempting to weld skis to a bicycle when the snow comes, don't do it. That path will only lead to pain, injury, and sorrow.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Out of Shape 11/23/09

2010-01-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

Last Monday we went mountain biking in the hills just south of Salinas. For those who don't know, I would go biking as much as possible, even daily at times before my mission. And this wasn't in little California hills - I'm talking high-altitude Wasatch Mountain riding. Impressive, I know.

About 10 minutes into Monday's ride I was struggling for breath. I knew I would probably get soft on my mission, I just didn't want it to happen this early on.

Okay, I just got a notice on my computer screen that my time is almost up. I accidentally got on the "Express" computer area.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I've already had several Thanksgiving-esque dinners. I never thought I'd say it, but I'm already tired of turkey sandwiches from leftover turkey.

Essay Question: Which part (or parts) of the Thanksgiving dinner makes it different than any other dinner?

Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Relying on the Spirit 11/16/09

2010-01-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

I haven't been teaching this many people since my first month in the mission field. Maybe it's something about having a brand new missionary in an area that brings it to life.

I'm trying to think of a good story to tell from this week, but none are coming. However, I can honestly say that this has been one of the happiest weeks of my mission. The reason is that we are teaching so much.

We were teaching a girl named Pam earlier this week. She doesn't have much religious background. Before we began teaching, I asked her what made her want to meet with us (she was a referral from Danny McCoy). She then described the Spirit touching her at times in her life. But she didn't know it was the Spirit - she just described the feelings and what brought them on. She described it just as it has been described in the scriptures.

But she had never read those scriptures.

Alma 16:16
"And there was no inequality among them; the Lord did pour out his Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming."

People are prepared to hear the gospel.

The Spirit is what drives this work. There is a quote in the Preach My Gospel manual that says something like, "You cannot be successful as a missionary without the Spirit." And how do you get the Spirit? You ask for it, and you ask for the Lord's help as you do your best to do what he asks you to do.

This was easy counsel to follow the first few months of my mission - I didn't know what I was doing, and it was obvious that I needed to rely on the Lord for help and guidance. However, as I got more experience, I relied on that for my help, and less on asking the Lord what to do, and how to do it.

Bad idea.

In the past few weeks I've learned:
1)If you are sure how you can help someone you're teaching - ask the Lord for help anyway.
2)If you aren't nervous knocking on someone's door to tell them about the gospel - ask the Lord for help anyway.

I've seen the change that has happened in myself and in the work as I've tried to rely on the Lord more every day. The help has come.

Have a great week everyone! A good story will be in next week's email, I'm sure.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Service 11/09/09

2010-01-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

I was worried that Elder Smith wouldn't get a lot of teaching experience here, seeing as for about 2 months before he arrived, only one new investigator was found. This week we started teaching 4 new investigators! They are all at different points in their progression as well. One is a part-member family who have been taught several times in the past. Another is a Philipino lady who has a daughter in the Philipines who is a member of the church, but hasn't really been taught anything about it. Another is a guy who just got out of jail. The last is a Lieutenant in the Sudanese army. He is planning on running for President of Sudan in the near future. The cool part about him is that his story is legitimate.

One cool story this week. We had been asked to give part of a youth fireside on finding ways to serve other people each day. We weren't sure what we'd say, since we hadn't had much experience of that here. So on Saturday morning, just before we left the apartment, we prayed asking to have opportunities to serve someone we see that day. We left the apartment, and right across the street was a man and his son pulling out weeds. We went over to them.

"How can we help?" I asked.

"Thanks, but we've got it alright," he said.

Elder Smith bent down and began pulling weeds next to the man, and I picked up a shovel nearby. 2 hours later we finished the job, and he had told us all about his Native American heritage, his family, and his life history. Something about being a missionary can put people at ease to tell you all about themselves. Often however, it can get really awkward and a little frightening with the details they share. Luckily, this was not the case with this man.

Elder Smith is doing great. I love training. Having a new missionary has brought back the excitement about missionary work that I felt the first 3 or 4 months of my mission. It can be challenging at times weeding out his preconceived ideas about how missionary work "should" be, but I remember I had the same ideas when I was a new missionary too. He has a really similar personality to mine - but with a little Jim Carrey mixed in with it. Have fun imagining that.

I'm having a blast. I hope you all are too. To those going to the They Might Be Giants concert, I hope you're happy supporting one of the few things that's made a faithful servant of the Lord homesick.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Tricks, Not Treats 11/02/09

2009-11-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

I now understand why it's a bad idea to do pranks on new missionaries.

I met Elder Smith on Tuesday at the mission office in San Jose on Tuesday. He's from Gilbert, Arizona, enjoys playing the guitar, and is distantly related to Joseph Smith.

We arrived in Salinas, and he was wide-eyed and commented often on how "ghetto" it was. He also asked several times "Is this legit?" Having been isolated from the teenage lingo for a year, I had no idea what he meant. I reassured him often that Salinas is perfectly safe, but just to never go on the east side of town after dark.

Around 8:30 pm, we were just finishing up for the day, and getting ready to head home when we got a phone call. I answered, and the voice on the other end told us to meet on Soledad street. Elder Smith asked what was going on. I told him that it was three guys I met the other day, and that they wanted to talk to us on Soledad street - deep in the heart of eastside Salinas.

We drove to Soledad street, got out of the car and started walking around the dark sidewalks. Some guys came up to us and we started talking to them. They seemed alright, but not all there mentally. I could tell that Elder Smith was a little nervous. I told the guys that we had just been put together as missionaries, and if they could take our picture. I got out my camera and handed it to them. I then told Elder Smith to give them his camera too, which he reluctantly did. We posed for about three pictures. Without warning, the guys bolted off, with both our cameras. I chased them for a little, and yelled, but to no avail.

Our cameras had been stolen.

I apologized to Elder Smith, and he suggested that we get home right away. I agreed. In the car ride home, I told him how some people just do bad things, and you never know who you can trust. He was pretty quiet.

We got to our apartment, carrying his luggage up the stairs. We opened the door to our apartment, and saw two figures sitting in the kitchen. I turned on the light, to discover that the two guys who stole our cameras were IN OUR APARTMENT!!

"WHAT THE!?"

I walked into the kitchen towards them. One of them walked right at me. We paused a second in front of each other. I gave each of them a big hug, and we started laughing.

"Elder Smith, I'd like you to meet Elder Thompson and Elder Fox, the Salinas 3rd ward missionaries." Classic.

Elder Smith took the joke well, but I think the emotional damage is still there. For instance, he insisted on buying several locks for his bike, and is suspicious of everyone he meets that they are a "thug."

So this week has been fun. There's way too much to teach Elder Smith, but luckily he is a quick learner.

Me: "And now, Elder Smith, I'd like to show you how this magic box works. You put food in it, push some buttons, and it magically heats it up."

Elder Smith: "I'm not an idiot, you know."

Me: "That's the spirit!"

I'm glad everyone had a great Halloween. I hope to see a picture of Aunt Rachel dressing up as Mom. We didn't have much success proselyting on Halloween. For instance, at about 11am, we saw a guy walking down the street wearing a hockey mask.

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Rawwwgh!"

I love Halloween.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Do Not Joke With The Mission President 10/27/09

2009-11-02T20:59:00.001-07:00

Dear Family,

News: Staying in Salinas for at least 6 more weeks. Elder Finlayson is on a plane right now heading home.

Earlier this week I went to a meeting in San Jose with about 15 other missionaries and President Jackson. Halfway to San Jose, I realized that I had forgotten my suit coat. Suit coats are required at all meetings. Well, I thought that surely it would be better to be on time to the meeting without a suitcoat than be late with it. Maybe he wouldn't even mention it.

President Jackson began the meeting.

"We'd like to welcome you all to this meeting. Where is your suitcoat?"

My face went bright red as he stared accusingly at me.

"Uh...I was never issued a suitcoat."

"What?"

"Uh...I mean, I forgot it."

I gave my excuse that I wanted to be on time to the meeting. He then told a story of when he had once forgotten his suitcoat and decided to not go to the meeting without it.
About half an hour later my body stopped shaking, and I could relax, so it wasn't that bad.

This is a recurring problem with me - forgetting the suitcoat. I remember going to a meeting in Los Altos with the ward leaders of the stake. We were on bikes and in a hurry, so we decided not to pick up our suitcoats in order to be punctual. We still arrived 10 minutes late, just for our turns to introduce ourselves to everyone and say something unique about ourselves.

"I'm Elder Karlsven, and I suffer from a rare medical condition which prevents me from wearing a suitcoat." I'm working on coming up with less lame excuses.

22 year old Danny McCoy's baptism happened on Saturday at 11 am. It went great, and I'm not just saying that. After the baptism, you could see how happy Danny was. He's the kind of guy that can light up a room pretty quickly anyway, but you could tell how filled with the Spirit he was with his joy and love throughout the day. Elder Finlayson confirmed him on Sunday. The only bummer was that his mom, who was against his decision to be baptized, never showed up.

I'm short on time, so I'll tell you about my new companion next week. I'll meet him this afternoon. He's probably just getting off the plane at the San Jose airport. I'm really excited and looking forward to the enthusiasm a brand new missionary can bring to an area. Pray for us.

Have a great week. Enjoy the cold weather in Utah.

Love,
Elder Karlsven

Investigators 10/19/09

2009-11-02T20:56:00.002-07:00

Dear Family,

Lately I've been getting the same complaint from some of my friends. Here is a direct quote from an email from Rob Magleby:

"I will raise this complaint again:

Why do your parents only post your weekly letters once a month in a group? Make them stop! Is it because they don’t like logging into blogspot? I thought your dad had an internet site, he should be a pro. Just write home and tell your parents that the avid readers of your letters are complaining in the thousands and if they don’t want a revolt, they should just post them as they get them. I could go Decembrist any moment!"

I don't really understand the complaint either, but I thought you should know about it.

Yesterday, I met an investigator, Judy, for the first time. We arrived at her house and she warmly welcomed us, providing us with drink and French pastries. We taught about prophets, telling about Aaron making the golden calf for the Israelites when the prophet Moses was away (showing how truths can be lost or changed without a prophet around), and she asked several questions. She agreed to read Alma 32 from the Book of Mormon and pray about it.

This was not at all what I was expecting when Elder Finlayson told me how they first met her:

They were in the drive-thru at Foster Freeze waiting for their food. It was taking longer than usual. Judy was driving a car directly behind them. She began to become impatient, honking her horn. Then she started yelling. Eventually her impatience grew to a fiery rage. She put her car in gear and rammed the back of the mission car the missionaries were driving.

When asked what the reason was for hitting them, she said "I just want my food!" Knowing that Foster Freeze is pretty good, but wouldn't merit that sort of behavior, Elder Finlayson knew something was wrong. As she ate her two large ice cream cones, the missionaries filled out accident reports and got insurance information. Judy's anger soon calmed, and she remarked how much she likes Mormons, and asked the missionaries to come teach her.

I'm guessing that she is what could be referred to as a "two-face." Golden investigator one day. Unexpectedly moody the next. We're having lunch with her today. If any read this before 1 pm Pacific Standard Time, please pray for us that it will be a peaceful meeting.

Danny McCoy is the kind of person that can light up a room in a matter of seconds. Our main worry for his baptism is that Jon, the one baptizing him, won't be able to lift him back out of the water. Danny isn't overweight, but he's solid. Muscle doesn't float too well, I hear.

Danny isn't afraid to ask questions, even at odd hours of the day. Several times he calls us late at night or early in the morning, asking us some gospel question he has been thinking about. Way cool.
We began teaching his friend, Jessica, this week.

Yesterday night, around 9:20 pm, we were leaving the Simkins' home to get home and get to bed. Danny calls. He tells us that he and Jessica are at the church and to meet them there right away. Though I was exhausted leaving the Simkins, I was wide awake as we sat on the couches in the foyer of the church and answered her questions about life after death and other topics.

It's been a great week with much teaching. Next week I will be getting a new companion, as Elder Finlayson returns home to Las Vegas. Now is the time when you wonder whether your new companion will be the type you should make breakfast for the first morning, or if you should surprise-tackle him at a certain time your first day together.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

P.S. Happy Birthday to Mike!

NOTE FROM PUBLISHER: Rob, just be happy you can read Matt's emails.

Minority Report and Mormons 10/12/09

2009-10-16T19:24:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

I now know the temptation that many of my teachers in high school faced. That temptation is to just show those you teach a video, and let that do all the teaching. I'm just glad I don't have an office to go sleep in during our videos.

But I'm grateful for the videos the church puts out about Jesus and about the Restoration of His Gospel. They can be a great tool for helping others understand these things better, and also give more variety to the teaching. Also, because they are translated into several languages, it gives us something to offer to those who do not speak English.

But I think I've taken this video technique too far on occasion. A lot of times, we talk about prophets, and then refer to Moses, often citing Charlton Heston's performance in The Ten Commandments. I guess that's not so bad.

Another time, someone asked why bad things are allowed to happen to us, especially why God allows evil people to hurt others. We read certain verses from the scriptures that touch on this, but they didn't really get it. Eventually, out of frustration, I just recommended that they watch the movie Minority Report, and then they would understand.

In Los Altos we were teaching our investigator, Lenny, about the Plan of Salvation. We got to the Spirit World - where we go right after we pass away from this life. He had many, many questions about this. We answered what we could, but when his questions became more about what the Spirit World looks like, and details like that - I finally just told him to watch the movie Ghost.

I was told that unexpected things would happen on my mission, but I never NEVER thought I'd recommend to someone a Whoopi Goldberg movie.

People are really friendly here in Salinas. I love it.

This week, I had my first donut from Winchell's since we had them after Family Home Evening at home. I think the last time I had one was when I was 12. I was delirious with joy and sentiment as I finished my 4th donut. But a lot of those feelings could have been from sugar overdose.

I'm doing great, and I hope you all are too. You are in my prayers, and I'm again so grateful for your prayers for me and the missionary work.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Conference Recap 10/05/09

2009-10-16T19:19:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

You know, since I've started taking notes at General Conference, I feel bad when I'm furiously writing notes for one speaker, and then for another speaker I can do little more than draw a rough sketch of the speaker's face. I suppose that's how the Spirit works though, letting the things you need to hear penetrate to your heart so you will remember them. I also suspect that the Spirit wants me to work on my skills on drawing facial features.

Every area I've been to, the hardest part of the day to find something productive to do is from 7-9 pm. It's dark - so most people do not want to hear you ring their doorbell, or they're waiting for their next victim to come knock on their door. Both situations do not usually turn out well for us missionaries.
Yesterday was not a day where we had this problem. I woke up eager for the day - General Conference, and then we were booked with appointments until 9pm. Around noon, we checked our messages; all our evening appointments had cancelled.

Dang.

But the Lord does provide in times of need. As the 7-9 pm dead hours approached, we wondered what we would be doing.

We get a phone call. It's the Spanish ward Elders. They need a ride. They won't tell us why they can't drive themselves. They give us instructions how to get to where they are.

As I pulled to the side of the street, we saw both of them standing next to their car. No flat tire, which was what I suspected. Maybe out of gas?

Nope. When we got closer, we saw that both airbags had deployed, and the front bumper was pretty banged up.

On the bright side, I guess we don't need to wash and wax their car this week.

Also, I wanted to give a shout-out to Kacy Faulconer (I assume someone is posting these letters on my blog). I was pleased to see that she was quoted in this month's Ensign magazine, page 27, saying how a blog should not be used for complaining about people or things (or something like that). Good for her. I will probably continue to not follow that counsel in these letters.

Anyway, I was glad to hear that everyone had a good time with family and watching Conference this weekend. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Karlsven

P.S. Essay question: Which was your favorite speaker at Conference and why. 200 words or less. Illustrations optional.

Hump Day 09/28/09

2009-10-16T19:18:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

It was perfect - the "Hump Day" package I mean. It arrived right on my year-mark. It was very satisfying, lying on my bed, eating the homemade cookies, listening to the tape of the family, and looking through the Zoo Books magazine about camels Mom sent me. I especially liked the part of the tape where the Vistaunet family spoke. My companion thought that there were 3 or more men in their family because Steve kept doing different voices. The Hump Day song by the hit band Tijuana Bible was also great to hear.

I've been thinking about it, and decided that really all that's left is doing what I did for the past year, but just one more time. Also, if I schedule things out right, I can do the same amount of work I did, but in half the time. So I guess I really only have 6 months left. I'll bring this up at interviews with the mission president this week.

It doesn't seem like I've been out this long, until I start to think of all the people I've met, and big things that have happened since I've been out. There are so many good memories from each area I've been in (which is only 3 so far, but still). Ushering at the Catholic Mission in San Juan Bautista. Having an explanation of why metal forks should not be placed in the microwave - this from the man WHO INVENTED THE MICROWAVE OVEN. Reading past entries of my journal is always great.

Anyway, I think I've made the Salinas 2nd ward Elders about 20 minutes late for an appointment, so I'll have to end here.

I'm excited for the next year, now that I have a year of experience of what NOT to do.

The mission is great. Tons of blessings, and my testimony gets more sure and more expansive as time goes by. I love you all, and thanks again for all the letters and support.

Have a great week, and enjoy General Conference this next weekend.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Lack of Laptops 09/22/09

2009-10-16T19:15:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

When I think about it, leaving Los Altos was probably harder to do than leaving home for my mission. I hope none of you are offended by that. But I'm not one to live in the past (my only regrets in Los Altos is not getting a picture with the guy who invented the microwave, and the founder of KFC) - I'm really excited to work in a city where many can be labeled "poor and humble," even though many don't or claim to not speak English.

The majority of our ward missionaries here play for the Hartnell College basketball team. One we went out with this week is named Bo Hunter. Not only does he have a name fit for a celebrity, but I found out he went to Provo High. He was a freshman when I was a senior. It was nice to get updates on mutual friends in Provo from him, and to know that D-Wing of Provo High is somehow still standing even though we were predicting its collapse since I was a freshman.

I also found out that at one point, Kenyn Koop was seriously considering coming to Salinas to play for Hartnell College. I heard that from Coach Vasher here (who also happens to be in our ward's bishopric). Man, that would have been awesome to have him in our ward. I could've have brought up all the embarrasing scout-camp stories about us when I bear my testimony in church. On second thought, maybe it's better that he didn't come here.

Our ward is great, and is a bit different than that in Los Altos. For instance, the lack of lap-tops in ward council meeting tells me we aren't in Silicon Valley anymore. Also, there are more who work blue-collar jobs, which is a nice break from having to interpret computer-programmer lingo at every dinner appointment.

I can tell Elder Finlayson has worked hard here. We have a baptism coming up in October. It also seems that wherever we go, he can point out some sort of service he did for one home or another. And not just little things - but things like painting an entire outside of a house, removing huge trees, planting new trees and bushes, etc. He loves to help people.

The ward is great. The bishop is great. My only awkward moment at church was when I called Brother Birchall "Brother King" even after I had asked his name twice and he had given me a business card to remember it. I still maintain that he looks like a "Brother King."

Have a great week. I'm praying for you - so the least you could do is do the same for me!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Transfer 09/14/09

2009-10-16T19:14:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

I was expecting to stay in Los Altos into October, but I've been transferred down to Salinas. My companion is Elder Finlayson, from Las Vegas. That's about all I know about him.

The Salinas population is about 70% Hispanic, so I see my Spanish-speaking skills increasing from "Hola" to "Que Onda," and even more. I miss a lot of people in Los Altos, and I'm glad that I will have many opportunities to keep in touch.

We have a dinner appointment in 15 minutes, so I'll have to wrap this up. I hear a lot of people in the ward like to BBQ. So far so good.

Until next week!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Braveheart Style 09/08/09

2009-10-16T19:09:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Yesterday, I was very pleased to know that a great American Labor Day tradition is being carried on in the Bay Area of California. That tradition is the stake-wide pancake breakfast. I'm talking buckets of pancake batter, sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, etc. You get the idea.

I also discovered another blessing of being a missionary - it's easier to get seconds and thirds without shame or being rebuked. This is because: A Most people just see the white shirt, tie, and nametag, so when you get in line again, they don't see you as a glutton, but just as another missionary that just showed up. And B. Missionaries are always assumed to be hungry and needing to be fed. This assumption is correct.

In the next coming weeks we'll be starting doing service at the Senior Center in Los Altos. Sounds boring, you say? Well, I should also mention that one of our responsibilities is to help them stay fit - and what better way to stay fit than by doing Wii Fit. I just can't wait to see a room full of 60+ year olds playing Wii.

Lately our Mission President has been trying to help us become better speakers. To those who haven't really heard my voice, you'll be surprized that I'm not quite the charming, smooth, loud-speaking handsome and attractive young man that I come off as in these letters. Yep, I need to work on speaking louder and with more inflection. For this purpose, we've taken to reading aloud the scriptures in companion study, but doing it in the fire and brimstone preacher style. One of my favorite chapters to do this with is Alma 44, the battle between courageous Moroni and vengeful Zerahemnah and their armies. My favorite is verse 14, where one of Moroni's soldiers has cut off the scalp of Zerahemnah, puts it on the tip of his sword, and says:

"Even as this scalp has fallen to the earth, which is the scalp of your chief, so shall ye fall to the earth except ye will deliver up your weapons of war and depart with a covenant of peace."

Awesome.

I like reading more spiritual verses as well, but still, that one is my favorite right now. I like to imagine one of the warriors from Braveheart saying it.

The work is coming along. Blessings have come and I'm told more are in the pipeline. I hope the same is with you.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

What's the Theme of Tetris Again? 08/31/09

2009-09-01T21:33:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

On Thursday night the Elders Quorum and us missionaries helped a friend of an elder move. I think all 8 or so of the people that came to help work as engineers of some kind. Needless to say, that was the most efficiently filled moving truck you'll ever see. You know how whenever a bunch of things need to be put into a confined space and someone says how it's like playing Tetris? Well, not only was this comparison made several times by several people, but the majority all started humming the Tetris theme music. Hilarious.

Not many funny experiences while knocking doors this week. Yesterday we were doing it in a very Hispanic area. With those who speak little or no English, we offer to watch a video about Jesus with them (The video can be played in several languages, including Spanish). This time, we made the mistake of using this approach during a soccer game. All television sets were occupied.

It's good to hear that the missionaries from the ward are all doing alright. In the ward next to ours, a senior missionary couple, the Hulls, that went to England for a public affairs mission recently returned. I looked through a bunch of their pictures of other missionaries. Unless Luke Rowley gained 150 pounds, I didn't see him in any. Did Luke Rowley gain 150 pounds?

Has anyone heard from Zoram Quintana?

Elder Galletti and I are still doing our thing. I think I'm eating healthier than I ever have in my life. He cooks and teaches me how to cook for a healthy, low-meat diet for lunch. Then we get fed healthy, organic foods for dinner. I'm looking healthier every day, but I feel like I'm betraying my steak and beef-loving heritage.

There will be some good stories to tell next week, I promise.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

P.S. I'm taking a poll on this question - J. Golden Kimball: Great apostle, or the greatest apostle? email answers to mattkarlsven@myldsmail.net

Mmmmmm....Es Cargo 08/24/09

2009-09-01T21:31:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

I'm glad that Mom and Dad got to meet Jeff Merrick. He's one of the most dedicated and hard-working guys I know. He helps us a lot with the missionary work here.

Homesick moment:
Even though members of the ward often talk about Provo, I don't really get homesick until they mention something that I truly cherished there, and had almost forgotten about. This time it was when the McPhies in the ward said how much they liked to go to Burger Supreme in Provo. Oh man, I miss those Gyros.

Our 2 hours of knocking doors yesterday brought many blessings. We got 3 return appointments, and one family even let us in to teach a lesson about the restoration. They are from Myanmar, and have only been here a couple of months. They speak English alright (all except the father) and they said they came here to escape the persecution the government puts on Christians in their home country. They were very excited to hear about the Book of Mormon and the things it told about Jesus. Man, that felt good to teach and hear how they felt about following Christ. Sometimes you get so caught up defending the gospel that you forget how much deep joy and satisfaction of soul it brings.

So yeah, we're doing good this week.

While Elder Galletti has had some "firsts" on his mission (first time mowing a lawn, first 'Jumble Juice,' etc.) this week I had my first helping of es cargo and later the first time to eat mussels. Both delicious. And they didn't even squirm that much going down my throat.

This week we've been taking pictures of some families in the ward, which we will use for helping them remember to share the gospel (I don't tell specifically what we will do because some members read the blog). We ask to take their picture, they suspiciously ask "Why?"

"Um, no reason," we say.

"Hmmm, this isn't going to go on the internet or something is it?"

"It's for a missionary thing," we say.

"Oh, alright then."

I'm tempted to use the "It's for a missionary thing" line for other things.

"Sister _______, you need to get us 2 gallons of ice cream, and a big chocolate cake. It's for a missionary thing."

"Brother ______, we need your credit card. It's for a missionary thing."

"Come on, how can we share the gospel if you don't give us the keys to your Mercedes, Brother ______?"

I suppose I should count my blessings and not abuse the great blessing of helpful ward members.

Thanks for the emails everyone. Remember to search, ponder, pray and do. Then rinse and repeat. Simple.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Jumble Juice! 08/17/09

2009-09-01T21:29:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Elder Galletti is recovering from his sickness, and life is getting less boring by the minute. We've made it a point to periodically get what he calls a "Jumble Juice" (that's how he says Jamba Juice). I'm supposed to be helping him with his pronunciation, but I find that instead of correcting him, I just start saying things the way he says them.

People from our ward often go to visit Utah, and even Provo. I've realized that to save on postage, I can just give stuff to them to deliver to Mom and Dad. Our Assistant [to the] Ward Mission Leader, Jeff Merrick, will be stopping by soon with a bag full of the mail I've received so far on my mission. He's a great guy, and not a serial killer to my knowledge, so please treat him kindly. He has been a member of the church for about 5 years now.

Before I gave him my letters, I went through them to make sure there weren't any addresses I needed before sending them home. As I did so, I wept as the pile of wedding announcements I had received got bigger and bigger. I've wondered why it is so disheartening to hear of others getting married and moving away. I wasn't planning on marrying any of them myself. And several I didn't even expect to see again anyway.

Then I realized that what I really was losing were people who knew the Matt before the mission, and would be so impressed to see the new and improved Matt after the mission. Now, the people I meet will only know the post-mission Matt, which probably won't be that much to look at. They won't appreciate it because they didn't know how much worse the pre-mission Matt was.

It's like when I was living at home, my room was a total mess. So when I made even a little effort to clean it, Mom was ecstatic when she saw it, even though it still needed a lot more work done. When other people saw my "cleaned" room for the first time, they only complained that the path through the clothes and junk on the floor was too narrow, or tried to guess what it was they smelled coming from under the bed.

Because of this, I've decided that my pick-up line for after the mission will be "If you think this is bad, you should have seen me two years ago."

Our Mission President has asked us to knock doors for two hours on Sundays. When knocking doors in apartment complexes, we've found that often, the people in one complex have something similar about them. Sometimes they are all Spanish-speaking. Sometimes they are all Chinese, or all from Taiwan. Sometimes every apartment smells like curry. The other day, we found a complex that was all Jehovah Witnesses. Though none were interested, most were very nice, and only one tried to Bible bash with us. Every once in a while you find an apartment complex where the only thing in common with everyone there is that they all hate missionaries. I try to avoid those ones.

Well, my time is about up, so again I thank you for the many emails this week. Good luck, Mom, with the new school year! And happy (belated) birthday, Brigette!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

He's a Vegan Now? 08/10/09

2009-09-01T21:27:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

For most of my life my philosophy on a balanced diet could be summed up as: Avoid any and all foods that distract from the meat in the meal.

The other day we found ourselves eating at a vegan restaurant. Even more surprising, it was delicious and I felt good afterward. I won't become a vegan, or even a vegetarian, but since having to be awake, alert and energized working 10am to 9pm every day, I've realized the blessings of being able to "run and not be weary" and "walk and not faint" when following the "eat meat sparingly" part of the Word of Wisdom. A meat-induced coma after lunch can be a huge stumbling block for a missionary.

This morning during study we were reading a talk by D. Todd Christofferson that spoke about keeping the missionary purpose(Helping people develop faith in Jesus Christ, repenting, being baptized, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end) the reason for your missionary work, and not let the means of doing this become the goal. In other words, finding people to teach who will progress in the gospel, and not finding people to teach just to teach. Sometimes it's hard to keep this in mind when you're just happy to find a handful of people who are willing to listen, but then refuse to act on your words to find out if the promises you give to them are true. It just made me laugh a little when I thought of some of the people I've taught in the past who were mentally not all there, just wanted money from the church, or just liked having missionaries over (and had been taking the lessons for over 2 years without any progress). I think at some point, trying to teach these people the gospel, turns from a hope to a delusion.

But I still love teaching.

Elder Galletti was sick this week, so we didn't go out a lot. I learned my lesson from when I infected half of San Juan Bautista with bronchitis.

Thanks for the emails, everyone. I'll write some better emails next time, I promise.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Good Eating! 08/03/09

2009-09-01T21:26:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

I found out yesterday that Elder Galletti and I will be staying in Los Altos for at least 6 more weeks. But I'm not complaining. One difference between me and Elder Galletti is that when I look in our fridge, I start getting ready to go to McDonalds. When Elder Galletti looks in the fridge, somehow he thinks of delicious things to make, and then he even makes enough for both of us! I often say to him, "I don't care what everyone in the mission and the ward thinks of the French. You are a nice guy." He appreciates my compliments.

The other day we made Ratatouille at an investigator's house. Or rather, I cut some vegetables for Elder Galletti as he made Ratatouille. He made me chop up three onions, and I was literally sobbing by the time I was done. We decided that hiding onions in our scriptures would help people think we were more sincere when our eyes tear up any time we open them.

Even though it was mostly vegetables, the Ratatouille food was much better than the movie.

Last week tracting was heaven. This week tracting has given me a testimony that there is opposition in all things. I remember one door we knocked and I felt like I needed to use the somewhat controversial door approach, "Hi, we're here to annoy you. Is it working?" They answered the door -a man only in his 20's and only in his underwear- and I chickened out. Instead I said, "Hey, how's it going?" He said 3 words, of which one was an obscenity, and then slammed the door.

"What did he say?" asked Elder Galletti.

"He said he's already a member of the Church and is on his way to the temple," I responded.

"Oh."

It's been a slow week, but all the ups and downs of serving here have shown me that when it rains, it pours. You just have to be patient, diligent and remember to have fun until it does.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

No Love for Bud 07/27/09

2009-07-28T21:34:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Each Sunday, we pass around a calendar in Relief Society so the women in the ward can sign up to have us over for dinner with their families. This calendar not only gets us opportunities to meet and help members with their missionary work, but I use it also to judge our standing in the ward.

It's simple - No one signs up for dinner=They don't like us.

What worries me is that I'm starting to notice a trend. You see, on several Sundays, my companion and I split off with two members, one going to Relief Society and the other to Priesthood meeting. We present a short (2 or 3 minute) lesson on missionary work, and then ask them to do something that week to share the gospel.

I've noticed that whenever my companion, Elder Galletti, goes to Relief Society, the dinner calendar gets full of people wanting to have us over, which is great. Whenever I deliver the message to the Relief Society, not only does no one sign up, but this last week one of them even crossed themselves off the day they had previously signed up for. The women of the Relief Society can be ruthless.

This week knocking doors has actually been effective in finding people to teach. We've gotten 4 return appointments this week from tracting.

I don't know how much longer I'm going to stay in the Los Altos ward, but I'm not too excited to leave. Coming to a new ward is a process. First you hate them, then you get used to them. After long enough, you get so you depend on them. Then you've been institutionalized. I think "Red" from The Shawshank Redemption said that. Not only have I been institutionalized by the Los Altos ward, but I've come to love many of the members here. Because of this, I plan to offend in some way the ward right before I go - that way it will be easier to leave.

One funny thing from a dinner this week with the Taylors (whom we begged to feed us because no one else would). Brother and Sister Taylor have two little kids. I'm not good at judging ages of children, but the younger of the two, nicknamed Bubba, is young enough to not be able to say much, but can walk and EATS A TON. With us eating outside for the barbeque, one of the challenges was for the Taylors to keep their kids from running off into the road. Every couple of minutes, Brother Taylor got up from his chair, ran off, and returned carrying a smiling Bubba back. One time when Brother Taylor went to get Bubba, we heard several seconds later him say, "Hey, it works." We turned and saw Brother Taylor holding a cookie just out of reach of a crying Bubba (who wanted the cookie), leading him back to us. You might think this was something cruel to do, and maybe it was. But to see it was hilarious too.

It's been a great week, and we've had a lot of blessings. Blessings to be led to some people open to hearing and learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and blessings to have felt the Spirit guide us. After following the feelings the Spirit brings, I've seen immediate blessings come several times this week. I guess Heavenly Father wanted to make it obvious to me that the good things started to happen specifically when I follow the direction of the Holy Ghost.

Sometimes it is still hard to overcome hesitations, but I know, especially this week, that the fruits of the Spirit do come when you follow the direction it gives you. I hope I never forget how worth it it is to follow all that God asks us to do, if only to have the blessing of the assuring encouragement, love, and direction that come from the Holy Ghost.

Have a great week everyone. Elder Galletti and I appreciate your prayers.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Referrals 07/20/09

2009-07-28T21:32:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

Since the ward has found out that Elder Galletti is from France, suddenly we've been getting a lot of referrals for French-speaking friends of members. Referrals are as interesting as they are varied:

Class 1 referral: The members invite you to dinner with their friends. They have talked about the Church and about what missionaries do. The friends are interested and expect the missionaries to teach them more about the Church as the member promised we would. Awesome!

Class 2 referral: Member takes one of their friends to a Church activity. The member introduces the friend to the missionaries. Sweet!

Class 3 referral: Member gives you one of their neighbor's names and tells you that they are friendly. They have instructed their neighbors to give missionaries a glass of water if they come to their door. Okay.

No-Class referral: Member tells you an address to go to. They can't quite remember what the person's name is, but know that it starts with a "B." They tell you to visit the referral but forbid you to mention the member's name. Lame! No better than tracting!

But we're grateful for any referrals we can get.

This week we had dinner with some the Barneys (members in the ward) and their elderly French neighbors, Nicole and Charlie. It took the Barneys a while to convince them to have dinner with the missionaries because Nicole and Charlie thought we would demand that they go to church.
When we came for dinner at the Barney's house, Nicole was very happy to see us, giving hugs and kisses. Charlie was also friendly, but less excited as Nicole. Elder Galletti started speaking to Charlie in French, so I began a conversation with Nicole. She had a French accent, so it was hard to catch everything she said. But she showed so much emotion while she spoke, I thought I could just mirror her facial expressions and it would be good. It was at first when she smiled and laughed as she told me stories about how she and her husband met, and her first camping trip with him, etc. I smiled and laughed too. Then for a little bit I didn't know what she was saying, but she was smiling. I smiled and then chuckled a bit after something she said. She looked at me confused. I asked her to repeat what she said. Apparently she had just told me about how her two younger sisters died of cancer.

Awkward.

Well, we're in a rush, so I'll have to end it here. Thanks for the emails, everyone. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

French Lessons 07/13/09

2009-07-28T21:30:00.002-06:00

Dear Family,

7 days. That's the longest time I've ever spent with a Frenchman. And it hasn't been at all what I expected.

From what I hear, Elder Galletti's last companions weren't the most charitable or patient missionaries, and Elder Galletti had a hard time with them. But this works out great for me, because even though I'm pretty mediocre at best, he says I'm the best comp he has had yet. I like this guy.

After dinner the other day, it was decided that we would play a game of Apples to Apples. Although Elder Galletti can speak English pretty well, I guess 6 months in the United States isn't enough to build a vocabulary suitable to play Apples to Apples. The first round we were supposed to choose a card from our hand that had a person, place, thing or event that could be described as "Nasty or disgusting." The cards laid down were "dirty dishes," "mold," "mud," and "Swan." Guess which card was Elder Galletti's. The rest of the game went on like that, where if there ever was a card down that didn't make sense, it was probably his. Hilarious. What's even more funny is that he ended up winning the game.

Our relationship is developing as I teach him English words and he teaches me French.

He points to a lamp. "How do you say that?"

"Alligator," I respond.

"Okay."

I'm sure he admires me because the other day he gave me a French nickname that means "brave" or "strong." I'm not sure exactly how to pronounce it, but it sounds like "le inn-kom-peh-taunt." Pretty cool, huh?

Oh yeah, another story this week. For the first time in about 2 months, we got a new investigator from tracting. We were walking home from dinner, and I got the feeling to check on this potential investigator who lives nearby that I haven't seen in 4 months. It didn't make sense because the last time we went there, the people said he didn't live there anymore. We went anyway. No one answered the door. But then after knocking 2 more doors a guy answered. His name was Frank. I began:

"Frank, have you ever read a book or watched a movie that just inspired you to do something different in your life or become a better person?"

"Yeah."

"What was it?"

"Grand theft auto."

Somehow we ended up talking about the Book of Mormon. He invited us in to talk and for something to drink. He told us all that he knew about Joseph Smith, which was essentially what has been about him on South Park. In the short time we had, we told Frank about the First Vision of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appearing to Joseph Smith when he prayed to know which church was true. Frank had the classic question, why does God let bad things happen to people. Long story short, we got a return appointment with him. No matter how far Frank progresses in the gospel, I feel very very blessed to have found someone to teach. Plus, it really strengthened my testimony of being led by the Spirit where to go.

This has been an eventful week and I wish I had more time to tell more stories that have happened.

Enjoy the week, everyone. And remember, contrary to popular belief, Joseph Smith was never given the ability to have "ice breath."

Love,

Elder Karlsven

New Companion 07/06/09

2009-07-28T21:30:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

Elder Uelese is headed back to New Zealand with 2 huge suitcases full of clothes he bought here that he will probably re-sell in New Zealand for double the price.

Meanwhile, I'm chilling with my new companion Elder Galletti. He's a Frenchman. However, he doesn't seem to be the stereotypical stuck-up, America-hating, cheese-obsessed person you would expect a French missionary to be. From the 4 hours we've been together, we've already found that both of us ski, both play guitar, and both do not enjoy eating snails. A match made in heaven.

For lunch, he enjoyed the first Whopper he has had in his life. I enjoyed the first Rodeo cheeseburger that I've had in 9 months. This is the beginning of a beautiful companionship.

Apparently most of the San Francisco missionaries had cars, so he is a little bummed that we only get a car 2 days of the week. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he gets on the rickety old Schwinn bike in our apartment. I told him that I will train him for the Tour de France.

So that's the update. Still in Los Altos, but a new companion. I'm sure I'll have some good stories this coming week.

I love you all. Life's a garden - dig it.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Dollar Menu, Hispanic Girls, and Free Food! 06/30/09

2009-07-03T14:11:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

I hope mom finds time to forward this email to everyone even though she is partying in southern California. Happy birthday, Kaylee!

Temperatures are nearing the 100's and our mission president still refuses to budge on his policy against companions practicing baptizing each other in our apartment complex pool. He can be so unreasonable sometimes!

Mom and Dad keep asking for more day-to-day details of my mission life. I was reviewing the last week in my planner, and now I just realize how boring this week has been. We would go visit someone, most of the daytime visits fell through, then we would tract or talk to people on the street. Add in meals, showers, and a little teaching, and that's my day. I guess it wasn't boring for me, but not too many good stories to tell this week. My farmer's tan/sunburn is coming in nicely, something I've been looking forward to.

Elder Uelese has been telling me about things he will miss when he goes back home to New Zealand:

-Dollar menu
-Hispanic girls
-Free food all the time

He is a very wise man.

Enjoy the sun, everyone. And remember, if the sunblock you use is less than SPF 30, it probably causes more cancer than it prevents.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

And We All Thought Matt Was a Hoarder 06/23/09

2009-07-03T14:06:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

I think all too often we overlook the good parts about having a trunky, going home in two weeks, companion. For one thing, anything that he doesn't have room in his luggage for, you get first dibs on. Also, now all the friends he's made throughout his mission want to come up here and take us out to eat. He has to worry about adjusting to regular life, and I'm reaping all the benefits!

This week we helped out one of our...hmmm, how can I put this delicately...crazy investigators. Something in her mind prevents her from ever throwing anything away. This includes garbage and rotting food. Our first task was to throw away all the rotting fruit laying around. I picked up a basket of rotting fruit, and immediately a swarm of fruit flies flew into my face. At this same time, our investigator asked me if that fruit was still good or not.

This was only the beginning.

Her refrigerator had broken down about a week before we came over. I opened it up and saw that she had not thrown anything away, and now all the food, ALL the food, was moldy. And not just a little moldy - for example, a mushy tomato in there was halfway covered in fuzz. SICK! Some dark brownish-red liquid was pooling at the bottom of the fridge.

After emptying out the fridge and gagging several times, I started to work on the clutter in the kitchen. The whole apartment had clutter of junk about 4 or 5 feet tall. There was one about 3 foot-wide path through the apartment. The investigator wouldn't let me throw anything away - used napkins, empty yogurt containers, milk cartons, etc - so I had Elder Uelese distract her while I at least tried to uncover the floor a little bit in the kitchen. I found that the deeper I dug, the wetter and smellier the pile of filth became. That bottom inch of the junk was soaked in garbage juice.

We ended up filling about 10 garbage bags before she wouldn't let us clean anything else up. Well, at least the rotting food won't be a problem for a little while. As Elder Uelese and I left, we pondered how a person can get to the point where their apartment is a health hazard - also, how we could get the garbage juice smell out of our hands.

On another day, we helped some members move out of their apartment. They decided to move out about a week earlier than they told the ward, so we ended up being the only ones to help them. No one we called to help answered their phones. Yeah, we were moving furniture and lots of unboxed stuff for 10 hours that day.

Ether 12:4
"Wherefore, whose believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world..."

True dat.

Elder Uelese will go home on July 6, and I think I will stay in Los Altos for another 6 weeks. Elder Uelese along with 16 other missionaries had their outgoing fireside on Sunday. Each said a 2 or 3 minute testimony. Elder Uelese's was mostly about food that he will miss, and missing getting so much free food. I felt the Spirit.

Despite the difficult and sometimes disgusting work we did this week, we still had a lot of fun. Our teaching pool is slowly growing, and we are grateful. I'm going to miss having a huge Kiwi for a companion when he goes home.

Happy Father's Day, fathers!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

White Man Can't Jump, Shoot or Play Defense 06/15/09

2009-07-03T14:04:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

In answer to Mom's question, one piece of advice I'd give to those preparing for a mission is:

Don't be afraid to loot the church building for paper towels, toilet paper or anything else you need. It took me 8 months to figure that one out.

Right now our companionship morale is pretty low. Mostly because in the past week we've gotten schooled in basketball by 2 really short Hispanics, and then 2 men in their 50's. In our defense, we are both out of shape, and they were shockingly talented outside shooters. The park we played at is full of just about every race but white. I felt like Woody Harrelson in White Men Can't Jump. Except in my case it would be White Man Can't Jump, Shoot or Play Defense.

So this week at district meeting we're supposed to review all the different things we've done to find new investigators and then assess which ones actually helped and which didn't. I don't know how other missionaries feel about it, but all our finding techniques seem pretty hit or miss. All of them have gotten us new investigators, but sometimes none of them get us anything. I'm not sure if any one finding activity is better than any other. We'll see how it goes.

I'm at the Apple Store again, typing on a MacBook Air, and an employee keeps asking me if I have any questions. I think he remembers me from last week. And I think he wants me to leave.

Thanks for the emails, and I'll try to start putting more detail into my letters like mom and dad keep asking. Usually I don't remember the details, so I'll make an effort to do so this coming week.

Talk to you all later!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Ukulele Woes 06/08/09

2009-07-03T14:01:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

First off, thanks to Mom for sending me my ukulele. Our goal is to get some songs together where Elder Uelese and I both sing and play our ukuleles. The problem right now is getting both ukes in tune with each other. I'm starting to think that my uke isn't really the top-of-the-line model I thought it was. It doesn't stay in tune for more than an hour. Kamalei gave me a reject ukulele!

I love Elder Uelese and all, but I think he's getting a little trunky. Don't worry, he still works, but whenever something bad happens, he always tells me how excited he is to not have to go through those things when he's home. This is usually when we get rejected at a door or talking to someone on the street. The latest time was when we were teaching a lesson yesterday, and afterward ended up sitting there for like 10 minutes while the a member and our investigator talked about their jobs. Computer-talk to the non-computer-nerd is BORING. I feel sorry for Elder Uelese - while I can at least fake interest in nerdy things, he can't stand it. He tells me every day how much he can't wait to level someone in rugby when he gets home. With my frail bones, I pray he can hold out until then.

But we're doing great. In the past couple weeks I realized that something has happened that I never expected would ever happen on my mission. People are not only remembering, but pronouncing my name correctly! I was told miracles would happen on my mission, and now I know that is true.

Anyway, we're at the Apple Store at a mall doing email this week because the libraries don't open until later this afternoon. I'm starting to get bad looks from the workers, which makes me think that their bright and chipper faces that greeted us when we first came in the store were not as sincere as I thought. I'd better get going.

Peace out, family.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

International Week 06/01/09

2009-07-03T14:00:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

This has been a very...international week. We were street contacting in a park near our apartment, and saw a bunch of Asians setting up a volleyball net. We went to talk with them, and before we knew it, we were spiking balls at cowering Asians left and right. They spoke broken English, but has mastered words you use in sports such as "Amazing!" "Miracle!" and "I go!"

Later we were invited to a family home evening with some ward members who speak Russian. Once a month they invite other Russian-speakers to this home evening with them, members and non-members. In theory it is a great chance for us to teach people about the gospel. But when the only Russian that speaks any English is an old man that knows only enough English to be able to flirt shamelessly with the other men's wives, it's not the best environment for us to be able to teach with the Spirit.

On Saturday night, after we had dinner at a member's apartment, we were walking out of their complex when we heard some sort of drum going in another apartment. I think the drum is called a Tabla, and it's from India. We knocked on their door and an Indian lady answered. I saw the drum in the room and I told her how we had heard it and were curious. She opened the door a little further and we saw about 8 or 9 other Indians sitting in a circle on the floor, an older man playing the Tabla.

"Yes, we were just praying," she said.

"Oh, can we join you?" I asked.

They let us in and we sat in the circle as they sang some different prayers to the beat of the Tabla. Between songs they told us what the songs were about and some of their teachings. I did my best to look interested and engaged, but a lot of the things they said I had no idea what they were talking about. I'm sure that's how a lot of people we teach without a Christian background feel. They let me record one of their prayers on my camera and then, recognizing that we are ministers, asked us to teach a little about Jesus to them. One of the women then went into the kitchen and returned with a pot full of some sort of brownish semi-solid goo. She went around the room plopping a scoop of it into each person's hand. Mmm, mmm, good.

Whenever we are around people speaking another language, Elder Uelese either imitates their language, or whispers to me his made-up translations of what they are saying. In both cases, I often start laughing and everyone looks at me wondering what the dumb white kid is laughing at. I'm working on it.

Anyway, I'm doing great, having lots of fun, and doing my best to love others and share the gospel. Thanks again for all the prayers, emails, and support. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

"Pahlangy" (Pah-long-ee) = White People 05/26/09

2009-05-31T21:38:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

So I've been going through last week in my planner trying to find something worth telling you all. A spiritually-uplifting experience, a funny story, even something I heard someone else do this week that you all might like to hear. I got nothing, and right now I'm sitting next to an old man and a homeless guy, who are both talking to themselves, and each has their own distinctive smell. So I'm having a hard time focusing.

Elder Uelese often talks about some sort of animal called a "Pahlangy" (Pah-long-ee) that he and other Polynesians like to cook and eat. He also sings a lot of songs about hunting and killing Pahlangies. So I've been looking for a restaurant that serves Pahlangies, but haven't found one yet. Then the other day a Samoan member of our ward said that they used to be in the Tongan ward before they came to this Pahlangy ward. I was a little confused, because most of the members of our ward are white Americans, and wouldn't know much about Pahlangies. If anyone knows where I could find more info on Pahlangies, let me know.

Anyway, thanks for the letters, everyone, and if you see Kenyn, Nate, or any of my other friends that recently came home from their missions, just yell really loud at them "Ooga-booga-looga!" for me. It's a missionary thing. If they truly served with all their heart, might, mind and strength, they'll know what it means.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Exploding Tires! 05/18/09

2009-05-31T21:36:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

What a week it's been. Being with Elder Uelese reminds me a lot of when I was living with Kamalei. Except Elder Uelese is three times as big as Kamalei, has a New Zealand accent, and we don't spend 6 hours a day playing Guitar Hero.

We've taken to street contacting using a ukelele. As Elder Uelese promised, it worked like magic. We were walking down a main street in Mountain View - I was playing the uke and then some people shouted to us to come over and play them a song. We hadn't prepared anything, so I just played some chords and Elder Uelese made up some words, and it wasn't bad. After we finished, we not only were able to give them a Book of Mormon and teach a little bit, but one of them gave us a dollar each! I just wonder what the Bishop is going to say when I give him a tithing envelope with a dime in it.

Elder Uelese says he is a professional rugby league player, and I believe it. He has some pretty good stories. Mostly about injuries or concussions he has gotten while playing. One of my favorite stories though was how when he and another Elder spent a P-day training the San Jose State rugby team. One thing led to another, and they ended up helping the team beat the number 2 rugby team in the nation, and even got their photos on the front page of the San Jose State magazine. That story needs to be made into an inspirational film.

Another good thing about having Elder Uelese as a companion is that people are less likely to yell things at us or start arguing with us. And the people who still do these things are more likely to be beaten up - by him. Man, I love Polynesian missionaries.

Let's see, oh yeah, Saturday was my birthday. I got mom's birthday packages on time, which was sweet. Then went and street contacted in downtown Mountain View where a bunch of booths for different companies and products were set up, along with some bands and attractions. Pretty fun. I even gave myself a birthday present by going down this HUGE slide they set up. It didn't seem as awesome though when I had to wait for 2 moms and their respective 3 year old children to go down before me. But still, it was sweet.

Then we celebrated with shish-ca-bobs (sp?) and ice cream cake at dinner with some members. Not such a bad birthday after all.

A few minor drawbacks to a Polynesian companion:
-He eats as much as I do, and it's a race on who gets the leftovers first.
-Having to keep my back straight as he bench-presses me.
-Having to replace 2 bike tubes for him after they exploded under his weight (this is true).

Actually only one of the tubes actually exploded. The other one just got a hole. The exploding tube:

We were riding back home from dinner and went down a road with some police cars and a gathering crowd. They were all looking at a car that had crashed and was now on its side. I was ahead of Elder Uelese, and right when we passed the crashed car, I heard a BOOM! behind me. It sounded like a quieter gun-shot or a really big balloon popping. I looked back and saw that Elder Uelese's back tube had exploded and was completely flat. Of course, now everyone who had been looking at the crashed car was now looking at Elder Uelese. No one made a sound for about 3 seconds. Then this big, fat Hispanic guy from across the street just starts busting out laughing at us. Everyone else started laughing too. We walked our bikes away in shame.

But it really was hilarious.

Anyway, thanks for the updates and good luck Dave and Brigette with getting the new home and Joe and Meagan visiting Europe. Have fun everyone, and enjoy your week!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Obedience 05/11/09

2009-05-31T21:35:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

For the past 3 months I told Elder DeAngelo a lot about how San Juan Bautista is and about how it was to be a missionary there. For some reason, the weird and more negative stories (strange people, chickens everywhere, small population, etc) were more fun to tell than the positive ones (making good friends, everyone knows you, spiritual lessons, etc). Well, as luck would have it, he just got transferred to San Juan, and I'm sure he's thinking it's not going to go too well. And it's all my fault! Meh.

My new comp is Elder Uelese (Weh-less-ee) from New Zealand. He's a pretty big guy, and he seems pretty solid, especially after the car's rear suspension went down a good 2 inches after he put his dumbells in the trunk. Then another 3 after he got in. I don't know much about him now that I've known him for about an hour. But I've heard a lot of good things about him.

Well, we're off to a pig roast in San Jose. It was great talking to everyone yesterday. Oh yeah, a good excerpt of the phone conversation:

Family: So how is your missionary experience different than you expected?

Becky: One thing is that all missionaries aren't perfectly obedient.

(phone beeps)

Family: Oh, I think that means it's been an hour. How long can your phone call be?

Me: 40 minutes, but that's not that important. Now, let me tell you more about these disobedient missionaries...

I'll talk to you all later. And if you see Nate Perkins or Kenyn Koop, give them a pat on the back or a hearty handshake for me.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Santa Cruz 05/04/09

2009-05-31T21:33:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Although my sickness had barnyard-esque symptoms, you can rest assured that it was not the swine flu. Thank you for your concern.

In less than a 10-minute time-frame today, I saw 6 people with dreadlocks, 3 street performers, and hundreds of otters and surfers in wetsuits. That's right - we visited Santa Cruz.

Taking a windy road into the Eucalyptus-tree-filled hills of Santa Cruz, we approached the area known as the Mystery Spot. The Mystery Spot is renowned for its strange effects on certain laws of physics and perception as well as its ability to distribute large amounts of bumper stickers. Balls roll UP slopes instead of down, people change heights and size depending on where they are in the Mystery Spot, the downward pull of gravity is not a factor in the Mystery Spot.

I'm sure you can read a lot more of the fantastical descriptions of this place online. But to tell the truth, I was a little disappointed about the whole thing. Most of the tricks didn't seem amazing, or even made you wonder how they did it. Actually most of the effects were based on that you were in a crooked house on a slope. I guess I've just lost my childlike imagination and wonder about things like that. I hope it comes back someday though. I'll just have to wait until I'm old and senile I guess.

Seeing the ocean was great, and seeing surfers wipe out was even greater. Santa Cruz would be a fun place to surf - I mean serve.

We've had some great lessons this week. We have two investigators preparing for baptism in a few weeks - Gian Singh (An Indian from Fiji) and Florence Ting (Chinese lady that we've been teaching with Elder Young - from Provo High).

We also had a very spiritual lesson in a Starbucks this week. It was the first time teaching a 25 year old named Lewis, who studied to be a Lutheran preacher, but then 3 years ago decided to convert to the Greek Orthodox church. Lewis lives with his parents, so he wanted to meet at Starbucks instead of his place. Not the best environment to teach, but we agreed anyway. We brought Dave Barney, a member of the ward to help teach Lewis.

As we taught, Lewis had a lot of really good questions. Honest, sincere questions and not wanting to bash (most of the time) even though he knows the Bible really really well. As Dave Barney testified of his own getting an answer that the Book of Mormon is true and that Lewis can get an answer too if he reads and prays with sincerity, real intent and faith, I remember how all our loud, distracting surroundings melted away and the Spirit could be felt and recognized. Great lesson. Members helping out with teaching investigators makes it SO SO SO much better (most of the time). And yeah, we probably won't be teaching Lewis at Starbucks again in the near future.

Anyway, I'll think of some good stuff to tell you all when I call on Mothers Day, and you all do the same. Can't wait!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

No Bueno 04/28/09

2009-05-31T21:30:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Been inside most of the week. Yep, sick again. I thought it would be nice to have hot weather when you are sick. Not so. The most miserable day was I think Wednesday, the hot sun beating into our apartment, where for 5 hours I was sprawled out on the couch, drenched in sweat, periodically swaying in and out of consciousness. I realized my appearance that evening at our dinner appointment probably concerned the family when I had to stop them from calling an ambulance. No bueno. Absolutely no bueno.

We passed the time playing Settlers of Catan. This helped take my mind from my ever-worsening illness, but it also brought back bad memories of family feuds back at home caused by playing this game. I was shunned by our district at district meeting, and the mission president refused to shake my hand. All because of the symptoms of my sickness - cough, runny nose, weakness, sickly composure, and a near-uncontrollable urge to complain about it constantly. This week has been as much a mental and emotional battle as it has been a physical battle against the adversary and the bad-health he sends to me.

Okay, it wasn't THAT bad. But having to stay inside is so boring, especially as a missionary. I got some anti-biotics, and just finished taking them all, and I've improved a lot. So this week we are back to work at full-throttle.

One thing of note happened this week - I may or may not have accidentally gone outside of the mission on a split with Eddie Baik from the Elders Quorum. He was driving me around, looking for a less-active member that lives in Los Altos Hills - lots of winding roads, and few street signs. The man we were looking for lives on the north border of the mission. We were driving along and start passing several software companies that Eddie says are based out of Palo Alto. Huh? We realized we probably missed a turn, but cannot find a place to turn around. We finally turn around in a parking lot at a building for Stanford University. So, as any missionary would, I had Eddie take a picture of me in front of the Stanford sign (for bragging rights) and then we rushed back into mission boundaries.

Let's just keep this a secret between me, you and the world-wide-web, okay?

Not much else to report this week. But with my health back, I'm sure the coming seven days will be eventful.

I love you all. Thank you so much for your prayers!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Questions and Answers 04/21/09

2009-05-31T21:28:00.000-06:00

Family,

Wow, Mom is moving from music teacher to regular teacher? Are her students going to put on a surprise concert for her like in Mr. Holland’s Opus? Hopefully her opus will be better than Mr. Holland’s. That one was terrible!

In Mom’s last email to me she asked a few questions. In response:

Q: What's your apartment like? Do you share it with other Elders? Or is it just you and your companion?
A: My apartment is acceptable. There are several large and mysterious stains on the carpet that won’t come out, but other than that it’s pretty good. Just Elder DeAngelo and I. Living below us is a large man named Roy that is drunk often and occasionally waits for us to come home at night to talk to us. The last encounter with him he started crying and hugged me several times, and then told us several graphic details about his life. Ugh.

Q: Are you cutting each other's hair? Or going to a professional hair style place?
A: We met a man named Al Galedrige who runs a barbershop in downtown Los Altos. He is a balding 81 year-old that has been cutting hair for 63 years Very talkative and also losing his hearing. Great guy. Gives 50’s style haircuts, which luckily is exactly what I like. We go to him

Q: Are you taking care of your suits? Getting them dry cleaned occasionally?
A: Yes, mother.

Q: Do you cook much? Or is it cold cereal in the morning and meals with members in the evenings?
A: Member meals are almost always delicious and even occasionally nutritious. The extent of my cooking is melting cheese on nachos in the microwave

Q: Are your shoes in good condition?
A: Yes, mother.

Q: How are your teeth doing?
A: I counted them this morning. All present and accounted for.

Some missionaries hate it, but I love being looked at on the street and having weirdos (and some normalos) come up to us to talk. Maybe I was just starved for attention before I came out here, but I like it. I’ve gained about 10 pounds in the last 3 weeks. I’m trying to convince myself it’s from the muscle being built in my legs from biking. But I still haven’t forgotten my initial goal of gaining 200 pounds on my mission.

I’m sorry to hear that the ski season is winding down. I hope you all enjoyed it.

Oh yeah, I should mention that Elder Ames, serving in the ward next to Los Altos, from North Pole, is good friends with Nicole Jensen (our cousin). Small world.

I’m happy and having fun while simultaneously working hard. Sounds impossible, but it’s true.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

The Best Investigator! 04/13/09

2009-04-13T21:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,
I love holidays. I also love asking Hindus if they would like to watch a movie about Jesus on Easter.
Easter church was terrific. Before Sacrament Meeting, Ken Smith, a mild-mannered member of the ward told me that he had brought a friend to church he met while running at the Stanford track. I was informed that this 33 year old friend, whose name was J.R. would be sitting in the front right pew. We walked into the chapel and sat down near the back just as the meeting began.
It took little time to spot J.R. in the congregation. While the Brother and Sister Bennett each spoke about Christ's Atonement, about every 4 or 5 sentences or so there came an enthusiastic "Amen!" from his direction. Brother Bennett opened his talk with a joke about if he should thank the choir for singing even though he had been in it. J.R. found this hilarious, laughing hard, and clapping his hands loudly. I remembered that Ken Smith told me that J.R. would be coming to our small gospel principles class too. Yes!
In class, we found J.R. to be the most positive man in the world. Very talkative, and 90% of the time he was giving someone a thumbs up. If someone came into the room without shaking his hand, he would scold them and then give them a big hug. I especially liked it when this happened to an old high counsellor who definitely was not comfortable with being touched.
We decided to teach the 1st lesson (The Restoration) for J.R. in class. It was going well until I made the mistake of asking J.R. a question.
"J.R., how has learning about the Bible helped you to be so happy?"
He spoke until the end of class on that and other various subjects. But we didn't mind because in the process he made several new friends in the class. He told us that many people think he is on some sort of drug which makes him so energetic and happy (that's what I was thinking), but then he shouted "The air I breathe is MY drug!" And then he took a big breath through his nostrils.
He came to Elders Quorum with us and, as can be expected, he participated heavily in the lesson. Most of the Elders loved him - inviting him to choir, more activities and church next week. J.R. happily agreed. As everyone was getting up after Elders Quorum, J.R. yelled out to everyone his phone number. He lives in Palo Alto, so teaching him may be difficult, but he's really what made church exciting.
We had two dinners on Easter, which was heaven. We also checked up on a media referral for a man in his twenties named Jay, who asked for a Book of Mormon delivered to him after looking at mormon.org. We visited him with Jeff Merrick, our assistant ward mission leader, and found Jay to be very pleasant, even allowing us to teach him a first lesson. He has a Mormon friend who goes to BYU now, and took him on a tour of the temple grounds in Salt Lake City, which is really what made him curious about Mormons. While we were there, he took a picture of us on his iPhone and sent it to her. That must have been a pleasant surprise for her.
I'm glad you all had a good Easter. I just finished one of the big solid-chocolate bunnies given to us yesterday, so I'll definitely need a nap in the next 10 minutes. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Karlsven
P.S. Happy Birthday Joe!

Chastised about his bike. 04/06/09

2009-04-13T20:59:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

A kindly member of the ward fixed up my bike the best he could. While he was fixing it he told us fascinating stories about his mission - mostly about how well he took care of his own mission bike. The problems with my bike fueled his vigor for sharing more about his mission.

Him: When's the last time this chain has been oiled?

Me: Well, I'm not sure, it was another missionary's bike before I...

Him: (interjecting) When I was in the Dominican Republic it took two months to order bicycle chain oil, but I still oiled my chain twice a week. Now, do you not know how to shift correctly, or do you just LIKE destoying gear-shifters?

Me: What?

Him: That's what I thought. You missionaries are all the same. When I was Zone Leader, I told all my missionaries to... (etc)

Nah, I'm just kidding. He's a really nice guy. My bike feels and rides a lot better than it did before, although there are a couple problems I will have to take it into a bike shop to get fixed. No biggee.

Was conference good or what? President Monson doing his thing, the women speakers didn't have big fake-looking smiles on, and I was very pleased when President Uchtdorf delivered yet another talk based on airplanes.

I hope Elder Perry's talk on member missionary work sunk in with the ward here. If not, we're going to force it down their throats when we have dinners with them. It did make me miss Provo canyon when Elder Perry was talking about the stranded sheep. I must have gone up Provo canyon over 100 times in the few months before I went into the MTC.

We played ultimate frisbee with our zone today and had a barbeque. Elder Ames is new in our district. He comes from North Pole, Alaska. He's a little on the chubby side, and somewhat overly-jolly, which makes me suspicious. I'll keep an eye on him come Christmas time.

Not many really good stories to tell this week. We did meet some really really friendly athiests from India yesterday. They invited us in, gave us water and candy, and didn't listen to anything we said about the gospel. They were a lot nicer than the Baptist, "Christian," or lady that didn't speak English we tracted into earlier. Respecting and loving people of other faiths is so important.

I'm doing well, staying fed, and preaching the gospel. So Mom, you have no need to worry, I'm so spoiled compared to Dave, Mike or Joe when they served.

I love the blessings of the gospel, especially the Spirit that comes when you share it with others. I'm very grateful to be here, especially now that barbeque season is coming around.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Baptism! 03/30/09

2009-04-13T20:58:00.000-06:00

Family,

Ben's baptism went off without a hitch, and his father who has not come to church for 25 years came to see him confirmed in Sacrament Meeting. Really cool. Maybe in another 25 years he'll let the missionaries teach him a first lesson.

Today was transfer meeting, and all that really changed was that our car was given to some Spanish-speaking missionaries that are opening a new area. So it looks like my thighs are going to be extra toned after being on bike this coming transfer.

This week I've discovered that Indians (people from India) are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet, but are also very hard to explain gospel doctrine to. Well, actually I take that back - many have come to believe in Christ, but now I wonder if they need to stop believing in their other gods to be baptized. Do they really need to follow ALL of the 10 commandments? (Disclaimer: Just for clarification, mostly for mom, I'm joking here, okay?)

After this past week I wonder how I will keep from gaining 200 pounds if I ever get put in a Polynesian ward. This week we had a huge barbecue with the Latu family (Brother Latu I found out was Mandy's district leader for a time in New Zealand) and then the Tangi family gave us an entire cake. Not leftovers, but a whole cake, for no real reason. Sweet!

Again, thanks for all the support, the letters and everything else you all do for me.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

No, he does not work at a department store 03/23/2009

2009-04-13T20:56:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

Ben's work schedule got changed, so we had to push the baptism back to Saturday March 28. I don't know if I mentioned this, but now our main concern is how Bret Jepsen, our nearly 7 foot tall Ward Mission Leader is going to baptize Ben, who is about 5'5" and a bit stocky. Bro. Jepsen is working with his chiropractor about this.

We've been going around trying to set up more regular service activities to do around the city. One that looks promising is to take an hour each week at the Center for Performing Arts and explain and answer questions about the artwork being displayed there. Good thing I know so much about art (joke).

This last week we got to usher for the School of Music and Arts. It was a percussion show that wasn't too bad. Made me want to watch the movie "Drumline." But then I remembered how terrible that movie really was.

We often get questions from customers in department stores asking where things are. I have helped several of them. One lady that realized I didn't work there looked at my nametag and then said that if I could tell her where the bathroom mats were then she would convert. It saddened me to find out later that she didn't really mean what she said.

I really like riding a bike as a missionary. I almost wish we didn't have the car 3 days a week. We'll see if I still feel this way in the sweltering heat of the summer.

Although the work is hard is several ways, I feel so spoiled here. Delicious food, good ward, lots of things to do for missionary work, and did I mention the delicious food?

Speaking of the food, we're got dinner in half an hour, so I've got to run. Have a great week all!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

All-American Handsome Missionary 03/16/09

2009-03-22T20:33:00.000-06:00

Family,

Hmm, highlights of the week:

-Tracting: Door answered by a nice man with a sweet prosthetic leg. He shut the door before I could ask if I could touch it.
-51 year old female investigator told me I am "All-American handsome."
-Visited our Chinese investigator Florence, and brought along the Mandarin-speaking Elders, one of which is Landon Young who I know from Provo High.
-Tracting: Door answered by angry naked man.
-Planned Ben Prudence's baptism!

And now some more questions from my young Texas cousins:

Jonathan: Did you buy 8 new white shirts before you left on your mission?
-My mom (your Aunt Laurel Dean) bought me 8 white shirts. I didn't really know why I would need more than one, so I threw away 7 of them. Now I just have 1 greyish brownish yellow shirt.

David: What do you do on your P-day?
-Buy industrial strength laundry detergent with extra bleach.
-I also enjoy answering questions from my cousins. Keep them coming!

It hasn't really been a special week. We just keep waking up and doing our thing each day. I feel really spoiled here. Lots of people in the area. Lots going on. Great members who feed us well, and some of which are even willing to keep their covenants and help with the missionary work. The only thing I worry about is which part of my bike is going to fall off first. I'm thinking it's the pedals, but the front wheel is making some weird noises too lately.

Don't worry, dad taught me enough about bikes to be able to keep mine together for at least a little while longer. Which reminds me, please send duct tape.

Thanks for the emails, and I hope those who are sick get feeling better.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

P.S. I was joking about sending me duct tape. A package with duct tape in it is not necessary, mom.

Investigating Google 03/09/09

2009-03-22T20:30:00.000-06:00

Fam,

We've got a baptism on the 21st! His name is Ben Prudence. His dad is a less-active member and has been since before Ben was born. His mom is not a member, but Ben was blessed as a baby by Bro. Hansen (in our ward) and the spirit told him to say that Ben would one day become a member of the church. 24 Years later, that is being fulfilled. Really cool. It made us happy. Our ward mission leader is going to baptize him.

Have I talked about our ward mission leader? The first time I saw him, it was from a distance at stake conference, and the only words I could come up with were "He's gigantic." I stick with that description. His name is Bret Jepson, and he played basketball for BYU a few years ago. I bet he's over 7 feet tall, easy.

About an hour ago we got finished with a tour of Google headquarters. I've decided I need to change my major to whatever will get me a job there. Very relaxed atmosphere, tons of cool computer stuff, free food galore (and it's GOOD). They have dozens of "google bicycles" just sitting around for people to hop onto if they need to go to another building. On-call masseuses, etc. Yeah, paradise. We were led around by 2 church members that reminded me a lot of Mike - computer nerdy, but still cool and funny. We helped ourselves to lunch - I had some pizza, chinese food, and a club sandwich - all of which google somehow engineered to be healthy for you.

My one criticism of the place was when we first got there. The member taking us around forgot to have his ID out, so this 5'5", thick-glasses wearing, somewhat out-of-shape security guard comes out of nowhere and asks us bluntly and with a distinct nasal tone "What are you guys doing here?" There was nothing wrong with what he did or said - the member pulled out his ID and everything was fine from there - but I was just disappointed that this was the type of man google chose for their security force. Don't get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the security guard as a person, but seriously, he wasn't intimidating at all. He was probably a smart guy, but brains over brawn isn't really the idea in the security guard world. Just my opinion.

The weather has been perfect this week. I am so spoiled here. Oh, but I love it so much.

And here's a shout-out to my good ol' pops: Happy Birthday!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

The Bike Crash! 03/02/09

2009-03-22T20:29:00.000-06:00

Family?

What a week. So the other day, my comp and I were riding bikes back to our apartment at about 4 pm. I'm on an old, at least 2 year old bike, that I got from a missionary who went home 2 weeks ago. The back brakes don't work, the gears slip, and the whole bike creaks and groans when I peddle. It's a piece of junk, but it was free, so I kept it.

My comp bought his bike brand new here about a month ago. He likes to play a game where he swerves really close to me, while I can't do anything back without my bike falling apart. On one occasion, he got within about an inch of me, so I got the bright idea to grab his handle bars and shake them. It worked, but all too well. He lost control, and I did too. We both ended up on the asphault. I went between the bikes and cut up my thumb either on the road or when it got caught in his spokes - I'm not sure which. I was pretty excited to have my first wreck on my mission, but what made it all the better was that there was this guy with a leaf blower across the street that saw the whole thing. He was laughing his head off! I would be too, I guess.

Some questions to be anwered from my little future missionary cousins, David and Jonathan Jensen:

David: How old are you?
-20 years old

Jonathan: Are you having a good time on your mission?
-Yes

Jonathan: What do you like to eat?
-Whatever is put in front of me. Right now I'm in the mood for waffles.

I'm happy, being well-fed, and dreading the day my metabolism slows down. Later!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

P.S. Missionary piece of knowledge: Shout stain remover gets blood out of a white shirt really well.

Q and A's of Los Altos 02/23/2009

2009-03-01T20:35:00.000-07:00

Family,

Okay, looks like this is going to be another one of those Q&A emails. Thanks for the Q's, and enjoy the A's:

Q: Los Altos is probably very different from San Juan Bautista.
Any chickens walking around? Any Antique Shops on your street? Any friendly bakers? Any naked sun bathers? Any Catholic Missions or Monasteries?
A: None that I've noticed...yet.

Q: What's your companion like? Where is he from?
A: My companion, Elder DeAngelo, runs about 5'9, 160 lbs. In profile, he resembles some sort of bird, I can't decide whether it be an eagle or a vulture. His first name is Matt, and he has one sister and three brothers...strange. He is from Virginia, but his dad works for the government, so for 6 months before he left on his mission he was living in Jordan (the one in the Middle East). He has some good stories.

Q: Was he in Los Altos before you got there? How long has he been on his mission?
A: He has been in Los Altos about 7 weeks. He has been on his mission about 7 weeks.

Q: Which one of you two greenies is the Senior Companion?
A: We agreed that we would be co-junior companions, and that the Lord would be our senior companion. That way, neither of us will feel bad when we don't know what the heck we're doing.

Q: What's the city like? Big? Rich? Beautiful?
A: Yes, yes, yes. All admirable characteristics of both a mission area, AND a future wife.

Q: Are you using bikes? Cars? Walking?
A: Yep.

Q: Are there several investigators in progress?
A: Several investigators - yes. In progress? Um, define the word "in."

Q: Do you still have dinner appointments with the members?
A: One of the great parts of having more than 6 members in your area - dinner appointments just about every night!

So there you have it, all your questions answered. I'm doing great here. We played basketball and racquetball this morning at a sports club. I feel like such a spoiled missionary, and I love it! Thanks for the letters and emails everyone. Hope to hear from you all soon!

Love,

Elder M. John Karlsven

Transferred! 02/17/2009

2009-03-01T20:33:00.000-07:00

Family,

Okay, I wasn't able to get a library card today, so I'm using a free-access computer and my time limit is 15 minutes. I have 6 minutes left.

I said goodbye to San Juan Bautista, and hello to Los Altos! We're right next to Palo Alto and the northern border of our mission. My companion is Elder DeAngelo, and this is his second transfer. He's a good guy, and has the greenie fire blazing as mine is dying down a bit.

I miss San Juan, or rather, I miss certain people in San Juan. I got to know very well the 7 or so members in San Juan we would see often, so I miss them, and also the Bracho family a lot - our last appointment we prayed one by one and asked if the Book of Mormon was true. Everyone felt the peace and joy of the spirit. So yeah, they know it's true. I'm bummed I won't be there for more progression with them, but I'm excited to be here in Los Altos, with several investigators and a bigger population.

I have 37 seconds left!

Bye everyone. I love you all!

Elder Karlsven

Happy Valentine's Day! 02/10/2009

2009-03-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

Family!

Today is a great day. The sun is out, the chickens are roaming free, and I got mom's Valentines Day package. Thanks a bunch. And on top of that, I got a valentine from my good friend Amy Arnold. Attached to it was a playing card - the five of hearts. It said "Betting you'll be my Valentine" on it or something like that. Clever, yet still from the heart. As much as I was happy to receive it, I have to say that I was disappointed that I got the five of hearts, meaning that she sent out similar valentines to at least 4 other people before me that got the ace, two, three, and four of hearts. Nevertheless, any valentine is a good valentine.

Also, Elder Bourne and I got a valentine from Maggie, an investigator that is progressing nicely. After a car accident, she has been in a wheelchair and suffered a head injury, so we help her out with chores and stuff around the house. One of the things we helped her with was decorating the valentines she sends out. So yeah, I recognized the valentine she sent to us to be one of those that I had decorated with glitter glue. It made me smile.

I've been asked how I've liked going on exchanges with other missionaries this transfer. Well, first of all, I should mention that Elder Bourne and I have gone on more exchanges this transfer than any other companionship. 8 exchanges. 8! But I've loved seeing how other missionaries work with people in lessons, on the street, or wherever. It seems to be customary to complain about one's companion on exchanges. I'm just glad Elder Bourne doesn't snore, because that has caused fierce tension in many a companionship.

Okay, I'm about out of time here. I wish everyone a happy Valentines Day, and thanks so much for all the support. I'm loving the work 80-90% of the time, which is above average I think. And the rest of the time I am enduring it with hope. Either that or releasing my anger in a wrestling match with Elder Bourne.

Happy heart day!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Gettin' Close to Clint Himself 02/05/2009

2009-02-07T12:55:00.003-07:00

Family,

Some have asked how the Pinewood Derby went. I apologize that I forgot to mention that it is customary in missionary work for all plans to fall through at the last minute, even Pinewood Derbies. At first I was bummed when we found out our investigators couldn't make it, but the next day, I found out that many of the adults (members of the church) at the activity brought much contention when the cars they "helped" their sons make didn't do well.

We just had a pleasant chat with a man named Don Heitkotter whose claim to fame is painting a painting featured in a 1970 Clint Eastwood movie. I forget the name of the movie, but the point is that I'm that much closer to teaching the gospel to old Clint himself. But I'm not sure how much Don is going to help out in getting ahold of Clint - Don said that if he ever sees Clint Eastwood again, he's going to punch him out for withholding royalties from him.

I apologize for the lateness of this email - we ran out of time on prep-day and then had two exchanges in a row. One was with the Spanish-speaking elders - so my staying quiet and smiling politely skills came in handy - and the other was with our zone leaders. I went with Elder Boland, our Australian zone leader remembered by most for his sailor's mouth and missing index finger (a tablesaw accident). But I will now always remember him for his pure heart. And the feel of the stump of his finger when I shook his hand.

It's always good to hear from everyone. Take care!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Toilet Woes. 01/26/2009

2009-01-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

Family,

So I got to play Settlers today! But instead of Catan being settled, it was Zarahemla. I wonder how much money people make off of dumb little church games.

Okay, I'm really rushed right now, because I've unfortunately developed the bad habit of clogging toilets. So our plumber is coming over in about 10 minutes. We're on a first name basis (he's stopped by about 4 times now).

Tomorrow we're going with a family we're teaching to the Pinewood Derby at the church! Should be fun, although I fear that the parents there won't be the most Christlike when they see their kids' cars break or get beaten.

Thanks for all the support, prayers and letters. I love you all. Read, ponder, pray, and repeat.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

He got to pet a bat ray! 01/20/2009

2009-01-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

Family!

Yesterday we took a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with two other missionaries and a lady named Sara that they baptized in December. Much was learned about the dark mysteries of the deep, and even more was learned about the hilarity of the otter and its many foibles. Those guys are crazy. Other points of note in the trip:

-The man that made our hamburgers for lunch had a striking resemblance to John Travolta.

-I got to pet a Bat Ray! At first I was planning to punch it for what the rays did to Steve Irwin, but its cute face melted my heart. I fed it a piece of dead squid.

-The man that looked like John Travolta was not nearly as friendly as I imagine and hope the real Travolta is.

The work has been slow lately, even though we're teaching about 8 investigators. About half of them are sick or out of town. But the lessons we teach are getting better and better as Elder Bourne and I are learning how to best teach together. I'm learning tons about the scriptures and church history, because so much of it comes up with people we talk to.

I know this is where I need to be right now, and I'm so happy to be here. This will probably be my last transfer in San Juan Bautista, so I'm trying to work extra hard. The citizens of San Juan will be slow to forget the name Elder Karlsven. Although few have yet to pronounce it correctly.

Enjoy the snow in Utah. We're in short sleeves here!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

Mission questions and answers 01/12/2009

2009-01-28T19:32:00.001-07:00

Family!

I've been informed on some of the questions people want answered about my mission. Here are some of them:

Q: What's your mission president like? Personality? Traditions? Leadership style?
A: I don't spend a lot of time with him, but from what I've seen and heard, the answer to all of these is: Crazy. But in a good way.

Q: What are some of your favorite things about your mission so far?
A: Hearing investigators read James 1:5. Then showing off how I know what the word "upbraideth" means.

Q: What are some of your challenges so far?
A: Getting out the door right at 10 a.m. Also, trying to strike up conversations with people who don't speak English.

The other day we set up a little booth outside the local grocery store here, The Windmill Market. We had a nice little table with pictures and some of our pamphlets and stuff. Although in theory our plan seemed foolproof to get us some new investigators, we ended up becoming more or less like Wal-mart greeters in that no one knew why we were there and most people tried to avoid us. But I got some ideas for next time that should get people's attention. Once we talk to the Fire Marshall about it, we should be good to go.

I had a good story to tell, but I'm not sure it's the kind of story that's "for the whole family." I'll just say that I've learned that no matter how many times you take the same path to an investigators house, you STILL need to check for old men sunbathing around the corner...in the nude.

Love,

Elder Karlsven

P.S. There is no such thing as evolution, just a list of creatures Chuck Norris allows to live.

Jan 7th 2009 email

2009-01-11T14:16:00.001-07:00

Dear Family,

It seems President Jackson doesn't want to break up a powerful companionship - Elder Bourne and I are both staying in San Juan Bautista!

First of all, holy cow, Caitlin Perkins is getting married! Nevertheless, that's no excuse for her not writing back to me. Let's just say I'm not so much angry about it as I am blinded with rage. If anyone sees her, tell her congratulations for me, but do it with clenched teeth and glaring eyes. Thanks.

Earlier today we were fixing traffic barriers for the city. Keeping with the rustic and quaint look of the town, the barriers were old, bent and broken, and most of the bolts were rusted over. But working on them was nice because - 1. Manual labor feels good after not doing any for so long and 2. It reminded me of the countless hours I spent in Mom and Dad's garage taking apart that old antique piano, but this time I had the comfort of not being in danger of a gigantic iron string board falling on me.

I don't remember if I told you all this before, but while we were caroling with our district we got a really good excuse from a man and his wife for not wanting to watch the Christmas video we were giving out:

(After we finished singing and are talking to them)

Missionary: So during this Christmas season, we're sharing this free DVD called Joy to the World with families. It can really bring the true spirit of Christmas into a home.

Man: Um, yeah we can't really watch that because um... (all the missionaries watch him closely in anticipation)

-(We hear a dog bark in the backyard.)

Man: ...we have dogs!

His wife: Uh, yeah, they're much too loud to watch a movie.

Missionary: Oh, okay, well Merry Christmas.

-(Missionaries sadly walk away.)

END SCENE

"We have dogs"?! What? I guess the dogs could have had some sort of rare illness that required constant care, leaving these kind and caring people with not even 20 minutes to watch a Christmas video.

Or maybe that was just a really lame excuse.

So yeah, I'm very glad to be staying here for at least 6 more weeks. We have several investigators and even 2 or 3 that are progressing well. Elder Bourne was made district leader, so that means we will be going on several exchanges (switching one of us with another missionary for a day). Those are always fun, and it's really good for learning from other missionaries. I'm excited.

I'm very happy, and every day has surprises. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Jesus Christ's church. It is led by a true prophet of God. The scriptures have the word of God, and they carry a Spirit with them that is so powerful. I'm grateful to be out here, and I hope you all are happy.

Love,

-Elder Karlsven

December 31st email

2009-01-01T20:44:00.002-07:00

Dear Family,

The phone call home on Christmas was everything I expected it to be - chaotic but enjoyable. Thanks to Mike for setting up the sweet cross-country conference call. I don't know if I told you all, but I was using one of those blue tooth things for the first time. Unfortunately the microphone didn't reach my mouth, so that's why I was yelling the whole time.

The Christmas season has been great. For one the few times in my life, there has been food in front of me and I don't want to eat it. It's a strange feeling, and I hope it passes quickly.

Thanks to everyone for their generosity in sending Christmas cards and presents. For all those who didn't, I wish you the best of luck standing at the Judgment Bar explaining why you neglected one of the Lord's humble servants.

The weather here is perfect. Clear skies, but still cool. I dread the coming summer. If it's perfect temperature on New Year's Eve, what sort of scorching heat will there be in July?

One short story:

The other day we were on exchanges (where you or your companion switches with another missionary in another area for a day) with the Zone Leaders. I stayed in San Juan Bautista and was with Elder Hessing, a missionary who knows many Chuck Norris jokes and has heard of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. I liked him immediately. Anyway, we were walking down the road and came upon a friendly game of baseball going on, when one of the players called us over to play. We didn't have any appointments, so we went over. To our surprise, they put us up to bat immediately. I was first up. Doing the classic pointing the bat in the air, indicating a home run, and then taking a few practice swings, I stepped up to the plate. The pitch came. A slow lob - one of the most difficult pitches to hit in baseball. Somehow I hit it - a line drive - but with the combination of dress shoes and loaded pockets, I was out well before I reached 1st base. Elder Hessing had a similar experience. Little did we know, this was the last inning of the game. And so these two young men went into legend, as the Mormon missionaries who lost their team the game.

Such is life in San Juan Bautista.

The work is wonderful, the gospel is great. I hope everyone has had a very merry Christmas, and that the new year treats you well. Thanks so much for the emails, letters, and packages. I write everyone who writes me back, as quickly as I can.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Love,

Elder Karlsven

P.S. Did you know that Chuck Norris invented the giraffe? It happened when he uppercutted a horse.

December 16th email

2009-01-01T20:41:00.002-07:00

Dear Family,

Yesterday morning while I was cooking breakfast, the power went out. And the town is so small that when your power goes out, you can be sure the power is out for everyone. We couldn't do our laundry or email home or anything, so that's why I'm late this week.

I love the ending of The Testaments. You can feel the Spirit so much, and then 2 seconds later it's over. We watched it on Sunday at the Meyer family's home and brought a family we're teaching, the Brachos, with us. The movie ended, someone turned on the lights, and many of us quickly tried to wipe our tears, hiding the embarrassing notion of having felt the Spirit, ha. It was a great experience - the members here are such a blessing to us, and I am so grateful for the Brachos. Most every time we stop by the Brachos, they feed us and we have great lessons and conversations. I can't say enough good things about them. We love them, and it will be hard to leave them when I get transferred.

We go to the temple on Thursday, and I'm really looking forward to it. It's like a guaranteed good spiritual experience. The whole mission is going up on buses, and then having dinner together afterward. Lots of fun.

I'm very excited to get the Christmas Eve recording. That "Were you there?" song always hits the emotions.I have been so blessed by our family. So much love and good examples. Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!

Love,

-Elder Karlsven