A Week Back

well this week hasn't been much of a change from last week, except for the fact that i'm no longer a missionary, well anyways the highlight of this past week....

well i got back on Thursday and wasn't released until Friday morning so in between arriving and being released i played two games of basketball with Pops. then started getting back in to the swing of everything with a wonderfully planned pumpkin carving COoompation which was really cool to start seeing everyone again. (pictures can be found on facebook.) so as the night of friday came to a close it was time for me to get ready for a sacrament talk, and reporting to the high council, which i was nervous for but i think it went pretty well. The subject that i tried to focus on was doing the small things in life, because when we do those things than we are more on track with the rest of our lives.

which leads us to the after party where i met up with the old buddies that i have going from left to right Richard Wilkins, Me, Eric Swindlehurst, and Richard Wilson. with the unfortunate leaving of Sister Beetle and Brother Thad.

so that was sunday in a nutshell, and it didn't quite feel real that i either i left or i was supposed to be back, but i think that i'm adjusting pretty well.

Monday it was just a normal day i think, just kind of bumming around the house finding little odd jobs to do and cleaning up a bit and getting reorginized. than going to my first FHE at the YSA ward that i'm supposed to be a part of and that was weird and different, but cool to see one of my old companions and seeing new people in the ward and another chance to catch up with old friends. one for example was Spencer Hatfield and going over each other's mission stories and then also seeing Kayla Hunter and catching up on good time with both of them.... so all in all a good time.

Tuesday i woke up in the morning and got out and did a shift for Mom at the Cannery and i shoved over a ton of pork cubes. yes that was my job shoving pork... pretty cool i think... and other good news i got a phone, so send me an email and i'll let you know what the number is.

Wednesday was just a good day where i just relaxed and started the Lord of the Ring Trilogy, which i think is a great movie to start back into the swing of things. and not seeing anything for two years it really opens up the movie again and i think i'm getting more out of it.

Thursday, was the day of cleaning up the house again and starting on a couple of projects, and going fishing which was a lot of fun, just having time to enjoy nature and getting to know the jethrobyn clan again, which ended up with a nap on the floor of their house.

Friday just finishing a couple of projects that are around the house and getting ready to go camping tonight with the young scouts. so it's going to be fun and interesting to see what happens.

Matt Gillespie- out

Twas the P-Eve before Home-Eve...

Hello everybody!

Guess what it's my last time writing as a missionary in the mission field and i'll update you on what's happen this last week so, we had kind of a crazy week where we had to pull together a baptism in about 10 days which isn't bad. so we got the rest of the lessons taught and got everything ready for this great baptism of this girl who's dating a member. so we have everything done... now you just don't want any baptism, so we took it upon ourselves to make it the nicest that a missionary could do, so the interview for baptism is on Wednesday and she passed with flying colors. so now it was on to the next phase... cleaning the font, now a couple of weeks ago i told you that the font was out of order for a bit. so we had some professionals come in and clean it up for us, but for some strange reason there was still a funny odor that was floating around. so we went to investigate, and we think that the smell was coming from the grout and Elder Bluth being a former janitor and working with chemicals all his career found that we best just by scrubbing the grout and then cleaning every little nook and cranny that might potentially keep the smell in there. so off we went to work and we worked and worked just trying to get that smell out and by the end of the whole thing we found that the smell had been eradicated. which i thought was pretty cool. so the next day on Saturday we went up to the church and started filling the font and it was just such a great opportunity and not only that but it was really spiritual.  what i thought was the coolest was the fact that every  time that we taught her she just seemed to be a little bit happier and a glow about her that i had never really noticed before and just how much learning about the gospel and applying it would make you happier. it just made me realize how much happier we all can be with the truth of the gospel in our lives.

Well on to our next story of the week, so this past couple of weeks we had a great time and had a chance to teach a little girl who's 8 years old and in a less active home so we had the chance to teach her and her family more about the Gospel and taught all the lessons and just had a really good time and helped her with everything that had a question about.  even though she really didn't have any questions at the time, and yet she just soaked in everything that we taught her, incredible how the human mind can just accept knowledge without a problem and make it work with all the other things inside the head at the same time. so anyways we taught her everything that she needed to know and what the bishop wanted us to teach her so we had a good old time with that, and then we set the date for baptism of October the 9th right after church and so we came early to church right after we finished with the baptism of the night before and started the font, which ended up just right. so I was able to have 2 baptisms right at the end of my mission, which has been a great ending to my experience here, in fact i wouldn't want to be in any other place right now i just feel like I'm home.... which all it means to me is feeling the spirit and having people around who really do love you and want you to become the best that you can become.

So that's the final ending to my story here in the Florida Tallahassee Mission as a 19-21 year old who was scared out of his mind, but has grown into a better person than he thought he could become and loves the gospel with all his heart might mind and strength. I love all ya'll

Love
Elder G.

a fort we built

baptism of sammy

baptism of cassie

Baptism!

Hellooooo Nurse!


So with that introduction I'll let this week start to unfold to ya'll so this Monday was a great one where we deep cleaned the apartment again and just made it all spic and span. after that well that night faded into the next day Tuesday

Which happened to be Zone conference and which would be my last one as a missionary here, so it was a very interesting and weird feeling that would be the last one that i was going to have in a long while. so that was a really good and uplifting experience to end on as far as zone conferences are concerned, and started bring up the fact that my mission was going to end soon. The lesson though that i learned this time was the fact that it really doesn't matter who's the missionary, it's the fact that I'm being open enough to let the spirit work through me to help bless those around me. That is the biggest thing that i got out of this last zone conference. That night we had another great lesson with the large group of members and we had the lesson of the plan of salvation which ended up having a lot of different questions which we needed to study to try and get the answer to their questions. But it was an awesome time to finish the day.

Wednesday was just another day just working hard and long trying to find, teach and baptize people and that day we were working all over and ended up working with a member and seeing a less active and trying to restart a fire in her life to come back to church where you can be happier. After that we went to another member's who fed us some pizza which we hadn't really gotten a lot of lately so we had a really good time there and taught that family about prayer and getting them to again to come to church, which is another part member family and we again had a really good discussion about the plan of salvation. So it's been interesting about what we've been studying and what we are trying to answer.

Thursday, that was a really slow day, we tried everything we could to find people contact investigators do anything and it just seemed like nothing was working. So we just kept working with what we had and kept moving forward and it'll pay off when it's the right time.  That night we had dinner with a member family whose son is going on a mission in about 8 weeks so it's going to be really cool. They might even call to see what's going on and see the sights in Utah.

Friday we finished getting everything ready for the baptism program that afternoon, and worked as well as we could we everything going on, some of the highlights were, starting to teach a family the gospel, which went really well, and we think that it's going to go somewhere. Then we went to the font and cleaned it out before the baptism that we were having the next day.

Saturday worked on inviting people to the baptism and then started the font and getting everything set for that which was really good. It was really spiritual as well, and it was a good boost to keep me going and see and feel the happiness that the gospel really does bring to families.

Sunday we were just enjoying life, having a really good time and just having a good time when the bishop comes up to us and starts talking to us and brings a family over, so we talk a little bit and find out that a little girl who's 8 wants to get baptized, well that's a great time for us to be there and come to find out that they want her to get baptized in two Sundays which i was stoked to find out and that would just make a great ending to my mission which God has been so gracious to let me be a part of. So just another little miracle of the day and mission which I'm looking forward to.

That the week in a snap shot. I'm excited to see what happens in the coming weeks.

Love Elder Gillespie

Poop!

Life is going really well and Elder Bluth and I are getting along really well and happy to be out here.

this week has been pretty weak, we've done a lot of tracting, a lot of trying to see people, and a lot of walking around to find new people to teach.  the best story i have would of been last weeks when we were able to find a lady who knows the church and getting open to the idea of coming, which she literally lives down the street from the church.  we were able to have a really spiritual lesson with her, and found out that she's been told about the book of mormon from a sister and brother in-law.  it was really a great lesson and i think we'll get her pretty close before i leave to coming to church and understanding more and more about the church.

So! story of the week, we have our investigator getting ready for baptism and everything is going well we are making the program and getting all the final preparations finished for this great event that we are going to have on saturday, and as we get everything figured out we find out that the facilities of the church aren't working the way they are suppose to and with that the baptism needed to be postponed until the plumbing could be figured out and changed.  which we would find out that it wouldn't be until saturday evening when everything was figured out that all pipes were fixed. so with all that we got everything moved to where it was suppose to and then kept working with what we have.

besides that we had an amazing lesson with a investigator who actually wanted us to come over and teach her and one of the member families who are befriending her. in the process of teaching we had her in the lesson but also the grandfather of the family who also isn't a member and participated in the lesson. it was a really good lesson and everything went really well, although it's really intimidating to teach like 6 members who are older than you and have been in pretty distinguished callings, and teaching the lesson in such a way where all can benifit. i don't know about you but it was a little scary in my opinion. and we also feel like she'll be able to come really quickly into the church.

besides that life here in the little town of pearson isn't to bad, i've got everything i want and everything i need.

Love to all

Elder Gillespie

Beetle, sounds like a lot of fun, and i've got the request of going to the temple on friday morning... i think that would be a lot of fun.

Toni, i loved the notes from anna and your probably right with her understanding and it's going to be a lot of fun when i do come over, as far a missionaries. you'll have to be the one to decided what kind you want in your house. to make it eaiser just wait a little while and get settled in, but if they show up to your door, get to know them by asking questions, they like that.

Jan WHAT! when did this little suprise come up, and am i the last to know?  anyways i'm excited to see ya'll soon enough. tell ben he's doing awesome.

Robyn those pictures looked awesome and I am impressed. it's so weird to think that cousin brian is already married. keep up the good work, it's paying off.

Dad you sound like a very busy man, you should relax a bit so when i do come home i'll have a project or two to do while i'm just around.

Mom your letter was awesome and i hope that you'll see the things that you already knew were inside, but just needed sometime to be refined.

Love Ya'll and i think i'm turning southern.

Matthew Gillespie

Sulfur Water!

This week has been awesome and it's been a lot of fun as well,

So let's start this off right and let you know what's been going on this past week,

Monday was a day of cleaning, we spent the entire day cleaning top to bottom of our little home in Pearson, getting rid of all the bugs that we could get rid of and dusted every nook and cranny, both high and low, listening to some great spiritual music, well, because that just makes the day go smoother.  So that was the Monday,

Tuesday we were able to have a good old time and we had a good district meeting and then we were able to set a date with an investigator that we've been teaching for the last couple of weeks,  he's going to be baptized this Saturday, which is going to be the same night that we are doing a movie night at the ward, which will be really cool and awesome. Later that night we went on splits with a member and we were able to see a few people that we really wouldn't have been able to see without his help. so it was a really cool night

Wednesday was my 23 month marked, it's weird to think that it's been that long but at the same time it doesn't, I really do love it out here even in the extreme heat that we get. So to celebrate we went tracting and worked all day and did what you would of done any other day, and that was a good time and a good day where we were able to meet our goals that we set for the day, which was a great feeling. to accomplish something that we wanted to do.

Thursday, we had a funeral in the ward and it was good to hear that there are still good people in the world and who do the right thing for the right reason just like the man that they were honoring. Then we tried to do as much as we could to work afterwards and do our weekly planning, which didn't quite work out according to plan but it was still a good time.

Friday, finished weekly planing and went out and saw an investigator who know quite a few people in the ward, so we are hoping with her we will be able to start teaching her quickly and that night went and saw quite a few people with another member who was very gracious to take us again to people that we don't really get to see. it was a great time... in fact i saw a tractor that looked a lot like our old one so i grabbed a picture.

Saturday was a day where you work and work and work and nothing seems to work out for what you want to do... but in the end it was a day where you learn that i doesn't always have to work out for you, you just have to do your part and in the end you will be blessed for what you have done, it may not happen the way that you were thinking but it will happen for the best, also it helps you understand that you are more capable of doing a hard task rather than just quitting before the day is up.

Sunday... and it was good. it's been a good time serving here and it's starting to come up to the ward trusting us and letting us into their homes with their friends and family and so that's been the coolest thing that's been going on lately. so this work keeps going forward and it doesn't matter really that i didn't baptize as many people as others, but that i was able to become a missionary and a better son of God. so that has been a good help to me to understand the bigger picture.

Love
Elder Matthew Gillespie

P.S. the water here Sucks, and tastes like the title....

Smells like Football. . .

Hello Everybody!

So last week i was short changed with time, so i'll try to fit in both weeks as much as I can.

Last week we found out we had transfers. and Elder Kennington was getting moved from Pearson to Destin, FL which i hear is a really good area, so with him moving i got a new Companion Elder Bluth, I had never served around him or heard really anything about him so working with a clean slate no prejudgement made. So that day we spend most of it packing up  Elder Kennington with all his stuff. which leads to Tuesday where we worked in Douglas because the transfer people needed to leave from Douglas at 6 AM so we would spend the night up there and then wait till the transfer people would come back, which happened to be at 1030 PM so that day we worked in Douglas again. which was a pretty good time.  The next day being Thursday we got everyone situated and i got Elder Bluth and all his stuff and headed back down to Pearson and from there we started working getting used to the area and getting everything working how it should be done. So that was really good,

A little bit about Elder Bluth, He's from Mapleton Utah and has a twin brother who worked at the same grocery store i did, Buy Low market,  It was really cool to find that out. He also graduated from Springville High 2009 and has a great family, he's really really funny and in my opinion is kind of like a lost brother. and he's got one transfer after me, so it's really cool to see how this is going to be a great ending to what has been a really great mission experience.

Since we've been together, we've cleaned our little house from top to bottom on P-day and got rid of all the nasty bug problems, for the most part, and we've stocked the apartment with all the major necessities. We've worked with a lot of Less actives and started finding more people to talk to and we've had some pretty stellar studies together, which really make a day go so much better. If you actually study the scriptures at the beginning of your day and feel the spirit, than everything else just falls into place.  I would definitely recommend that to anyone and everyone. Other things we've accomplished is to see a lot of the investigators we were able to find this last transfer and talk with them and see what we can do to get them closer to Christ, and what we can do to get them baptized.

Let's see, what else has happened this last little bit as far as mission work is going on. umm... this is my last transfer and so far I've had 15 companions so i think that's pretty impressive. (including the MTC).  We are working with a family right now which will have their child baptized pretty soon and then get some of their extended family studying so we can get some more who could be baptized.

so that's about it for now.

Love you all

Elder Gillespie

Not enough time

Hello Everybody!!!

So guess what? it's another day where we can come closer together and listen to the stories we all have.

So i'll start off.

This week has been pretty good and recently we have been going over the roster that we have and we have started finding people who are part members and have started to work with them and get them interested again in the gospel.  We've found a few people who seem like they would be pretty interested. Along with that we have also been going down through the roster and trying to meet everyone we can, and lo and behold a lot of people have been moving and just don't live there anymore, but it's still on the roster, which means that this area just needs some help with their home teaching, as soon as they home teach the people they will start coming.

Well anyways. Tuesday was a great day we had zone conference and I realized that i finally am coming close to the end of my mission which was a weird thought and something i'm trying to get out of my head, because i don't want to focus on the fact that I only have "this much time left" i just want to put my head down and keep working and get everything i can out of this experience. So that's a little inside bit of my head. Anyway, that day we had trade offs with the district leader and had a really good time with him and got to meet quite a few people. One man who we ran into was just sitting on his porch and we came up to him and just started talking to him and getting to know him a little bit and then we were able to give him a Book of Mormon and directions to church, and he said he was going to be there so we were really excited.  That same night we were able to find a couple of less active people who just need a little help coming to church, and that blended into Wednesday which was another good day, where we were able to walk pretty much all day and get to know the town a lot better and again try to find people who either don't exist or we just don't know where they lived.

Thursday agin jus a good old day where we just tried to do as much as we could along with all the other days.

Times getting short and i've got to get going, but i'm loving it here and i'm excited to be alive and working for the Lord, i'm doing my best with what i've got and trying to get a better understanding of how we can help.

Love
Elder Gillespie