A Two-fer!

I've become a bit busy the last week, so I haven't updated Matt's blog.  Today we all get 2 installments in one post!  Yippee!  It's like a 2 for 1 deal.  And how often to you get one of those?  Especially during these rough economic times..  ;)

August 19:

Well, I did write an email last week and it kicked me off right before i was about to send so that was really annoying.  Grr.  Anyway, I have a new companion.  His name is Elder Meldrum.  He's less obedient than Elder Beatty was so I'm trying to be as diligent as possible.  Despite that, he is a great guy and he's pretty funny too.  This week is temple week and temple day is on Wednesday so P-day got changed to Wednesday.  P-days have been kinda crazy for the last month. Nothing else much has gone on in the last week so here are highlights from my last email.

Tosh was baptized and it was awesome.  If you read Mosiah 18:11 it described her reaction after she came up out of the water.  She kinda gave an excited squeal and clapped her hands.  Oh and btw, she was sick the day of her baptism... throwing up and stuff.  Too many trials.  Geez.  I was able to confirm her on Sunday and that was awesome.  Amazing spirit.

Thank you for your patience with my scattered P-days/emails.  I love you all.
-Elder Matthew Blakemore

August 24:

Hey all.  Regular P-day today!!  woohoo!  Not much has been happening.  My new companion is not as motivated as Elder Beatty so that is a little hard.  He has trouble getting out the door.  I pretty much have to call and make appts with people for him to get out the door.  Once we are out there I have a little more influence so then we can visit whoever I want to.

We have a baptism coming up on the 5th.  That is exciting.  She lives just down the street from us. (no, not everybody lives down the street... Dayton is a little bit bigger than that.)  We also have a guy that wants to be baptized.  Weird thing is, every time we go to his house, I have never seen him answer the door fully clothed.  sometimes it's without a shirt, sometimes without shirt or pants, sometimes it is in a towel.  He's a nice guy though.  We met him at the food bank.  He really likes the church and defends the church from his friends.  He goes to AA meetings during the 2nd half of church so, that is a little hard.  He is doing good with that.  We are also trying to get him off of cigarettes.  He is motivated though.  He's a good guy.  It is amazing how quickly you can love a person that you hardly know.  It must be one of the blessings of being a missionary, because the work would be a lot harder if Heavenly Father hadn't blessed me with that capability.

We just met a lady named Sono.  She is way cool.  She has been looking for a church.  Golden contact.  She should move along pretty quickly.

Oh yeah.  There is a person in the ward you might know.  her name is Lisa Bard, but formerly she was Lisa Schofield.  Think back to Merced.  She was about 2 years older than Julie I think.  Her Dad just died and her mom has parkinsens.  Her Dad's funeral turned into a family fight (unfortunate).  None of them are active anymore either.  We visited and it was the craziest thing.  She hadn't seen me since I was about 2 or younger.  Weird.  Anyway, I have to go.  It's fun to read about all the things that everybody is doing.  I love you all.

-Elder Blakemore 

 We are always excited to hear from Matt.  And all these baptisms!  Hooray!  We are glad that he is motivated and using his knowledge and infectious personality to bring people to the church.  He has a huge open heart that enables him to accept people without judging.  What a great example he is!