Matthew's New Address

Elder Matthew Frederickson

Flat 5 Elmleigh House

19 Leigh Road

Havant, Hampshire

England PO9 2ET

Staying in Chichester!!!!

Hello everybody! Elder Grachyov and I are both STAYING in Chichester another moves! Exciting! This means we will get to break in the new flat on Saturday. Everything is set for Logan to be baptized- Chichester Ward's first baptism in a year and a half! Exciting times.

 

It's amazing to me that this area was closed so many times. Or any area for that matter... it's all about attitude. If you're working your hardest and in the Lord's time - miracles will happen everywhere. I don't have too much time today, and there's not too much news to report! Just know that the work is moving forward with unparalleled power in England. The rate at which the Lord is hastening his work is stunning. I am so priveledged to be a part of it.

 

Picture 1 - Matthew in front of a statue that he said reminded him of Lord Voldemort :)

Picture 2 - The view from the Isle of Wight

Picture 3 - "AMAZING" food from a Filiapino birthday party (Can you believe my picky eater is eating all this food??)

It's Snowing!

Good morning, everybody!

 

 

 

It snowed about a foot last week in Chichester! Though school's were cancelled, the work had to go on! We still managed to get over to Havant on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for all of our appointments. A little bit of snow will not slow us down! We also had a snow ball fight after church with some of our investigators and the members. It was so much fun! The snow is great. I've said it before and I'll say it again- snow brings miracles! Today we are going to Portsmouth to spend time with the other Elders in the zone- it should be great fun! We are also going to the YSA FHE (Young Single Adult - Family Home Evening) with one of our investigators tonight, which should be fun.

 

It was disappointing to here that so many wards were cancelled yesterday. Luckily, Chichester Ward was able to hold Sunday meetings as normal. It is clear to me that the Lord is hastening his work in the Chichester area. Elder Grachyov and I have noticed and now the ward is beginning to take notice as well. Excitement about missionary work is building. People are coming to us with their friends. People are volunteering to go on teaches with us. Less-actives are returning to activity, re-embracing the gospel. Something wonderful has begun in this ward and I don't know what I did to gain the priveledge of witnessing it! It is such a cool experience.

We are excited to be moving into the flat in Havant, all signs point to us moving in on February 2nd. On Wednesday, we found out (by COMPLETE coincidence) that the flat we chose and purchased is a couple of doors down from Edna Jones, an elderly member of our ward (also, President Jones mother.) Who, according to members of the ward, NEEDS visits and Priesthood close by. I was somewhat touched when I learned of this, how amazing is the Lord? Elder Grachyov and I had no idea she lived near- we just knew the flat was awesome and conveniently located!

 

It is so hard to believe that moves week is upon us once again! I have no clue what to expect. I've been told what to expect by many, but try and put aside any desires that I have and others opinions which may influence said desires. I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for the next little while! He knows me perfectly, and that is infintely comforting. Whatever His plan for next transfer is, I will joyfully accept it.

It is such a blessing to be a missionary! It has allowed me to grow so much in every single way! It is an incredible priveledge to place my self in God's hands, allowing Him to mold me in whatever way He desires. Though Satan will work his hardest, his work will be in vain. Miracles will continue to be commonplace throughout the mission and the work will continue to move forward and upward with startling momentum as we "look heavenward" and "press onward."

With love,
Elder Frederickson

Hello from Chichester

Good morning everybody! It is snowing here in Chichester. Snow always brings good things! The last time it snowed on my mission, four investigators defied all odds and trekked out to sacrament meeting. We shall see what this day has in store! We are going to the Isle of Wight for our PDay today, so I'm REALLY excited. We are taking a hovercraft there. Look it up and check out what that is. There are no roads to the Isle of Wight, so the only way there is by water. We are meeting up with the Isle of Wight sisters and the Elders from Hamble River and Portsmouth.

 

The work is moving forward at an unprecedented pace here in Chichester. I absolutely love serving here. We have committed another one of our investigators to be baptized on the second and are working closely with about five others and hopefully will be committing them this week to be baptized around that time.

 

Those who know me well know that I love numbers. No, not math... those who know me well also know that I HATE math and am absolutely terrible at it. BUT when I watch sports, I care about the numbers almost as much as I do about the game itself. I LOVE keeping track of stats and seeing how many wins a certain team is on pace for, things like that. When I played NBA 2K12, it got to the point where I didn't even care if I won (I knew I would win anyways) but I would play just to see how ridiculously high I could get John Wall's stats. If I won by 40, and John Wall didn't have 40 points and 20 assists, I would be legitimately disappointed. Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that I sometimes focus on numbers too much, when the results of the numbers is what I should ACTUALLY be caring about. The same principle applies to missionary work. Now, in Trowbridge, we were baptizing enough that I didn't really care about high numbers in the rest of our key indicators. I did a good job not striving for high numbers. Things changed a bit when I got here. I starting obsessing over how many teaches we would have a week. It got a bit ridiculous. Since we were REALLY struggling to find people to baptize and since we were out finding all day, the way I motivated myself was to try and teach as many lessons as possible. When I got like this, I got over-competitive and was NOT receptive to the Holy Ghost. The last few weeks, however, I learned a lesson. If I take a step back, forget about the numbers, and just focus on people, individuals and their corresponding needs, we would achieve MUCH more succes. Sure, we might have taught way less the few weeks, but when it comes to the things that ACTUALLY matter (people coming to church, progressing towards baptism) we were able to push the work forward with power. Sometimes, we all need to take a step back, chill the heck out, and just do our best. This principle reminds me of President Uchtdorf's talk "Lift Where You Stand". If we just do what we need to do, and do it obediently, then the Lord will fill in the blanks.

 

Love you all, hope this week is simply wonderful!

 

-Elder Frederickson

Hello!

Hello everybody!

I am quite bummed that the Redskins lost, but I wouldn't want to miss them winning the Super Bowl, so that it okay.

I really enjoyed dad's comment regarding the Wizards- he said he would "spare the details" as he didn't want my "testimony to be shaken."

It has been another exceptional week in Chichester, as per usual. We are regularly finding people to teach and the work is progressing along nicely. We are working with some AMAZING families- I absolutely love the people here.

We had a really cool miracles this week regarding our quest for a missionary flat in Havant. Now, we initially wanted the flat to be located in Leigh Park, the largest council estate (government-provided housing) in the whole of England. We were told by our Bishop that this would be a BAD idea. We were very sad, as a lot of the less-active members and part-member families we wanted to wokrk with lived there. We decided, however, that we should respect his advice. We turned our attention to the other side of Havant, near the town center. We said an earnest prayer last Friday morning to be guided to the flat that the LORD would have us live in. That very day, the first flat we actually went inside, was the answer to our prayers. It was RIGHT by the bus and train stations and was in a very safe area. The flat is decent sized and even has potential to be a four-man flat. I absolutely love how the Lord answers the prayers of his servants. It was definitely a way cool experience.

We have a baptism scheduled for the 2nd of February! It was WAY solid and we are so excited! Keep it in your prayers everyone, it will be Chichester Ward's first baptism in about a year and a half! It will most certainly be amazing.

Today is my 7 month mark. Now, I recognize that's still not very much but regardless.. it is VERY hard to believe! I still feel fresh in the field. I've been in Chichester nearly two months. Time absolutely soars when you are diligently in the Lord's service.

This week, I would invite everyone to read Alma 18-30  I did this last week and my application of it had a MAJOR impact on the work in this area. It can have a powerful impact on all of our lives, regardless of our current stance in life.

We are going to Portsmouth to play some football with the Portsmouth, Hamble River, and (some of the) Southampton Elders! It should be a blast. We also have zone-training in Portsmouth tomorrow morning which should be lots of fun! :)

Hope everyone has an amazing week!

-Elder Frederickson