Ann's birthday

May 28th was Ann's Birthday.  She is such a special person with so many trials.  I invited her and these ladies over for cake and ice cream.  After that the Young sisters gave her the lesson on the Holy Ghost and Repentance and discussed how letting ourselves get angry is to sin and they helped her to understand how not to be angry even when we are mistreated.  It only hurts us.  She is a marvelous person with lots of courage.  I am so glad that I have the privilege to know her and watch so many people bless her life.

Cajun Encounters

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Matsons by the sea

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We had a great time with Rob, Emily and kids on the "Cajun encounters" swamp tour.  We were surprised at the variety of creatures we were able to see.

CAJUN ENCOUNTERS

We took Rob, Emily and the six kids who were passing through on their move to Knoxville, on a swamp tour.  This time we saw even more of the great Louisiana swamp life.  Pretty amazing stuff.  I will give you a sneak peak and more later.  So many pictures and  such fun squeezing the kids.  We are grateful for the one day we got to spend with them and grateful that Senior Missionaries are allowed to do this on a rare occasion.  We are grateful too for this beautiful area of the south.

Mormon community continues to grow - KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA |

Mormon community continues to grow - KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA
I was so excited when I found this article on Meridian magazine. This new church is not far from our past home in Pasco Washington.  Be sure to click on the video on the top right of the page and see Pres. Lowell Barber too. It is called the "Parley building".  Originally the streets were all  named after wines but a wise person got this street name changed to Parley Street.  We are so happy for all of our Pasco friends who will now not need to have four wards meeting in one building.  It will be so nice.  It looks huge!  and so beautiful. We saw it before it was finished when the outer area was looking pretty good. Congratulations Pasco!!! We can hardly wait to hear about new boundaries and so forth.  Let us know guys.

A Great Day

May 22, 2010, we finished our memorable Career Workshop for Leaders in Gulfport and then we took the drive home along the gulf.  and went to the baptism of April W. after that.  The workshop was so much fun with all these wonderful personalities. They made us laugh.  and fill with joy. These are truly happy people. 

The  Ocean was beautiful and people are still playing on the coast. We enjoyed walking to the end of the pier and taking some pictures.

 The Baptism was amazing.  It was the first time I ever saw anyone. turn around in the water after they were baptised, thank everyone and bare an inspiring  strong testimony.  She is a  remarkable woman of faith who has been through many deep trials.  It was a day to remember.

Crawfish Boil-Slidell Louisiana Ward

This party was a hit!It rained just before and slight during part of it and cooled the air and there was room under the portico so everyone had a great time. I decided that I do not really like the taste of crawfish but it was quite a novelty.  Lots of fun. the kids had such a blast on the enormous blow up slide.  It was fun to take their pictures.

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A most remarkable person

Meet Tom.
He serves faithfully in our Bishopric.  In spite of Lou Gehrig's disease. He is confined to his wheel chair and finds it very difficult to speak but his mind is still as sharp as can be.  Only abut 3 years ago he held influential positions in the military.  Highly respected still.  He has a monitor attached to his wheelchair that allows him to navigate and to speak with it's mechanical voice by the movement of his eye.  Mother's day was his son's missionary farewell.  He fine young giving son spoke, fully prepared for his mission.  His wife talked on service and the difficulty to be on the receiving end.  This choice daughter of God is a strong example to everyone.  Then Tom spoke with his computer voice the talk he prepared himself with much time and effort.  It was so wonderful to be there and witness his courage and love.  His theme was  Love one another and, did I say "love one another".  He got his point across.  We were all so moved by him and his family.  I made my way to the front to thank him personally for his great inspiring talk.

 This is a mother's day I shall ever be grateful for.  No mushy talks that make all mother's think they are not good enough to ever hope for the praise of their children and go home in tears or at least a twinge of guilt in their hearts.  We all went home thankful for models like Tom and his valiant family to show us what real champions do.

My 30 Second Statement/ Testimony

My Me in 30 Seconds Statement

My name is Sister Matson, I have a firm testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Elder Matson, my beloved, eternal companion, and I have been called to serve the Lord by acting in His stead in the Employment Welfare Services.

I have been blessed to know the Lord and serve Him all of my life. I began teaching at 12 years old. I have been tutored by some of God's greatest master teachers. Paramount of these being my faithful, loving, capable mother.

You have heard the old adage “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” ...We teach fishing. And we supply, figuratively, the equipment, the poles, bait, nets and even the boats to succeed in feeding one's family. Important tools we have are the Career Workshop and LDSjobs.org combined with the Love of Christ in our hearts for our fellow man.

We also coach fisherman how to teach “fishing” The Master Fisherman is Jesus Christ. It is His vessel we use.

The Employment Resource Services is the Lord's way to teach “fishing”. It is prophetic and is coupled with provident living and prepares only those who partake of it.

We invite you to “fish or cut bait”!

These services may not be for you...... *U*

They are only for people who eat!

The fanciest card ever.

This card is so beautiful when you see it in full dimension.  time consuming.  One really has to appreciate the person who put so many hours into it.  thanks to Barbara w and Caroline D. It has a special part in our home.

Happy Mother's Day

We went to dinner for mother's day at Copelands compiments of Bp. Dohm and the Employment Center

Happy Mother's Day- Enjoy it!

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Be sure to click on the picture on the wall. They will make you smile. they are just the BEST!

Earning money for Girl's Camp

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Amazing People

One of my favorite things to do is to Teach this inspiring workshop.
These amazing people have recently taken our Career Workshop. It is such an inspired program and we really get to know them. Each one of these truly remarkable people quickly become our friends. It has been a priviledge to get to know them. They are all better prepared now to do a job search and to present the best interview possible. Eric, who is ringing the bell, was just accepted by the school board as a substitute teacher. He was a former very successful bike racer. He was also baptized four weeks ago!

AT HOME WITH THE LILLY PAD

This beautiful pond sits at the base of our apartment building. many of the apartments in this complex circle this little lake. It has a fountain, fish that can be caught by those who desire. Some of the the teen age boys love this. We saw a very long thin fish being reeled in and let go. It almost looked like an eel. there are NO alligators in this water. That is a relief. Maybe that is why the tiny frogs are so plentiful. They croak so loudly every night from dark until the wee hours of the morning you cant stand outside and talk in a normal tone and be heard. the crickets are in the trees and are even louder and they go from dark to dusk with a louder shrill intermittent song made by rubbing their legs together! Now I have also learned about the green tree frog and believe that the sound may be actually coming from them. Whichever it is that makes the noise, they are pretty much invisible to me. I hope to see them some day. There is no way we can sleep with our windows open any more. It is almost to hot now to do that anyway. Today, it was 88 degrees. It was one of those days that when you go in your air conditioned car and when you reach your destination you get out and your glasses are immediately comletely fogged in. We just get a kick out of the newness of it all. They say that they stop by July. We shall see or I should say HEAR about that.

Green Tree Frog

Here is the little bugger who makes so much noise at night. He is the Louisiana
State Amphibian!

Mary & Glen Chain's baptism

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Mary and Glen Chain were first introduced to the church when they came to our Employment center seeking employment. They went home and called the missionaries and invited them to come and teach them.

Oak Alley Plantation

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This is such a beautiful place. Sadly, it was a place where slavery was practiced but it's later owners made a big piece of lawn in the shape of a teardrop to express their feelings about it. Our Associate Manager, Marguerite Garcia took us to this place near New Orleans.

Baton Rouge Temple

We got to go to the temple again on April 30. It is so nice to be able to go there. It is much smaller than the Columbia river Temple but still similar and the same wonderful spirit is there. It is a 91 mile drive from our apartment but it is pretty all the way with trees and flowers lining the freeways all the way.

The picture of me is at the Gulfport Chapel. Just as we finished that a picture two pit bulls on the other side of the fence started barking wildly at us. We decided not to hang around there and trust the fence.

At the Gulfport Stake Center

Sister Dustin and Sister Goodin and I drove to Gulfport to announce our coming Career Workshop to the Ward RS Presidencies at the Stake Auxiliary Training meeting. they had such wonderful meeting and we enjoyed the great spirit there. We were dilighted to see the Magnolia trees that are just starting to bloom. the blossoms are so huge and georgeous. The white and yellow fragrant flowers are blooming everywhere on the roadsides and alos along the border around the church. There are also many Magnolia trees gracing the sides of the freeways. Louisiana and Mississippi seem to always have some flowers in bloom.

Yessterday, Jerry and I went to the center. 1 mile. It was 82 degrees outside and when we got out of our car our glasses totally fogged up! I think we will see a lot more of that. The "sauna" has only just begun. It doesn't really feel too bad though yet because there is a refreshing breeze. We are grateful for that.