Date ... April 28
Hello ...are you there? I am reading your electronic news. You mentioned a book, the Bible but I am not familiar with it. You also talk about Christian youth and the man Christ. I would like to learn more.
I am not clear how I found your news report. It seems to have been by accident. I put some numbers into my compol and your report appeared. My name is Mattpaul. I live with my parents on Lake Gael in Caperston. I am in my last year of school and I look forward to completing school and getting work. My father is an assistant to our ruler and has promised me a job with him when I graduate. I am not sure I want to work for the ruler.We live comfortibly and never have worries. We are called the valley people. There are some rich people who are fortunate and live on the shore of Lake Gael. It is pleasant to visit their homes. There are also mountain people who have much less than we do. I went with my teacher and class to visit a mountain village.
Their world is different than ours. They live higher in the mountain where it is colder and wear more modest clothing. They wear their hair longer to protect them from the cold. Our teacher said that mountain people have lived on the mountain for many generations. No one - not even our books - talk of a time when the mountain people came down from the mountain except to fish in Lake Gael. After fishing they immediately return to Lake Gael.
While we were there, we had a kickuml game against the mountain youth. We thought we were good but a little while into the game a ball was kicked high in the air. Before it landed a mountain youth jumped up and hit it with his head. Our goal protector was so surprised that he did this that he did not defend the hit and it went in for the first goal of the game. We never saw someone use his head in the game and asked our coach. He checked the rules which said that we cannot use our hands but nothing is listed about using our head. So the game continued and the mountain youth were very good using their legs and their heads. We lost. After the match a mountain youth named Marcus offered to teach us how to head the ball. We listened and practiced this skill with him. We will learn it and maybe do better the next time we play. My friend Huchfee and I spoke with Marcus after practicing with him. He told us of a man who has visited the village. I do not know how to spell his name but it was stated - Chihaysu. This man talked about another ruler who did not live with us but was everywhere. He said that Chihaysu was encouraging to the mountain people and was going to speak at a meeting place on Lake Gael in a few days. Huchfee said we should leave school to hear him speak. I do not know - I could get in much trouble but I would like to.
Perhaps I talk too much. I hope someone gets this message. If you do, write something and ask questions. Let me know that you hear from me.
Mattpaul
Date ... April 30
Dear Mattpaul - you do not leave a contact e-mail so all I can do is add some thoughts to your correspondence, which I leave on the webpage with your letter. Hopefully, when you visit again, you will see your letter and my response.
I am not sure where you live. You give an address of Caperston but no country or continent. Please tell me some more. You also mention a compol. What is it?
I would like to learn more about the differences between the valley and the mountain people and the man Chihaysu. Thank you for writing.
Tim.
Return to Messages from Mattpaul
Date ... May 2
I am glad someone read my message. Lake Gael in Caperston is my address as our world is small. Caperston is my country. You asked about my compol but first let me tell you my story. Huchfee and I were worried that we would be caught when we went to hear Chihaysu but we were not. . On the day he was visiting our teacher cancelled class and gave us a project to complete but we left to go to where Chihaysu was speaking. He was sitting on a piece of wood beside the lake. There was a small group ... about thirty people ... all adults except for Huchfee, me and myself.
Chihaysu talked about someone named God, who is like the ruler. He said our ruler rules our world but this God rules over our feelings inside. He also said that our ruler treats the mountain people different than he treats we, the valley people but God treats everyone, mountain people and valley people, equal because our feelings, our dreams are all the same.
This idea excited me. When I talked to Marcus last week, I felt very much like him because we did have many of the same hopes and dreams. And we are the same age.I also really liked when Chihaysu taught us how to talk to this God - something he calls praying. This was an activity that I had never heard of. Chihaysu insisted that everyone be quiet and I was, at first, uncomfortable with the silence. Then I began to feel peaceful. Since Huchfee and I were afraid of being discovered, we quietly. But I am glad that I tried it.
You asked about my compol. It is a communication machine. In our third year of school we are all given a training compol which is used in our education. All our tests and assignments are given on the compol. This first compol also has a video station of entertainment. The entertainment includes comedians, music performers and at 8:00 each night there is a story which is presented. We all look forward to seeing the story. During the time we are in school, there are no shows to watch.
After our sixth grade we are given a new and better compol which allows us to do more things. First of all there is a new station - a government station which has the news and different shows. There are less story shows and more discussions. My father is in charge of what is presented on this government channel. He likes his work and feels that it is very creative. I usually do not watch this station. Our new compols can also send messages between friends. After we write we place our thumb on the screen signaling that the message is completed. It was in my experimenting with my compol that I found out about your program.
The compols get energy from our star so we have to leave them outside for a little while each day. They are not big and I can carry mine in my pocket. They are supposed to last for the rest of our lives.
I was taught about the electronics of the compol and its ability to communicate across the land of Caperston. This was amazing to all of us. Before compols we had to speak into a hearing machine to talk to someone across the country so these are much better. We were also told that the scientists were experimenting with different number sequences to see if they could communicate with others not living in our world.
I hope I will get a chance to hear Chihaysu speak again.
Your new friend, Mattpaul
Date ... May 3
Dear Mattpaul thank you for describing your compol. Now I understand. The man Chihaysu talks of a ruler, named God. His teachings are similar to those of a person, who we believe was God's son. We are told this man, who lived 2,000 years ago, was named Jesus. Please continue to write.
Tim
Return to Messages from Mattpaul
Date ... May 8
I am so excited to tell you this. Chihaysu came to Lake Gael again, closer to our village and many people came to hear him - including my father, my sister Rachaeling and her friend Michaeling. He spoke about the ruler, God, then told a story that I keep thinking about. It was something like this ... there was a man who was traveling across Lake Gael when the small boat, that he was in, hit a underwater rock and began to sink - very quickly. The man was far from the shore and could not swim but he managed to pull a piece of wood from the boat before it sank. He managed to stay afloat, holding the wood.
A short time later a large powerboat was seen in the distance. The man waived frantically for help. The boat was driven by the ruler's most important adviser. He slowed down as he approached the man and called out, "I am sorry my friend; I cannot help you as I am already late for a meeting with the ruler". He quickly drove away leaving the discouraged man holding onto his piece of wood.
Several hours passed and the man was getting cold. He tried kicking his feet to stay warm and possible move towards shore but made only a little progress. It was starting to get dark out when another, much smaller powerboat appeared. This boat was driven by the leader of the school, an educated and respected man. Alongside of him was a large fish which he had caught earlier in the day, almost two meters long. The driver saw the man and drove over to him, reaching into the water touching his hand. He began to pull him to the boat when he realized that the only way he could pull him into the boat was to discard the prize fish he had earlier caught. He sadly looked at the shivering man in the water and stated, "Friend, I am so sorry. I have never caught a fish this size and need to bring it home, have it stuffed and prepared to display in my home. I am sure someone else will come". Then he left, leaving the cold man behind in the water.
It was now getting dark with the only light coming from a distant sunset. The man in the water was ready to accept his fate when he heard a "Swish ... swish" from behind him . A mountain man, who was almost never seen on Lake Gael, was paddling his small boat towards him. When he arrived, he called out and reached over to the man. He pulled him to the side of the boat. It was then that the paddler realized that the only place he could sit was a seat behind him and that seat was covered by a large bucket, filled with small fish. The paddler stated, "My friend and brother, you are from the valley and I am from the mountain. Yet we truly are the same. I have been fishing all day making a very good catch today and my family will be well fed this evening. However, God has brought me here to you and you are more valuable than any, in fact, than all of these fish". With that he picked up the bucket of fish and emptied it into Lake Gael and pulled the man onboard, paddling him to his home.
The valley man never forgot the sacrifice and friendship of the mountain man, who, after taking him to land, quickly left to return to his family. But the God, who is the true ruler, saw everything and blessed the mountain man and the valley man he rescued for the rest of their lives.
What a beautiful story Chihaysu told. It makes me think of what I would have done if I was driving a boat towards this man in the water. Chihaysu asked, after telling the story, "Who was the truest of friends?" We all called out, "the mountain man". Chihaysu replied ... "stop being separate from the mountain people. In God's eyes you are all equal. Reach out to them and make them your friends".
My father told me that the man Chihaysu seems to be a good man but that he does not understand that we and the mountain people are just different. But I remember Marcus - he was just like me and I want to be his friend.
Mattpaul
Date ... May 10
Mattpaul thank you for sharing your story. I think others would like to hear it so I will feature your letters on my home webpage. I hope we will find interested young people to correspond with you.
Tim
Return to Messages from Mattpaul
Date ... May 17
Tim ... I am sorry for not writing for a while. After the meeting with Chihaysu, we asked our school teacher about him. Is he one of the mountain people? He does not really look like them but neither does he resemble the valley people. The teacher said that many years ago the mountain people were moving apart to different villages, some far away. The ruler asked them to come to the valley to register so he better understood where they all resided. This registration had an effect of reorganizing the people and some mountain people moved back together. There is now one major mountain village and three smaller ones. In this way the registration was a success. There is a rumor, my teacher said, that Chihaysu was born during this time of registration and, because it was an unstable time, it is unclear who his parents were.
He has not appeared at Lake Gael since I last wrote.
Your friend Mattpaul.
Return to Messages from Mattpaul
Date ... May 26
Greetings. Let me share more information we have received. Though we have not seen Chihaysu for a while our teacher told us something interesting. He said it is only a rumor so we must be careful not to assume it is completely accurate.
He said that people say Chihaysu visited one of the small distant communities - on the north side of the mountain. All of the mountain communities are having trouble with a new disease there called AHT. This disease makes people of all ages feel so dizzy and tired that all they are able to do is lie still. They have trouble sleeping. We have good machines to diagnose diseases here in Caperston but this disease is so new that the machines have yet to find a cure. The rumor is that there was a young girl, named Dawnling, on the north side that had AHT disease for many days. She is a year away from completing school and her cousin is Marcus, who taught us the technique of heading the ball in the kickuml game. Chihaysu told her parents to pray to God for healing. They asked Chihaysu to pray with them and the next day she was better and no longer felt dizzy and tired.
Our teacher said that this tells us that praying does more than simply bringing peace to the person praying. If the rumor is true, prayer asks God to intervene to make things better.
We really do not have enough information but I am sure someone will ask Chihaysu about what happened the next time he comes to visit us. Huchfee heard that Chihaysu is coming back to Lake Gael in a few days.
Mattpaul
Date ... May 30
Dear Mattpaul My name is Alex and I have read all of your letters. I found them while searching to an answer for a problem I have. I really appreciate how honest you are. You tell us not only what has happened but how you feel about it. I envy you. You have met Chihaysu and heard him speak. We only know of Jesus by what was written about him. I love your stories.
Return to Messages from Mattpaul
For those who have been following the Mattpaul Letters ... much has been happening in Caperston and challenging events are being reported. We await climatic information, expected this Spring. We also have received a few drawings of events taking place which have been added above. A series of third party letters have also been received and are being prepared for the correspondence.
We have removed some letters as we are double checking their accuracy.
We ask for your patience. We want to make sure we are reporting accurate information.
Return to Messages from Mattpaul