August 16, 2010

Hey everybody,

Miracle happened yesterday... but Elder Stevens and I weren't there to see it!

So we cover 3 wards and yesterday we decided to attend all the P.E.C. meetings because we have to report back to the zone leaders on how well the wards are doing with their mission plans. So in the second ward that we cover, 3 African Americans (well, i guess theyre candians but whatever) came to church and stayed all 3 hours! Everybody in the ward noticed we weren't there, so the members basically did the fellowsipping and inviting and all of that good stuff. We didn't hear about it until about 9:20 last night when we were helping a future missionary with his teaching skills. Wehn Brother Heyland said "Yeah, there were three black people in church today... Were you guys there?" At first I thought he was joking but it really happened. We sped off to the ward mission leader's home and he had brownies and milk for us and gave us their information. In the Fairmont ward, there has only been 2 weeks since he's been a wml (only since I've gotten there though) where there was not an invesitgator in the ward! You know what's funny is that their ward is really catching onto the Elder Perry Model... Hmm, could that mean that when you listen to the apostles that you can see miracles happen?

We've got a pretty big teaching pool but the problem is that it's summer right now. That means everybody is on vacation. It's pretty annoying when families tell you that they're going to places like Hawaii and Europe but it's even more annoying when they tell me they're going to San Diego! Maybe annoying isn't the proper word but home does run through my mind when they say that.

I'm sorry this is a short e-mail but I want to let you know that the work of God will never cease. It's amazing to see his hand play into the lives of others when they follow Him. We were with a less active last night. He was baptized about 20 years ago and joined the church for someone else. He had been keeping the commandments, reading, praying, paying his tithing but said he wasn't able to feel the Spirit or anything. He also felt like God wasn't answering his prayers. I then asked him why did he keep the commandments. He said because somebody told him to. We taught about doing things of our own free will and I bore my testimony of how I knew the church was true because I wanted to know it for myself. I didn't want to know it so that I could make mom and dad happy but I wanted to know it because i wanted to know if the Book of Mormon was true and if God really was there. i exercised faith in Him by reading my scriptures and by praying everyday. Keeping the commandments to the best of my abilities brought the Spirit into my life so much stronger than it was before. I know that we can only strengthen our testimony if we want to benefit ourselves, not to make us look good in front of others, but to strengthen our personal relationship with our Savior. I love him and I know He is real. You are all in my prayers. Keep pressing on and I will do the same.

love,

Elder Madsen