January 10, 2011

Hey everybody,

Thanks for all the e-mails this week guys... really appreciate it. That's okay though because I don't want to even think abouthome after this week.

This week waschalk full of miracles. On Tuesday, the San Juan family told us they wanted tobe baptized on Januray 17. We talked to thebranch and most of the families would not be able to make it to the baptism so they decided to push the date back to the 22nd. The 3 daughters attended church and loved it. Divine and Jessica have been to church twice now and Dorothy has been once. Florentino and Norma (the parents) have had work and it's been difficult for them to get Sunday's off. The branch was not supportive of the evening sacrament meeting idea so it looks like it's up to prayers and faith now.

As for the lessons, Tuesday was lesson 3 and it went awesome. We also taught about the Sabbath day and how we keep it holy. Divine said she wanted to go to church "again and again and again". There's a very powerful spirit to that girl. Thursday, we felt prompted to teach the word of wisdom, tithing andthe law of chastity. We were all very nervous because they're a very poor family and Florentino said he is a "coffee lover". Were also really apprehensive because at the end of our last appointment, they brought out Nestea and orange juice for us...We chose the orange juice. So we fasted and prayed that the Spirit would bear truth to this family about these commandments. We role played each principle and did our best to figure out how to resolve their concerns. We went in to the lesson and the Spirit was very powerful. We asked them "Who is Joseph Smith to you?" and Florentino blew my mind away. He read through the introduction of the Book of Mormon prior to meeting with us and talked about the Restoration andthe 3 witnesses. It was incredible. Elder Nielsen taught the word of wisdom and they said, "No coffee then... All right!" We then taught the law of chastity and modest dress. The parents were smiling. We then taught the law of tithing. We were concerned about how they were going to take this lesson but Norma said, "With God, all things are possible." They accepted 3 commandments without a doubt in their mind.

Afterwards, we brought up January 22nd. Norma may have a tough time getting that day off. For the closing prayer, Divine asked God to let her mom have the 22nd off because "we really want to be baptized as a family." You cannot tell me that there wasn't a divine power in that room that evening. This is a family whom God has prepared to come to the knowledge of the Restoration. Everyone in that room felt God's love because truth was being taught. The best part is that they recognized those things. They feel and know that this is God's truth.

Saturday night, we met with a less active girl and her non member boyfriend. Prior to the dinner, we asked Tiffany if she would be comfortable with us inviting her boyfriend, Lorne, to takethe discussions. She said she would wait but that if we felt an overpowering impression ofthe Spirit, we should. Well, we felt that Spirit right after she hung up. We went over and had a great dinner and we all really bonded well with each other. After dinner, before we even said anything, Lorne basically opened up his entire personal life to us. He told us about his rough past and how he came to know that God is real and how it's been a blessing. Each one of us were able to relate to him in different ways. He knows a lot about the church and even told us his body is like a temple. My eyebrows went straight up. This man has been prepared to meet us. We talked to Tiffany afterwards and she said that Lorne wished we could stay longer. She said he wouldn't stoptalking about us and there is something about us that he enjoys. So Saturday at 6 PM, we will be having a dinner and a lesson.

The Lord is working his hand in Banff. That is truth. I know that as we continue to work hard and be obedient and let the Lord lead us through the dark, God's prepared children will be placed in our paths.

Love,
Elder Madsen