January 31, 2011

Hey everybody!

I had my first Chinook this week. It was awesome! 14 C outside and the sun shining with the snow melting. It was great. Now the Chinook is gone and it's -25 C. Oh well!

This week was pretty incredible but it's going to get better (especially on Wednesday and Sunday). We went over the baptismal interview questions with the San Juan family and they passed with flying colors. Florentino is still staying away from coffee and Norma came to church this Sunday. The baptism will be on for 6:00 on Wednesday at the Calgary West Stake Center. It feels like Wednesday is going to take forever to come. Their confirmations will be on Sunday. I'm confirming the dad!

Saturday night, we were supposed to have a dinner and a lesson with Lorne. We knew we should have back up plans for that so we scheduled a back up plan for that evening with members. It turns out that both of our plans went through that night and we wondering what we were going to do. Then the zone leaders called us and challenged us to find a new investigator by the end of the night. After that phone call, I felt like I was on a scavenger hunt! We flew from place to place looking. We stopped by the gas stattion where previously, the worker told us we could come by and share a message. However, he said he was moving to Ft. St. John's. We all had a good feeling we should stop by and invite him again anyways. I went in and asked about Fort St. John's and he said he wasn't moving for another couple weeks. I told him that this message was for everybody and it doesn't matter who you are or what you've done, God loves you. He said, "Oh no, that's not what I meant, I've just been really busy and so give me a call Thursday or Friday and I'll tell you where I live and you can stop by." That was 10 minutes after the phone call.

Then, we went to another potential's home. His name is Ron and he's Jewish. We've stopped by before and he said he's a "loner" and likes to learn on his own. We stopped by and he turned to his wife and asked, "How much time till dinner?" She tells him half an hour. Ron says, "Come in, I'm going to grab my triple!" He runs downstairs and has us sit at the table. He then asks us what we learned this morning (I guess he's met missionaries before). Elder Nielsen talked about the brazen serpent and we talked about how simple it is to come unto Christ so that we can be saved. To make a long story short, we invited him to be baptized on February 19th. He said no but appreciates what we do trying to help others. He said, "I'm just not lucky like you guys." He said if he prayed, he knew the Holy Ghost would give him revelation and if he does come to know that Christ is his Savior, the LDS church is the one he wants to join. We asked if we could come back and he said anytime.

I know the principle of planning is real and needs to be taken seriously. God wanted us at those 2 places on Saturday and that's where we were. I know that God has placed me where He wants me, now I need to figure out why.

I love you all and you are always in my prayers. I got the letter from you Gerry which was awesome. I'll be writing back shortly

Love,
Elder Madsen