January 9, 2012

Hey everybody!

Everything is going great! We had 2 baptisms in the zone this weekend and everyone is pumped for March! We have a goal to get 100 baptisms in March. We ask that you pray for us that we can have the faith necessary to achieve this goal and bring so many of God's children back to Him. We met with our district leaders and they're making plans to help our missionaries become spiritually tied to this goal. We definitely will get 50 in January. No doubt about that.

We've met with Lith this week. She is showing strong commitment. She is reading from the Book of Mormon but always cross references it into Arabic. She also speaks Dinka so we might be able to convince her to translate the Book of Mormon into Dinka. It's amazing how receptive she is to the Spirit. She knows it's true and she keeps praying and feels great when she meets with us. We've laid out daily contact to help her out this week to get her tied to the ward. The WML is helping us out which is sweet! She has WOW issues but knows that she can overcome them with the help of the Priesthood. She requested us to give her another blessing. She accepted a date for January 28th!

We ran into a Part member family, the Baker's, on Thursday. We were teaching the less active mom and her daughter. Then, her nonmember son, Christopher came down and listened to the Restoration. He felt the Spirit so strongly and he accepted a date for the 28th as well! Unfortunately, his mom has anxiety problems and can't be in a room with more than 5 people. Chirstopher was upset because he only wants to go to church if it's with his family. I don't blame him. We gotta pray for a miracle that Sister Baker can overcome her illness and rely on the power of the Priesthood.

We told you about the less active family that Elders Johanson, Perez and I tracted into. There's the grandpa, the uncle and his son (nonmember, age 14), the mom and her daughter that God led us to. We stopped by a potential and he wasn't home. We said a prayer that we wanted to find the elect and that we would not leave the area until our purpose was fulfilled. As soon as we opened our eyes, we realized we had already knocked on a ll of the doors. So we decided to walk around. As we walked, we noticed a row of houses we hadn't knocked on yet. We knocked on a few and then ran into the Harris's. Eileen thought this was odd because her daughter had told her that she wanted to go back to church 3 minutes before we knocked on their door! We're going to be teaching Lorne (the uncle) and his son this week as well. It's neat how the Lord works in small ways.

We were supposed to teach Lorne's son, Truman, but the appointment cancelled. We were driving and saw ambulances outside one of our members' homes. We stopped by and it was an old couple who was just sealed in the temple 2 weeks ago. The wife had a heart attack and passed away. The husband was in complete shock and his nonmember son was in tears. The husband called us all over and we had a prayer together. The Spirit was so strong and he thanked us for it. The nonmember son was so touched that we stopped by and showed respect for the situation. It was a different experience for me but I was amazed at how strong Brother Cervos held himself. He was so calm and understood that he would live with his wife again. I'll never forget that.

We're meeting with Carly tonight. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying. She feels good about it. We're stoked to see her accept a date!

The work is great. The elders are working hard. There appears to be less diligence in the zone about PMG programs. It's frustrating but it's also an opportunity to show charity and explain to the elders that if we want to be happy and successful, we have to listen to the words of the prophets. Now I know why the Lord repeats over and over again in the Book of Mormon that if we keep the commandments, we will prosper.

Love,
ELder Madsen