November 21, 2011

Hey everybody,

Well, things are starting to look better this week. Munsamy still wants to meet with us. It was pretty coll because we stopped by and he wasn't there but then we caught him walking home from work and taught him that day. His mom is still against him being baptized. It's really frustrating. We helped him to teach himself of what God wants him to do but there's still that fear in him. We taught about fasting and we're going to have a special fast with him that his mom's heart will be softened.

Valley View gave us a referral for a YSA kid named Dan. He's from B.C. and he might be staying in Alberta. He has a very profound stuttering problem. Because of his issue with speaking, he hasn't been to a church since he was a young kid. His dad also died when he was young as well. He came to church and in Gospel Principles, the lesson was on the Plan of Salvation. The teacher asked his to explain the Fall and Dan taught the whole thing. It was neat to watch the happiness in his face the whole day. He definitely felt welcome and loved. He has a date for the 30th but it's tentative based on whether he stays here or moves back to B.C.

There are more things going on. I got to go on exchanges with Prairie Winds the other day and taught 4 of our converts. Tiffany is doing well and is going to church every Sunday. She's even bringing friends to the ward as well. The Smeaton's are fantastic! They have callings and their son Bradley that Elder Hansen and I taught is married in Hamilton and staying strong. It was so good to see them again.

I don't remember if I told you this but about 6 months ago, Elder Hansen and I talked to this Siek (Muslim) lady on the street. She was too busy to talk but we gave her our number and prayed that she would call us... Sure enough, she did! She told us that the anniversary of her 2 year old daughter's death was approaching and she needed a message to lift her spirits. SO we talked about Kolob... nah im kidding, it was the Plan of Salvation of course. The Spirit was so strong when she found out she could live with her daughter again and she accepted a day to be baptized. Well, I got transferred but found that she did get baptized and now they're teaching her husband. I got to meet with ehr on Wednesday as well. It's amzing how the Lord works in small and simple ways.

Love,

Elder Madsen

P.S. Yes, its cold! Its about -15 to -20 C but its for the Lord so who cares!

November 14, 2011

Hey everybody!

Good news!!! It hasn't really snowed yet! It's the middle of November and there's still black streets out there with lane lines and everything! Don't worry though, it'll be here and won't go away until I go home.

We're going through some struggles right now. We're working hard but we're not sure if we're working smart. We seem to be exactly where the Lord doesn't want us even though we're doing good things (talking to everyone, knocking on doors), we're not sure if we're doing the best things. We're going to find out what those best things are.

Munsami was doing very well until last night. He called us and told us that his mom found out that he's getting baptized and got very upset with him. He also didn't show up to church which caused his date to drop as well. Tonight, we're going over L3 and will establish a plan where he can bear his testimony to his mom of the truths that he has learned. I know that he will be baptized in November still.

We're having struggles with our other investigators as well. We had a decent lesson with Daniel. He's still struggling with his lifestyle change and feels that he hasn't gotten an answer yet. We're glad that real intent was brought up several times these past couple of days because as we talked about the commandments, he said he wasn't willing to keep them... Well, now we know why he hasn't gotten the answer that he's looking for. He brought up tithing and we were rather blunt with him and told him to "Prove the Lord herewith..." He said he would pay tithing. It will be great when he sees the Lord pour him out a blessing.

I love how simple the gospel is. Be obedient, and you'll be happy. I can't think of a better way to put it.

Love,

Elder Madsen

November 7, 2011

Hey everybody!

The east is the best! The field is definitely white up here! We've found so many potentials already and alot of good things are geared up and ready to happen

Daniel is struggling. he feels like he hasn't received his answer yet. He also isn't putting in the necessary time to find out if the Book of Mormon is true which is frustrating. We also helped him understand how we can receive answers. Another main concern he has is he's not sure if he will be able to hang out with the group of friends he has right now. Once he gains a vision of who he can become and how the Atonement will help him, then all of those concerns will go away.

Darose has some issues with her pastor. He told her not to meet with us anymore. She still want us to come over tonight. We're going to re-emphasize the Restoration as we go through the Plan of salvation with her.

Munsami is doing great! He came to church this Sunday and has incredible faith. We taught him the first half of the Plan of Salvation and will finish it up this week. We have a great fellowshipper for him and he's looking really strong. He's been keeping the Word of Wisdom and he'll be baptized on the 19th.

We had a cool experience with one of the people we found! We talked to Marissa at the street corner and she gave us her address. We left and felt a prompting to go and check her address. We went there and noticed it was an apartment complex and she didn't give us her room number. So we wondered, what are we going to do? Elder Stephan thought we should go and find her on the street. We weren't sure if that was what the Lord wanted us to do until we asked ourselves, "Did we go to the airport?" Then we drove and tried looking for her and couldn't find her. So we followed our plans and then saw her walking down the street again. We pulled over, knocked on a couple of doors to make it look casual, and then approached her to find out her info. She is prepared!!!

Love,

Elder Madsen

November 1, 2011

Hey everybody!

Well, transfers came today and I feel pretty swell. I'm going back to the east for the winter! I'm covering a YSA ward and a family ward (Franklin and Ellision Park). There's a lot of good work going on there so it will be good to keep it going up there! My new companions are Elders Hawkins and Stephan. Elder Stephan is a new missionary so this will be an interesting treat.

We had a very spirit filled weekend. Clara was baptized and confirmed! Bishop asked her how she felt and in a little kid voice she said, "Happy!!!" Amazing what the Holy Ghost does. The elder who did her interview said that she opened the interview with a paryer and asked that Elder Harris wouldn't drop her! Because her knees don't bend very well, we had Elder harris and Brother Hill in the font. There was a white man, native and black man in the font! I guess there's more diversity in Cardston than we thought!

Elder Donald L. Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy came down along with Elder Hiller of the 70 to reorganize the stake. I shook his hand at least 4 times. He also put his hand behind the back of my head and pulled me super close to his face and said something that I couldn't even remember because I thought he was going to kiss me or something! It was a really spiritual event. You could look at the new stake presidency and say with satisfaction that these were men called of God. Elder Hallstrom talked about how there's a difference between the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ. The church is our outward expression of our commitment to Jesus Christ. This includes going to church, temple, activities, our callings and anything else that people can see. The gospel of Jesus Christ is something that we can't measure. It's our inward commitment to follow Jesus Christ. The gospel and the church rely on each other. You can't have one without the other. We need both the gospel and the church to become true disciples of Jesus Christ.

It was a great weekend and I don't know what happened to the time in Cardston. It flew by so quick! I'm glad we were able to see a lot of success towards the end.

Love,

Elder Madsen

October 17, 2011

Hey everybody!

Well we had another baptism this weekend. Tyler was baptized and confirmed by his dad on Saturday. It was a really spiritual event. We prayed that morning that a nonmember would be touched by the service and would want to meet with us. That morning, we did everything we could to get our investigators to go. Not one of them could make it. We went to the service and the 10 minute 1st was very powerful. We were still bummed that none of our investigators could feel that spirit but afterwards, we went to the Moxley's and Tyler's stepdad (nonmember) was so impressed that he asked us for a copy of the Book of Mormon. I'm so glad I've been able to be a part of this expereince. It almost seemed impossible that his mom would give him permission but the Lord was able to soften her heart because of the faith of the individuals who were praying. The Lord certainly tests us.

Clara has been dodgy this week. She felt really embarassed last week at church and has been setting up times to meet with us but has been always falling through. Sunday morning, Brother Hill invited her to church and she came up with all sorts of excuses. So Elder Harris and I stopped by and talked to her. She came up with all of her excuses and also said she felt embarassed last week and didn't want to come back. So, we decided to be bold. We asked, "Clara, does God want you at church?" She started by saying, "Well yes but..." and I'm glad we cut her off because we said, "Then what else matters... God wants you at church every week so that you can be forgiven of your sins. Now some members are coming from Glenwood to pick you up, Will you be here at 9?" So that was the end of that. She was there and enjoyed the Spirit and the Glenwood ward was incredible at introducing themselves to her. Elder Harris and I were praying and both received a strong impression that her date should be pushed back to the 29th.

We've been really focusing this week on staying close with the less actives. They have the non member friends so we've been working really closely with them. Ron is struggling right now. He's been cancelling on us and we invited him to the baptism but felt that he was too busy. Kyle hasn't been at our last 2 appointments that we've scheduled with him. He can still be ready by the 22nd. It's a matter of just tying him down because of the far distance he lives away.

As far as the rest of the zone is doing, we have 9 with a date which is the most I've ever seen since I've been here. I know that after the training we had on goal setting that those dates will stay solid! Something I heard this weekend really stood out to me about personal revelation. We have to have a desire, willingness to act and then follow through on the promptings that the Holy Ghost gives us. It is often in the "doing" that we find we are being led. When Elder Hansen and I would tract in Praire Winds, it would be so often that we would walk with a prayer in our hearts, and we would see a door and we wondered if that person was prepared or not. We'd think about it, then say, "welp, there's only one way to find out eh?" (out in canada is pronounced like "oat" by the way"). Every single day, we found a new or potential investigator. If we want it, we can have it. We just have to be willing to act which is often less difficult than it seems to be.

I love all of you and I heard from a missionary that I got a letter from Lisa so I'm excited to read it. I apologize that I haven't been very diligent with writing letters and so I will re-commit myself to do better. We're having stake conference in a couple of weekends and Elder Hallstrom of the Presidency of the 70 will come down and there will be a new stake presidency. FUN FUN FUN!!!!

Love,

Elder Madsen

October 11, 2011

Hey everybody!

Well, a happy birthday to David and Kaleo! And Heather this weekend! I had 4 Thanksgiving dinners this weekend so I am all turkeyed out!

So I was in Vulcan on splits this weekend with a new missionary and boy did it feel good to tract again. In 20 minutes, we found 5 potential investigators, gave out 4 copies of the BOM, and set up an appointment with a family for Monday night! It was crazy how much fun me and Elder Thomas had. We were walking and he goes, "we need to do this more often!" I would say it was a successful exchange if we can get a new missioanry to enjoy finding throgh his own efforts.

Lots of good things are happening down here!

Tyler is getting baptized on Saturday. His mom gave us the permission slip so he's good to go! Kyle Sweetgrass's date was pushed back because he didn't meet with us last week and because he lives north of Standoff, it's a challenge to get lessons. We did re-set it for the 22nd and it looks like his cousin Zach who we've been teaching as well will be able to baptize him. We're teaching commandments today so he's almost ready to go! The grandparents are endowed members so there's been a lot of support for these two.

Clara, who has a date for the 22nd, has faced so much opposition. On Tuesday, her grandson was ran over by a truck. Miraculously, he was fine with only a few bruises. Brother Hill helped Clara understand that the only way things will get better is if she goes to church. So she made it church in the 4th ward on Sunday. Satan will do whatever he can to stop people from progressing eh? But Clara has been strong and has strong fellowshippers to help her.

Ron is continuing to want to meet with us. We had a very helpful member this time to help Ron progress. He knows what we are teaching is true because he said, "Well, everything you teach is out of the Bible and the Testament (BOM), so it must be God's words." He also knows that we're instruments of God and that this is what God wants him to do. We invited him to be baptized but he said he's concerned about his obligations to work. We know that there's a deeper concern and Elder Harris and I both think it's the Word of Wisdom which we haven't taught yet but we have a funny feeling about it so we'll see what we can do.

We picked up a new investigator this week in Glenwood as well so things are going well. We're both working hard and are excited about all of the success that is going on.

Love,

Elder Madsen

October 3, 2011

Hey everybody!

Conference was awesome... as always! I hope all of the men heard Elder Holland's talk in priesthood session. Pretty powerful because he was bold and loving! Lots of miracles are popping up this week.
Clara is really progressing. She had an interesting way of finding out if the Book of Mormon was true. She said she asked God to allow her sister to be comfortable with her joining the church when she got home, then she would know that the Book of Mormon was true. Sure enough, her sister came home and was really excited to hear that she joined the church. She said now she knows that it's true. We're going o continue inviting her to pray for a spiritual witness through the Holy Ghost but it was pretty neat that that worked out for her. She is very determined to be baptized on the 22nd which is good to see. It's because of the awesome fellowshippers she's meeting thru daily contact and the feelings of the Spirit she has when she meets with us. Her grandson Larmar wants to baptized as well. We're going to get his parents to sit in on the next lesson and we'll baptize 3 generations of a family!

Tyler's mom gave him permission to be baptized! He'll be baptized on October 15th which I am so stoked about. They are such an family and it is going to be quite the experience to see them all there that Saturday.

Kyle is still preparing for the 15th. He lives so far away which makes it difficult to teach him regularly. We usually get once a week but he is a great kid and we're going to do our best to get his cousin Zack the priesthood so that he can baptize Kyle!

I learned a lot from conference and I'm grateful for the lessons I learned. One talk that really stood out to me was Elder Christofferson's talk on repentance. President Archibald was with Elder Jensen on the 70 and he asked President what his least favorite thing about the mission. President said he didn't like correcting missionaries. Elder Jensen responded, "So you love yourself more than God then..." That might sound harsh, yet I know those of you who are parents know that statement rings true. God corrects those whom he loves and it's something tough for me to acquire as a missionary is correcting investigators. Last night, our investigator told us he had been reading the scriptures on and off. We know that there is no way for him to get an answer unless he reads the Book of Mormon for a significant amount each and everyday. We spent quite a bit of time going into the importance of the commitment. Now he's fully committed to reading the Book of Mormon everyday for at least 10 minutes. When we correct others out of love and when it's our place to, then we truly show our faith of how keeping God's commandments will bless us. it's not easy, but necessary.

Love,
Elder Madsen