July 18, 2011

Hey everybody,

Well, it hailed on Tuesday... luckily Elder Mott and I were in the truck and have a garage to park it in. Crazy weather up here. We spoke in sacrament meeting for the second week in a row except this week, it was only Elder Mott and I who were speaking. So there was an hour left, and Elder Mott went first... he only spoke for 15 minutes. So I looked at the clock and did my best to stretch out my 10 minute talk to 30 minutes. I was exhausted. The bishopric has some good things to say afterwards. Bishop said, "The Lord prepares, we invite, the missionaries teach, the Spirit converts!" Such a true statement. Missionaries can only go so far in their own efforts. We have been really struggling on finding through our own efforts and are really relying on the members for help.

Well, this week was still rough with no new investigators but there is still a lot of potenital happening. We have 3 investigators lessons set up for this week and we'll see what will happen. The quality of our 7 days have considerably risen. Members are inviting more and are starting to be more aware of missionary work as we meet with them.

Tyler was at church on Sunday. We talked to his dad and the mom still has a hardened heart towards it all. Brother Moxley said, "Well, he has a baptismal date for the 31st, so it's up to you if you want to be there..." I'm not sure how this will all go down but I have faith that Tyler is going to be baptized. No question about it. We're teaching him tonight.

We haven't gotten a hold of Dayson or his parents. Bishop Beazer said his baptism should be any week. There's a lot of things going on with the parents right now so we'll figure things out in the upcoming weeks. We got a call from the Temple Visitor's Center and a Native wants to meet with us out in Standoff. We have a lesson with him scheduled for Tuesday night. We're hoping he's an investigator as well.

Not a whole lot to report on this week but I know that as we're patient with the Lord, we will see miracles. In every 7day, we're really emphasizing with members how to invite. It's really the main focus of our visits. I know that as we continue to be diligent in our role plays, the Lord will bless us.

I love you all and am really grateful for this opportunity I have to serve in Canada. I am officially at the point where I've decided that I'm not going home. I just want to be on a mission forever because there is no more important nor satsifying work than sharing the gospel with all of Heavenly Father's children. Please conitnue to keep those that we are working with in your prayers. They need God's help and they can receive it.

Love,
Elder Madsen