December 19, 2011

Hey everybody!

The weather is so nice!!! Im excited to call you at one oclock!

As far as our area is doing, the numbers don't show it but we are working hard. We got 3 new investigators and one of them came off of a referral from a 7day! Our member brought his friend Michael and we taught him in 30 minutes the first lesson. We asked him how he felt and he responded, "I feel GREAT!!!" He accepted a date for the 31st! After we established daily contact and the B2b, he brought up a concern. He has 2 jobs, one on a party bus and the other is a bartender... I knew opposition was upon us. He really doesn't want to give up his jobs. Unforutnately, we didn't have time to go into the doctrine behind those commandments. In our next lesson, it will be the major focus. I'm glad we know how to teach towards commitments now. He didn't come to church on Sunday so the date is dropped. Now we have to pour out our hearts to God and be proactive in making things happen.

Carlin cancelled on our appointment but came to church. He really enjoyed it. In Gospel Principles, the lesson was supposed to be on exaltation. I thought to myslef, "I really don't want our investigators to hear us talk about Kolob right now. Is there anything else we could hear?" Then, the teacher opened the book to "Christ's church in former times". SCORE!!! When we opened the book to apostasy, Carlin said, "Madsen & Hawkins know this one!!!"
We're glad there's retention there.

More miracles are on their way. Elder Perez is amazing. I know his testimony of the firm and the 7day increased this week. In fact, it might have happened with Michael and John! He teaches the doctrine so simple and pure. Elder Hawkins is so diligent and always acts on the promptings of the spirit... and im in it for the ride!!! Ha, just kidding. These elders are great!

Love,
Elder Madsen

December 13, 2011

Hey everybody!

Well, the cold hasn't quite hit us yet which I'm enjoying. We haven't had to really put our toques on yet so life is good. Elder Stephan is getting transferred and I'm going on another 3 leg! Im now with Elders Hawkins & Perez in the East still. It's going to be fun aGAIN!!!

Well, I'm excited to see some things happen this transfer! It's been a rough week for us. Shawn set a date on Thursday. When he realized he had to move out or get married, it was bad news. He called us over before his appointment and gave us a bag with all of the Book of Mormon's, pamphlets and dvd's and gave it all back. It was really hard to swallow down. We had 7 member presents scheduled that day and all of them cancelled except for one. We were very diligent with the 15 minute principle and did not see a lot of immediate success yesterday but still kept our heads high. Carlin was the only person we met with. His mom is in the Sunridge ward and he just met her this week. He came to church on Sunday and enjoyed it. He has a strong relationship with God but doesn't understand the importance for religion. I wish we knew that before the lesson. He is committed to reading the Book of Mormon and gave a very sincere prayer at the end.

There have been a lot of trials and opposition this week and I know that they're merely opportunities for us to grow. I am going to be patient with the Lord (that doesn't mean im going to mope around and wait for a miracle to fall in our laps, but we're going to work hard knowing that eventually he'll bless us).

I've been reading the Book of Mormon (who would've thought) and caught this neat insight in the war chapters. Towards the end of Alma, Moroni narrates that they were struggling because they had no provisions. The next verse says that when they noticed this, they opened their hearts to the Lord and poured out their souls to Him. It's a principle that we're living right now because we're at the point where we almost don't know what to do with some of the people that we're working with... so we're going to turn to the Lord!

Love,

Elder Madsen

December 5, 2011

Hey everybody!

This week was pretty good. It looks like we're going to have some investigators on date this week! it is snowing outside so it looks like we wont see cement or asphalt till I go home.

Elder Whiting gave us a referral for someone who was moving from Brooks. We stopped by the place and found out it was the wrong address. We talked to the person there and ended up teaching her instead! Her name is Vivian and she has 2 kids who are 11 and 12. She's native and she's very humble. She left Lloydminster in search of a better life. She knows that God has led her here and she has a very strong testimony of prayer. The Book of Mormon is also really getting her attention. In our 2nd lesson with her, she didn't read much, so we started reading with her. It was very helpful to her because afterwards, she said, "oh, now I know how to read this book!" It literally is a second language to people so it was a neat experience to be able to read with her and help her out. She prayed at the end of the lesson and asked if she and the family should be baptized on the 24th!

Our other investigator who is making progress is Sean. He's living common law and has a strong desire to learn more. Unfortunately, his partner makes it so that he can't be as open with us because of her negativity towards the church. He told us at the end of the lesson that they're no longer dating and that he will change his answer about baptism once we can be alone. He's looking for a new place and has a lot of real intent. He's having a tough time because his grandparents died. When we went over the spirit world, the Holy Ghost touched his heart and he knows without a shadow of a doubt that his grandparents sent us to him so that he could have a better life. Pretty neat eh?

We talked with Danielle (rather, she talked to us). She is Presdent's friend and we set up a return appointment with her. She seems to enjoy the people in the church but isn't interested in converting. We know there is something more deeper than that (smoking, family issues).

I liked this past ZLC. The Lord has given us one thing: Time and the agency in which we use it. I picked up on a lot of things that have been on my mind lately. I realize the biggest regret I now have are the things that I looked as a task. I was always focused on the end. Because of that, there was less charity and less effectiveness. It's also hard to gain any knowledge when you look at challenges as tasks. I'm now dedicated to living in the moment and not looking to the end of my trials. The phrase, "6 months left" is leaving my head.

Love,

Elder Madsen

November 28, 2011

Hey everybody!

Well, there's been lots of trials for us this past week. For Thanksgiving, we had dinner with British people... Jk, that's not our trial. It was actually pretty good. We had "Toad in the Hole" which is sausages in Yorkshire pudding.

Dan is doing pretty well. We taught him the Word of Wisdom. He's been living it for 4 days now! He has a really good fellowshipper who's there for good support. On Friday, he called us and told something happened with his mom. We haven't been able to meet with him for a couple of days. We're getting back in there and it will be amazing for how strong the Spirit will be.

We went through our former's and picked up a new investigator named Constance. We had a really interesting first lesson with her. She has a strong faith in Christ and was really glad to know that w ehave a prophet on the earth again today. She's not sure if she can be baptized again. We tried resolving her concern by showing her examples of people in the New Testament who were rebaptized. Amazingly, you can't prove the gospel is true by logic. It has to be the Spirit that does it which is our focus with her as well.

Whoever thinks that Mormons are the only people on the earth with strong faith in Christ defintiely needs to visit whi Delrose. She goes to a Chrisitan church up here but I don't know if I have ver seen someone with so much belief in Christ. She gets fed up with all of the hypocrisy in religions. We had an incredible lesson with her about the importance of authroity. She has some things that she needs to work on. She said the closing prayer and only said she was thankful to meet with us. After the prayer there was a pause... she said, "Wait a minute, don't you want me ask if Joseph is a prophet now?" Talk about real intent. SHe prayed and asked if our church is the only church with Christ's authority and if she should be baptized. When she gets baptized, she's going to make one good relief Society president.

Well, I know that trials are merely Satan's applause. They are also opportunities for us to grow. We had to discipline some elders this weekend. Not fun. Now I know how much stress it is to be a parent. I've learned that we can't be complacent with where we are at.

Love,

Elder Madsen

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