Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Week 41 May 29, 2017

HI Everyone
I'm no longer in the YSA Ward or the Creekside Ward. I'm gone. The new Ward
I'm serving in is the Alhambra Ward.  It's a super cool old building
and there's like a hundred churches right next to it. It's really
interesting. It used to be a stake center and Howard. W. Hunter used
to be the Stake president here too!!
Last week though I had a pretty cool experience. My companion and I
just got done teaching a lesson with our Ward Mission Leader and we
went out to get some food with him. While we're at this restaurant
standing line I noticed this guy kinda staring us down. I didn't think
too much of it because we were already sticking out as missionaries
but this man came over to us and began to talk to us. He began to tell
us of his conversion story and how he was led to the missionaries. He
recently became a member and was preparing to go through the
temple. He told us how he had the time of his life watching General
Conference. I remember just feeling so happy for this guy that I've
never met before my in my life. He was on the right path, and he knew
it.
Other than that nothing much happened but a lot of goodbyes.







Week 40 May 22 2017

This was a pretty exciting week. Elder Cho almost lit a members house
on fire. We had a big fireside focused on missionary work and we were able
to find a lot of people so we'll be able to stop by to see them this week and
teach them. We had to drop a couple people earlier in the week and
find people later in the week. We got a referral this week for this
girl named Natalie. We stopped by and her sister answered the door and
told us that she lived some other place outside our area and was only
home on break. We started talking to this girl and contacting her and
before you know it we had a return appointment set up. At the
beginning she wasn't that interested and talked about how busy she
always was. As we had been stopping by and teaching her through out
the week the more and more you can see a change in her attitude in
religion and towards God. She wanted to know more and had a desire to
know more. She started setting time apart to meet with us. When we
last saw her on Friday she told us that she had a confession to make
and that she was in fact Natalie who we were looking for in the first
place.
This is also the last week in the transfers and after being in
Creekside for 6 months it's a good chance that I'll get transferred.
Next time I'm able to email I might be in a whole new place.





Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Week 39 May 15, 2017

I had a pretty eventful week. I was able to call home on Mother's Day,
and have interviews with President for the last time before he gets
released. It was a little bit of a struggle to call home on Sunday. My
companion and I went to our church building, where I was able to call
home for Christmas, but the wifi wasn't working so we had to run up to
another church building. The wifi wasn't all that much better and we
practically called our family's in the same room at the same time but
it all worked out in the end. It was so nice to see my family and hear
about how they're doing. It was really nice to be able to talk to home.

This week I had a very humbling experience. My companion and I were
teaching a lesson and the lesson was going a little longer than I
expected, so I quickly set up a return appointment and gave our
investigator a commitment for us to follow up on next time
we see him. When we got into the car to drive to our next appointment
my companion began to tell me what I should be doing in lessons
instead oh what I just did. I was kinda upset that he was telling me what
to do. I brushed what he told me aside and tried not to get upset at my companion.
We went to institute where there are a couple of nonmembers taking
classes there and they were learning about the New Testament. When we
got there they were reading Hebrews 12:5-11. It talked about how the Lord
chastens who he loves. He does so because he loves the people and
wants them to be become better. I realized that what my companion had
told me earlier was only to make me a better missionary and that I
shouldn't take correction badly but in fact to seek out correction so
that I may become better.

I went on exchanges this week with Elder Collings. The people we were
teaching were pretty cool. They did get a little distracted in the
middle of our lesson over snap chat and we talked to them about it. We
ended up getting put on their snap chat story because of it.

Elder Madsen


Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Week 38, May 1, 2017

Pictures with Elder Frandsen and our Ward Mission Leader Brother Larsen



Week 37 April 24, 2017

Hey guys I'm sorry I'm just catching up on the last couple weeks. Two
weeks ago was really good. We were able to take an investigator out to
the visitor center next to the temple. It's was a really cool and
spiritual experience for him and us as well.  He really liked the
feeling he got at the temple and wants to go again.
Justin got baptized! I'm sending pictures.
We've been working with him for about a month and
found him up at the colleges. He's come a long way and had to overcome
some obstacles so it was way cool to see him reach his goal. He shared
his testimony and it was really sweet and to the point. He talked
about the differences in his life from before and after
and talked about how he's been searching and that
he'd been going to different churches to find the right one and
that he finally found it. He's preparing to get the priesthood this
coming week.
This week was also my birthday and it was pretty rad. I taught some lessons
and contacted some people.  It didn't really feel like my birthday but it 
was a good day so that's good. 
I got a lot of letters and packages from you guys so thank you for that!