Week 45 June 26, 2017

It's definitely been a memorable week on my Mission. I've made

sure to write it down in my journal so that I can remember it in the

future. We had our last Zone Conference with the President of the

Mission. Going into Conference I really expected President and his

wife to talk about getting us ready for the new President coming in.

Nope. President's wife talked about conversions and then testimony and

what we had to do to grow a testimony. I thought and I'm pretty sure

everyone else thought that she was teaching us about our investigators

and what they have to do to gain a testimony. We talked about the

basics, going to church, reading The Book of Mormon, and prayer. She

then told us to stick to the basics when we go home so that we (The

Missionaries) don't fall away.  I sat there for a little bit because

that really stuck with me. The last thing Sister Vill wanted to tell or to

teach us would be probably what was most important to her or what

she'd think would be most important for us and it was that. For us to

stay to the basics when we get home so that we don't lose our

testimonies. Then after that, President went up there and emphasized

the same thing. It was so cool. You could tell that he really cared

about us.

Anyways the new Mission President, President Wells will be coming on

Friday. We will get to meet him the week after that. He has a lot of

stuff to adjust to and to get settled in.

 OK so a little update with our investigators. We're teaching a

couple people say are more flakey than others but that's OK. A lot of

the current investigators I don't think I'll be able to see the fruit

of everything I'm working with them on. A lot of it is in the long

run. We have to work on getting a couple married. Sometimes

one of them is more ready to commit than the other but that's OK it

all takes time. The desire is there with at least one of them each

time we go over. They saw a baptism in the Chines Ward today and they

had a really good time getting to know everybody at church today as

well.

I went to a ARP (addiction recovery) meeting with a different investigator this week. It

was dope. It wasn't cool because I was at the actual meeting but

that I was with someone that wanted to change so bad and willing to

work at it. I'm happy that I'm there to help him and have his back in

this tough time in his life. It'll be hard for him for sure but he

really is putting his faith into the Lord and I'm excited to see how

much Heavenly Father can help him.

We also got a new investigator this week.

She just got back from Madrid and she was over there playing soccer.

She's pretty cool and the missionaries that had been teaching her in

Spain really did a good job teaching her. She is ready. She came home

to be baptized but her family isn't supportive so she's going to keep

on meeting with us until she figures it out. She knows the right thing

to do is to follow the Lord, but her family isn't making it easy for

her.

I'm doing a lot better too. For a long time I was in a rut it felt

like and I wasn't progressing in any way. I was just kinda stuck. I was

having a hard time learning new things and remembering the old things.

It was really weird. But with actually studying the Scriptures instead

of reading just to read pulled me out of that I think.

Elder Madsen 🐡

Week 44 June 19, 2017

We had 3 baptismal dates two weeks ago.  They were Michael,
Eugene, and Christie. Michael has been investigating for years ,but
he's never been able to be baptized because he has a drug problem
which is pretty bad. We were working with him
for a week and then he fell off the face of the earth. We could not
get a hold of him. We tried to get a hold of him by contacting his
girlfriend who's a member.. Anyways she told us that she can't find him
either and when that happens that means he relapsed.
Now last week we were down to two. That's Eugene and Christie.
They're living together and they aren't married but they have a couple
kids together so we can't split them up. They've been investigating a
long time from another ward. They recently moved over here so we
started teaching them. They're in a tough spot financially. They used
to be homeless and they were jumping from motel to motel. We have been
working with them to get them baptized and married and they were all
for it. We set up a time for them to meet the Bishop and talk about
that.
This week we found Michael again at his girlfriends house and it
was pretty sad. He likes to go to the gym and work out and the week
before he was looking good but now he was so skinny. It was kinda scary. 
We talked a lot to Michael about his problem and his desire to quit. He
expressed how much he tried to give it up that I feel like he doesn't
think he can do it.  He told us that he wants to quit and that he has a 
desire to change but I don't think he has faith in himself. 
He came to church last week. He comes on his
own without his girlfriend who is a member. It was so cool to see him
come. I think he wants a better life and is trying to find it.

Some training pictures

Week 43 June 12. 2017

This week was a pretty good week. 

Pasadena is pretty cool. There always people out on the streets so I
think this'll be a great place to find people. It's easier to find

people here than in my last area but maybe not in the
YSA Ward when we would go contacting at the college.

We've figured out how to best use our time in our area. 

We split it up day by day. The two different

areas are East LA and Alhambra. Right now most of the people we are

teaching and preparing for baptism live in East LA. We're having a

hard time find people in Alhambra for some reason. In order for us to

get down to East LA we take a train and there's so many people to

contact.

One of the families we're teaching is super cool. They got in contact

with the church through the Dad's brother who got converted to the

church. The Lord is preparing people and I can truly see that through

this family. They're doing everything in their power to prepare

themselves to be worthy to enter the waters of baptism.

We went contacting at a park too and saw a ton of turtles. 

Week 42 June 5, 2017

Overall I think it's been a good week. When I got the transfer calls the Zone Leaders told me that I was supposed to help my New companion with some obedience issues. They said that the area was struggling a little bit and that it wasn't being worked right. When I got here the other missionaries told me the same thing. They said the area was completely dead and that my new companion didn't get out of the house much the transfer before.  I think his last companion had a hard time getting out of the house and he kinda suffered for it. After a week of being here we haven't set anyone with baptismal dates yet but we've added a couple people to our teaching pool.  They've been investigating the church for awhile and they talk about being baptized themselves. 

Sorry I didn't have a whole lot of time to write today.  But here are

some pictures of me in my new area.