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!

Week 36 April 17, 2017

First week of the transfers. I'm staying in the YSA Ward. My

companions got transferred out so sadly I'm no longer with them. I have

a new companion and he's a pretty good missionary from what I've heard

from other missionaries. He's pretty rad and he's from Willard. I

haven't been with him too long so I don't know what else to say about

him, but he's pretty cool.

We were able to take an investigator to the Temple this week, and

another was baptized this Saturday. (I'm sorry I don't have any

pictures, I left them on my camera). The investigator we took to the

Temple is from Nigeria. He's a super cool guy and really in tune with

the spirit. He told us after the first time he went to church that he

felt something, and that that feeling was really good. He asked if he

could come again next week. The last month he's been reading the

scriptures and praying about being baptized and we really hoped he

would get an answer at the temple.

The investigator that got baptized this weekend was named Justin. I'm

sorry I haven't really talked a whole lot about him before. He's been

investigating with the church for about a month and we met him on a

college campus. When he shared his testimony after his baptism he

talked about how he was missing something in his life and that he felt

that something was there that hadn't been there before he started

coming to church. I didn't know that until he shared that. His family

is now interested in meeting with the missionaries so that's pretty

cool.

Elder Madsen

Week 35 April 10. 2017

Hey guys! I had a very exciting week. I also forgot to email everyone

last week so I'll talk about General Conference first. President

Monson's talk on reading The Book of Mormon daily was really good. I

liked how the Prophet chose of all things to talk about

reading The Book of Mormon daily.  It's so simple and so important but

most of us forget to do it each day.  It was also really cool to hear our 

Mission President get called as an area Seventy.  Our entire mission is

really stoked about it.  His kids didn't even know until it was announced.

We had a couple investigators watch some sessions of General Conference 

and I think they got a lot out of it.

We were able to take an investigator named Hannah to the Temple. She

loved it and the spirit she felt while she was there.

This week I got a new companion his name is Elder Granados. Transfers

aren't actually over yet but he broke his arm while riding his bike...

so he's gonna be with us for the next week. He's super funny and he's

really focused and it's great to see because he kinda has a good excuse to 

stay inside but he pushes that aside and works hard without complaining.  

If I learn anything from him I hope it's that.

Elder Madsen

Week 33, March 27, 2017

Hey guys! I had a great week this week. We were able to find more people to

add to our teaching pool and our current investigators are still

staying strong.

This week we met a guy from Africa who was taught by the missionaries.

He came here to go to college and that's where we met him actually. We

invited him to church and he was stoked to go. He came, and in gospel

principals we taught about priesthood. He had some questions so we

decided to teach a lesson to answer his questions. He's a real sincere guy

looking for the truth and he thinks he's found it. I'm really excited

to see what's in store for him in the future.

This morning Elder Lutz and I went on a hike and saw the sunrise.

Afterwards we went to a Chinese cafe and I ate a Chinese pancake with

chopsticks!

Elder Madsen 🐡

Week 31, March 14, 2017

Hi Everyone

I'm sorry I didn't get to write a letter home to everyone

last week. Last week was super busy and I was running around

everywhere. What I didn't get to tell you guys though, was that

transfers came and I didn't get moved to a new place but I got a new

companion and another ward to cover. Now I'm over two wards. I'm still

over the same ward, Creekside, but the new Ward is the San Gabriel

Valley YSA. It's pretty cool. I went to both sacrament meetings this

Sunday and the energy of the two are complete opposites.

I'm adjusting a lot quicker to the new Ward than I thought

I would.

I've met a lot of people who know my friends back home and I've

actually met people who I know from back home. It's weird to see them

as a missionary.  The last time I saw them I wasn't. I'm excited to

serve with them and to be a missionary in their ward.

This week I got a phone call from some Elders and they were asking me

about Steven Pacheco. They wanted some information on him because he

had walked into their sacrament meeting. Steven Pacheco was baptized

in my first area and I had gotten pretty close to him over the time

that he had been taking the lessons. I got emergency transferred

though, so I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to him. Apparently

Steven moved and he went to his new Ward that he moved into. I never

was able to contact him or hear anything about him so I was super

worried that he would stop coming to church and go less active. It was

way cool to get that call from the other Elders telling me that Steven

is still going strong and going to church.

Also I left our window open at night to cool off and I think someone got

sprayed by a skunk or something.  It stunk!

Elder Madsen 🐡

Week 29, February 27 2017

Not a lot of progress has been going on this week. We can't find out a

way to progress our current investigators and we can't find any new

investigators that keep appointments or commitments. Just the constant

struggle of a missionary.

This week we did some service for this really cool family that we've

been teaching. We didn't have enough time to teach them because we

were running super late. We had just enough time to help them before 

we had to hit the road. It felt so good to do some

service for these people. We're going over to again this week to do

some service and it's going to be the highlight of my week!

Transfers are next week so I may be moving too.

Elder Madsen 🐡